The Demanding Word
Sermon
THE CHALLENGE OF GOD'S HARVEST
The Parable of the Sower is so familiar that it may turn out to be a problem for some of us. You know the story well. A farmer in ancient Palestine was out in the field sowing seeds of grain. The seeds fell on all kinds of different ground. Some, for instance, fell on the beaten-down path. It could not take root at all. In fact most of the seed was eaten up by birds shortly after it was planted. Other seed fell on rocky ground. It took root but soon was parched and dried up by the sun. The roots couldn't grab hold of any solid soil and sink deep. Other seed fell among thorns. These vigorous weeds crowded out the grain plants and they didn't mature. And some seed fell on good rich top soil. And that seed grew up and resulted in healthy plants.
But as we look at the story I wonder whether we have always had the correct focus. What's the center of attention here anyway? What's the one point we're supposed to focus on? It seems to be the different kinds of soil, and thus it seems that we're supposed to focus on ourselves, since the various soils obviously represent the different types of people who listen to the Word of God when it is preached and taught and shared.
But I wonder whether the true center of attention here isn't supposed to be on the seed itself - upon the Word of God - what the Word of God is like, what its characteristics are, what we're up against whenever we are confronted by the Word of God. At least that's the emphasis I want to share with you today, and I think the story supports it.
What is suggested in this parable about the nature of God's Word? Our answer, and our central thought here today is this: The Word of God is a demanding Word. It makes a claim on our whole being; and it gives vibrant new life to our whole being as well.
We begin, then, by saying quite clearly that God's Word is always a demanding Word. It won't settle for anything less than the good rich top soil. What's the aim of the sower, anyway, as he goes out to sow the seed? He wants to have a good crop! That's his aim. A crop filled with tall, healthy, fruit-bearing plants. This brings up the question: Why does God want to get his Word
out to you and me? Why are we here in church today? It's because we want a good crop, and so does God! That is, what God wants for you and me this morning is a life filled with meaning and depth and happiness, a life filled with tall, healthy, fruit-bearing plants, as it were. This is what we want too, isn't it? A daily existence that has substance and fulfillment. We want a life that is unfolding, that's going somewhere, that is truly alive. The parable suggests that such a quality life will not fall into your lap. It will come only as you struggle with God's demanding Word.
The Bible itself characterizes the Word of God as something demanding, something to stir us up and stop us in our tracks. God once spoke to Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet, and said this of his Word, "Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them." Again God says to Jeremiah, "Is not my word like as a fire, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" The New Testament writer to the Hebrews gives this testimony to the Word of God, "For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow." The ancient prophet Amos asked, "The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" A Word like that demands our attention, wouldn't you agree? It requires that we sit up and listen.
That's the point of Jesus mentioning the different types of soil in this parable, isn't it? He's trying to say that the Word will not do its work in shoddy soil. A beat-down path will not do. Rocky soil that doesn't allow roots to go deep will be unacceptable. Soil already seeded with thorns will be no good. The Word will not stand for such deliberate competition.
The whole thrust of this parable brings up the crucial question, "Why does religion fail to help so many people?" Why is Christ-talk and Bible-talk still largely a jumble of words to Christians who have been going to church for many years? Frankly, why do we find it so difficult to listen to sermons?
Of course, there are all those answers which lay the burden on the preacher. You know the complaints. He doesn't know how to preach. He reads his sermons. He doesn't talk about practical matters. He doesn't make the message interesting. Yes, these complaints are justified at times. But isn't there a whole other side to this question that might just put some of the burden upon the hearers? Frankly, don't all of us usually approach the Word of God too casually? It turns out to be like reading the evening newspaper after a long day at the office. If it isn't interesting, we turn off the lamp, yawn a little, and put the paper down. All of that we do in the face of a Word that is like a devouring fire, like a crushing hammer, as sharp as a two-edged sword.
We really need to face the question quite seriously of what the Word of God is for. Is it to soothe, to comfort, to confirm a style of life that I have long ago decided upon and now have all set up in my daily routine - a style of life I do not expect to be challenged or changed anyway? Too many people approach the Word of God with their minds made up. They don't expect the Word to demand anything. So it comes out sounding rather hollow, rather uneventful, rather uninteresting. Too many of us have made God over into our own image. The only Word of his we dare hear is the Word that happens to agree with our preconceptions and values.
I know a minister friend of mine who approaches sermon writing like this: first he decides upon a theme, usually something catchy or "contemporary." He decides what ideas he wants to share with the congregation. He works everything out - then he goes to the Bible, hoping to discover some text that will agree with what he has decided to say! This is hardly putting oneself, or the congregation, firmly under the Word of God, listening to what it says and going wherever it leads.
