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Sunday July 11, 1999
~ Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Sermon Text: Matthew 13:1-9 & 18-23??
Isaiah 55:10-13 * Romans
8:1-11 * Psalm 65:1-13
[Supplemental Sermon Text: "He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." Matt. 17:20]
[For this sermon you will need two objects. One is a Red Delicious apple (or whatever your favorite fruit happens to be) and an approximately 2½ x 2½ inch card with a mustard seed glued to the center and the words, "It's possible!" printed on the bottom. It will take a bit of work, but have someone prepare enough of these to pass out with the Sunday worship bulletin.]
I have in my hand one of my most favorite things In all of God's creationA big Juicy extra-fancy, Washington, Red Delicious apple.
I was eating an apple just like this one a while back and as I ate it I was marveling at the miracle of growth and the beauty of life. I thought to myself how I would dearly love to have a tree in my back yard that I could walk up to and pick one of these apples
The difficulty is that I have not planted any apple trees In my yard -- in fact no one has planted apple trees in my yard and as everybody knows...
"If you want to pick apples ... you have to plant trees!
One of my very favorite experiences is harvest time. I love to watch the reaping of the harvest when the earth is alive with color and the farm stands along country roads are heavy with the bounty of the land,
But ... before the harvest, there Is an act of faith and hope that takes place. From the earliest days of the human race, indeed right from the Garden of Eden, the harvest has begun with the planting of a seed. Then and only then, does the miracle of the harvest begin!
There Is a very simple yet ... very profound spiritual truth here! It is so simple that It eludes those who seek to complicate the simplicity of the Gospel. It is so profound, it can bring a whole new dimension to your life of faith! If you want to pick apples ... you must do some planting! if you want to reap a harvest .. you must actively take whatever seed you have and go out and put It In the ground -- trusting that this seed will bear fruit!
You must take your belief that seed will produce a harvest and you must put some action with your belief... then comes the harvest! In a spiritual sense, the beauty of harvest time comes when we have planted the seeds of faith in the soil of our living. I want to share with you today, a few thoughts about how you can have a rich harvest of faith! In fact, I have a life changing invitation for you. I want to Invite you to consider a way that you can turn discouragement, and defeat into inspiration, and fulfillment!
I can make that Invitation because Jesus Christ has spoken and he has said..." If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, ... nothing shall be Impossible to you!"
Now consider this fact carefully: "God is for you... not against you!" That may seem terribly obvious, but consider also how many people seem to have gotten the message that God is not for them. Indeed I talk to people every week for whom religion has somehow given them the Idea that God is against them... waiting to punish them ... always judging and never accepting!
But be sure of this one thing; You were created by God to be happy, successful and filled with a deep sense of the joy of life! If your god doesn't want you to win, if the god you worship does not want you happy and fulfilled -- if the Lord you know does not want greatness from you -- I'd like to suggest that this is the wrong god to be Involved with! I want you to know today that such a god Is too small and not the God of the bible at all! There Is a bigger God available to you... a God who says to YOU:
"Seek and you shall find ... ask and you shall receive... knock and it shall be opened to you!" You see the difficulty that most of us have is that we don't realize that we already have all the potential and all the seed we need to have a rich harvest of faith!Over and over I've talked with people who have said something like, "I wish I had more faith... I wish I had the faith to overcome this situation... I wish I had faith like a friend of mine!" And yet... the truth is that every single Individual here today already has all that they need for a great harvest of faith ... you may not feel that way, but the truth is you have all the potential you need. Now what you have to do is to put that potential into action.
If you have the desire to have a faith that can overcome your life's major and long for a richer relationship with Christ that can help you pack more life and joy Into living -- you are on your way. Gather up your courage to engage a great adventure!
Now please stay with me for a few moments... The KEY to this whole matter Is this:
Take whatever you have in the way of seed faith and put that into action!
NOTICE... Jesus said "If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed nothing shall be Impossible for you!
Please look for a moment at the little card we passed out today ... You any be feeling as though you do not have enough faith... you may be have the attitude that your faith Is not adequate ... and it is possible that you may even be saying to yourself, "I'm not sure I believe at all ... I would like to have faith, but I'm not sure I do."
