The Text is Matthew 13:3,4
"A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them."
Prayer: Lord, let not our hearts be hard. Help us to receive your word this morning, and through Your Holy Spirit, create and strengthen faith in us all. Protect us from the evil one, who wants to take Your life-giving words away from us. Thank You for coming to us, through Your Word. Please now the speaking and hearing of Your Word, Your Word is truth, Amen.
Coloured water, and a piece of white chalk. Remember the TV ad' for a certain brand of toothpaste? The message was, 'It does get in!' The toothpaste had a deep and lasting effect, and the result was 'tough teeth.' Tough teeth are good, but tough hearts are not. There are hearts that are too tough for God's Word to get in. Like a path. At first the soil might have been fine. But over the months and years, many feet pounded it hard.
What makes a heart hard? In a word: sin.
Sin is not just doing or thinking bad things. It's an attitude of rebellion against God, a state in which we are not interested in what He thinks and says. From the very start of our lives, we are not interested in knowing him, loving him, and doing what He says. The Bible makes this clear. Psalm 14 says in verses 2 and 3: "The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one."
We sometimes think of babies as innocent, but this is not so. David declares in Psalm 51, 5 "I have been evil from the day I was born; from the time I was conceived, I have been sinful." Not a nice thought, but this is how it is - until God does something about it. He alone can soften the hard heart, and deal with our sinfulness. This is what He does, through Jesus.
Babies may not be innocent, but they do have a quality that Jesus commends. Remember when parents brought their little children to Jesus, so that he might bless them? When the grown-up disciples got cross about this, Jesus put them in their place and said, "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." (Mark 10:15)
Children are not born believing, but they are receptive. They soak up all the love and affection and attention they can get - and make a fuss when they don't think they're getting enough attention!
As we get older, we get more self-sufficient. This is good and a necessary part of maturing into adults. But it's not helpful when it comes to the kingdom of God, which has to do with how God relates to us, and how we relate to God: in short, our spiritual condition. God wants us to be open to him: Like soft soil, ready to receive the seeds that are His life-giving Words.
Our sinful condition is a hardened condition, a condition in which we are not naturally open to God. This hardened condition is compounded by the effect of other people's sin. How many homes have parents or brothers and sisters who are indifferent to God and His Word? They may not say anything against God but are really saying, "God doesn't matter. Your life is your own. You don't need to pay attention to God." Then there are those who can't stand anything Christian, and act like the birds in the parable: they snatch away anything good that comes to their child or husband or wife or friend. There are teachers like this, governments, and a lot of people in the media. Not all, but many.
The sower went out to sow. Some seed fell onto the path. This is hard, unreceptive soil. The seeds sat there for a time, but then birds came and devoured them. Jesus explained this as the word of the devil, who snatches away God's Words from people who don't understand them. We do need to understand God's Word. We can't by ourselves - "the unspiritual person does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they need to be understood spiritually." (That's 1 Corinthians 2:14).
But the Holy Spirit works faith through the preaching of the Word - "Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ" (Romans 10:17) God works faith in the hearts of those who receive his Word - this is how it happens, according to the Scriptures. We don't come to faith by working it all out for ourselves, no, it's a miracle of God's grace. He comes to us, and through his living and active Word, pierces deep into our hearts. He is able to take our hearts of stone, and give us hearts of flesh -that is, soft, receptive hearts, as He says in Ezekiel 36:26 "A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. I will put my Spirit within you..."
Friends, this is our only hope: that God changes hard, resistant hearts, into hearts that welcome His Word.
How is your heart this morning? Are you eager to hear God's Word? Are you careful to take it to heart? To take time time understand it, calling on God's Holy Spirit to help you?
You don't need brilliant academic knowledge, though that's not necessarily wrong. To receive God's life-giving words, you need God's Holy Spirit. He says, "Ask and you will receive." No need to be afraid of what could happen, as God works in us through His Word. No one loves us the way God loves us! He is patient and gentle. He goes on sowing His seed. The seed of His Word is being sown through what we call the means of grace - God's sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion, and through His Word - as we read the Bible, and hear its message in many different ways.
Ask for God's Holy Spirit, to help you receive His life-giving Words. Ask him to help you believe the Words, and understand them. Let him take away all hardness from your life, the hardness that you have developed through your own sins, and also the hardness that has come through the influence of the sins of others.
The Sower is sowing his seed. He is Jesus, our Saviour, who cares for us, and intends to do a deep and lasting work of grace in our lives. Come to your Saviour today, and open your heart to His tender mercy and love.
Amen.
The peace of God which passes all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, Amen.