Mapperley Monday Mail, 16th December 2013

Loving God | Loving Each Other | Loving our Community

I'm still buzzing after the excitement of last night. It was great to see so many folk there, and the whole evening seemed to go really well! I've just been looking in the books, and that was the largest attendance at a Carol Service for 5 years, which is a real encouragement. Well done to everyone involved, to those who put so much hard work into preparing and doing the service, and to those who invited family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, hairdressers, etc – even if they didn't come!

Here are a few thoughts on that based loosely on a sermon I preached a few weeks ago at the 11am service, on Mark 4:1-20 – the often-misunderstood Parable of the Sower.

Jesus has started his ministry preaching and teaching people about the Kingdom of God, and quite a lot of folk are following him, but lots aren't. Some people have started plotting to kill him, others are ignoring him, and at the end of chapter 3 his family turn up and try to get him out of the house where he's preaching – presumably because they want him to stop. That sort of response creates doubts – what is Jesus doing? Why isn't he being more successful if he really is the Messiah?

So Jesus tells a story – a story about a man sowing seed. He explains that the seed is the Word of God, so that means that he [Jesus] is the sower.

There are two big surprises in the story. One is that the sower doesn't seem to be very sensible in the way he sows. He just chucks the seed all over the place. Some of it falls on the path – it's not going to do very well there because the birds will just eat it – and some of it falls among brambles where it doesn't stand a chance. Some of it falls on stony ground where it tries to grow, but can't take root, and other bits fall on good soil.

It's the same when Jesus preaches. He tells everyone about the Kingdom of God. Some people just ignore him – the devil just snatches the Word away. Some people seem interested but it just doesn't take root. Others start well, but then get too busy with other stuff and get distracted. But in a few, the seed takes root, and grows, and produces fruit.

It's the same with talking to folk about Jesus. Some people ignore us, some seem interested but never get anywhere. Some get distracted by all the stuff around us. That's perfectly normal – it happened to Jesus. That's what happens when you do it right, but Jesus keeps on sowing anyway.

Why? Because the second surprise is the harvest from the good soil. In Jesus' day, a careful farmer could get about 10x the crop that was sown, but Jesus' reckless farmer gets far more back from the good soil – he gets 30, 60, or even 100x what was sown – even today with machines and fertilizer and everything, the world record is only about 100x! Jesus' crazy method – of telling everyone and knowing we'll get rejected and ignored and some people won't stick – is far more effective than any amount of clever selling techniques.

So be encouraged at the signs of fruit we saw last night! Don't be discouraged where people said "no" or backed out or came along but didn't seem touched by God. Keep on going – keep on sowing, keep on sharing Jesus with those around us and keep on praying for God to bring the fruit by his Holy Spirit!

God bless,

John