WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:10.720 Imagine that you hired a landscaper to come to your house and to reseed your lawn. 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:32.960 Imagine this guy gets out of his truck, slams the door, gets his bag of seed, and says, you know, I'll get started, and then begins chucking seed onto your porch, and then on your driveway, and then out into the woods, and then also on the lawn. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:38.719 Chances are you would probably fire this guy. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:44.000 He's not actually doing what you wanted him to do. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:54.479 But what's really interesting is this parable that Jesus gives us is that Jesus is telling a story where a sower seems to be doing precisely this. 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.640 It's a very bizarre sower. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:02.640 This guy is throwing seed literally everywhere. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:11.200 He's throwing seed on the ground, fertile ground. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:22.640 He's throwing seed on rocky soil, he's throwing seed among the thorns, he's throwing seed along the path, along, you know, a sidewalk or a road. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:35.519 At times, this sower may even seem to be so indiscriminate and uh superfluous as to be even wasteful with his seed. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:42.799 He seems to have copious amounts of seeds, so much that he can just sow his seed everywhere. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:02:05.200 Well, in this parable, no doubt the people who are listening in to Jesus, and Jesus starts telling them a story about a sower who's going out and sowing seed and then throwing that seed everywhere indiscriminately, are no doubt kind of tilting their heads at Jesus' story and thinking, what in the world kind of sower is this? 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:09.840 Well, it turns out that the sower is Jesus. 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:13.039 He'll go on to explain the parable. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:24.000 He's the sower, and the seeds are seeds of the kingdom, the mysteries of the kingdom, that Jesus is sowing indiscriminately and everywhere. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:32.000 What does this parable show us first about God? 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:38.400 That the Father could have the Son sow seeds like this. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:43.439 What does this tell us about the Father? 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:53.360 In many seasons in life, we'll go, you know, every life lived has seasons that it goes through. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:03:07.759 We have seasons just in our day-to-day life, and we have a spiritual season, and sometimes it's interesting how the seasons of our life and the spiritual season are intertwining, but there's no seasonless life. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:22.080 And some seasons feel like you know, mountaintop experiences where we are feeling like we're growing in the Lord and intimacy with God, we feel blessed. 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:35.840 But other seasons we may feel spiritually dry, feel spiritually vulnerable, weak, or maybe just spiritually like apathetic. 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:52.400 We may experience, now whether or not we would say this is one thing, but we may even experience God as something of a scarce or stingy Father. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:04:03.439 That we experience in our lives this feeling like we can't help but feel like God is holding back blessing. 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:22.879 We feel like we're going through life that God is just holding back mercy or holding back favor, holding back blessing, holding back grace, holding back justice, that these you know the floodgates are not open and like coming down on us. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:35.040 And so when we see Paul say things, you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, we look at our life and say, where is it? 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:44.560 And this is an ancient spiritual diagnosis, this feeling that God is like holding back. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:48.720 We see this, in fact, in the story of Adam and Eve, right? 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:59.680 Where the serpent tells Adam and Eve, no, the reason, the reason the Lord doesn't want you to eat the fruit is the Lord knows that when you do that, you're actually going to be wise. 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:04.160 He's holding something back from you. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:10.399 So better to spurn the Lord's instruction and take care of yourself. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:12.319 Eat the fruit. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:17.519 This feeling of scarcity. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:27.600 It's like the kingdom of God is like a limited pie, and we can only have you know so much of a slice of the kingdom. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:37.600 And we go through seasons in our life where we just feel like, man, there's just not enough grace that could cover this situation. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:56.639 There's not enough mercy that the Lord could pour out to get some real redemption going, some real healing, and this feeling that this scarce, like stingy feeling. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.600 Well, this is not the picture at all that you get in this parable. 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:10.639 In this parable, the seeds of the kingdom are being sown indiscriminately everywhere. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:12.399 Everywhere. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:21.600 It is like the landscaper that comes to your house and is just throwing it like on your rooftop in uh the driveway in the woods. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:25.839 It's going absolutely everywhere. