Sowing Seeds

Mark 4: 1 – 20.

Introduction.

A couple of months ago, I preached a sermon that I thought was a bad sermon. Of course, some of you are thinking, “There’s nothing new about that, Preacher.” And I guess you would be right about that. After all, I typically preach 48 Sunday mornings every year. And anytime you preach 48 times a year, there is bound to be at least one (or 24…or even 44) bad sermons in any given year.

This particular bad sermon was different. I actually told you that I thought it was a bad sermon. (Most of the time, I try to keep it to myself.)

When I told you I thought it was a bad sermon, I was able to see something miraculous take place. Many of you met me at the door and told me, “I didn’t think it was a bad sermon;” or, “You told us exactly what we needed to hear.”

I suppose I could have interpreted all of your comments as your way of being nice to me. We live in East Texas, and East Texans are probably the nicest people in the state of Texas. East Texans will find the one nice thing to say and usually leave all the not-so-nice things unsaid. But there is nothing miraculous about East Texans being nice.

Instead, I prefer to interpret your comments as a miracle. I felt bad about the sermon, but that didn’t prevent God from using me. That is a miracle. It is a miracle that God can and does use me. I’m not a perfect person. But, God can take all of my imperfections and still use me to accomplish what God wants to do.

That gets me to thinking about the way God works when I preach. On any given Sunday, there are at least two different responses to my sermons. Some people “get it.” Other people don’t “get it.” There is a part of me that likes to think people “get it” when I put forth my very best effort. When I tell funny stories…When I am very clear in my logic…When I discover something wholly unique about a particular passage of Scripture… But that is not the case. Your response to the sermon is bigger than me and my abilities to communicate. Sometimes the most effective sermon is the sermon delivered poorly. It is effective, because God uses it to speak to your life. It is more about God than it is about me.

Perhaps I could learn a thing or two from Jesus. After all, Jesus was a preacher. In fact, Jesus was a very famous preacher.

The Gospel of Mark tells us that when Jesus began his ministry by teaching and preaching about the Kingdom of God, people started getting excited. Word spread about Jesus throughout the countryside. People gathered from all the little towns and villages around the Lake of Galilee to hear Jesus preach. There were even people who traveled from far away places like Jerusalem and Tyre and Sidon. One day, the crowd was so large that Jesus had to commandeer a boat and float a little ways out in the Lake to preach to the crowds gathered on the banks of the Lake.

Read Mark 4: 1 – 9.

1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge.

2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:

3 "Listen! 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, so that they did not bear grain.

8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."

9 Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

(NIV)

I suppose it is possible that Jesus floated out into the Lake and noticed a farmer sowing seed out in the distance. Jesus could have directed the crowd’s attention to the farmer and used him as a visual aid.

A farmer went out to sow seeds. He didn’t have a tractor. He didn’t even have a garden hoe. All he had was a sack of seeds slung over his shoulder. The farmer reached into his sack of seeds, pulled out a handful of seeds and scattered the seeds across the ground. Then, he took out another handful of seeds and scattered them.

By scattering the seeds, the farmer didn’t have a whole lot of control over where the seeds landed. Some of the seeds landed on the road.

This was not an asphalt road like we think of. But, it was probably just as hard. People are creatures of habit and usually walk the same pathways over and over. As people walked along the same pathways over and over, the grass would get worn away, and the dirt would become packed down as hard as asphalt. Seed couldn’t grow in this dirt, because it just bounced off the hard surface. The birds would come and eat the seed.

Other seeds fell in the rocky places. These were the mountainous rocks covered by a thin layer of sandy dirt. These seeds could take root in the thin sand, but they couldn’t get the nourishment they needed to grow and thrive. They quickly withered in the hot sun.

Some seed fell in good soil. This soil had all the nutrients the seeds needed to put down roots and grow. But the problem was that there was already something growing in this good soil—thorns and weeds. So the seeds couldn’t grow…There was too much competition.

And finally, there were seeds that landed in good soil with no competition from thorns and weeds. The seeds put down roots and grew to maturity. The mature plants produced a crop—thirty-fold crop, sixty-fold crop, one hundred-fold crop.

Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

And that was it. The sermon was over. Jesus rowed the boat back onto the shore and dismissed the crowd. There was no invitation. There was no benediction prayer. The crowd didn’t sing a closing song. What kind of sermon was that?

I’m sure that’s what the crowd thought about Jesus’ sermon as well. Just imagine the people who had traveled a day’s journey to hear this new rabbi.

I can imagine a man getting home late at night, just in time for supper. While he and his wife ate supper, she asked him what he thought about the new rabbi. He replied that Jesus really didn’t say anything new or noteworthy. It was a story about planting seeds. Some seeds grow and some seeds don’t grow. Anybody who has ever lived on a farm already knows this. He didn’t really get anything out of Jesus’ sermon.

I can imagine another man who lived in a nearby village. He got home early in the afternoon and gathered with his friends. They asked him about the new rabbi. He told them that he thought Jesus was speaking about conservation. If a farmer scatters seed on bad soil, he can’t expect to get a bumper crop. But, if a farmer makes wise decisions with his seeds and only scatters it in good soil, he will waste less seed and grow more crops. It was a good lesson but didn’t really apply to this man’s life work.[1]

However, the disciples were a different story. Of course, they didn’t understand Jesus’ sermon either. The difference was that they wanted to understand what Jesus was saying, so they asked him.

Read Mark 4: 10 – 20.

10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.

11 He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables

12 so that, "'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'"

13 Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?

14 The farmer sows the word.

15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.

17 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.

18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;

19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop-- thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."

(NIV)

In explaining the parable to his disciples, Jesus really taught them two lessons. He taught them about the nature of parables and the meaning of this particular parable.

The Nature of Parables.

This was not a story about farmers, how to scatter seeds, or even how to grow better crops. It is a parable about people. The soil represents people. The seed represents the Word of God. Some people are hardened like concrete and cannot receive the Word of God. Some people are receptive to the Word. The Word grows in them, and they produce fruit.

Yet Jesus did not teach this in a direct way. He used a parable so that the crowd would be divided. Some of the crowd “got it.” Most of the crowd didn’t “get it.”

Jesus defended his indirect teaching methods by appealing to a passage from Isaiah 6. The disciples would have been very familiar with the story of Isaiah and of Isaiah’s call to preach the Word of God.

Isaiah was in the Temple one week when the presence of God showed up. Isaiah was given a vision of God—high and lifted up, God’s royal robes filling the Temple, the smoke from the altar overwhelming Isaiah’s senses. Isaiah confessed his sins. God cleansed him from his sins. Then, Isaiah was so excited about what God was doing in his own life that he volunteered to go and tell the people of Israel about the cleansing power of God.

Isaiah’s call came with a warning. Not everyone who hears the Word of God will respond by repentance and salvation. Not everyone wants their sins to be forgiven by God. Some people will see but not see. They will hear but not understand. Not everyone will “get it.” But that is no excuse for Isaiah. God has warned him of the way people will respond. Isaiah’s job is to keep preaching God’s Word faithfully.

In the same way, Jesus teaches in parables. He knows that some people will “get it,” but most will not “get it.”

Our English word “parable” is basically the same as the Greek word “parabole.” It comes from two Greek words: “para,” which is the root of our word parallel and means “along side;” and the Greek verb “balo,” which is the root of our word ball and mean “to throw.” In this sense, a parable is “something thrown along side.”

A parable is not a form of direct teaching. It is an indirect method of telling a story or making an analogy that stands just along side the truth.

A couple of my favorite modern-day parables: Even a blind hog can sometimes find an acorn; Don’t fight with a skunk, because in the end both of you will smell like a skunk—and the skunk likes it.

The truth of these modern-day parables is not that they describe hogs and skunks (even though they do). The truth is the way they can be applied to human nature. But the application is made by the hearer and not by the speaker.

That is the way it is with the parables of Jesus and with the Word of God in general. No matter how clearly the Word of God is presented…Some people will “get it”…While other people will not “get it.”

Good and Bad Soil.

