Break up Your Fallow Ground - Dan Weaver

Greetings in the precious name of Jesus this morning. It's

privileged to be gathered here again. I've been blessed and

encouraged instructed this morning. So this morning the plan is

to have the council meeting messages this morning and then

not have a message on Wednesday evening. And for a text,

you can open your Bible to Jeremiah four one to four.

I'm going to read a verse out of Joseah first

and then we'll go to that say so, to yourselves

in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground,

for it's time to seek the Lord, till he come

and reign righteousness upon you. For a title or a

title this morning, I like to use that phrase, break

up your fallow ground, yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy,

break up your fellow ground for this time to seek

the Lord. So that phrase is also found in Jeremiah.

So I'm going to read that the first four verses

of Jeremiah four. Jeremiah four Verse one, if thou wilt

return o Israel, saith the Lord return unto me. And

if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight,

then shalt thou not remove, and thou shalt swear the

Lord liveth in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness, And

the nation shall bless them sells in Him, and in

Him shall they glory. For thus saith the Lord to

the men of Judah and Jerusalem. Break up your fellow ground,

and so not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,

and take away the foreskins of your heart. He meant

of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Less my furry fury

come forth like fire and burn that none can quench

it because of the evil of your doings. So as

I was thinking about this, and well, what does it mean?

First of all, what is what is fallow ground? And

what does it mean to break up for fallow ground?

And I've I've actually struggled with this verse for a

long time because I thought fallow means to actually to

plow up exactly what it means, And I thought plowing

up is breaking up. So how are you breaking up?

What you break up? And the truth is that is

exactly what it means. That is exactly what it means.

It means broke, break take up the plowed ground, break

up that freshly plowed ground. And as you farmers know here,

and we have a lot of fields that are either

planted or ready to plant around here. And the farmers

didn't just go and plow the ground and then plant it.

There were some other processes that went in there. And I,

as I was studying this, I had to go back

and think of most of my farming experience was pre Orgon,

and we had something in our farming experience that we

don't have as much of here. Some of you think

you have rocks, We were pretty sure rocks multiplied and

and just think of the analogies of some of this,

as far as plowing up in council meeting, just think

about the US. And there were times that there was

a field or we would get it if there was

a field that was that was especially rocky, and every

time you plowed, you has a whole another period of

picking rocks, and our dads told us it was character building,

and we were convinced that they thought their character was

already built because we were out there picking the rocks day

after day after day. It seemed like and maybe it

wasn't as much as it seemed like, but and I

remember we'd get we'd get those fields seated down into

hay because hopefully it would last three or four or

five years before you had to plow it again, and

all those rocks had come right back out there you

go again. Of course, it was a new set plow

up other things sometimes, and especially for their old homesteads,

and there were years that we're like, well, we really

that's not producing very well anymore. We really should plow

it up, rotate that field, but we just we don't

want to look at those rocks. We just don't want

to look at those rocks. And there's another thing that

I remember. A few spots that we'd go and we

had now that the fancy new plows had had an

automatic trip mechanism, and Dad got one of those as

soon as I left home. But we had a plow

that if you hit a rock rather than rather than

a plow share braking, it did break sometimes, but it

would trip the mollboard and then you'd back up and

click it back into place and try again. And there

were certain spots in the field that you'd almost know

is coming. You'd hit it and trip the thing had happen,

and so you'd back up and it was there, and

it was there, and every once in a while we

would get the notion that if we'd go dig up

that rock, it won't trip it anymore, you know. And

it's one of those things that we could it was

just below the surface. We could actually work it up.

We knew nothing was going to grow right there, but

if we could just work it up it was below

the surface and just get it all taken care of,

we wouldn't have to worry about that again until the

next time we plow. And there it was so wed.

And we didn't have big excavators like Darren and some

others have. We just had the tractor and loader. We

go out and dig get those rocks out. And if

we get digged down and get those rocks out, we

didn't have that trick point anymore. But sometimes we'd dig

down and dig some holes and we couldn't find the

bottom of that rock, and we just it's too big.

It's just too big, so we'd give up. Other times

we'd dig down, we'd get to the bottom of the rock,

but it was too big to manage with our tractor

and loader. So then what do you do? Then you

just dig a little deeper su push that rock down,

so it's just a little bit deeper. And I don't

know how you get huge boulders bowlers in the ground

and with Wisconsin frost. A few plow cycles and guess

what you're doing. You're going along and trip. There it

is there. It is again another thing I've realized in

later years. So for the last approximately eight years, we

had some test plots behind my place there it says

it was a little microway of getting my farmer itch

going again. Yes, and but we would we would turn

up the soil every once in a while. We sort

of like the minimum till or no till, because of course,

when we were doing test plots, we wanted that is,

we wanted fairly pure stands of things. And we realize

that whenever you turn that up, you're not you're not

just turning up the things you can see as you

break it down, you're also turning up the things you

can't see. Every time we turn it up, we turn

up a whole new batch of weeds, weed seeds. And

then you know, we could just we could just go

out and work it out, plant it and wait for

the rains to come. But if we do that, there'd

be as many weeds as what we planted, it seemed like.

