Sowing the Gospel Seed

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Elia Massey comes to preach God's Word for us. Dr. Massey is the administrator behind the Urdu Center for Reform Theology. He is from a rural area, so he is always happy to come and see your fields nice and dressed. Please welcome Dr. Massey.

Thank you. Yeah, it's a real delight always to be here. Always I feel I'm home. I grew up on a farm. There's a little different, exactly same fields, but we grow rice there because we have plenty of water there. And also more people in my town where I grew up. But it's always really an honor and delight to be here.

So let's turn to the word today. I'm quoting this morning from Matthew, a very familiar passage from Matthew chapter 13. As you know, that's a chapter of parables of kingdom of God. And I chose Intentionally first of all I was coming to a farming land and you're very familiar with that and Also because I'm going to share this afternoon the work God is doing that and he has entrusted us to proclaim his word and share with the world Matthew chapter 13 Matthew chapter 13 Please pay close attention to the word of a holy and inherent word of God. And my version might be slightly different than yours. I'm using NASB, which we use in Shani. I believe that's a good translation as well. Here is God's holy and inherent word.

That day Jesus went out of those, that day Jesus, Jesus went out of the of those and was sitting by the sea and a large crowd gathered to him so he got into boat and sat down and whole crowd was standing on the beach and he spoke many things many things to them in parables saying behold the sower went out to sow and as he sowed Some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

Others fell on the rocky places where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. Other fell among the thorns, and the thorn came up and choked them out. And other fell on the good soil, and yield a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

He who has ears, let him hear." Let us pray. Gracious and merciful God, We thank you this morning. You brought us together to move among us. We are thankful for this day you have appointed that we may worship you together. Lord, we are now here. You are present. You are here. And we believe that we are to hear.

We are ready to hear your word from heaven. and to receive the rain which never return in vain. Lord, our hearts are prepared to learn and love your word. Your law is a counselor and I pray that we will be ruled by it. Lord, according to scripture, it is our divine position And our schoolmaster, I pray that we will be obedient to it and healed by it. And Lord, I am to preach here your holy, unchanging and life-changing word. Help me to offer the gospel call to the people of you gathered here in Christ's gracious name I ask. Amen.

Matthew chapter 13 is a theologically rich chapter. Here Jesus gives seven different parables to describe the kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven. Kingdom of God doesn't appear in Matthew's gospel for reasons, but kingdom of God is the same thing, kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven. In these parables, parables of kingdom has two aspects, especially the kingdom of heaven is, or kingdom of God is a mixture of good and bad.

Tyrus among wheat. That means it includes false believers as well as genuine believers. false doctrine as well as genuine doctrines, true doctrine, and hypocritical worship as well as genuine worship. That is one of the aspects of those parables. And second aspect is being Jesus followers, we must work laboriously, seeking and helping men to enter into kingdom of God. The reason is because we, as God's people and His church, we have received the mysteries of God in the person of Jesus Christ. So we are disposable for teaching and sharing the Word of God to the lost world around us. Because we have received the mysteries, that is a great blessing.

The parable of Sore is one of the most well-known I heard when I was very young and everybody has heard about that. It's a very well-known parable. And it is designed to teach the truth that the gospel will come to every kind of person, but only those who are given spiritual ears, eyes, and hearts will receive it and produce fruit. for the glory of God. And Jesus explained that parables, I'm not going to go there for a reason, because of time. I'm giving a limited time. Another main thrust of this passage revolves, as we read, the whole parable and the whole chapter. Read it.

It revolves around the types of soils and what is produced by each But in this message, I do not want to focus on the soil today, though I'm so glad to see the one of the fertile soil in here. I still believe the soil, the land in my place is more fertile than here.

But it is wonderful. It is wonderful to be here. I want to look at, not at the soil, Not at the soil, but sewer. The one who does the work. I want to look at this person who takes his seed, goes into the field, and begins to sow. And many of you know way better than the people in Overland Park where I live.

I believe there are some contrasts that we can draw from the sewer in this parable. and those who take the message of gospel into the field of the world. And as we read this parable, I believe that there is an encouragement, challenge, and help for all of us to be the sower of the gospel seed. Let us take a few minutes today to look together at this thought, sowing the gospel seed. That is the title of my message today. And I have three points. The sower's mission for the seed, and the sower's method for sowing, and the sower's measure of success. Based on verse three, verse three, behold, the sower went out to sow. We can note here three things.

