Sunday
07/12/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Sowing
Seeds of Faith”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 119:105-112
New Testament
Scripture: Romans 8:1-11
Gospel Lesson: Matthew
13:1-9, 18-23
Welcome again on this the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost. Six Sundays after
the Holy Spirit moved nearly two-thousand years ago on the day of Pentecost,
and the Christian Church was born.
With this said, for those of you that don’t
already know, I am originally from Northern Illinois. I moved to New York when
I was ten with my mother, but I come from rural Northern Illinois.
I remember as a little kid, as my dad
lives very close to the border of the state of Wisconsin, seeing massive farms.
My stepbrother Mark in fact, works on a farm in Northern Illinois. As a little
boy, when we would drive or walk, I would often see what seemed like endless
corn, soybeans, and all kinds of agriculture. Sure, we were only about an hour
and fifteen minutes away from the city of Chicago, but I lived in the country
as a little kid. I used to catch lightning bugs in jars, hunt gophers with my
brother, and run through fields.
While my dad was the last generation
of Winkelman’s to live on a farm, agriculture was all around me as a young boy.
For those of you that have strong ties to agriculture, our gospel reading from
the gospel of Matthew for this morning, might speak to you.
This morning we have the parable, or
the story of “The Sower” (Mt. 13:1-9, 18-23, NRSV). By “Sower,” I don’t mean
cross-stitch, or that kind of sowing. I mean “Sowing Seeds.” Farming and agriculture
in general, in 2020 has become unbelievably advanced. There are now tractors
and farm machines that run via satellite and GPS. These machines virtually run
themselves and perform many functions themselves. This is a far cry from my
late Grandpa Winkelman who used to plow fields with horses as a little boy. My Grandpa
Winkelman told me that when he was teenager during the Great Depression that his
dad finally bought a tractor. This tractor was old, and I believe that it was a
crank starting tractor, but it was their first tractor.
In the era in which the Bible was
written, many people were involved in agriculture or farming. As of May, 2019
though, according to a source that I read preparing for this sermon, 1.3% of
the United States are farmers or ranchers. I believe in the year 1800 in this country,
about 80% of people were farmers or in agriculture. The result of this massive
demographic shift is that many young people have become estranged from farming,
agriculture, how their food is produced, and where it comes from. In fact, I had
a student that I was tutoring in Ithaca about 12-years ago that thought all the
produce at Wegmans was literally grown behind the grocery store. It is a great
tragedy that so many young people have become so estranged from farming, food
production, and agriculture.
Since the Bible was written in era
with a lot more agriculture than we have in the United States today in 2020, sometimes
we need to explain certain parts of the Bible more clearly. Years ago, in this
country however, most people for example, would understand what “separating the
wheat from the chaff” meant. The farming or agricultural examples that were
used in the Bible, used by Jesus, were used to be able to connect to the people
of that time.
I believe that the Bible is still
fully true, but since we are living in a different era, sometimes we need to explain
the farming or the agricultural references more carefully in the Bible.
For example, I couldn’t believe the first time that
Melissa told me about “The Birthing Barn” at “The Great New York State Fair.” Melissa
said that cows were going to be brought into the NYS Fair Grounds, and people
could watch in person or on the internet a calf being born. I then thought, “Well
who hasn’t seen a calf being born!” The answer is many people!
The Bible is still true and authoritative,
but it was written in a different time, and as a result, we must explain it
better so that the people that are estranged from farming and agriculture can
understand these parts of the Bible.
Another example is our paraments on our pulpit,
lectern, and altar. You have probably noticed at different times of the year,
these paraments are different colors. Well what is one of the reasons for this?
In Medieval times, most people were farmers, they couldn’t read and right, and
they didn’t have clocks or calendars on their walls. These people lived by the seasons,
and they knew the time during the day, roughly, by where the sun was in the sky.
When these folks came to church, the colors of the paraments indicated to them
what type of day it was, and what season it was. This is to say, how holy of a
day was it in the life of the church, could be indicated in part, by the
paraments.
The Bible, which was written over
hundreds of years, was written in a largely farming and agricultural world.
This, I think, is a good thing, we just need to explain things a little more.
My sermon for this morning is called, “Sowing
Seeds of Faith,” as we have the parable or the story of “The Sower.” Getting
back to talking about being a little kid from Northern Illinois, and my late
Grandpa Winkelman though, once, and awhile I would take a drive with my
grandpa. He often wore those blue or green work pants, and a button up shirt
with snap buttons. His shirt pocket would have a farm company notepad, and he
would have pencils and pens in his pocket. In his garage window at home, he had
a Harry Truman sign that said, “The Buck Stops Here.” For years, I remember that
my grandpa drove this little Ford Ranger truck. He used to say, “By God that is
a heck of a truck!”
I remember on some of these drive with
my grandpa, driving past the corn fields. He would comment sometimes on how perfect
the rows of corn were. I mean you could almost measure the rows of corn stalks,
and distance between the corn stalks. So often it looked perfectly symmetrical.
