Sermon
12th July 2020 – 6th Sunday after Pentecost
Text:
Matthew 13:1-9,18-23 - Sowing God’s seed
of love
I’m
not a gardener – I can barely gather the motivation to drag out the lawn mower
and mow the grass.
I
look with envy those who live in apartment blocks and don’t have to worry about
how long the grass is growing or how many weeds there are. Sometimes I feel a
little guilty about it as I know that in Genesis working in the Garden of Eden
was a blessing that Adam enjoyed. In
fact the name Adam means from the ground or the earth. But I also understand
that one of the first punishments of Adam’s sin affected his enjoyment of
gardening: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will
eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles
for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were
taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” So I don’t feel so bad
about my reluctance to do gardening.
But
in today’s Gospel reading Jesus uses a gardening analogy; a well-known parable
known as the parable of the sower which I would like to go through and comment
on. Some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. When
anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one
comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart I think we all know this
situation. Maybe you’ve tried to share
the gospel with someone. Maybe you’ve invited them to come along to church or a
church function. I remember some years ago when one of my congregations was
used by the local council as a watering stop for a local bike ride they
organised and some people refused to stop and go into the church. We shouldn’t
be surprised or disheartened when this happens but recognise what Jesus says
about this seed we attempt to sow: the evil one comes and snatches away what is
sown in the heart. This is a spiritual battle going on. This is frontline work
on the battlefield and before we attempt to do anything like this we need to
spend time in prayer and seek the protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit. So
remember that when you’re trying to share the Gospel with someone and they are
rejecting, even antagonistic – if that’s happening then your efforts are
working.
Too
often we think when someone rejects our invitations that we’ve failed – far
from it. The more we work – the harder the devil works but God’s Holy Spirit
will win so we are encouraged to persist in praying.
Other
seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang
up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were
scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. This is the one who hears the word and
immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures
only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the
word, that person immediately falls away.
This
is a sad situation. A person has heard the word – received the word – but then
falls away when they are persecuted because of their acceptance of the word. This
calls for us to take particular care of those who are new to the faith. We
can’t just invite them – introduce them to the church – and then leave them and
work on someone else. This puts a great responsibility on the church to follow
up visitors and newcomers to our church. We don’t just put them into our
database, put them in the directory and send out the bulletin and that’s our
job done. No, this make take a lifetime of nurture and maybe they may be the
only person that God puts before us. This is not about quantity – trying to get
hundreds or thousands through the door. No, the bible says that the angels in
heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents than 99 who do not need to repent. And
this cannot be just the role of the Pastor or the Pastoral Assistants. We all
have the responsibility of looking out for those who are missing – and this
time of isolation is a real danger period for us of people slipping through the
cracks. It’s so easy for one week to turn into 2 weeks to a month to a year.
Other
seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. This is the
one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke
the word, and it yields nothing.
This
is also an all too common situation where priorities quickly take over. Sadly
with 7 day work week – 24/7 society – sometimes church on Sundays become the
easy part in our life to neglect. Not intentionally. This is not saying that
church isn’t a priority but it is the easy one to manoeuvre around. Sundays
have quickly become family days for so many organisations especially sport. But
before we become critical of families – can you imagine what a child might
think of church when a parent says to them – you can’t play footy this morning
– we have to go to church. Or, you can’t go to your friend’s birthday party
because you can’t miss Sunday School.
Children
quickly begin to see church and related activities such as Sunday School as the
enemy. How often don’t we hear young adults reject the church because it was
shoved down our throats when we were growing up? I don’t know what the answer
is other than this is a real challenge for the church to work with families. Being
a Christian is not just about church attendance. It is first and foremost about
creating a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Other
seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some
sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!” This is the one who hears the word and
understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold,
in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
There’s
probably not a lot to analyse here. Sometimes we sow a seed of faith and it
grows but what we can gather from Jesus final statement is that sometimes it
produces a hundredfold – sometimes sixty and sometimes thirty. So he affirms –
this is not about numbers but faith. As I said earlier, maybe there will only
ever be one person that God places in your life to mentor and nurture in their
faith. In fact sometimes we may only have laid the foundation that someone else
builds upon.
Which
is what St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3: By the grace God has given me, I laid
a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it.
The
final thought which the Parable of the Sower leaves us is that we can sow the
seed anywhere. The farmer in our parable intentionally threw the seed on the
path. There was no hole in his seed bag but rather he intentionally threw the
seed among the thorns and the shallow ground. Even though he would know that
they were not good places to sow seed he knew that ultimately it was not his
decision or power to make them grow.. Have you ever thrown out food scraps and
sometime later you’ve seen something grow – maybe some potatoes or tomatoes and
yet when you try to grow them nothing appears. That’s how it is with God and
mission.
Sometimes
the most extraordinary results come from our unintentional actions. As, again,
St Paul says in 1 Corinthians: I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but
God made it grow. Today’s Gospel reading is all about mission work. And mission
work is different to anything else we do because we cannot measure it by human
measures. This is where we are called upon to trust in God and the work that he
is doing which we don’t always see. And unlike human measures this is again not
measured by human measures as the angels in heaven rejoice over ONE sinner who
repents. So let us be like the sower in our parable – let us sow wherever we
go. Let it be so natural to spread the love of God that we don’t even know we
are doing it, like the parable of the sheep and goats who had no idea that they
were doing God’s work. When did we see you thirsty and give you something to
drink? When did we see you hungry and give you something to eat?
We
can spread the seed of God’s love everyday of our life in every aspect of our
life as we go about loving our neighbour as ourselves. So may God bless you as
you sow his seed of love wherever God sends you. I’m not a gardener, and we
might think that we are not missionaries. But we can all spread the love of God
wherever we go and with whomever we meet. And let us trust God in all this who
promised in our Isaiah reading today: 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.
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