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‘A sower went out to sow his seed.’
Luk_8:5
I. All life a mystery.—I call it a mysterious vital power, because all life is a mystery to us. The very thought of life lands us in mystery, in mystery which defies analysis. We know that all the life in us and around us follows certain laws, as we call them, the life of plants, the life of animals, the life of man, each following its own laws after its kind, and that is all we know about it. We can observe its action, its uniformities, its sequences, and variations, but beyond this we cannot penetrate its secret. It grows mysteriously, we know not how.
II. The new birth.—Yet again, the scientific investigator points out another suggestive fact, that the lower creature does not of its own lower nature expand into the higher, but that life is lifted up and grows by the infusion of something higher than itself. So, too, we believe that the Spirit of God touches with its mysterious power the dead souls of men; it transforms them, it uplifts them, they are born again. Such is the Christian doctrine of the new birth, or of the life-giving breath of the Spirit, or of the sowing the seed of Divine life in us.
III. This seed of new life which is to save you from the power of sin and the flesh and give you new aspirations, purer tastes, stronger purposes, need I remind you how it is sown, in what manifold and various ways? One day it falls on your heart in some word of some hymn or prayer, or in some thought or feeling which flashes through you, or some pricking of conscience for no other knows what sin or fault, or in some new resolve. Sometimes it is found that a passing word of a preacher sows it (it is in this hope I preach to you), or again it is sown in the common ways of daily life, by the reading of some book, or by the word or example of a friend, or by some casual sight or experience. The wind bloweth where it listeth—so is every one that is born of the Spirit. You never know what Divine seed it may deposit in your heart at any moment; but this you do know, that if the word of Christ be true, whenever this gift of life comes to you it is a new birth.
IV. The only true test of life in Christ is growth in Christian graces.—This brings us to a consideration of grave practical importance. It bids us be very careful to distinguish between seeds of life taking root in the heart and springing up into new activities, and mere waves of impression. The seed springs up and grows in you, the wave merely flows over you, lifting and moving you for a moment, and then leaving you as before. Thus, and it is a warning which is not unneeded in our day, a day of much emotional religion, there is all the difference in the world between a religion of moods and a religion of growth. The one is the plaything of the winds, the other is rooted in Christ.
V. Two reflections.
(a) The function and aim of the preacher.
(b) The duty of the hearer of God’s Word.
Bishop Percival.
Illustration‘The sower’s hand may be feeble, and his sowing may be awkward, or halting, or uncertain, but there is a Divine force or possibility in all seeds of truth, or purity, or right feeling, which he scatters among you, independent of his sowing, and he never knows in what soul some seed may lodge and germinate and grow up and bear fruit here and hereafter, even to the endless life. So we believe that every work of good influence will prosper, because we remember it as a part of God’s providential law, that His seed if sown grows of itself, mysteriously. And we need not wonder at the mystery, for it is the Spirit of God which is in the seed; and it is ready to swell and grow and bear new fruits as it lodges in the heart.’
‘As he sowed.’
Luk_8:5
I. Indifference.—This seed, the Word of God, is sown broadcast, as all our opportunities are given. Men may receive the grace of God in vain, and this in more ways than one. On some it produces no vital impression whatever; it lies on the surface of a mind which the feet of human interests have trodden hard. It may well be doubted whether any soul, wholly indifferent to religious truth, ever retained even its theoretic knowledge long. The foolish heart is darkened. The fowls of the air catch away the priceless seed of eternity. Observe how Jesus explained this calamity. It was not because of forgetfulness; nor the truth neglected by, or withheld from, the careless, but—Jesus said, ‘straightway cometh Satan and taketh away the Word which hath been sown in them.’
II. Shallowness.—There are other dangers to dread besides absolute indifference to truth. Next to those who neglect the Word, He places those ‘who, when they have heard the word, straightway receive it with joy.’ They have taken the promises without the precepts, they have hoped for the crown without the cross. Their type is the thin layer of earth over a shelf of rock; a hot-bed for a time; and the seed springs up, but there is no deepness of soil, its roots are scorched, and it withers away. The roots of a real Christian life must strike deeper down. A mature and settled joy is among ‘the fruits of the Spirit’; it is not the first blade that shoots up. Feelings easily quickened are also easily perverted. Tribulation or persecution are not counted upon. Trouble and opposition of wicked men are not included in the superficial view of the life Divine. They endure, but only for a while.
