This parable speaks to us about

Transcription

1 1 Spring is here! The sun is shining. The temperatures are rising. The weeds are growing! If you re a farmer, or any kind of gardener, or if you live in a house with ground around it, you will most likely have had something to do with weeds! Now I m sure what we regard as weeds, God calls part of his creation. But like snails and blowflies, any beneficial aspects of weeds are usually lost on us, because of the inconvenience, and the cost they cause us. Where do weeds come from? Back in the Garden of Eden, when God described to Adam his share of the consequences of our first parents sin, God told him he would have to contend with weeds. No longer could he and Eve live in and manage a garden. What had previously been a joy and delight would now become toil. Adam would plant the things he wanted to grow, and things he didn t want to grow would just pop up and compete with his crop for the nutriments in the soil, the moisture essential for life, and Adam s time. If you re smart, and you want to make money, you probably should invest in a chemical company, instead of farming. They must be making a fortune out of weeds! I reckon I know a bit about weeds, from past and more recent experience, but I checked my dictionary as to the actual definition of a weed. It was simple, and appropriate to both the literal and metaphorical description of a weed as Jesus used it in our parable this morning. A weed is a wild plant growing where it is not wanted. That sums it up well. If you re a gardener, then a weed is a nuisance, an inconvenience. If you re a farmer, weeds become a more sinister problem. They can threaten your crops, and by association, your livelihood and your family. If you re a Christian, the weeds Jesus identified can rob your life of its vitality and fruitfulness. Weeds, like most things that grow, start small and may appear relatively harmless. But weeds grow quickly, usually more quickly than the plants we intend to grow; and left unchecked, they soon take over. Weeds, both the literal and metaphorical kinds, are a major problem. I love the way Jesus teaches. His parables are more than just illustrations; they re object lessons. He takes the everyday things people around him were familiar with, and he uses them to explain the deep truths of his Father s kingdom. He seems to attach a special significance to this parable, the story we often call the Parable of the Sower. This one is fundamental to our grasp of the gospel. Don t you understand this parable? Jesus asked his disciples. How then will you understand any parable? We apply both reason and faith when we approach the parables. They make sense to our minds when we consider what Jesus is saying, but they appeal to our faith when we seek to apply them. This parable explains why some people respond so positively to the gospel when they hear it, and others remain untouched, or unmoved. This parable speaks to us about

2 I. Making Life Count; Of making the most of life s opportunities. It speaks to us firstly about A. Receiving God s Word Obviously, from my title this morning, I want to focus mainly on the third soil type, or the third group of people in Jesus story. Each of the four different groups described has God s word sown into it. But only one group is productive. God s word is constant. Our capacity to respond is the variable. Jesus told his followers that some people are like the hard, trodden down soil of the path. The seed can t penetrate, and the devil swoops in and quickly takes it away. Some people are like rocky soil; the soil is fertile but shallow. Seed that lands in this soil germinates quickly, but because there is no depth, the plant s root structure cannot develop. It soon withers and dies. Some of us have known people like that. The third group is not really a soil type at all. The problem Jesus identifies for this group is not with the soil, but with the competition the growing plant encounters. There is, at least initially, a healthy, growing plant. I m suggesting this morning that we find ourselves in either of these last two groups. We have already received God s word. It s our intention, of B. Watching It Bear Fruit. Spring is a rewarding time for gardeners. We ve planted quite a few trees on our property at North Wangaratta. Right now, our Bradford Pear looks magnificent, just covered in blossom. It s an ornamental pear, and it satisfies our purpose in planting it when it flowers each year. We have several other pear trees. Autumn is also a rewarding time for gardeners. These other pear trees will flower soon, too; but it s the fruit we expect to enjoy in autumn that will satisfy our purpose in planting, and pruning and spraying and watering these trees. The harvest gives purpose and meaning and satisfaction to all the farmer s efforts. So too for Christians. We long to see the word of God take root and grow in our lives, and start to produce fruit. We look around us and see this happening, sometimes in remarkable ways, in the lives of others. This is what we want for ourselves. We understand this is what God wants for us, too. We don t want to be just ornamental. We want to be fruitful. Which brings us back to weeds, and their potential to undermine and even destroy this fruitfulness. 2

