Broadening Your Witness VII - Sowing Lessons

Matthew 13:1-23

As you share your faith, both to lead others to faith or grow in their faith and to make a difference in the real challenges of our world around us, there will be four predictable reactions of people. The Parable of the Sower by Jesus gives this very honest description. First, there are those who will be like seed sown on the path. The Biblical path would have been walked on every day and in the sun-baked times of the year would have been nearly as hard and inpenetrable as pavement. Sowing was done by tossing it out on the ground by hand. The seed would likely have hit the path because of the wind. It is then best as food for the birds. When we share our faith, some will say "That's nice. I'm glad that works for you." Or there may be know reaction at all. We're tempted to take resistant or apathetic responses to our sharing personally, but it's just part of sharing our faith in the world. Not everyone is in a posture to hear or receive it. Some research suggests that it often takes many sharings of faith by several different people for the message of the gospel breaks through. So you never know if you might be part of the "many" that's bringing a person closer to hearing. And sometimes the most resistant are actually beginning to wrestle through key issues with God. They may eventually argue themselves into the kingdom!

The second reaction are like seed sown in shallow soil. When we live in El Paso, the monsoon rains of late June through July would come and all the surrounding desert mountains would turn a lush green. When you planted seed there and watered well, grass would grow beautifully, but only for a little while. Some will respond to your sharing of faith and work for change in the world like seed sown in shallow ground - quick and warm response followed by a return to what they did before. Many altar commitments at crusades are like this. The next day comes and the person know longer feels the high of the service the night before and decides maybe it wasn't such a big deal after all. This is a hard response to accept, because the response seemed so real. Jesus had many who responded this way, who, when he didn't come up with another miracle or didn't thrill them in a bigger way than before, left and went their own way.

Some will respond like the seed sown among fertile soil that takes good root, but then the weeds and thistles choke it out. This is the most distressing of all the responses, because you see genuine faith growing or you see real change starting in situations around you. But the very positive and even fruit-bearing response is derailed. The person experiences tragedy or unjust treatment and he or she may feel or think God has betrayed him or her. Political processes may derail a very needed change for which you may have worked weeks and months on. Certainly, Judas was one who had this reaction to Jesus.

Finally, there is seed that falls in good soil and it yields 30, 60 and 100 fold. When faith is shared and it works, it REALLY works. My seventh grade Sunday School teacher shared faith with 20 teenagers. Out of that group, there are three preachers and many others who have strong faith that share Christ all throughout the United States. He didn't know that when he was sharing. My guess is that his sharing resulted in a multiplication that would be thousands-fold. The old adage is: You know how many seeds are in an apple, but you don't know how many apples are in a seed. That is also true of sharing our faith and reaching out in the name of Christ to change our world.

Jesus' honest portrayal of how people will respond to God's love as the disciples share provides important guidance for you and me. First, the responses to us will be varied. We should always improve how we share our faith, but the responses are often not in our control. Second, we never know the true soil in which we sow. That is determined by the condition of the heart of the receiver. What looks like receptivity may be a "flash in the pan". What looks like resistance could be slow germination in good soil that eventually multiplies more than we can imagine. Third, there is never a good response, if we choose not to sow the seed, either because we are afraid of rejection or because we have become disappointed in results or just become "weary in well doing." In the end, I will be very surprised at who I see in heaven who ended up responding to God's love and I had been part of it (maybe some whom I thought I failed with).

So, as you go about your day, sow the seed of God's love. You just never know where, how and in whom it will take root. After all, somebody sowed that seed in you...and look at the difference it's making!