What kind of Word is God's Word? What is it for? This biblical text would have us see the radical truth that God's Word is always a demanding Word. And specifically it's demanding in the sense that it uproots and lays a claim. It is a Word that kills. If that sounds strange, let us recall the primary imagery behind our own baptism. Yes, the earliest acquaintance most of us had with God's Word - with his Word in baptism - was to experience it as a Word that brought death. Our baptism was a drowning. It was a killing of our inner sinful self, a demanding, death-inflicting power that overcame the Evil One in us. This Word of baptism said that sin and selfishness, pride and our dog-eat-dog philosophy be banished. That's pretty demanding.
It was this kind of demanding Word, however, that people began to sense in the life and ministry of Our Lord Jesus Christ as he lived on the earth. That's precisely why Christ is God's Word to you and me.
What did the religious leaders of old Israel notice about this fellow from Nazareth? They noticed that he was in dead earnest about God's claim on his life. He was under the Father's will at all times. The Spirit of the Lord really filled him!
Religion is no moral game-playing, people found out. Jesus' word and invitation are always ones that shatter us and make us gulp at first hearing. In Matthew 10, a few chapters back from our text, we read this demanding Word of Jesus: (read St. Matthew 10:34-37 TEV). Yes, let the dead bury the dead! You come. You follow me.
See the commanding adventure that Christ calls us to. See him with limbs nailed to a cross, struggling in thirst, parched and dried in the heat of battle with the Evil One. See Christ crucified! See the demanding Word acted out there. It claims everything from us, as it claimed everything, yes life itself, from Jesus. This call of the cross is not a call to some harmless religion. No "now I lay me down to sleep" variety of religion here. Much more than "doing a kind deed each day." This is a total uprooting of one's life so that everything in our lives serves God and his purposes.
What is the demanding Word of God saying to you and me right now? It's saying that you can't look at the cross of Christ casually. It's not browsing time. It's not a matter of deciding to listen today because the preacher happens to be "interesting" or "inspiring." The Word of God is not seeking to coddle us. It is seeking to convert us!
But as the Word of God makes claims on us, as it uproots what needs to be thrown out, as it settles for nothing less than the best top soil, then it also gives! It gives vibrant new life to our whole being. Not just a little snatch of our life is being made over. Our whole life is being transformed. A tall, healthy, fruit-bearing plant is on the way. The abundant life emerges. The peace of God that passes all understanding becomes our possession and prize. As the Word demands, so it gives. As Christ died, so he rose again. He is alive now, standing with you as you venture out to let God claim your whole life.
But as we look at the story I wonder whether we have always had the correct focus. What's the center of attention here anyway? What's the one point we're supposed to focus on? It seems to be the different kinds of soil, and thus it seems that we're supposed to focus on ourselves, since the various soils obviously represent the different types of people who listen to the Word of God when it is preached and taught and shared.
But I wonder whether the true center of attention here isn't supposed to be on the seed itself - upon the Word of God - what the Word of God is like, what its characteristics are, what we're up against whenever we are confronted by the Word of God. At least that's the emphasis I want to share with you today, and I think the story supports it.
What is suggested in this parable about the nature of God's Word? Our answer, and our central thought here today is this: The Word of God is a demanding Word. It makes a claim on our whole being; and it gives vibrant new life to our whole being as well.
We begin, then, by saying quite clearly that God's Word is always a demanding Word. It won't settle for anything less than the good rich top soil. What's the aim of the sower, anyway, as he goes out to sow the seed? He wants to have a good crop! That's his aim. A crop filled with tall, healthy, fruit-bearing plants. This brings up the question: Why does God want to get his Word
out to you and me? Why are we here in church today? It's because we want a good crop, and so does God! That is, what God wants for you and me this morning is a life filled with meaning and depth and happiness, a life filled with tall, healthy, fruit-bearing plants, as it were. This is what we want too, isn't it? A daily existence that has substance and fulfillment. We want a life that is unfolding, that's going somewhere, that is truly alive. The parable suggests that such a quality life will not fall into your lap. It will come only as you struggle with God's demanding Word.
The Bible itself characterizes the Word of God as something demanding, something to stir us up and stop us in our tracks. God once spoke to Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet, and said this of his Word, "Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them." Again God says to Jeremiah, "Is not my word like as a fire, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" The New Testament writer to the Hebrews gives this testimony to the Word of God, "For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow." The ancient prophet Amos asked, "The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" A Word like that demands our attention, wouldn't you agree? It requires that we sit up and listen.
