Jeremy L. Berg

“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”

…Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.” (Mark 4:3-8, 13-20)

Anyone like myself, whose great privilege and responsibility it is to be the farmer/sower in this parable and share the Word of God with people weekly, may find rest and refuge in this parable of Jesus. I know I always need reminding of where my role ends and the Holy Spirit takes over.

Good news: This beloved parable reminds preachers and teachers, and all who desire to be faithful messengers of God’s saving gospel, that the determining factor in seeing God’s Word go forth and have its transforming effect is NOT primarily the sower.  Of the these three — the sower, seed and soil — the sower is least consequential it would seem from this parable; though the sower is still necessary to enable the other two to play their role.

What does this parable say to those regularly involved in the scattering of God’s Word?  What particular reminders does this parable offer the pastor in the pulpit Sunday after Sunday?  And the youth pastor Wednesday after Wednesday?  Today we’ll look at the sower.  In the next two posts we’ll look at the seed and the soils.

What does this parable say to the sower/farmer?

• Keep sowing the seed.  Keep scattering it indiscriminately on all kinds of soil — for our job is to spread the message and God’s job to cultivate the soil of our hearers’ hearts.
• Make certain you’re sowing “the Word” and not your words. Make sure God’s Word stands out far above all your personal illustrations and contemporary applications.  Our messages might entertain and hold their attention; but it is all for naught if God’s Message does not have a chance to do it’s work.
• Relax and take some of the pressure off of yourselves. The transforming power is not found in the quality or charisma of the farmer.  The power is in the Word of God accurately communicated and the potential for transformation rests largely on the type of soil the recipient of the message is.  This means that (1) a funny, dynamic, entertaining speaker is no better off than the dull, dry, boring speaker IF the power of the living God is not present in the clear communication of God’s saving Word; and (2) even the clear communication of the message can be rendered ineffective if received by people whose hearts represent the wrong kind of soils.
• This parable concerning how the preaching of God’s Word transforms the lives of it’s hearers doesn’t say a thing about the preparation of the farmer before sowing the seed. It’s apparently not interested in discussing sermon style, clever use of props, emotional appeals, smooth transitions, witty illustrations, captivating stories and the rest. Now, I think all these are important and useful in preaching. Remember Jesus is using the artful and rhetorical style of “parable” as we speak. But it is at least fair to say that the skill of the messenger is not a primary factor in seeing God’s Word reap a harvest. As the Apostle Paul said to his hearers: “I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified…My message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 2:1, 4).
• The real focus here is on the soils of the hearers. I think we should all take note of this — especially as we consider how many negative emails pastors get weekly focused squarely on criticizing their sermon style, delivery, etc. How many of these dissatisfied hearers examine the condition of their own soil before blaming the farmer for scattering dry or ineffective seed?

The point is this: This parable, as we’ll see in the next two future posts, is not about the sower/farmer. It’s just not.  Yet, myself and many others continue to labor intensely and place enormous amounts of pressure on ourselves to craft the perfect sermon and become the best storyteller and speaker possible. While pastors, preachers and people in the pews should strive to become the best messengers they can, we should stop entertaining the false (and overbearing) idea that the power of God’s Word to change hearts is utterly dependent upon the skill and techniques of the messenger.

John Piper and Justin Taylor conclude that “The sowing of the seed reveals that there are different levels of receptivity in the soil, but if someone today representing technique-driven evangelicalism were to reinvent this parable, it would go something like this:

But this is not what the parable says. Next time we’ll look at the seed and in the third post examine the different kinds of soil.