PSALM 65: 1-3, 9-13 MATTHEW 13: 1-17
Our New Testament reading this morning brings us some pretty challenging words from Jesus. Our law and love giving savior (that the modern church seems to want to project as exclusively the latter – one who preached solely the seeking of the RESULTS of righteous living) brings home the far more important foundational message that we have to do our part in getting right with God to begin with! For it should be obvious enough that it is then and ONLY then – that the results (the fruits of the spirit) will spring forth naturally.
Additionally, Jesus seems to blow out of the water any notion whatsoever of guaranteed universal salvation (the idea that since Christ goes to the gates of hell itself that ALL are eventually saved.) Here and in other places in scripture Christ makes it very clear that a “great separating” must take place (goats and sheep / wheat and tares) and that those on the wrong side of that “severing,” (as it was originally translated) are going to be just that – severed – cut off from the ONLY thing that can save us – which is the redeeming and life giving love of God!
This Parable of the Sower is familiar enough to be sure: “Behold, a sower went out to sow . . .” and the seed falls into four very different places: “along the wayside” – “upon rocky ground” – “among thorns” and finally “on good ground” and the results are clear enough. The seed that Christ tells us is “the Word of God” (that which began creation, that which spoke life into being, that which is Jesus the living word himself – through which all life was made) falls onto and into us! And based on the status of our lives (our hearts) we either receive it successfully– or not!
And of course the hearer can’t help but notice that it sounds like only about a fourth of the seed make it because there are three clear ways in which God’s life giving gift can wither and die and only one in which it grows and prospers. And just to make sure that everyone gets it (because this parable is apparently so important) Christ himself goes on to explain it! (In verses: 19-23)
First Jesus clarifies what is meant by those who received the seed by the wayside, saying, “Anyone who HEARS the word of the kingdom, but does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.
So – Very Important Fact Number One: If we don’t seek God’s word and ways and study God’s word and ways and reflect upon God’s word and ways regularly and consistently, we don’t stand a chance! Indeed Jesus says we won’t even make it out of the gate! That the evil one will come and snatch God’s Living Word away before we even know it is there! And, of course this happens. How can we begin to recognize that which we have never considered important enough to even seek? And thus do not “understand it?”
I saw a humorous skit this week from a German comedy troupe that gives a good example of this. You didn’t even need to understand the language to know what was going on. A middle aged woman is working on preparing a meal in the kitchen with her father and they are exchanging some light conversation. She asks him how he likes the new I-Pad that she and her husband have recently given him (for his birthday perhaps) and he nods approvingly and says something along the lines that “he likes it very much.”
He then puts his finger in the air as if to say, “wait a minute – let me show you” and reaching over he pulls his shiny new I-Pad out of the drawer, lays it on the counter and proceeds to dice and chop several carrots and tomatoes on it before returning it to its storage place with a smile.
The girl, of course looks horrified that her dad thinks it is nothing more than a slick looking cutting board in lieu of something that could gain him access to an unimaginable and inexhaustible amount of news and information! But she just shakes her head and keeps on cooking.
While the man’s unfamiliarity with what has been given him makes for a funny scene in the skit, real ignorance of God’s gift of life is anything but that in the context of Christ’s parable – for EVERYTHING is on the line when it comes to receiving His word.
And of course the truth is, that ignorance of God’s word and God’s ways is epidemic in modern America. I heard one theologian estimate that the vast majority of adults have less real biblical knowledge than most 3rd graders did at the turn of the 20th century.
And it’s true! We have progressed in so many ways industrially, socially and technologically . . . But spiritually? In the seeking and serving of our Heavenly Father? The reality is that we have left Him further behind than even the Hebrews did! Indeed, one can’t help but wonder when and how it will all end. My guess is that our version of sitting on the banks of the river in Babylon is going to be a whole lot worse than we imagine it to be.
Jesus then speaks to the second way in which we deny the word of God: “He who received the seed on rocky soil, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
Very Important Fact Number Two: The Word of God does indeed bring Joy – and certainly in the beginning when all is new and fresh and so fully of the Spirit – but then the Word convicts us and calls us forward out of our safe and sheltered lives into unfamiliar places that others often do not understand. In fact, God may call us to do what had previously been unthinkable – and maybe even what other “religious people” or “leaders” disapprove of – based on stagnant (or conversely) “overly progressive” ways of reading scripture – that tries to pin down and button up or necessarily predict the unfathomable God of all creation!
But God makes it clear that that is NEVER going to happen! Read Job. Read Isaiah. Read the red letter words of Jesus himself. God is God and our ways and assumptions are foolishness, folly and an utter failure before Him! His ways are simply NOT our ways – and are past finding out . . . Why do we continually act as though we think we know them so completely?
Jesus then explains the third and final way in which we lose touch with the salvation of God: “Now he who received the seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.”
Very Important Fact Number Three: and the one that perhaps applies most particularly to our generation – and especially those of us who already have some inkling of who Jesus truly is and who are seeking a closer walk with him – but for the worldly day to day details that consume us and the distractions of money and consumerism that make up our sad definition of “success.”
