SermonStudio

Jesus spoke to the people in parables about the reign of God. He compared it to the plant life that was all around them, to wheat fields and mustard plants. The growth of the reign of God in the world is like a plant that may start out small but can grow and become a magnificent place for shelter. It happens like the farmer who plants the seed but the growth comes when he is not looking. He participates in it but he doesn't know how it actually happens. The growth comes and he participates in and enjoys the result, but he does not control it, nor can he make it happen on his own. Such is the reign of God.

We are the ones who scatter the seed of God's reign in creation. We do it in many ways and in many places. Sometimes there is a bumper crop and sometimes we see no results at all. When the results are numerous and available for all to see, it is easy for us to take credit for what we have done. When the results are few or none at all, then we are quick to blame the soil that has yielded no crop. Jesus invites us to give up taking the credit or assessing blame in the coming of the full reign of God. Our task is to be faithful in the planting. God's task is to finally bring it all to harvest.

There are many ways in which we sow the seeds of the good news of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we do that in the social work that we are involved with in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, healing the sick, welcoming the stranger, and visiting the prisoner. These are acts of sowing seeds of God's reign when we are able to offer care and love to those who have experienced these far too little in their lives. It is difficult to believe in a God who loves us and cares for us when our life experience is all rejection and doing without. When we are constantly treated as though we are worth nothing it is hard to believe that God calls us beloved children. We go about the work of planting the seeds of God's reign as we share the love of God with those in need and prepare them to be able to hear the gospel.

We plant the seed of God's reign in our welcoming others into our community of faith and making them feel that this is a place where they belong. We open up our lives and our hearts to others so that their hearts and lives may be open to the presence of God. We take time from talking with our friends to greet a stranger and offer them a word of kindness. Our welcome includes giving the stranger enough space to feel comfortable. This means more than sliding over in the pew. It means allowing them time to settle in and get to know us before we begin asking them a million questions or pressuring them to join up. If our welcome is to be the sowing of the gospel seed it must be done so that the stranger feels our respect for them.

We continue to sow the seeds of God's reign in our caring for one another. While this is not limited to our own members, even the caring we do within the congregation is part of sharing the gospel as we help create a community where people feel cared for and loved. There is something attractive and, unfortunately, unusual about a group where people genuinely care about one another. We must guard against the danger that we will become a closed club that only cares about its members, but we must not give up the caring atmosphere of a group of people who look out for one another.

Probably the hardest seeds for most of us to sow comes in sharing our walk of faith with others. We are hesitant to speak about things so personal partly to protect ourselves and partly to avoid offending others, but our faith is our greatest treasure and it is a treasure to be shared. It is one of those things that the more we give it away the more of it we have. For many of us the first place to start is with other Christians. There is seldom the opportunity to participate in the old-fashioned testimony meetings, love feasts, or class meetings. It was here that many Christians learned to share their faith walk with their brothers and sisters in the faith and so learned to be able to articulate it to others as well. Fortunately, there are share groups that have sprung up to fill this void, but there are not enough of us involved in them, and some of them quickly degenerate into nothing more than gossip sessions.

While there is no substitute for one-on-one, individual sharing of the gospel, there is also an opportunity to be involved in places we cannot go. Together we support missionaries and evangelists who spread the seeds of the gospel for us as we support their work. This does not relieve us of the responsibility to be personally involved, but it does allow us to participate in the planting of fields far away.

As we sow the seeds of God we also help to ensure their growth by covering them with a bountiful supply of prayer. We remember those who will receive the food, the welcome, the sharing of the good news of Jesus in our prayer time. We hold up those who share with us the work of planting the seeds. We pray for the reign of God to grow and produce magnificently, rather than to pray that our program will be successful. We offer the seeds up to the only one who can bring about the harvest. We trust in God to accomplish the good work that God began as the first dawn shone upon this earth.

To trust the growth to God is probably the hardest part of our work. We are tempted to take the credit for ourselves when that first sprout emerges from the ground. "Look," we say, "my seed has produced." But, of course, it is not our seed and it is not our doing that has brought about the harvest. At most we can be like the gospel servant who proclaimed, "I am a worthless slave. I have only done what I was told to do." And some of us are tempted to feel that we have failed when the seed does not sprout, but it is still not our seed and we are still not the giver of life. We are but the servants of God who go out and scatter abroad, trusting that the seed that has been entrusted to us is good seed and will eventually yield a harvest that will overcome the world.

The reign of God will come in its fullness. We have already experienced it in our midst. We have met the Lord of the harvest and have come to know the eternal faithfulness of the risen Christ. God has created and continues to bring all creation to its fullness in Christ. Someday every valley will be filled and every mountain and high place will be brought low. Someday every rough place will be smooth and level and all God's creatures will dwell in peace with one another. We do not know when it will all come about but we know that it shall happen. So let us be faithful in our sowing of the seeds of the gospel and let us be faithful in trusting the God of the harvest to bring it forth.