Word of Salvation – Vol.11 No.40 – October 1965

 

God’s Word Does Not Return Empty

 

Sermon by Rev. J. Van Der Staal on Matthew 13:3-9,18-23

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 55; Matthew 12:22-37

Psalter Hymnal: 335; 287:1,3 (After Law); 247:8 (After Creed); 193; 339

 

Beloved Congregation,

Repeatedly we meet with the criticism of unbelievers on the Christian church and her message.  “The message as such is good enough,” somebody said to me the other day, “yet I don’t believe it, for it has no power to change the world.”

Perhaps you are inclined to ignore such a criticism, because it comes from an unbeliever.  But is it not a confusing thing indeed, that the gospel often seems to have so little power and that as good as nothing in the world seems to be altered by it?  You need not be an unbeliever to establish this fact.  Once a minister began his sermon with the question: “What is the use of all those sermons we are listening to every Sunday?”  Are there no reasons to ask this question?  The world does not change as a result of all our sermons.  And even in the church and in our family-life many things remain as they are in spite of our daily Bible reading and our regular Sunday worship.

No wonder therefore that many a preacher sometimes becomes down-hearted and thinks that his work is in vain.  No wonder that an elder can be pleased when the period of his office has expired, because he has the feeling that his labour was wasted.  No wonder that even a father or mother can be inclined to stop warning their children, for they repeated their warnings and admonitions already many times, and it seems all of no avail.

In the parable of the sower we meet with the difficulties mentioned here.

Jesus told this parable after He had withdrawn from the Jews because of their unbelief, as you can read in the previous chapter, Matthew 12.  The Jews, and in particular the leaders of the Jewish people, did not accept the message of His gospel.  They resisted Him with all available means.  They even accused Him of being in league with the devil.  “It is by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this man cast out demons.”  Because of this hostile attitude of the Jews Jesus had withdrawn from them.  In future He would continue to call them to repentance, but only the disciples, who had accepted the message of His gospel, would further be initiated in the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

To that end the Lord started teaching them through parables.  He told them about the kingdom of heaven, with the help of stories which He derived from daily life, but which had a deeper meaning.  The unbelieving Jews could not grasp this hidden meaning of the parables.  They heard and understood the story which was told, but the secrets of the kingdom of heaven which lay behind that story were concealed from them.  The disciples however did not only hear the story, but they also understood its hidden meaning, the secrets of the kingdom of heaven to which the parable referred, for the Lord explained to them everything in particular.

The first one of these parables was the parable of the sower.  Through this simple story of the seed which was sown, but which only partially came up and bore fruit, the Lord made it clear to the disciples why so many of the Jews refused to accept the message of His gospel.  All kinds of powers are working against the gospel.  They form a hindrance for the progress of God’s kingdom, and very many people remain unbelieving when the gospel of salvation is proclaimed.  Nevertheless, the disciples should not be downhearted.  The Lord comforted them through this parable.  He encouraged them by showing through the parable that the work of God goes on in spite of all counteracting powers.  The Word of God does not return empty.  A part of the seed yields fruit, sometimes thirty, sometimes sixty, and sometimes even a hundredfold.

“A sower went out to sow.”  So the parable begins, and by these first words the glory of the kingdom of heaven is shown to us right at the start.  Here we meet with the new world of God which is established through the Lord Jesus Christ.  The seed is sown.  That means: the gospel is proclaimed and God’s salvation through Christ is offered in the world.

Sowing is a liberal work.  It is the most generous work I know.  Sowing is distributing, giving away, Through the proclamation of the gospel God is distributing His salvation in the world.  Wherever the message of the gospel is preached, there God is giving away the gifts of His grace through Christ, there He is offering the treasures of the kingdom of heaven.

On the other hand we must realize that the work of the sower is only the beginning.  The sowing-season is not yet the harvest- season.  That the seed is sown with a generous hand is not at all a guarantee that also an abundant harvest will be gathered in.  All kinds of things can still happen to the seed.

