Mark 4:2-9, 13-20
“Shall We be Fruitful or Unfruitful? That is the Question.”
By: Rev. Kenneth Sauer,
Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org
Not too terribly long ago, one of America’s most successful newspaper publishers was forced to close its doors.
A TV reporter interviewed one of their Pulitzer Prize winning journalists and simply asked: “Why?”
The journalist responded: “We forgot our purpose.”
This can happen to churches as well…and sadly it is happening to a lot of them.
Many congregations that were once filled with children, young adults, and families are now limping along with few—if any children,
few—if any young adults,
few—if any families.
What happened?
Where did things go wrong?
Was it that the buildings were not beautiful and big enough?
Was it that the pews were not cushioned just right?
Was it that there were not enough Sunday school classes, Wednesday night dinners, picnics and activities?
Why did new people stop coming to these churches?
Why did the children who grew up in these churches—not continue to come—bringing along their own children?
Could it be that many of America’s mainline churches forgot their purpose?
Could it be that for the past few generations these churches were no longer aware of the reason why they even existed?
Could it be that the children growing up in these churches—didn’t have a life changing experience with Jesus Christ—nor were they even exposed to those who were having one…and therefore, now see no reason for attending church?
Could it be that simple?
In the early 1980’s my family moved to Syracuse, New York and joined a big and thriving United Methodist Church with approximately a thousand members.
The pastor was great!
And although I was very young at the time, I remember a number of his sermons.
I also remember that there were a large group of young adults who’s lives had been changed so radically by the Word of God, that one Sunday, the pastor had them stand-up in front of the congregation and tell what they ‘used to be like’, or how ‘they used to behave’, before they accepted God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ—and were born again!!!
Now, I must admit, that as a young kid I didn’t quiet understand all this talk about being born again, and I didn’t fully understand why these people had once lived such different lives.
One thing that did come through to me loud and clear was that they had most definitely changed!
Because I knew these folks very well.
And they weren’t anything like the people they said they “used to be.”
They weren’t drunks.
They weren’t involved in drugs.
They didn’t curse and swear.
They weren’t mean and uncaring.
They were some of the most committed Christians I had ever met in my life.
They were fantastic people, so involved in the life of the church.
Several of them had even formed a contemporary Christian rock band—which I eventually came to travel with as a roadie and as the one who ran the soundboard.
Those were good times in the life of that church—very good times.
It was also, probably, one of the most formidable times in my life.
I was intimately involved with these people from the time I was eleven through my early teens.
Then our pastor got cancer, and the cancer forced him to take a smaller church—then a few years later he passed away.
The new pastor we got—who stayed at that church for at least ten years or so was a very nice man, but there was something different about him.
He didn’t preach the same kind of sermons that the previous pastor preached.
Instead of talking about being born again, or saved or anything like that—he…well, to be honest I can’t really remember what he preached about, but it was never, ever about heaven, hell, salvation, Jesus Christ, the devil, sin and a need to make a choice.
And Sunday school, well, many but not all of my teachers, didn’t talk to us about having a saving relationship with God…we kind of just sat around.
And the congregation didn’t witness to the community nor to each other…nor feel any need to…
…as a matter of fact, we didn’t even use those kinds of words like witness, or convert.
Soon, people started leaving the church, and they didn’t head for another United Methodist Church—they headed for non-denominational churches…one in particular was a very fast growing new church called something, something, “Bible Church” that now has—probably about 5,000 members.
The contemporary Christian rock band hung on for a while until the new pastor told them that he didn’t want them playing in our church anymore because he didn’t agree with their message.
And he didn’t like for them to have “altar calls.”
Which is what they always did.
So they left.
Others got so discouraged, disillusioned and confused that they left and didn’t even go to any other church.
Now, the folks that had been there for years and years and years—for the most part—they stayed.
But they are getting older now, and their children have not come to take their place, nor have any significant number of new folks.
Now one of the things I used to love taking part in each summer was our church’s Vacation Bible School.
And it never even entered my mind that there would not be tons and tons of kids to show up every year.
It saddened me last summer, when during a conversation with my parents they told me that they were not having a Vacation Bible School for the first time.
I asked, “Why?”
They said, “There aren’t any children.”
I don’t know about you…but this situation sounds a bit similar to what Jesus Christ is saying to us in our Gospel Lesson for this morning.
