PARABLES OF JESUS ǀ THE SOWER
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 3/9/14
In 1886, after the state of Georgia passed prohibition laws, a young man name John Pemberton invented a carbonated non-alcoholic beverage which he thought would appeal to Americans given the prohibition against alcohol. It was marketed as a “soft drink” as opposed to hard liquor and contained a mixture made from coca beans and cola beans, which inspired the name Coca-Cola. John first started selling the soft drink in pharmacies in his home town of Atlanta Georgia, but he had a much grander vision for his invention. He had a dream that within 100 years every person on the face of the earth would have tasted the soft drink he created. He didn’t quite reach his goal, but I’d still say he was pretty successful, wouldn’t you? Today it is estimated that…
• 51% of the all the people living in the world today have actually tasted Coca-Cola
• 72 % have at least seen a can or bottle of Coke
• 97%, if they haven’t seen or tasted it, have at least heard of Coca-Cola
On the other hand, only an estimated 73% of the world today has heard of Jesus Christ and I guarantee you—a whole lot fewer have actually tasted what he has to offer. I wonder how different things might be if Christians were as passionate about sharing their faith as John Pemberton was about sharing his soft drink—if we tried as hard as he did to put Bibles instead of bottles in the hands of people all over the world?
It’s not easy to share your faith though, is it? Maybe you’re just not an extroverted person. Neither am I. Maybe you don’t know what you’re supposed to say or how to broach the subject. And, of course, there is always the fear of rejection. What if they’re offended? What if it turns into an argument? What if I ruin an otherwise perfectly good friendship?
I wonder if Jesus’ followers had the same questions running through their minds. They lived under a very strict religious order and to deviate from the accepted norm was, well, unacceptable. They must have worried at times about what to say, if they were qualified to say it, and how people might react to them when they did say something. So one day, Jesus left the synagogue to go teach outdoors. He climbed into rough, rickety little boat, tied it to a stake and let it drift just a few feet from the shoreline. Soon, swarms of people gathered on the beach and sat in the sand to listen to Jesus teach. Among those listening were his closest followers and I believe Jesus wanted to give them a bit of comfort and assurance about sharing their faith in him. So he told them the same parable that I’m about to read to you:
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” (Luke 8:5-8 NIV)
Later, when they were alone, Jesus would explain the meaning of the seed and the soils to his disciples, but before we talk about those parts of the parable, we have to talk about the sower.
• THE SOWER
Jesus began his story by saying, “A sower went out to sow his seed” (vs. 5 NKJV). Without the sower there wouldn’t be a story. In fact, even though preachers always tend to focus on the four types of soil, Jesus actually calls this “the parable of the Sower” (Matthew 13:18), because it all begins with him. So who is the Sower? It’s Jesus. This story is actually about Christ coming into our world and sharing God’s message of love and forgiveness and redemption. It’s about Jesus reaching into the hearts of human beings and planting a seed that has the potential to grow into something wonderful.
That’s the first thing we need to understand when it comes to outreach or witnessing. It’s about him! We don’t share a religion or an ideology or a philosophy. We share a person. We share Jesus! And even though Jesus is the Sower in the story, each one of us who accepts Jesus as our Savior also accepts the responsibility of becoming sowers in his field. We have to be willing to follow in his footsteps and carry on his work.
When an unknown author named John Grisham wrote a book titled A Time To Kill, it only sold about five thousand copies. It wasn’t advertised, never made a best-seller list and it was never even reviewed by anybody. It was sort of a flop. Then he wrote The Firm, and it wasn’t advertised either. It was hardly reviewed, and the reviews it got weren’t very good. But people read it and liked it and told other people about it, and The Firm ended up selling seven million copies. Today John Grisham has written dozens of other books, and has had multiple number one best-sellers, and it’s not because of advertising or because of the publisher’s clever marketing plan; rather, it was because a handful of people liked the book and they told other people, until millions of his books had been sold.
Christians are people who like Jesus. They’ve read his book, so they tell somebody else. It doesn’t take a newspaper ad, or a billboard, or a clever commercial. Evangelism is just people who love Jesus, telling other people, until it has spread to thousands and millions and tens of millions and more.
Okay, so maybe you’re willing to follow in Jesus footsteps and sow the seeds of faith in the people around you, but you just don’t know what to say. Lucky for us, Jesus tells us when he explains the meaning of the seed.
• THE SEED
When Jesus later pulls his disciples aside and explains the meaning of this story to them, he says, “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11 NIV). The seed in the story is the Bible, the gospel of Jesus Christ!
