Time and space to Grow
Robyn Black • November 8, 2020
Mark 4:1-8, 13-20
What a week it’s been in politics world-wide. I realised for the first time there are things I have taken for granted in Australia – like, when I vote I do trust that it will be counted and that there won’t be any fraudulent votes counted. I’ve never felt stressed about the vote counting process, and I know people who have been involved and vouch that we have a system that has integrity. But there are many things that have caused stress around the world in the last couple of weeks. A new wave of COVID 19 across Europe, new lock downs, unrest between France and the Muslim world that has spilled into other countries.
But if you’ve lived on the earth for any length of time, you’ll have worked out that there’s never really a time with no stress. Some years may be better than others personally, but eventually there will be something…family or relationship problems, issues at work or with your neighbours, ill health, financial strain, decisions about moving.
And as I listened to Mark 4 in the car, I realised it says something about the effect of stress on us. Here’s the scripture reading in Mark chapter 4 (The Message)
1-2 He (Jesus) went back to teaching by the sea. A crowd built up to such a great size that he had to get into an offshore boat, using the boat as a pulpit as the people pushed to the water’s edge. He taught by using stories, many stories.
3-8 “Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. Some fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams.
13 He continued, “Do you see how this story works? All my stories work this way.
14-15 “The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them. 16-17 “And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it. 18-19 “The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it. 20 “But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.”
I reckon if you’ve been a Christian for a while, you’d usually listen to this parable and read it kind of secretly thinking ‘yeh yeh, I’m the 4th soil, I’ve been hanging in there a long time with God and haven’t drifted off. I’m good soil!’
But as I listened, I was particularly struck by the third type of soil. Now I’m getting ahead of myself. Jesus says that the seed in this story is the Word of God. We can have a direct and supernatural revelation of the Word of God, but mostly we hear the Word of God, through the Bible.
And the first type of soil is the person is the one whose heart is dry and hard – they are uninterested in, and don’t want to hear, the Word of God. So it’s like when seed lands on a path that’s been packed down hard. It lays on top of the path and the birds eat it up. Jesus says when you have a hard heart it’s like you’re unable to hear the word of God and Satan snatches away the message of life and hope that is there. This person is not receptive or open at all to God.
The second type of soil is about shallow, rocky soil…you like to keep the Word of God on the surface. Yes, you’re open to God but you don’t really want to chew over the Word of God and let it sink deep down into your life. And so when the sun shines beastly hot, that is, life gets difficult, the Word of God dries up and is powerless to grow and change you.
But here we are back at the third type of soil, those who hear the Word of God “but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.”
I replayed that last sentence a few times when I was listening in the car “The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it”. I thought, hello, I could be soil number 3 sometimes. Are there times for you and I where the stress or worry is so overwhelming, we respond just like anyone without faith? We’re open to God and we hear and take on board the Word of God, but in equal measure we allow stress and anxiety to crowd our hearts and minds.
And the outcome is that nothing comes of the Word of God. Maybe we forget the promises of God, not completely trusting that God is good and he loves us? Maybe forgetting that this is not our permanent home here, and Jesus said there would be difficulties? Are there times that we’ve crowded our life so much, there’s just no room for the Word of God? This soil is crowded, there’s a LOT happening, but ultimately much of that grows into weeds that strangle the life out of the Word of God. We can fill our lives with more and more, but does what we’re doing, and dwelling on, lead us into a deeper, more trusting relationship with God?
To be honest, there have been times when I have let the deep concerns of life crowd out the Word of God. Sometimes, I’ve stopped reading it, sometimes even though I say I still trust God, I’m busy trying to work out my own solutions and plans. “But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.” This is what I want, and this is what I want for you. That you would embrace the Word of God, giving it time and space to grow. And I pray that it will change you and the world around you, bringing an outcome beyond your wildest dreams. God bless you as you open yourself to God’s Word this week.