First Point

First the sower, the one farmer, did go forth, he went out. And when he went out, what was his intention? His intention of the sower was just go out and sow the seed. The only intention or desire he had was just get out and sow the seed. to get his seed into the soil. He wants to plant his crops or seed.

As I've seen, we've got lots of rain here and the farmers were very eager and very excited and they did. I heard from them quickly, the seed of the Word of God proclaimed by the people of God is the Word of God. When he goes out, then he, when you sow the seed, you begin and just last maybe two or three, two weeks ago, I planted a seed in my garden.

I still love. I did. And yesterday, a day before yesterday, I was looking. They are spinning up already. There was too much rain. Some are a little bit still thinking and it's hard for them. But I see. When you sow, it begins to germinate and shoot. I would just remind us this morning that God did not give us this glorious seed of the gospel just to save it. And last year, I had an experience. I usually have my own seeds, which is one I cannot find here. I brought many years back from Pakistan.

That's a bitter gourd. I don't know if you have seen. We still like. It's wonderful. We cook with the meat. And last year we saved some seed and I gave to my wife and she saved it. Saved it. Very secret place. We were not able to find it. And that's why I didn't have bitter gourd last year.

God did not give us this seed of the gospel to save it. He did not give us this gospel, glorious gospel, that we could hold it, keep it to ourselves and brag about the blessing we have. He did not give us the seed so that we might allow it to rot in the barn. The prophet Haggai tells us in verse chapter 2 verse 19, is the seed still in the barn. So is the seed in the barn and it's rotting.

God's mandate to his people is that we take the seed of the gospel into the field of the world and sow it for his glory. Sow it for his glory. We are promised to share the gospel with blessings and promise that He is with us in Acts chapter 1 verse 8.

But you will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest parts of the earth. I think this is one of the remotest parts as I was traveling. You don't need to go to India. You're welcome to visit with me when I go there. We have brothers and sisters in Pakistan or India. But this is also one of the remote spots I see and look around.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, even Christ himself, heavenly sword, went out to Saul. He left his home of security and peace. He left the glory that he had with the Father from eternity. He left his position upon the throne of the universe. He went forth to suffer. Tempted by men, went forth in solitude to sow in tears and to water with his blood the seed of life for the lost world.

His people in life manner must go forth to sow, must go forth to sow. We are called to become a sower of the seed of gospel. Is there a burden upon your heart to get the gospel into the field of the world? If there is, I would urge you and encourage you then honor it and go and sow it. We saw the mission of the sower. He had only one intention that he will sow the seed. The sower has only one desire as he enter his field to get his seed into the soil. That is the only his intention.

Second Point

And that leads to our second point that sower's method of sowing Who knows better than you guys? This community, how to sow the seed. Even my 10 years, now 11 years son, Isaiah, we were doing a couple years back, we were planting some seed in our backyard garden, and I said, Papa, I'm a better farmer than you. He said, well, because I'm not a better farmer than my dad. Yeah, we are to do that. As you read these verses, you see the sower cast his seed into the field, and I've seen my dad doing that, literally. Not with the big, great, modern machines, with his hands.

He had seed, he had a bag, and he was just throwing, spreading everywhere. I've seen In our text, where does the sower cast his seed? What is his method? Where does he sow his seed? In our text, we see him casting his seed everywhere. Casting his seed everywhere. He doesn't sow the seed in the best or his favorite parts of the field. That's not. or one part of the field. He broadcasts it far and wide. He wants to make sure that every square inch of his field has been covered by seed.

He wants a big harvest, so he casts the seed everywhere, and such should be our method of sowing as well. in this regard the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ in his great commission in Matthew chapter 28 verses 19 through 20 if we read that there are four ways showing us the method of Jesus Christ teaching his disciple how to sow the seed first of all we are to go where we are to go Mark 16 15 tells us that we are to go into the world No place is off-limit. No people group is off-limit. We are to go everywhere and tell everybody.

And second thing we learn from Great Commission that we are to go and secondly we are to tell. Mark uses the word preach and Matthew teach. What are we to tell or teach the lost world? Are we to brag about the or brag or boast about our church, our standards, our preachers? No. No way. We are to tell a lost world, lost and dying world about Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done for sinners. We are to go into the world and we are to share the gospel. But what is the gospel message?

It is very simple. Paul tell us in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verses 3 and 4 we are to tell sinners about Jesus Christ I'm sorry Brian I did not turn on this that's fine what we are to tell them is it better I'm sorry But we ought to tell them what Jesus did for sinners. What Jesus did for sinners. 1 Corinthians 15 verses 3 and 4, For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, And that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to scripture. Can you find that simple gospel? It's summary. What Jesus did for us. What Jesus did for sinners. He came. He died for sinners. He was buried. He was raised again on the third day according to scripture.

