Church Sermon - July 14, 2002

GOOD SOIL FOR THE SEED

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

 Epistle Lesson; Romans 8:18-25
Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 55:10-11
Sermon Text; Matthew 13:1-9(18-23)

Today's sermon text is probably a very familiar one, for many of you. It is no doubt a portion from Scripture that many of you have heard, many times before.

At this time Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. A parable is simply an earthly story, with a heavenly meaning. Jesus, by telling this parable and explaining it, was carrying out one of His God-given tasks.

The primary God-given task of Jesus was to live a perfect life of love and then head to the cross, to die as our substitute. His secondary work was to teach and preach the good news of His redemptive work.

Today we see Jesus fulfilling his secondary work of teaching and preaching God's Word to those who hear it.

As we hear God's Word, may the soil of our hearts be prepared to receive that precious seed, which is the Word of God, to grow and be nourished so that we can stand firm in the faith and sow in love.

In Jesus' parable, the farmer spread his seed over four different types of ground. These represent the four different kinds of hearts that the Word of God falls on.

Jesus tells us that some of the seed fell on the path. The soil was hard and could not be penetrated. The birds came and ate the seed. This soil represents the hard-hearted listener. A heart like this, fails to realize how important the Word of God is, in life. This heart feels that it can get along without the Word of God. This heart may think that he or she has his or her own answers to what life is all about. This heart feels as if it is free (as Pastor Bartels said in his sermon last week), but is really captive to the Devil. This heart has ears, but it doesn't hear.

As you look at your life, this morning, maybe you realize that you are not growing spiritually. It might be because you have hardened your heart to what God is telling you.

The point of going to church is to hear from God personally. If you walk away from a service and think, "That was great. I hope "so and so" was listening, because they really needed that." That is missing the point.

Jesus tells us that some of the seed fell on rocky soil. This soil has just a thin layer of soil over the rocks. Seeds lodged in this soil take root, but soon the roots reach the rock and can’t go any further. This soil represents the listener who receives God's Word immediately, but has very little spiritual strength to withstand trials and persecutions in life.

An example would be an adult in the instruction class who doesn't miss an opportunity to attend. He or she is so excited and enthusiastic! But it doesn't last. When the instruction period comes to an end, the persecution period is just beginning, and he or she can't take the heat. He or she isn't rooted in God's Word and quickly falls away. We too can have a tendency to listen, in a shallow sort of way.

Jesus tells us that some of the seed fell onto ground with thorns. This soil has plenty of depth to take root, but the thorns take over. We may get so busy with so many things that we can't hear Jesus speaking to us. This heart can't even find the time to pray. This is a heart that becomes involved in many things and Jesus takes a back seat.

Jesus tells us that some of the seed fell onto good soil. The fertile soil represents the heart that listens to God's Word. It is a sincere heart that is grounded in God's Word.

How do you receive the Words of Jesus? When you read the Bible, when you hear its teaching, when you pray and God speaks to you - how do you hear His Word?

If we're honest, sometimes we are like hard ground, and God's Word just bounces right off. We ignore what God is telling us, we stop up our ears, or we reject it entirely. Then we wonder why our lives don't bear any fruit. We are like the seed sown along the path when we don't care about or don't expect to receive anything from God. Jesus said the person who doesn't understand the Word, has it snatched away.

Sometimes we are like the soil that allows the seed to sprout, but is not deep enough to let growth occur. We hear God and think we know what He is saying, but we don't listen. We walk away from facing the mirror of The Word and we let it affect only a part of our lives, or just affect us temporarily. When any trouble comes, Jesus isn’t a deep part of our lives so we panic and whither away. It happens also, when we neglect to continually take in nourishment from The Word. We become parched and dehydrated and weak, no wonder the Devil is able to overtake us.

Sometimes we hear what God says, but we change what He says to see what’s in it for ourselves. In that case the cares of the world become more important. And, the temptations of the world become easy traps for us, because we focus on ourselves and not on God.

There is a part of us that is closed to God’s Word, closed to growth. It is hard, and almost can’t be penetrated. Sin is that hardness, around the heart. There is also a part of us that is shallow. We all too easily resolve to change, to pray more, to be more of this or that, and just as often fail. The Word of God delights us for a moment and then we revert to our former selves. And who among us is free from the entanglements with the world, such as worries?

We all have these three types of soils in us.

It is the Law in God’s Word that has come and has prepared our hearts to hear the Gospel in His Word. He plows through the hard ground. He breaks and pounds the rocky ground. He pulls the thorns from the weedy ground to prepare our hearts to hear His Word, so that we can hear the beautiful love He has given to us.

God loved us sinners so much that

He sent His Son

Jesus loved us so much that

He willing took the punishment

we deserved

for our sins

upon Himself,

at the cross.

The Holy Spirit has prepared us to hear His Word. Let’s use our ears to hear God’s Word, so that our hearts are nourished and able to stand firm in the faith and now be able to sow in love.

God has given us a privilege to sow His Word. One of the joys of this parable is that even though a lot of seed seems like it is wasted, some seed falls on ground and it takes root! And this should be an encouragement to us, who are sowing seeds and nothing seems to be happening!

For those who are helping with the Evangelism survey/canvass, the soil of your heart was prepared, so that when God’s Word was sown it took root, and has produced a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

The fruit of your coming to faith is now being sown in love. As you go forth into the neighborhood, as you, members of Holy Cross, share your faith, you are sowing in love what you have heard.

The next time you go for a walk, look down at the sidewalk. There, you will see many cracks, with many blades of grass growing out of those cracks. As we spread God’s Word, may we scatter His Word in love like the farmer of our text. We may never know if anything grew, but a seed is sown, and the Holy Spirit can work.

 Let us pray.

 God of seedtime and harvest,

You have generously sown the Good Seed in our hearts. May what you have planted, not only take root, but also flourish, producing abundant fruits of faith so we can sow in love.

In Jesus’ name, we pray.

Amen.

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