Who is Out There?

Why this series?

Each year I consider what might be preached.

Historically the church has been known not only for their love for one another, but for their love and care for those in the community.

Particularly the downtrodden, the least of these, the sick, the miserable, the poor.

Christians were spotted and arrested through their care for others, their welcoming into their faith community.

Emperor Julian ruled in the 300’s and witnessed many becoming Christians. Wondered what was the root cause of so many fleeing pagan worship for the Church. Found it to be their good works toward those who are in need. Tried to manufacture such care and welcome in his own pagan cults. Wrote to the Romans priests out of frustration.

Our desire for the church today- to be a welcoming community.

Ought to be a community of believers who welcome the messiness of life because we are aware of our own messiness.

We welcome others to be saved from their sins because we have experienced it in our own lives.

Anyone walking through these doors ought to be welcomed with open arms. Can we be that sort of church? My hope is to continually encourage us in this direction, and that is the point of our sermon series that we begin this morning.

Why this sermon?

Entitled, “Who is out there?”

A large part of being a welcoming church requires preparing ourselves for who will walk through our doors. What will be their story, what will be their life? What is their highest and greatest need?

Jesus tells His disciples a parable that prepares them for ministry. We would do well to sit at His feel this morning.

Read Matthew 13:1-9- “That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”

Pray.

Let’s begin by seeking to rightly understand what Jesus was teaching.

1. An agricultural truth.

Jesus taught in parables. Stories that created images. Took what is earthly to describe what is heavenly.

Joseph Parker- “You can never get to the top of any ladder the foot of which is not upon earth. Let me show you that these parables are ladders, well fixed upon the earth at the one end, and rising up into all the mystery of heaven upon the other.”

Here we find parables, one end completely planted upon the earth, meaning that it can be found in our own earthly experience.

No need to have spiritual eyes to comprehend these earthly truths.

Here we find different soils, all of which have different yields.

Might be tempted to consider the sower to be foolish, but understanding first century agriculture might help a bit.

Farmers would often scatter seed and then would till the ground after.

These were all likely normal places of planting in a field.

The only thing out of the usual here is the yield of the fourth soil, but we will get to that.

First, a trodden footpath through the field.

Folks had walked through the field, so the farmer was reclaiming it with seed.

Copa paths through our yard.

Nothing gets into the ground and the seed is taken away by the birds.

Next, a thin layer of soil atop rocky ground.

Perhaps what could be seen was dirt, or even some vegetation, but the farmer knows the soil, and underneath is layer upon layer of rocks.

Seed can sprout but there is no room for a healthy root system, so what sprouted so quickly dies immediately.

Third, soil with thorns.

Can imagine a farmer plowing the thorns up, but likely dropping seeds of its own into the soil to grow in competition with the good seed.

As a result, the life of the fruit is constantly threatened by the existence of the weEd’s.

Finally, good, fruitful soil.

Here is the abnormal part of the parable.

Within the Roman empire, a yield of ten seeds for each sown was considered successful.

The normal successful yield is blown out of the water with the yield of this soil- thirty, sixty, one hundred.

The yield of the soil is meant to grab the attention of the listener. It is not normal, it is not imaginable, it is not common experience.

Let’s pause to recognize the accuracy of what has been said by Jesus.

On a purely agricultural level, what Jesus illustrates is true.

2. A spiritual truth.

Remember, we journey from earth to heaven.

Let’s begin to travel the ladder, rung by rung, to see how Jesus describes the spiritual truths that are being described by use of agricultural truths.

Read Matthew 13:18-23- “Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Here is what is explained.

The seed is the Word of the Kingdom, the good news, the gospel. This was the message of Jesus’ preaching, from John the Baptist, the apostles, Paul, the early church, and ought to be the message preached today.

We preach, we teach, we evangelize the message of God’s Kingdom. We apply it to our own lives, but the core of the content is the Kingdom of God.

Notice that the message of God’s Kingdom is sown. It’s scattered everywhere. This was the life of Jesus, it is meant to be our lives as well.

Kids nagging Ali. One track mind.

It is not forced, it is not manipulated, it is given. And given everywhere, gently and purposefully.

Also notice that the same seed is given, but the yield is always different. We scatter, God provides the growth, regardless of the soil.

1 Corinthians 3:5-7- “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”

So what happens to the seed that is sown? There are four different illustrations given.

Some falls on the trodden path- the impacted soil that allows for no penetration.

This is when a person hears the gospel and has no ability to understand it. It bounces off of him and it’s never given a second thought as distraction takes away his mind.

Some seed falls on the thin layer of soil covering rocky earth.

This is when a person hears the good news and it quickly sprouts, but no roots are created.