When the Word of God is being sown in the lives of people—things are going to happen…no doubt about it!
Something’s gonna happen no matter what!
Now some people will hear the Word of God, but Satan will quickly snatch it away…and they will soon forget all about it.
Others, will hear the Word of God “and at once receive it with joy”…but if they do not have roots…if they are not continuing to be fed the Word of God “they only last for a short time.”
Either they are in a church which is holding fast to the Word, but they don’t hold up their end of the bargain by being loyal to it and upholding it with their “prayers, …their presence,…their gifts, and…their service”…or the church isn’t upholding their end of the bargain by doing everything in their power to “increase their faith, confirm their hope, and perfect them in love.”
So, whatever the case, they don’t last…they drop from the scene entirely…
…when trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, “they quickly fall away.”
…and the Word of God no longer fills them with joy!
As we are told in 2 Peter chapter 2: “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness…”
…because there is not a more torturous existence than to know what it is like to Walk with God…
…to know the Way, the Truth and the Life…
…but then go back to the hateful and mean existence of the unbelieving world…
As 2 Peter continues to tells us: “Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.’”
And let us not deceive ourselves, this can happen to anyone of us very easily.
It is not something you want to endure.
It’s like being ‘lost in space’ with no meaning nor direction in one’s life…
…no reason to live.
“Still others,” Jesus tells us, “hear the Word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the Word, making it unfruitful.”
Is there anything in our lives—the worries of it…the deceitfulness of wealth, perhaps…
…or the desires for other things…
…that are choking us---killing us---ruining us---so that we can not be faithful disciples or completely sold-out for Christ—and therefore are not living up to what God has called us to be?
What God knows we can be and do through His Word?
Is there anything that we are letting hold us back from being effective Christians?
Is there anything in this life that is getting between us and our relationship with The Lord God Almighty---The Creator of Heaven and Earth?
Is there anything we are holding onto which causes us to be able to relate to the “Rich Young Man” who was not willing to give up his wealth to follow Jesus, and thus went away sad?
--which caused Jesus to say: “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
If so, get rid of it!
Cut it off!
Throw it into the dung heap!
If it’s money, put it in the offering plate, “then come, follow” Jesus Christ!!!
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
A dear member of this church was talking to me about how he tithes.
He said, “When I get my check at the beginning of each month, the first thing I do is give a tenth to God. Then I pay my bills. If there is anything leftover, I spend it on myself.”
That brought me nearly to tears!
This is certainly a person who has “in mind the things of God,[not] the things of men.”
What could we, as the Body of Christ, accomplish in this community for God, if we would all uphold the pledge we made to God when we joined this church and do what this man does???
It’s a matter of priorities, my friends.
Who’s our God?
Who do we love and worship most?
The things of the world, or Jesus Christ?
For where our hearts are…there is our treasure also!!!
If we are like most folks…
…who are barely getting by…
…but at the same time are desiring those things of the world like brand new expensive cars, houses, clothing, whatever…
…and we spend what we have on them…
…there’s no way we can give to God what is God’s!
But if we do tithe, if we do come to church every Sunday we are in town, if we do come to Bible study, Sunday school, and serve God by getting involved, making ourselves available, using our gifts and talents for His Kingdom…
...we will find our priorities changing.
We won’t be so interested in the wealth that so deceives, and the desires for the things of the world.
We won’t be choked by trying to buy as many new toys as possible…
…and the worries of this world will naturally fall away as we find that our lives are full to overflowing with all we need…
…as we…
…the “good soil”…
“hear the Word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
This, my friends, is true freedom—real salvation!!!
Jesus has told us what we are to be about…our reason for existing: “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Then He adds: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
That Newspaper company I talked about had to close it’s doors because it lost it’s purpose.
And many churches are having to close their doors—or will have to very soon for the very same reason!!!
And there is no reasonable excuse for this to happen!!!
But, what good is a church if it is not making disciples…
…by holding to the saving Word of God…
…the Gospel of Jesus Christ…
…and putting that first—before all other things?
What good is a church that is not bearing fruit?
As Jesus says, it will be “cut down and thrown into the fire.”
It is as simple as that.
So, “shall we be fruitful or unfruitful? That is the question.”
It’s as simple as that.
