3/2/25
Message; ”Communication”
Scripture: Matthew 13:1-23
Matthew 13:1-23
The Parable of the Sower
(1) That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.
(2) Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.
(3) Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.
(4) As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
(5) Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow.
(6) But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
(7) Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.
(8) Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop–a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
(9) He who has ears, let him hear.”
(10) The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
(11) He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
(12) Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
(13) This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
(14) In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ” ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
(15) For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
(16) But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.
(17) For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
(18) “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:
(19) When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
(20) The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.
(21) But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
(22) The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
(23) But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
This is the word of God, for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
There’s a story going around about two women who stopped at a service station on the coast of Texas and asked where the lighthouses were located.
The service station attendant was a little confused and asked if there was any particular reason, they were looking for lighthouses. One of them said, “We understand lighthouses have good paying jobs. There are lots of ads in the paper for them, but we don’t know where they are located so we can apply.” The service station attendant said, “As far as I know there are no lighthouses in Texas. Let me see that newspaper.”
Sure enough, there were the ads which read, “Light housekeeping needed. Apply in person.”
I know that’s bad, but when you write a newspaper ad, you might consider that all kinds of people will be reading it, and therefore, all kinds of misunderstandings can take place.
While reflecting,on what we read in our scripture today, and what we hear in the news about defunding police and cancel culture, it seems everyone is getting a different message. So, I thought we should talk about :
“COMMUNICATION”
I looked up the definition in the dictionary. Here’s what I found.
Communication
1. the act or process of communicating; fact of being communicated.
2. the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.
3.something imparted, interchanged, or transmitted.
4. a document or message imparting news, views, information, etc.
Communication is a wonderful thing, but it is also tricky. Every pastor is aware that what he or she says can be misunderstood.
With that said. The act of communication has at least three critical elements the sender, the message and the person who receives the message. I say “at least three elements” because there may be many more factors involved in successful communication.
For example, the relationship between the sender and the receiver.
Some married couples can finish one another’s sentences. I know this because ,Bonne and I often do. Although she’s better at mind reading than I .
Communication can also be affected by whether the sender and the receiver share the same experiences.
As an example of this. A friend of mine said he took his family to one of those restaurants where the walls are plastered with movie memorabilia. He went to see the hostess about reserving a table. When he returned, he found his 11-year-old daughter staring at a poster of Superman standing in a phone booth. She looked puzzled. “Doesn’t she know who Superman is?” he whispered to his wife. “Worse than that,” she replied. “She doesn’t know what a phone booth is.”
Communication between generations can suffer because of a lack of shared experiences.
Many factors can affect whether an act of communication is successful or not.
Jesus was talking about a particular act of communication. That act of communication was his teaching about the kingdom of God.
Some people are exposed to Christ’s teachings and they only half-listen. The message really doesn’t take. The seeds “fell along the path” (Matt.13:4).
It is as if birds had devoured it before they had a chance to process it.
There are others who seem to listen to Jesus, but really, they are indifferent or even hostile. The message never has a chance. They are rocky places. The seeds “fell on rocky places ”(Matt. 13: 5).
There are still others who are interested, but they are burdened with other concerns, and soon those other concerns choke out the message of the kingdom and they are no better off than the others.(Matt.13: 6 and 7).
But then there are some whom Christ calls, “good soil.” These are people who hear, who respond, and who live out the kingdom life the best they are able with God’s help. (Matt.13: 8.) I hope most of you count yourself as good soil. You hear the message of the kingdom, you respond eagerly to its call, and you live out the kingdom life the best you are able with God’s help.
You have to wonder, though, where Christ is leading with this parable. No wonder his disciples were confused and asked for clarification. He’s saying that some people will respond to the Gospel and others will not.
What are we supposed to do with this information? Perhaps he was preparing his disciples for the kind of response they would receive when they began communicating the Gospel.
First, I think he’s telling the disciples and us that: COMMUNICATING THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF BEING A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.
We know that’s true. We are not only “good soil” but once the Gospel is sown in our lives, we are to join with Christ in sowing the seeds of the kingdom in the lives of others as well. Jesus told us to go out and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). This is the Great Commission. It is the task of every
follower of Jesus. We are to communicate the Gospel. This takes many forms.