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:42.639 And what we see is that I believe that Jesus, when Jesus looks out into the world, that Jesus doesn't see scarcity, but the kingdom of God actually sees abundance. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:54.480 That when Jesus is looking out, what Jesus actually sees is the generosity and care of the Father. 00:06:55.199 --> 00:07:01.839 You see, when Jesus is engaged in ministry, he is literally being followed around. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:08.240 If you read the Gospels, he's constantly just being followed around by really needy people. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:11.360 I mean, really needy people. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:25.040 People who are hungry, literally hungry, don't have any food, don't have any money, don't have any leaders in Israel. 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:53.360 And what's so incredible, just a little bit before this in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus, and I don't think he's being naive, and I don't think he's being, you know, just uh cursory with how he's saying this, but Jesus can look, these people, these peasants who have hunger pains in their stomach, he can look at them, and I almost imagine like Jesus turning his head and he says, like, why are you worried about what you will eat? 00:07:58.399 --> 00:07:59.040 What? 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:06.720 Why do you worry about what you're going to eat? 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:10.480 Look at the birds, Jesus says. 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:17.519 They don't toil, they don't work, they're not worried about your father feeds them. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.639 How much more important are you? 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:26.879 Or he turns his head again. 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:31.519 Why are you worried about what you're going to wear? 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:38.480 Again, talking to first century Palestinian peasants. 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:45.600 And I imagine Jesus picks up a flower, plucks a flower, is looking at it. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:51.440 Look at this flower, Jesus says, right? 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:57.919 Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like a single one of these. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:01.519 And yet this is here today, it's gone tomorrow. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:05.360 How much more important are you to the Father? 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:18.320 You see, when Jesus looks out onto the landscape, looks out into the world, Jesus doesn't see scarcity, but he actually sees the provision of the Father. 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:23.679 He sees the abundance and generosity and care of the Father. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:38.000 And we see this even, but but even when Jesus sees this abundance, it doesn't cause him to be like cold-hearted or callous to real need. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:48.399 Like he's saying this to this people, and yet we also see repeated throughout the gospels, whenever the crowds come and they're hungry, Jesus says, I want to feed them. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:50.559 Let's get food. 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:53.120 Looks at the disciples. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:58.559 We know at one point there were 5,000 families around Jesus. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:03.519 They, many of them, had traveled to see him, had gone without food and water. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:04.879 They come up to Jesus. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:09.759 Jesus looks at them and he sees that they're physically hungry and he wants to feed them. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:11.120 And he looks at his disciples. 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:12.799 He says, We gotta feed these people. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:17.360 And his disciples look at each other like we can't do that, Jesus. 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:19.360 And Jesus says, Well, go find food. 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:25.279 They find a kid, and this kid just has a little bit of bread and fish. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:28.080 5,000 families. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:36.080 The only people that have something to eat is just this little kid, and they bring it up to Jesus, and Jesus takes this. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:42.720 What looks meager to the world, looks like nothing to the world, insufficient, insignificant. 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:50.960 And Jesus takes this meager meal from a kid and holds it up to the Father and says, Thank you. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:58.000 Father, you provided. 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:01.840 Thank you for your provision. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:07.360 Jesus then moves, they distribute the food, and then what? 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:14.720 At the end of the story, there's baskets full of food. 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:20.879 So they end with more than what they started with. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:23.679 Abundance. 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:29.519 The kingdom of God is abundance. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:39.440 But mysteriously, this abundance bears fruit in what to us looks meager, looks small, looks like nothing. 00:11:43.679 --> 00:12:00.559 You see, the sower of seeds that we see in this parable, whatever season of life we are in, if our heart is hard, the Lord's sowing seeds. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:07.840 If we're all tangled up in the concerns and cares of this world, what is the Lord doing? 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:10.720 He's sowing seeds. 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:22.559 What we see is a father in Christ who is prodigal with the seeds of the kingdom. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:32.320 Tim Keller is the first one that I can recall who said that parable of the prodigal son, better to call it the parable of the prodigal or wasteful father. 