Seed - The Parable of the Sower

'Gud Morning friends, welcome along this morning'. 'Hello, good to be with you all'. 'Yes, so good to be with you, men'. 'I was standing outside before waiting for my kids and it was, I love that spring in Christchurch. 'It feels like either you get a summer day or you get a winter day. 'You don't really get the middle'. 'It feels like we've blessed with one of those summer days in the middle'. 'Yeah, I knocked over. So good'. 'Before I get to my message this morning, I just wanted to share briefly what a blessing it has been to be part of this church community for the last 18 months. 'Like it has been such a gift to myself, I know to Sydney, for our kids to have a kid while we've been on this plant, 'for our kids to be discipled as part of this community has been a real gift. 'And I was reflecting back. 'It was probably about six years ago, I have this memory of when I first came on at the well, 'one of the first jobs that I was assigned to do was to run an alpha course. 'They thought, hey, this is a, like, just stand up an alpha course lead that. 'And I remember, like, night after night of that alpha course, it would be myself, 'it was Andrew, and then it was another man, Ben. 'And we would, like, guest would have long left, and we would just be, like, standing around. 'You know, when you're standing at the door ready to, like, put in the alarm, 'cloat or, like, turn the key, but we'd just be there for like 20 minutes, 'just chatting around life and faith and what it would mean to reach people for Jesus, 'and it feels like man. 'The journey from there to be, like, now Andrew and Jenny have planted and we're about to be sent out. 'It feels like it's quite an adventure God has taken us on. 'And it's been a real privilege to be with you on that adventure. 'It feels like, yeah, we've, I was listening this week to someone based in Australia who talks a lot around kind of examining the cultural moment, 'and what it means to be the church in this cultural moment. 'And we talked around, actually, there's his analysis that he read from a lot of places 'was that we're in this age, and you're just like, man, there's so many global crises that are going on. 'And you just think of, like, oh, you're the crisis, the crisis has started, like, four years ago. 'It's still happening. 'And we're just in, and with AI and just, like, this posture he felt of within church 'and within people of, like, we've just got to hunker down and retreat. 'We've got to play it safe. 'And just in the midst of that, thinking like, we planted a church in the midst of that. 'Like, this spirit of, like, no, the kingdom of God still progresses. 'No matter what is kind of happening in the sense of God's kingdom still goes out. 'His people are still sent to be his people, bringing good news. 'And particularly in this moment, man, that's needed. 'And just the blessing to be part of the, yeah, this community doing that 'and then be sent out from this place. 'So, thank you. 'And as we turn to the sermon this morning, I've got an important question that I want to ask. 'Use. 'When is it an appropriate time to start thinking about Christmas?' You have a slide. So, who's already started thinking about Christmas and has maybe bought presents? 'Yep, we've got a few. They've got a few. How many of us don't get our Christmas presents 'till December hits the twenties? [laughter] Right, like, I grew up, I've shared before, I grew up in my early childhood in the Philippines. 'And in Filipino culture, it's ordinary to start having Christmas stuff from December. 'I don't know if you're new. This week I went out and did a bunch of shopping. 'And there was this weird contrast in the warehouse in those shops of half the stores 'set up for Halloween and half the store set up for Christmas. 'And I'm like, 'My brain's like, 'This is way too early.' 'But I raised that to ask another more important question. 'As you think of the idea of Christmas and buying gifts and celebration, 'what is the most significant gift that you have received? 'Do you have a gift that you think of, like, 'Man, I remember that when I was given that. 'I remember when I unwrapped that and what it meant to me.' 'Do you have an answer?' 'It's Harry.' 'It's Harry.' 'Yes.' 'What?' 'Very good.' 'I want to show you two gifts that still stand out for me in my memory. 'I wasn't able to find the exact bike, but it's the right brand. 'It's a rep code bike. 'It wasn't black and red. 'And I remember this present because I remember the story behind it 'is I had like a kid's BMX that I'll take to school every week. 'At some point it turned to, like, it wasn't cool to be riding a kid's BMX. 'And I don't remember ever telling my parents, like, 'Hey, people are teasing me for this. 'But I remember, like, this was actually my birthday. 'It was my birthday came and they brought out this bike. 'And it was like, 'Oh, I felt noticed and I felt loved. 'And they've spotted, like, actually, it's time for David to have a proper bike. 'Not this little child's one.' 'It's my memory. They'll let it stand out for me.' 'Oh, my parents noticed and they cared and they brought me to the other. 'They brought me a bike. 'The second one was the a pack of Pokemon cards.' 'No, no, they are long gone.' 'But again, a similar story of, like, thinking back, I can actually remember the moment 'where in the store and they probably bought them. 'But when I opened them, I was like, 'Oh, my parents know that I would want this thing.' 'They noticed what it is.' 'If I had chosen to not be a child in that moment and just hold onto these, 'these are worth $7 to $500 to $700 now, if I just left the package. 'But I chose to be a child and just play with them. 'They ended up getting traded for something. 'Who knows where they are now? Probably in the tip.' 'But for me, these were two important gifts because they were moments where I felt like, 'Oh, here are some people who know me, who get me, who love me.' 'And they gave me something that felt, that symbolised 'and something of incredible worth for me.' 