But if we had water, it take care of the weeds.

Water it take care of the weeds, and do that

a few times, we could have it clear. It says,

here's so not among thorns, and we'll get more to

that later. As we mentioned, after we plow, we don't.

We don't plant right away. We work it up. And

you know, I've been impressing it for years. In fact,

even before I moved here, I noticed how how in

the Oregon farmers they just they work things down flat

and fine and small. And you know, I actually, coming

from Wisconsin, we would till a few times plant, and

I actually thought it was just the organ farmers. I

thought it was just a snob factor, to be honest.

But realizing after living out here and working with it,

the type of soil and the water management that is,

actually it's what you're doing for a crop. For a

good crop, you break it down, you work it, break

it down to the little pieces, so that anything in

there that's going to be harmful exposes itself. So he

says here in Jeremiah four, to break up the hell

fallow ground and so not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to

the Lord, or separate, seut yourselves to the Lord, and

take away the foreskins of your heart, the men of

Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my fury come forth

like fire and burn that none can quench it because

of the evil of your doings. So now I'd like

to turn to First Corinthians. First Corinthians eleven. I think

I'm just going to read that Verses twenty six to

thirty two. This is probably the most compelling concise scripture

of why we have our examination service before communion. For

as often as he verse twenty six for Scrintiens eleven,

For as often as you eat this bread and drink

this cup, you to show the Lord's death till you come. Wherefore,

whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of

the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and

blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself,

and so let him eat of that bread and drink

of that cup. For he that edith and drinketh unworthily

eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you,

and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we

should not be judged. And when we are judged, we

are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be

condemned with the world. So this is in the context

of communion, we are sort of breaking in of the

Lord's supper and saying that you show the Lord's death

till you come. In verse twenty twenty seven, whoever should

eat unworthily or in an unworthy manner? And I think

it could be it could be both. And in the context,

I think it's both. And there were they were having

some trouble with gluttony and drunkenness coming into into the

communion table, and that's part of what was being in

address here. And so this is something that should be

done respectfully, but also that we should be worthy worthy,

we should be respectful. And it says let a man

examine himself or let a man prove himself. I think

it's this isn't isn't the time of of examining everyone

else's plowed ground. It's it's a time of examining ourselves,

our own and the consequences. Then twenty eight, So that

a man examined himself in twenty nine. He that eaters

or drinks bring a damnation to himself. And I'm not

exactly sure what that means for sure, just on the surface,

it's go back to the to the verse in circumcision

and Jeremiah that if we don't circumcise our heart, we

are there's the judgment of fire. Is this saying that

if we eat or drink, or heading for help, drink unworthily, Well,

this can become a thing of conscience then, because there's

maybe a sense in which none of us are worthy,

but there's also we should not we should not take

lightly taking known sin to the communion service. But it

goes on to that phrase not discerning the Lord's body,

or not giving respect to the Lord's body, not giving

respect to what the Lord did. And I think there

might be another aspect to this, and I'm not sure

if it's I'm not going to say one is more

than the other, but I'm just going to propose this

as another aspect to it. Now, when we eat or

drink unworthily and we're willing to go to the communion

service in that fellowship with our brethren and with Christ

with guilt, on our hands. It seals a searing of

conscience or a mindset that it's just easier to do

it the second time and the third time, and it

becomes a way of life. It's in my notes later.

But a habit is something that is too light to

be felt until it's too heavy to be broken. That

sort of goes along with that. So let's examine, examine ourselves.

And this says for this cause many are weak and

sickly among you, and many sleep. And then verse thirty one,

this is actually a privilege for if we judge ourselves,

we should not be judged. In other words, if we

if we are willing to examine ourselves and look at

ourselves and check our field, we shall not be judged.

And this is this is specifically speaking of of final judgment.

I think it also could speak of of other aspects

of life as well. But when we are judged, we're

chastened to the Lord. So in that context, now I'd

like to turn to Matthew thirteen. This is a familiar passage,

and just continuing to think about the analogy of the

soils of the ground, and this is the parable of

the soil sower. I believe I'm going to read this

and then have some comments on it. I'm going to

read the first twenty three verses of Matthew thirteen. The

same day went Jesus out of the house and sat

by the seaside, And great multitudes were gathered together unto him,

so that he went into a ship and sat in.

