So Sow

The 365 Journey

Outline Week 40

Mark 4:14 The sower sows the word. 

God's plan for the advancement of Christianity has always been people sharing the gospel with people. As one person has rightly said, "Conversion begins with a conversation." Paul put it this way, "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! ” (Romans 10:14-15).

We hear the word "preach" and many of us recoil saying, "Well it must not be referring to me, cause I'm no preacher." But, the word used here for preach is to simply share a message, or to be a herald of some kind of news. In this case, the "good news" of the gospel. Paul's admonition is to share the good news of the gospel with those we encounter.

Here in the gospel of Mark, Jesus tells a parable of a sower sowing seed. In His explanation of the parable, He equates the sower to a believer sharing the gospel, the soil to those who hear the gospel, and the seed to the word of God.

The Lord enables and empowers us to "sow the seed" of the gospel. Thus, it is incumbent on us as His disciples to share the good news of the gospel with those we encounter, so sow.

In the text we learn several truths that will help us effectively "preach" or sow the gospel. They are:

The Disciple's Responsibility

The sower

Sometimes we shirk our responsibilities, either because we don't see them as our task or we just don't want to do them. In our text by definition, a sower is responsible to sow. It they don't do it, it will probably not get done. As believers, we are called and commissioned to communicate the gospel with not yet believers. Prior to His ascension, Jesus entrusted the task of world evangelization to His meager band of followers. He said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . . ." (Matt 28:19). This "great commission" has been passed done to us to complete the task of sharing the good news of the gospel with those in our sphere of influence. We are tasked to tell the story of Jesus to a world that desperately needs to hear it. We are to sow the seeds of the gospel in the lives of those around us, so sow.

The Disciple's Response

sows

It is easy to know what we must do, but shy away from doing it. We are sowers. That is our charge. But sharing the gospel can be difficult. We hesitate often because of our limited Biblical knowledge or we are just fearful of the response of the recipient. Sometimes we assume that somehow we must regulate the outcome of our communication. If the person doesn't respond favorably to the gospel, we feel dejected and become discouraged.

But our task is not conversion, but communication. We are responsible to sow, but not responsible for the soil. It is not our eloquent presentation, our wealth of Biblical knowledge or our power of persuasion that changes hearts. We don't, God does. As my seminary evangelism professor, Dr Roy Fish, use to say, "We are to share the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results of God." We are responsible to share, but not responsible for the results, so sow.

The Disciple's Resource

the word

With any task we have tools. Our tool for sharing the gospel is the Word of God. We are the sower charged to sow the seed, which is the Word of God. Hebrew 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." This powerful tool can penetrate the hard soil of skepticism, and doubters. It can break through the hardest of hearts to soften them to the gospel. We must utilize the Scripture in sharing the gospel so that the Spirit of God can illuminate the truth to enable change. In the story of the inquisitive Ethiopian, we are told that Phillip, ". . . opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news about Jesus." (Acts 8:35). God has given us His scripture as the seed we are to sow in the soils of those we share with, so sow.

For Further Study:

https://drbuddyyoung.wixsite.com/well-watered/post/simply-sow