The Sower's Hands, the Soil's Struggle | February 23, 2025

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen, you may be seated.

Friends, I want you to picture a gardener, or maybe just picture yourself if you are one Hands in the soil, kneeling down, pulling weeds carefully, tenderly, so as not to pull up the stuff you know the gardener actually wants there, and sometimes, with certain weeds, you know, if you pull too hard, you snap the thing off and leave the root, and then you just have a bigger problem.

This gardener is preparing the ground, doing everything with care.

He doesn't despise the hardened, compacted dirt.

He's not mad at the weeds for growing there.

That's just what they do.

He doesn't give up and abandon the soil that resists him.

Instead, he works it, waters it, waits for growth.

Christ is the divine sower.

Christ is the divine sower, and he kneels in the soil of our hearts, working it, planting his word, tending and keeping it.

Well, how, though, does he do this?

That's a nice idea, but how does that actually work?

What's the mechanism for that?

This morning, we're going to explore that in three movements First, what the sower intends, then we're going to talk about the soil's resistance, and then, finally, we'll go back to the sower's persistent work.

So what does the sower intend?

What does Jesus want?

Well, he wants to take root and bear fruit in all of us, fruit of faith and endurance and love, so that we may grow in him and bless others.

In this parable from Luke 8, the sower did not take pains to only throw seed on good soil.

That seed was scattered everywhere.

The very act of sowing seed led to some falling on the path, some on the rocks, some on the thorns and some into soil already made good.

And from this we can see that God wants his word to take root in every heart, not just the ones who might be good candidates for religion, so to speak.

God wants everybody.

And the seed is not just an idea, it's not teaching, it's not good moral behavior or a doctrine.

The seed is Christ himself.

He is the word of God incarnate, the word that took on flesh and dwelled among us.

So when we're thinking of the seed taking root and bearing fruit, we're not talking about increased Bible knowledge or the ability to explain things from scripture, or explain theology or why certain things happen in the church, or whatever.

We're talking about becoming more like Jesus, loving others more, dying to self, taking up our cross and following him where he leads.

The goal is being conformed to Christ for every one of you.

That's what Jesus is at work for the sake of Second Corinthians.

3, 18 says the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

Romans 8.29 says that God knew his people in advance and he chose them to become like his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Ephesians 4.13 says the Spirit's work in the church will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

That's the goal that you are made more like Jesus, that your heart is made more like His, that your heart is made more like his.

But the poor soil of our hearts fights back.

This is that soil's resistance part.

I mentioned a second ago the hardness of sin or the thorns of worry, the rocky soil of sin in our lives that leads to shallow roots.

Some seed falls on the beaten path, a path that is trampled down, that water runs right across.

It might as well be concrete.

It's packed tight, it's unable to receive the word, and sometimes our hearts resist God's grace out of pride or fear or past wounds.

It might be happening right now for some of you.

I think it's probably safe to say it's happened for all of us.

If you've ever heard me preach or some other pastor preach on some particular text or doctrine or sin, and think, oh, this one is for somebody else today, not me I've heard this before.

He preached on this text back in the service in the park a couple years ago during Fun Fest.

I've heard this one.

I can tune out and relax a little bit.

Let my eyes go unfocused, as somebody who's done that, in preaching where you are at before right, the temptation is there.

Somebody who's done that in preaching where you are at before right, the temptation is there.

Or maybe we'd just rather not think of ourselves, as you know, if the text is fresh and the idea is fresh, but we feel uncomfortable, sort of being in the crosshairs, so to speak, we might just like to brush the preaching of God's word off.

I don't want to pay the price that receiving this word of God in faith is going to demand of me.

I like my life the way it is.

I don't want the change, and so I think I'll probably be fine without that.

I think I'll probably be fine without that.

I can block this out and ignore my conscience for six days until we go back to church and there's a new sermon and I'll try better on that one.

Maybe that one will land on me better.

Other seed falls.

You know that's the seed that falls on the path.

Our hearts are closed off to it because we think we don't need it or because we're so hurt that we just can't believe it anymore.

Other seed falls in rocky soil and sprouts quickly but doesn't have any depth.

So when trials come, faith withers.

The christian life, friends, is not a sprint, it's a marathon.

We need to have deep roots of trust in our lord in order to make it.

And if you've ever felt spiritually alive and vibrant for a season, and then, I don't know, something happens that can just sort of fade away, or there's a crisis Sometimes it happens in a moment, other times it's a slow drift and then you just feel kind of parched and like I'm just doing this because I'm supposed to be there on Sunday, or if I don't go, you know, if I miss too many Sundays in a row.

I'm going to get a text from Pastor or a call, or somebody's going to wonder where I'm at.

You know what's going on, so I better show up to you.

Know, we've all been there.

There's no shame in being there.

Sin, the trials and sorrows of this world, the senselessness sometimes of the things that we suffer, dry us out.

And then there's still other seed that falls among thorns, and that seed does establish roots and it grows up.

But worry or wealth or distractions suck up all that nitrogen in the soil, shrink up all the water and take up all the micronutrients too right.

And so there's none left for the sprout of the word.

The word is choked out.

And so this is like when busyness or stress or fear keeps us from prayer or time in God's word or gathered worship together.

It's when we start to just schedule other things over Sunday morning together.

It's when we start to just schedule other things over Sunday morning, and you know if you're a gardener, that weeds don't choke out stuff right away.

Many a time have I walked past my lamb's quarters garden out there and thought I can get to that tomorrow.

It's not so bad yet, right?

Famous last words.

You go out the next day, and you know, you might I might as well go into business selling herbal remedies with lamb's quarters.