3 We saw this firsthand, literally, when we were growing potatoes. Most regions, most crops have a particular weed to which they are vulnerable. For us, it was wild radish. Each plant could produce thousands of small, hard, round seeds that could survive in the soil, we were told, for fifty years, while that soil remained undisturbed. Plough the paddock and prepare it for planting, and the wild radish was all set to go! It loved the concentrated fertiliser we used for the potatoes, and it thrived on irrigation. It germinated sooner than the potatoes, and unless we were on the ball, the weeds jumped away, and the potatoes struggled. Back to the metaphor, and II. Jesus Identifies Some Common Weeds that threaten our growth as Christians and have the potential to rob us of our fruitfulness. The weeds he identified two thousand years ago are still a problem today. The first of these weeds Jesus calls A. The Worries of This Life. Instantly, we know what he s talking about. Money. How to make sure we get enough of it to pay the bills. What to do with any left over. How to not become addicted to it, or want more of it than is good for us. Health. How to look after it when we have it. How to manage life in those areas which are not working so well. How to help others who are struggling. Time. Well, you know the challenges you face when it comes to juggling time. And if we wanted to, we can worry about global warming, global terrorism, what kind of world are we leaving for our grandchildren, will the government cave in to demands that they get rid of chaplaincy in our state schools... There is no end to the things of this life that legitimately concern us, even before we start to drift towards paranoia! There are worrying trends in the world around us. And Jesus calls these things weeds, because they easily distract us, and rob us of our time and our energy and our joy. Next, Jesus identifies B. The Deceitfulness of Wealth. Isn t that an interesting choice of words? Why deceitful? Reading through the gospels, we discover Jesus had more to say at least more is recorded about wealth and its pitfalls, than about heaven! He knew that the lure of wealth here he calls it a weed can easily become a pitfall, a stumbling block that will keep many out of heaven. 3

4 The Rich Young Ruler immediately comes to mind. Faced with a choice his money, or life as a disciple he opted to keep his wealth. Why did Jesus push him to choose? He knew the potential distraction the young man s wealth would be. Never one to mince words, Jesus tells us bluntly, You can t love God and money! You can t serve two masters. Not you shouldn t; or, it s better if you don t. You can t. It s impossible! Why deceitful? Jesus knew that the attraction of money is an illusion. It promises more in prospect than it is ever able to deliver. Paul, the great explainer of Christian truth to the church, is equally blunt. He wrote to Timothy, the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 We all need money. It is a useful medium of exchange. And herein lies its danger. We can easily start to love what should only ever be our servant. Jesus was speaking to his followers here, to each of them individually. There s a warning for us corporately, too. Churches also face a problem with weeds. Churches are not immune from an addiction to wealth. Read again Jesus indictment on the church at Laodicea. They saw themselves as wealthy, well-resourced, lacking nothing. Jesus described them as lukewarm; wretched, pitiful, weak. They made him sick! Wealth for them had become a distraction, a weed. They sat on the brink of disaster. One last weed. Jesus calls it C. The Desires for Other Things. If a rose turned up in my potato paddock, it would effectively be a weed! I didn t plant it there (why would I?) I did not want it there. It would only compete with the potatoes around it for the resources they needed to be productive. Do we sometimes allow things far less attractive than roses, to spring to life within us, to take root and grow, and start to divert our limited resources away from the things of God, and onto less worthy, and less satisfying attractions? I m not even going to start to list the multitude of other things that easily entice us. It s almost inevitable. Our western world offers us a bewildering assortment of other things ; we can usually see more than our hearts or our pockets can contain. Before we have achieved the next thing on our want list, we easily find that the list has grown by three of four more. They don t have to be bad things ; just other things. Jesus calls them weeds. Which raises for us the issue of 1 1 Timothy 6:10 4