Jesus interprets the parable for his disciples by telling them it is a story about people and the Word of God. The seed represents the Word of God. The four different types of soil represent four different types of people.

Some people are like the hard soil. They hear the Gospel. They hear the teachings of Jesus. They hear the commandments and the ethical instructions in the Bible. But, everything just bounces off them. They are thick-skulled. They are hard-hearted. The Word of God cannot penetrate their outer shells.

Some people are shallow. When they first hear the Gospel, they respond with joy and excitement! They are more than likely looking for a quick and easy fix for their lives. They want the promise of Heaven and a life of wealth and ease on earth. If the Gospel can promise them an easy life, they will accept it. If the Gospel brings pain and suffering, well…that’s another story. They don’t want to think about the Christian life as a journey of faith. They don’t want to grow in discipleship.

Some people are like the soil where thorns and weeds grow. They are good soil for the Gospel, but they are also good soil for anything else that gets taught in the world. The Gospel can grow in their lives, but it is often forced out by competition. Just as the weeds and thorns choke out the seed, the worries of the world choke out the Gospel. These people are so distracted by their personal wealth, the day-to-day struggles of their jobs, their family vacations or family entertainment and sports that the Gospel gets choked out. Or maybe the Gospel is planted in their lives, but the commandments and ethical teachings of the Bible are choked out. They don’t live out the faith they profess on Sunday mornings…or the faith they profess on the Sundays they actually come to church.

I think it is worth noting here that God did not make the soil hard, shallow or easily overcome by competition. The hard soil was good soil at one time. It became hardened as other people walked on it and packed it down as hard as asphalt. The shallow soil could be good soil if it were not for the outside influence of the rocks. The soil overcome with thorns and weeds would be great soil for the Word of God…

Soil cannot change its own nature. But people like you and I can. Do we allow the circumstances of life and the people around us harden us to the Gospel and the Word of God? Do we allow the rocky times in life to make us shallow? Are we so receptive to the influences of the world that we leave no room for God to speak into our lives?

I think one way to interpret this parable is to consider the expectations you bring with you to church, and the expectations you have for the Word of God. I have discovered that God meets and often exceeds our expectations.

What did you expect to happen at church today? Perhaps you expected to hear the preacher say something that offended you so that you could get on the phone or email to complain to your friends. Perhaps you expected the music to be too loud and contemporary or too slow and traditional. Perhaps you came to church expecting nothing… Or did you come to church expecting to hear a word from God?

If you want to come to church and leave unaffected…Don’t worry. That’s exactly what you will get…Nothing.

But, if you come to church expecting something… Hold on. That is exactly what you will get. You can have as much of God in your life as you want. Your life can be changed by the Word of God and the Presence of God. All you have to do is approach God with an expectation that he will do something in your life. You might not get to decide what God will do in your life. But you do get to decide whether or not you are ready to receive God’s Word and God’s plan for your life.

Conclusion.

I think there is one more lesson to learn from this parable. Jesus told us that the seed represents the Word of God. Jesus told us that the soil represents four different types of people. But, Jesus did NOT tell us who or what the sower represents.

The Greeks of Jesus’ day were very familiar with the image of the sower as representing a teacher. The teacher sows knowledge, and the students are the soil which receives the seed.

But, that is not what the Jews thought. The Old Testament uses the image of the sower to represent God. God sows his Word, and God’s people are the soil which receives the seed. Perhaps we should recognize Jesus as the sower.

If Jesus is the sower, then it would not be difficult to apply the work of sowing seeds to the work of the church. That is not to say we are equal to Jesus. But, it is to say the church does the work of Jesus until Jesus returns.

It is our job to sow seeds of the Gospel and the seeds of God’s Word. We don’t get to prejudge the soil and decide where to sow and where not to sow. We are to scatter God’s Word indiscriminately…Good soil…Bad soil…Everywhere we go…Everything we do…

It is not our job to grow the seeds of God’s Word. Only God can bring success. It is our job to be faithful in sowing God’s Word.

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[1] These two characters and the idea for this sermon come from a sermon preached by Haddon Robinson at the Fourteenth Annual Samford Pastors’ School, 2001.