'And this morning, I want to open to a passage in Matthew's gospel 'where Jesus talks about a gift that he wants to sow in each of our lives.' 'This blessing.' 'So if you've got a Bible with you, I want to invite you to open up to Matthew chapter 13, 'and we're going to read from verse 1 to verse 23. 'It's quite a long section, and then I'll speak to a couple of pieces from it.' 'So this is the passage that we are planting seed Wesleyan out of, 'believing that there's something for the community of Selwyn and Rolliston out of this passage.' 'So it's, yeah, page 990, so from verse 1, 'That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake, 'such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it. 'Well, all the people stood on the shore. 'Then he told them many things in parables saying, 'A farmer went out to sow his seed, as he was scattering the seed, 'some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up. 'Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. 'It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow, 'but when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and they were withered 'because they had no root. 'Other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 'Still other seed fell on good soil where it produced a crop, '160 or 30 times what was so in, 'whoever has ears let them hear. 'The disciples came to him and asked, 'Why do you speak in the people in parables?' 'He replied because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven 'has been given to you but not to them. 'Whoever has will be given more and they will have an abundance. 'Whoever does not have even what they have will be taken from them. 'This is why I speak to them in parables, 'though seeing they do not see, 'though hearing they do not hear or understand. 'And them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. 'You will be ever hearing about never understanding. 'You will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 'For this people's heart has become calloused. 'They hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes. 'Otherwise you might see with their eyes here with their ears, 'understand with their hearts and turn and I would heal them. 'But blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears 'because they hear. 'For truly I tell you many prophets and righteous people 'long to see what you see but did not see it. 'And to hear what you hear but did not hear it. 'This in then to what the parable of the sower means. 'We need anyone who hears the message about the kingdom 'and does not understand it. 'The evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. 'This is the seed sown along the path. 'The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word 'and it once receives it with joy. 'But since they have no root, they last only a short time. 'When trouble or persecution come because of the word They quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life, and that a seedfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop yielding 160 or 30 times what was so in. Friends this is the word of God for the people of God. And Lord Jesus, as we open your word this morning, may we be a people whose ears are open, who can hear and understand, whose eyes can be open, can see and perceive. Lord, as we turn to your word this morning, may we be attuned to your voice and your presence with us. What you have for each of us and what you have for us as a community. I pray this all in your name, amen, amen. So this parable, it's called the parable of the sower. This can't have been debate as I've read different people, why isn't this called the parable of the soils? But the kind of, it seems to come back to, the main character is the sower. The main character in biblical stories is God and His character. And I think as we come to this passage this morning, we get this picture of God as this farmer that sows. And I'm definitely not a master gardener, like I'm not really even an amateur gardener. I'm a very basic in my gardening. But when I read this story of how this farmer sows, this is definitely not how I sow. When I have sowed plants, I have got my little spade and dug up a little hole and then carefully planted a seed. And then based on my Google, maybe measured like 20, 30 centimeters and taken effort, dug it in a little. And it's been a very slow, very monotonous process. And we get this picture here of what our God, the sower, is like, you, like, I don't know if you read, he just like throws these seeds. They're like, he's not particularly concerned. It seems where they're going, who they're going over. A bunch of them, even the first one, are going over the path. Like we have a God who just like, I'm just going to scatter my goodness and grace everywhere. Like I'm not going to be like, okay, this home gets it. And then I'm going to like, oh, actually this person in this house, I'm just going to work on this. There's a sense from the story of where the God who says, I'm just like the good news of my kingdom, of who I am, what I've done, I'm just going to scatter this as broadly, as wildly, and the sense as keelously as possible. And I know for me, like, even for me, when I think of the practice of even doing that, I get a bit anxious, maybe, of like, but seeds aren't cheap. But it only comes with like, succeeds, right? I can't just scatter those, I can't wait, but like our God is not just good and generous, but there's a sense of like, there is not a lack. Like there is room for each of us, room for each person in this community to know God's goodness and grace for him to move in their lives. And we're not going to run out of that. That is who our God is. He is a generous, he has got the sense of abundance of his goodness for us. Not this kind of careful, like, straight, like, I've just got it. I don't want to make this up. There's this, I am just going to send this wide, send this wide. And what is this thing that he sends wide, it's this message of his kingdom. And what is this message of this kingdom? I've got this quote that I found this week, according to him, the good news of this kingdom is a