Saxlingham 05-05-02
Luke 8: 4-15
The Parable of the Sower
In today’s reading, Jesus used parable to teach with.
1. What is a parable?
Question 1. Do you know what a parable is?
Answer: It is the use of something well known – like seed growing in the ground - to explain a harder idea.
Jesus explained that the key to understanding today’s parable is to see that the seed represents the word of God.
Question 2. What is the word of God? Any ideas?
Answer: The Word of God is what Jesus taught and what is in the Bible.
Question 3: Any ideas what the Bible is?
Answer: A Book of History of how God guided his people.
A manual given to us by God of how to run our lives so we can get the best out of them.
Story: We have lots of manuals in our house.
A Car Manual for our Cars
A Seagull Manual for my outboard motor
A Manual for the PC
A Poultry Manual for the Chickens
A Goat Manual for our goats.
Manuals are not there to stop us having fun. They are there to make sure things run well and so we can have fun. And the Bible is the same.
Take my computer manual. If I don’t wire the computer up according to the manual, then I am not going to get it to work properly.
The Bible is God’s manual to the world. He has created us and so know how best we run
Question 4 Can you remember some of the things that God has taught us in the Bible?For example: Can you remember the two commandments, Jesus taught
The first commandment is this: You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
The second commandment is like namely this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. (Mt. 22 37-40)
Question 5: What does that mean?
Answer: Caring for other people
Question 6: Can you think of other things that God taught the Jewish people in the Old Testament?
Answer: Keeping the 10 commandments?
Can you remember what they are?
1. No other gods before God.
What gods do we have in our lives?
Money,
Pop idols
David Beckham?
2. Not make an idol into God.
That means not trying to draw pictures of God and then worshiping those pictures.
3. You will not misuse the name of God.
How often do you hear people say: “O God!” or
“O Jesus” as swear words
4. Keep the Sabbath (Sunday) free of work.
Doctors tell us we need at least one day free if we are going to function properly
5. Honour your father and mother –
or as one child once said: Humour your father and mother
6. You shall not murder
7. You will not commit adultery. (i.e. stealing someone else’s husband or wife)
We live in a society of so many broken marriages. If only people were able to keep this, the world would be a happier place especially for children.
8. You shall not steal
When I lived in East Yorkshire, we lived near a council estate called Orchard Park. “
It was said that if you drove through Orchard Park at less than 30 mph, you should check that you still had all four wheels on when you left”
9. You will not tell lies to get others in to trouble (false testimony)
10. You will not covet you neighbours’ property That is want it so much that you will do anything to get it off him.
So what is the Parable all about?
The Parable is all about how easy it is to become distracted from following Christ’s teaching.
Question 7 What were the three types of bad ground
Answer:
a) The Path
b) The Rock and
c) Among thorns.
Question 8. Why could the seed not grow on the path?
Answer: The ground was too hard to allow the seed to put roots down. And so the birds can come and eat it up.
Question 9. Why can the seed not grow on the Rock.
Answer: In rocky ground, there is often a little bit of earth that allow little roots to grow. But despite putting out roots, they withered because they had no moisture.
Question 10 What can’t the seed grow among thorns.
Answer: The ground might be good but the seed need sunshine to grow. The brambles take all the light and moisture away and so literally choke the plant.
Question 11 If the Word of God is the seed, what is Jesus trying say?
Answer: We are all happy to do what Jesus tells us provided we want to do it. But when we find it uncomfortable to do, we reject it.
Question 10. Can you think of any things that you are know are right to do but which you don’t like doing?
The Seed in the Good Soil.
Jesus said that if we listen to what he says and do it, we are like the seed that is put into good soil and grows into wheat?
Let’s see if we can think about what we need for the soil to grow:
Conjuring Trick
Let’s take this bag to represent the good soil.
Show it inside and outside
Let’s put a seed in the bag.
Involve the children as volunteers)
What do we need to enable things to grow?
1. Light – Shine Torch
2. Rain - Sprinkle water on the bag
3. Fertiliser – Put some Coffee granules into the bag
4. Manure – grind pepper into the bag
5. A cover to keep the birds off - put cloth into the bag
6. Heat – Light candle
Finally - wind – please can I ask you all to blow hard at the bag to see if we can get the seed to grow into wheat?
Now that we have all done this, please may I ask one of the children to come and take the seed out of the bag?
Lo and behold - a sheaf of wheat comes out of the conjuring bag!
