A Small Seed
Text: Matthew 13:24,25
Mt 13:24 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
Mt 13:25 "But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away.
My message this morning is entitled, "A small seed." Repeat for emphasis.
Do not underestimate the power of a seed to produce things, both bad and good. The bible tells us not to despise the day of small beginnings. Small beginnings both good and bad are to be carefully observed.
Note in our text the enemy did not stay but went away, because the enemy believes in the power of seeds. He didn't stay to water it, he didn't stay to nurture it, he didn't stay at all. He planted it, and left it, trusting that the seed would germinate, sprout, and bring forth fruit. If the devil believes in the power of his seeds, so ought we, and so ought we to guard our hearts with all diligence.
From one of my commentaries:
And went his way. There is something very expressive in this. He knew the soil; he knew how the seed would take root, and grow. He had only to sow the seed, and let alone. So Satan knows the soil in which he sows his doctrine. He knows that in the human heart it will take deep and rapid root. It needs but little culture. Grace (on the other hand) needs constant attendance and care. Error, and sin, and hypocrisy, are the native products of the human heart; (repeat this phrase) and, when left alone, (grow and flourish bountifully) (From Barnes notes, parenthetical statements my addition)
Here are 5 truths about seeds you need to know:
1. Seeds are small but can produce much fruit.
2. Seeds are planted under soil, and once planted are not readily visible.
3. Seeds have to be nurtured to grow.
4. Seeds can lay dormant for a long time and will wait for the right growing conditions.
5. Seeds are planted in a great variety of ways including the feces of birds.
1. Seeds are small but can produce much fruit
We will talk about both good and bad seeds, even as our main text does, but for a moment lets talk about the seed of bitterness.
That is the kind of seeds the enemy likes to sow. Bitterness is a seed that is sown when the heart has been torn open by a wound. I like to compare bitterness to bacteria and the infection that comes with wounds/surgery.
How big is a bacteria?
Imagine if a bacteria could talk, Hey! I'm a bacteria and I'm going to whoop your tail. They are so small you wouldn't even be able to tell where the sound was coming from, and would
laugh off the threat. But you shouldn't laugh off the threat.
Doctors believe in the deadly power of bacteria, though they can't see them with their eyes because of their smallness. They believe little things can cause big problems.
Bacteria usually gets in through a wound, and multiply and cause infection. Just like bitterness.
Infections kill more people than surgery does.
Wounds are not usually deadly, infection is far more so.
According to the CDC death from infection is the 4th leading cause of death
in the US.1 2 More than Aids, Breast Cancer, and Auto accidents combined.
Behind every bitter person is a wounded spirit.
Bitterness is the fruit not of the wound but of the
infection that came in through the wound and was allowed to fester and grow.
Bitter people blame others and they would be better or taking care of the infection that prevents the wound from healing instead of complaining about how they got the wound.
Getting bitter is like tearing out the stitches, it prevents healing and promotes putrefaction.
Bitter people say, "look at my wound, look at my wound." God says look at the
infection of bitterness, it is far more deadly.
Some wounds that come our way are simply the work of the Great Physician lancing an infection to let us know the nastiness that is growing beneath the surface.
Washing of hands is the single greatest deterrent to infection.
In operating rooms they worry more about dirt and germs then they
do about splitting you from head to toe.
Let me illustrate this from the life of an evangelist friend. He had gone to preach a revival a number of years ago, and they took up an offering for him. The offering came to about $400.00 The pastor whittled it down and gave him a total of $34.00. Now for the rub, as if that wasn't bad enough, the evangelist was traveling 150 miles each way, each day to speak at the meetings. The offering was not covering his travel expenses to say nothing of money to live on. He continued to come night after night and the same thing happened. Got down to the last day and he realized something foul had settled into his spirit. He was talking to friends on the phone and was bad mouthing the pastor who was ripping him off. A seed of bitterness had begun to grow in his spirit.
Have you ever been ripped off in business? God is more concerned about what comes out of you, than what was done to you.
The evangelist was on his knees trying to get a word from God for the last night of the meeting, and all he could think about was how he was being done wrong. He realized his bitterness was affecting him spiritually and he told the Lord it wasn't worth $400.00 to be bitter, it wasn't worth $500.00 to be bitter, in fact no amount of money was worth what it was doing to his spirit. As he released it to the Lord, he went and preached in the Holy Ghost that night, and even took up the offering and gave it to the pastor. He overcame evil with good. His wound healed quickly.
What are you doing with your wounds? Seeds are small but can produce much fruit.
2. Seeds are planted under soil, and once planted are not readily visible.
A planted seed is not visible until it begins to break through the ground. Some seeds you don't want breaking through the ground.
Parents you don't know what seeds were planted in your children this week.
Suicide doesn't happen in a moment a small seed is planted. Through a song, the Internet...
Drug use doesn't happen in a moment a small seed is planted.
Fornication doesn't happen all of a sudden a small seed is planted.