So it is in nature.  So it is also in the kingdom of heaven.  By pointing out what happened to the seed Jesus made it clear that we cannot expect that the proclamation of the gospel will always bear fruit.

A part of the seed fell along the road and was devoured by the birds.  Other seeds fell on rocky ground; there they sprang up, but because the roots could not penetrate into the depth, they were scorched by the heat of the sun and withered away.  Others again fell among thorns; there they grew up at first, but very soon they were choked by the weed, and died.

In the same way it may happen to the seed of the word.  The word is preached in the world.  However, it meets there with much resistance.

Very often it becomes ineffective as a result of various counteracting factors.

The first one of these factors is the power which is exercised by the evil one in our hearts.  Jesus says in the explanation of the parable: “When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what is sown along the path.”

We must not underestimate the power of Satan in our lives.  It is said that no one attends our worship services more faithfully than he, and I am afraid that this is true indeed, When the congregation is together to worship the Lord, also the evil one is usually present to snatch away the seed that is sown our hearts.

C.S.  Lewis write in his booklet “The Screwtape Letters” (in Dutch: “Brieven uit de Hel”) about a young and still unexperienced devil, who is instructed by an older demon in the art of tempting and seducing people.  In one of those lessons his teacher gives him the advice to be present on the Sunday morning, when the members of the family are preparing themselves for the church service.  Then he must try to bring about a quarrel over some trifle.  If he succeeds in doing so, those people may freely go to church, for then the blessing which they might receive there has beforehand been taken away from them.

That way the evil one can snatch away the seed of the gospel, even before it is sown in our hearts.  He can do the same during the sermon by distracting our minds from the message that is brought to us.  As it happened to that deacon, he was a merchant in straw – who once told me after the service: “I think your sermon was good enough this morning, but I did not hear much of it, for I sold a full wagon of straw during the sermon and I earned a lot of money.”

In particular we must be on our guard for the evil one after the worship service.  We can talk together very sociably on the church footpath after the service.  We also can have a very nice Sunday evening talk in our homes, and I do not say that this is wrong.  But be on your guard, my brother and sister, for the evil one can use opportunities in particular to take away the seed of the gospel which was sown in our hearts.  Then the word will lose its power, and it will bear no fruit in your life.

Another factor by which the seed of the gospel can be prevented from yielding fruit is the inaccessibility and the hardness of our hearts.  Here you must think of the seed that fell on the rocky ground.  Jesus says: “This is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has not root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation and persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.”

In our country nobody needs to suffer hardships and persecution for the sake of the gospel.  We are living in a free country, and we enjoy complete freedom of religion.  Nevertheless, even in this country many of us have to move among people who are opposed to the gospel; they have to live and to work in an environment of unbelievers.  How do you act, when you are bound to live in such circumstances?

Well, I imagine that you were here in the church, one Sunday, and that you enjoyed the sermon very much.  You were struck by it indeed.  Perhaps you were even moved to tears.  “What a sermon I heard tonight, you told your wife when you came home after the service.  It is a wonderful thing indeed, when it happens that way.  But what about your heart, my brother?  For the great thing is not whether you were struck by the sermon and perhaps moved by it to tears.  But the great thing is whether your heart has been changed by the power of the word; whether you have got a new heart from the Lord.  If this did not happen, then you are in great danger of losing again the view of Christ which was opened up for you in the church.  How will you be able to keep the blessing through the word, if your emotion was only a matter of sentiment and if the word did not enter into your heart?  Then, I am afraid, it will happen to you what the Lord told us in the parable: you will immediately fall away when you come back in that unbelieving environment, where you have to do your work.  Perhaps you will not join your mates there in cursing and swearing and talking foul language, although I hear now and then that some members of the church are doing that indeed!  What a shame for the church, and what a shame for Jesus Christ, the Lord of the church and of us all!  But even when you are not doing that, you will not be able to keep the blessing through the word in that environment.  You will not be able to be a witness of Christ and to live a new and holy life, when your life has not been founded upon Him and when your heart has not been changed.  Then the seed has fallen with you on the rocky ground, and the word will remain ineffective because of the inaccessibility and the hardness of your heart.

