WHO IS THIS JESUS? A FARMER LUKE 8:4-15 FEBRUARY 23, 2014

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1 1 WHO IS THIS JESUS? A FARMER LUKE 8:4-15 FEBRUARY 23, 2014 When I was in seminary in Denver I pastored two churches in the northeastern part of the state. Waaaay out in the northeastern corner. There was no view of the Rockies. It was high plains inhabited by pronghorns and a few cattle and wheat fields. I d been around cattle and goat ranching in the Texas hill country all my life. But this was different country. In order to get to know the people in the two churches, we spent some time around their farming and ranching operations. I can still remember Jill sitting up in a monstrous wheat combine in white slacks. That was very early in our time there. The white slacks did not come out again. We helped work calves. Jill was in the pen with them, helping divide out one at a time and push them into a narrow chute. I ran the chute, locking them into place and tipping it over so they could be inoculated and the bull calves could be ah surgically altered. Jill once ran a posthole auger where a new barbed wire fence was going in. I quickly learned that when the cattle ranchers needed rain the wheat farmers needed it dry, and vice versa. So I didn t pray about the weather. Thou shalt not test the Lord thy God. From our little weekend parsonage, we could look across the dirt road onto a huge wheat field that seemed to stretch to the horizon. We watched them plow, plant, irrigate, and harvest. Harvest time was interesting. Inevitably worship attendance dropped. As a 20-something first time pastor, I didn t press the issue. But the explanation was freely given to me this way, I know what the Bible says about the Sabbath. God rested on the 7 th day, and so we re supposed to rest on the 7 th day. But God rested because his work was done. I ll do the same. Right now, we ve got to get the harvest in before there s rain or hale. Made perfect sense to me. We joked that we had our apartment in the city and our weekend house in the country. That was a different world. When Jesus taught he used many metaphors and parables that called on agricultural practices of 1 st century Judah. And they might seem quaint and a bit foreign to you and me. But even so, they carry a lot of freight. Today we re looking into one of Jesus parables known as the parable of the sower.

2 LUKE 8:4-15 A farmer went out to sow his seed. That s why you got a packet of seeds when you came in this morning. No, it s not seeds from Colorado; it s not marijuana. They are wildflowers, cosmos. We hope you ll plant them today, and if we ve got plants and flowers by Easter we ll use them to decorate the sanctuary. But even more so, we hope you ll let them be a reminder to you of this parable. I know I already clued you in to the identity of the farmer with the sermon title. The farmer is Jesus. And notice, he s not just sowing seed, but sowing his seed. As Jesus explains, it is the word of God. What is curious is that he seems to be spreading it around rather indiscriminately. You d think he d spread it carefully, not wanting to waste any, but making sure it all falls on good soil. However, this is broadcast sowing, where you throw handfuls out on your land. It s not the careful placing of individual seeds on rows of plowed ground, but casting it out by the handful. It s what you might call promiscuous seed sowing. And the seed falls on all sorts of ground. Jesus does not withhold the word of God and give it only to an elite few who seem most likely to respond positively. He offers it to all. Some falls on a path, gets trampled on, and the birds eat it. Jesus explained some people hear the word, but it never gets below the surface. The birds are the devil who snatches it away, the person never really believes, and so they have no real relationship with God. Hearing and believing are two very different things. You can sit through years of sermons and studies. You can take all sorts of notes. But if you don t make it personal Some seed falls on rocky soil. Some people hear and receive the word of God with joy. But it never develops a deep root in them. They heard and perhaps even believed, but they never did anything to nurture their faith. So when the weather is dry and hot, the plant dies. When they experience tough times in their lives, their faith withers and dies. I know of a pastor and his wife whose young child died. I don t know all the details, but I do know the pastor s wife turned away from God. Years later, she still has not turned back to God. I suspect her faith never had deep roots. Are you doing anything to nurture your faith? Studies show that in the early stages of faith, 2

3 3 worship and group Bible study are crucial to spiritual growth. But there comes a point where you ve studied and studied, got notebooks full of notes, and more of the same is not going to help you grow spiritually. You have to become a self-feeder, learning how to read and study Scripture for yourself. And you ve got to become involved in serving and leading others. Only then will you continue to grow deeper roots. Are you doing the things appropriate to your spiritual growth? Some seed fell among thorns, sprouted and grew up, but then was choked out by the thorns. Their faith never matures. Jesus said the thorns are life s worries, riches, and pleasures. They grow up faster and taller than faith. Worries, riches, and pleasures. Life s worries. Jesus had a few things to say about worry. Mostly he said, Don t. Don t worry. Don t worry about what you ll eat, what you ll drink, what you ll wear. Don t worry about tomorrow. Today has enough cares of its own. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all those other things will be taken care of. (Lk.12:22-31) But sometimes it s hard to not worry about those things. Especially in today s economy, when your job may be hanging by a thread, or perhaps you ve already lost it and are trying to not eat through all your savings. And sometimes, even when our circumstances are solid, we can find ways to worry. Some people are professional worriers. They can walk out the door on a sunny day and worry about rain. They can receive a surprise check in the mail, and they think, Well, the tax man will be after that in no time. They land that long sought job, and then worry, I hope I don t get laid off. They can conjure up negative possibilities in every circumstance. The worrier s mantra is, What if, what if, what if. Worry betrays a lack of trust in God. The worrier either doesn t really think God is good and cares about their well-being, or they don t believe God can or will make a difference in their day-to-day living. Worriers can help themselves by meditating on God s promises in Scripture, by wilfully refusing to give voice to their worries, because every time you say it you hear it and reinforce it, and by hanging around and learning from people who are more hopeful and positive. But the thorns are not always worries. Jesus also mentioned riches and pleasures. There s nothing inherently wrong with riches and pleasures. The danger comes in when those things become more important to us than God. More money, bigger and bigger bank accounts and retirement investments,