And secondly, we have to tell them. what Jesus did for us, for our sins. But secondly, we are to tell them what Jesus done for me. And Paul teaches us, tell us what he did. He share his testimony with us in 2nd 1st Timothy chapter 1 verses 12 through 15, 13 through 15. We have to tell what Christ has done for all of us, and we have to also share our testimony. Though testimony cannot be a gospel, but it is very important. I don't want to tell you right now, but there are many amazing things how God brought me. I have shared wall with a Muslim family. Many times I've thought if I have been born across the wall, I might be a jihadist. I might be a terrorist. And many people think when people know I'm from Pakistan, you're not thinking that I'm a terrorist.

No. Paul share his testimony here in verse from verses 13 even though I was previously a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of the Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners whom I am foremost. He's telling about Christ what he done for word and especially what he did for me.

The third thing we learn we are to go. We are to go tell and we are to tell everybody. Mark 16 and 15 say, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We need to make sure that everyone in our circle of lives hear the gospel from our lips. It doesn't matter who they are, what they do for a living, where they live and what color skin they are. If they are living, breathing human being, then they need to hear the gospel. And it is our duty, it is your duty to tell them.

Note some folks never witness because they are always waiting on the spirit to move them or tell them to tell anybody or somebody about Jesus. brothers and sisters in Christ he has already done that when he said go he was talking to you he was talking to me and you and everybody here we are to go we are to tell and we are to tell everybody and importantly we are to we are to be involved in going and telling and he said Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 He said to them, do you see the plural there? He didn't say to just Peter or John or just a single disciple. He told them the gospel is a message that can be shared by children, adults and anybody between. It isn't just for the preachers, evangelists or missionaries like me, but it is a command for all of God's people, God's children. If you have been saved, then you have a message to share.

And remember, sheep produces more sheep. And if God has saved you, do you want your church to grow? I was looking at the history. I called a mega-harpy church at that time, right? About 300 people. Do you want your church to grow? Then go and sow. Do you want to see your people saved around here? Then go and sow. Do you want to be involved in your father's kingdom work? Then brothers and sisters, sow the gospel seed everywhere in all kinds of soil. And God will give the increase as Paul said in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 verses 6 and 8. That was a simple method of soar in this parable. Go and soar. Go and soar. It leads us to our third point, the soar's measure of success.

Do you think the farmer in this parable was successful? As we read this parable, it becomes very clear that this sower lost some of his seed. I think he lost lots of his seed. Some of it fell on the soil that had been unprepared and the seed produced no fruit. Since that is true, was the sower or farmer failure? Was he a failure?

I don't think so. No. He was successful in his work because he fulfilled his mandate. His mandate or mission was to sow the seed and that is what he did. So I call him a successful sower, a successful farmer. He had no control over the soil. He had no control over the amount of fruit each plant will produce. What is our job? We do not have control over anything. But even I have seen in my own personal life. I've seen a fruit where I never went, even I never watered. God brought people to us. We have no control over soil and have no control over the amount of fruit each plant will produce.

The sower in this parable, I believe he was successful because of two significant truths. He was successful because of two significant truths. First is, they are very simple, he sowed all his seed. He was successful because he sowed all his seed. He didn't keep anything to himself. Second truth is that he sowed all his field, every inch of his field, wherever he was.

As a sower of gospel seed, you and I are not responsible for the kind of soil our seed falls into. We cannot even judge the condition of the soil because we cannot see into the hearts of people. That's why 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse 7 says, Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, for the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. We are not able to see into hearts of people, but we are to share the gospel simply.

The only difference between these types of soils we read in this parable was fruit. The only difference was fruit. Sure, we may cast our seed into soil that is unprepared, but we are to cast the seed and leave the harvest into hands of the Lord of the harvest. After all, He is the Lord of Harvest, Matthew 9 verse 38.

When we have sowed the gospel seed into the field, and when we have sowed the field as completely as possible, we have done that we have been commanded to do. We have done our job. We can pray for that. And we can consider our work successful. Again the question is what if we never lead a soul to Jesus personally?

I really think some people are sure some water that that soil or seed which had been sown and by other people and from time to time you may get to sow what sometimes you've watered the harvest And sometimes you harvest literally. Our duty is not to worry about the results of fruit. Our duty is to get out into the field and sow the seed or water it. God never called to me and you to be the sole winner.

