In the Name of the Father and of the Son ✠ and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
“A sower went out to sow His seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path … some fell on the rock … some fell among the thorns … some fell into the good soil … He who as ears, let him hear.”
On the third day of creation God said, “’Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind on earth.’ And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds.”
The Lord made the earth and sowed all the different kinds of seeds for all the various plants and trees. But did you know, dearly Beloved, that on the sixth day of creation, the Lord sowed another more noble Seed? In the heart of man and woman the Lord planted the very Seed of His Image. This Seed was to yield a bountiful crop of produce: knowledge, perfect love, and heartfelt praise to the Lord.
And yet, there was another sower of seed who also staked his claim on the untainted soil of man’s heart. He was the farmer from hell who sowed a different seed of rebellion and corruption. “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’? … ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” Imagine it, to be like God! This evil seed also yielded a produce: they were rotten fruits of unbelief, pride, disobedience, enslaved fear, and stubbornness.
Satan’s corruption continues as the seed of sin is sowed into the hearts of men. The evil Foe sows his wicked seeds of self-love, self-will, and selfishness into your hearts. As a descendent of Adam and Eve, your first parents, you inherit this seed in your heart.
Have you let the seed of sin take deep root in your life? Have you viewed movies and TV shows depicting lewd and lustful scenes? Have you choked out the seed of your modesty by images viewed with your eyes, or by crude jokes heard by your ears? Have you allowed yourself to fall into temptation behind closed doors? Have you lived a sexually pure and decent life in what you say and do? Repent.
Hearing God’s Word preached and proclaimed continues to kill the sinful root that just keeps coming back. Frequent reception of the Lord’s Supper and seeing the merciful love that our Savior still has for you uproots the undeterred corrupt tree of sin.
The seed of corruption seems hardly noticeable as planted in the heart of a newborn infant. Hidden, and at times not so deeply, the seed will grow into all sorts of wicked deeds: disobedience, lies, and disregard for parents. The highest necessity for all infants implanted with the evil seed is the washing of Holy Baptism, in which the sprout of sin is killed- and yet the child lives in Christ from that day forward.
You live in Christ because the Father once again has sowed another Seed of His Word. Our merciful Lord has no desire for you to perish through the Devil’s deadly seed, but God sent a Second Seed, His Beloved Son. Immediately after the fall, our Lord sowed the Seed of Promise. This Seed would crush the head of the serpent. This Seed would stamp out all sin. The Savior continues to sow the Seed of the Gospel into the hearts of men.
Many times, the Lord’s wisdom and knowledge make little sense to us. The parable of the sower and seed is no exception. Good business sense is not to take your very best, even your flagship product and give it out freely. The manager must guard it and charge a great price for it. Yet our Lord takes the most priceless treasure of the Gospel and scatters it about recklessly, almost carelessly in His Church. Or as our hymn says, “Though some be snatched and some be scorched and some be choked and matted flat, the sower sows; His heart cries out, “O what of that, O what of that?”
One never knows when the hard soil of man’s heart will break and allow the seed of God’s word to take deep root. We are only given the command to sow the Word recklessly, in good soil and bad. Invite friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers to this place where the Word is abundantly cast about. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
“And some [seed] fell into the good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” Or as our hymn says, “Of all His scattered plenteousness one-fourth waves ripe on hill and flat, and bears a harvest hundredfold: ‘Ah, what of that, Lord, what of that!’”
Sometimes the Seed of God’s Word wilts and dries up because it does not have adequate moisture in the human heart. Among some, they receive the Word with joy, but when persecution rears its head, they fall away because there is no root. The devil still exerts great efforts to destroy the Seed of the Gospel in your heart. He uses his own tactics to take the Word away. The world seeks to choke the Gospel out by your cares and your worries. Your sinful nature is unwilling to endure temptation and thereby falls away from the Word.
Are you willing to love and praise God during tribulation the same as good times? Dearly Beloved, if you want to be God’s child, then prepare yourself for trials and temptations. Be happy that you are suffering with Christ so that you may possess His glorious joy at the time of His appearance, for those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Therefore hold fast to the Word in times of trouble. Continue to hear the Word in proclamation and preaching.
Don’t let the Word go in one ear and out the other, rather take hold of it and keep it in your heart. Receive the harvest that Christ wants to produce in your life. Your heart is the seedbed for God’s Word, but you will not produce a harvest on your own. God’s Word produces the harvest. The life-giving Word changes your barren heart into a fertile field. The harvest will not come immediately; growth is slow and not always evident, but God’s Word continues to work in you.
The Sower goes out to sow His seed in your heart, and when the time of harvest comes, He will receive a hundredfold unto eternal life from the seed He first planted in you. All thanks be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Sower of the life-giving Gospel Seed. Amen.
The Peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
✠BJF✠