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Sunday 12 May 2002 - "Seed and Soil"

(Summary of sermon by Arno Stegen)

Luke 8: 4 - 8

And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:

5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.

7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.

8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

In verse 8 the Lord says that we need an ear to hear, lest He speak and we don't hear. Some purposely close their ears lest their hearts are touched. And what was it which we need to open our ears to listen to - the Lord's parable of the Sower.

The parable speaks about the Sower, seed and soil. We will look at the seed and soil:

The Seed - From verse 11 we read the explanation about the parable. `The seed is the word of God.' The seed is alive and, being God's Word, will not return to Him empty. Near Mapumulo is a large hill called, in Zulu, `Sabuyaze' which means `we returned empty'. The origin is apparently when King Shaka sent his troops to hunt. They hunted in vain in this area and returned to him empty-handed - thus the name. But God declares that His Word will not return empty. We read about His Word in 1Pet 1:23 that it is imperishable, alive and will abide. We live in a time of fast (and sometimes forced) changes but the Word never changes. Recently a debate started on Afrikaans radio asking "Did Christ really ascend?" These professors are casting doubt on God's Word. The devil uses the age-old trick that he used with Adam and Eve: "did God really say?"

Karl-Heins Duvel recently told some overseas visitors about the characteristics of the wattle seed (our area being a wattle haven).  The wattle seed has a very hard outer case. It is able to fall into the soil and wait up to to 50 years (even up to 80 years!) before the right conditions prevail and it suddenly bursts and grows. But farmers can't wait (and their bank managers won't be impressed) so they use a technique to force growth. After felling the plantation they immediately put fire into it. The heat breaks the outer cases of the seeds and forces them to grow. Do you allow the seed to grow or must God use fire to break your hard crust?

The Soil - Like a computer needs hardware and software so too soil and seed need each other. There are different heart (or soil) conditions:
1. The road soil is where all and sundry walk along. It is too hard for the seed to penetrate and the birds simply eat the seed. There is no chance of life.
2. The rocky soil also has hard places but, nevertheless, it "rejoices" and the seed springs up, for a while. But it is shallow soil and the sudden life cannot last. It is a surface Christianity with an underlying hardness.
3. Thorny ground. The first 2 types had no preparation but this one probably did. After ploughing the field there must be special vigilance because weeds grow fantastically. Be wide awake. In verse 14 we read about the thorns "choking" the plants. This is caused by worry, riches and pleasures.
4. The broken-up fertile soil. Things need to be turned upside down in a person's life if they really want results and a good harvest. But after ploughing there must be great care to check that the weeds don't multiply. The more you let the seed dominate your heart the less space for the weeds. A cleaned but empty heart cannot produce fruit. It must have the seed of God. Some actually go and look for weeds, looking for filth on the Internet, magazines and newspapers - and then they're surprised at all the weeds!

Good seed on good soil will yield bountifully. There is no fault with the seed; it must be the soil.