The Parable of the Sower

Father, we invite and give you permission to have your word,

to have Christ come even more deeply into our hearts and our lives,

that he will bear fruit in our lives and through our lives, all to your glory.

And Father, you know how hard it is for us to do this in our own strength.

So we ask for the help of your Holy Spirit to strengthen and focus our will

and our affections and our desires for Christ and his finished work upon the cross

and the work of the Holy Spirit to bring your word deeply home to us.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

Why doesn't God make himself more obvious?

Like, if you think about it for a second, and I've had many people ask me this,

like, if God, if the triune God really wants to be known,

like, why doesn't it just make it far more obvious to people that he exists?

Like, it seems as if there's lots of good evidence that he does exist,

and whatever evidence there is that he does exist seems very, very weak.

And the other thing, which is just a problematic thing for Christians,

for Christianity, is that some of Christianity just seems so,

well, partly it just seems lame, and partly it just seems ridiculous.

Like, you know, George, you're a born-again Christian,

and you say things like, you need to receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord,

accept him as your Savior and Lord.

And guys like you say, you know, you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord,

you go to heaven.

And if I say no to that, I spend eternity in hell.

And that just seems pretty random.

Like, I just have this thing that I say to Jesus,

and I go to heaven for the rest of my life,

and if I don't say it, like, I go to hell.

Like, it's not connected to anything that I've done or not done.

Like, it seems like a pretty flimsy, random type of standard.

Some of you might have thought some of these things,

and some of you have probably had conversations around some of these things.

And the Bible text that we're going to look at today

walks towards these issues and helps us to understand,

well, helps us to understand why it is that God seems to hide

and what it means to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

So it would be a great help if you turn in your Bibles with me

to Mark chapter 4, verses 1 to 20.

Mark 4:1–20

Mark chapter 4, verses 1 to 20.

Mark 4:1–20

And what's gone on just before this,

if you're watching online for the first time,

we preach through books of the Bible.

Generally, that's the way we do things.

If you've come for the last couple of weeks,

you've seen sort of more, you know, Christmas

and then the December 26th and January 2nd,

sort of more of one-off text.

But generally, we preach through books of the Bible,

and we're going through Mark.

So what just happened before our break

was the part just before this,

you can look and check up on it later as it begins.

We looked at a part where Jesus' mother

and brothers and sisters thought he was crazy,

and they had to do an intervention.

That's, I guess, what we would now call it.

And then it went how Jesus' betters,

the influencers, the intellectuals,

the academics, the leaders of the culture,

all basically came and told everybody

that it looked at it as if Jesus was doing good things,

but really he wasn't.

That really what was fueling everything he did

was the devil and that ultimately it would turn out

very, very bad.

It looked good, but actually it was demonic.

And then Jesus gives this very stark talk

about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit

as being something that could never be forgiven.

And then the text ends, just before we get to this bit,

where once again Jesus' mother and brothers and sisters

are there and they sort of demand

that Jesus come and see them.

And Jesus gives this response that his real mother

and brothers and sisters are those who do his will.

So that's what's just gone on.

And now here the story continues.

And here's how it goes.

Again, Jesus began to teach beside the sea

and a very large crowd gathered about him

so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea.

And the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

And Jesus was teaching them many things in parables.

And in his teaching, he said to them,

listen, behold, a sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path

and the birds came and devoured it.

Other seed fell on rocky ground

where it did not have much soil.

And immediately it sprang up

since it had no depth of soil.

And when the sun rose, it was scorched.

And since it had no root, it withered away.

Other seed fell among the thorns.

And the thorns grew up and choked it.

And it yielded no grain.

And other seeds fell into good soil

and produced grain, growing up and increasing

and yielding 30-fold and 60-fold and 100-fold.

And he said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Now, just before we go any further,

this is not the way you should sow.

Like, this doesn't make any sense.

And it probably is part of the reason

that it becomes memorable

because it doesn't make any sense.

In fact, I remember years ago,

I had a conversation with a fellow

who had been a devout Muslim

and he'd stopped being a Muslim.

And he told me that he stopped being a Muslim

because he said, basically,

everything in Islam goes back to Muhammad

and what he wrote in the mid-600s.

