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"Sowing in the Kingdom" Matthew 13

by The Rev. Clancy Nixon

July 10, 2005 (Year A. proper 10)

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

www.holyspiritdulles.org

In the parable of the sower, Jesus tells us four things. The word works; you need to

prepare the soil; you need to put down roots; and you need to make room for multiplied fruit. The

way we do that at CHS is through our evangelism strategy: prayer, care, share and invite.

1. The first thing he tells us is that THE WORD WORKS. As Clinton Utterbach says,

"God is alive and well, and His Word will work for you." As Jesus tells us in verse 19, the seed in

the parable is "the message of the Kingdom of God" that is, His word. The first message of the

Kingdom is that the King is alive and well. Friends, have you heard the News: There is a king in

America today. His realm is not of this world. He's the Lord of all nations; He's the Prince of

Peace. He's the ruler of Reality. He's the King of glory! Do you know him? The seed is the

gospel. If the word is not working for you, look in the mirror. Friends, there is nothing wrong with

the seed; there is nothing deficient in the Word of God. The difference in fruit produced is

determined by the soil, not the seed. The Word works! It works differently depending on the soil it

takes root in. When the Word takes root, and is not choked out by the worries of this life, then the

fruit it produces is thirty, sixty, one hundred fold! This kind of fruit should be manifest in your life.

If you have to wonder whether you have this kind of fruitfulness or not, then you likely don't. This

kind of harvest is so obvious, you can't miss it. I talked to a friend recently; call him John, who has

this testimony. In the last six months, his faltering marriage has grown much stronger; John's wife

has surrendered her life to Christ; God is pouring out miracles of healing on his family; he has had

new opportunities to witness to God on the job. It's not just a run of good luck it's the fruit of life

transformation. It's blessing on blessing on blessing. Not that struggles don't exist for John he is

experiencing many trials in the midst of all this fruit. The difference is this. His struggles today are

struggles that result from faithfulness, not the struggles associated with unbelief.

What if you don't have this kind of fruit; how do you get it?

2. YOU NEED TO PREPARE THE SOIL.

Until recently, grass did not grow for me like it did my neighbors. But my weeds, they

grew really well. After three seasons struggling on my own, I swallowed my pride and asked the

guy in the Garden Department at Home Depot what to do. He told me about soil preparation. He

says that you can do all the sowing of seed you want, you can have perfect sun and water

conditions, but if the soil isn't right, you can forget about everything else. Soil prep is Job #1.

Jesus could have told them that. The first type of soil described in this parable is `the

path.' Footpaths were packed down hard because of all the people walking on them. The seed

being sown did not penetrate the soil, and so the seeds remained on top of the ground as easy

picking for hungry birds. Jesus is referring to people whose hearts are so hard that the truth of His

word does not penetrate their lives. They are ignorant of the message of the gospel they aren't

evil, they just don't know any better. Many people have never seen a healthy, functioning Christian

community. I grew up with a family that never went to church. My sisters have never experienced

a community of people who love one another, care for one another, and bear one another's burdens

the way Jesus talks about. They have seen what God and Church have done for me, but they have

not experienced a community of love for themselves. They have never explored either Church or

God very deeply.

What can we do to prepare the soil to reap a harvest? It starts in our minds in the mind of

the believer. We prepare the soil of our own minds by understanding our Kingdom roles. The

Parable of the Sower is a parable of the Kingdom of God. We need to understand ourselves as

sowers of the Word and regents of the Kingdom. The Sower in the parable throws seeds around

indiscriminately. Some seeds fall here and some fall there. We are to sow everywhere as well. You

can't always tell who will be receptive to the message. The more carefully you prepare the soil, the

better; but the seed can grow in the most unlikely places, so we need to cast the seed everywhere.

Amen? Next, we need to understand ourselves as people on the King's business. You and I are

agents of the King, ambassadors, princes and priests of our God. Do you think of yourself that way?