Where are the tomatoes?

Where are the carrots?

Where are the peppers?

They're in there somewhere, but now the problem is much bigger.

They're in there somewhere, but now the problem is much bigger.

The good news for all of us, whether the seed of the word has fallen on thorny soil where weeds are choking it out, or whether the seed of the word has fallen on rocky soil where it's hard to get a deep root system to weather the storms of life, or whether the seed has fallen on the beaten path where the birds just come and eat it up, satan comes and snatches it away because we hear it but we don't really hear it.

You know what I mean For the beaten path.

Here's how Jesus doesn't give up on us.

For all of these.

He uses the means of grace to work on the soil of our hearts, that beaten path.

That is a field left too dry.

It becomes cracked, lifeless, unyielding, when our hearts have resisted God's word and become hardened by doubt or pride, or wounds that refuse to heal the sower.

Our Lord Jesus doesn't abandon us or despise us for that.

Instead, he sends the rain of holy baptism.

Baptism is Christ's first great outpouring on us, but not the last.

It is how we are brought into the church and daily we are encouraged to use our baptism to remember it.

Baptism is like the water that softens what was dead and unyielding, so that that soil is a place where faith can take root.

So when you feel resistant to God's word and when faith seems distant, like something you'd like to have but a gift you haven't received, or something that you put up on the shelf a long time ago and now you just can't bring yourself to go back there and pull it down and put your trust in it, when the soil of your heart feels dry and packed down by the weight of life, don't go read the Bible more or pray more or think if I just did more, I would feel better, if I were just a better Christian, I wouldn't be in this mess.

No, friends, just remember your baptism.

Remember the water with the word, where God claimed you as his own and made you a new creation.

Where he snatched you out of the kingdom of darkness and brought you into his marvelous light.

Every time you see water fall on the earth, recall that Christ has already made you his own, he's already softened your heart, he's begun his work in you, and he is patient and will do whatever it takes to re-soften soil that has gone dry and been compacted.

For the rocky soil.

The hands of the gardener, of the sower, remove those stones.

Rocky soil is not barren, necessarily, but faith remains shallow.

So when trials come and when suffering presses in, when life gets difficult, faith withers because there's too much stress above ground and the root system can't keep up.

The roots haven't grown deep enough.

The gardener, though, doesn't abandon rocky ground.

Instead, he kneels in hands in the dirt, maybe with a mattock if he needs one, and he begins pulling out those stones.

And some of these things are like boulders that you need an excavator for.

Others are small, but he's patient and willing to do the work, no matter the size of the rocks and the soil that prevent faith from growing.

And the means of grace I'm talking about here is confession and absolution.

That's Christ's way of breaking up rocky ground, clearing out the barriers that prevents our faith from growing.

Deep Rocks have to be lifted out of the soil.

Christ lifts the weight of sin.

He lifts the burden of guilt.

He makes room within your heart for faith to grow when before there was just impenetrable rock.

So when trials come and your faith feels weak, and when suffering tempts you to fall away from him, christ meets you in confession in the place where you think you're least likely to find him.

He meets you right in the moment where you are confessing that you are a poor, miserable sinner and that all you deserve is wrath and hell forever.

But for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Jesus, we ask God to forgive us.

Jesus is there Even as you say those words that you said so many times.

It almost just feels like nothing at all.

At this point, he is there, pulling out the rocks, the stones, making room for his word to grow in your heart again and again, and again and again.

Every time you hear these words from your pastor, I forgive you all your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Christ is not just removing sin, he's making your faith deeper and stronger.

And finally, for the thorny soil well, some plants grow, but so do thorns.

But the seed of the word that has sprouted and put down roots and has started to grow is choked out, it can't get sun, it can't get nourishing nutrients from the soil, because it's out-competed by all of the other things that are growing around it Distractions, anxieties, the endless cares of this life.

The sower doesn't walk away from this ground either.

He tends it to, pulling the weeds and feeding roots and sustaining what is growing, and, like any good gardener, he does this carefully to pull out the bad stuff and not harm the good.

The Lord's Supper is Christ's way of feeding the faith that he's planted in you.

He knows that our faith can be strangled by the word, so he doesn't direct us to something inside of ourselves.

He doesn't direct us to something inside of ourselves.

He doesn't direct us to look at the fruit we are bearing.

Instead, he just feeds us.

He gives us more nutrients, he gives us the food of immortality, true food and true drink in his body.

And when worry, stress and the endless distractions leave us weary, christ invites you to his table where you can be fed, where your body and soul can be strengthened and preserved to everlasting life.

Every time you eat the bread and drink the cup, jesus is nourishing what he has already planted in you.

His body, broken like a grain of wheat sustains and strengthens our faith so that we can not just survive but thrive and flourish Through the means of grace.

The divine sower is patient with us.

This is what he does he waters the hard ground until it yields, he clears rocks so that faith can deepen, and he feeds us weary folks until the harvest does come.

So when you feel weak or distracted or dry, don't turn to your own works, to your own practice of faith.

Turn to Christ, whose grace is sufficient.

It was sufficient for St Paul, it's sufficient for us.

The seed of God's word.

Remember, it's not just ideas, not just truths to live by or spiritual principles, but Jesus himself.

That seed was buried in death and has risen again.

And so now, by his word and sacraments, he is making the soil of your heart good, whether you feel it or not.

He is faithful to do it.

So trust the sower, cling to the seed and in his time and his way and by his faithfulness, he will bring forth a harvest in you that the whole universe will celebrate on the last day, the peace of God that passes all understanding.

Keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, amen.