And life today is just so different

than life in the mid-600s.

Why on earth would anybody go back

to somebody like him

to get advice about how to live

in a place like Canada today?

So he'd walked away from Islam,

not into any other religion.

He just walked away from it.

And some people might hear this

and think this is the dumbest way

in the world to farm

or to have a crop.

So if Jesus can't even get something

simple like this right,

why on earth would you want to listen to him?

But the fact of the matter is

is that everybody at the time

that was listening to it

would have known

that this isn't the way you do things.

Like, this is foolish.

And in fact, it's actually doubly foolish

because on one hand,

nobody in their right mind just says,

I'm going to throw some seed on the path.

I'm going to see all those,

see all the thorns and weeds.

I'm going to throw some seed there.

And you see where all the rocks are

and there's hardly any,

I'm going to throw some seed there

and then I'll throw the rest there.

Like, not only is that not how it works,

but the other thing is that

in that culture,

and this we wouldn't know,

like, unless you have some study helps,

is that nobody got a return

on their sowing of 30, 60, or 100.

Like, that was unheard of.

A good return would have been 10 or 15.

And so they'd say,

this doesn't make any sense.

Jesus doesn't know anything about farming.

That would have been the response to many people.

And that probably explains a little bit

about what happens afterwards.

Because if you see in verse 10,

not only the 12,

but the other people who are hanging around,

who are sort of part of Jesus' bigger inner circle,

they all come and have some questions

about what's going on.

Look what happens in verse 10.

And when Jesus was alone,

those around him,

so after this,

all the crowds dispersed,

and the people who really hang around with Jesus

and sort of travel with him,

and when he was alone,

those around him with the 12

asked him about the parables.

I mean, they're probably saying something like,

Jesus, what gives?

We know that,

you know,

that's not how any sane person plants,

and we know that that,

you know that that's,

nobody gets a hundredfold return

from planting one seed.

Like, what's going on?

And Jesus says to them,

now, here's a very, very classic,

if you're watching this for the first time,

one of the things that you might not know about Jesus

is that regularly what he does

is he actually seems to make things worse.

Like, rather than just sort of making it

really easy to understand,

he sort of introduces new problems

that you hadn't even thought of

and seems to make it worse.

And that's what goes on right here.

So, look what happens in verse 11.

He said to them,

to you,

that's to the 12 and the others,

has been given the secret

of the kingdom of God.

But for those outside,

everything is in parables.

And just before I read the next bit

where it gets problematic,

I'm going to return to this

at the end of the sermon,

but literally,

it doesn't say secret.

Literally, it says mystery.

And that actually,

the translators made the decision

that it was easier for people today

to understand the word secret,

but I actually think they made a mistake.

I think the word mystery

is actually the better word to use.

But that's the literal word.

If you go and look at a literal study help,

it'll say literally the word is mystery.

So he says,

to you has been given the mystery

of the kingdom of God,

but for those outside,

everything is in parables.

And here's the hard part.

Verse 12,

so that they may indeed see,

but not perceive,

and may indeed hear,

but not understand,

lest they should turn and be forgiven.

You go, whoa, whoa,

did I just hear that right?

Like did Jesus say,

I'm intentionally saying things

so people don't understand?

And I'm intentionally saying things

not only so people don't understand,

but so they won't come to the triune God?

Like is that what he said?

Like that's crazy talk.

Like what's going on?

In fact, you might want to say,

this is why if you had your own Bibles,

you're going, what,

is that what he said?

And you go back and you look and says,

yeah, so that they may indeed see,

but not perceive,

and may indeed hear,

but not understand,

lest they should turn and be forgiven.

Now, what's going on here?

Well, he's quoting from Isaiah 6.

Now, one of the things

which is going on here

that you wouldn't know,

that's why you have to come to church

or read Study Helps or whatever,

is, well, here, sorry,

just a geek moment,

a geek moment.

This is,

for some of you guys

who are sort of geeks and gals,

you'll love this.

But back in the time of Jesus,

there was, of course,

the official Bible,

like the Bible,

the Hebrew,

which was written in Hebrew.

That would have been the language

that all of the books

were written in originally.

They would all have been written

in Hebrew fundamentally.

