Sermon for February 26th (Farmer Sunday)

Jesus used a parable about planting seeds and crop yields to explain what happens to people when they hear the message that salvation comes through Jesus Christ.  If you are not a farmer yourself, you no doubt know a few around here.  What if we took our faith lives as Christians as seriously as farmers take their jobs?  The farmers that I know take a lot of pride in “feeding the world”.  For a Christian, the message of salvation gives life to the world as well—for eternal life.  How might we strive for excellence not just in the cornfield, but in the mission field?

Jesus starts His parable by showing us what we can and cannot control.  There will be some to whom this message comes that do not understand it.  Some people will hear God’s call and not respond at all.  We plant the seed, but only God can give it growth.  We have no power to change this.  This is hard to accept but it’s still the truth.  As true as the fact that, some years, you can do everything right when you are planting and then water floods your field for the rest of the summer.  I don’t know why it happens, but we know that it does happen.  It’s out of our control.

                But sometimes, the seeds do grow.  In an article on Deltafarmpress.com about growing corn a man named John McGillicuddy, said this, “When you lose yield, it will be either in the early development stage when yield is being established or the late development stage when yield is being preserved.”   That’s true for believers as well according to Jesus.  The fruits of faith can easily be hurt in the earliest days of belief.    

                I once asked a professor whether I should go to a nearby mall and tell people about Jesus Christ.  He told me that this would be fine, but that if I wasn’t willing to follow up with them and mentor their faith, I would be setting them up for failure.  Jesus explains that those who are youngest in their faith are the most exciting to watch, but they are also the most vulnerable.  Seeing the faith of a young child or an adult who has just begun to walk with Christ is a joyful experience; but they can easily lose that faith.  Sometimes we can’t do much to affect the harvest, with corn or with faith, but sometimes, we can do a whole lot.  If young believers are supported and persevere in their belief, their faith roots will go deeper, if not, they can easily fall away.  How might you nourish the growth of those new to the faith?

Back to the McGillicuddy article, “Whenever a corn plant goes on the defensive, it starts dumping yield. It could be a nutrition problem, it could be because plants are too crowded — there are many, many reasons. What we’re looking for is the thief that stole our last 20 bushels of yield.”  The question we must ask as Christians is: how is the Devil seeking to destroy lives and diminish God’s crop?  What can we do about that?   

Jesus explains that all believers are tempted to lose faith, not just the young ones.  The highs and lows of life can steal our faith.  We can become focused only on our worries and anxieties or only on the pleasures in life—both can be dangerous.

Farmers are notorious for complaining about it needing to rain and then complaining that it is raining too much and it needs to be dryer.  Why?  Because they know that too much of one or the other is just as bad as none of one or the other.  There has to be a balance.  The same is true about our lives.  If all we experience is happiness, we are just as tempted to fall away from God as when life is full of simply sadness.  We either think that we don’t need a God or we think that God has abandoned us.  This is why a faith community is so important to spiritual growth.  Good Christian friends can help you deal with the storms in life as well as help you gain some perspective when everything is coming up roses.

Finally, at the end of the parable, Jesus said that there are people who hear the word and understand it.  They produce good fruit.  They yield a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 

                In 1933, the average number of  bushels per acre for corn was 33 bushels per acre.  Iowa’s average in 2010 was 183.  Contest winners get up in the 300’s! 

How have Christians changed since 1933?  Are we bearing more fruit as well?  Back then, we expected Christian couples to do everything they could to stay together—now, divorce is as acceptable for Christians as for non-Christians.  We used to drive by horse and sleigh through snowstorms to get to church an hour away; now, we won’t drive 15 minutes in a warm car.  A generation ago, nobody went into the fields on Sunday mornings—it just wasn’t done.  Now, farmers feel badly  if they go to church during harvest. 

Farmers work tirelessly to improve their operations so that they can feed a growing world.  As a Christian, are you prepared to do whatever it takes to bear good fruit for the kingdom of God or will you settle for low yields year after year?  Are you happy with how your faith is yielding fruit in your life?  If not, why not?  The world is starving for Jesus Christ and they are hungry for His message of salvation.  Ask God, the Lord of the harvest, to help you produce the good fruit he created you to yield.  We plant the seeds, and nourish the faith, but only God can give the growth.  Amen.