Look at Revelation 5:10. Part of Kingdom work is to be prepared to rule, both now and forever, as

vice-regents of Jesus, as priests of God. Turn to your neighbor and tell them that: Say, "You are a

regent of the King." What's the work of a regent? The primary work of vice-regents in God's

Kingdom is to extend God's reign and rule until the King returns personally to rule. When Cramer

wrote the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549, young Edward was King of England, but he was

too young to rule, a regent ruled in his place. In the Lord's Prayer, we pray, "thy kingdom come,

thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." What is it like in Heaven? There is no sin there; no

sickness; no tears; no unsaved people; no arguing or complaining. There's worship and fellowship

and enjoyment forever. As agents of the King, we are to bring as much of heaven here on earth as

we can. Remember what we taught in our worldview series: God claims Lordship over every

square inch of the universe. Kingdom life means praying for the sick, and seeing them recover; it

means sharing the gospel, and seeing people saved; it means caring for the poor, and seeing them

lose their shackles of poverty; it means visiting the prisoner, and seeing them set free. That's my

King. That's what my King does. Do you know him? The harvest God is looking for is a legacy of

extending God's rule, first in our own lives, and then in the lives of others. Let's look at how to do

that.

3. YOU NEED TO PUT DOWN ROOTS. The next kind of soil Jesus speaks of is the

rocky soil. Palestinian soil is most often a thin layer overtop bedrock. Here, the seed germinates,

but because the soil is shallow, and the roots are inadequate to hold moisture, the sun comes and

scorches the plant. Everything depends on the roots. If the roots are shallow, the plant will be

scorched and die. We need to put down roots so we can stand up against the storms of life, like

Hurricane Dennis, or the terrorist attacks on London buses.

I used to live in Northern California, where I loved to visit Redwood forests. You might

think these 1,000 ft. giants must have pretty deep roots to grow that high and not topple over. I've

seen these trees as they lay on their sides in the forest. The roots do not grow deep at all, but grow

out horizontal to the ground. The roots are strong because they are intertwined. The roots support

each other. Think of roots as relationships in the church and with God. You and I can only stand

tall and strong against the Hurricane Dennises of our lives if we are intertwined with other

believers. With the help of the body, you can become a spiritual giant.

You cannot grow too deep or too strong in the spiritual life. No matter how much you have

grown in the faith, you still have more growing to do. At CHS, we have a discipleship strategy for

you to grow in the Lord, once you have committed your life to him. First, you join a small group,

where you will learn how to study the Bible, and you learn to give and receive love and care. Next,

you get a mentor, a spiritual father or mother, who you open your life to, and receive guidance for

becoming more like Christ. Third, you take our core curriculum, classes 101-105, and learn the

basics of the Christian life. Alpha is Class 101, Membership is 102, Network Spiritual Gifts is 103,

Contagious Christianity is 104, and Confirmation is 105. Fourth, you serve as a mentor to a

younger person, and find a place of service in the body of Christ. Fifth, you bring your neighbors to

Christ through a simple evangelism strategy, which I'll outline in a moment. Fellow vice-regents;

these are disciplines of the Kingdom. These things are what we do if we want to reign with Christ.

4. YOU NEED TO MAKE ROOM FOR MULTIPLIED FRUIT.

The last danger faced by the seed of the gospel is thorns. Here the soil is loose and deep, but

there are weeds in the garden. The soil may look healthy, but there are root balls of crabgrass and

dandelions lurking in the soil. Jesus says these represent the worries of this life and the

deceitfulness of wealth. I weed my lawn every day. On my way out to walk the dog, I go slowly to

look for weeds, and pull them up by their roots. Carlos tugs on his leash as I stop to deal with my

weeds! If I don't pull the weeds, my lawn will soon be covered with them. The spiritual life is like

that, too. What do worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth have in common? They can

rob your time. Worry can consume you, just like a constant pursuit of money can eat up your time

and your life. Jesus says these are like weeds choking out the fruit of your life. If this describes

you, you need to restructure your life. You need to make time for the harvest, and that means

cutting out something else.