story of heaven invading earth and transforming it, saving it, healing it. And a church is a gathering of people who identify themselves as citizens of that kingdom, living by a higher calling, the way of Jesus and His message of the kingdom. The kingdom of God was the good news for the poor. There's a personal dimension to the kingdom of God where we acknowledge individually Jesus is king. But also there's this sense from which, like, we have the relationship with King, but there's also a social dimension that changes what it means to be a normal human. What it means to think about peace and war and prosperity and poverty and privilege and responsibility. There's a sense of God's kingdom is this thing that breaks in and changes everything. That God is about redeeming our world, restoring it. And that is what he wants to plant. And I love this image because it's not just like I've got this gift and here you go. This image for me is like, now I've got something that is of, like, this thing of such value and goodness and I want to plant it deep within your life. I want to give this precious thing to each one of you and say, see what it might. If you let it go into the depths of your being, see what beautiful thing might be birthed from that. There's this, that's what he does to us. I've got this gift. I'm wanting to restore all things. I'm wanting to restore you, your family, this community, all of creation. And the seed for that, I want to plant in you. I want to gift that to you. You don't have to earn it, you don't have to achieve it. I'm just going to scatter it and you get that in you. Do you want that in you? And do you not the role of a soil is, the role of the soil is to receive. Like the soil's not up and grabbing that seed and doing, like, it's just there to like receive this good news, receive this news of the kingdom and see what it might do. See what might be produced as this thing is, like, as we receive it and let it work in our lives, see what might come of it. So what I love about this image of this seed just being scattered, that this is the kind of God that we have, this is the kind of God that we worship. And this is how he treats us. This is, I want to plant the most precious thing, deep within side of each of you. Will you receive it? Will you let it do its work within you? What a gift, right? What a gift. And so then this parable continues of what, okay, so if we get what are the things within us that maybe resist this receiving, that rejects this receiving, that say, actually, I'm not going to receive this thing and let it do its work in me. And he talks through these three soils, these three soils that I want to work through. So these three soils, the first is this hard soil, that when anyone hears the message about the kingdom and is not understanding that evil one comes and snatches away what was so on in their heart, this is the seed, seed so on along the path. The seeds of hey, when the good news comes and we're just hard resist, like we're not even open to this thing and it just bounces off us and the enemy comes in great, like, cool, I'm not going to let that sit there, I'm going to take that away. Like there's, it's a longer path, there's not even really a soil there. And that first invitation is really in the soil, it's like, are you open to receive the good news of Jesus at all? Is there like, we don't know what it means, we don't know what it like, the full extent of it for your life, but are you open to be like, I'm at least open to hear the good news of Jesus and his kingdom for your life. I think this is the most simple, the most straightforward, is there an openness in each of us to receive that seed. And then he moves on to this, okay, the seed lands in the shallow soil, the seed falling along the rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time when trouble or persecution comes because of the word they quickly fall away. And I think this talks around, like for me, I can conceptualize the idea of like, the kingdom of God is a good thing. Man, if we have a God who is about restoring everything in our world, restoring everything in me, everything in my family, everything in every situation, that is a good thing. And I think this shallow story of people is like, yes, I get that. But then the implications of it, we don't let its roots go deep within us. Like I think what this looks like is, as we say, hey, that is good news, but I'm not going to let you go there. You want to send deep roots of this gift into my life, but actually, can you not, I don't want my faith in Jesus to really like, really touch my finances, or really touch my career, or that relationship, like I'm not going to let Jesus speak into that. Or maybe it's this sense of like, actually this is like, I've come, I've heard the good news and the things gone, but this part of me, this is who I am. God doesn't get to have a say on that. He doesn't get to speak into that. And I think there's this, like maybe it's around, yeah, maybe it's around relationships, career, maybe it's hobbies, maybe it's this wound of, actually, I'm not willing to let him go there. and there's a scene somewhere. the story of the sawers, will we let the roots of this thing go deep into our being? Saying God, I surrender, you want to go there? I trust you? Let's do this. Knowing that like the images are God who gives generously and wants to birth life out of you. So the invitation was will you let that thing send down deep roots into you? Because Jesus says like if we do not let those roots go down into the depths of who we are, into each and every arena of our lives. We won't like this thing will only last a short time. When challenges, when trouble, when persecution comes, we'll opt out. When that stuff deep within us that we haven't let them touch, actually bubbles up. I think we run away. And so the invitation is will we let? Will we let those roots go deep? Will we let his goodness, his grace, his forgiveness, his kindness, his transformation? Seep down into each and every part of our lives. And I wonder this morning, yes, there's some of us who