But what had developed

about the century or so

before the time of Jesus

is that two different paraphrases

had been developed.

One paraphrase was,

in other words,

people realized,

a lot of Jewish people realized

that if you were a Jewish person

living in Rome

or in Athens

or in what we now call Turkey,

you might not know Hebrew.

You only speak Greek.

So what they did

is they paraphrased

the Old Testament,

the Hebrew,

into Greek.

And for many people,

that would have been their Bible.

They would have heard

a paraphrase

of the Old Testament

in Greek.

But there was another one

not as well known,

and that was in Aramaic,

not Arabic.

Arabic as a language

would not develop

for at least another century.

But Aramaic,

which is sort of similar

to Hebrew.

And so, for instance,

in the area

where Jesus ministered

at the time of this,

most Jewish people

would have spoken Aramaic,

many of them

would have spoken Greek.

And we know from looking

at the historical evidence

that Jesus knew Hebrew

and he knew Aramaic

and he knew Greek.

And so what he does here

in this answer

to this thing,

this odd text,

is he actually uses

the Aramaic paraphrase.

And that's why

if you go back

and you compare this

to the text in Isaiah 6,

it doesn't look identical,

the same.

It looks a bit different

because Jesus is using

the Aramaic paraphrase.

Now, here's the geeky thing.

I hope I didn't lose you.

So now to get out of the geek

in terms of what it means.

In the Hebrew,

if you go back

and look in Isaiah 6,

it's very clear

that God

stops people

from understanding

or makes some type

of decision

saying they don't understand.

But in the Aramaic paraphrase,

the emphasis,

it's ambiguous.

And so listen again

to what,

so in a sense,

what's happening here

is this.

There's a lot of people

and probably true

of many of us

at different times

in our life

and maybe before

we became Christians

who don't want

Christianity to be true.

Like,

you know,

if I actually came

to believe

that Christianity

was true,

well,

what would happen?

If I actually came

to believe

that Christianity

was true,

look at the end

of verse 12.

I'd have to turn

or repent

and seek forgiveness.

I'd have to say,

well,

if I actually believe

that Christianity

is true,

the way I spend

my time

would have to change.

The way I spend

my money

would have to change.

I might actually

have some pressure

to forgive somebody.

I might have to change

the way I view

things on my screen.

I might have to

stop living

with my girlfriend

if I came to believe

that Christianity

was true.

And I don't want

to stop doing that.

I don't want to turn

and ask for forgiveness.

Like,

I don't want to do that.

I don't want to do that.

I'm not going to do that.

Now,

people will rarely

be very public about it,

but in your heart,

that's what's going on.

I'm not going to do that.

I'm not going to do that.

And so,

in the Aramaic,

if you look at it,

say,

you see,

if they actually perceived,

they'd have to turn

to be forgiven.

If they actually understood,

they'd have to turn

to be forgiven.

I don't want to turn

and be forgiven,

so I'm not going to perceive.

I'm not going to understand.

And that's what's

sort of going on here

in the text,

that you're dealing

with people

who just,

dang it all,

I don't want to do that.

Or,

if I do become a Christian,

I want to do it

on my terms.

And so,

God,

I mean,

I'm just,

obviously,

I'm exaggerating.

I have here a list

of demands

and conditions.

Okay,

I get to keep

my sexuality,

I get to keep

all of my money,

and I get to keep

all of my ambition,

and I'll give you

some of the emotional stuff,

because I can understand

how that would help me to,

and I,

you know,

I can sort of understand

I need to do some forgiveness,

I'd love to have some

emotional peace,

so that's fine,

I'd like that,

but these things here,

these are the conditions,

and if you would just

sign off on the bottom,

then I'll give my life

to Christ.

And that's sort of

what Jesus is saying

is going on here

in the text.

Now,

just,

it's a whole other

topic of conversation,

but just very briefly,

like if you look

through the gospel,

if you look through Isaiah,

and if you look

through the Old Testament,

there's this constant

interplay between

two ideas,

of God sovereignly

making decisions,

and of human beings

sovereignly or freely

making decisions.

And it's a very,

very big mystery

about how you actually

have free will

in a world where

your free will

causes things.

