In Jesus Holy Name July 16, 2023
Text: Matthew 13:1-9 Pentecost VII - Redeemer
“The Parables of Matthew 13”
The Seed is the Word of God… We Just Sow
The message today is not about how to have peace with God not how to obtain heaven. It is about our walk, our responsibility as followers of Jesus. We begin in Matthew 13.
Matthew 13:1-2 sets the scene. Jesus was sitting by the sea. And a large crowd gathered around him to hear him speak or see him perform a miracle. “The Sea of Galilee was one of His favorite places to preach to large crowds by using a boat as His podium. The water was a sounding board and the sloping hills and curving coves were people sat was a natural amphitheater.” (Jesus A Theography p. 177) So Jesus climbed into a boat that was anchored at the shore. He sat down and spoke many things to them in parables.
This parable of the Seed and Sower is the first in a list of seven stories Jesus told in Matthew 13. (Read verse 1-3) Jesus gave these parables on “that same day.” What same day? The Sabbath. Later the same day on which He healed the man with the withered hand. This is the same day, the Sabbath on which the Pharisees accused Jesus Christ of working miracles by the power of the Devil.
It’s a nice day. The Sabbath services are over…everyone gathers on the hill side to hear Jesus. He is a captivating speaker and He might work another miracle.
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, others fell on soil that was shallow, some where it was rocky and others fell on good soil.”
When I was growing up on the farm, my father rented a farm down the road from where we lived. We had cattle there in the pasture and raised corn and hay on other parts of the land. There was this one little 2-acre patch that was an odd shaped triangle. The land was plowed and disked and made ready for planting. But instead of hooking up the drill my father had me take a small bag in which he placed the alfalfa seed.
Attached to the seed bag was a long cloth tube with a metal end that regulated the flow of the seed from the bag as you moved your arm from side to side. That was before the invention of the whirly-bird hand crank used for planting grass seed or fertilizer on your yard.
I would walk up and down the field slinging the seed from side to side. Most of the seed fell on the prepared soil but I’m sure that as I walked near the edge of the field along the road some seed did not fall on good soil. The birds had a field day.
The parable of the Seed and the Sower in Matthew 13 provide answers to the disciples regarding the success or failure of the Word of God. In verse 10 the disciple ask: “Why do you speak in parables?” Jesus quotes the O.T book of Isaiah in reference to why the Pharisees are rejecting His claim to be the Messiah, even though they have seen His miracles.
In order to understand the parable of the Seed and Sower, and the parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13 you must read it in the context of Matthew 12.
Matthew 12 begins with Jesus and his disciples walking in the grain fields. When the Pharisees see the disciples rubbing the grain in their hands, they challenge Jesus for allowing His disciples to break Sabbath rules. “Jesus: It is a Sabbath day. What your disciples are doing is considered work.”
By nature the Pharisees were rule keepers in order to please God. They were focused on traditions, rituals, and “bylaws”, rules and regulations of the Jewish religion. When Jesus arrived, many Jewish leaders missed the spiritual reality of Jesus because they were blinded by their religion.” (Who Broke my Church Kent Hunter p. 155)
In other words the disciples are asking: Jesus… “If you are who you say you are, why doesn’t every one believe in your message? A second question might be: “why are the religious leaders rejecting His message?”
These are questions that still ring across the centuries. Why does a wife believe and her husband reject? Why does one brother become a missionary and the other a pornographer? Why do two children raised in the same family end up with completely different values? How is it that the same Word of God produces such differing results in the human heart?
Jesus said the seed is the Word of God (Luke 8:11). It’s the only thing
that has the power to change the human heart. Preaching alone won’t do it because we cannot talk people into a new heart. Our words have no power in and of themselves. Programs won’t do it. Programs are helpful in creating fellowship and community….but changing the human heart is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Here is the central teaching of the parables in Mathew 13. There is nothing wrong with the seed. The seed is the Word of God. The same seed that the birds eat is the same seed that produces a good crop. It’s the same seed that produces a plant that withers away or gets choked by the thorns. Our job is to sow the seed but as we sow, we need to be realistic. Some seed will fall on the hard path, some on the stony ground, some on thorny soil, and some will fall on good soil. Sometimes the “seed” the word of God is snatched by Satan. But you can’t know in advance where all the seeds will fall.
(Sermon by Ken Prichard Keep Believing Matthew 13)
Preaching the Gospel, the Word of God produces different results. That happens in every church. Jesus told this story, this parable of the seeds so we won’t be surprised and we won’t be discouraged when things don’t go the way we expected.
The farmer in this parable freely scattered his seed. He carried the seed in a pouch slung around his neck and threw handfuls in every direction. He knows that a certain amount of the seed will fall on the beaten path where it cannot take root.
What the farmer doesn’t know—and can’t know—is where the
stones and thorns are just under the surface. And he may or may not know where the good soil is that produces lasting fruit. It is in his own best interests to sow his seed as widely as possible. The same is true with the Gospel message. The best way to reach more people is to sow the seed, the Word of God.
We do the sowing. We did not create the seed. We do the sowing. We tell the story of how Jesus changed our lives. We tell the story. We did not create
the sun and soil needed to nourish the seed. We do not provide the rain. We till the soil, we tell the story of Jesus. The seed must do the work, but it needs a receptive heart to bring forth fruit. What does a farmer do with unproductive soil? He plows it up, throws out the rocks, pulls up the weeds, waters the ground, and plants it again. God farms the human heart like that.
Jesus told the disciples and us to be His witnesses, where we live, work and play. A witness simply tells their story. The parables are stories. Every Christian has stories. Your stories are not about you. They are God Stories. They are stories about God’s work in your life.
You and I are to share our “God Story” with our unchurched friends at work and in our neighborhood. Do the math. Tell one “God Story” twice a week, with
an unchurched person for 52 weeks you will have reached 104 people. If just 40 members of Redeemer tell one “God Story” a week for 52 weeks that equals….2,080 stories told in one year. What if that doubled next year. Your story is about how God has influenced your life. God will use these stories to grow His Kingdom? It is His job. Our job is to tell the story.
Jesus said, “The harvest is great. The harvest concept is about receptivity, when the crop is ripe. When people listen to your “God Story” then you know there is an interest in spiritual things. When people feel stress… as many do in our culture, or when they are going through a transition, such as a marriage, a divorce, death in the family or worried about “home schooling their children… stress is a reality. Share your “God Story”. A God story is not an invitation to attend church.
This is why Jesus said we are “witnesses”, story tellers, not religious professors. Several weeks ago my wife and I visited with a former member who now lives in Seaside. She has amazing stories of how she shares her story with friends while hiking. One example recently: She has both Jewish friends and Christian friends who are both in their 80’s. If one is in the hospital, she’ll ask the Christian to visit her other friend just to tell his story. She lets the seed fall where it falls. God must do the rest. She does this with all her hiking friends as well. Conversations on the trail she calls it.
Think of the woman at the well in Samaria. She had a poor reputation in her village. Jesus wasn’t supposed to talk to a woman. She wasn’t supposed to talked to a Jewish man. But she had a “God Story” to tell her village. They came with her to the well to meet the man Jesus. He stayed in their village two days.
(Who Broke my Church Kent Hunter p.17)
Be a friend. Listen to your conversations. Will you have ears to hear their pain, their stress, their worry? Share what God has done in your life. Sow your “God Stories” recklessly. Let the Seed fall where it may. Let God bring growth. It’s that simple.