maybe there's an era that God in the past or now is saying, hey, will you let me speak into that area of your life? Will you let the good use of my kingdom touch that part of your life? Will you let me in? And that might like that might not be an easy journey. That might not be a quick journey. It's probably going to involve other people around in prayer. But will you let me speak into that? Will you let me transform that? Will you let those roots go in deep? Produce a life that is going to last? That's the story of the shallow soil. And then thirdly, we get this crowded out soil, where Jesus says the seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word making it unfruitful. And for me, I read two, like there's two different sides to this. There's a sense of hate, the negative parts of our life, the challenging parts can crowd out what God's doing, but also the positives or what can be seen as the positives of like there can be a sense in which we come to God as that the good news comes on to say, Oh, life's busy. I'm going to busy season. My kids have all these things that are on. I've got all these groups I'm part of. And they're the rest, right? Of like the worries of this life is do we crowd out the gift that God has planted within you, the deceitfulness of wealth, maybe these things that feel like, man, this is a positive thing I'm chasing after, whether it's home, whether it's career, whether it's that image, that picture of that dream life of like, this is the good life. Jesus says else we like, but what if you achieve that thing but lose your soul in the process? That whether it's the like the challenging things of life or the positive things of life, man, this image seems to say those Jesus says that these things can crowd out the gift that God has planted deep within you. That if our primary like Jesus speaks elsewhere of like seek first the kingdom, when he's talking about fear and anxiety and worry, he says seek first the kingdom and all other things will be added to you. This is our post your God I received this gift of your kingdom deep within me. Come and speak to me, come and lead me there's going to be this noise and clutter from around me, but I'm going to let this thing guide me through that process. I'm going to let your voice, I'm going to let your wisdom, I'm going to let your community guide me through that because I want to be attuned to that because I think there's something over the worries of life and there's seekfulness of wealth that activate like an unhelpful achieving and working and earning where the posture of the soil is meant to be I've received this thing and let it do it, let it do its work within me. For us this morning, for you this morning, when we think around like I know like I've said these things and discipleship conversations and life group conversations where it's like oh how's God going it's like well it's just I haven't got to the Bible prayer this week it's just been a busy week or it's been a busy month or man it's been a busy year and this would say you might be missing out the good work God's doing within you might be getting crowded out within you because that's like for me that's and I think for us that is like that is a fear of like life gets so busy that I don't hear God's voice and God's leading that it's like oh I felt like a heard him clearly but it's just gone a bit quiet and sometimes God operates in more silence but then there's all so seasons where it's like oh maybe I've let the noise of everything else drown out his voice his leading what he is wanting to do within me because there's a sense in which while you like chasing after these things are trying to get that good thing that I think we only get by letting his good news grow birth something within us that I know my story is better story of like God has grown me in the areas that it was like this wasn't the thing that I lined you up to work on but thank you for working like one thing that Sydney and I were talking about yesterday was growing up probably into my early 20s I could never dance and not like I didn't have the skills of like there was like a deep social anxiety that I was like I want to do this thing but my body freezes and do like God like this is an outward symptom of like oh God has done something within me that I didn't consciously work to like now I dance but it was like oh God work something deep within me I didn't ask but as I let his good news work deep in my life he did something that's birthed something people might not call it a beautiful fruit but I do dance which is like oh it feels like there's something of joy and life that's that like that's probably the root right like there's something of joy and life that's overflowed and like oh I can do that now my body just doesn't freeze and I've seen then other is where it's like oh God over years has drawn me deeper and deeper into into profoundly deep relationships this wasn't a trajectory that I like set of like I want to learn how to do good friendships but it's like oh he's growing me in that and I wonder for some of us if these areas that it's like man God he might want to grow you in surprising in unexpected ways are the noise of our life and our expectations and our dreams of our aspirations crowding that out that we might not be attentive to what his voice wants to do within us because lastly we get to this like of all the soils we get to this good soil the soil that receives the seed and lets it take deep deep root within it someone who hears the word hears God's word good news of his kingdom understands it and it produces something within us that I think I want I think that's right we want to be a communities of people that are that good soil where it's like man we receive the gift of our generous God and just like let what he's wanting to birth and grow come out of that and it says this is the one that produces a crop yielding 160 or 30 times what was so in there's this sense of like something of a God's kingdom works of like I just scatter this thing broadly I give it to everyone every community every family and for those