LISTEN

This sermon was preached by Tim Simmonds at the Fallowfield site of Christ Church Manchester on Sunday 22nd September 2019.

SERIES

This message was part of the ‘Who needs Jesus?’ series, preached at Christ Church Manchester’s church in Fallowfield in autumn 2019. The full series included the following sermons:

BIBLE VERSES

This sermon was based on Mark 4:1-20.

The Parable of the Sower

1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that

13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

KEY POINTS

Generous Jesus

• The Sower – Jesus – liberally scatters seed. Not a targeted strategy, a generous stragtegy.
• He scatters with hope – it’s not a foolish action it’s a Kingdom action. We are not to be synical – looking back on past failures – but hopeful for future success.
• We are to be generous scatterers of hope – to chuck the Kingdom around liberally.

Powerful Seed

• This parable is not about the soil (eg what kind of soil are you?). It’s not about what we make of ourselves or how prepared we are to receive Jesus. Soil without the seed is just a patch of dirt!
• The seed is The Word, The Gospel, Jesus!
• The seed is powerful, words are powerful, Jesus is powerful. These things grow in us.

Kingdom Contested

• Jesus is hugely generous – his word is immensely powerful – his Kingdom is advancing.  And yet, there is immense difficulty in the world.
• The seed falls on different types of soil. Sometimes where the evil in the world snatches it quickly away, sometimes where things get rocky and it doesnt root in deep,  sometimes where other things come in and crowd it out.
• Sometimes the word falls on ground ready to receive it. People hear it and accept it. Powerful seed works in us to change us.
• Powerful seed comes from a generous Jesus, its roots get to every part of life – into deep soil.
• As followers of Jesus we get to work with Jesus – when we work with him we see Kingdom fruit.

MORE SERMONS

To see more sermons from Christ Church Manchester, you can visit our sermons page, or why not consider subscribing on iTunes.