Scripture Passage

Matthew 13:3-9

Sermon Text

Thank you choir and also praise team. Today’s a full band, so amazing inspirational praise. Thank you. Today’s scripture is taken from Matthew 13:3-9. Hear the word of Lord. “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 the rocky ground, where 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 choke them. Other seeds fell on the good soil and brought forth grain. Some a hundred fold, some 60, some 30 that anyone with ears, listen.” This is the word of the Lord.

The Fruit of Life

Life must have fruit, But I’m not talking about just materialistic result in life. Something that is noble and meaningful for us to pursue throughout our life. What is your purpose for your own life? Jesus says in today’s tax day, if we want to bear much fruit, we must become good soil, first. And it is my prayer for you and I, that we will become good soil and bear much fruit in life.

Well, when I look at myself and others we’ll live our lives as if we do not believe in that. Rather, we live our lives as if there’s no hope in good soil. We bypass that. I wonder what went wrong here? Is it because we concentrate on the result, the outcome, than the cause the good soil. If that’s the case, isn’t this temptation. If we are paying too much attention only to the fruit or the result, and if we are spending our energy and time on the superficial things, we are neglecting the most important aspect of life, which is spirituality. If we are trying to control or make influences only with the results, that is the way of power and materialism, not of the spirit. Becoming good soil is a spiritual matter. The whole process to become good soil and the result of such process is connected, directly connected to eternity. The spiritual world is not to be seen easily, but it bears eternal fruit and he gives true and meaningful influences in our life. Our speech and actions can be heard and seen most of our daily life, but if we spend an invest one hour or even 30 minutes a day for the things of spirituality, our life will be transformed. This is why we must have the spiritual discipline in life, even though it is hard and it takes time.

The Condition of Good Soil

If we now want to become good soil, we need to know what good soil is all about. As a matter of fact, today’s text doesn’t give us the clear description of the good soil. However, there are a few references from which we can guess the condition of the good soil. If we can examine the different soils and their conditions from today’s text, we will be able to know the condition of the good soil. It’s like the first Psalm. The first Psalm, remember it begins with the three descriptions of those who are not blessed ones. The first psalm and the first verse goes like this, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in the step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the companion of mockers.” (Psalm 1:1) In the same way, when we look closely at the three other conditions, than the good soil, from today’s text, we will be able to know about the condition of the good soil.

The first condition is to fall on the path. Path is the road, that many have traveled and the land is hardened. That condition reflects someone who thinks he or she knows everything. That person will not welcome advice from others, let alone the word of God. Such people would always insist one’s opinion and thus be left alone. But the good soul is opposite of this hard path, soft and able to receive almost anything. It is a humble land.

The second condition is to fall on the rocky ground. It doesn’t have much soil, although it is better than the path, the hardened land, the seed won’t survive due to the lack of soil. Jesus explains the condition as follows. “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 awhile and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, the person immediately falls away.” (Matthew 12:20-21) Depending on the individual’s attitude of receiving the word of God, we can see varieties, how differently one can overcome the challenges in life. If the word of God stays only in our heads, or if the word of God is entertained only in our mouths, the strength to overcome life’s challenges will not be given to us. Such condition is the condition of the rocky ground. On the contrary, the good soil has much soil where the seeds can take root in it so that it can endure the challenges of life and remain firm.

And the third and the last condition is to fall among thorns. It won’t be receiving the sunlight, which is the crucial ingredient to grow. Even though the seed may spring up because of the soil, it won’t bear any fruit at all. Jesus. Again, he explains the condition as follows. “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 use nothing on the contrary.” (Matthew 12:22) The good soil doesn’t have any thorns in it. It’s like an open space. It will receive the aura of the earth and blessings from the sun and produce much fruit. If we truly look for the fruit in our life, we must become good soil. If we want to have abundance in life, we must become good soil. Thus while have inquired. What good soil is all about that. We must ask ourselves, how can we become good soil? When Jesus explained this parable later in the same chapter, he has shed some lights on the good soil. It goes like this, “But as for a while was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and years.” (Matthew 12:23) You can see that I highlighted it or I didn’t. Sorry. I did it with KSM. Sorry.

So, the word of God, right, has been heard by everybody as the seeds falling on path or rocky ground or among thorns or on good soil. The word of God has been heard by everybody without discrimination. By hearing the word of God, physically doesn’t guarantee the understanding of that. Those two are different things. And the understanding of God’s words will not happen to everyone automatically. This is why Jesus said at the last verse, let anyone with ears, listen. Now who can understand the word of God, not just physically hearing it, but who can understand the word of God? The one who has sincerity, reverence, respect, and love for the word of God will understand it. One’s attitude towards the word of God is like the one who discovered a hidden treasure in the field. He sold all he had and purchased that field. That much of the word of God is so precious to me. Nothing else than anything in this world. That much of sincerity and love for the word of God. The good soil is the one who will receive the seed with openness and humility and give oneself away for the seed to grow. The one who knows that it is the seed of life that will bring about the growth and fruit.

