Topic: The Parable of the Sower
Speaker: David Rietveld (New Peninsula Baptist Church in Victoria)
Scripture: Luke 8:4-10
There’s a preaching conference this week so the talk this
week is part of this hermeneutics conference.
The aim of this sermon is to get us thinking about: What
kind of soil is in our soul?
We see from this passage that the farmer also threw seeds
amongst the stones. What kind of farmer throws seeds amongst the stones? Why
not towards the good soil?
One of David’s nephews was getting married with a girl from
a regional Baptist Church. The girl came from an influential family in that
regional area, the Johnson family. He went to attend the wedding and it
happened to be a very busy time in his life: he has just moved to a new church,
25 staff in church, the largest welfare agency in his part of Melbourne, also
the largest auditorium in that area, so it’s a complex church to lead. He
couldn’t buy a house and got evicted from his rental properties four times in
two years. So he decided to buy a block and build a house. He had four teenage
children at that time, and they have mental health and addiction issues.
In the paddock of the Johnson family, there are rocks.
Because of the changes in season, the soil expands and contracts, and it pushes
new rocks up to the surface. Every season you have to go back and pull up these
rocks. David had a sense that God was saying something to him: there’s a
picture of his life, rocks in his field/paddocks. His natural reaction, whenever
there’s a new rock, is to get angry! He doesn’t want more rocks because he has
enough rocks in his life! Blame is the first reaction. If he sits with it a bit
longer, the second reaction is guilt: why did he buy such a slopey block and
have to build on it. Children often inherit their children’s weakness, so his
other guilt reaction to the rocks in his life was that he put some of those
rocks there in some sense. When he got home spoke with a colleague who
coincidentally said, “It’s like these rocks in this field that comes to the
surface, it’s nobody’s fault, and you just got to get rid of them”.
So David felt God was really saying something to him and
wondered what are fields like in Israel? He googled for photos and saw there
are lots of rocks! So maybe that’s how the farms are like when Jesus’ audience
hears this message.
The devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts,
so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rocks: in the time of
testing they will fall away. Those choked by worries: global fear and anxiety
in the world today, for example Europe, terrorists. Worrying paralyses. Riches
and pleasure also paralyses. We can be just as consumed by our possessions as
we can be by our fears! The result of being possessed by our fears or
possessions is immaturity, or lack of depth. This means we might fall away, and
not have receptive hearts.
We don’t become hyper-Calvinists: “I’ve got a rocky heart,
and there’s nothing I can do about”, or “I got good fruits and praise God”.
Here’s a call to soften the heart, so that you might be more receptive.
1Peter 2: Jesus is called “a living stone”.
Christians suffer for their faith and alienated. Grief in
all kinds of trials. The early church is struggling with rocks in their
paddocks. Peter says as you come to Him, the living stone who’s also been
rejected. Christ learnt perfection through suffering, and He’s able to be our
living stone. God can use those struggles to use us. Glory goes to God. One who
suffers and can sympathise with us through our weaknesses.
The Buddhist believes suffering is an illusion. The iman has
a sense of a distant god. The atheist can’t make sense of suffering: the
purpose of insurance is so I don’t have to suffer, and there’s nothing to be
learnt from suffering.
Jesus can sympathise with us through this season, to grow
you and transform you more into Christ’s image. To build a character and hope
that goes beyond your present. Romans 5:1-5.
This sermon is chosen because it had the most impact on his
congregation in the last 12 months. Why so effective?
People go to his area to retire. People need to drive to get
there so quite aged in demographic. There was one point in time where 100
people in his congregation had cancer. There are frequently debts etc.
Suffering is universal. It’s particularly prevalent in his church. People come
to church and want to sit in a place to explore the existential questions in
their lives. He encourages the congregation to move towards spiritual maturity.
Structurally: why such a long introduction/delay before the
word?
Younger people are taught to critique the messenger more
than the message. His children are taught in school to critique texts: how is
Shakespeare a product of his culture? Why should I listen to you on this topic?
You’re one of us, you’re struggling with things. Vulnerability/Self-disclosure
is a tricky thing. It takes a long time to articulate a coherent and compelling
worldview. You have to critique the alternate world view. We are at a place
where worldview is transitioning. Extended metaphor about rocks, suffering and
hope: swim around in this place before critiquing the story in the Scripture.
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