What Are The Chances?
Pastor Mathew Magera – 7/3/16 – Sermon 173
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
What a careless farmer! I
mean, what is this person thinking? He's sowing seed everywhere. Imagine for me
a farmer today getting ready to go out and seed their field. They hook up their
seeder to their tractor of unknown color, hop in, start it up, throw the PTO
switch and before they even leave their driveway, corn is shooting out. Down
Gravel Ridge Road, corn falling out onto the road, getting caught up in the
tires of the cars that impatiently wait for a chance to pass. Corn falling into
the ditch with the rocks and the trash that has blown around overnight. Finally
the tractor reaches the perimeter road for the field. Corn spreads into the
weeds on its edge but soon finds its way into the good soil. I mean, how
careless, am I right? What are the chances of corn growing in the middle of
Gravel Ridge Road? What are the chances of corn growing in the ditch next to
the empty cans, bottles, cups and what have you? What are the chances of corn
growing in those weeds? I don't even have to answer these questions for you.
You know how pointless and careless it would seem to do such a thing.
What are the chances? We ask
that question a lot, don't we? What are the chances? What are the chances for
rain tomorrow? 30%? 60%? What are the chances Tigers are going to win the World
Series this year? What are the chances of encountering road construction or
traffic on a long distance road trip? It's always interesting to look at the
odds. But sometimes, looking at the odds can be a little intimidating and
perhaps cause some anxiety. Let me explain. From an article I read that was
published a few years ago, the odds of being killed by a mountain lion are 1 in
32 million. Okay, this probably doesn't stand your hair on end. The odds of
being struck by lightning are 1 in 700,000. Still, probably not too bad. This
one is relevant to this weekend. The chances of being killed by fireworks are 1
in 616,488. The chances of being killed in an airplane crash are 1 in 354,319.
Here is where it becomes a bit more real. The chances of you getting injured
and dying within the next year are 1 in 1,820. The chances of you getting
cancer in your life time are 1 in 2. When have you ever asked that question,
"what are the chances?" and hoped, prayed that you got the answer you
wanted to hear?
So, we have this farmer and
he goes out to sow his seed. He scatters it everywhere. Some lands on the path.
Some lands on the rocky ground. Some lands in the weeds. Some lands in the good
soil. What are the chances that a seed sown on the path will be able to take
root? What are the chances that a seed sown on rocky soil will be able to find
depth and the needed moisture? What are the chances that a seed sown in weeds
will be able to overcome being choked out? We can only hope they are better
than we think, but our suspicions ultimately come true. Jesus tells us the seed
sown on the path is eaten up by the birds. The seed on the rocky soil can't get
that depth and moisture and dries out. The seed in the weeds grows but is
overcome by the weeds and thorns. There is no survival. There is no abundant
life. The chances of life and growth here are non-existent. Kind of depressing,
isn't it?
We're let down by this
reality only because the chances say it cannot be done. We live by chances. In
fact, I think we live so much by chances that we are running out of ways to
express our thoughts about chances. For example, did you know that fat chance
and slim chance mean the exact same thing? We direct our path by chances. This
dependency on chances takes us to a common misconception about this parable
which asks you which category do you fit in? If you are the bad soil you always
have been the bad soil and that you always will be the bad soil. There is no
hope for you. If you are the good soil, you always have been the good soil and
always will be he good soil. There is nothing but hope for you. You see if we
live by the chances then if you're the seed on the path, you might as well give
up. If you are the seed on the rocky soil, you might as well give up. If you
are the seed in the weeds, you might as well give up. There are no chances if
you are in any of those categories. Unless you are growing in good soil.
So, then where are we in
this and is there any hope? I'm glad you asked. Instead of thinking about
yourself as being only one of each of those categories, I want you to think of
your life, your existence right now as a field.
Where is the path that goes
through your field? Where are the places in your life where if God tried to
reach out to you that you would reject anything that he would try to tell you?
Those are the place in our life where the path is. God sows his word on us and
we are so hardened that it doesn't take root at all and it is simply snatched
away from us. Perhaps you are reluctant to move forward after something happens
in your life. Perhaps you are holding such a tight grip on something, someone,
a certain behavior that you just won't let go of. Those are the paths in our
field.
Where is the rocky ground in
your field? Where are the places in your life where you are dedicated one
moment and removed the next? This could happen in any area of life. You hear
something and think to yourself, yes, that's great. That's so good, I've got to
change and become something else. Yet, not many minutes, hours, or days later
you revert back to what you had been. You might say, I've got to change this
relationship or this friendship around and I know just how to do it, but you
end up falling short. You lose interest. You just stop growing. These are the
rocky areas of your field.
