Seed Sown - Tewantin

Jesus in Galilee – Seed Sown Mark 4:1-20 Juen 13, 2024 - Rev’d Chris Johnson When we moved into the Rectory last year there was a strip of ground on the southern side of the house which was almost bare. There was a bit of grass at one end and the rest was very very patchy with some large sections of plain dirt. So I decided to plant some grass seed. And I've had mixed results. In some sections the grass has taken really well and is growing; in other sections it died. I wouldn’t describe the ground as rocky or thorny. There are probably a number of reasons why the seed didn’t take. • It was just poor soil, • or the fact that it is on the southern side of the house and in the shade, • or finally, now that it's winter it is so cold and it just doesn't grow in the cold. I think all of us would know that there are a number of conditions needed for grass (or any plant) to grow. And I hope you can appreciate the analogy Jesus is using here in the Parable of the Sower for spiritual germination and growth. There are people who have soft hearts who are ready to receive the Word of God and when the seed of the Word lands in their hearts they respond, decide to follow Christ and become very fruitful disciples. There are other people who have hard hearts, sometimes they are completely impervious to the gospel like the seed on the path. Sometimes they show a little bit of interest, but it goes nowhere, like the seed on the rocky ground and the thorns. I want us to look first of all at the soft and hard hearts Jesus might have been referring to when he originally told this parable. Do you remember what has been happening in Jesus’ ministry just before this parable. In the first week of our series we looked at Jesus interaction with the Pharisees over the issue of the Sabbath. Jesus heals a man with a shrivelled hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath and the Pharisees take oNence. Jesus says to them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” Jesus exposes their hard hearts and we're told they began to plot how to kill Jesus. Here is seed that is falling on the path. It is hard and impenetrable; the seed does nothing; the Word of God remains barren. I wonder if the Pharisees when they heard this parable recognised themselves as the path. Then in Week Two we read about Jesus appointing the twelve in Mark 3:13. Here are twelve men who heard the Word of God and it took root in them and they responded, they followed Jesus. It will take considerable time before they bear fruit. There is a lot of sitting under the Word of God they will have to do before there is real understanding and it has an impact. But at least the seed has germinated in their hearts and you could say the growth initially will be underground; but come Jesus’ resurrection and Pentecost it will burst upon the world and bear a rich harvest. Wk 2 we also considered Jesus family who in Ch 3:21 said that he must be out of his mind. Jesus reply was that those who follow him are his family. They take precedence over his biological family. 1 And the teachers of the law also take exception to Jesus. In verse 22 they accuse Jesus of being possessed by Beelzebul the Prince of demons. Jesus answer was that “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself he is divided and cannot stand.” So here are two more examples of hard hearts. The teachers of the law or scribes, have impenetrable hearts like the path. His family were possibly more like the rocky ground or the thorns. They were probably initially impressed with Jesus, that he was making his way in the world, they initially heard him with joy as it says in verse 16. However when they began to understand what he was teaching, the Word “had no root and lasted only a short time.” (V17) So here we see people for whom Jesus quote from the prophet Isaiah is very true, “they may be ever seeing but never perceiving and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven”. And there are many in our own day as well in a similar position. They have heard at least some of the stories of Jesus, maybe even taken a great interest at one stage, but they see without perceiving, hear without really understanding and therefore don't turn and receive forgiveness. There's a lot we could say about this middle section of the passage where Jesus seems to be saying that the parables are given to hinder understanding. What does Jesus mean to be quoting Isaiah like this? For today I want to simply say this quote is expressing the nature of the human heart which is in rebellion to God. If the human heart wasn't so rebellious it would understand the parables. In the case of this parable only hearts that are good soil will be the ones who, as Isaiah puts it, perceive, understand, turn from their sin and are forgiven. But mostly hearts are hard and this is why what Isaiah said is true. There is so much more that could be said about that, but I do want to focus on the parable itself. This is a parable which speaks to state of the human heart and that includes your heart and mine. It is possible to think of this parable in terms of people in general. I’m sure you know people in your life, who fit into one of the four categories Jesus is talking about. It’s important to think about the parable in terms of your own life. Maybe you can recognise the time when your life was like the path, impervious to the word of God; or maybe a time when your life was like the rocky or thorny ground, the word was trying to gain traction but as v 19 says, “The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things came in and choked the word.” Maybe this is your life at the moment and this parable is convicting you that your heart needs to