OPEN:A Georgia farmer, ragged and barefooted, was standing on the steps of his tumbledown shack.
A stranger stopped for a drink of water and just to pass the time of day he asked: "How is your cotton coming along?" he asked.
"Ain’t got none," replied the farmer.
"Did you plant any?" asked the stranger.
"Nope," was the reply, "afraid of bollweevils."
"Well," continued the stranger, "how is your corn?"
"Didn’t plant none," came the answer, "’fraid there weren’t going to be no rain."
The visitor persevered: "Well, how are your potatoes?"
"Ain’t got none. Scairt - of potato bugs."
"Really, what did you plant?" pressed the stranger.
"Nothin’," was the calm reply, "I jest played safe."
APPLY: Why didn’t that farmer plant his crops? He was afraid. He was afraid of failure. He was afraid of the unknown. And maybe he was even afraid that the work of planting would be too hard for him. SO, he just didn’t plant anything.
There are many Christians who won’t talk to anyone else about their faith (seed of Jesus). They’re afraid. They’re afraid of failure & rejection. They’re afraid of the unknown. And maybe they’re afraid the work is too hard for them to do. They’re unsure and afraid… AND SO they just don’t.
HOWEVER, from what Jesus tells us here in Luke 8, Christians really don’t need to be unsure and afraid. The task of casting the seed of the Gospel isn’t difficult.
I. Think about it. Unlike Georgia farmer in our illustration, the farmer in Jesus’ parable was not in the least bit troubled.
Was Jesus’ farmer concerned about where his seeds landed? Noooo – he’s out there throwing the seed anywhere and everywhere he could. He didn’t even bother to plow up the ground (they didn’t in those days). We call it “no till” farming, but the people in that day called it… “farming.”
This farmer threw the seed on the weeds, on the foot-path beside his field, on shallow ground, and on the rich land. The seed landed everywhere.
He wasn’t particular where the seed landed because farmland was expensive and the seed was cheap. The way farmers of that day had it figured – you put good seed on good ground, you’d eventually get a good crop.
II. ALSO this farmer knew that the power in farming lay in that tiny little seed - not in him.
A farmer didn’t have to be particularly skilled to throw seed on the dirt. A 3 old could do this! But SOMEBODY had to throw the seed out there so that it would take root in the soil.
Paul tells me something like this when he says: ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ - How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:13-15)
What’s Paul saying? He’s saying somebody has to throw the seed of the gospel out there in order for people to hear, believe, and thus be saved. If we don’t throw the seed out there, nobody will be saved.
NOW remember - success in achieving a crop lays in the seed that we cast on the soil (that is: in our witness, or what we tell people about Jesus) not in us and our abilities.
ILLUS: A man who’d once been a skeptic told of how he became a Christian. He said that the church he’d been occasionally attending had begun to stress the importance of witnessing to people about Christ. One particularly slow young man in the congregation took the idea to heart. When this boy approached him the boy asked him if wanted to become a Christian. Almost rudely, he responded: "NO!"
The slow witted boy looked at him for a moment and then responded: "Well, then you can go to hell," and he turned away and left.
Because that “unskilled” – slow witted – boy was willing to throw out the seed, the man became a Christian.
III. Something else this parable tells us is: success in farming NOT ONLY depended on the seed… it depended on the soil.
ILLUS: (The following physical illustration is taken from “Heno Head’s Simple Science Object Talks.” If you decide use it, take note that you need to carefully measure out how much baking soda you use, and how much vinegar you place in each jar.
Since we have “Power Point” capability, we focused a video camera on the jars so that the audience could see the display overhead. I also acknowledge that my interpretation of Jesus’ parable isn’t as strict as it could be).
Now, let’s just pretend that these 4 jars represent the 4 soils Jesus talks about.
The 1st Jar (put no liquid in the jar - “the soil” - and put in as much baking soda “the seed” as you like) represents the stony path. This is the type of person that you try to talk to about Jesus and all they do is turn a deaf ear to you. They don’t want to hear about it. They may be polite, but their hearts are hardened. But the farmer doesn’t care, he casts his seed there anyway. You never know when this type of person will change and turn to Christ.
