Monday, July 25, 2011

The parable of the sower

Matthew 13

The Parable of the Sower
 1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

     This parable is a very common told one. Something that I'm sure we all have heard numerous sermons preached on. But this weekend I heard one that varied from many others. Of course we all can read a little farther into the chapter and Jesus Himself tells us what the parable means. The farmer is God, the seed is His Word being sown into the lives of people, and we are the dirt. Not exactly flattering, but hey, that's what Jesus says there. 

      I often hear the reference of this chapter as the seeds falling on the path are seeds to unbelievers who won't soften up and listen to what God says, that the seed on the rocky places were people who listened but fall away quickly because they did not have any depth to their belief, and that the seed among the thorns are ones who listen hear but then get concerned about trivial things and fall away. Not that this is at all incorrect, but the sermon this week took it a bit farther applying all of these things to the believer as well as the unbeliever. Since I assume the majority of people reading this are in fact believers I just want to touch on that aspect of this.

     First I'd like to start with a picture of what the path would look like. Imagine a garden, there is the soft ground that has been worked in long mounded rows and between each of these is a path, that you walk up and down to get to the areas you need to. These paths in the bible times would be walked on by hundreds of servants, the owner of the field, and the people allowed to glean in the fields with the workers. The ground between the areas where the plants grow would be unworkable, hard, and impenetrable. And the chickens, or birds are happy to get into this area and if they can find a seed they will snatch it up and eat it. This is the picture of the heart of someone who refuses to listen to what God says. Often these people are not believers, but how often have we as Christians ignored God, pretended we couldn't hear Him, or blatantly disobeyed what He commanded of us? This is the picture of the first seed. The one that fell along the path. The picture of the hardened heart of someone willfully attempting to disobey God's will. Think of Jonah running the opposite direction of what God has asked of him. Now it certainly isn't easy to soften your heart in that state. Anyone who has gardened, especially pre-rototiller days, knows how hard it is to soften packed ground. To loosen it to make it at all useful. But this is what God is asking of us, to soften our hearts to listen. I'd imagine that it is painful, I mean who wants to have everything around them tilled, and reworked? But it is not as painful as living an unfruitful, unproductive and unwilling life, producing nothing for the Kingdom of God. How soft and willing is your heart?


   The second picture is that of the seeds that fall in rocky places. In Idaho we tend to have large and small rocks all over, that a persistent plant could possibly work it's roots around and reach good soil. But in Jerusalem their terrain is a little different. Jesus was talking about places that look like good soil and for the first few inches they are, but then underneath is a large slab of limestone or sandstone that was impossible to move or work around. The only thing that you could do was not plant in those areas. This is the picture of the Christian who comes to church and hears a wonderful sermon or great worship, or reads something inspiring, they feel like nothing can stop their faith in those times, but then something happens to shatter their faith or shake them and they fall away quickly. Retreating back to complacency where they think that they will be safe from hurt and trials. They have no depth and eventually they lose faith completely. In our Christian walk, how often do we hear a good sermon, have a good word of God put into our hearts, but when we get home from church we get in a fight with our spouse or argue with our kids and the word completely withers.  We need to ensure our heart is soft so the word can plant itself deeply into good soil, and not lose it's hold on Faith.


The third picture is the one that struck me the most, that is of the seed that fell among the weeds and thorns. Anyone who has tried to garden knows that weeds don't just suddenly decide that they have plagued your yard enough and will now wander off to pester your neighbors yard for a while and give you a break. Weeds are all about territory, they will spread wherever you give them room to move. If you don't get rid of them, they will take over everything. They are aggressive, pushy, and will literally choke the life out of anything else you try to grow. My dad spends hours out in his garden trying to prevent weeds from taking over. The weeds in this picture are to me the things that are taking over the majority of our thoughts and our lives. These may not necessarily be bad things, often they are not, maybe it's work or other obligations, maybe its television or our appearance how we want other people to view us, in this superficial world that we live in, it's a terrible temptation to worry only about the outward things. Maybe it's pornography, alcohol or some other addiction. Whatever it is, God commands us to pull those weeds out of our mind and to renew our minds by the cleansing of our hearts. What is taking up the majority of your heart garden? Is it the things of God? If not then it is superficial, will not matter into eternity, probably don't even matter now, and are just weeds. These weeds will take over everything if you do not actively remove them from your life. As the saying goes if Satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

The final picture is that of the Christian who has actively cared for the condition of his or her soil. Removing weeds avoiding rocky places and continually softening the area to be productive and fruitful. Therefore producing good fruit and a plentiful harvest.

When you look back on your one and only life what will your fruit look like? Will it be an empty basket? A small basket with some withered vegetables? Or a great bounty of things to bring glory to God? All of us have the potential to do great things for God, He doesn't call all of us to be Billy Graham, but He does ask us all to live up to the best that He has called us to. That doesn't matter if it is raising your children in a Godly way, loving your spouse like Christ loved the church or going to the backwoods in Mexico to spread the gospel. God will hold each of us to our own measuring stick. We just need to pray that our hearts will be soft enough to be receptive of God's guidance and will. So I ask you... what is the condition of your dirt? 





Until next time: The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord be gracious to you, make His face shine upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

But if not....

Daniel 3:16-18
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17If this be so,(AA) our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.[d] 18But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."

I frequently pray that if I were in such circumstance, that I would boldly say to the one person that was holding the key to my life(at least on earth) in his hand; "My God will deliver me, but if not I still will not worship your gods." To have that kind of faith, that says that I know that God has the ability to deliver me out of this trial or problem, but even if He doesn't, I know that He is still there, and He still cares for me. There is a song out right now by Laura Story: Blessings- one of the verses which reads:

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough


Isaiah 40:28-31“Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

God's promises are enough! His grace is enough!! Just remember next time you are feeling discouraged, that maybe the trials of this life are just God's mercies in disguise.

http://www.tsrocks.com/l/laura_story_texts/blessings.html

(see this link for the song  Blessings by Laura Story)

Until next time: The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord be gracious to you, make His face shine upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26