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:40.320 That is a father that doesn't bat an eye to waste his blessings on wayward children. 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:41.200 Yeah. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:44.879 This is the abundance. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:50.480 The Lord doesn't bat an eye to waste his grace on me every day. 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:55.519 The seeds of the kingdom are constantly being sowed. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:05.519 But Jesus breaks this down and he says, right, there's four ways that these seeds are landing, and one way in which the seeds bear fruit. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:14.480 The other three we can understand in kind of the classical Christian threefold category of the world, the flesh, and the devil. 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:26.799 So one, the one that lands on the concrete or the path, Jesus says, this is the one where the seeds are sown, but then the enemy comes and snatches it away. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:28.639 Through no fault of our own. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:31.759 Jesus just says, Yeah, those seeds were sown. 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:34.399 The enemy came, snatched it away. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:38.159 Again, through no fault of our own. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:58.399 The other two, the seeds that were sown in the rocky soil and the seeds that were sown among the thorns, the rocky soil, Jesus says, these are the seeds that are sown, but when hardship comes, they throw in the towel, and the kingdom doesn't bear fruit. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:08.799 They're unable to patiently endure, to bear up, to bear under hardship. 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:16.480 The kingdom cannot be fruitful without a deep resolve for patience. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:28.559 The seeds that are sown among the thorns, these are choked out, Jesus says, by the concerns and the cares and the love for the things of the world. 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:39.360 So the kingdom does not flourish where our heart is attached to things other than the kingdom. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:15:01.840 What we see in Jesus' teaching, if we want to be this people, this fertile ground, where the seeds of the kingdom come in to what looks like meager, but bear fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, thirtyfold. 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:20.879 To be this people is to be a people where the Lord is constantly sowing seeds of the kingdom, a people, Jesus tells us, who are capacious enough to bear hardship, to be patient. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:28.159 That is, the kingdom grows where there is some kind of like spiritual grit. 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:32.639 Like I'm not giving up, I'm not throwing in the towel. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:34.799 I'm staying. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:37.679 Kingdom grows there. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:49.919 And for those in the weeds, the kingdom is calling us to uproot all these things in our life that are competing for the growth of the kingdom. 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:55.279 The things that Jesus says, the concerns of the world uproot. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:03.759 The love of riches uproot, the love of power uproot, the love of status uproot. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:24.559 That the kingdom grows in that soil that looks at all the things of the world, the concerns of the world, and then looks at Jesus and is resolved to say that intimacy with Christ will give me more pleasure than any of these things. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:31.679 Intimacy with God better than all the promises of the world. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.080 That's where the kingdom grows. 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:39.600 We see this vision in Isaiah. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:45.200 I've just always, I've always loved this passage in Isaiah. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:49.360 Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:54.879 He who has no money, come buy and eat. 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:01.840 It's a beautiful picture of the abundance of the kingdom. 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:11.200 So our prayer is not, Lord, sow seeds, Lord, do a work, pour out blessing, pour out favor. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:16.960 But according to Jesus, this is coming constantly, everywhere. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:23.920 Jesus is casting seeds to scribes, to Pharisees, to tax collectors, to the disciples, to the crowds. 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:37.359 But rather, our prayer is Lord, cultivate in us a rich soil capable of receiving the kingdom. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:43.759 And James tells us, right, that this happens with meekness, with humility. 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:52.640 And Jesus, here we see a patient trust and seeking of the kingdom above all else. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:18:03.759 So friends, whatever season of life you are in, I promise you the Lord is sowing seeds. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:13.359 The Lord doesn't bat an eye to throw the seeds of the kingdom into your life. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:19.359 May we hear, as Jesus says, he who has an ear, let them hear. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:20.880 Let them hear. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:22.960 Let them hear. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:29.359 May we hear what the Spirit is saying to each and every one of us. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:42.160 May by meekness and humility we cultivate the soil of our heart to respond to the work of the kingdom that the Lord is doing. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:43.039 Amen.