Sermons For The Moment
New Year - Matthew 2:13-23
Do not be afraid - Matthew 1:18-21
Luke 2: 4- 15
Luke 1: 26-33
This is a subtitle for your new post
Ruth Chapter 4
Ruth 3
Ruth 2
Commitment from Love, Ruth 1: 1-18
This is an interesting Psalm – another psalm of ascent. We spoke about these Psalms of Ascent a few weeks ago. They were songs the Jewish people sang as they made their way to Jerusalem to go to the temple, through the forest, along the tracks, camping by the roads. And I believe songs like this kept them focussed and kept their spirits up. I can imagine days of walking together, tiring, boring, hot and dusty. And singing some of these Psalms keep them focussed on the faithfulness of God. Much better then eye spy for the kids. Journeys are not all their cracked up to be even if the destination is worth it. As you know, when I was growing up we always holidayed at Bawley Point past Ulladulla, and in those days it was about a 4 hour drive from Sydney. We always left later than we meant to…and the last 20 mins was on a dirt road. One year when I was probably about 4 years old it was dark by the time we got to the dirt road, and half way along the dirt road, was a dodgy wooden bridge over a river. I think part of the bridge had been damaged and we had to wait a bit in the pitch black darkness before we could proceed. Dad was out with a torch ensuring the bridge was safe to drive on and mum and us 4 kids were sitting in the darkness – no street lights, no moonlight. Of course, you might be able to guess what I said to mum in that car, with fearful crying…you’ve probably heard it from kids before. I said ‘I want to go home’. Mum said to me, ‘we can’t go home Robyn, we’re almost there’. In truth, after the bridge we had the last 10 minutes of a 4 hours journey left. We safely crossed the bridge and we were OK. But I remember it. I remember the feeling of being scarred in the darkness. I remember not liking this journey at all. Even though I always loved the destination. Well this psalm celebrates the end of the journey and the arrival at the destination. Psalm 126:1-3, “When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream! We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.” Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!” Before we can understand the laughter and joy of the Israelites, we have to understand their journey. This Psalm looks back to when they arrived back in Jerusalem after 70 long years in Babylon. The captives had experienced great sorrow and mourning in exile. We read these heartbreaking words in Psalm 137: “Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!” But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land?” (Psalm 137:1-4). Their tormentors demanded they sing joyfully, but they were like – that’s impossible, it doesn’t come from our heart. So they just sat by the waters of Babylon and wept. But now by an amazing work of God they were suddenly back in Jerusalem. And so their joy came from their heart. The wait was over, the journey was complete. “We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy.” The journey is the hard bit though isn’t it? I was reminded of this, this week. An Officer couple I was speaking to, said that their teenager said some very hurtful things to them. Stuff like, ‘you make my life worse’. As they spoke to me, I did very little but listen and pray with them. They do have other supports in their life as well, already seeing a psychologist. But what I was thinking in my head as they were speaking was ‘oh the teenage years, I’d forgotten them’. Though we have 2 wonderful young adults in P and K, they were times when it was more than tense. K wears her heart on her sleeve, and to this day apologises for some of the things she said to me. And P, you wouldn’t know what he was thinking, and then all of a sudden all his thoughts and feelings for the last 3 years would come out like molten lava everywhere. A few days later I checked in to see how the couple and their teenager were going. I mentioned in passing about teenage years and very briefly about our experiences. I didn’t want to make it all about me. But I said teenage years can be painful and those years can really hurt everyone in the family. Teenager included. They know that we have a good relationship with P and K and they said to me, you know, this is helpful. It gives us hope. I was like, yep, this too shall pass. Because when you’re in the midst of the journey of pain and sorrow, you sometimes wonder if there’s light at the end of the tunnel. If you’ll laugh again or experience joy again. You begin to wonder, “Is this all that God has for me? Will I ever be happy again?” And here’s the promise in Psalm 126:4-6, “Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.” When you are going through a time of deep sorrow, Psalm 126 is strong medicine for your soul. It carries a powerful message of hope. It tells you that times of trouble and sorrow do not last. It tells you that God will turn your sorrow to joy and your tears to laughter. If you are going through a challenging time right now, I pray that this psalm will speak to your heart this morning. Let me tell you right up front, whatever you’re going through, it will get better. God will change your tears to joy. This week I found something I wrote about 10 years ago. I had written it on a piece of paper and there was a whole reflection about my life. At the time we had my mum living with us, she had dementia, and mostly I remember the good times and the fun times with her. I was also the Corps Officer at Glebe and Bob was the manager at William Booth House. After a page of writing I had written something like this “I’m often anxious, I’m usually stressed, I have eczema on my eyelids and ulcers in my mouth. I always feel pressed.” I went out to Bob in the lounge room and I’m like, ‘oh my goodness, eczema on my eyelids and ulcers in my mouth’, often anxious, usually stressed. The thing is, my life feels a long way from that now, and I’d forgotten what that part of my journey felt like. I’m sure when I was there I couldn’t look ahead and see a time of joy…but the truth is that “Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.” This too shall pass. ‘Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!’ says verse 3. God is faithful – he does the healing, the restoring, he brings the streams in the desert that renews and brings fruitfulness. I don’t need to tell you – it takes time. Today, I’m praying for a work of healing in your life, a gradual restoration of joy, of laughter. Like me as a kid, sometimes we don’t like parts of this journey at all. Even though we know our destination is good. And ultimately, we have a destination like no other and that’s the promise of God. A home in heaven made possible through Jesus. May God bless you this week as you look to Him, listen to Him, find your hope in Him and find courage and healing in your journey.