The Parable of the Sower

Good morning. It is good to be back this week. I am thankful for the time to rest and to spend time with my family. Thank you.

This morning I want to share with you a burden. A burden that is on my heart.

This burden comes in a simple Question that I need to ask this morning.

I can’t lie and say that though this question is simple that doesn’t mean that it isn’t deep with complication and challenge.

Are you ready for this question?

Do you Believe in the Harvest?

Do you?

This is the question that has been on my mind all week.

If i am honest i didn’t even know this was the question till friday afternoon.

The joy of coming back from vacation is it is always a little difficult getting back into the swing of life. It is a little difficult knowing where to start sometimes. That was this week in a nut shell.

Of course I knew that there were lots of things that I could do that were easy tasks that could help me refocus and get back into the swing of things. I did those and that was the easy part. The real challenge came with the Sermon today. I had read the passage several times this week and the Spirit felt strangely silent.

What to do when the Spirit is silent

Now often when this happens it is a signal to me that I may not have the right passage or God is speaking in some other way. Yet, I couldn’t shake the knowledge that this passage was the right one. God wanted to speak through it to me and to you but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

Days Pass and nothing. No spark of inspiration no Joy, no divine voice guiding me just the burden of the looming time of Sunday morning quickly approaching.

What am I to do. Well I keep praying and I keep working on other things hoping that God will speak.

It’s Time to Study...

As I work through this block and I try to see how the Spirit is wanting to lead this morning I can’t help but commit myself to the study of the Passage. I can at least do that.

Dig into the word. What better place to be to recieve a word from God. Yet, no solution presented itself.

Alright Study is done. The background information is learned and taken in. Prayer has been prayed. The Spirit has been sought all week now what I am I to do.

This was where I found myself Friday morning when I woke up. I was in a moment of panic because I don’t like it when the sermon takes this long to come together. Usually I have something in my mind or most of it done by Friday.

I woke up Friday morning though realizing that something was blocking me and I couldn’t place what it was. I couldn’t figure it out and until I did I couldn’t even begin to work on what this message was trying to say.

I still knew though.

This is the right Passage. This is where God has us this morning.

It wasn’t till Friday Afternoon when I finally went over to the church and decided to sit down and see if I could get something out. To see if some kind of inspiration would come.

I was sitting in my office, I read my Bible, I prayed, I sat, I listened to some music. It hit me.

The Distraction

I was distracted all week. I was distracted by something that has been on my mind for awhile. It was then I saw how this mornings passage connected and how It was going to all come together. Let’s Read the Passage.

Matthew 13:1–9 NIV

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.”

The Parable of the Sower (Soil)

All week this passage was on my heart. In fact really its been on my heart for a few months now. I just never realized it.

Now you hopefully have already noticed but the title of this Parable is the “parable of the Sower” but I have put in parenthesis “Soil”

The truth is that this parable could be understood as the Parable of the Soil as well. It is a great example of how parables have many layers of meaning and can speak to us in ways we don’t even begin to imagine depending on where we are at in life.

For Me when I read this passage I get captivated by the different types of Soil that the Seeds land on and that is often where many pastors end up.

The Hard Path

The seed first lands on the Hard Path that is used to walk around the fields. This is not a good place for seed to land because well its a hard path. The ground is not willing to accept the seed.

Matthew 13:19 NIV

19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

Jesus explains this to his disciples. That when the seed is scattered sometimes the heard heart prevents it from being taken in and accepted and the Evil one comes and takes it away.

Rocky Places

The second soil that the seeds land on is the rocky places. All week as we drove anywhere or when we were on the way home from vacation and I thought about this soil type i couldn’t help but notice the rocky areas along the side of the Highway. You drive along and see a big hill side covered in stone from the construction of the highway and you see trees and other plants poking up through the rocks. This image came to mind as I read this passage.

Yet, what is interesting is that is not what this soil is. Under the stones along the highway there is a lot of soil. It is deeper and the plants have moved up through the rocks. Here though the word that is used that is translated to rocky places is more refering to a place where there is only a thin layer of soil and then large rocks or bedrock below it. There is no deeper soil.

Plants may sprout but they die quickly.

This is the person who burns quickly and brightly but shortly.

Matthew 13:20–21 NIV

20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

This is a hard one because it creates a lot of excitement but the lasting results don’t exist.

Among the Thorns

Then there is the seed that fell among the thorns. These seeds land and grown but they are surrounded by plants that know how to thrive even in the harshest of environments.

The Thorn bushes steal the moisture and nutrients from the soil before the young plants can get them and they are unable to mature into full plants and eventually are choked out and die.

Jesus explanation for this one is an interesting one.

Matthew 13:22 NIV

22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.

This is the person who can’t get past the concerns of this life to see that Jesus has them in their hands. It is here that we forget that Jesus has us in his hands and that we can trust that he will care for us and we do not need to worry.

We forget passages like

Matthew 6:25 NIV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

Jesus in the Sermon on the mount recognizes that we have a lot of things that we can worry about in this world. There are a lot of things that plague us and we struggle with. Yet, we are not called to worry about them we are called to...

Matthew 6:33 NIV

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

The Good Soil

Of course we can’t forget the good soil. This is the land that bears a harvest. That multiplies the yield of each and every seed. This is the land we want to plant on. This is where we want the seed to land and we want to see a great harvest.

Let me return now to my question earlier

Do you trust the Harvest?

I have been burdened with this question and i didn’t know it. I have been trying to figure out for awhile now where god is taking us as a church. What are the next steps. To be honest with you a lot of what I have been working on in the last 8 months is similar to how I prepared this sermon. I have been doing the work. I have been Getting things ready. I have been Seeking the answers but I haven’t found it yet.

This is my struggle.

My mind is blocked.

I am afraid the Spirit is being silent. That the work we are called to is right there in front of us but it hasn’t shown itself yet.

It is int his place that I realized my fault.

I am not trusting the Harvest.

I was focused on the wrong thing. I was focused on the soil instead of the Harvest.

I am worried about where the seed might or might not land that I am blinded to the fact the seed can’t grow if we don’t cast it out there.

It lead me to this question.

Do you trust the Harvest?

God was speaking. He was telling me to trust. To know that the harvest is there if we are willing to accept it. If we are willing to accept that he has plans that are far bigger than any we could possibly imagine.

God is faithful. He will show us when it is time for our church to go out and cast the seed to the soil. Yes, some of it might land in places we don’t want. Yet, we can’t worry about those things we have to focus on the seed that lands in the Good soil. The seed that bears fruit. Not only will it bear fruit in one persons life but that leads to two, then four and many more. The Yield grows.

I was reminded of this passage

Isaiah 55:10–13 NIV

10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”

This is the promise of God. The fulfillment of his promise that his word will lead to great things. We are called to not worry to not be consumed with the how, or the when but we are to concern ourselves with the

HE WILL

This is the place we must find ourselves. The Place I needed to be reminded of this week. I needed to be reminded that we have to trust the Harvest.

The harvest doesn’t come from our work it comes from HIM.

IF the worship team will come up.

I want to sing a song that reminds me of that and all the promises that God fulfills and we can trust in him today.