Sunday 07/13/14 Freeville/Homer Ave
UMC’s
Sermon Title: “We are called to sow seeds”
Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 119:105-112
New Testament Scripture Lesson: Romans 8:1-11
Gospel Lesson: Mathew 13:1-9, 18-23
Welcome and good morning once again
on this the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost. Pentecost, that day so long ago that
the Holy Spirit moved, and the early Christian Church was born.
This morning however, I want to talk
about sowing or planting seeds. Many of us here I am sure know all about sowing
seeds. In fact, how many of us here this morning have planted something in your
gardens or elsewhere this year? Of those of you who have planted something in
your gardens or elsewhere this year, how many of you are happy with what has
been growing?
Perhaps you are excited about all of
the tomatoes, the cucumbers, the onions, the zucchinis, and etc., that you are
growing. Or maybe your one of those people who is saying, “nothing I have
planted has grown this year!” Has this ever happened to anyone? You know you
planted that garden, or something else, only to find out that you planted the
seeds too deep? Or maybe you didn’t pull the weeds around were the seeds were
planted, and the plants died, being choked out by the weeds? Or perhaps you
forgot to water your seeds for several days, and your plants withered up and
died? Or maybe the soil that you planted your seeds in was too rocky, and maybe
your soil did not have enough nutrients in it for the plants to go correctly?
Anyone here ever sow or plant seeds,
and find that they just do not grow? It is often frustrating to, when our
neighbor’s garden is in full bloom, and our garden looks like a desert.
Or sometimes people have attempted to
even grow plants or crops that aren’t supposed to be grown in this or other
climate zones. They then get frustrated when that tropical banana tree that
they planted in their front yard in New York died in the harsh winter weather.
It sort of makes me wonder in fact,
of all the seeds that have ever been sowed or planted by all people, throughout
all of history, how many of them have not grown? Could it be 20-percent, or 40-percent,
or 80-percent? Whatever the percentage is, many of us continue every year to
sow or to plant seeds. We even do this, knowing good and well some of our seeds
won’t grow.
Given this, if we know ahead of time
that some of the seeds that we sow and plant won’t grow, why do we continue to
plant every year? I mean couldn’t we just say, well some of our seeds won’t
grow, so let’s just stop sowing and planting altogether? We know of course,
that if we did that, we would soon run out of food.
In the same way, we find ourselves
here in 2014 with some of our churches in this country shrinking and getting
smaller. In fact, some of our churches are even closing. So maybe like the
seeds that won’t grow in our gardens and farm fields, we should just give up on
sowing the seeds of Jesus Christ and the Church? Yet we know that this is not
option.
As Jesus will teach us in his parable
of the sower from this morning, he tells us that some of the seeds that we sow,
will in fact be seeds that die. He tells us that some of the seeds that we
intend to grow into vital plants, will never grow into anything.
Yet we continue to plant and sow
seeds every year because we need to fulfill our physical hunger. In the same
way Jesus Christ calls us to continue to sow seeds to feed ours and others spiritual
hunger. That this world more than ever, needs hope, needs love, needs peace,
needs justice, and needs the saving grace of Jesus Christ. So every Sunday, and
every day, I sow seeds, despite the fact that some will die, because I know that
some of them will grow. Sowing seeds then, is not an option for me, rather it
is essential for our souls to be fed, even if some of the seeds die.
Yesterday afternoon, my wife Melissa
and I had the privilege of attending the young adult barbeque at our Bishop’s
residence in Baldwinsville. At the Bishop’s barbeque, Bishop Webb encouraged
all of us younger pastors and young lay people. He said, that the seeds we are
sowing for Jesus Christ, are growing, and that we are “making disciples of
Jesus Christ, for the transformation of the world.” While our Bishop probably
wished that there were more young people at his barbeque, he was encouraged,
because some of the seeds that followers of Christ like you have sown in the
past, have taken root and have grown in us young Christians like me and others.
That our very presence at the Bishop’s residence yesterday, was the result of
seeds that people like you have sown. Seeds that fell on fertile soil.
At this barbeque, we also heard that
if you pastor or belong to a church that is adding members, and is not just
losing them, then you are part of the top 30-percent of churches in America.
Brothers and sisters, we are part of the top 30-percent of churches in America,
as we are adding members. We are growing. Our seeds that we are sowing, are
taking root.
Within all of this though, we do what
we do because of Jesus Christ, and so that people will know him. So that people
who feel like that there life is going no where, who feel disconnected, who
feel lonely and isolated, will know that there is a God who loves them. That
you and others are being prayed for, and that you and others are loved. That
the power of God and Jesus Christ has transformed us so radically, that we will
sow seeds, even though some of them don’t grow. Brothers and sisters, I am here
sowing seeds again this Sunday, Rev. Cathy Lee is sowing seeds here next
Sunday, I will be sowing seeds the following Sunday, and so on, and so forth,
to tell you that there is hope in the name of Jesus Christ.