When God’s message of love and grace penetrates a fertile heart, time and eternity are forever changed for that person. Remember what the Apostle Paul said about the Gospel? “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16 NLT). The Gospel is powerful. This is why, whenever Ashley and I go to comic-book conventions we hand out The Amazing Gospel—a comic-book adaption of the life and story of Jesus. By putting the gospel in people’s hands, we plant a seed that will hopefully take root in their hearts.
You may not always have a pocket New Testament or a comic-book gospel to hand someone, though. So it’s important that we be able to articulate the message of God’s word both through our actions and words. There are multiple ways to plant the seed of God’s word in a person’s heart.
First, there’s the testimony of your life. Francis of Assisi once said, “Share the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” In other words, when you live your life according to God’s Word, people see that. You become a living example of God’s word. Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Someone once said, “Christians are to be good news before they share the good news.”
Furthermore, there’s the testimony of your love. The old adage “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” is still true. That’s why Jesus tells us to love one another, love your neighbor, and even to love your enemy. Every act of love prepares the soil, making it more receptive to God’s Word.
Finally, there’s the testimony of your lips. The Bible says, “Anyone who calls on the Lord will be saved. But before people can ask the Lord for help, they must believe in him; and before they can believe in him, they must hear about him; and for them to hear about the Lord, someone must tell them” (Romans 10:14 NCV). In effect, the Bible adds to what St. Francis said by telling us that word are necessary! We have to do more than hope our friends notice the difference in our lives and figure it out on their own. We need to verbally share the Gospel. Some of you may never have done this and may not even know where to begin, so I want to give you one simple method of explaining the Gospel called the Roman Road to Salvation. It uses five simple verses of Scripture, all from the book of Romans.
1. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (Romans 3:23 NLT)
2. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NLT)
3. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 NLT)
4. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. (Romans 10:9-10 NLT).
5. Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. (Romans 5:1 NLT)
Of course, this is just one method of explaining the Gospel, but it a good one. The Romans Road, walks us through the heart of the Gospel. It clearly defines who needs salvation, why we need salvation, how God provides salvation, how we receive salvation, and the results of salvation. And, even if you don’t think you can remember these five simple Scriptures, you can download an app for your phone that leads you down the Romans Road and that way you’ll have it handy whenever you might need it.
Remember though, you may not actually lead someone to salvation, just because you share the gospel with them. Your job is to plant seeds. God will give the growth. There is one last piece to this parable, too. And that is the soil.
• THE SOIL
Rather than explain the meaning of the soil myself, I’ll just let Jesus do it himself. Once Jesus and his disciples escape the crowds, he explains:
The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest. (Luke 8:12-15 NLT)
There are a whole lot of reasons not be a follower of Jesus. Some people just reject the message of Christ altogether. They think it’s nonsense. Some think having a relationship with God is a great idea, but they’re too shallow to really let God into their hearts. Others accept the Gospel and embrace Jesus, but the pressures of life and the pursuit of money or entertainment or soccer games or fishing trips are always just a bit more important to them and they never give Jesus any room in their hearts. If this parable is any indication of real life, then 75% of the time God’s Word won’t take root because the soil just isn’t ready for it.
But notice that the farmer indiscriminately scatters the seed over every kind of soil anyway. No wise farmer would sow seed in thorns or on a footpath, right? Is he just careless, wasteful, or stupid? No—I think this farmer knew that some of the soil would be unproductive, but in order to get the best possible coverage, he willingly and liberally scattered the seed on it anyway.
Just like that farmer, God allows his words and his love to fall on many who will not receive it. He wants everyone to have the opportunity to hear the Gospel and accept Jesus. Christians sometimes tend to pull back from those who are uninterested or indifferent—but God doesn’t. In God’s eyes, he’d rather be rejected 3 out of 4 times, than to miss the one who might embrace him.
Even though God’s message to humanity will meet rejection more often than not, there are still “honest, good-hearted people” who will listen—who are eager to hear about God’s love and willing to put their faith in Jesus. According to a study by Barna Research 25% of unchurched Americans say that they would be very likely to attend church if a friend would make the effort to invite them! Think about that… that’s 1 in 4 of your friends who would be willing to come to church and hear the Gospel if you, not some stranger, invited them to go with you.
Conclusion:
With our revival coming up at the end of this month, now is a great time to plant some seeds and maybe invite some people to church. When we become as committed to sowing the seeds of God’s Word as John Pemberton was to selling soft drinks, we’ll begin to see a huge harvest. So what seeds have you been planting? Who do you know that you’ve never shared God’s message with? There’s good soil out there. We just have to keep spreading those seeds in order to find it.
Invitation:
If you haven’t believed the Gospel and received Jesus already, I want to invite you to do it today. Walk down that Roman Road to Salvation and receive eternal life and peace with God through Jesus Christ. Apart from him we die. With him we live. Choose life. Choose Jesus!
