Luke 8:1-18 - The Sower

RECORD YOUR SERMON

My backyard

Backyard of the Rectory

Concrete paths

Dry and dusty - grass struggles to grow

Lemon tree - axe to cut into the ground through the rocky clay

Right across the back fence, green grass, soft soil.

If I had to plant something tomorrow. I’d choose the spot on the back fence.

Soil matters when you’re seeking growth!

Jesus knew this and that’s why he tells the story we read about today.

But first:

Jesus’ fellow travellers

Before we get to the story of the sower we have v1-3 that tell us about who is travelling with him.

Simon and the Sinful woman last week - a story of an outcast woman who has found in Jesus love and acceptance.

Ch 8 kicks off showing us that encounters like the one we heard last week must not’ve been one off. For not only does Jesus go about proclaiming the good news with his disciples (v1). But he also has a collection of women who travel with him (v2-3). And what’s fascinating about these woman is it seems we’ve got a social outcast in Mary Magdalene (v2) to a woman of some note in Joanna who is the wife of Herod’s right hand man (v3). And all these woman having received the love of Jesus are responding not only by travelling with Jesus, but by giving out of their own means (v3), that is financially supporting the work of Jesus spreading the good news.

This teaches us two things.

The first is that when we consider people who we want to share the good news with, it is going to be difficult for us to perceive who will be receptive. You would think people like Simon the Pharisee, good church going folk, would be most receptive, and people who have spent their lives living as prostitutes or worse might be least receptive. Jesus’ followers have all sorts of people. There is no telling who will respond to the good news with faith. The fact that Luke tells us who is hanging out with Jesus before he tells us the Parable of the Sower I think helps us make sure we don’t make the error of trying to work out who in our lives are the different kinds of soils. Rather we simply go about spreading seed, spreading the gospel.

The second thing we see in these opening 3 verses is that when we respond to the good news it changes us. Notice the women are now supporting Jesus, “out of their own means”. They are giving to the work of the church. When we understand what God has done for us we will give financially to support the church spread the good news. Likewise if you’re trying to figure out what kind of soil you are, a great way to check is how your faith has affected your finances. If it’s had significant impact on how you use your money, this is probably a sign that you are good soil.

And speaking of good soil, let’s now take a moment to consider the parable of Jesus.

Told in vv4-7 and explained in vv11-15

The Parable of the Sower

As a large crowd gathers Jesus tells a parable in v4-7.

A farmer sowing seed onto four types of ground:

Path (v5) - trampled and eaten

Rocky ground (v6) - comes up but withered due to lack of moisture

Thorns (v7) - grows a bit but then choked by the weeds

Good Soil (v8) - grows and produces a crop a hundred times what is sown.

Any gardener here gets it. You need good soil for your plants to grow!

But what’s the point of the story? The disciples get the simple idea, but they don’t get the deeper meaning, so they ask for an explanation which Jesus gives to them in v11.

Seed = word of God

Luke 8:11 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

11 ‘This is the meaning of the parable: the seed is the word of God.

Path

Luke 8:12 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

People who simply reject the word straight out. Show no interest in it. Are even hostile too it.

Rocky ground

Luke 8:13 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.

People who are fair-weather Christians. Love Jesus until something bad happens. Then they give up. They approach God on their terms not on His.

Thorns

Luke 8:14 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

It’s not bad stuff for the thorns. It’s the general day to day of life. They get sidetracked by worrying about their family, worrying about money, seeking a good and comfortable life and they spend all their time and energy thinking about these things they don’t grow as Christians and the end up no longer following Jesus.

Good soil

Luke 8:15 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

These are the people we all want to be. Good soil people hear God’s word, let it soak in to their hearts and minds and keep applying it to their lives through good times and bad. In doing so they grow and produce a crop.

Which soil am I?

Do you wonder about that when you read this? If you do that’s good. That means you are hearing God’s word and seeking to put it in to practice. You are behaving like good soil. Keep persevering.

Also if you want to be encouraged or perhaps challenged, think about the crop you’ve produced. That is as you’ve lived your Christian life who have you helped in their Christian life along the way. Because good soil Christians produce a crop. That is they are disciple makers. And if you can’t think of anyone you’ve done that for yet it’s not too late. Think of someone in the church you could get alongside, read the bible with, encourage one another to grow. Likewise, think of someone not yet a Christian who you can share your faith with and maybe invite them to Alpha after Easter.

Shine brightly as part of Jesus’ family

Jesus rounds it off with a story about a lamp on a stand (v16-18).

No one lights a lamp and hides it. Instead they put it on a stand so people can see it and respond to it.

When we’ve had the word of God sown into us. We can’t help but sow that into others. We can’t help but shine the light of Jesus out to others.

If you have no desire for others to know Jesus, no desire for your friends and family to know about your faith, then you’re hiding your light and in fact proving that you don’t really get what Jesus has done for you.

But if you do want others to know. If you want to sow the seed. If you are good soil. If you are shining your light then Jesus says you are part of his family.

Jesus’ biological family come to visit him in verse 19-21, but Jesus says his true family are those who

Luke 8:21 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

21 He replied, ‘My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.’

This whole section is all about encouraging us to hear God’s word and do it. It’s inviting us to consider how have we responded to God’s word?

As James would say in his letter, have we responded with faith and put it into practice?

Two things to do:

Shine brightly - pray for someone to notice your life and ask why it’s different. Make sure it is actually different and take any required corrective action.

Sow seeds - this week pray for a chance to sow seeds. To share your faith with someone. At work, at home, at school.

Give generously - make sure your wallet aligns with your heart. And assess whether or not you’ve got the same kind of whole of life devotion those women we read about in v3 had. Their lives and their finances were dedicated to spreading the good news about Jesus. Show should ours, for this is the fruit of good soil Christians!