Where are the weeds and
thorns in your field? Where are the place in your life where you are well
rooted but surrounded by temptations and worries? Perhaps you are so worried
about being rejected, turned away, ridiculed, and persecuted? Perhaps you feel
you must be a certain person, act a certain way in order to fit in to the ways
of society that you become over crowded. These are the weedy fields of our
life.
The reality is in our field
that is our life we have all of these categories. We have places that we don't
want the Word of God sinking into. We have these places where we lovingly
receive the Word of God but then we become disinterested. We have these place
where we want to grow, we really do but the cares and worries of the world
choke us out. This begs the question, then, how much of your life is actually
good soil, where you are letting the Word take root in you and grow?
We say that when the seed is
cast on the path, the rocks, the weeds there is no chance of growing. It’s
true. There is no chance. Let me offer this, though. If I were to take a bunch
of seeds right now and throw them at you, as small as those seeds are, do you
think you would feel them hitting you? When the Word of God is sown on your
life, I believe we can feel it. We can feel when God's Word hits the path
because it makes us uncomfortable. We can feel when God's word hits the rocks
and the weeds. We can feel when it hits the good soil. So, if the chances of
growth in these bad areas of our lives are non-existent, then I think it's time
we look in a different direction because if we are relying solely on the odds,
the odds are telling us only one thing. Only the sowing of that fresh Word of
God has any hope of taking root and growing. When that Word hits us and we are
challenged by it, we have the option of chipping away at some of that pathway,
to dig out some of those rocks and to pull out some of those weeds. Can you
imagine what it would be like if God left it up to the chances? If he saw all
that bad soil in your life and the chances say that it would be pointless to
sow his Word there, he wouldn't sow it. If he didn't sow it, we wouldn't feel
it. If we don't feel it, it won't lead us into that transformation into good
soil.
This has to take us back to
the carelessness of the farmer. Is he really so careless? Why is he sowing seed
in such a careless way? We're told the seed won't grow on the path or the rocky
soil or in the weeds. Why is he sowing seed in these places if there is no
chance for growth? Why take something so valuable and put it in places where it
is going to die? Why would God both sowing His Word in those places? The farmer
is not being as careless as we think he is. Instead of ignorantly throwing the
seed out in random places and throwing away something valuable that will only
be left to die, the farmer is showing that he has an abundant source of seed in
his bag and that even though when it is sown in those challenging places in the
field and will die off doesn't mean that he has any less seed to throw there
again.
So, when you think to
yourself, what are the chances that God's Word is going to take root in your
greed or in your lust you are limited to say that the chances are non-existent.
God's Word will not take root in the sinful areas of our lives. There is no
life in sin. But, it doesn't mean that God won't keep sowing his Word in those
areas of our lives, throwing that seed on the path, in the rocks and in the
weeds because if we can change our ways, repent of our sins, and rely fully on
his Word, when it is sown on the good soil it will take root, it will begin to
grow and it will produce a crop of immeasurable worth.
God should be sowing the
seed in our field, seeing that it isn't growing on the path, or the rocks or
the weeds and move on. If the chances are not there for growth, he should not
spread life there. The Bible even says “for the wages of sin is death.” Because
there are so many rocks and paths and weeds in our fields, life should not be
sown there. But, out of the riches of God's mercy, He sent Jesus to forgive us
for those areas of our lives that cannot produce a crop. Thus, Jesus' act on
the cross does not mean that the sin is out of our life, that he just came down
and did some landscaping for us and removed all of the paths, rocks and weeds
overnight. But, what it does mean is that when we are ready and willing to
receive him in the areas of our life that cannot produce a crop, we have the
ability to starts working on those areas and we have faith that God will still
be sowing seeds in the areas of our life that are hopeless and that when it
falls on that newly tilled good soil that it will take root, that it will
blossom, that it will grow and that it will produce a bountiful crop. It does
mean some gardening work on our part but God is still throwing that seed out of
love and with the hope that each of us will be ready and willing to receive it.
Let it be our prayer that God will continue to work in those weak areas in our
lives so that we may discover where his Word wants in, where He wants his Word
to grow and that we have the courage and strength to go out into our field and
prepare it. Thanks be to God that we do not live by just the chances of growth
in bad soil but that we have a God that cares for us abundantly and that what may
be seen as his carelessness is in actuality his persistence in love for his
children and that his persistence and the reach of his arm as he scatters that
seed knows no bounds. Ever. To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.