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Farmville
Life on the Farm – Part 3
I. Introduction
I told you last week that I never really spent that much time on a farm. Isn’t it interesting that farming has invaded the lives of urban folks through the internet. However, truth be told, we have been saturated with farm life long before Farmville came on the scene. As kids we learned about farm life. Old McDonald taught us what was on a farm. The Farmer in the Dell taught us the circle of life … farmer takes a wife, wife takes a child, child takes a nurse, etc. Farm life has been teaching us for decades.
I don’t know if the people in Jesus’ day had songs about farm life, but I do know that they were, and probably much more than we are, familiar with farming! So, I told you because Jesus was conscious of being relevant He developed much of the content of His teachings around agriculture themes! Perhaps the most famous and well known farm teaching that Jesus used is the parable of the “Sower.”
Text: Matthew 13:1-8; 18-23
1-3 At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories.
3-8"What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.
18-19"Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person’s heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.
20-21"The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
22"The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.
23"The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams."
II. Harvest Lessons
Out of this Farmville backdrop I told you that you cannot escape the laws of the farm. Your seed limits, limit harvest! Your harvest is your fault – you get what you sow. Your harvest won’t change until your seed does. And I told you not to fight the fertilizer. Then last week I told you to learn seedy math. Seeds multiply so you must sow the right things. Seeds produce after like kind so we must give our seed assignments! Don’t just sow randomly sow on purpose! We must protect our seed from the enemy and from ourselves. Too many of us eat our seed because we are short sighted and desire instant gratification so much that we fail to look towards or plan for long term harvest.
I want us to continue our discussion today, I purposely spent two weeks on seed laws/lessons because I believe most of us become manic or obsessed with harvest. Our job is to sow – our sowing determines harvest – so harvest will come. We will reap! We don’t escape the reaping!
One of my best friend’s brothers would go on harvest every year up in Colorado. He actually lost one of his brothers to an accident while on harvest and the other brother lost his thumb on his right hand due to a harvest accident. So I do want to caution you this morning:
We like to think that harvest season is the party time and it is always easy but harvesting can be dangerous if we don’t follow the rules! So let’s look at some harvest principles that we need to know!
a. Plow for your harvest!
We all want a harvest. We all want reward. We all want favor and blessings. However, few of us are willing to plow for the harvest! Hear an incredibly important truth this morning! You can’t have a harvest without plowing. We want to skip this part because it is hard work. We don’t like the idea of toiling, sweating, creating blisters and sore backs, but harvest requires hard work!
No one else will plow your field for you! God inhabits prepared places! Harvest comes to prepared fields! What are you doing right now to prepare for harvest? What steps are you taking to uproot (plow) and remove seed killers in your life? If you keep waiting for your ship to come in while your plow is in the barn you will never see harvest!
For some of you it is doubt that needs to be plowed out of your life. Doubt and fear has taken up root in your life and like produces like and drives out a harvest of faith and victory.
Distraction needs to be removed – a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways – singular focus is hard to maintain, but necessary for harvest.
For some of you it is sin that needs to uprooted and removed.
For some of you it is laziness. For some it is anger, pain, and past. What continually kills the seed in your life? You are getting good seed planted in you each week either through passion4word, my preaching, or other people planting life in you and if you continually reap no harvest maybe it is time to go back and do some plowing work.
Going back and digging up pain, past, sin, habits is hard work! But it is also necessary work! We must plow for our harvest! We are told in Hosea 10:12, “12 I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’”
If we are not careful our hearts, our lives become hardened and unplantable. We become like the path in the parable. Seed hits our lives our hearts and bounces off.
So plowing, although no fun must be done! Your harvest depends on how thoroughly you plow! Poor plowing results in poor harvest. Shallow plowing results in exposed seed. No plowing results in no harvest. The deeper the plowing, the more thorough the plowing the greater the harvest!
b. Keep your combine in your own field!
I need you to hear me this morning . . . there are no overnight successes! There are people who have plowed for years and then suddenly their harvest comes and the spotlight hits. Quit lusting after someone else’s harvest! They worked for it, they plowed for it, you don’t know the hours of sleepless nights, tears, sweat they have shed for their harvest! You can only harvest in your field!
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10 that we have an assigned field, an assigned area of authority and we should stay in that assigned area. We can’t boast about someone else’s field and we can’t harvest someone else’s field!
Too many of us are always looking at our neighbor’s field lusting after what they have while we allow our farm to lie in ruins, unworked, unprepared, and therefore we miss out on the good harvest that we could have wanting what they harvested! You can’t reap someone else’s prayer life! You can’t reap someone else’s Bible reading. You can’t reap someone else’s hard work! Work your own field! Keep your combine on your farm! Quit trying to ride someone else’s coattails into a harvest. Do the work in your life and become content and thankful for your harvest!
c. Check your soil!