Jesus points in the parable to yet another factor by which the effect of the word can be hindered: the many worries of our daily life, the delight in riches and the temptation of the world.  That is the seed among thorns.  The Lord says: “It is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful.”

Time and again we are warned in Scripture not to love the world or the things of the world.  Nevertheless, how often do we love the world, how often do we give our hearts to the things of the world!  We are living in the middle of it, and very often we are wholly taken up by our material interests.  “How can I succeed in life?  How can I make progress?  How can I increase my income?  How can I meet my obligations?” – How many problems we often have, how many worries and cares in connection with our material existence!  But be on your guard; for you may be wrapped up so much by these material interests, that the spiritual interests fall entirely into the background.  You may be occupied with them so much that the seed of the word is choked by it and that no spiritual fruit is found with you.  That is the seed that falls among thorns and is choked and bears no fruit.

So it was told by Jesus in the parable, for so it happens in the kingdom of heaven.  The seed is sown; the word is preached; the message of the gospel is proclaimed and the gifts of God’s grace are offered in the world.  However, a part of the seed is lost, because it falls along the path, or on the rocky ground, or among thorns.  The fruit of the preaching often fails, because there are those counteracting factors: the power of Satan, the inaccessibility of our hearts, the many worries of our daily life and the worldly disposition of our hearts.

When we think of all these factors which work against the word, it becomes clear why so many things in the world remain as they are in spite of the preaching of the gospel, and why even in the church and with her members so many sins continue to exist.

And yet, you must not be downhearted.  Do not think that your labours in God’s kingdom are in vain, for that is out of the question.  The seed is sown by the sower, and in the end of the parable it is pointed out by Jesus that a part of it fell on good soil, and that part brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.

God has given us His promise that His word shall not return to Him empty, but shall accomplish that which He purposes and prosper in the things for which He sent it.  So it is said by Isaiah, and in the New Testament we read that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith.  The word of God is so powerful that all resistance can be broken by it: the resistance of Satan, who is always tempting us and who wants us to be disobedient to God’s word; the resistance of our hard, unrepentant hearts where the word cannot enter so often, so that it remains ineffective; also the resistance through the temptation of the world and our worldly disposition by which the seed of the word is choked, so that it remains unfruitful.  All these factors which work against the word can be broken by the power of the word.

When the proclamation of the word is blessed by the Holy Spirit, then no power in the world is able to overcome it.  Then the word will be heard and accepted and believed, and it will bear fruit in true faith and true repentance.

These fruits are not equal with all believers.  All Christians are not equally strong in their faith or equally abundant in their good works.  Therefore it is said in the parable that the seed yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty and in another thirty.  But how much fruit there may be, even when the seed yields only a thirtyfold, it is manifest that the work of the sower has not been in vain.  The seed which was lost is amply compensated for by the fruits which are reaped.

Therefore the disciples of the Lord can be comforted.  They should not be downhearted because of the unbelief of the Pharisees and because Jesus’ work bears so little fruit.  Neither should we be disheartened when we do not see the fruits of our labours in God’s kingdom.  No minister, no elder, no parent should lose his courage when his work sometimes seems to fail.  Jesus says: Be of good courage and continue sowing, for God Himself will see to it that the seed will bear fruit.  The work done for God and His kingdom is never done in vain.  Do not look exclusively at the seed which is lost, but trust in God and in His promises, and believe that His work goes on, that His kingdom comes indeed.  At the harvest time the seed which was sown in the good soil will yield its fruit, in one case a hundredfold, and in another sixty, and in another thirty.

Amen.