For in this day and age the “cares of this world” come in all kinds of shapes and sizes don’t they? Some as obvious as can be – and some as subtle and quiet and persistent as rain water leaking slowly through a small crack in the foundation of our lives. That eventually fills the basement and crawl spaces until the walls above begin to show signs of cracking and sagging and we realize all too late that the things we thought were so important: the paint color we anguished over – the invitation to the big party that never came – the new TV we think we need – the trip we have to take – the job promotion we hung our hat on in lieu of the real time we might have spent with loved ones . . . NONE of it – was really that important after all! And that of all the things we could have been doing – the next right step that opened up real avenues to serving the loving God of creation – and others – was the only one that really mattered.
But it’s easy enough to justify things isn’t it? “I mean I go to church once a week don’t I? Well usually. And even if I don’t, I try to be a good person . . . I mean that’s what it’s all about, right? Being a good person? What did this Jesus really have on any of us anyway? He taught some good lessons, sure, but so did Ghandi – so did Mark Twain for that matter. And lots of people have suffered horrific deaths at least as brutal as his – either by accident or martyrdom. As long as we’re all accountable to one another that should be good enough – right?”
Well, I know my answers to such self-justifying questions that belie our human arrogance– and they have only come by God’s grace and by dwelling in His Holy Word – and by what I can only prayerfully hope is a continual honest seeking of His truth in humility. But would most Americans agree with the response that you or I might give to such charges? I’m not so sure.
I posted a video to “Fakebook” this week – that’s what a friend of mine calls “Facebook” – where contrary to God’s plea to have humility and not fret and gloat over one’s accomplishments and “self” so many people spend hours showing others how great and perfect their lives are . . . But, of course, they’re not. And in most cases probably not by a long shot.
And of course it’s not ALL BAD on Fake . . ., er Facebook – in fact, there’s some pretty inspirational stuff to be found there – buried beneath the endless Pablum of self-promotion (if you’re willing to digest all of that to find the crumbs.) I’m not – but I do try to cast a few crumbs about anyway. After all, it is a vehicle of communication used by a lot of younger folks so maybe trying to put something meaningful out there isn’t the worst thing. Although I’ve noticed that the occasionally humorous posting gets about 10 times the views that any sermon I post.
The video I posted this week was of a Harvard Business School professor by the name of Clay Christianson who recently asked a leading Chinese Economist (who was in the United States on a Fulbright Fellowship) if there was anything that surprised him while he was here.
And the Chinese scholar gave him a very telling and somewhat surprising answer: “Yes,” he said, “There is – I had no idea how critical the practice of religion was to the functioning of Democracy. I now believe that the reason why democracy works, is not because the government was designed to oversee what everybody does, but rather because most people, most of the time, voluntarily choose to obey the law . . .”
He then goes on to say that he believes that this has happened because America was built upon core Judeo-Christian values that mostly endure to this day – and that the vast majority of people have long believed that they weren’t just accountable to society – but that they were accountable also to God. (Sound familiar?)
By the end of the interview the Chinese visitor wonders aloud who is going to teach the next generation of Americans . . . “Because,” he said, “If you take away your religion – you aren’t going to be able to hire enough police.”
A report came out this week from the Pew Research Center that gives some unfortunate statistics that support this concern. Their survey indicates that while the number of non-faith associated people has grown by 7% since 2007 that those declaring to be Christians since that time have decreased by almost the same amount to just 71% of Americans. That’s the lowest it has ever been in our history, of course, and almost 15% below where it stood just 20 years ago.
One has to wonder – is the Judeo-Christian foundation upon which this country was built (that in pointing to the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ is so much more than just the ethics and morals that it teaches) – going to remain a fundamental part of who we are as a country going forward? Or will we simply mirror the slow, sad regression of Europe as it settles ever further into a sterile and Godless outlook that holds the “great thoughts of man” as its highest and best achievements?
Our fervent prayer must be that we will continue to teach and bear witness to our children and our friends and to one another and to anyone who will listen that they too might “hear and understand” – for as Jesus finally tells us: “But he who receives the seed on good ground is he who HEARS the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
So – There is Very Important Fact Number Three: It IS possible! If we have the desire AND the will to SEEK – and to PERSEVER – and to TRUST – and to IGNORE the cares of the world (and what much of it has to say) and simply live our lives as a continual prayer unto the God of all creation . . .
He who would suffer His most beloved son to die brutally on a cross for the likes of us . . . ? Arrogant, self- serving, fallen sinners that we are . . . Who apart from Him ARE as nothing.
But save us nevertheless, He did.
It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense does it? Well like I said – God’s ways (thanks be to Him) are not ours . . . and life in this great big complex (yet often too, surprisingly simple) world is not always if ever easy . . . But God “has us . . .” He really does – HAVE us.
Trust Him Always and in ALL ways – Give Him EVERYTHING that you are – and scatter widely the seeds that are born of your own salvation.
– Stuart Revercomb