That in this world of war, violence,
corruption, and darkness, that there is a better way. That seeds of hope can
grow, that seeds of faith can grow. That people will find that they now belong
to family that cares about them, cares about their children, and these people
will say this is what I have been needing in my life from day one.
We sow seeds, because of how are
lives have been transformed through Jesus Christ, by what God has done for us.
In wanting to share this and sow seeds, I would argue that any seeds that grow
at all, make all of our sowing worth wild.
In our reading from Psalm 119 from
this morning, the Psalmist tells us that God’s “word is a lamp to my feet and a
light to my path.” That our faith in God is transforming, renewing, saving, and
that we sow seeds so that others can have the freedom, the love, the salvation,
and the hope of those who know Jesus Christ. This is why we sow seeds.
In our reading from the Apostle
Paul’s Epistle or letter to the church in Rome, or Romans, the Apostle Paul
tells the church in Rome, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus.” The Apostle Paul then says, “For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” The
Apostle Paul sowed seeds, and his did in many places, so that people could know
the freedom found in Jesus Christ. We sow seeds, so that people will know him,
know freedom, know the living God.
In our gospel reading for this
morning, Jesus tells a great crowd the parable or story of the sower. Jesus
tells the crowd, that a sower went out to sow or toss seeds on the ground. Yet
some of these seed fell on the walking path, and the birds ate them. Some of
the seeds that were sown however, fell on rocky ground, and lacked enough soil.
They were then scorched by the sun, and withered and died. Further, Jesus said,
some of the seeds of the sower feel among thorns, and when thorns grew up, they
choked the new plants to death. Lastly though, Jesus said some of the seeds
that the sower sowed feel on good soil and “brought forth grain, some a
hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”
So Jesus tells us here this morning,
just like when he walked the earth almost two-thousand years ago, some will
believe, some will believe a little, and some will reject me altogether.
For me, the fact that I am standing
before you this morning is a testament of all the seeds that so many of God’s
people have sown in me. That you are all still sowing seeds in me. Due to these
seeds in me growing, I have found a sense a peace, of love, of forgiveness, and
of family. That through Jesus Christ, I have found salvation itself. As result
of this, I want others to know to the Lord, to know his peace, to have salvation,
and for all people to know that they are forgiven of all of their sins, if they
but call upon his name. That in era of church closings and churches shrinking, the
seeds we are sowing in this church are growing.
I would like to close this message
with a story called “Who Packs Your Parachute?” This story is
written by an unknown author. Here is how it goes: “Charles Plum, a
U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam.
After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile.
Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent six
years in a Communist prison. He survived that ordeal and now lectures about
lessons learned from that experience.”
“One day, when Plumb and his wife
were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, “You’re
Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft
carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!” “How in the world did you know
that?” asked Plumb.” “I packed your parachute,” the man replied. Plumb gasped
in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it
worked!” “Plumb assured him, “It sure did – if your chute hadn’t worked, I
wouldn’t be here today.”
“Plumb couldn’t sleep that
night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, “I kept wondering what he might
have looked like in a Navy uniform – a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and
bell bottom trousers. I wondered how many times I might have passed him on the
Kitty Hawk. I wondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said
‘Good morning, how are you,’ or anything because, you see, I was a fighter
pilot and he was just a sailor.”
“Plumb thought of the many hours the
sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship
carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in
his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know.”
“Now, Plumb asks his audience, “Who’s
packing your parachute? Everyone has someone who provides what they need to
make it through the day.”
“Application: pride. Don’t allow your
pride to blindfold you to the people who provide the parachutes in your life,
and the lives of others. Application: encouragement, gratitude. Take time out
to encourage and thank the people who provide the parachutes in your life. Application:
community, church, spiritual gifts. Charlie Plumb’s experience reminds us that
every community needs every person playing their part if it is to function
successfully. Some of those parts will be the glamorous roles, like the fighter
pilot, while others will be behind the scenes, out of the way and apparently
unimportant jobs like parachute packing. But all are vital.”
Brothers and sisters, we sow seeds,
some of them will die, but some of them will be the parachutes that save the
very souls of people who are falling to their doom. And as Saint Anthony Mary
Claret said, “O my God, I give you my word that I shall preach, write and
circulate good books and pamphlets in abundance, so as to drown evil in a flood
of good.” When we sow seeds for God, for Jesus Christ, we push back against all
that darkens this world. So let us so seeds, even if some of them will never
grow into the greatness we had hoped for. Amen and praise God.
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