And the short form

of the answer

from Christians

is that freedom

has to have

a guarantor.

It has to have

conditions that

allow it to happen.

And so God,

in his sovereign power,

creates a human being

like you

to have freedom,

and he guarantees it.

And on one hand,

then,

if he took away

his sovereignty,

you'd lose your freedom.

So he never stops

being sovereign,

but he uses his sovereignty

to give you real freedom.

And I'll explain why

in a moment.

And so,

well, actually,

maybe I should go,

so, yeah,

so he gives you the,

he gives you this freedom,

but at the end of the day,

since he doesn't give up

his sovereignty,

it's as if,

so it's as if God,

so from a human point of view,

I say to God,

my will be done.

And God woos you

and woos you

and woos you

and woos you

and woos you

to try to get you

to turn to him.

And at the end,

in a sense,

on your deathbed

and beyond,

if all the way

through your entire life

you've said,

my will be done,

my will be done,

my will be done,

my will be done,

that we never say

thy will be done,

but my will be done.

At the end,

in a sense,

what happens

in the day of judgment

is a meeting of minds.

It's almost as if

at the judgment seat,

the person still says to God,

these are my demands,

my will be done,

you give in to them

and I'll go along with you.

At the end of the day,

God says,

well,

you're not God,

you don't get to make

those types of things

and so that's just

not possible.

You do realize

that if you continue

to turn your back on me,

there's this eternal

separation from me

with all the consequences,

all the pain

and the sorrow,

you realize that

and you say,

no, no, no, no,

you're not listening to me,

we say back to God.

These are my demands

and at the end,

the end of the judgment,

I say to God,

my will be done

and God says to me,

thy will be done,

which ends up meaning hell,

that there's a meeting

of the mind right to the end,

God allows our freedom.

So,

here's the problem

that we have.

Why is it that God hides,

appears to hide?

Well,

part of the problem is

that in our heart of hearts,

we project onto God

what we want for ourselves

and think that God

should be like us

and what do we want?

We want our own way,

we want applause,

we want our own way,

we want recognition

and we want applause.

I mean,

that's part of the problem

that's going on right now,

you know,

the dominant philosophy

in our culture

is that everybody

has to get in touch

with their own feelings

and desires

and be authentic

to who they are

and to be authentic

it means that

I have to be autonomous

and I have to try

to realize who I am

but that doesn't stop

with that

is because then

we also want applause.

Like,

it's partly what's going on

in the culture wars.

It's not just that,

you know,

the homeschooling

heterosexual mom

just leave her alone

and the gay

or the lesbian

or the trans person

will just all make sure

nobody's rights are trampled

and we're just left alone

but that's not what's going on

in the culture

is that for many positions

there's the demand

of applause.

Not just to leave them alone

and to make sure

nobody hurts them

but actually

a demand for applause.

It's in the very heart

of our cultural moment.

It's actually come right out

to the fore.

That's demanded.

And so what we do

is we project onto God

well if I was God

I'd want everybody to know

and I'd want everybody

to recognize it

and I'd want applause

and I'd make sure

that happens.

But God's not like us

thanks be to God.

You see,

the fact of the matter is

is that what God wants

is love.

And love requires freedom.

You see,

the fact of the matter is

is that God could

in the tiniest,

tiniest sliver

reveal himself

in such a way

that every single one

of us would cower.

We would all fall down

or flee

if God made himself

just even the tiniest sliver

of revealed himself

in a way that was

completely and utterly

undeniable.

It would cause us

to fear.

It would overwhelm

our mind,

overwhelm our reason,

overwhelm our will,

and it would cause terror.

And he could do that

effortlessly.

But God doesn't desire

to overwhelm.

He desires to woo.

W-O-O.

To woo.

And so if God wants

to preserve our freedom

and your freedom

and if he wants to woo,

then how exactly

does he reveal himself?

If God is humbler

than you and me,

because you see,

part of the opposite

of humility,

which is pride,

is a preoccupation

with ourself

and a desire

for recognition.

And humility

isn't thinking

bad things about yourself,

but an actual engagement

with the other person

and a concern for them

the way they really are.

That's why humility

is so deeply tied to love.

It's an actual caring

for the person

in front of you.

