Sermon Trinity 4
Dear Lord, grant us patience for today to navigate any challenges we encounter as your Church. With You by our side, nothing is impossible. We pray for Your Holy Spirit to fill us with grace and patience, so we may end the day with our heads held high. We entrust all to You, Lord. Amen.
(https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/prayer/10-prayers-for-patience.html#google_vignette)
In today’s gospel reading we encounter two parables on the subject of the seed being put together.
If you still recall, last year I preached on the parable of the Mustard Seed and this year I am focusing on the first parable of the; Growing Seed.
The picture we get in this parable is of a farmer who has sown the seed and then does nothing to it until harvest time. In our contemporary world, that will be a bad example of what is expected in farming. Instead, he sleeps and wakes up night and day as if nothing has happened, and he does not bother about the seed which he has sown on the ground. If you analyze Jesus’ parables with contemporary lens you will miss the point. Jesus did not explain this parable, as He did in some others. Instead, He left it to us to understand its meaning. If I were to choose Sunday readings for myself, I would rather match today’s gospel with 1 Corinthians 3:6 because the truth of this parable is well illustrated in the growth of the early church: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” The fact that the crop grows without the farmer’s intervention means that God can accomplish His purposes even when we are absent or unaware of what He is doing. However, in this parable Jesus is not promoting quietism. In fact, this is the myth that this parable eventually dispels. We have a part to play in the Kingdom of God hence after doing our part we live everything to God. Just like a farmer cannot force or influence the crop to grow, the preacher cannot force his or her spiritual life or growth on others. The context of the Palestinian environment is key in unpacking this parable. Importantly is the fact that the growing season in Palestine is short. There is little field work such as crop management and cultivating to be done. Most crops were ready in less than four months. I have witnessed this in high temperature areas in Zimbabwe where crops like maize mature before three months.
By leaving the crops alone, the farmer is not neglecting his crops; but his attention is on another work because he has already done the needful for his crops, sown the seed, and there is nothing more that can be done because the earth brings forth of itself. 
Whatever happens to the crops under the soil for the next seven days is a mystery hidden in the laws of nature. If he seeks to find out if the seed is sprouting; or if he seeks to find out if the plant could grow faster; he would kill the plant He must leave it alone for the desired harvest to be achieved.
The great challenge for us is maintaining trust and patience in the work of God. As the subject of Church growth dominates our theological or mission discourses, we need to understand that we are unable to control this work of God. 
Church growth or mission are God’s work not human achievement. We alone do not generate the harvest. It is our responsibility to open ourselves to the gospel and allow it to be planted in our lives. 
That process is greater than ourselves. What is asked of us is to be receptive to God’s word and like our Lord Jesus, wait patiently. As the church, we are sometimes preoccupied with methods of approaching people in order to bring them into the Kingdom of God. Sometimes a method is discarded because the results are not imminent. Are ready to sow the seed? There are many ways of sowing the seed in God’s church
Reading Lessons and Leading Prayers
In conclusion, the parable teaches us that the way God uses His Word in the heart of an individual is mysterious and completely independent of human effort. Therefore, let us be faithful in sowing the seed, praying for a harvest, and leaving the results to God. Amen.
The picture we get in this parable is of a farmer who has sown the seed and then does nothing to it until harvest time. In our contemporary world, that will be a bad example of what is expected in farming. Instead, he sleeps and wakes up night and day as if nothing has happened, and he does not bother about the seed which he has sown on the ground. If you analyze Jesus’ parables with contemporary lens you will miss the point. Jesus did not explain this parable, as He did in some others. Instead, He left it to us to understand its meaning. If I were to choose Sunday readings for myself, I would rather match today’s gospel with 1 Corinthians 3:6 because the truth of this parable is well illustrated in the growth of the early church: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” The fact that the crop grows without the farmer’s intervention means that God can accomplish His purposes even when we are absent or unaware of what He is doing. However, in this parable Jesus is not promoting quietism. In fact, this is the myth that this parable eventually dispels. We have a part to play in the Kingdom of God hence after doing our part we live everything to God. Just like a farmer cannot force or influence the crop to grow, the preacher cannot force his or her spiritual life or growth on others. The context of the Palestinian environment is key in unpacking this parable. Importantly is the fact that the growing season in Palestine is short. There is little field work such as crop management and cultivating to be done. Most crops were ready in less than four months. I have witnessed this in high temperature areas in Zimbabwe where crops like maize mature before three months.
By leaving the crops alone, the farmer is not neglecting his crops; but his attention is on another work because he has already done the needful for his crops, sown the seed, and there is nothing more that can be done because the earth brings forth of itself.
Whatever happens to the crops under the soil for the next seven days is a mystery hidden in the laws of nature. If he seeks to find out if the seed is sprouting; or if he seeks to find out if the plant could grow faster; he would kill the plant He must leave it alone for the desired harvest to be achieved.
The great challenge for us is maintaining trust and patience in the work of God. As the subject of Church growth dominates our theological or mission discourses, we need to understand that we are unable to control this work of God.
Church growth or mission are God’s work not human achievement. We alone do not generate the harvest. It is our responsibility to open ourselves to the gospel and allow it to be planted in our lives.
That process is greater than ourselves. What is asked of us is to be receptive to God’s word and like our Lord Jesus, wait patiently. As the church, we are sometimes preoccupied with methods of approaching people in order to bring them into the Kingdom of God. Sometimes a method is discarded because the results are not imminent. Are ready to sow the seed? There are many ways of sowing the seed in God’s church
Reading Lessons and Leading Prayers
In conclusion, the parable teaches us that the way God uses His Word in the heart of an individual is mysterious and completely independent of human effort. Therefore, let us be faithful in sowing the seed, praying for a harvest, and leaving the results to God. Amen.
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