1. Matthew 13: 1-9 The parable of the sower.
‘That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other see fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
I begin a short series based on what I guess is one of the best-known of Jesus’ parables. Often called ‘The Parable of the Sower’. I find it interesting that whilst Jesus Himself refers to this as the parable of the Sower, it could just as easily be called ‘The Parable of the Soils’ or the Parable of the ‘Seed’.
Over the next few articles I will look a little more at the Sower, the Seed and the Soils but, by way of introduction, I wanted to point out that this parable, as with so many others that Jesus told, is about the Kingdom of God. Specifically, this parable is aimed at being fruitful! If we are going to Join Jesus in His Mission, being fruitful will be a key outcome!
In Johns’ Gospel, Jesus said: This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 15:8) When I am speaking at a gathering I often ask those gathered if they are disciples of Jesus, frequently there is a large chorus of ‘Yes’. I then encourage them to ask themselves the question ‘are you bearing fruit?’ This is an important question because Jesus is pretty clear on what it means to be a disciple. If we are not bearing fruit we are not His disciple! We may be hugely involved in church activities but if we are not bearing fruit, this makes no difference.
So, what is the ‘fruit’ that we should bear. I think there are two aspects to this and they are inter-connected. Like two sides of the same coin:
1. The Fruit of Christ-likeness: ‘And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit’ 2 Corinthians 3:18
2. The Fruit of Disciple Making – Jesus commands His disciples to make disciples!
3. As you consider these challenging words, take a few moments to pray and ask the Lord to help you to ‘let you hear’ what He is saying to you today.

4 – The Holy Spirit helps us as we share.

 John 16:7

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

  

On numerous occasions when I have been encouraging Christians to share their faith I have heard, over and over again, exactly the same response:

 “I can’t share my faith because I don’t know what to say”.

 This response is understandable but does reveal a deep misunderstanding. 

Tragically, so many Christians think, maybe because it is how they have been trained, that sharing their faith requires that they learn, and present, a word-for-word gospel presentation that they must not get wrong.  Sadly, most Christians think that this is beyond their ability to deliver so, instead, do nothing. 

In John 16:7, the scripture we are considering, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to be in us and with us.  At the end of the gospel of Matthew, Jesus promised to always be with us! We don’t do this alone and we don’t do it for Jesus.  He is in us and we do it with Him.

This truth, like so many other important truths, cannot be learned theoretically.  It can only be learned by a person who trusts God and then is prepared to do it.  You can’t learn to trust God to be with you in faith sharing until you trust Him and start sharing your faith.

Happily I have met many Christians who have experienced that this is true, here are a few of the comments I have heard over the years:

 “I started talking and the words just came to me”.

 “ I just somehow knew what I should say, I don’t know where the words came from, well, I suppose I do really”.

 “ I had insights that I know must have come from God”.

 This week, rather than begin with ‘I can’t….’ why not trust God and begin with ‘He can….’?

2 – The Holy Spirit is at work.

John 16:7

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

 

I think that the reaction that I have most often seen among Christians that are encouraged to share their faith is fear.  Phrases like ‘I could never do that’, ‘That is just not my gift’, ‘I am too nervous to talk to people about Jesus’ may be a true representation of how the person feels but they also demonstrate a widely held understanding, or perhaps misunderstanding, of how we should approach sharing the message of Jesus with others.

 

The thing that makes faith-sharing such a daunting prospect for most Christians is that we think that this is something we have to do alone.  We imagine that to be effective we have to know the Bible from cover-to-cover, have learned every bible verse, in the right order, that is needed to present the gospel, and know the answer to every question that might be thrown at us.  It is all about my ability!

 

The thing that we have not learned, primarily, if we are honest, because we have not tried it, is that sharing the message of Jesus is not something that only works for the experts!

 

In John 15:26 Jesus said to His disciples:

 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.

 

Jesus is making it abundantly clear that it is not our words and abilities alone that get the message of Jesus across.  The Holy Spirit ‘will testify’.  Put most simply this means that it is the Holy Spirit who is already at work in people, opening their eyes to the truth of the gospel and guiding them to see their need of Jesus, even before we say a word.  We can’t make people see the truth but thankfully we don’t have to because the Holy Spirit is already doing it.   He invites us to join in with what He is already doing.

 

And so, as you enter another week, my question to you is not ‘will you evangelize this week?’ It is, instead, will you go through this week with your eyes open to see what the Holy Spirit is doing in the lives of the people that you meet and then TRUST Him enough to Join Jesus in His Mission?

4.   Be a Neighbor – We need to be a neighbor to everyone, not choose who we would like to be our neighbor.          

Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

A long time ago a Christian leader said something to me that I have always been challenged by.  He said ‘if you truly love God you will love the things that God loves’. 

In the conversation that led to Jesus telling the parable of the Good Samaritan we see this connection being made abundantly clear.  Jesus asked the expert in the law what it is that is at the very heart of the law.  The expert replied by saying “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

It is clear from this that loving God means loving the people that God loves because God loves them – you can’t have one without the other!

Yet the expert in the law, just like we do, wanted to put a limit on the people that he had to love as a result of God loving him.  He wanted to be selective and not inclusive of all people so he asked the question “And who is my neighbor?” essentially, ‘Who do I have to love?’

 

A number of years ago I was on a rooftop with around 40 pastors looking across the community and asking Jesus how we can join Him in His mission.  One of the pastors shared with the group that as he looked across the community he asked God why he was doing this because anybody who crossed the entrance into his church building was welcome.  God spoke to Him and reminded the Pastor that His welcome doesn’t begin at the entrance to a church building. It is not just for those that will come to us.  We must go to them and where they are and as they are share the love of God with them.

 

By telling the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus turned the expert in the laws question upon its head.  Jesus said ‘don’t ask who is your neighbor but instead be a neighbor to everybody!’

 

As you go through this week ask God to help you to be a neighbor to all those that you are among.  God loves them!

1.      Up close and personal – we need to get close to people if we are to see them as God sees them.

Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

  

Whenever I read the parable of the Good Samaritan I am always amazed at how it is both remarkably simple and, at the same time, extraordinarily profound.  In some ways, joining Jesus in His mission is like this.  Not a difficult concept at all, but something that we will never be able to do on our own, we need to do it WITH him not FOR him.

Look at the simplicity of what Jesus says when different people saw the man beaten up and left on the road:

First, the priest passed by on the other side, then the Levite passed by on the other side.  It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to picture these two people, both of whom considered themselves religious.  You can so easily picture them, wearing their flowing garments and making their way along the street and then, as they see a person in need, passing by on the other side!  They crossed the road to avoid him!  They went out of their way not to have to go close to this unfortunate man.  And then, in just as simple a fashion, Jesus says that a Samaritan walked by and came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 

Do you see the utter simplicity of it?  He ‘came where the man was and saw him’.  He didn’t cross the road and ignore Him!

Joining Jesus in His Mission means drawing close, looking at people and asking Jesus, who is with you by the Holy Spirit, to help you to see what He sees, to have His compassion!

What is so difficult about that?

Unless, like the Priest and the Levite, we like to look as though we are religious but are not really seeking join Jesus in His mission.

This week, don’t pass by on the other side but draw close to those around you who need Jesus.