A SKILLFUL SOWERPreached by Ronny Cham at the
SIB Metro evening service at 6.00 p.m. on 13th April 2008 “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." Matt 13:23 (NKJV) The SIB’s official logo has three words in Bahasa Malaysia (Malay), i.e., “Jadilah Saksi Kristus” (“To be Christ’s Witness”). A true member of the SIB Church subscribes to this motto. The Mission Statement of SIB Sabah, which the SIB Metro Church adopts is: (1) to become witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8); (2) to preach the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20); and (3) to plant and establish the Church (John 21:17). In our zeal and conviction, we vow that we will be Christ’s witnesses and will preach the Gospel and plant and establish His Church. We desperately want to see the lost saved and the Kingdom of God be extended. Yet we are also confronted with some major serious practical problem, i.e., how are we going to witness? When are we supposed to preach the Gospel? What does it mean to plant and establish the Church? The problem and confusion are compounded further in back-firing experiences in our effort trying to witness or preach the Gospel or planting or establishing His Church. Let me entitle the sermon, “A Skilful Sower”. Matthew 13:1-23 was commonly entitled “The Parable of the Sower”. I must admit that I have heard many sermons preached on this passage of the Bible concentrating on the “hearers” of the Word. But it is not the “Parable of the Hearers”, it is not the “Parable of the seeds” either. It is about the SOWER. I grew up in a vegetable farm. When I was about 12 years old, my father bought a piece of land about three quarter of an acre in area. On the land, as I remembered, there were trees, shrubs, bushes and wild grass. We had to first of all, cut down the trees and the shrubs. Not only that, we had to dig up the roots to. We had to clear the bushes and burned them. Then, on the bare land, we had to break up the hard land. Without the trees, without the scrubs, without the bushes, now the whole piece of land became thoroughly broken up soil good for planting. We would plant the seeds or the seedlings of various kinds of vegetable. We would water and wait for the tender shoots to sprout. Any skillful farmer will tell you the same story. It is all about preparing the land or ground for sowing or planting. Every farmer knows that the ground condition must first be established; the soil must be good before he sows or plants. Here in Matthew chapter 13, it was NOT a picture of a skillful or diligent sower. This sower went out to sow, and the Bible says, “as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” This sower could not be bothered where the seeds fell. Here is a significant truth to learn, Jesus went on to explain that these grounds are the hearers of the word. This sower literally could not be bothered and he was careless whether the Word of God has any effect on the hearers. He made a mockery of the Word of God, the seeds. Not only that, he could not be bothered and he was careless what would happen to those who belong to the first three classes of hearers, these hearers are human beings, the creation of God too! A skillful, diligent and careful sower would do everything that needs to be done first before sowing, that is to say, he would first of all, prepare the good soil, the conducive ground for sowing. He would do that because he knows the Word of God says that only seeds fell on good soil will grow and bear fruits. What does it means? Let me give some examples. When we come across a friend facing, say, financial difficulties, or marriage problem, we can tell him that the Word of God says, God answers prayers. In our haste, we pray a prayer of setting free from financial difficulties or marriage problem, and that was Amen and good bye. As he walks out of the Church, he saw the loan shark waiting for him outside the Church, or a friend came and told her she had seen her husband with that girl again. They will be right back at their problem. There goes the Word of God. Simple this example may be, but let us face it, we do that all the time, don’t we? And we feel discouraged, disappointed that the results was a devastating back-firing. Why? It is because we just do not first of all, consider what was the “ground condition of the heart”. That takes time and effort, to listen, to hear, to find out, to establish, to examine, to determine the condition the counselee was in. In my years of marriage counseling, I realized that those cases where I spent time to listen, to understand and determine the ground conditions of the heart, and acted upon those conditions by helping them to change their life condition, work condition, home condition, the personal appearance etc, were the cases where eventually God touched their lives and praise the Lord, until today, are still fervent Christians loving the Lord. I remembered a case where a sister came to my office for advice on divorce. She talked really a lot. After a long while, I asked her, “have you finished?” She said, “yes”. So I said, “even if I were your husband, I would leave you.” She was surprised, so I told her, “first of all, you talk too much, secondly, you dress worse than my maid at home, thirdly, you stink with bad body odor” She was much taken aback. Then I told her that she had basically given up life because of the marriage problem. Hugh trees, terrible scrubs and thick bushes covered her heart that needed to be cleared from her life. She was totally lost in the midst of her problem. I spend time talking to her as to how God is interested in each one of us and how through our daily circumstances, He leads us back to Himself to live life worthy of living in Him. I told her that she is so valuable to Him that He died on the Cross to save her. Not in a day, I made appointments to meet and talk with her, several weeks. My wife Diana had a tremendous complementary ministry with me, her ministry was, taking her to the hair salon, gave her a good hair-do, took her to a boutique and dressed her up. Soon, she began going to Church and then through the ladies in the Church, she gave her life to the Lord. She did not divorce, by the way. In 1 Corinthians 3:5-7, Paul said, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted , Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” That talks of a great Church ministering the Grace and Mercy of God together as skillful planters, fellow sowers. This is hope. Miracles are the work of the Holy Spirit through the agency of human beings, His people, His Church. We are His Church, we are His planters, we are His sowers, we are His co-workers in His husbandry. In Matthew 15:13, Jesus said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.” I firmly believe that our Heavenly Father did not come personally to plough the ground and plant the seed. It is through you and I, His called out sowers and planters in His garden that sow and plant and take care of His Husbandry, according to His Will in obedience to His Word. Let us therefore sow skillfully, diligently and carefully by taking heed of the Lord’s advice in Matthew 13:1-23. Do we want to see our loved ones come to know the Lord? Let us resolve to spend time, make the effort, ask His Holy Spirit to guide us to understand the ground condition of the heart, with wisdom to know how to clear and cleanse and prepare a perfect good ground for the sowing of His Seed, His Word. He will let you see the fruit of your labour of love as you obey His Word, lest some may be lost because of our neglect and carelessness. Amen. Ronny Cham |
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