change and become good soil. But hopefully today you sit in church because your heart is good soil. You've experienced the Word of God convicting your heart and stretching you to do things you never thought you would do but you're stretching because you follow Jesus and your life is bearing fruit. I can think of a number of people whose lives seem to be very much like one of these diNerent soils. When I think of the path, I immediately think of Richard Dawkins probably the most famous of all the current day atheists. Although have you heard that recently he has lamented the loss of 2 Christian values in our society and now wonders if he shouldn’t call himself at least a cultural Christian. Richard Dawkins knows the Bible, but it is seed that has fallen on the path. When I consider the rocky ground, I think of many people I’ve known over the years who’ve take an interest in the faith and attended church for a few weeks, but the seed doesn't take root and they don't go on with their exploration. Then there is the thorny ground which reminds me of members of my youth group who were really keen about Jesus in their youth group days but moving into adulthood have not pursued the faith. It would seem, “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things have come in and choked the word.” But then there is the good soil and I think of our Alpha Day just yesterday where we had a beautiful prayer time of people sharing needs and receiving prayer and the support of the Christian community around them. There was prayer for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to know Christ. So on our Alpha Day there were many open hearts or as this parable calls it, ‘good soil’. Thank you for your prayers. If you have never done it I highly recommend Alpha and bring a friend with you. The Vision of our church is “Living to love and proclaim Jesus”. This parable ties in with the two aspects of our vision. Firstly, loving Jesus is about having a heart that is good soil. This is where Jesus is the number one goal in your life. Your life is not your own it belongs to him and pleasing him is all that matters. This means having a heart to worship, wanting to be in this service every Sunday with God's people, being renewed in the Gospel and glorifying God. It is also about worshipping God in everyday life. Let me read you again the full statement from Vision 26 what it means to love Jesus through worship. “Worship happens when Christians gather together around Word and Sacrament and praise his name. Worship happens every hour of every day as Christian serve God as a living sacrifice. Christians show their love for Jesus through worship.” So to have a heart that is good soil is to love Jesus supremely through worship. Secondly our vision is about proclaiming Jesus. Having a heart that is good soil is about spreading seed, spreading the Word of God. How do you do that? Well you begin by simply loving people. It’s about stretching yourself to be involved in God's mission to the world, loving lost and broken people and longing for them to find salvation in Christ. And it is important to understand there are just as many ‘respectable people’ who are lost as those who are obviously lost. To be lost simply means to be cut oN from God and there are many people who believe they're so respectable they don't need God. And they need to be reached just as much as the people who have an obvious need. I have recently read a book by someone like this. He's a prominent economist in Australia by the name of Ian Harper. He was chairman of the Australian Fair Pay Commission set up by the Howard government. He is the Dean and Director of the Melbourne Business School. Co-dean of the faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne and a member of the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia. If that doesn't qualify you as a respectable citizen, I don't know what does. 3 But in his book he says he was far away from God the last thing he wanted was to have God telling him what to do. But through the witness of his wife who had been converted a few years earlier, and the many prayers of the Anglican church she attended in Melbourne, he became a follower of Christ. There were many circumstances which I won't go into now, but a key was reading the Gospel of Mark. He was challenged to read the whole of Mark in one sitting, and he did, and God spoke to him. He knew some of the stories from his experience in Chapel at the Anglican school he attended, which was Churchie in Brisbane. But reading the Gospel as a whole he came face to face with the person those stories are all about, which is Jesus. From a heart which was like the path, there was a dramatic change. The seed of the Word now found good soil; and he now worships with his wife each week in his Anglican church in Melbourne and openly declares his allegiance to Jesus, and shares him with anyone who is willing to listen. So my friends let me conclude by asking you 2 questions. What is the condition of your heart? Is it like the path? Is it like the rocky ground? Is it like the thorny ground? Or is it good soil? And you are living to love Jesus and worship him with all your heart in all you do. Second question, Do you have a heart to spread seed? Are you living to proclaim Jesus wherever there is opportunity? This means being known as a Jesus person and maybe even being written oN by many because of it. It means being open about your Church involvement and inviting others to events as the opportunity arises. So, are you living our vision of proclaiming Jesus by spreading seed? This parable invites us to have hearts which are good soil. The evidence will be that you are living to love and proclaim Jesus. 4