That one knows it is not up to him or her to make the seed grow. Apostle Paul already knew about this and he experienced the same spiritual principle with the Corinthian church. He said, “I planted seed Apollos, watered, but God has been making it grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:6) The good soil is the one who can trust God’s power to make it grow and thus surrender to God. Surrendering is nothing else. But when we, when our hearts become a broken heart, when our hearts become a broken heart, our hearts will become fertile soil where the seeds will grow and bear fruit.

Deny Yourself

As you all know that our church is sorting out the garbage these days, the garbage that goes into the green bin is called organic. Thank you. Who said that? Thank you so much. Oh, that means you can dump directly to the earth because it will decompose. Do you know the antonym antonym for organic? You don’t know? Oh, okay. That’s right. It’s plastic. Truly. I learned, you know, every day, something new. Plastic, the opposite of huh. And plastic is almost impossible to decompose. I searched it right internet. It takes 450 years to 1000 years to decompose. So we come to understand that this good soil is organic. The soil that dies to oneself, but live for God’s word. If I am still alive, I’m speaking metaphorically here, I will pick and choose God’s words and all that. I am above the word of God. That is the condition of plastic. The word of God is somewhere out there, but not connected with my existence. I must die, so that the seed of life, which is the word of God can grow within me. And this is the secret of becoming good soil.

My friends and this echoes the same spiritual principle. When Jesus called his disciples and set the following, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me unless I die. And unless I deny myself, God cannot be God. In any situations. My friends, I do not know what kind of condition of soil you are at this moment. I will not know by looking at the way you talk and the way you perform, but I hope that you and I will become the good soil. If we are the path or rocky ground or a thorn bush, let us have this desire to become the good soil. If our hearts are hardened, let’s cultivate our hearts with the word of God, taking away rocks and leveling the field. If there are some judgemental attitudes or prejudice, hidden in our hearts, let us remove them one by one. Let’s take a look at our, how our God works in today’s text. Look at our God, how he works. God is sowing the seeds on the path, on the rocky ground and on the thornbush.

God’s Grace

It doesn’t matter what kind of condition the ground is. It doesn’t matter if it is efficient or productive. God keeps sowing the seeds. God keeps sowing the seeds, and that is grace to us. And that is good news to us. I want to show you a painting from a Dutch painter, Vincent van Gough. The title is “Sower with Setting Sun”. In the painting, there’s this farmer who keeps sowing, even at the sunset. He reminds me of our God who lavishly and extravagantly sows the seeds, even in the least promising places, just like you and I. Aren’t we are encountering the God whose grace is beyond our imagination and an expectation?

Therefore, my friends let us not give up becoming the good soil. Unseen spiritual discipline, but it has ultimate eternal effects in life. As our God will never give up on us. Let us not give up on ourselves. When we encounter the God who is so patient so generous, what will happen to us? We then realize that there’s nothing good about us or in us, but it is only God who is good because of this realization, we understand the heart of our God, the heart of our good God who wants us to be the good soil and have meaningful life and abundance in life. And then we will have this new desire, more desire to become the good soil, unseen spiritual discipline, but the way we must take, we will take the spiritual journey humbly to become the good soil. Because of God’s grace we will be able to experience the power of resurrection in our life, true power of God, just taking place in our lives.

Now we are in spring. It is the season sow for the plentiful harvest with God who is lavishly generous. Let us become the good soil and harvest a hundred fold or 60 or 30. When we have multiple harvests, we will know that the harvest does not belong to us. It is a gift from God. We realize that there’s no goodness in us. And that the harvest is pure gift from gracious God and such realization is the mark of the deep and mature people who have experienced the power of resurrection in their life. They cannot keep the fruit for themselves, but share with others abundantly and freely. Therefore it is so important that every one of you, every one of you should become the good soil. By God’s grace, when one person is transformed by the word of God, multitude of people will experience the abundance of God. In your daily life, whether it is your home or in your relationship or in your work because of your good soil, may you bring plentiful harvest to the people around you.

That fruit has the seed of life in it. As we receive freely, we give away freely our God who is neither slumber nor sleep will continue to sow the seeds through this church for you and I. It is my joy these days to see the fruit of God’s words present in our community. I can see some members who become so deep through the word of God and bring God’s grace to their surroundings. It is unseen, but we can sense that that upholds this community with generosity, understanding encouragement to each other, sacrificial consideration. It is not materialistic things, but spiritual things, but most powerful and meaningful. I heard that Hi-C March break retreat was a great success. And I heard from Simon and Dave, that they were so blessed by God’s grace, which worked through the students a way they could not have imagined before. We have a great community here and I believe God is still sowing the word of God through this church. So let us have this desire to become the good soil and surrender ourselves to God. So the God can live with us, make seeds, grow out of us so that we can be used for God’s glory.

Amen. Let us sing together and reflect together.