Matthew 13:1-9 and Isaiah 55:10-11

By Robert Kirk

July 13, 2008

 

 INTRODUCTION

            We’re all here in church this morning looking for something.   If you wanted coffee and a chat with friends, you’d be at Starbucks. 
If you wanted to see a soccer game,you’d be out at the playing fields.  The fact that you’re here means you want something you can only get here: closeness to like-minded people, certain kinds of music, words of wisdom, or a little closer relationship with God.

            This story about a farmer and his field has something to say to us today. 

            First of all, it gives us a picture of GOD’S EXTRAVAGANT LOVE.

            Secondly, it gives us some PRACTICAL ADVICE about how to deepen and develop our relationship with God.  It suggests that we need to take the time to PLOW, to DEEPEN, and to WEED.

GOD’S EXTRAVAGANT LOVE

            First, a word about God’s extravagant love.

            The farmer is almost reckless with his seed.  Seed was precious, and not to be wasted.  Yet the farmer tosses the seed out everywhere across his fields.  Onto the hard ground, onto the shallow soil, everywhere.

            I believe this is a picture of the way God is available to all of us, whether we are looking for him or not, whether we are receptive to his callings or not. 

            God has made and always will make himself available to us.  

            In John’s gospel we read: “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  As Christians, we forget what an extraordinary statement that is to make about God.  In fact, this claim is a great stumbling block to both Jews and Muslims, who think that it is ridiculous and beneath God’s dignity to come down to our level. 

            Why on earth should the mighty creator God do that? 

            When I was a kid, I had several ant farms and could spend hours fascinated by the ants and their behavior.  I fed them and looked after them.  As much as I loved them, I never wanted to become one of them.

            Yet that is the claim Christianity makes, that the Creator wanted to become one of us, that He entered out world and became one of us. 

            He did it because of his intense desire to know us and be known by us.  He did it out of love.

            This is one of the remarkable and distinctive points of Christian theology.  God loves us so much he entered our world, He took on our form and our suffering.  He gave himself to us and for us, so that we would not perish but have eternal life.

            [Philippians 2:6-8]            
           I know these words sound strange to modern ears.  But take them home and ponder them. 

            Our God is no far off disinterested deity.  He is an extravagant lover.  He created our world and then invaded it with his presence, and continues to be near to us in a thousand different ways. 

            BUT, it is important to understand God’s subtlety.

            God is Spirit, God is love, and Spirit and Love are extremely subtle.  You won’t witness pillars of fire and smoke and thunder and lightning. 

            [1 Kings 19]

            There’s a great story about this.

            One night a woman dreamed she walked into a shop in heaven.  Much to her surprise, she found St. Peter working behind the counter.  She asked him, "What do you sell here?"

            He replied, "Just about anything your heart desires."

            "Wow," the woman thought.  What an incredible thing.  Here she was in heaven, talking to St. Peter.   And she could have just about anything she desired. 

            She thought for a moment, then said.  "O.k. I want happiness, and love, and peace on earth.”

            "Here you go," St. Peter said, handing her a tiny, tiny little package.

            "What's this?"  said the woman.

            "That's what you asked for," replied St. Peter, "Happiness, and love, and peace on earth."

            The woman frowned.  "But it just looks like a bunch of old dried up seeds to me."

            "That's right," answered St. Peter.  "We don't sell any fruits here -- only seeds."

 

            I like that story because I think it is true.  And I think it clarifies something about the way God works.

            People of faith go around saying that God is generous and that God provides for us in countless ways.

            Skeptical people reply that they don’t much see evidence of this.

            Well, I think that this riddle is solved if we accept the idea that God rarely, if ever, drops down full grown, ripe fruit from heaven.  We don’t often get exactly what we pray for or think we need.

            What we do get, however -- and we get it abundantly if only we have eyes to see -- ARE SEEDS: LITTLE TINY BEGINNINGS OF ANSWERS TO OUR NEEDS.

            Things like an opportunity, an insight, a phonecall out of the blue, a tug on the spirit, a new person who walks into our life.

            God is subtle, and our prayers are answered subtly -- with seeds, not with full grown, ripe fruit.

            WHAT HAPPENS TO THESE SEEDS IS UP TO US!  DO I LISTEN TO THAT TUG OF THE SPIRIT OR NOT?  IF NOT, HAVE I THROWN AWAY ONE OF GOD’S SEEDS?

            Not everyone sees it that way.  But like it says in v. 9: “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

            A second important detail in this story is the magnitude of the crop.  When the seed finds good soil to grow in, the outcome is 30, 60, or 100 times.  That’s a good return.  A 7-fold return would have been good in those days.  The farmer’s patience and his extravagance are rewarded. 

            [Isaiah 55:10-11]

            So God’s love is extravagant, but his harvest is plentiful, too.  That’s the first point this parable makes.

SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE ABOUT HOW TO DEEPEN AND DEVELOP OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

            The other thing this story offers us is some practical advice about how to deepen and develop our relationship with God.   It suggests that we need to PLOW, to DEEPEN, and to WEED. 

            PLOWING softens the ground and allows the seed to penetrate. 

            We need to soften our hearts and our minds to hear God. 

            We need to ASK God to open our hearts to him.

            We need to be humble before God, and listen to his Bible with a childlike and open heart. 

            WE NEED TO PRESS DEEPER.  We need to accept that no matter how much we have grown in the faith we still have more growing to do. There is no such thing as having arrived spiritually.

            We need to fast and pray and ponder His scripture every day.

            God is a person, and you can’t grow in a relationship to a person without spending quality time with that person. Prayer and Bible study are having a conversation with God. God speaks to you through the Bible and you speak to Him through prayer.

             AND WE NEED TO WEED.   The biggest problem modern people have regarding God is skepticism.  The 2^nd biggest problem is that we are too busy.  We worry and rush around and so we miss the “still small voice” of God speaking to us.

            We need to remember the word Jesus said: [Matt 6:31-33]

            CONCLUSION

            We’re all here in church this morning looking for something.   If you wanted coffee and a chat with friends, you’d be at Starbucks.  But you’re not, because you are looking for something better than caffeine.

            This story about a farmer and his field has something to say to us today. 

            First of all, it gives us a picture of GOD’S EXTRAVAGANT LOVE.

            God is with us and involved in our lives in ways that are subtle, but beyond our imagining.

            Secondly, it gives us some PRACTICAL ADVICE about how to deepen and develop our relationship with God.   We need to plow, to deepen and to weed.

            If we do these things, then God will produce a bountiful harvest in our lives.

            Jesus said that the harvest would yield “a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown”.  

            And it will.

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