The harvest in a Christian life is most clearly seen as an evangelistic harvest. That is how

the Kingdom advances, by making disciples. That is our congregation's mission: to make disciples

who make disciples. In order to get there, we have adopted a new goal: for 30 new families to join

the church by year end 2005. Since normal turnover means about 10 families will leave, we aim for

a net 20 new families to join the church in the second half of this year.

For us to realize this goal, all of us have a part to play. The most important thing you can

do is to befriend someone who does not know Christ. We need to find ways to meet and get to

know people far from God, be it through work or our kids' schools, on the tennis court, or around

the neighborhood. CHS has adopted this four-step strategy for evangelism: prayer, care, share, and

invite. Would you say that with me? Prayer, care, share, and invite. Once they make a decision for

Christ and join our church, then they do the five step discipleship process I talked about earlier.

This is how we make disciples. Listen carefully: I'd like to see every family work this strategy this

summer. Here is what I'm asking you to do.

First: Prayer. Pray for those on your block daily, that they would come closer to God, and

that God would show you who to befriend. These are likely to be those who are attracted to you.

Second: Care. Just love on people! This is our slogan: "BBQ first." Before you bring up

spiritual topics, befriend them first. When someone moves in, be there right away with cool water

or fresh cookies. The best way I know to get to know people is to invite them to your home for a

meal. I'd like every family in our church to have a BBQ this summer, where they invite their

neighbors over to get to know them, say five or more neighbor families. Let your conversation be

light and non-religious. Ask them about themselves, and talk about what they are interested in. Find

out who is receptive to you, and follow up with them with another meal. Just love on them. Will

you host a BBQ to help meet our church-wide goal? [hold up hand] Will you have a party with

your neighbors to get to know them, and follow up on those who are receptive to you? I'd like to

see hands. Once you have listened to someone, and loved on them, you earn the right to be heard.

That's the third part: Share. Share a story from your life that connects with their story.

Tell how God has made a difference in your life. It does not have to be the story of your conversion

or a miracle, just a way God or God's people have helped you. There is power in your story that no

one can deny or take away from you. Only you can tell your story. I believe that, many times, God

has allowed you to suffer, grow and depend on Him more because He wants you to tell your story

to someone else who needs to hear it. People need to know that they do not suffer alone. They need

to hear a credible witness, and they need to hear and respond to the gospel story.

Fourth: invite. People come to Christ through a process. Part of that process is to come into

the Community of the King. That comes as a series of invitations. Invite them to your house. Invite

them to our Family Fun Fest on September 17. Invite them to Alpha. Alpha is specifically

designed for unchurched people, and we will run Alpha immediately after the fun fest. Small

groups are a great way in, as are our fellowship events, like beach trips, pot-trust picnics, and ball

games. Sunday morning church is primarily for the edification of believers, so this is a great entry

point for unchurched believers. The Kingdom is a series of invitations to love and be loved.

Prayer, care, share, and invite. The word works; you need to prepare the soil; you need to

put down roots; and you need to make room for multiplied fruit.

Sowing in the Kingdom

by Clancy Nixon

1. THE WORD _______________.

"God is alive and well, and His word will work for you." -C. Utterbach

2. YOU NEED TO _____________________ THE SOIL.

"You have made them to be a kingdom of priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

Revelation 5:10

3. YOU NEED TO ________________________ ROOTS.

CHS' discipleship strategy:

1. Join a small group

2. Get a mentor

3. Take our Core Curriculum 101 Alpha, 102 Membership, 103 Network, 104 Contagious

Christianity, and 105 Confirmation

4. Become a Mentor and serve in the Church

5. Work our evangelism strategy: prayer, care, share and invite.

4. YOU NEED TO ____________________FOR MULTIPLIED FRUIT.

Make time for the Harvest. This summer, host a neighborhood BBQ.

The most important thing you can do is to befriend someone who does not know Christ.

Invite them to the Family Fun Fest on Sept. 17, and to Alpha on Sept. 23.

"So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' . . . But

seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew

6:31,33