The whole multitude stood on the shore, and he spake

many things onto them in parable saying, behold, a sore

went forth to soul. And when he sewed, some seeds

fell on the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured

them up. Some fell upon the stony places, where they

had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up, because

they had no deepness of earth, And when the sun

was up they were scorched, And because they had no root,

they withered away. And some fell among the thorns, and

the thorns sprung up and choked them. But others fell

into good ground and brought forth fruit, some one hundredfold,

some sixty fold, and some thirtyfold. Who hath hears to hear,

let him hear. The disciples came and said unto him,

why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered, and

said unto them, because it is given unto you to

know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, But to

them it is not given. For whosoever shall who's excuse me.

For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he

shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath not from him

shall be taken away, even that he hath. Therefore, speak

I to them in parables, because they seing not any

because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not.

Neither do they understand. And in them has fulfilled the

prophecy of Isaiahs which saith. By hearing you shall hear

and shall not understand, And seeing ye shall see and

shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross,

and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes

they have closed less At any time they should see

with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should

understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I

should heal them. But blessed are they excuse me? But

blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears

for they hear. For verily I say unto you that

many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those

things which you see and have not seen them, and

to hear those things which you hear and have not

heard them. Here Ye, therefore the parable of the sword.

When anyone heareth the word of the of the Kingdom

and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one and

catcheth the way that which was sown in his heart.

This is he which receives seed by the wayside. But

he that received the seed into stony places, the same

as he that heareth the word and anon with joy

receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself, but

dureth for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises

because of the word, by and by he is offended.

He also that receives seed among the thorns. Is he

that heareth the Word, And the cares of this world,

and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he

becometh unfruitful. Did he that receiveth seed into the good ground?

Is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which

also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some one hundredfold, some

sixty some thirty. So I'm thinking about this parable and

making just a few applications as we as we think

of council meeting here. This is something that I suppose

as we look at sometimes this is called the parable

the soer my Bible, and my preferred title for this

is the parable the soils, because that's the that's the

difference here. But as we think about our life and

we examine ourselves, that's what we're doing. We're looking at

ourselves and we're considering what kind of soil our life is,

or maybe what kind of soil aspects of our life is.

It could be applied either way. There are things in

our life that that this could be applied to specifically.

And as I was I was looking at this this

morning and thinking about it, I was like, well, almost

we could. We don't have people here on the wayside,

do we the wayside soil? We're kind of beyond that.

Verse four. I'm going to as we go to each section,

I'm going to read both the again, both the parable

portion and the interpretation of each of these. So verse

four and nineteen. And when he sowed some seeds fell

by the wayside, and the foles came and he voured

them up verse nineteen, when anyone here the word of

the kingdom and understandeth it not. Then cometh the wicked

one and catch us the way that which was sewn

in his heart. This is he which receives seed by

the wayside. So we think of the wayside in this

context is like the road or the path that it's hard,

it doesn't take seed, doesn't have understanding. And when we

think of the break up your fallow ground that's already plowed,

it's freshly plowed. But I don't think we can just

assume this morning that we're all plowed. I don't think

that's a safe assumption. Because I think of my own

life sometimes, I don't think it's safe to assume we're

beyond the wayside. And we would like to think that

this is a progression of age. You know, maybe the

younger ones are on the wayside and as they go older.

But I almost wonder if it's not about the opposite,

because as I think about myself and watch and see

how that life's disappointments and experiences, maybe our habits, those

things that are too light to be felt until they're

too heavy to be broken, are besetting sins, and they

get so deep and so packed in there that there's

no way. There's just no way. We're gonna pull out

that plow. We're just gonna go another year. We're not

gonna go digging for that rock that's buried there. We're

just gonna go another year. We're just we can we can't,

we can't look there. Let's just get a little soil

over it. Let's keep on going, packing it a little better.

Hopefully never comes up. We just look over our unproductive

field and say it's good enough. I don't know what

to do. There's no hope for change. It's always been

that way. It hasn't. But after a while, that's the

lie we tell us. It's just always been that way.

There's just no hope. But Jesus purpose I believe in

the parable the soils is that each of these soils

can be good soils with Him. And so we you

need to take out the plow. We need to be

willing to look, we need to be willing to dig.

Going on to the stony places Verses five and six

and twenty and twenty one. Some fell upon stony places

where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung

up because they had no deepness of earth. And when

the sun was up, they were scorched because they had

no root. They withered away and verse twenty. But he

that receives the seed into stony place, the same as

he that heareth the word and Anon with joy received it,

receiveth it. Yet he hath not root in himself, but

doureth for a while, for when tribulation of persecution arises

because of the word, and by and bye, he is offended.

And that's one thing I was going to mention here

that question this morning about the word and the action.

And I'm not exactly sure. I'm not making these creeds

and confessions equal to scripture for sure, but there is

an aspect here where it talks about having that understanding.