My grandpa told me though, that when he was a kid, the corn rows look pretty
good, but nothing like they do today. Also, he told me that crop yields have skyrocketed
over the years, as well.
Since so many crops are planted and harvested
largely mechanically these days, for me, I think of “The Parable of the Sower”
that Jesus gives us for this morning, in the way of sowing grass seeds. How
many people here have ever “sown” grass seed? There are also products on the market
to sow grass seeds, that I have seen, that are little push carts. As you push
the little cart, the seed is dispersed. In fact, Ron Nemire has one of these to
spread salt in the winter at the church.
So, let’s look again at our gospel
reading from Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 for this morning. It says:
“That same day
Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered
around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood
on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A
sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the
birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did
not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of
soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root,
they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and
choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a
hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let
anyone with ears
listen!” (Mt. 13:1-9, NRSV).
So,
Jesus is beside the Sea of Galilee and great crowds are gathered around him. So
big in fact, Jesus gets into a boat, just off the shore of the Sea of Galilee,
I guess for “Social Distancing.” Once Jesus got a little space between the
gathered crowds and himself, he began teaching parables or stories. Jesus tells
us this morning, once again, the parable or the story of “The Sower.” “The
Sower” in Jesus parable is throwing grain seeds. Some of these sown seeds, however,
are eaten by birds, some fall among rocks where they cannot take root, some are
scorched by the sun, some were choked among thorns, but some grew. Of the grain
seeds that grew, Jesus said, that some of these seeds brought forth grain
100-fold, 60-fold, or 30-fold. Jesus then says again:
“Let anyone with
ears
listen!” (Mt. 13:1-9, NRSV).
I
wonder when we have planted grass seed, or when farmers plant grain, what
percentage of the seeds sprout and grow, and what percentage just don’t make it?
Recently,
when our church had a drainage pipe job done in our church parking lot, a row
of our front lawn was torn up to complete this project. The person working on
this job, sowed grass seeds, and covered the seeds with straw. Often this is
done to lock in moisture, keeps the seeds from getting scorched by the sun, from
blowing away, and maybe it helps some with the birds to, I don’t know. Further,
I can’t imagine that the person that did our parking lot job expected that every
grass seed that he sowed would grow. I know people that have sowed grass seed,
and it didn’t go very well! They then re-sowed! I know people who planted a
garden and they got great growth. The problem is though that all of the growth
was the weeds! If what you planted is growing, and if you don’t remove the
weeds and protect what you planted, then what you planted might be in danger.
Jesus
gives the crowds listening and watching him this parable this morning, as they
were largely farmers or agriculturalists. He was comparing faith to farming. I
am sure they understood him very well, as some young people today might not
understand this parable very well at all.
Imagine
if I told a 12-year-old today though that they were going to buy 20 random
video games. I then tell them that of these 20 random video games that two of
them won’t work, 5 of them won’t be fun to play, and so on and so forth. Yet, I
tell the 12-year-old that of these 20 video games however, only 4 of them will
be amazing. Kids today in America, would get this example immediately!
After
telling “The Parable of the Sower,” Jesus then explains this parable once again
saying:
“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone
hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes
and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and
immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures
only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the
word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns,
this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of
wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good
soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears
fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another
thirty.” (Mt.
13:18-23, NRSV).
Jesus
explains “The Parable of the Sower,” and explains how some people will truly
follow him, and how some will not. If someone does not accept or understand the
gospel, it is like the seeds that have been sown on the path. If we hear the Good
News of Jesus Christ and follow him briefly, but then fall away, it is like the
seeds sown on the rocky ground.
Yet
Jesus said, some of the seeds that we all sow will indeed fall on good and fertile
soil. Those seeds will grow strong, and those seeds will yield as much as
100-times what they were when you sowed them!
What
is the point of this parable, this story? The point my friends is this, when we
share our faith, when we love others, when we serve others, some people will be
changed forever by this. Some of these “seeds” of faith and love that God has
used us to sow throughout our lives, however, will die and will not grow. Yet,
Jesus says to us this morning, some of the seeds that you have and continue to
sow however, will produce yields that you can’t even imagine!
Friends,
you have heard me say that as your pastor, my goal is “to be nameless to
history, and faithful for eternity.” Once again “to be nameless to history, and
faithful for eternity.” Some of the seeds that we sow, we will never see the
growth, or maybe we won’t even know about the growth. Yet all of you have and
continue to sow seeds.
For
those who have found, accepted, and follow Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul tells
us once again this morning in Romans 8:1-2:
“There
is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law
of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has set you
free from the law of sin and of death” (Rom. 8:1-2, NRSV).
There are people that God has used you to change, and you
might not even know it on this side of heaven. One of my favorite songs is by
Ray Boltz, and it is called “Thank You For Giving To Lord.” Through all this
Covid-19 Pandemic, through the upheavals, the violence, and the uncertainty, may
we be encouraged that whether we realize it or even believe it, that God is
using us. To close this sermon, I want to show you a video of “Thank You For
Giving to the Lord,” by Ray Boltz. Praise be to God. Amen.
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