Harvest is affected by environment – good ground equals good harvest. However, if you continue to sow in bad ground you won’t change your harvest. You will find your seed on the ground. I have news for you today! Good seed won’t turn bad soil good. Some of you continue to plant in bad soil hoping the seed will overtake the soil, but the seed is overtaken by the soil. You are wasting seed! For instance, that is why we are told that believers aren’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers . . . soil usually overtakes the seed! What does this mean? Quit going to bars looking for a godly spouse! Quit dating sinners hoping that you can turn them into saints. Quit playing the lottery hoping for a righteous harvest. Quit drinking hoping that you will find an answer to your problems in the bottle. That soil won’t produce a good harvest. Quit hanging around doubters they are soil that will kill your dream. Quit reading Facebook more than you read the Word . . . the soil affects your harvest! Some of us just need to do a soil check today! What environment are you planting into? Some ground needs to be worked. Some ground needs barbed wire surrounding it with signs that say avoid this ground at all cost! Do a soil study!
d. Harvest when it is ripe!
Ecclesiastes 3:2 very clearly teaches us a farm lesson. It says that there is a time for everything including “A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.”
Amos 9 teaches me one of my favorite truths! It teaches me that God can speed up the harvest. He says the day is coming when the reaper will overtake the sower. That means there are times in our lives when God will cause the harvest to be fast forwarded. Before we ever really plant we begin to reap. However, that is a God thing! The truth is that if we reap before time our harvest will not be mature.
Too many of us take matters into our own hands and try to harvest way too soon! We get head of God and swing the sickle in front of the plow!
Reaping a godly harvest requires patience & persistence.
That is why Paul says in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” Harvest requires patience! Harvest requires consistency and persistence.
Anyone who has ever farmed for a living knows exactly what this verse means. It’s one thing to plant a few tomatoes in your back yard; it’s something else to plant 5,000 acres of wheat. Full-time farming is a year-round task. You start early and you work late, 52 weeks a year. There is no end of the jobs to be done. Even during the winter there is equipment to maintain and preparation to be made for the upcoming planting season. You don’t get a harvest by accident and you can’t treat it as a weekend hobby. In the game your harvest may come in a few hours or days. In real life if you want the harvest, you’ve got to work when you feel like giving up.
Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with great talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, determination alone are omnipotent.”
Life is hard. Deal with it. People are jerks. Love them anyway. Things don’t go as we planned. Keep on moving forward. People forget to say, “Thank you.” Help them anyway. People are hardheaded. Share Christ with them anyway. Not all your prayers are answered. Keep praying! God doesn’t do what you think he should do? Trust him anyway! You may be scared and filled with fear. Keep believing! Your friends criticize you. Do right anyway! Do you feel like quitting? It’s always too soon to quit.
The most powerful part of harvest time is the process. The process is when you’re cultivating the seed. Cultivating the seed requires time. I’ll tell you right now that the fastest way to failure is a shortcut.
In the spring of 1980, Rosie Ruiz was the first woman to cross the finish line in the Boston Marathon! She had the wreath placed on her head, lights flashed, the crowd cheered. She had accomplished an incredible feat. She was a complete unknown in the running world. She had no track record of victory. Her first race victory in the prestigious Boston Marathon. But then someone noticed her legs. . . loose flesh, cellulite instead of muscles taunt from miles of training. Questions were asked! No one had seen her along the 26.2 mile course. The truth came out . . . she had jumped into the race during the last mile!
No success without suffering. Everybody wants prize without process!
A harvest is coming . . . wait on it and pay the price for it! Student hang in there the day will come when going to classes will pay off.
Employees keep serving faithfully! The day will come when your faithfulness and consistency will reap a harvest.
Parents keep correcting, disciplining, and loving the day will come when you will see the fruit of your labor.
Keep praying the answer may seem to be delayed, but harvest day will arrive.
Keep witnessing to your movers the move will happen!
Waiting on the Lord is supposed to renew our strength not destroy our strength. Could it be that the waiting positions us to be able to enjoy and handle our harvest? Let’s hold on for a mature harvest – don’t reap at 60 fold when a few more days, weeks, months, and years could result in a 100 fold! Harvest when the crop is ripe and not before and not after. Too early . . . immature harvest . . . too late . . . wasted harvest. Timing is everything!
III. Close
That people won’t run from the plow.
That we will keep our eyes on our own field.
Do a soil check this morning.
Pray for persistence to reap a mature harvest!