But he has called you to sow the gospel seed. What, in conclusion, what practical implications can be drawn out from today's study. First of all, always be ready to sow the seed of gospel. Always be ready to sow the seed of gospel. Remember that there will never be a harvest unless the seed actually is sown into the ground.

There will be lots of weeds. I just came back from Pakistan after four weeks this time. Usually I go for six weeks or two months, this time with my family. Just four weeks. I came back and my garden was covered by weeds. It was covered by weeds. I didn't plant any seed. I didn't see any plant there.

So farmers can have the most fertile You know that very well, and many of you farmers here. They can have, as you are proud of, this is one of the most fertile area in America. The farmer can have the most fertile soil, the best seed, and the best intentions. But if he never actually gets out into the field and sow the seed, no crop will ever be produced.

There will be weeds everywhere as I saw in my garden. Therefore, always be ready to sow the seed of the gospel. Second implication we can draw from there is that know that Satan is working against you. That already I told you, I just came back. I see my garden covered by weeds.

The sower probably knew that there will be many obstacles that were against the seed. He knew that there will be birds, hostile conditions, scorching sun, thorns and all. He knew very well. We have ever done, if you have done any sort of planting or even just a little garden, as I've mentioned, my backyard. In few weeks it was covered by weeds.

Satan will do anything and everything he can to keep the word from being firmly planted and established and grown, growing. But our job is not to worry about Satan's scheme but obey the law of harvest and go and sow. Therefore we need to keep in mind that Satan is working against you. It's working against the church. The third implication we can draw is that different people are going to respond to gospel different ways.

In my own personal experience, two years ago, I preached a sermon in Karachi City. I will share you in a mission presentation a little later. I was invited by one man who had about 20 young people, a group, I can even say named Thomas. That was not Apostle Thomas. Some people believe that Apostle Thomas came in that area. There's a place, they have a shrine in Pakistan and then he went to India. That time it was India.

And I preached like from a rooftop. We were on rooftop because it didn't have a place to sit there. I asked him to invite his family, his mother, sisters, brother, and all that group. I think Vince Ward, if you know, he was with me that time. And I preached there. There were about 20 people. I preached from Ezekiel chapter 16, the greatness, I believe that's chapter 16, the greatness of God's grace in Karachi. And a group of people were there, but only one responded from there. Only one. His name is Daud David.

I'm going to, I'm so excited to share afterward about him. Now that one seed has produced much fruit and we have one new mission church and two ruling elders, one deacon and 30 members there. And the guy who invited me has gone in background and he is even against this work. So different people are going to respond differently. The first man, as I said, met, contacted me. He has also heard the word. He's the one who invited us there. He heard the preaching, but he has hardened his heart. Just remember, different people are going to respond differently. The last implication is be patient and don't lose hope. Be patient and don't lose hope. I know it's late, but this is the last one.

The sword's success in the grand scheme wasn't that great. He sawed in four different places, and only one, in one soil, he was able to find some fruit. The fact of the matter is that in terms of sawing, Soil did not have a great success. He sowed in four different types of soil and only one out of four brought any sort of meaningful harvest.

So do not lose hope. Just fulfill your mandate. Go and sow. I would say to you that we can sit here in this very fine building. We were really, Doug was appreciating this hundred and, you are going to celebrate 175 years Establishment of this church He was wonderful to see this building We can sit here in cozy nice buildings We can sit here enjoy fine buildings and we can preach the gospel We can gather and pray for sinners here sitting here We can have the precious Word of God in our hands and in our hearts but until we actually go into the world and tell the last dying sinners about Jesus Christ, we'll never see a harvest. We might see one here and there saved by God's grace in the church, but we will never see a multitude, multitudes of people come to Jesus until we go out from this fancy, nice, I love it, nice building. And I pray, I urge you and encourage you May the Lord help us to see the wide field and as soon as you go out you can see wide fields through the eyes of Lord Jesus Christ what he said in John chapter 4 verse 35 Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest Behold, I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields that they are white for harvest.

They're white for harvest. Let us pray. Gracious and merciful God, Lord of the harvest, Lord, our pockets are overflowing with the redemptive seed of gospel. Our barns, our houses are overflowing with the gospel seed. Lord bless us and encourage us and give us courage and spirit as your people and help us to become Christ-like servant and open doors for proclaiming the mystery of Christ Jesus Enable us to speak your word to non-believers with great boldness. And when we go to Saul, give us people. Give the people noble heart, noble and good heart, like the good soil. Lord, use us as humble and great instruments in your kingdom.

Christ's gracious name I ask. Amen. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.