The 2nd Jar (fill 1/3 water + little vinegar and put in a measured amount of baking soda. The reaction you’re looking for is a little fizz but not much more) represents the rocky ground. The soil reacts with the seed. But because there’s not much top soil, the seed dies out quickly. This type of person is the one that will listen to what you have to say. They’ll even ask questions. Maybe they’ll come to church, but that’s as much you’ll see from them. But the farmer doesn’t care, he casts his seed here as well. You never know when this type of person will turn their lives over to Jesus.
This 3rd jar (fill jar to 1/3 with vinegar and put in a measured amount of baking soda. The result you’re looking for is for the vinegar to boil up almost to the top of the jar and then die down) represents the Weedy soil. This is the type of person who gets all excited about Jesus, comes to church, may even become a Christian. But their faith gets choked out. They never took the weeds of out of lives. They become distracted by something else and Jesus suddenly is choked out of their lives.
I read recently of a poll of teenage believers. These teenagers all claimed to be Christians, but when asked to answer this poll, about 70% indicated that they didn’t believe that God’s truth was absolute, or that Jesus was the “only” way to be saved. Commenting on this interesting phenomena, one man noted that these teens were basically saying that they God only because He made the most sense at the moment. They weren’t committed. If something else came along that seemed to meet their needs better than God – they’d be gone.
The 4th jar (fill jar to ½ with vinegar and put in a goodly amount of baking soda. The result you’re seeking is for the vinegar to boil over abundantly – you’ll want a tray underneath to catch the overflow) is the Good ground yielded a crop 100 times more than was sown. This is what the farmer’s looking for. And that’s what God is looking for. He’s looking for a believer who is more than just a casual acquaintance. A convert who takes their faith seriously and produces a crop.
Now, I didn’t have to be particularly skilled to get the reaction you just saw (in fact my 7 year old son put the baking soda in the jar for me – this added to the “unskilled” part of my illustration). The reaction (the harvest, if you will) depended on the interaction between the “seed” and the “soil.” It was the same “seed” in each case – but the soil was different.
IV. My point is this… You don’t have to be good at throwing seed to get a crop.
As a Christian, all you have to do is plant the seed. The seed and the soil do the rest. That is what Jesus is saying here. AND when you finally hit paydirt (the good ground) the fireworks can be enormous.
SO, we’re going to help you today to cast your seed. (At this point I introduced a “Bring A Friend” packet including a cover letter, posters, invitation cards, and feedback cards).
CLOSE: In the 13th Century, Nicolo Polo (father of Marco Polo) was visiting the court of the grandson of Ghengis Khan - Kublai Khan.
Kublai Khan was the Emperor of China and he had never met Europeans before. He was delighted to meet this visitor from Venice AND he was strongly impressed by the religious faith of this man; therefore, he sent a letter back to Europe urging that some educated men be dispatched to instruct his people in the teachings of Christianity.
But, because of political upheaval and infighting that was taking place in Europe, there was a long delay in anybody coming. In the end, only 2 representatives of Christianity were sent and even they lost heart soon and turned back.
Because of the failure of the church of that day, Kublai Khan turned instead to Buddhism and that has been the predominant religion in the area from that day to this.
By contrast, just last Sunday, we baptized a father and son into Christ – Bill & Isaac. Bill was not the most promising of candidates for salvation. Most people pictured him more as the stony or weedy soil. He’s lived a hard life and had held God at bay for a number of years. His wife had faithfully planted seeds in his life, as have others in this congregation. But until last Sunday it seemed fruitless. But now he’s surrendered to Christ, and tonight he’s bearing fruit.
In Bill’s neighborhood, there have been a number of boys that Bill had created a “paintball” club for. But once Bill gave himself to Christ, he wanted to give Christ to these young boys he’d been working with. Three of them are being baptized tonight, and more may be turning to Christ in the near future.
