Sermon: “Will the Seeds Succeed?”
wayne mclaughlin
Leeds Presbyterian Church
July 12, 2020 – worship through Zoom
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Psalm 119:105-112 Contemporary English Version (CEV)
105 Your word is a lamp
that gives light
wherever I walk.
106 Your laws are fair,
and I have given my word
to respect them all.
107 I am in terrible pain!
Save me, Lord,
as you said you would.
108 Accept my offerings of praise
and teach me your laws.
109 I never forget your teachings,
although my life is always
in danger.
110 Some merciless people
are trying to trap me,
but I never turn my back
on your teachings.
111 They will always be
my most prized possession
and my source of joy.
112 I have made up my mind
to obey your laws forever,
no matter what.
Matthew 13.1-9 and 18-23 NRSV
13 That day Jesus went out of the house and sat down beside the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he climbed into a boat and sat down. The whole crowd was standing on the shore.
3 He said many things to them in parables: “A farmer went out to scatter seed. 4 As he was scattering seed, some fell on the path, and birds came and ate it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground where the soil was shallow. They sprouted immediately because the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But when the sun came up, it scorched the plants, and they dried up because they had no roots. 7 Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorny plants grew and choked them. 8 Other seed fell on good soil and bore fruit, in one case a yield of one hundred to one, in another case a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of thirty to one. 9 Everyone who has ears should pay attention.” […]
18 “Consider then the parable of the farmer. 19 Whenever people hear the word about the kingdom and don’t understand it, the evil one comes and carries off what was planted in their hearts. This is the seed that was sown on the path. 20 As for the seed that was spread on rocky ground, this refers to people who hear the word and immediately receive it joyfully. 21 Because they have no roots, they last for only a little while. When they experience distress or abuse because of the word, they immediately fall away. 22 As for the seed that was spread among thorny plants, this refers to those who hear the word, but the worries of this life and the false appeal of wealth choke the word, and it bears no fruit. 23 As for what was planted on good soil, this refers to those who hear and understand, and bear fruit and produce—in one case a yield of one hundred to one, in another case a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of thirty to one.”
SERMON TEXT:
We are all dirt, aren’t we?
From dust you came, and to dust you shall return.
It sounds rather gloomy.
But—we are not mere dirt.
We are inspired dirt—dirt that God has breathed into.
We are finite creatures made of dirt and spirit!
We were created to hear the Word of God.
We’re special dirt.
The parable of Jesus is about the Word of God.
In the parable the Word is compared to a seed.
The Word is spread—like a farmer casting seeds
in the field.
THE PATH
Now, some of the seeds go outside the boundary of the field
because God is an enthusiastic farmer.
Some seeds land on the path that goes around the field.
They don’t grow well, as you would expect.
The path is for walking.
As the farmer, and perhaps other people,
have walked on the path,
it has been packed down.
The seeds don’t have a chance.
There are some of us who have been trampled on.
People have walked all over us.
Because we have let them.
We have allowed ourselves to become a doormat.
Those of us who have allowed this to happen to ourselves
definitely have a low self-image.
We don’t stand up for ourselves.
We let people walk all over us.
We have become a path.
I understand this because I grew up with a
very low self-image.
I don’t know why.
Perhaps it’s in my DNA.
I played tennis in high school.
I played the number one spot on our team.
It was a large school, and I was the best tennis player
in the whole school.
I had never had lessons, so parts of my game
were weak,
but I compensated by my speed and agility—
my ability to
run all over the court to return balls
that others could not reach.
My style of playing was defensive.
The offensive part of my game was weak,
but my defensive play was really good.
I could keep on returning that ball
until the other player got worn out.
My style of play reflected my low self-image.
Instead of aggressively going after my opponent,
I passively stood back and returned the ball.
I didn’t have enough confidence in myself
to go on the attack.
I let the other player attack
and tried to wear him down by my
defensive skills.
Sometimes I won that way.
Some seed falls on the path.
Path dirt is not receptive to the Good News of God.
It’s too worn down.
When we loathe ourselves,
when we think we don’t have any worth,
we have trouble believing the Good News
that God has made us worthy and precious.
If we find ourselves hardened by a low
self-image, or depression,
we need to find someone to help us
get off the path
and back onto the field
where we will find ourselves more open
to receiving God’s Word—the Word
of unconditional love.
Michael Gerson, a columnist for The Washington Post, spoke at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. in 2019 about his experience with depression and hospitalization. I found his words beautiful and moving. Here is an excerpt:
Like nearly one in ten Americans — and like many of you — I live with this insidious, chronic disease. Depression is a malfunction in the instrument we use to determine reality. The brain experiences a chemical imbalance and wraps a narrative around it. So the lack of serotonin, in the mind’s alchemy, becomes something like, “Everybody hates me.” Over time, despair can grow inside you like a tumor.
