“The Seed, The Soil, and the Sower?”
Luke 8:1-15
Introduction: 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 soda 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 (Statistics provided by Statista.com)
On the other hand, only an estimated 73% of the world today has heard of Jesus Christ (from IMB.org) 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 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? But my question to you is what if we don’t share, then they will lose their souls. And God told Ezekiel in Ezekiel 33:7-9, “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.” You see, God had given us His message to share, and its His Holy Word. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is a message that transcends all time and we must share it today. That there is a consequence of sin, a penalty, which is death, eternal separation from God. But there is also a reward for trusting in Jesus, and that is eternal life through faith in Christ Jesus. Believe me there are people out there who want to listen, and like it says in Romans 10:14-17, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? (And that word preacher simply means a messenger) And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” We are to tell others about Jesus, and leave the results up to God. He knows who will hear His message and be saved, so we must tell everyone.
I suppose the parable of Jesus that is widely known as the Parable of the Sower is familiar to most of us. And because it is so familiar to us, there is the danger that when we hear it again we think we already understand everything there is to learn from it.
Well, in today’s message based on Luke 8:1-15, I’d like to concentrate on three things that make up the parable: 1) The Seed; 2) The Soil; and 3) The Sower.
Scripture Reading: Luke 8:1-15 (All Standing)
I. THE SEED
A. Unrealistic Expectations – If you had been a follower of Jesus and you observed the things going on in the time Jesus presented this parable, you’d have had no trouble imagining the Kingdom of God taking over the world. People were flocking to Jesus, people were being healed, raised from the dead, evil spirits were being driven out of people’s lives, and the power of the Kingdom was obvious to all who chose to see. It would have been easy to think that the Kingdom of God would simply overwhelm all who opposed it.
1. A Puzzling Question – As Jesus tells the parable there is something puzzling. If it referred to the growth of the Kingdom, something seems wrong. The means of growth seems a little weak: A tiny seed so small that it can be devoured by birds? Why doesn’t the Lord of the Universe use an army of angels to call down lightning on His enemies? Because God’s kingdom is a kingdom marked by love and compassion. God’s kingdom is also not of this world. Jesus said in John 18:35-37, “Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
2. A Revelation – Well, my friends, the revelation as to how and why the Kingdom growth will occur is quite simple: You see, the “seed” is the Word of God! God says in Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Jesus says in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” His Word is eternal.
The seed is the Gospel – the good news that will be proclaimed from Jerusalem to Samaria, Judea, and even to the ends of the earth! The preaching of the Gospel will germinate into a kingdom of God’s people that will expand and flourish as people hear and respond to the call of God.
B. Don’t underestimate the power of the Word! Even though there are so many other means that some would prefer to use to bring in God’s kingdom:
1. Some are embarrassed to use God’s Word to spread the Kingdom, often because they know so little of it! Instead, they put other things in its place: Ritual and liturgy, sacraments, etc. But Jesus says in Mark 8:38, “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Rather we must say like Paul in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” As it says in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” So never underestimate the power of the Gospel.
2. Some, in times of crisis, offer comfort and concern at a human level without thinking to bring God’s Word into the situation. For example, when I go to visit a sick person in the hospital or nursing home, I will pray for their needs, but I will also read them Scripture to encourage them.
3. Others try to replace God’s Word with social action, or political involvement. The danger is that they forget the message of the Cross in their work for social or political justice. When we handed out the water bottles during the parade we were doing servanthood evangelism, and we had a verse of Scripture attached to each bottle, so the Word would be read.
Now these things may be well intentioned, but if they are offered in place of proclaiming God’s Word, then they are empty vessels:
Illustration: Friendship Center in Douglas, and Emmanuel Baptist in Nogales, AZ – where the Word was ALWAYS preached before distribution of food, clothing, etc. And most of the times it was me or Pastor Jorge Herrera doing the preaching.
II. THE SOIL
A. Is the soil important? YES, of course it is. But we should not be deluded into thinking it is the most important element of the parable. The parable is not a lesson in proper agricultural methodology! It is not about technique!
In fact, although there are four different outcome – the sower in each instance in the same!
1. The method of sowing is quite unskilled – The seed is just scattered without any control where it lands. The sower doesn’t have to look for the right soil – he just scatters the seed! What matters is not the skill of the sower, but that the seed is actually scattered and that the soil is fertile.