Running away doesn't happen " " " In a movie, through the casual remark of a friend.
Going out and getting drunk doesn't happen " " "
Washing of hands is the single greatest deterrent to infections. Lord wash our kids in the blood.
Husbands and wives you don't know what seeds the enemy has planted or is trying to plant in your spouses heart. They are under the soil and are not readily visible.
Divorce doesn't happen in a second. Small seeds are planted by coworkers and family members.
Adultery doesn't happen in a second. Small seeds are planted, seeds you can't see but that just might be working their way up through the ground.
Choir directors don't just run off with the guitar player. A small seed is planted. A seed as innocuous as a smile, but with it comes an infection from the evil one. They treat you better than your husband does. They say nice things about you, your wife doesn't.
Church splits don't just happen a small seed is planted.
What you feed grows what you starve dies.
People don't just run out and get drunk a small seed is planted.
People don't just return to drugs a small seed is planted.
Washing of hands is the single greatest deterrent to infection. Lord wash our family in the blood. Lord watch over every husband, and every wife in this congregations. Lord pull out any weeds the devil has planted.
Because seeds are hidden from view it creates two issues we need to understand:
1. It inhibits remedial action. Because of that the bible calls for sober vigilance.
2. It also causes us to often underestimate what God is doing in the heart and life of others.
3. Seeds have to be nurtured to grow.
Man says to farmer: what a lovely garden God grew. Farmer responds: "you should have seen it last year, when God had it all by Himself."
Pr 24:30 I passed by the field of the sluggard, And by the vineyard of the man lacking sense;
Pr 24:31 And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles, Its surface was covered with nettles, And its stone wall was broken down.
Pr 24:32 When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, [and] received instruction.
Pr 24:33 "A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,"
Pr 24:34 Then your poverty will come [as] a robber, And your want like an armed man.
Good things take effort. Weeds choke good things. Water the seed of God's word with prayer.
Fertilize the word by confessing it back to God.
Keep the thieving critters out.
The exception to that rule is that weeds grow easily, and need to be constantly attended. Illus: me and poison ivy plant in NY. Poured gas on it, pulled out the roots, it kept coming. The lesson is that the sin nature will always be with us here on earth, but with diligence we can keep it from rearing its head, and ruining our gardens.
4. Seeds can lay dormant for a long time and will wait for the right growing conditions.
In June 2005 National Geographic reported that a date palm seed some 2000 years old - preserved by nothing more than storage in hot and dry conditions - has germinated, making it the oldest seed in the world to do so.
The ancient seed was found along with several others in the 1960s in the Masada fortress on the edge of the Dead Sea in Israel. Incredible a 2000 year old seed germinated!
The lesson is that seeds have incredible resiliency. The bible says Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
We need to be praying seeds that have been sown for God will prosper.
John Wesley was a popular evangelist in early America who often rode from one church to another to preach. On one such journey, outside of Hounslow Heath, he was stopped by a thief who shouted, "Halt, your money or your life." Wesley got down from his horse, emptied his pockets to reveal only a handful of coins. He even invited the robber to search his saddlebags in which he carried his books. In disgust, the thief was turning away when John Wesley cried
"Stop, I have something more to give you." Puzzled, the robber turned back.
Wesley then leaned bent over towards him and said:
"My friend, you may live to regret this sort of life in which you are engaged. If you ever do, I beseech you to remember this: 'The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin.'"
The robber hurried silently away.
Years later, at the close of a Sunday evening service, a stranger stepped forward and earnestly begged to speak with him. Wesley recognized him as the robber who had accosted him so long before but now he was a well to do tradesman and better still, a child of God.
Raising Wesley's hand to his lips he affectionately kissed it and sad in deep emotion, "To you, dear sir, I owe it all." Wesley replied softly, "Nay, nay, my friend, not to me, but to the precious blood of Christ which cleanses us from all sin."
5. Seeds are planted in a great variety of ways including the feces of birds.
Seeds are carried by the air, opened by forest fires, carried in the burs that attach themselves to animal skin and fur, are swallowed by birds and deposited in their feces in many and varied places.
Because of the many ways in which seeds are planted we need to be always on guard.
Strange seeds can find a way into the best kept of fields.
Sometimes the most amazing of circumstances can coalesce and create the perfect conditions to allow a seed to penetrate deep into a persons heart.
Illus: Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter was killed by a sting ray. The only possible way for a stingray to kill you is for it to stab you directly in your heart with its barbed spine. Seeds are like that, if there is only one possible way for it to get there, it will get there. That has both implications for the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of darkness.
We need to be ever vigilant of the various ways and means in which the enemy would sow into our hearts. I close with a speech given by Winston Churchill in June 1940, because in my mind it is the epitome of diligence and war faring that we as believers must do against the enemies seeds.
"I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.
At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation.
The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."
Close: Prayer for seeds, removal of the bad, blessing of the good. Pray for marriages, against suicidal thoughts, and seeds of immorality.