For example, we communicate the faith to our children. That is probably the area most of us take most seriously. Through our gifts to the church we also
spread the Gospel to the world. But we know Christ calls us to do more.
Through our actions, Christ calls us to spread the Gospel to our friends and neighbors and co-workers. But more than that. Christ calls us to give a verbal witness to the people around us. This can be a scary proposition.
Having been raised and lived in this area, most of my life like most of you, we can relate to Jesus’ parable of the sower. We all have , at some time attempted to plant a garden or help a farmer plant. Most of the farmers I assisted liked to pass on their wisdom.
In my preparations for today’s message I saw a long list of wise sayings attributed to farmers.
Let me list just a few of these wise sayings for you. Maybe you will relate to one of these:
1. Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance.
2. Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.
3. Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
4. Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
5. When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
6. And this last bit of advice: Always drink upstream from the herd.
Jesus told lots of stories about farmers. Today’s text is one of those stories. However, the farmer in this story is not particularly gifted at his profession.
Let’s communicate the gospel in clear terms.
So,here’s the really scary part. SOMETIMES WE CAN BE THE REASON THE MESSAGE DOESN’T GET THROUGH.
We said there are at least three elements to an act of communication: the sender, the receiver, and the message. But there is also the medium by which the message is conveyed. In this case, the medium is us.
The medium is the message. That’s disturbing when we are the medium by which the message is communicated. Have you ever said something that you really did not intend to say? Even advertisers’ “goof” at times.
Here’s a few examples.
• For sale: antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.
• Earring special: have your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home!
• Illiterate? Write today for free help.
• We never tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.
• Stop in and visit our new Superstore—unequaled in size, unmatched in variety, unrivaled in inconvenience.
*Professional mixing bowl set perfect for the serious cook with round bottom for efficient beating.
• Auto repairs, free estimates. Try us once, you’ll never go anywhere again.
Let’s communicate the gospel in clear terms.
Dick Sheppard was an extremely popular British pastor, famed for his preaching as the Dean of Canterbury. He says that when he was a student at Oxford, he was thinking of entering the ministry but nearly abandoned the whole idea. Why? Because he saw a bishop lose his temper at a game of tennis.
This one event nearly turned him against the idea of ministry as a vocation.
Well, bishops are human beings. Sometimes even bishops lose their temper. Even the best of people can’t be on their guard every moment of every day, but we all know that sometimes the message of Christ does not get through because of the person entrusted with conveying it. Remember we communicate the gospel in our behavior.
THE BEST WAY TO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL IS WITH LOVE.
As most every pastor knows, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”
In Jesus’ parable of the sower, the sower is God. That is why Jesus is not worried about the character of the Sender. In his parable, the Sender is perfect. So is the message. All the burden is upon the receiver to respond. That is us. May I say, if you are among those who have provided rocky soil to the Gospel message, if you are one of those who has let the cares of this world choke out the message that God is trying to lay on your heart, I hope you understand that ultimately the responsibility is upon you to provide “good soil.”
You are the farmer, the advertiser, the medium. Sooner or later you are going to have to answer for yourself if the Gospel is for you.
You and I are not God. Our character and our actions can affect how the message is received.
Here is what we must do. We must in all ways communicate to others our love for them. Whether it is communicating our faith to our children or to our friends or to complete strangers.
We must always sow our seed in love. They will forgive us our imperfections if they know we love them.
The story is told of a desperate husband who took his listless and lethargic wife to a counselor in hope that she would snap out of it.
After hours of counsel and encouragement to no avail, the frustrated counselor rose from his chair, grabbed the listless wife, leaned her backward, and laid a forceful kiss smack on the lips!
She snapped out of it. With pride in his apparent accomplishment, the counselor turned to the husband and said, “Now listen – she needs that at least three times a week!”
The stunned husband replied, “I don’t know, doc—I work real long hours, and I doubt that I have time to bring her in more than once a week.”
THE BEST WAY TO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL IS WITH LOVE.
I believe the best way of all to sow the seed, to communicate the Gospel. Is the way of love.
The best type of sower is the person who loves God and who loves others. The light of Christ shines through their lives. They are “good soil.” They respond to the Gospel, then they share that Gospel with others.
Like the disciples who came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. “
Share the gospel through your stories, by your actions and most of all do it with love.
In His Service,
Pastor Joe