Jim Benfer
Sermo903 for 11-20-16, White, Christ the King Sunday
Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-21
The Season of God's Word
You Might be a Redneck Gardener if:
- You mow your lawn and find a wheelbarrow.
- A half moon reminds you of your fat husband pulling weeds.
- You think a chain saw is a musical instrument.
- You know how many bags of fertilizer your car can hold.
- You've ever cleaned your house with a leaf blower..
- You can amuse yourself for more than an hour with a hose.[1]
We are going to talk about the parable of the sower today, and about those types of soil on which the seed fell. It's a wonderful parable, because Matthew makes us a part of Jesus' teaching by letting us in on the Master's interpretation.
Usually when we read the parable, we think of those places where the seeds landed and the ways in which they either took root or were destroyed. The seed is the word of God and the soil are the people upon which the word of God falls. However, there is another take on this parable that we should take to heart. It describes, with unsettling accuracy, the condition of the human heart. It tells of the seasons of the soul and how they have everything to do with the way we receive or reject the word God brings to us. Jesus' parable suggests that our souls also have seasons where we are more or less likely to let God's word grow in our hearts.
The first season of the soul is described as hard ground. This is where Jesus says that the seed doesn't find a place to take root and the birds come and eat it up. Jesus says that God's word is not being understood by these souls, and that the evil one comes and takes away the good that God is planting there.
We have all lived in this season before. It can come at any time in life. Our souls become hardened like a beaten-down path where nothing God is planting has a chance of germinating, at least, not until later. I would break this hardening of our hearts to God's word into several categories:
- Sometimes we are so busy with our doing that we don't grant God time to "butt in" to our business.
- Sometimes when we are young, we just haven't had time to sort out all the competing interests in life and discern which ones are really important.
- Sometimes we choose not to understand. It's just easier to ignore God because we want to set the agenda for our living.
Regardless, we have those seasons of our living where the soil of our soul just can't receive the seed of God's word. The final result is just as Jesus concluded, "The evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart." It's truly sad, too, that we limit our own understanding by the selfish barriers we raise. Often, our greatest enemy isn't the devil, but our own prejudices and desires. Our lives are truly gardens, to which our wills become the gardeners. How is the soil of your life?
The second season of the soul is described as rocky ground. This is where the seed can find shallow soil to root in, but the scorching sun soon causes it to wither and die. We describe people as being shallow, then why not also apply this shallowness to the spiritual dimension of our life? The end result is the same--shallowness makes us reject the message in God's word that we need most, or our enthusiasm is but short-lived or peripheral to the things we really give value to.
Even average people like you and me are shallow at times. There are just seasons in life where we are preoccupied with every other aspect of living and just give short shrift to things we know are needed for proper spiritual care. It happens with new members of the church and it happens with old, seasoned veterans of the church.
Jesus explained this shallowness as a failing that happens, "when trouble or persecution comes." We don't experience overt persecution as Christians so much today, but even a little is enough to discourage some. And, it also happens when someone joins the church with much enthusiasm, but as the newness wears off, they cool off spiritually, and before long they find the warm welcome has waned and other interest soon peak to take away what they once valued.
Young high school and college age persons experience a similar period. They are trying to find themselves and their place in life, and in the hustle of this time, church and devotion to God seem but just competing interests in an exciting world of possibilities. We need to be sure to remain in contact with these and let them know that they are important to us and to the church. Eventually, many can and will return as this type of shallowness wears off. The soil may be thin, but with proper nurture, these can be transplanted by the church into better soil as they are discipled.
The third season of the soul is described as a thicket. This is where the ground is fertile, but the competition from the thorny brambles of life choke out what God is planting. Jesus described God's word finding root amongst the thorns. This is where the weeds and wild things of the world choke out God's word even though it has found fertile ground.
Make no mistake. This is a hard word for us. Every good thing that life offers to us can also find root beside God's word and begin the process of choking the life out of it. We don't think of our hobbies, sports or activities as being weeds or thorns, but if we let them run rampant and untrained, then they will inevitably grow out of control until they squeeze the life from God's intended word for us.
There is no age of living in which we are immune to this threat. Just like a garden that was once kept, if we quit giving priority to God's word, then the garden will soon fall into disrepair and the wilderness of cares and priorities will take back the good soil to themselves. The irony of this part of the parable is that any soil that holds great promise, is the soil where the weeds and thorn will always seek to take over. It is only with great work and personal commitment that we will take proper time to cultivate God's word and keep it alive and growing. We also can't harvest what we don't sow So plant God's word in your heart, gently nurture it, and your life will be rewarded with abundance.
The fourth season of the soul is described as good ground. This is fertile and prepared land where the seed readily grows and thrives and produces a harvest. Folks, there are many times in our lives where we realize that this isn't the condition of our hearts. We may have let the hard ground predominate, or we may have left the gardens of our souls to the weeds and thorns, even though we say we love Jesus.
There is no substitute for hoeing the garden of our souls. The ground must be kept ready to let God's word germinate. The ground must be kept broken up so that the weeds are easily pulled. We will certainly harvest only if we take care of what God has planted.
If we are to bring forth thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold, then we will have to do the work of praying each day--keeping our priorities in line with God's. We will have to join with other Christians in worship so that our desire for God stays burning within us. This is a lot like putting the compost or fertilizer to the soil of the soul. We will have to read God's word and study so that more of God's seed may find root in our souls. We will have to meditate on God's word so that our faith will grow toward the harvest God desires. And, we will have to water it gently with works of humility, justice, and mercy so that the final harvest for the kingdom will be righteousness and more than enough to share with the world which is perishing from a famine of God's word.
Now, one final word about the seasons of our souls. You, not God determine what season it is. You determine whether or not the seed can germinate there. You control the desires that make your soul shallow. You are in control of what else grows in competition to God's word. But now is the time that God is reaching out to you to offer to work with you for a season of fertile growth in faith and righteousness, if we will allow it.
Whenever we serve as witnesses to the faith, we must do so with all honesty, because one doesn't know the season in which others are living. Some will be uninterested, distracted, or hardened against God's word. The truth is that we are not to give up on anyone, because God may work to change the season of a person's soul. It can happen today or many years from now, but we must remain at work so that we multiply the harvest God is preparing in us. May God make us faithful to the task, and may God add his blessing to the hearing of this word so that the season of good ground may come for all who hear it. In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen!
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