that are willing to receive it who say yes I choose to let that thing go deep within me man it produces something incredibly beautiful incredibly abundant something of life births forth and as I come to a close I think as praying over and preparing for this week wanting to be like what's a word for common or as like as we head out with the mixed violence to plant seed church and it feels a bit cheesy to be like I'm just going to preach the the text that we're going to I'm going to preach the text that we're going to plant out of but the more of sat with us been the sense of like I think it's because this message is getting deeper and deeper in my bones and I want this for common or and I want this for you guys as individuals as couples as families of like God has got like we have we have stepped into this over the last 18 months but I re as I leave I hope I hope I hope you know that God wants to God is generously abundantly gifting you with this kingdom not just an idea not just yeah not just a concept not just a surface level thing but I want to plant this thing deep within you. Will you receive this gift and see what comes out of it? What I love about these images is it's organic images, right? It's like, I've planted the things and it's like, these seem like all the same seeds, but how they grew is, I don't know what happened there. And that's my hope for you guys. It's like, man, you're still in, like, both as individuals, but as a church community, like, still figuring this thing out. And who knows what this is going to be like next year, in five years, in 20 years, as the seeds of the gospel are planted in those that kids ministry. Who knows what fruit that's going to bear as they grow into maturity. And my, I guess my call my encouragement is like, will you let, will you receive that gift and let it do its work amongst you? Because Jesus says, if we will let it, if we will receive it, let its roots go down deep within us open to letting the good news touch every area of our life. Their burst forth this crop. And what I love in this is that you can't read it in the English text. It says, this is the one who produces a crop. And they're like, if you like, the Greek word for producers is what's called an imperfect conjugation of the verb, which means that it's not just a like, you plant, you know, you plant a crop and it produces and you harvest and it's sorted. The imperfect means this is a continual production. This is like, there's not a sense of it stopping. I've like, oh, the, when if you let the good news of Jesus so deep within your life, it will produce something in you, not just once, but this continual production. And I think there's this sense of this over generations. Like, we've all chosen to be part of a church plan, a new church. We've got a bunch of kids who are on that adventure with us. I'm so excited to see what like, as we've let this thing birth in us, what it's going to do to them, what it's going to do to their kids of like, hey, I was involved in a church plan when I was a kid. I was involved in a church where it was just normal to plant churches and reach people for Jesus because we believe that he has good news for everyone. Like, I love that we get to experience that our kids get to experience their kids will grow up with those stories. This is, this is the heart of this, right? Like, that's the fruit. We get these three stories of these challenges of the, of the soils that don't work, but I think it's for the sake of this greatest soil, because man, if we let it do its work, it produces something so magnificent, so long lasting, so over and beyond that last four generations. And so I like, that it's what is why it's worth saying, God, I don't know what this is going to look like. I don't know what this plant that comes out of me is going to look like that I want to receive it. And I want, and I'll touch every ear of my life because I know this is a gift that's going to produce something in me that's going to produce a fruit for others as well. So I'd love to pray over us and then Johnny's going to lead us in communion. The Heavenly Father, as we come before you this morning, I thank you, Lord, that you are a generous, you are a good God. I thank you that you scatter seeds widely and that each of us has been caught up in that scattering Lord. Each of us has had that seed of the good news of your kingdom collide with our lives. Lord, I pray for each of us, we would have a profound sense this morning of the gift that that is, the potential in that seed planted in our life. Lord, may you give us the courage to let that seed take deep, deep root within us. Lord, by your spirit, encourage us, lead us into the areas you're wanting to speak and grow within us. Because we, Lord, I know that this thing that you're birthing in each of us, I love this image is Lord is not just something for ourselves, Lord, but it is something that produces for others. And so I pray over this community, Lord, that we would be a community that lets that seed take deep root, that bears a harvest and casebrook and north christage for the sake of you. Amen. Awesome, thank you for that word, David. It's really cool to spend time in that scripture that you are being sent and have been called to do as you go to Ralston to further spread the seed of God's Kingdom. So thank you. I think it's a bit of a bit of a bit of a sweet moment in our church, where we've got the lovely Macpharlans and the Graham's that we are sending away. We had this again with the well where we processed that change and it isn't a sad time in terms of lament, sad, and that we actually just really love you guys and have enjoyed spending this time with you all. And so as we do look forward and look forward to what God is calling you to, we also acknowledge that it means that we don't get to see you every week. So be blessed as we process that. Yeah. Can I get the band in the service up for communion? We're just going to, while the kids get lined up and get sorted out for coming in, it's a good time to reflect on communion and what that It represents and why we.