Stopping Stagnant Growth
Matthew 13:1-9
August 6, 2006
Morning Service
Introduction
Would you rather be a tumbleweed or an oak in your influence on others? That’s the question posed by Galen Anderson, who wrote, "A man’s life is like either the tumbleweed or the oak tree. Some people just grow like the weed. They are of no value in their youth, and as the years of life come they break loose and become a blotch on society. They have no useful purpose in life -- just drifters. Their loved ones will mourn their loss, but society will not miss them. Then there are those whose lives are like the oak. They have turned from the frivolity of this life and have invested in things that have genuine worth. Their influence for good will live on in the lives of others after they are gone. Their death is noticed because their lives were spent bettering the nation and the community. They will be missed.
Life has a dynamic need for growth. Living things must grow in order to thrive and mature. Where there is no growth there is nothing but drifting. Think about all of the various things in nature that require growth
Babies must grow to reach maturity. Can you even imagine a bay that would not be able to grow?
Plants have to sprout from seeds and grow to produce flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables. Would there be any point in planting seeds if they never grew?
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 13:1-9
Look closely at what Jesus says here. He is searching for good soil to place the seed of His word, the seed of His power and the seed of His provision. The question remains is this: If the church is meant to grow, what is keeping us from growing?
The spiritual soil of the church has become polluted, making it difficult for growth.
Rocks of hardened hearts, concrete attitudes and unsurrendered lives
Weeds of complaining and disobedience work their way up and into our lives
Thorns of prayerlessness, negative attitudes and selfishness choke the life right out of the church.
Six Thorns in our Spiritual Soil
1. Ignoring God
He who has ears, let him hear
Jesus was encountering a major road block to His ministry and message. The people were literally ignoring Him. Our church is experiencing the same problem today, people are ignoring Jesus.
What am I talking about?
When you are prompted to come to the altar and you refuse to move from your seat – you are ignoring Him
When God speaks to your heart telling you to give and you don’t - you are ignoring Him
When God tells you to testify and you remain silent – you are ignoring Him
Ignoring God is a dangerous business because His direction is the only thing that you can count on in life. When you ignore him you lose that direction.
2. Disobedience
27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." 28 He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."
Luke 11:27-28
When you make the choice to do the opposite of what God wants you to do it is disobedience. Obedience is a choice that you and I make on a daily basis. It part and parcel with our walking with God. You cannot walk with God if you walk in disobedience.
Elisabeth Elliot, at Urbana 76, told of her brother Thomas Howard. Their mother let him play with paper bags she’d saved if he put them away afterwards. One day she walked into the kitchen to find them strewn all over the floor. Tom was out at the piano with his father singing hymns. When confronted, he protested, "But Mom, I want to sing." His father stated, "It’s no good singing God’s praise if you’re disobedient."
Most people are not radically disobedient with God overnight. It begins small and slowly grows until large portions of a person’s life are in rebellion.
3. Complaining
Do everything without complaining or arguing, Philippians 2:14
Paul calls the church to do everything without complaining. The last time I checked, everything means just that everything. I don’t know about you but I have encountered people who seem to have complaining down to an art. There are some people who can find something to complain about everywhere they go, even church. Imagine that someone complaining in the church.
The word for complain means to have a persistently bad attitude. It is a continual grumbling about something. Complaining flows out of a lack of contentment. Complaining is simply not being satisfied with what God is doing. The Israelites complained about God in the Wilderness and it got them all killed literally. Complaining does no one any good especially the person doing the complaining.
4. Apathy
2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. 3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. 4 Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. Psalm 86:2-5
When D.L. Moody was visiting England he heard Henry Varley say, "the world has yet to see what God will do with a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to the Holy Spirit." Moody would later comment, "He said ’a man." He did not say a ’great man’ nor ’a learned man’ nor a ’rich man’ but simply ’a man.’ I am a man, and it lies within the man himself whether he will or will not make that entire and full consecration. I will try my utmost to be that man."
Apathy is the result of an ongoing lack of care. There is no such thing as a perfect church just like there is no perfect pastor or perfect church member. Our problem is that we become frustrated with the things we want to see in the church that we forget that not everything in church is going to go our way. If you want to go to a better church start putting some effort into the one you’re in.
Many people look at other churches and see different programs and different things and maybe even envy not having those things in our church. Every single church that you look at has problems. They might different from the ones we are experiencing but they are there. Don’t fool yourself there is no such thing as a church without problems. A good friend of mine who was on pastoral staff at a large church told me this: the larger the church the more the problems multiply.
You need to stop looking around at other churches and make a decision to either be part of this church or not. Stop playing church games and make a commitment.
5. Focus
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men. Mark 1:17
There are two things that Jesus says to the disciples here and we cannot miss them.
1.) Come and follow me
Remember that both of these are commands and that means that they are not optional. If you’re a Christian you have to follow Jesus. Trying to be a Christian without following Jesus is like being a person without oxygen – dead.
2.) I will make you fishers of men
Newport has an amazing aquarium that has some many different kinds of fish in it that you have a hard time seeing them all. One of the things that I saw during a visit to the aquarium was just how much it takes to keep the place running. There are millions of gallons of water, thousands of pounds of food and hundreds of staff to make things happen. All of that just to maintain the aquarium.
Our problem is that we have become content with being keepers of the aquarium rather than being fishers of men. We have lost our focus for the church.
Have you ever been riding in the car with someone who looks everywhere but the road? The car always seems to go where the driver looks. Church is the same way, when our focus gets off the goal and the purpose we wander. The purpose of believers is to follow Jesus and be fishers of men.
For far too long this church has had its focus on the wrong thing – we’ve had it on ourselves. If we put half as much emphasis on seeking God as we do on trying to please others – this church would be thriving. We are to busy trying to get approval from people rather than seeking it from Jesus.
6. Selfishness
An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment. Proverbs 18:1
We have made selfishness into it own art form in the United States. We have become so selfish that we don’t even recognize that we have become selfish. Selfishness is so rampant in the church that people throw fits over the color of paint, the time of service and a host of other things.
Selfishness is essentially this: placing what you think is right before what God says is right. We place the desire of what we want ahead of what God wants and desires for us and the church.
You don’t have to like everything that goes on in the church. You’re not going to be ministered to by every single thing that the church does. There will be some songs that aren’t your favorite. There might be some messages that you don’t think are the greatest. There might be some ministries that don’t work for you. The goal of the church is to reach the lost
Who are you serving? Are you serving yourself or are you serving God?
Conclusion
Today are you going to help clean up the spiritual soil of the church? There can be no true growth without your involvement. You are the key because when your soil is fertile, then Jesus can use you to reach this lost world.
How do we deal with our spiritual soil?
1. Admit that there is problem - The first step toward righteousness is to admit the fact that God is right and you are wrong. The truth is that we are all wrong at different times in life and we all know it. The problem is being big enough to face it, admit it.
2. Confess it – This morning if God is speaking to you about one or more of these issues you need to make things right with Him. Stop waiting for the perfect circumstances to deal with God because there won’t be any. Deal with God now. Confession is nothing more than coming before God and admitting that you are wrong. Confession is telling God that you are sorry for your mistakes and your wrongs.
3. Renew your commitment to Christ – This is not a rededicating or a need to get saved again. Rather it is a reminder of where we need to be going and who we need to be following.