And if God cares for you

and loves you

and actually wants

what's best for you,

well, how does he reveal himself

without overwhelming you?

And so it is that Jesus speaks

in things like parables

and other types of things.

It's why on one level

you can look at

the created order

and on one hand

you can start to get

these clues

that there is a God

that does exist,

that there is a designer,

that there is a creator,

that there's,

that there are clues

that there must be

something sustaining

my freedom.

There's all these clues

around you

that you can

potentially begin

to see

that there is a God

like the triune God

that does exist.

And even in Jesus'

teaching then,

it never overwhelms,

it woos.

Even when he confronts

his sins,

he confronts to connect.

And you know that

especially by the end

of it

where you realize

that no matter

how hard a thing

that Jesus says,

it dies

in a mystery.

I mean,

so it ends in a mystery.

It ends with him dying

for you.

Like,

how is it

that love

himself

would die

for those

who are definitely

not love,

but are a mixture

of love and hate?

How is it

that light itself,

himself,

would die

for ones

who love light

and darkness?

How is it

that God

would actually

die

for a human being?

How is it

that there would be

one who would say

to God,

not my will,

but thine be done?

Which is what happens

just before he goes

to the cross.

So this becomes

clear

as the New Testament

develops.

So what's going on

in this parable?

So what's going on

in this parable

actually is very,

very deeply human.

In a sense,

the invitation here

is that if you stop

to think to yourself,

especially maybe

when you're,

you know,

the people

who are listening

to Jesus

are people

who've seen him

do things

like heal a man

who was paralyzed.

He's seen people

heal from the distance.

He's seen,

they've seen demons

being cast out by him.

They've seen all

of these things.

So one of the ways

they could respond

to this parable

is maybe

the problem

isn't that I think

he's dumb,

but maybe he's trying

to communicate

a point to me.

Like rather than me

just saying,

oh, stupid Jesus,

what does he know

about farming?

He's an idiot.

You might say,

one moment,

this is a guy

who heals

paralyzed people

and raises the dead

and heals the blind

and casts out demons.

Maybe if he says

something,

I should listen.

Like maybe I should

listen.

Like maybe I should

try to figure out

what's going on.

And actually,

on one level,

before we get into it,

what Jesus says

is actually

quite psychologically

profound.

And it's not only

something psychologically

profound,

it's also something

that we're all

very familiar with.

It makes up

the constant themes

of the novels

and the movies

and the plays

that we consume

and in fact

our conversations

with others.

Like you think about it,

what's one of the

common themes

in our culture

right now?

One of the common

themes in our culture

right now is you have

people who are like this.

They're going around

like this,

all like this,

and you know,

maybe their wife

or their husband

or their kid

says something

and we go,

yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right?

Isn't that a common

theme in our culture?

We're not really listening.

We're completely

and utterly consumed

with our device.

Well, doesn't that

sound a little bit

like the person

who starts to listen

or they think

they're listening

but really what's

happening is the devil

is just taking the word

away from them

so it never actually

even makes any impact

whatsoever.

And I just recently

recommended that you

watch the movie

Just Mercy.

I watch all sorts of things.

I don't often recommend

that you watch it

but it's a very

interesting true story

and in that

is something

which is a very

common theme

in lots and lots

of movies

and lots of things

in our life.

They're all excited

because evidence

comes up.

There are people

who can give testimony

and if they give testimony

it proves beyond

a shadow of a doubt

that the person

who's on death row

could not have

committed the murder.

He could not have

committed the murder

and they can give

this testimony

and the guy says

okay we're going

to get you to do

a legal disposition

or whatever it is

and that will do it

but within the next

24 hours

and the people

who make the offer

they're all excited

and everybody's excited

but then a day later

they realize

if I do this

there's going to be

terrible consequences

there might be

terrible consequences

to my life

and they back away

from doing it.

But doesn't that

happen all the time?

Like haven't many

of you seen

in your workplace

or others

where people come

across an instant

of abuse

or injustice

and people at all

at first

they're going to

combat it

but then they're silent?

Isn't that what happens

in the military

with claims of sexual abuse?

Isn't that what happens

with all sorts of people

who could blow the whistle

and they back off

because they realize

there could be

very bad consequences?