The principle of the "grain." Notice that the power of faith comes from even the tiniest bit of faith like a grain of mustard seed. Jesus said if you have this tiny bit of faith ... then nothing shall be Impossible.... He did not require faith like St. Augustine or courage like Joan of Arc... Jesus did not say you need a mountain of faith. All that is required is faith like a grain of mustard seed,
The place where most of us have difficulty Is that we ASSUME we need great giant faith before we can get on mountain moving terms with God. It was not the great and the mighty Jesus said these things to it was the common folk of the rank and file. It was people like you and me with our little mustard seeds and a willingness to trust him. It is God's responsibility to do the multiplying... don't TRY to have more faith ... give what little you have to the Lord and He will do the rest!
Lets assume now, that we are all fully aware that we need only our little mustard seeds of faith to reap a harvest. Here's the next crucial step... it Is the key to our scripture lesson this morning ... It may not sound like much but it is critical to hear.
The principle of sowing. "A sower went out to sow." That's the whole ball game! One modern translation puts it this way: "A farmer went out to plant his seeds."
Notice what It does not say... It does not say: "A farmer did not go out to sow any seed because he was afraid that he did not have enough" -- or -- "A farmer did not go out to sow because he thought it was going to be a bad season or that there might be a drought or any number of things might be against him." Or perhaps the story might have read ... "A farmer did not go out to plant any seed because he was the smallest and poorest farmer and figured his little farm and his little bit of seed wouldn't matter all that much."
Not at all... the secret to success is this... "A farmer went out to plant seed!"
He simply took what he had and he put that Into action and with some hope and trust that the seed would germinate and produce, he believed in the process of life and he planted his seed.
In effect, the farmer formed a partnership with the one who holds the power of life and growth. He could give the seed to the ground.. weed his garden... care for and water the young plants... but he could not supply the POWER for the harvest... that only God could do.
So take your bit of faith... whatever it may be and form that partnership with Christ before you leave here today! (Or renew that partnership or put It into practice and get it out of the closet!) You can do that quite simply with a prayer something along the line of, "Lord Jesus, here Is my life ... my grain of mustard seed... and here are all my doubts and my obstacles... though this may not be much, I know that you are the one who takes something small and makes It adequate, I desire that you should take my tiny mustard seed of faith. Come and be the senior partner of the enterprise of my living."
The principle of daily renewal. Once you have taken your mustard seed and planted it with Christ, it is important to check in with him each and every day... renew your partnership. You will need to tend to your garden. It needs weeding, watering and care. That is to say, water the plants,, don't forget all about the garden you have begun... don't let It get chocked out by worry and negativism... If you follow the directions... plant the seed and care for the garden he gives to you... you can trust him to do the rest!
To put this all to the test and to see how your bit of faith will grow, I would like to ask you to do something this next week -- every day and even several times each day. Carry this little card with you that has the mustard seed and notice that amazing divine promise. "Nothing shall be impossible!"
Connections in the Texts
The first thing that stands out in the texts as a whole is the close connection between what is going on in creation and what is going on in the plans of God. The whole earth participates in the plan of redemption as and mountains sing, fields clap their hands and hills dress themselves with joy. When God is present and the heart of the Lord is pleased, there is a harmony in creation which results in a joyful harvest of all that the earth should be. And so it is between God and those who love the Lord.
A fruitful creation, responding to God's gracious care is analagous to a fruitful life which embraces the word of the Lord and flourishes as it was designed to do. Matthew says it is the word of God bearing fruit a hundred fold in a life. In Isaiah it is the people of God being led home in peace while the hills sing and the fileds applaud. The Psalmist speaks of a rich harvest -- both in the hearts of God's people and in the bounty of God's land.
One way these texts can speak to us is in the close connection between Creator, creation and the children of God. Many have made the point that we no longer live in a pastoral setting -- yet the creation is as powerful a symbol today as it ever was. Personally, I find myself growing a bit "bonkers" without regular, consistent time in creation. It is renewing. Take time to listen to the mountains sing, the rivers clap their hands and watch the fields dress themselves. That "crabby" boss you work for won't bother you so much!
How does the Romans pericope fit into this? At first glance, it would seem that Paul's discussion of life in the Spirit as opposed to life in the flesh has absolutely nothing to do with the other texts. There is, however, a bit of a connection in that the work of the Spirit within a Christian's life brings about renewal in the same way God's word brings a harvest in Matt. and Isa. To walk "according to the Spirit" is the basis of the "fruitful" life.
