July 13, 2008

How to Grow a Strong Faith

by Rev. Dr. Jim Carlson

Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

Opening Illustration

What is it that keeps people from grasping onto message of Jesus in world where it’s hard to make sense?

Matthew’s community struggling with people who didn’t accept their message.

They must have expected people to be more open – Jesus had come back from the dead.

Dealt with this question using parables of Jesus.

Story – Jesus by the seashore teaching – misunderstand.

Farmer sows seed – not in rows. Slide.

Disciples – why not be clear with people?

Jesus – disciples are open to my message. God will help them understand. Isaiah.

Explanation – Slide.

Two things we can observe about Matthew’s viewpoint:

He didn’t think very many people would ever accept Jesus’ message. Most seed doesn’t grow.

Life application: What do we learn about the Christian life?

First – To understand what Jesus is all about, you have to believe in him.

Skeptics are welcome. We’re welcome to question and test and analyze. Unless you accept Jesus as being sent by God – acting as God on earth – you’ll have a hard time understanding.

People look at inconsistencies or parts of the Bible that make us uncomfortable. Confused by details – decide Christian faith isn’t worth it.

In order to grow faith, it has to take root in you.

It isn’t a feeling you have while you’re listening to preaching or hearing Christian music.

Christian faith involves a life choice to accept God as the creator, Jesus as God’s revelation to humanity, and to live in a loving relationship with God, other people, and all of creation.

Your faith cannot grow if it is only one component of a very harried existence.

It’s not something to do once you have the career you want and the house you want and the family you dreamed of.

Taking the kids to church is not like taking them to karate lessons or boys and girls club or soccer practice. Faith is what gives all of the rest of those parts of our lives their meaning.

Finally – We all find ourselves in one of the categories at some point in our lives or another.

It’s impossible to be the good soil all the time.

We need to recognize when we’re not being open to what God’s doing and ask for help to be fertile soil again.

Final Illustration: Prof. Dr. Dr. David Zersen, President Emeritus - Concordia University at Austin. Good soil. This past week I visited an old artist friend dying of cancer. The hospice nurse said he had 3-5 days to live. I went to remind him of all the things he had taught me in life as an artist. Once I viewed one of his works and I said, “tell me what that means.” He said, “If I tell you, that’s all you will ever see there.”

I never forgot this truth and have employed it in zillions of ways over the years. What struck me as a tight-fisted approach on his part, at first, actually became an extravagant gesture of grace, because it has encouraged a “good soil” part of me to look creatively at art, literature, music, people, ideas, etc., in open and receptive ways. There is now a part of me that regularly asks what may be seeking me there, calling me to understand, to respond. Good soil is that part of us that seeks to let God do his thing with us—affirm us and stimulate us to produce the kind of caring and generous spirits which only a prodigiously extravagant God, a God almost wasteful with his grace, can produce.

Conclusion: All we can do is try to be good soil. Sometimes we’ll be rocky, sometimes we’ll be shallow, and sometimes we’ll be full of thorns.

This parable reminds us to reflect on our lives, to ask how fertile we are for God’s kingdom, to ask how we’re producing. God’s produce is goodness, righteousness, kindness, fairness, love and respect.

God has planted the seed in each one of us. It’s our job to take it and allow our faith to grow. Consider what that means for your life as we pray.