Isn't that the stuff

of life?

And what about

another thing

which is a very

very common thing?

What about the fact

that it's a very

very regular thing

in life

that maybe once again

you realize

that there's been

something done

which is very

very wrong

and at first

you're going to

do something about it

but then you realize

that if you do

something about it

it's going to affect

not necessarily

that anything bad

is going to happen

to you

but shouldn't you

maybe be concerned

about the institution

and shouldn't you

be a little bit

concerned about

your career?

And if you think

about that

that's every

Michael Connolly

Harry Bosch novel

that's one of the

subplots of every

one of those

best-selling novels

the police bureaucracy

that thinks

one moment

we can't deal

with this wrong

because we need

to protect

the institution

and I need

to protect

my career

and isn't it

an aspect

of almost

every romantic

movie or drama

with romance

of a marriage

falling apart

because a person

becomes overly

consumed with money

or with pornography

or some other

type of thing

that starts

to wreck it

and isn't it

part of the

normal thing

of life

to understand

that some people

take the love

or the justice

or the goodness

or the beauty

seriously

and are willing

to pay the cost

and in hindsight

we see that

they're heroes

just before

the COVID

things all

happened in 2019

at the end

of October

I was able to go

because of my

interest in

apologetics

I got invited

along on a tour

with Christian

apologists

and some others

of the Holy Land

and about

halfway through

the tour

we went to

the museum

that remembers

the Holocaust

and that evening

by coincidence

people all went

around to share

a little bit

about what

the tour

had been like

for them so far

and what they'd

really got out

of it

and one of the

most moving

parts of the tour

was that

this woman

and her husband

who was on the tour

they had disappeared

I mean we all

separated

but they shared

she shared

that some of her

direct relatives

her aunts

and uncles

I get worked up

even thinking about it

they were listed

in the museum

as part of the

righteous Gentiles

at great cost

and risk

to themselves

they had hidden

Jews

and so

they didn't

go on the tour

they just went

to that part

to see the names

of her relatives

and it was

the whole room

just silent

it happened to be

at a time as well

where there were

many Jewish people

the whole room

just goes silent

because now

in hindsight

let me tell you

if you were in Holland

there's all sorts

of reasons

not to protect Jews

but now

we don't look up

to the people

who said

if I protect Jews

it's going to hurt

my church

if I protect Jews

it's going to affect

my advancement

if I protect Jews

I won't be able

to make as much money

or I can make more money

if I betray them

nobody remembers them

with

Louise and I

are watching a thing

about Harriet Tubman

there's all sorts

of people

who wouldn't help

the slaves

have all the reasons

but those who are

gripped with love

and justice

and goodness

we now go back

and look at them

and we think

of the great fruits

the good fruits

that happened

so in light of that

listen to this parable

listen to what Jesus

says in verse 13

and he said to them

do you not understand

this parable

how then will you

understand all the parables

the sower sows the word

I'll explain what that

means in a moment

and these are the ones

along the path

where the word is sown

when they hear

Satan immediately comes

and takes away

the word that is sown

in them

and just sort of

pause here for a second

what the word

is

is the word

is the personal

the person and work

of Christ

understood in the context

of the bible

in the bible

understood

in the context

of the person

and work of christ

like you receive

christ

and what he's done

for you

as understood

in the bible

and in a sense

you're also

receiving the bible

understood in light

of the person

and work of christ

and that's the seed that you receive.

In a sense, what Jesus is just saying,

if you understand that Jesus' parable

helps to understand why it is that a lot of people

don't do that which is just or that which is faithful

or that which is beautiful or that which is right,

then surely you understand that in the same way,

if Jesus really is God, the Son of God,

who dies as a sacrifice for sin,

if he really is light swallowing the darkness,

love swallowing the hate and the indifference,

if he is righteousness swallowing the unrighteousness

and doing all of that for us as an act of profound sacrifice

to make you right with God,

if that is right, then we can still have these same responses

that turn that away,

and the way that's going to be to bear fruit

is to receive what he's done.

Look at verse 16,

and these are the ones sown on the rocky ground,

the ones who when they hear the word

immediately receive it with joy

and they have no root in themselves

but endure for a while.