He just wants us to sow His Word, He will make sure it gets to where it needs to go, and He will water it and make it grow. We just have to be obedient. 1 Corinthians 3: 5-9 (Read it)
2. Is there a terrible waste of seed? At first glance, one might easily conclude that the sower ought to be more careful about where he scatters the seed. And as Jesus tells the parable, which really has to do with sowing the seed of the Gospel, it would be easy to conclude that the seed of the Gospel should only be sowed in places where the “soil” has been determined to be fertile. Many see the placing of the Gideon bible in the hotels as such a conclusion. But do you know how many lives have been saved by those people reading the Bible in a hotel room? The Gideon website, www.gideons.org, has a count of how many bibles have been distributed to date, and it is a running counter, as of Tuesday, July 21, 2015, there have been over 2 billion scriptures distributed.
As Jesus looked out upon the crowds that flocked to hear Him, He knew that most of those apparent converts would fall away. WHY?
3. Jesus explains – There would be some who would hear but then the Devil, like a hungry bird, almost immediately comes and takes away the Word from their hearts, so that they would not believe and be saved. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” There were some in the crowd who had already made up their mind about Jesus and weren’t about to take His words too seriously.
B. We, too, encounter people who refuse to hear the Word of God and be saved
1. Some reject the word out of hand – without even considering it.
2. Some refuse to change their destructive lifestyle;
3. Some believe they have no reason to repent and receive the gospel.
4. Others reject the gospel because they have their own form of spirituality;
5. Still others think they are just too sophisticated to believe religious “mumbo-jumbo.”
B. There are two kinds of people who receive the gospel with apparent joy, but it doesn’t last.
1. Those who respond with superficial faith – their response is purely emotional and it soon wears off because it has no foundation, no substance. They are like the “rocky” soil of the parable.
2. The other type of short-lived response is where there appears to be some initial growth, but the commitment was not sufficient and deep enough. As time goes on, it withers away as other competing interests choke it out. They are like the “thorny” ground of the parable.
C. Praise God! There are some who respond to the gospel – receiving it wholeheartedly and then, through Bible study, prayer, and service – it is nourished and cultivated until it bears fruit!
III. THE SOWER – What do we discover about the sower? Not much!
A. The “Sower” is not the critical factor – anymore than the “soil.” The critical factor is the “Seed” – the Word of God going forth into the world!
1. It is only the Word of God – the gospel – spread abroad that will bear fruit for God.
2. If it is spread abroad, some will fall on fertile soil – and it will germinate and grow. Do you what must happen to the seed first before it will grow? It must “die” first.
3. The “sower” simply scatters the seed.
B. This should be an encouragement to each of us:
1. We don’t have to be gifted evangelists, preachers, or even teachers in order to scatter the seed – to take the gospel to people.
2. We don’t have to have all the answers to all of the hard questions. The Spirit will give you what you need to say! It is not the quality of your reasoning and theological arguments that will have the greatest impact on others – but the quality of your life, as they see Jesus living in us!
3. Now lest I be misunderstood here, I want to make it clear that I am not saying we shouldn’t receive training! The disciples didn’t have a clue about being fishers of men till Jesus taught them. But they were obedient to His calling.
4. We must have some “seed” to sow! We cannot share with others something we ourselves do not have! So in order to sow the Gospel abroad, we need to be familiar with enough Scripture to help others understand that God loves them, and wants them to come to Him for salvation and eternal life by placing their faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ!
Conclusion: In closing, let me ask, in reaching our community for Christ, what is important? Is it the “Seed” of the Gospel? The “Sower” who spreads that seed abroad? Or is it the receptive “Soil” of hearts prepared to hear and respond when the “Seed” is sown? The truth is that each is absolutely essential. Without the “seed” of the gospel, what will the sower sow? And without the “sower” – how will that seed be spread abroad? And without the “soil” of heats receptive to the “seed” of the gospel, the “seed” will not germinate and grow into the fruit of the Kingdom of God – which is people who have been “born again” as spiritual children of God!
Now, folks, here’s the rub or the kicker! We have access to the “seed” and there are many here in our community whose hearts would be receptive to the “seed” of the gospel. The only thing missing is “sowers.” Are you willing to be one?
Jesus said in Luke 10:2, “Therefore said he unto them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”
Jesus said in John 4:35-38, “Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may receive together. And herein is that saying true, one soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labours.”
The crux of the matter is that we all need to be sowing life into the hearts of sinners everywhere. Let’s pray.
