Seedy Christians

SERMON: Seedy Christians Matt 13: 1-9, 18-23 July 14, 2002

I. Introduction

A. People love to define themselves

1. look at magazines

a) Teen magazines

(1) Survey: Are you boy crazy?

(2) Answer these 50 simple questions and you will know whether it is true love or not?

b) Other

(1) Test your marriage

(2) What is kind of worker are you?

c) What is your personality type?

(1) recently I got one - what is your personality according to Sesame Street Characters

(a) proclaimed it is used by human resources in job hiring

(b) included questions like: Describe your perfect date

(c) What is your favorite music? What is your favorite type of movie? Which would you rather do if you had a free hour? Which of the following food would you like to eat right not?

(2) Based on your answers you fell into one of five personality types: the wild and crazy Oscar, the friendly and popular Ernie, the cute and loveable Elmo, the romantic Zoe, or The Smart and intelligent Bert

(3) I was an Elmo. Which one are you?

(4) If you really want to know See me after church.

B. But the truth is We are a people of egos. We want to know how we measure up. If we make the mark. We want to know if we made, achieved it, realized it. We want the black and white of expectations so that we know who we are

1. we are no different today than people were thousands of years ago They wanted to know how they measured up, where they fit in, if they were in the right. And Jesus was more than happy to tell them.

II. Look at it with me if you will at today’s text. Matthew 13:1-9

A. Read Text

B. “That same day”

1. That same day that Jesus had addressed the controversy of plucking grain on the Sabbath

2. That same day that Jesus caused a controversy by healing on the Sabbath

3. That same day that Jesus that Jesus had to rebuked the Pharisees refusing to give them a sign

4. That same day when Jesus mother and brothers showed up wanting to take him home because they were beginning to think he was crazy

5. That same day when He was accused of being aligned with Satan

6. On that same day Jesus leaves the house and goes out to sit by the lake

C. Down by the Seashore -

1. No wonder --- it had been an exhausting day, a challenging day – perhaps Jesus was hoping to get a little peace, at little quite - to just sit listen to the gentle waves lapping at the pebbly shore - to reflect and think

2. Only the masses wouldn’t let him. That day had caused quite a stir – Jesus had caused quite a stir. The masses were curious. He different than any other teacher they had heard of . He spoke to them in such a way that they could understand. He spoke to them about life, he healed the sick, loved the children and feed the hungry And so they followed him. Followed him down the hill to the peaceful shore.

3. So many followed him that he had to climb into a boat to see them all Climbing into the boat may have seemed like the desperate act of a man trying to get away from the demands of people – but it was actually a deliberate and concise action my Jesus to get in touch the masses.

a) The boat on the smooth calm water created “something of an natural amplifier system” His voice was magnified by the flat surface of the water so much so that the people on the hill could hear him as if he was sitting right next to them.

4. “He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood”

a) He sat and the people stood - why is when I teach and preach I have to stand up while you sit down. Perhaps we should be more Biblical in our preaching and teaching and I should sit down and you should stand up - uhhhh - then again by the looks on your faces perhaps we won’t

b) Anyway….

5. Jesus gets into the boat sits down and begins to the people a story, a parable - a simple tale illustrating a moral or religious lesson. He told them

D. The Parable of the Sower

1. The title comes from verse 18: Listen then to what the parable of the sower means..”

2. But it isn’t really a story about the sower at all, it is a story about the yield of seeds sown.

3. In the first century, seeds were sown by scattering them by hand as the sower walked through the fields. An over abundance of seeds was used generously broadcast freely over the land.