Lessons From The Field

LESSONS FROM THE FIELD

TEXT: Matthew 13:3

Matthew 13:3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

l. INTRODUCTION -- MY UNCLE IS A FARMER

When I was growing up, generally at least one Saturday a month, sometimes every third Saturday, my mother would load up Mark and I and we would travel over to a little dot in the road called Ino. It is a tiny little farming community between Enterprise and Opp, Alabama. My mother would work with my Grandmother all day long and they would make her a new dress to wear to church. While they were sewing, Mark and I were left to the devices of my Granddaddy who generally had the ability to make even the dullest things seem exciting. Usually at some point during the day, we would load up in his old Ford Falcon and head off down the road to my Uncle John Edward’s farm.

He had a huge farm and it was more than just a hobby to him. He had all sorts of crops that ranged from peanuts to soybeans and who knows what else. He had pigs and cows that Mark and I always got to see. He had silo’s loaded with corn that my Granddaddy would always visit and take at least a small bucket of corn out of and go down and feed the hogs. He had fish ponds and we would get to feed the catfish some sort of food that reminded me of dog food. That was sort of neat, feeding catfish with dogfood (I am sure that it wasn’t but that is what it seemed like). We would go out to the barn and play on the tractors that were parked there and with the huge imagination of a kid, we would plow thousands of acres without ever going anywhere. My uncle’s farm was a real farm. He wasn’t one of these dude ranchers, he was the real deal.

My aunt Sue would always make sure that before we left, that Mark and I had a new hat to take home with us. It was either going to be a Ford Tractor hat or some sort of hat that had a fertilizer logo or seed company and they were always brand new, never been worn. Over the years, she probably gave us 50 hats. Then every year at Christmas, my uncle John Edward and aunt Sue would give us those fancy little metal tractors. We would play with those things and now looking back in retrospect, I wish that we wouldn’t have played with them but would have saved them so that they could sit on some of the bookshelves in my study.

There are a lot of things that you can learn from life just by visiting the farm. When I go back in my mind down memory lane to my aunt and uncle’s farm, those are some of the best memories that I had as a kid. So today, directed toward the fathers and the men on this Father’s Day, I want to speak to you about some spiritual things from the eyes of a farmer.

-Our text simply informs us that a sower went forth to sow. He had a job to do and that was to gain a crop from the field. I want to preach on a Father’s Day about Lessons from the Field.

ll. THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SOWER

A. Plowing and Planting

-One of the first things that the farmer will have to do with the ground is to take out the plows and let the biting, cutting edge of the plow to turn the soil over. This soil may have lain unattended for a single season or for a decade but just the same the farmer has to bring the land under his subjection.

-We must plow until the field has been entirely covered. We cannot work a little here and there and spend two weeks or two months trying to open the field. No we must work until we see it completed.

-I will go ahead and tell you now that you are going to get weary plowing.

Dust will fill your eyes.

Noise will fill your ears.

Sweat is going to run down your face and drip onto your clothes.

Blisters are going to hurt your hands.

Plows are going to get broken and you will have to repair them.

Your bones are going to ache with fatigue.

You will find a certain weariness that stays with you several days.

You will find frustrations from the mechanical failure of your equipment.

-This is all part of what comes with the plowing.

-There is a certain amount of perseverance that is going to be required of you Husband, Dad, or Brother, if you are going to find a harvest in your family, in your marriage and in your home.