4 finer things, a newer car, more expensive furniture, the newest ipad, ipod, iphone, iwhatever, the biggest big screen money can buy, all the designer label clothes. The next vacation, another cruise, the next trip to Europe. There s nothing wrong with those things in and of themselves. But are they more important to you than Jesus? Does hearing them in the list make you uncomfortable? Do you give more attention, my time and energy, more financial investment to those things than to the things of God? Do they crowd out your ability to tithe, giving 10% of your income to the work of God? Henry Ford once asked an associate about his life goals. The man replied that his goal was to make a million dollars. A few days later Ford gave the man a pair of glasses made out of two silver dollars. He told the man to put them on and asked what he could see. "Nothing," the man said. "The dollars are in the way." Ford said, Exactly. Don t let the dollars get in your way. Don t let anything get in your way. Finally, Jesus spoke of the seed that fell on good soil and brought a harvest 100 times what was sown. These are those who hear the word, retain it, and willingly obey it. They grow spiritually, and produce fruit for the kingdom. That sort of growth and fruit bearing are not automatic and sometimes not easy. But these are the two named characteristics of what happens in the good soil: spiritual growth and kingdom productivity. Is that what s going on in your life? Jesus is the sower, and he scattered seed here and there, on every sort of soil. He passed it on to his disciples, and they passed it on to the next generation, and that generation passed it on to the next, and the next, and eventually down the line to you and me. And now it s our turn to be the farmer. This is part of our kingdom productivity. It s our turn to sow seed. This thing of being a Christian is not just about getting my ticket to heaven. It s about following Jesus in this life and on into the next life. It s about living a kingdom life here and now, not just waiting till after death. So now it s our turn to play the role of the farmer sowing seed. Broadcasting the word of God onto all sorts of soils. In our leadership meetings we ve been talking about the mission of NWH as Building Up and Reaching Out. Building Up has to do with each of us growing spiritually closer to Jesus and becoming more like him. And if we re really Building Up, if we re really becoming more like Jesus, we will then be Reaching Out because that s what Jesus did. Reaching Out beyond ourselves, beyond the congregation, with words and actions that reveal Jesus. 4

5 It s about living out Jesus love, service, and truth in our community. It s about sowing seed, broadcasting the word of God through word and deed. This is where we so often pull up short. It s the dreaded E word: evangelism. We re hesitant to talk about Jesus. But if you have experienced something really great, if you bought a new car, if you got a promotion, if you ve had a new baby or grandbaby, don t you go around telling everyone about it? Yes, because it s such good news. Then why would we not tell people about what Jesus has done or is doing in our lives? I can think of only a few reasons: 1. We don t really understand what good news it is. 2. We don t really care about others experiencing that good news. 3. We re afraid of being rejected. The truth is, we might be rejected. Look what happened when Jesus was spreading the word. Some people rejected his message. Some people rejected him. But some people believed and were changed forever. Even the Son of God did not bat We should not expect to do better. But we should follow him; we should do what he did. Our job is to scatter seed. Oh, we ought to be as strategic as we can, so we don t offend people with overzealous insensitivity. If they re offended by the gospel, that s one thing. But we should not cause offense ourselves. We ought to be wise in sowing seed. But ultimately, the crop that grows is not our responsibility. That s up to the soil. Our job is to scatter seeds. This last year we had our first ever garden in the back yard. Jill had wanted one for a while. I was not so eager. I get plenty of yard work in mowing, edging and weed eating. Gardening to me is just more yard work. But Jill really wanted a garden. So we had a garden. Not everything we planted came up. I m not enough of a gardener to know why. Some plants came up, but they never produced mature vegetables. Something things came up, began to produce vegetables, and our dog loved them. Tomatoes, squash, peas 5

6 Fences didn t matter to her. Food did. But some plants came up, grew and matured, and produced some really good eating that we thoroughly enjoyed. Despite the fact that a lot of what we planted did not put anything on our plates, I think we ll plant again and continue the gardening adventure. Our job, as followers of Jesus the farmer, is to sow seed. It won t all take. But some will. And when you see it, when you hear the excitement of new faith in someone s voice, eager to tell others about what Jesus has done for them and in them, when you walk with them as they try their hand at ministry for the first time, you ll remember just how good the good news really is. And you ll be ready to sow even more seeds. 6