I would encourage anyone with this malady to keep a journal. At the bottom of my recent depression, I did a plus and minus, a pro and con, of me. Of being myself. The plus side, as you’d imagine, was short. The minus side included the most frightful clichés: “You are a burden to your friends.” “You have no future.” “No one would miss you.” The scary thing is that these things felt completely true when I wrote them. At that moment, realism seemed to require hopelessness.
But then you reach your breaking point — and do not break. With patience and the right medicine, the fog in your brain begins to thin. If you are lucky, as I was, you encounter doctors and nurses who know parts of your mind better than you do.
Over time, you begin to see hints and glimmers of a larger world outside the prison of your sadness.
In my right mind — when I am rested and fed, medicated and caffeinated — I know that I was living within a dismal lie.
In my right mind, I know I have friends who will not forsake me.
In my right mind, I know that chemistry need not be destiny.
In my right mind, I know that weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.[Source: washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/02/18/i-was-hospitalized-depression-faith-helped-me-remember- how-live]
People who feel like everyone walks all over them are not hopeless. They need to find a psychological “coach” – which we call counselors and therapists. Through them, Christ heals.
THE ROCKS
Jesus says that some of the seeds fall on
rocky ground.
The seed penetrates the soil, and does okay
for a while,
but the rocks are an obstacle,
and the roots can’t go deep to get nourishment.
Some people are like rocky ground.
I’ve seen folk who enthusiastically believe
in the gospel for the first time:
they get excited.
They go around trying to convert everyone.
They have a great testimony.
But they can’t make it for the long haul.
For our faith to last
we must have deep roots.
There is a shallow form of religion.
It has no depth.
To be a person of faith takes perseverance.
Faith is not a sprint—it’s a marathon.
To be deeply rooted in Christ means that
we have to be serious about our faith.
It means gathering with other Christians
to worship God.
It means studying and praying daily,
and finding a way to serve others.
Recently we have all seen what happens
when the rocks get into the way.
When just below the surface of our faith
is something hard—hard-heartedness
or hard-headedness
takes the form of bigotry and racial prejudice.
I recently saw a video clip of a Black Lives Matter
protest.
On the other side of the street were a few people
shouting slogans against Black Lives Matter.
In that group were three people in a pickup truck.
One of them—a woman—was in the bed of the truck,
waving a large Confederate flag and shouting,
“I hate you! I hate you! And I’m going to teach my
children to hate you!”
Somebody had taught her to hate certain kinds of people.
No one is born into this world as a hater.
No little baby has hate in its heart.
Somebody has to teach that child to hate.
In order for the rocks of hate to be dug up
and thrown out of the soil,
a person has to unlearn their hatred.
They have to break through the rocks.
That kind of breakthrough comes only through
the grace of God.
Megan Phelps-Roper is a young woman who grew up in the Westboro Baptist Church,protesting at funerals of soldiers who were killed in Iraq;protesting at funerals of gay people.This church taught their members to hate.But this young woman was converted to love.She went on Twitter in order to spread her church’s message of hate.But there were a few people who responded to hermessage with kindness toward her as a person.The Holy Spirit, through the kind words of a few people,broke the rocks in her heart.She left the Westboro Baptist Church, which meantbeing ostracized from her family.But she found another family—the real Church,the Church that spreads the love of God for all people.
The hard rock was broken by the softness of kindness.
THE THORNS
Jesus says that some seeds fell on soil where there
were thorn bushes and weeds.
This is like people who hear God’s Word
and receive it, and begin to grow.
But the thorn bushes and the weeds choke it to death.
The little plant cries out, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe!”
Jesus says that what chokes the plant is
anxiety and greed.
Greed is never satisfied.
You get $100,000 and you want $500,000.
You get $500,000 and you want a million.
You get a million and you want a billion.
Greed brings no happiness,
and it chokes your heart.
Anxiety kneels on your neck.
Anxiety or worry literally chokes the body.
I used to have anxiety attacks.
I learned that what was happening to me during
those attacks was that my body was literally squeezing
me.
My blood flow was constricted.
My muscles were contracting.
My body was choking itself,
and I felt like I was dying.
I had trouble breathing.
I felt like I was dying!
That is literally what anxiety does to the body.
I went and talked to a counselor about my anxiety,
and that helped a lot.
But what really helps me is a little pill
I take every day.
It changed my life.
It was like being born again.
GOOD DIRT
Finally, says Jesus, some seeds fall on good dirt.
This is the person who is receptive to the Good News—who
has gotten off the beaten path,
and has dug up all the rocks,
and has cut down the weeds,
and is able to grow and put down roots.
We’re all dirt.
What we should strive to do is to be
good dirt.
Then our lives will be productive.
We will be able to feed others with what
has grown in our hearts.
Our lives will be fulfilled.
We are not on this earth just to live for ourselves.
We are here to allow the Spirit
to nourish others through our lives.