And I'm not so concerned exactly what's written down, But

in order to get this depth it is. It is

more than just something superficial or the way we've done

it or the what we're told to do. This is

something that has to go deeper. Receive it with a word,

but not with depth. This can come from a just

a pure laziness about our relationship with God. Do we

give time to a relationship with God? Or and also

do we give I think what's really important is that

as we have a devotional life in a relationship with

God that goes with us all the time. And it's

not just some period of time that's shallooness. It can

also be from shallowness of our worldview. Is Sunday worship

a part of your Christian experience or is it your

Christian experience? Is that what it consists of? Verse fifteen. Again,

for this people's heart as wax gross, and their ears

are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed

us at any time they should see with their eyes

and hear with their ears. Can you engage in spiritual conversation,

we could say, But can you actually meditate on spiritual things?

You can go deeper than surface says that that this

was received with joy on the stony ground. It was

received with joy and they were happy. But then the

trials came and there wasn't root. Is that my cycle

that I go to the Word and receive joy and

go through the day depressed? Where can we make that?

You know, joy, deep joy doesn't necessarily come from everything

going perfect. I believe the deepest joy comes from having

an identity, identity of who we are and who God is.

I know we don't feel that all the time. But

you know, even even when the plant is roots are deep,

there's a little bit of hailstorms come sometimes and decimate it.

Both those deep roots and those plants out there, they

don't they don't look like they feel very good after

the storm, both those roots down there into the nutrients,

they're restored. Going to the thorny ground, going to read

verse seven and twenty two, and some fell among thorns,

and the thorns sprung up and choked them. And twenty

two He also that received them among the thorns. Is

he that hereth the word and the cares care of

this world, and is the seat in thefulness of riches

choked the word, and he becometh unfruitful. The thorns choke

the word. Talks about the cares of this world, and

some of these maybe like self inflicted cares. We take

on more work, take on more things, more projects, one

more digital subscription, and they pile up. And some of

these things are not wrong in themselves, but they just

become a burden or could be cares that come in life,

a handicap, an injury, an accident, death of a loved one.

Talks about the deceitfulness of riches, cares of this world,

and the deceitfulness of riches the things we have, and

I suppose one of the things we have, at least

me and it brings cares of this world is called

a schedule. There's more thing and it fills up. And

time is one of those resources that God has treated

us quite equally with. How are we managing that? Are

we are getting bogged down with the cares of our schedules?

And Mark brings out the lusts of other things, and

Luke the pleasures of this life. And it doesn't mean

that we don't enjoy life, but that we're not pleasure seeking,

because pleasure seekings brings the cares of this world, which

brings the thorns which choke us, has that effect on us.

And again, Jesus purpose is to take each change, each

of these soils into good soils. Last of all, I'd

just like to think a little bit about the good

ground verse eight and verse twenty three. I'll read again,

But others file into the good ground and brought forth fruit,

some one hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. And verse

twenty three. But he that receives seed into the good ground.

Is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which

also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some one hundred sixty

in some thirty one. Thing we note here is the

difference doesn't all yield the same, but it bears fruit.

It bears fruit. And one thing we find there's a

good ground, there's a good place to start and soil.

Soil is very important. Soil health is very important to

producing fruit. But just because we plant on perfectly good soil,

I think, in fact here it goes on to talk

about the parable that tears in the wheat is the

next one, and in the good soil there's tears in

the wheat. How do you keep the ground good? We

check our fields, We assess risk of disease of weeds.

We pull weeds when they're small, and sometimes we when

we're trying to grow crops, we spray for weeds that

we don't even see yet, don't even exist yet. There's

a couple of principles of growing a good crop. There

may be more, but there's a couple I thought of

relation to this, and that's the open ground will always

fill up with something green. It's this thing of competition

and God God made the earth to be green. And

so if you have if you have open ground with

nothing growing, something will grow. And if we're going to

yield fruit of righteousness in God's guard, we need to

keep a full stand. We need to do all the

all the husbandry we can to keep a full stand.

And one thing I've just noticed in and the the

less bare dirt you have, the less weeds you have

in your field. It's just the way it is. In fact,

over on the research farm we're growing we're growing grass

plants on a two foot by two foot grid, and

you can just imagine the amount of contamination we have

to deal with. It's just constant. But as we have,

as we are producing fruit in the word on good

soil and and taking care of contamination, it makes it

actually makes our Christian life easier and we can be

way more powerful in the kingdom. And the other thing

and this is this actually goes back a little bit

to the to the last point on the on the

thorny ground, is that the competition plants, the weeds and

other crops and aren't supposed to be there, are taking

nutrients that your crop needs. They're just taking nutrients that

your crop needs, and so let's get rid of those

things that are still in our nutrients for fruit berry.

So to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up

your fellow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord.

Till they come and reign righteousness upon you. Let's have

a closing sec