This spring season we learned a few things in
growing a flower garden around our Church. We had certain thorny bushes
removed, trimmed the over growth of the trees, removed stones, added more soil
and manure and then my wife sowed a variety of flower seeds. Every day we would
water the area, walk around in the morning to see if there was any growth
taking place. At times we wondered; is there anything happening at all or all
the seeds dead or eaten up by birds? We
persisted in watering and all of a sudden we began to see growth all around us,
everything began to turn green and now at the end of summer we have lots of
flowers.
What we learned was to be patient and keep
watering the ground even when we didn’t see any growth initially. We also
learned that not all seeds will grow and come into fruition, there will also be
some unwanted, power sucking weeds that grow next to the good plants though
they were not planted. We also realized that the outcome of the fruit/flowers
in this case largely depended on the SEED.
A farmer knows if he wants to have a good
harvest he needs to sow the right kind of seed in the right kind of soil under
the right circumstances so he can reap a bumper crop. Last week I talked about
understanding church growth. As we know churches are not just buildings or
structures but made up of individuals and their families. The health of the
church depends on the overall health of its people. When we talk about church
growth, in reality we are talking about the growth of the people in the local
church. All kinds of people attend church for all kinds of reasons. However as
a Pastor my concern is to see all these people grow, and bear fruit for Christ.
Let’s look today at what makes a church grow?
During his ministry on earth Jesus told stories to
communicate powerful truths. He often
used natural laws to explain spiritual laws, natural principles of growth in
order to show the principles of growth of His Kingdom on earth. One of such
stories is about how the Kingdom of God grows in the life of an individual. The
parable of the Sower and the SEED (Luke 8:4-15)
Let me set the story for you: On a gorgeous
spring morning in Palestine Jesus took His congregation out into the fields to
observe a farmer sowing seeds (barley or wheat) in his field. The congregation
comprised of twelve disciples, some women who were cured of evil spirits and diseases,
these women were the wives of high ranking officers in King Herod’s palace, and
several others. Looking at this group large crowds were attracted.
Jesus addressed this crowd perhaps pointing to a
farmer who was sowing his seeds. Jesus
said, “A farmer went to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed some of it
fell on
the road; it was trampled down and the birds ate it. Other seed fell in
the
gravel; it sprouted, but withered because it didn't have good roots.
Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it and strangled it. Other
seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop.” Are you listening to
this? “Really listening? (Message Bible) I want us to pay close attention this
morning what the Spirit of God may be saying to you through this parable.
What do we see in this parable? We see a farmer,
a bag full of seeds and four types of ground. The farmer is God, the seed is
the word of God and the fields were the people who came to listen to
Jesus. In our church when the word of
God is being preached it falls on people. It is the same word, but the outcome
is different, from person to person why? It is because where people are at in
their walk of life at the point of receiving the message. As you listen to this
message check where you might be at today. Some seed fell on the path way. The
path way people, I call them unbelievers who never come to know the way,
because of their unbelief.
I.
THE
UNBELIEVERS.
As the farmer sowed some seed fell along the
path, it was trampled on and the birds ate it up” The path way people are
mainly skeptics and unbelievers, they hear the gospel preached over and over
again but they never respond to it because the devil comes and takes away the
word from their hearts so that they won’t believe and be saved.
Have you wondered why in spite of many wonderful
Christian TV channels preaching the gospel, churches doing evangelistic
outreaches so many still remain un-touched by the Gospel? Even some of you who
regularly attend church, and listen to inspiring messages every Sunday could
remain unchanged, why? Paul writing to the
Corinthians exposes the strategy of the Devil 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if
our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this
age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of
the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Like never before in history today we are up
against a strong enemy who is confusing and deceiving millions, many are
believing his lies. Some of these lies are: there is no God, life on earth is
all there is, here and now, there is no heaven nor hell it is all your
imagination, be happy, and enjoy life, do whatever feels good to you, you are
your own boss, you are not accountable to anyone and so on. We are being
inundated by such messages through the different media. No wonder, why we have
a hard time discerning the truth. Beware, when the truth is presented to you in
the church it can be taken away by the devil from your
heart so that you may not believe and be saved. That is where prayer comes in.
Our prayer should be Oh Lord please open the blind eyes and deaf ears and save
people. Some seeds fell on rock, which represents what I call the Eager
Beaver.”
II.
THE EAGER
BEAVERS
“Some seed fell on rock, and when it came up the
plants withered because they had no moisture.” Jesus compared the seed that
fell on rock to what I would call, the “Eager Beavers.” The Eager Beaver is a person who is very
enthusiastic about doing something, a hardworking and eager person. You might
wonder why that is a negative quality? According to Jesus’ words, the Eager
Beavers receive the word very enthusiastically at the very first instance they
hear it, but they have no root, they believe for a while, but in the time of
testing they quickly fall away.