5 III. Weed Control That could be tricky with potatoes. As I said, the wild radish usually emerged before the first potatoes. If weather conditions were right we looked for a warm, sunny day, preferably with a bit of wind a quick pass over with light harrows disturbed the wild radish, which sizzled in the sun, without affecting the potatoes. If weather conditions were OK. Gippsland weather is notoriously unreliable. It can rain for weeks on end! Post emergent sprays back then were a bit dodgy, with all kinds of warnings and disclaimers on the container. Was I really going to spray weedicide over our young, vulnerable potato plants, and risk this year s income? When all else failed, there was one, reliable, time-honoured way to deal with wild radish. Walk through the crop, row by row, and pull the rotten stuff out by hand! Do I need to explain that this was not my favourite part of growing potatoes? Whatever the method, weed control was essential. If the weeds were allowed to remain, our crop would be seriously impaired if not destroyed, and our income with it. Let me suggest three words to help us with weed control in our Christian lives. The first one: A. Simplicity Martha, along with her sister, Mary, loved Jesus dearly. Martha had a problem with weeds in her life. Now she had a bit of a sharp tongue, too; but that may not have surfaced in our story, if she d had a few things less in her life, and on her mind. Mary sat at Jesus feet and listened. Aren t you just a little envious of Mary s opportunity? What a privilege! Martha did what Martha always did on occasions like this; put on her apron, got out her pots and pans, and set about to cook up a storm. The steam was rising in the kitchen, and it wasn t all coming from the stove! The least Mary could have done was peel the potatoes! Luke s commentary is insightful. Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. What a waste of an opportunity of a lifetime! She was doing a good thing. She was doing a lot of good things! She was trying to do too many good things; and she missed out on Jesus best. 5

6 I m glad Luke recorded this seemingly small incident. Martha, Martha, Jesus said, You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. And he complimented Mary on her better choice. Simplicity is hard to achieve in a world that bombards us with opportunities and distractions. What would you give up to hear Jesus commend you for your better choice? Here s another word, or concept: B. Gratitude. It remains, for me at least, the best antidote to the problem of greed, and the deceitfulness of wealth. If I start to look around me at others, or at the ads on television, I can easily become dissatisfied, and want some more of the good stuff the world promotes as necessary; to enjoy right now, or to stockpile for future use. If I look at all Jesus has done for me, all he has given to me, and start to count my blessings and there are many of these my focus and my attitude start to change. If I learn to give away something I value; some money, some energy, some time if I can be generous with these precious resources I find instead of always looking for the next new thing, or chasing after more, I gain a sense of satisfaction. (Not that I always manage this, I have to quickly add. I think I understand the concept. Practising it consistently is a challenge!) I love Jesus teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. I have nothing new, or radically different for you this morning (although it was both new and radically different when Jesus taught the crowd that day). He reminded his listeners how well their heavenly Father fed the birds of the air, and clothed the flowers of the fields. They were much more valuable to God. Why should they worry? Why should they spend their resources chasing other things? C. Trust is our final word, and our last means of controlling the weeds which threaten to undermine our effectiveness. Trust is a bit like Round Up. It effectively deals with all three weeds Jesus identifies as having the potential to derail our lives as Christians. 6

7 Trust is an interesting commodity. A bit like faith, it can start as small as a mustard seed, and then grow bigger as we learn that trust placed in God is trust well-placed, because he is completely trustworthy. Why would we worry about the concerns of this life, when God watches over us, and Jesus promises to be with us always? The deceitfulness of wealth loses much of its attraction, and its capacity to deceive, when we know we can trust God to provide us with the things we need, and so much more as well. And the desires for other things lessen with time, as we learn to value those spiritual riches God promises to those who earnestly seek him. Still other seed fell on good soil, we read in the parable. This soil was open, cultivated, well-prepared and free of weeds. The seed sown in this soil produced a bumper crop for the farmer, who must have been delighted at harvest time. This is our privilege, our potential. God has done everything to make this possible. Wouldn t we do anything to achieve a bumper crop for him? 7