In each season of a child’s life there are certain and unique dangers. So in each season of a disciple’s and church’s life there are present dangers to our growth in Christ. This growth comes about as we both continually proclaim the good news of the kingdom and receive the good news into our hearts. We are responsible for both and outgrow neither.
In the parable of the sower there are four dangers I see to be aware of (Luke 8:4-8, 11-15).
A FIRST DANGER: An enemy
In verse 12 Jesus points out a first danger. There’s an enemy who comes to devour the seed. Peter, who heard this parable, would later write, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Notice Peter says “seeking to devour“ not “devouring”. The lion doesn’t always get his prey.
Our enemy, the devil, comes specifically to lie, steal, kill and destroy. How might he do this? The devil will come and try to (a) lie to you about the goodness of God (b) steal the truth from you either through error or exaggeration (c) kill your faith by getting you isolated (d) destroy you by hardening your heart against others and against God through anger, bitterness and unforgiveness.
As we grow in Christ, we know tests, trials and temptations will come. But when does the enemy come? At pivotal moments. Are you in a pivotal moment right now? A successful moment? A disappointing one? Stressed? Angry? Hurt? Suffering? Exhausted? The enemy is an opportunist. He is timely. He comes at pivotal moments in our life.
I see the opportune time being our current growth and unity. We must be aware what the enemy may be seeking to do at a time like this. The solution is to (a) resist him, firm in our faith. Engage the mind, exercise the heart. The strength of Christ outlasts the strength of the enemy; the authority of Christ outranks the authority of the enemy. (b) We should not and we cannot stand alone: “your brotherhood throughout the world” face the same. We need one another to persevere.
A SECOND DANGER: No roots
A second danger is no permanence, having no roots, in time of testing (verse 13). The testing pulls you up or blows you away. In short the solution is to put down roots. There needs to be a permanence in your life which only comes from putting down deep roots in God. How do we do this?
We put down roots by digging into our past: the enduring Word of God, our church history, unity across generations, confession and forgiveness amongst one another. We must send down roots beyond the immediate. Beyond being in the moment. Beyond today.
In actuality the danger is not tests, but no roots. Tests are to our faith what coal or wood is to a fire. The coal/wood is no hindrance to a burning fire. So tests are no hindrance to a burning faith in Jesus. They are fuel.
Yet, we need to be fanning into flame our faith by staying rooted in the Word, in fellowship, in the Spirit. We need to be watering the seeds to stimulate and cultivate growth. This past Summer we started a family garden. In the beginning, watering meant soaking the soil, not just wetting the surface. It took digging below the surface to see how deep the water had penetrated the soil. To know if the water had reached the seed.
In the parable Jesus points out there was “no moisture” (Verse 6). You need the water and life of the Spirit every single day to grow and stay rooted in God. Keep pace with the Spirit as He leads you to put down deep roots.
A THIRD DANGER: Busyness
A third danger to our growth in Christ is busyness, the crowding out of what’s needed (vs. 14). The solution is refuse to crowd out what’s of first importance for your life and in your life not with bad things but with good things. Paul was incredibly busy and everywhere he went he taught and preached on many things. Yet, he never failed to emphasize and preach ONE THING everywhere and everywhen: Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:3-5; Gal 1:16).
The danger is not being busy. The danger is our busyness, the slow (not fast!) drifting away from what matters most in life. Don’t choke on the cares and busyness and pleasures of this life. But since it can be hard to perceive when we are, how do I know if I am? I’m living from one day to the next, i.e. you very often feel like you don’t have time to spend with Jesus.
Jesus said a lot of things were good but only one thing is necessary: intimacy, communion, with Him. Somewhere I read that parents will spend roughly 75% of time with their children by age 12. 90% by age 18. As a parent, do we want to spend all our time driving them round? Does our busyness choke off actual time spent with our children in relationship?
There was a season as pastor that I used to come in Sunday’s at 8am, grab a coffee and pray over my sermon and our services. Now, and I can’t tell when precisely it happened, I find myself doing “good things”. Taking care of this or that detail. Good things but unrelated to the “one thing” I know I need to be doing first.
Intimacy fuels activity, activity doesn’t always fuel intimacy. We cannot afford to crowd out intimacy and communion with Jesus with activity for Jesus. We can build a big church without the Spirit, but not a BIG people. You can build a good life without Jesus, but not an abundant and full one. Either intimacy with Jesus will weed out your busyness or your busyness will root out your intimacy.
A FOURTH DANGER: Little joy
Through the parable Jesus says God wants to produce a hundredfold in your life (vs. 8). A “hundredfold” is an extraordinary harvest, prolific, evidence of divine blessing. It is the inbreaking of the kingdom and life of God in your life (vs. 1). The danger, then, is having little to no joy in who God is and what He’s done for you.
We can find ourselves in a similar position of heart as Israel did. “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things…” (Deuteronomy 28:47) Somehow amidst the abundance they experienced and received from God, they lost their joy. Their delight in God. As a result, their generosity towards others dried up and their worship towards God became hollow.
One solution to this danger is a return to finding God beautiful before useful. We can lose our joy in God both in abundance and in scarcity. But for both the solution is the beauty and goodness of Christ. I remember watching my wife’s Aunt Elaine battle cancer. She would come to our Touch Down services as long as she physically could. Sitting in the back, with eyes closed and hands raised, she worshipped and loved Jesus with everything she had. As long as she could she praised God. If she could find joy in Jesus in her sickness, how could I not find joy in Jesus in my good health?
The life of man is but a breath, like a single leaf hanging by single strand of spider web. Yet, by comparison, the breath and word of God is life and power. Can you create billions of stars and galaxies? Can you divide a sea? Can you split the ground? Can you heal the sick and raise the dead? Can you forgive sins and break the power of sin? Can you remake your heart a new creation? Can you resurrect the dead? Can you make all things new? Can you create a new heaven and new earth? Jesus can (Heb. 1:3), because Jesus died.
Jesus one day taught a striking lesson to his disciples. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25) I remember this verse being preached over twenty years ago and me offering my life to God while I looked at the country of Mexico on a map. I surrendered my life to serve God in that country as my parents had (and still do). Yet, I never went back.
Fast forward 23 years later and my life looks very different than I imagined it would in that moment of prayer. The fruit, though, is beyond anything I could’ve hoped for. In your quest for joy, you can imagine your life going a certain way. But when you surrender it to Christ, daily taking up your cross, the life you sow to Him will look nothing like the life He raises for you. “Behold I am making all things new,” He says. Find your joy in Him and you will be well-equipped to withstand the other dangers to your growth in Christ.