In our gardening experience we have learned a
few lessons. If we want plants to survive and bear fruit, their roots must go
deep into the ground. If they are shallow the plant will be scorched, wither
and die quickly. In order for their roots to go deep we must soak them with
lots of water. How does this apply to people especially to new believers? New
believers are excited about God, life, doing things for God. They sign up for
every meeting, conference and in general eager about life, that is OK but what
they need to realize is that they cannot ride on that initial excitement
forever. I have seen this play out over and over again. “Eager Beaver Christians who responded to the
gospel with great excitement but I don’t see them following God any more. What
is the reason? It is because they were not deeply rooted in God.
As water deepens the roots of the plant, the
word of God deepens our faith in God. The more we hear, read and meditate on
God’s word the deeper we grow in the Lord. When our faith is strong and vibrant
no matter what troubles or tough times we may encounter we will not quickly
“throw in the towel” and quit walking with God. If you are one of those Eager
Beavers, do not remain shallow, dig deeper, let your faith be challenged and
strengthened. Some seed fell among the thorns, these are the group of people, I
call them the worldly.
III.
THE
WORLDLY
Other seed fell among
thorns, which grew up with it and chocked the plants. In some translations it
is written among the “weeds” I think in this part of the world we are familiar
with weeds than thorns. This spring before we planted the seeds we removed
weeds and tilled the ground. After a while we noticed along with good plants
there were also weeds. From time to time we had to remove them otherwise the
plants wouldn't have survived. The seed
that fell in the weeds represent those whom I call the worldly.
The dictionary meaning
of the worldly is a person who is devoted to, directed toward, or connected
with the affairs, interests, or pleasures of this world. In one word we can say
he or she is materialistic. The scriptures talk a lot against worldliness. A
couple of scriptures: “Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s
goods. The love of the world squeezes
out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the
world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear
important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The
world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does
what God wants is set for eternity.” I John 15-17(The Message)
Are you one of those who
are always wanting more and are never feel satisfied? Watch out these earthly
passions can choke your faith and squeeze the life out of you. Paul gives a
warning to all those who are looking for Jesus’ second coming, Titus 2:12-13,
“The grace of God teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions,
and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,”
According to Jesus three things will choke our faith and render us fruit less,
they are, life’s worries, riches and pleasures. Still other seed fell on the
good soil, I call this category of people the obedient.
IV.
THE
OBEDIENT
Still other seed fell on
good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.
It was bumper crop. Few springs ago we have planted Tomato plants. We watered
them every day and when the time came we enjoyed the tangible fruits of the
earth. There is nothing more satisfying to pick and enjoy the fruit from your
own garden. The seed fell on the good soil represent the obedient. The
scripture calls them, “noble and good hearted” They hear the truth, receive it,
retain it and implement it under severe trials and testing’s hence they produce
a hundred fold fruit. In the Bible the word “hear” is often associated with
obedience, and action. There are many scriptures that point to us not to stop
just at only listening but to obey.
Obedience is better than
sacrifice. Only in obeying God and His written word we find blessings. Jesus
said whoever loves me will obey my teaching and he who does not love me will
not obey my teachings. “Although Jesus was a son, he learned obedience from
what he suffered, and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal
salvation for all who obey him.” Hebrew 5:8. If Jesus being the Son of God
needed to learn obedience, how much more should you and I learn about
obedience? God sends trails and suffering on our way to test us to see whether
we will obey Him. As much as blessings come upon the obedient, equally the
wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Are you a son who obeys God
or are you a disobedient son?
You may be wondering
what all this has to do with church growth?
In the beginning I said church growth depends on the people who attend
that local church. If we want to see our church grow we need to see the
individuals in our church growing in their love for God, for one another and
for the lost without Christ. In this parable we saw the same word of God was
sown in all the four categories of people, all four of them heard the same
message but responded to that message differently. Similarly today, the same message
is presented to all of us, how are we responding to it? Are you like the
unbelieving who foolishly let the devil come and rob the word from your heart?
Or are you like the Eager Beaver who responds to God’s word enthusiastically
but never go deeper with God? Or are you the worldly who is blindly pursuing
the pleasures of this world but never paying any attention to do the will of
God? Or are you the obedient who is also called, “the noble and good hearted”
who receives the word, retains it and acts according to it resulting in
producing a bumper crop for God? I let you decide. Amen
