The Story of the Sower Matthew 13.1-23

A sower went out to sow, sow, sow, - THROW THE SEED ABOUT
the seed began to grow, grow, grow. HANDS UP FROM GROUND
But as it fell in each kind of place
it showed its growth at a different pace. ONE HAND UP ONE DOWN, FROWN

Some fell on hard packed lifeless ground;
quickly for birds a feast was found. HANDS FLAP LIKE BIRDS' WINGS

In the shallow soil some made a speedy show; HANDS UP SUDDENLY - SMILE
but with no roots they couldn’t really grow. HANDS DOWN WAVING SLOWLY - FROWN

Some fell on thorny ground, never weeded:
young shoots couldn’t get the food so needed. HANDS ROUND THROAT

But some seed fell on soil so rich and deep HANDS OUT SMILING a steady growth it was seen to keep,
and brought a return of many times more. COUNT WITH FINGERS UP TEN, TWENTY THIRTY ETC

Now of these pictures please take heed:
the different ways to treat the seed.
Will the devil snatch it out?
When hard pressed will you turn to doubt?
Or let riches crowd it out?

If you really want to know
how God’s harvest can strongly grow,
let your lives be so receiving
that you hear and keep believing!

Matthew 13.1-23

I got an e mail from Starbucks the other day.
They were reminding me I had a loyalty card with them
and they were going to upgrade it to 'gold'
and I could get a free coffee after every 15 I buy
(that's a lot of coffee to buy for a free coffee)
but also as a gold customer
I can get free espresso shots, syrups, soy and whipped cream.
Despite all that I have to say I am not a very committed Starbucks customer.
Yes, I did sign up and (more fool me) there is a little money stored on my card
but those few times I am in Starbucks I usually forget about it.

In terms of the story of the sower where does that put me?
Somewhere between the seed that sprang up quickly but without a deep root
- I made an impulsive decision to join their card scheme
and the seed among the thorns - choked by other interests and concerns.
I can nearly see the Starbucks computer sadly shaking its head over me:
'We promised him many blessings and he was so eager to sign up
but he cannot be bothered to drink more of our coffee'.
No doubt the computer will continue to churn out the e mails, that's what they do
but it doesn't really matter if I take no notice of them.
But it matters so much how I receive the message Jesus has for me.

That's the point of this story in Matthew 13.
As Jesus says in v 9: "He who has ears, let him hear."
How receptive are you and I to what God is saying?

It is easy enough to hear,
but who actually receives, who takes the message in and responds.
It is not too different from the question posed by the Lord's Supper.
Easy enough to eat bread and drink wine
but who actually receives all the blessings of Jesus promised us?

The things Jesus is talking about
would have been easily recognised by those listening.
The seed lying on the hard packed ground, snatched away by the birds.
The sudden growth in the shallow soil warmed by the sun
and then when the sun grew too hot, scorched because there was no root deep down.
The problem of weeds choking what might have been good growth in fertile soil.
And then the multiple growth in deep fertile weed free soil.

How many actually got the message behind the story?

Years ago a student came to one of our services for the first time.
He expressed great enthusiasm. He talked to me about doing an Alpha course.
And then nothing.
I called to where he lived. He was out. I left a note.
Nothing.
What was going on there?
I suspect either the hard packed ground or the shallow soil.
Possibly somebody took him aside
and advised him not to get involved with those Presbyterians,
a pack of Orange bigots, bible thumpers or whatever.
Or maybe they said 'You don't need that God stuff, you're fine as you are.'
People often do the devil's work for him, discrediting Christians, distracting.
The seed of the good news is snatched away.

Or maybe his soil was shallow.
He was into Christianity that week but next week it was something else
or a friend pointed out they might be friends no longer
if he kept the company of Christians.

But Jesus said in this story that's how it is.
There are different levels of response to the message of God.
We are to take care how we hear.

If we asked everyone here to write down which kind of soil we think we are
I imagine most of us will identify ourselves with the third type of soil
receptive but cluttered.
We want to follow Jesus. We want to believe.
We can see that it makes sense.
But there's too much other stuff in our lives.

22 ... the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it,
making it unfruitful.

Isn't there a bit of weeding to be done in you and me?
A few false gods, or more than a few to be toppled and thrown out?

Maybe you saw a letter by Rev David Montgomery in the December Presbyterian Herald
on the question of can a practising homosexual be a true Christian.
I was struck by how David put it.
'A fundamental principle of Christian discipleship
is that Christ does ask us to choose between his way and ours.
Daily, he asks me to choose between God and money,
career, ambition, lust pride or selfish anger
- and I don't want to.
Yet this is the way of the cross. We cannot serve two masters.
How we deal with our sexuality is only one of very many discipleship implications
that this stark challenge forces us to face.'
The basic problem he is saying is not so much are we going against the seventh commandment (against adultery) but are we going against the first,
having a false God, whether it be money, career, ambition, lust pride or selfish anger or sexual choices.
If only we could see more clearly the weeds that are choking our spiritual growth.

The Letter of James deals with this (James 1.19-25)
'My dear brothers, take note of this:
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent
and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says
is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
and, after looking at himself,
goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom,
and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it
--he will be blessed in what he does.'

There's an image of weeding the garden there
and if you are a serious gardener you know that you don't just weed once
you need to keep doing it.
We don't just make a choice once for God
and against money, career, ambition, lust pride or selfish anger or sexual choices.
As David Montgomery says, it is a daily challenge.
Day by day we have to weed out the bad stuff
and 'humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you'
continuing to do this, 'not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it'.
There, James and Jesus say is the secret of blessing, of fruitfulness.

That is not a word primarily of 'do this' and 'don't do that'.
The 'perfect law of freedom' is the liberating teaching of Jesus
telling us that we are accepted in Christ
that our sin is forgiven
that we are loved with everlasting love
that we don't have to do the bad things any more
that those things not only choke our growth in God
but they grieve the one who loved us and gave himself for us.
That's how God's word can save us, free us and make us flourish and be fruitful.

23 ...the one who received the seed that fell on good soil
is the man who hears the word and understands it.
He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

The main message of this story is, as we have seen, to be careful in our hearing.

But I sense also another message: KEEP SOWING

Notice that the sower does not give up or get down
because of the first three types of unproductive soil.
He keeps scattering the seed.

I began with an advertising e mail which just left me feeling a bit guilty
about not drinking enough of the supposed right coffee.
But let me finish with a Christmas card which arrived the other day from Germany.

Sybille writes:
'I remember the time I spent in Ireland very well.
Thanks to your community it was something like a confirmation to read the bible,
which I do now, and it is of great help.
It's good to know that there are Christians all over the world
since we live in difficult times.'

I am going to write back to Sybille, who was only on a short visit to Cork
to tell her how encouraging her message was.
Whether it was in a service or in a visit to one of our homes
(and I think I was away when she visited)
God nudged her when among us to take the Bible more seriously
which is something we do seek to do as a community.
I don't imagine when she came into church that anyone thought
we are going to sow the seed of God's word in that girl's life
but by God's grace that's what happened.

Lets not be discouraged by hard packed soil, by seed snatched away
nor by a superficial response without a root.
Lets not be overwhelmed by our weeds.
Each day lets make the choice the true God and topple the false ones.
Lets keep sowing.