That's the point of Jesus mentioning the different types of soil in this parable, isn't it? He's trying to say that the Word will not do its work in shoddy soil. A beat-down path will not do. Rocky soil that doesn't allow roots to go deep will be unacceptable. Soil already seeded with thorns will be no good. The Word will not stand for such deliberate competition.
The whole thrust of this parable brings up the crucial question, "Why does religion fail to help so many people?" Why is Christ-talk and Bible-talk still largely a jumble of words to Christians who have been going to church for many years? Frankly, why do we find it so difficult to listen to sermons?
Of course, there are all those answers which lay the burden on the preacher. You know the complaints. He doesn't know how to preach. He reads his sermons. He doesn't talk about practical matters. He doesn't make the message interesting. Yes, these complaints are justified at times. But isn't there a whole other side to this question that might just put some of the burden upon the hearers? Frankly, don't all of us usually approach the Word of God too casually? It turns out to be like reading the evening newspaper after a long day at the office. If it isn't interesting, we turn off the lamp, yawn a little, and put the paper down. All of that we do in the face of a Word that is like a devouring fire, like a crushing hammer, as sharp as a two-edged sword.
We really need to face the question quite seriously of what the Word of God is for. Is it to soothe, to comfort, to confirm a style of life that I have long ago decided upon and now have all set up in my daily routine - a style of life I do not expect to be challenged or changed anyway? Too many people approach the Word of God with their minds made up. They don't expect the Word to demand anything. So it comes out sounding rather hollow, rather uneventful, rather uninteresting. Too many of us have made God over into our own image. The only Word of his we dare hear is the Word that happens to agree with our preconceptions and values.
I know a minister friend of mine who approaches sermon writing like this: first he decides upon a theme, usually something catchy or "contemporary." He decides what ideas he wants to share with the congregation. He works everything out - then he goes to the Bible, hoping to discover some text that will agree with what he has decided to say! This is hardly putting oneself, or the congregation, firmly under the Word of God, listening to what it says and going wherever it leads.
What kind of Word is God's Word? What is it for? This biblical text would have us see the radical truth that God's Word is always a demanding Word. And specifically it's demanding in the sense that it uproots and lays a claim. It is a Word that kills. If that sounds strange, let us recall the primary imagery behind our own baptism. Yes, the earliest acquaintance most of us had with God's Word - with his Word in baptism - was to experience it as a Word that brought death. Our baptism was a drowning. It was a killing of our inner sinful self, a demanding, death-inflicting power that overcame the Evil One in us. This Word of baptism said that sin and selfishness, pride and our dog-eat-dog philosophy be banished. That's pretty demanding.
It was this kind of demanding Word, however, that people began to sense in the life and ministry of Our Lord Jesus Christ as he lived on the earth. That's precisely why Christ is God's Word to you and me.
What did the religious leaders of old Israel notice about this fellow from Nazareth? They noticed that he was in dead earnest about God's claim on his life. He was under the Father's will at all times. The Spirit of the Lord really filled him!
Religion is no moral game-playing, people found out. Jesus' word and invitation are always ones that shatter us and make us gulp at first hearing. In Matthew 10, a few chapters back from our text, we read this demanding Word of Jesus: (read St. Matthew 10:34-37 TEV). Yes, let the dead bury the dead! You come. You follow me.
See the commanding adventure that Christ calls us to. See him with limbs nailed to a cross, struggling in thirst, parched and dried in the heat of battle with the Evil One. See Christ crucified! See the demanding Word acted out there. It claims everything from us, as it claimed everything, yes life itself, from Jesus. This call of the cross is not a call to some harmless religion. No "now I lay me down to sleep" variety of religion here. Much more than "doing a kind deed each day." This is a total uprooting of one's life so that everything in our lives serves God and his purposes.
What is the demanding Word of God saying to you and me right now? It's saying that you can't look at the cross of Christ casually. It's not browsing time. It's not a matter of deciding to listen today because the preacher happens to be "interesting" or "inspiring." The Word of God is not seeking to coddle us. It is seeking to convert us!
But as the Word of God makes claims on us, as it uproots what needs to be thrown out, as it settles for nothing less than the best top soil, then it also gives! It gives vibrant new life to our whole being. Not just a little snatch of our life is being made over. Our whole life is being transformed. A tall, healthy, fruit-bearing plant is on the way. The abundant life emerges. The peace of God that passes all understanding becomes our possession and prize. As the Word demands, so it gives. As Christ died, so he rose again. He is alive now, standing with you as you venture out to let God claim your whole life.