Matthew 13:1-9 & 18-23
Many popular presentations of this text focus on how it is that people need to listen to and embrace God's word lest they miss out on a spiritual harvest. I've heard a lot of preaching on this parable that places responsibility on the one who hears. "If you don't listen carefully, the devil will steal away the good word and if you are too worldly, the cares and concerns of the secular world will choke out the spiritual." Jesus even says, "Let anyone with ears listen!"
This is another case where the intervening verses in the lectionary division of Matthew's pericope makes a big difference in how the message comes across. Verses 10-17 provide the information that Jesus teaches in parables -- making the message even easier to understand -- in order to confirm the stubborn and resistant attitude of those who close their hearts and minds to God. The closing verses of the text, then, are not so much, "Here's what you should do..." -- but, "here's what is going on." It isn't, "Try harder and you will receive God's word and reap a harvest." Instead it is, "You have received the gift of being able to receive the word and the harvest." This is a great text to do some work on the very delicate balance of free will and predestiantion. Between, "... to you it has been given..." [v.11] and "...they have shut their eyes..." [v.15] there is the tension of determination and decision. Neither can be eliminated without doing damage to the substance of the text.
Myron Augsberger [Communicator's Commentary: Word, p. 171] chooses the "freedom to choose" dimension when he writes, "We keep on sowing the word, believing that the harvest will come; but recognizing the freedom of the hearer to be open and responsive to grace or on the other hand to resist the Spirit."
Eugene Boring, on the other hand [The New Interpreters Bible: Matthew, p.306] takes the wider view of Christ as the Sower and the Kingdom of God as sure, despite the obstacles. The focus is not so much on individual choice and reaction to the word but in the certainty of the word's mission. This is Isaiah's message... "My word will not return to me void..."
Isaiah 55:10-13
The esential "Good News" in this brief passage from Isaiah is -- "The victory is sure!" I would use this in any situation where there is a need for encouragement in the midst of disappointment or disillusionment. Indeed, the message is written in a time when Israel's national being and identity was under duress. The Good News here is, "Even the bad news is good news for God's people because God will bring about the victory of divine intentions."
In a sense, this is God's guarantee of victory in the face of evidence to the contrary!
Romans 8:1-11
This passage continues Paul's discussion from last week about how it is that he does not fully understand the struggle within himself between the spiritual and the sinful. He concludes his wrestling with a kind of doxology. "Thank God... I am delivered theough Christ."
Now, Paul continues with an encouragement to live "according to the Spirit" instead of "according to the flesh". In spite of all the struggles, however, there is a sense of the joy of redemption because having chosen Christ, there is no longer any condemnation for us and there is the promise of eternal life through the power of the Spirit who lives within us. In fact, it is the presence of the Spirit within us that assures us we belong to Christ. Paul exhorts us to "set" our minds on that which already dwells within -- namely the Spirit of God.
Psalm 65:1-13
This passage along with Isaiah tells me I must one day do a sermon with the theme: "Have you heard the mountains sing? Have you watched a tree get dressed?"
After reading the Psalm and walking to the office this morning, I tried listening to the world around me. It was amazing! Renewing! And then there are the trees. We have several "Flowering Crabbs" on our church property. Last summer, most of them shrivelled up dropped their leaves. One of our members who is an expert on trees, told us that it might be related to the weather conditions last year. We were waiting to see if this year would bring life or death. Would there be a new burst of life or would there simply be the barren sticks and branches.
Wonder of wonders... there is an absolutely wonderful display of new leaves -- new life! And so in early spring I took a bit of time to observe and "watch the trees dress themselves..."
A Call To Worship (Based on Psalm 65:1-13)
Leader: All praise and honor is due your holy name, 0 Lord,
People: You are the One who answers our prayers!
Leader: Every heart would turn to You, if only they knew,
People: You are a God who forgives and heals our sin!
Leader: You are the One who brings peace to a troubled world,
People- You are the hope of every searching heart!
Leader-. If the mountains and valleys could sing, 0 Lord,
People: They would surely break into songs of joy!
Leader: For you are the God who saves,
People: The salvation of all who call upon your name! Amen!
A Prayer of Dedication
Our empty hearts are filled with joy. Our weary spirits are renewed.
Our fervent prayers are answered. 0 Lord God, how amazing is your
love and grace in all the world! How can we do anything less than bring the very best we
have to give? The gifts and the lives behind these gifts are yours and yours alone. Bless
us and bind us ever closer to your heart. Amen.