Then when tribulation or persecution arises

on account of the word,

immediately they fall away.

And others are the ones sown among thorns.

They are those who hear the word,

but the cares of the world

and the deceitfulness of riches

and the desires for other things

enter in and choke the word,

and it proves unfruitful.

But those that were sown on the good soil

are the ones who hear the word

and accept it and bear fruit,

thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.

You see, it's a mystery.

You receive the mystery.

If you were to go back

to the time of Harriet Tubman

and just sort of changing the context

and you were to say to one of the white slaveholders,

like, in a sense,

you know, in a sense you're wearing a noose

around your neck.

And they say,

why are you wearing a noose?

Well, don't you know that that black man

that you lynched

is the turning point of history

and the means by which you became right God?

Well, they'd mock it

and say that's the dumbest, stupidest thing in the world.

And you say, no, no, it's a mystery.

You receive him

and it begins to make a difference in your life

and you start to bear fruit

and the more you press into it,

the more you know it's real

and the more you might have a bit of a way

to become more gentle rather than harsh

and maybe to deal with some of the craziness

and the messes and the addictions

and the violence in your life.

And the white slave owners would say,

there is absolutely no way on God's good earth

that the turning point of all of history

is that black guy that we lynched.

And that's the mystery of the ancient world.

First of all, nobody survives crucifixion.

Tens and tens and tens and tens of thousands

were crucified.

Nobody survived.

And you're saying that this Jewish rebel

who died a slave's death

by Roman imperial power,

and if you were the Jewish leaders,

are you saying our scriptures say

that cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree

and you're saying that someone obviously cursed by God,

dying under Roman power as a slave

and a ne'er-do-well,

that he, receiving him

and what he did for you on the cross,

that that's the turning point of history,

that that is the end of your longings

and your yearnings

and you can be reconciled to God,

that is completely and utterly ridiculous.

And you want to know how this really is a mystery?

I mean, on one level,

and it is a mystery, you know?

I mean, on one level,

mystery doesn't mean you don't know anything about it.

You know the shape of it and all.

And at the end of the day,

as we all know,

philosophers have never plumbed the depths

of what it means for Jesus to die upon the cross.

Poets have never plumbed the depths.

Musicians and mystics and philosophers

and theologians and ordinary people,

on one hand, you can understand,

you can hear that this guy who dies on a cross

has died to reconcile you with God

and that if you receive it,

it will make you right.

And you can understand it on one level.

There's a shape to the mystery,

but the heart of the mystery is still a complete...

It continues to fascinate when you're inside of it.

And from the outside,

it's a shocking thing.

And part of the thing,

which is even more shocking,

is that even though the historical records show

that to accept the crucified Jew

as your Savior and Lord

is only going to put you on the outside

of pagan and Jewish society,

yet somehow or another this thing grew.

And 2,000 years later,

there is not a single god or goddess

of ancient Greece or Rome

who is still worshipped,

but we are here today

remembering the crucified Jew.

And earlier today,

our brothers and sisters in Nigeria

and Uganda

and Kenya

and Rwanda

and in Israel

and Syria

and hidden in Iran

and hidden in China

and hidden in North Korea

and in South Korea

have worshipped

the crucified Jew.

What a mystery!

Four things very briefly in closing.

Four very brief takeaways.

I apologize I don't have them up on the screen.

The first one is

the importance of the message of the sower.

God sows the seed

to all and sundry

and all conditions of men and women.

I don't know how many of you,

if you haven't heard it,

go back two Sundays ago

and listen to Matt Usherwood's testimony.

And if you've heard other things about his life,

I can tell you right now

that if you were the youth pastor

there speaking to the group

and you saw Matt come in

and you talked to him,

you'd think,

why this guy's been

arrested several times

and he does lots of drugs

and there is,

in fact,

you might have been worried

that he was present

and you almost might want to even hold back

what you want to say,

but they shared the gospel

and Matt became a Christian.

He was the most unlikely guy in the room.

And the sower,

there are a lot of us here,

if you hear this story,

it's very unlikely

you would ever become a Christian.

And so part of the takeaway from this

is that don't say God's no for him.

Pray for unlikely people.

If you get an opportunity

to bear witness to Jesus,

take it.