Hardship comes, like a scorching heat, and all is eaten away.

Some seed falls on soil with thorns.

The seed sprouts, but is choked out by the existence of everything that has not been removed.

The good news has no room for growth because life is too crowded. It loses it’s place of priority and is given little thought as a result.

Finally, some seed falls on good soil.

It is fruitful, and it yields a crop that cannot be answered with natural explanations.

What sprouts from the ground is truly miraculous.

Here we find four different listeners (to borrow from Daniel Doriani): Deaf listeners, superficial listeners, distracted listeners, fruitful listeners.

Before we move on from the spiritual explanation, please note that there isn’t much here that is truly special, but is observed in all areas of experience.

What is explained by way of agriculture can also be explained in education, or in training, or in parenting. This is the very nature of life.

Tell my four children the same thing. They all respond differently. Their soil differs.

Joseph Parker- “The fate of the upper kingdom is the fate of every kingdom that is good. it goes forth with risks and experiments and comes back with disappointments and satisfactions.”

This is the point of Jesus’ parable, and we ought to be aware of such reality.

Now, what does this have to do with becoming a welcoming church.

I think we ought to know the people who are coming through our doors- we ought to prepare ourselves for them.

Ali telling me not to mention things.

3. Truth in a new context.

When people come to our church for the first time, we are going to have a wide range of experiences walking through the door.

I doubt that Jesus was telling the parable to instruct His disciples to ignore the three types of soil.

After all, the seed is spread everywhere.

Instead, Jesus prepares His disciples for the intricacies of ministry.

So who will come into NHCC and how will we welcome them? What will be our responsibility to them?

The deaf listener- the one who has no clue why he is here. He woke up one morning and for whatever reason came to church.

He knows nothing of the gospel, nothing of God’s love for him.

In fact, the entire structure of what he is working from may be negative thoughts toward God, toward Jesus, toward His church. But he is here.

Our desire is to introduce Jesus. And when the enemy comes and takes away the seed, we do it again. We sow and plow and sow and plow.

Galatians 6:9- “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

Being honest, most intrigued by these middle two. The superficial is the person lacking faith because of difficulty. The distracted listener lacks faith because of success.

The superficial listener.

Here is the person who responds immediately. I mean immediately. So quickly no one can believe it.

She is moved by the lyric of a song, by a line of the sermon, by a word in congregational prayer, and she responds. She wants Jesus.

She especially wants Jesus because there is an awful lot of hardship in life that she simply cannot seem to shake.

She trusts that Jesus will remove all of these hardships and make her life so much better. But, he doesn’t. And she begins to fade.

Our desire with such a person is to reframe the goodness of life. To define goodness biblically.

Psalm 37:3-4- “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Goodness is not the absence of difficulty, but instead the presence of God through it all.

The distracted listener.

Here is the one who has life all together, and doesn’t necessarily want to bring in anything new that might jeopardize everything else.

Life is good, money is good, work is good, family is good.

But he is here. Maybe because that is what he sees citizens in good standing in society doing with their time.

What does such a distracted listener need? To be shown the beauty of Jesus and His Kingdom. To be shown that there is something greater that is needed for such a life.

Here, we must be champions of Jesus. We must know Him and adore Him and be excited to share Him.

Jesus must be our highest treasure in order that we can share Him as such.

Matthew 13:44- “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

God’s kingdom is of more value than anything else we can possess.

Truly, to rightly possess it will often mean parting with some of the thorns of this world that will distract.

Finally, the fruitful listener.

She comes and hears the gospel and it truly cuts into her life.

She is made aware of her sin, but also made aware of God’s grace.

Faith is born.

What is needed? Support. Encouragement. Knowledge. Wisdom.

We must be ready to prod on, to build up what is there. To see the mustard seed of faith grow.

Hebrews 10:24-25- “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

We welcome people by entering into their lives and inviting them into our own.

We see who they are, we see what they need, and we find the way to give.

We will focus on other needs more in the coming weeks, but we need to be clear of everyone’s highest and greatest need- the good news of God’s Kingdom.

Jesus showed that this seed, the word of the Kingdom, is to be sown everywhere, to all people.

Why? Because of the yield.

Consider what Jesus is saying here with the final soil. Imagine you share the gospel with 100 people in your lifetime. And God uses it to create a crop that dwarfs the amount of seed you have sown. 3000 people are brought into the Kingdom because of your efforts. 6000 brought because of the efforts of another. 10,000 from another.

But the seed must be sown. Here is where we come in. God uses His Church. Go and make disciples. On occasion, they’ll come to you. Will you be prepared for who God brings into your life?

Let’s pray.