III. Mixed motive.—There are very earnest men who, nevertheless, are in sore danger, because (being by nature earnest) they cannot also resign this world, whatever be their concern about the next; the soil of their life would fain grow two inconsistent harvests. Like seed sown among thorns, ‘choked’ by their entangling roots, the Word is overmastered by an unworthy rivalry. There is a sort of vegetation, but the Word becometh unfruitful. It is the same lesson as when Jesus said, ‘No man can serve two masters.… Ye cannot serve God and mammon. The various evils of this parable are all of them worldliness, differently manifested.
IV. Loyalty.—Lastly, we have those on the good ground. These are not described by their sensibilities or their enjoyments, but by their loyalty. They ‘hear the word and accept it and bear fruit.’ Fruitfulness is never in the Gospel the condition by which life is earned, but it is always the test by which to prove it. In all the accounts of the final judgment, we catch the principle of the bold challenge of St. James, ‘Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.’ We are not wrong in preaching that honest faith in Christ is the only condition of acceptance, and the way to obtain strength for good works. But perhaps we fail to add, with sufficient emphasis, that good works are the only evidence of real faith, of genuine conversion; ‘They bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.’
—
Bishop G. A. Chadwick.
Illustrations(1) ‘In Mark’s version of this parable we read (Mar_4:3) that our Lord prefaced it thus, “Hearken! Behold!” “Hearken,” Jesus said, to impress on men that His simple story conveyed more than met their ears; protesting in advance against fatalistic abuses of the parable, as if we were already elected to be hard, or shallow, or thorny, or fruitful; impressing upon all that, if the vitalising seed were the imparted Word, it was our part to receive and treasure it. Indolence and shallowness must fail to bear fruit; but—it is not necessary that we should remain indolent or shallow. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Having said “Hearken,” Jesus added, “Behold!” Very possibly the scene was before their eyes, and a process was visible, if they would but see, of which the tilling of the ground (and the sowing) was only a type. A nobler seed was being scattered for a vaster harvest, and it was no common labourer, but the True Sower, Who went forth to sow. “The Sower soweth the Word.” Who? Matthew tells us “The Sower is the Son of Man”; and it is clear that none of His disciples could mistake His meaning.’
(2) ‘The introduction of Satan into the parable is uncalled for by any demand save the necessity of telling the truth. It is true, therefore, that an active and deadly enemy of souls is at work to quicken the mischief which neglect and indifference would produce; and, as seed is only safe from fowls when buried in the soil, so the Word of life is only safe when it has sunk down into our hearts.’
THE SOIL OF THE HEART
II. The rocky (Luk_8:6; Luk_8:13).—Often on stony ground there is a thin layer of earth. The seed springs up, but does not take root. The Word often fills the head without reaching the heart (Isa_58:2). Slight conviction (1Sa_15:24). Excited feelings (Act_8:13). Warm affections (Mar_10:17). Compare Jonah’s gourd (Jon_4:6-7) and the grass upon the house-tops (Psa_129:6). Such cannot bear the storm or heat (Mat_24:9-13; Joh_15:20). They have no root (Col_2:7; Eph_3:17). Ex., Herod.
III. The thorny (Luk_8:7; Luk_8:14).—Here the seed might take root, but it is prevented bringing forth fruit—it is choked. The Word may find its way to the heart, but there can be no good result if it is divided. Cares of this world (Luk_10:40-41). Deceitfulness of riches (2Pe_2:15). Pleasures of this life (Mar_6:26). All these prevent the Divine fruit appearing (Gal_5:17-23; 1Th_5:19). Ex., Demas.
IV. The good (Luk_8:8; Luk_8:15).—Here the ground has been prepared, dug up, and softened, so as to receive the seed (Pro_16:1). The Spirit digs up the ground in conviction (Jer_4:3-4; Hos_10:12). He pours upon it the rain and gentle dew (Isa_45:8; Isa_55:10). He applies the warmth and genial influence of the sun (Mal_4:2; Joh_16:14). And what is the result? Fruit an hundredfold (Gal_5:22; Php_1:11).
What an important lesson for us is here! What are we doing every Sunday? We are hearing the Word; but are we bringing forth fruit? If not, why not? (1Th_2:13.)
Bishop Rowley Hill.
Illustration‘ “He taught them by parables,” says Jeremy Taylor, “under which were hid mysterious senses, which shined through their veil like a bright sun through an eye closed with a thin eyelid.” ’