Faith Outside of the McDonald's Cup
Notes
Transcript
If you are aa parent of a toddler or young child there is a good chance you have heard of the show Bluey.
If you haven’t basically it is this show from Australia that overnight became huge. (show picture)
In fact in 2023 Bluey was ranked the 2nd most streamed show in the US with people watching it a total of 43.9 Billion minutes
And its about these two sisters named bluey and bingo
And basically the show is about just this family living life.
And its an entertaining show (for kids), but the reason people believe it has exploded overnight, is because almost every episode has these deep meanings and lessons (and sometimes its aimed towrds the parents)
And parents will post on Facebook how they cried during an episode (I am not there yet…)
But if you have a toddler and the other options are cocmelon, blippi and things like that, blueys pretty good right?
But its because theres a good story, but the meaning is so much deeper.
And really we are starting this new series called “Parables”
And really in this series we are looking at these things caalled parables which are actually these stories that Jesus would tell.
And these stories are not just blippi or cocomelon stoires, but they have deep meaning.
In fact just to give a simple defenition that I heaard another pastor give it is basically parables are an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
And the beautiful part of these stories are that they are meant to connect with us and bring us to a new understanding of God and ourselves, that helps us strive to become more of the people God created us to be.
And so today we are going to start with a story of a farmer.
And we are in Matthew 13:1-9 and I would encourage you to read the rest fo the chapter later, but this is the story that Jesus tells.
And these first couple verses give us the setting
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.”
So Jesus is out teaching and a crowd has grown so large that He takes a boat and pushes off the shore so everyone can here him.
And He begins to tell this story about a sower or farmer,
And I love this because it starts with just saying a sower went out to sow.
It would almost be like if I started a story with “the baseball player went out to play baseball”
And the reason Jesus does this is to go this is what the sower does, Its just who He is.
And really He is starting my saying this is who I am.
And did you notice how He sows the seeds.
Because if I was a farmer I would probably put seeds only in the best places, the places where they will easily grow.
And I know I am not a farmer, but I kind of read this and go does this guy know what He is doing?
Does He realize how much He is wasting.
But heres the main part of this passage right here, and its really good news for us.
Because in this story our lives are the soil, and God does not just go here is this seed to the good soil, but He gives it out regardless of where we are.
And I don’t know about you guys, but sometimes my life does not look like the best soil.
I mean its has weeds, rocks, probably some trash, thrown in it, and its easy to look at it and go “wow, there is no way God would waste time on that”
But the beautiful thing is God is going no this is exactly the place I want to plant this message in your life.
I mean thats big!
But heres the issue because this story has three challenges.
Because the first is the, first place that these seeds are thrown on the path,
I mean think about a path with me.
It would be a little worse but not much, like if I said I am going to throw some seeds in the Sanctuary isel
I mean they are getting trampled, someones going to get upset and probably vacum them up,
And Jesus explains the meaning of these later in chapter 13, but He tells us that this represents when we hear God’s word and of His kingdom but we don’t understand it.
and I think on one hand he is talking about just understanding what God is talking about or doing
But I think He is really getting at where God might say something, but the we kind of disregard it and make God’s word say what we want it to.
And when we do this we allow his word to bee completely taken away and often times we might see something growing, and but it really is not of God,
And often times we sit there going look at this plant thats growing and its just a weed.
It is so important to come to God with an open heart with what He wants us to do.
And this is hard. Because we all have things that shape us, maybe its politics, maybe its our friends opinions on things, but what would it look like if we just came to God with an open heart and say I am going to just listen,
And really we believe that we interpret God’s word through community, tradition, reason, and his Presence and when we come to God like that I truly believe those seeds will take root in our lives
And lets look at this next one, because they next are the seeds that are thrown on the rocky soil.
And we are told these plants look healthy
I mean Liam, Finn and I have been growing watermelon and cherry tomatoes and I have never grown any plant.
And so I am not sure what I am doing, but I put soil in a mcdonalds cup and put a seed in it and something grew.
But the issue here is you might be able to see this but I barely put any soil in it.
So it looks super healthy. doesn’t it?
But I started looking this up and if I do not put this in the ground soon there is a really good chance it will die.
Because its springing up but its roots can’t grow anymore, and without the roots it will eventually not get the nutrition, get knocked over and die.
And I think sometimes our walk with God feels like this.
Where something happens where it has pushed us closer to God, and we feel like we are doing good, but the issue is we stay at a surface level.
And we do not allow the roots to grow, so we might look good, but we have not roots and so the minute things get tough, or maybe we just feel like we haven’t felt God, we call it quits.
And if your in this place, or where you realize your in a place where God’s working on your life, but you don’t have the roots can I just say, please find ways to get your roots deeper.
Because seeds take time. In fact when we grew this thing it took so long to see something I thought I killed it.
Because the biggest growth we have in our walk with God is not always whats happening up hear but its whats happening below the surface.
And can I encourage you please find ways to get roots, whether its a small group, or just having someone to walk alongside with.
We need roots.
And lets look at this last challenge,
Because the last part it the farmer throws the seeds among the weeds, and they gets choked out by the weeds.
These are the things we chase other then God.
Because so often we have God is our life as this little seed, but then our life is full of weeds.
And if you are a gardner you know the weeds eat up the nurtion that the plant could use so it kills the plant
Anyone ever have your kid do the wheres waldo book or maybe you did (show picture of the page)
Because there is just a ton of junk and other crazy things going on and then it will say “wheres Waldo?”
Anyone see him?
Of course not, because look at everything else going on. How could you.
And this is going to sound harsh, and I really mean it lovingly, but so often if we our honest, our walk with God looks like a wheres waldo book where there are all these exciting things going on
Some that are not even bad, but its so cluttered that our walk with God is barely alive, because we have given so much attention to everything else.
And the reason I am bringing this up is because so often I want my life filled with this stuff,
Fun activities
Money,
Comfort,
The Gym
My job
These things that are not bad, in fact I would argue there part of a very healthy life style,
But the issue is when they begin to cover up and even strangle what God is doing in my life.
Can I just say this is a big deal because when we walk away from God its almost never this huge moment where we go “I renounce thee”
But its these moments where we allow the things in our lives to slowly push us away and choke what God is doing.
And I know this is a lot, and your probably thinking okay… So what do we do?!
And this is going to sound simple but we need to prepare the soil in our lives to the best of our ability so when the seed gets thrown the seed does not just die or get swept away but it grows and gets its roots deep.
And I know its Mothers Day, and can I just say parents this is also our job for our kids,
We are preparing our soil and our kids.
And you might be here going well I am doing my best. But my soil is rocky, it has thorns, I am clearing one thing and another grows.
Can I just say plants are more resiliant then we think.
Anyone have a driveway, where grass is growing threw cracks?
I mean you can pull up weeds, you can use ground clear and somehow it comes back.
Because plants are resilliant.
And really the kingdom of God is resiliant in our lives,
And I really believe when we are doing our best, to prepare the soil, God will grow, but we have to do our end.
And the worship team is going to come forward.
But can I ask us this morning as we get ready to close what do we need to do?
Because we have a God who is recklessly spreading these seeds and the question is not does He love you enough or care enough to reach out to you
This tells us He is pursuing you, but the question is are we making a place in our lives to receive Him.
Because the beautiful part of this is the passage ends with Jesus saying the crop beegins to reproduce some 100 fold, some 60 and some 30.
And really when we are rooted and clearing out the junk in our lives our live begins to be a place where it iss exploding with the Kingdom of God
And I don’t know about you but my prayer is that my life will look like that.
And let me pray for us as we close this morning