Don't say to yourself,

well, this person is a trans activist.

They're just going to hate me.

Don't say,

this person is a very,

very wealthy glee bite.

They're just going to look down their nose at me.

Don't say,

this person is very important in politics

or in the media.

Don't say,

this person is too broken and messed up.

Like,

how do you know who the seed is?

Who's going to,

you don't know.

Share the gospel

and pray for the unlikely people

that you come across,

that they will come to know Jesus

because you don't know.

And the second thing is,

when you hear,

you know,

the text in verse 20

is that they hear the word,

they receive the word.

And so it's not like,

if you just happen to say the words,

Jesus is my savior and Lord,

then you go to heaven.

And if you just happen to say the,

you don't say the words,

you go to hell forever.

No.

And it's not a matter of,

if you just have the opinion,

you go one place.

And if you don't have that opinion,

you go another place.

No.

What it's like,

it's like a seed

being received into the soil.

You receive the person

and work of Christ.

You receive him

as your savior and Lord.

You receive him in.

The image is like a seed

going into the ground.

And the water

and the seed

blossoms

and bursts

and grows.

it's more like accepting,

saying yes to a marriage proposal.

And that's what he does to you.

And he's even humbled himself

to use very old fashioned language.

He's got down on his knees

and he looks up to you

and he said,

will you take me?

Will you take me?

Will you take me?

And he's hoping and longing

that you will say yes.

And this is the third thing.

If you say to me,

George,

does Jesus know

how messed up my life is?

And I can say to you,

yes, he does.

Does he know

that every time

I've tried to start on something

it's ended up

either I've dropped it

or it's ended up in failure?

Yes, he knows.

Does he know

that every single time

I've opened my life up

to a person

that all that's happened

is that they've hurt me

or rejected me?

Does he know that?

And all I can say to you is,

yes, he knows.

Does he know

how consumed I am

with drugs

or alcohol

or with sex

or with money?

Yes, he knows.

Yes, he knows.

And he's still making

the offer to you

and he wants you to say yes.

And the fruitfulness

won't come from your effort.

the fruitfulness

comes in your own

personal life

and in the world

when you say yes.

He does the fruitfulness,

not you.

And the final thing

is that this parable

of the seed

is an invitation

for us to examine

our conscience.

To say to Jesus today,

is it I, Lord?

Have I become

far too consumed

with my image?

Have I become...

Am I worried

to say something

or do something

because I'm afraid

of the bad consequences?

Am I actually

becoming too fixated

on my career

or my money?

Jesus,

are you talking

to me this morning?

And Jesus,

if you are,

help me to say no

to those things

and help me,

please,

Jesus,

I want to be

that fruitful soil

where you do

this miraculous work

of fruitfulness.

I want that

to be me

and I know

I need your help

to say no

to those other things.

I invite you

to stand.

Please stand.

Let's just bow

our heads in prayer.

Father,

if there are any here

or any who are watching,

Father,

who sort of,

they feel the pressure,

Father,

to give their lives

to Jesus,

then Father,

I ask that you

just help them

to turn around

and to look at you

and to accept

the offer of your Son

to be their Savior

and their Lord

and to allow Jesus

to come into their lives.

Father,

and help them

with the words.

Help them,

Father,

to just stop

and to allow that

to happen.

And Father,

for each of us

who are here,

you know the different ways

that we are affected

by these things,

affected by

our preoccupation

with how others

think of us,

our worry

about our reputation,

our pursuit

of wealth

or power

or career

or some other thing,

fitness

or some other type

of thing,

of beauty,

of looks.

Father,

you know the different ways

that we frustrate

the Word,

the person of Christ.

And Father,

we come to you

and we thank you so much

that you know us perfectly

and you love us perfectly.

And just we once again

recommit to you

and we once again

just come and stand

and say we thank you.

We can remember about Jesus

and have communion

and hear your Word

and we recommit to you.

Father,

make us fruitful.

Help us to accept Jesus

deep in our lives

no matter what the cost

and help us to be fruitful.

We turn to you.

We desire to be that good soil

as individuals

and as a church

that you will bring

good fruit

in our personal lives

in our church

and in the world

all to your glory.

And we ask this

in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.