You Reap What You Sow

I have some seeds here. If I plant bean seeds, what will grow? What will I harvest? Beans! If I plant corn seeds, what will grow? What will I harvest? Corn!

If I plant love in my heart, what will grow?

If I plant faith in my heart, what will grow?

If hate? If prejudice? If meanness?

I can plant in other people�fs lives, too. When I talk to them, play with them, and work with them, it is like planting seeds.

If I plant seeds of kindness, what will grow? We hope kindness will grow in their hearts, too.

If helpfulness? If concern for others? If faith? If belief in Jesus?

We can plant wonderful seeds when we love other people. We can plant seeds when we talk about Jesus or invite friends to come to church with us.

The seeds of faith are like Jesus on the cross. Jesus died and was buried. That is like planting in the ground, isn�ft it? Then Jesus arose from the grave on the third day. He gives a harvest of life and salvation to all who believe in him. This is really good seed!

If we plant Jesus in our hearts, what will grow? Love, faith, and the joy of the Gospel Good News!

Amen.

Evangelism is sometimes referred to as "planting the seed of the word." Jesus tells the parable of the farmer who sowed the seed of God. There are many evangelism methods and some wonderful programs for evangelism training. But the main point of all of them is that the Word of God must be spoken, --- or written or broadcast or blogged or painted or sung. This is because the Holy Spirit does not zap people as they are walking down the street some day. Zap, you're a believer! Zap, you're a Christian! The Holy Spirit creates faith through Word and Sacrament. The Word brings faith and the Sacraments bring forgiveness. And so human beings are needed to communicate the Word of God and perform the sacraments.

There are many evangelism methods. Today's Gospel lesson is a classic method, where evangelism teams are sent out, often two by two, to preach and teach that the Kingdom of God has come near to them. The Kingdom comes when Jesus enters into their lives. He enters with peace and healing.

Before coming to Okinawa, my wife and I were sent to a small town in Hokkaido on the Japan Sea coast. Our mission was to start a new church there. We started from scratch, as in "scratch your head" because we didn't know what to do. We studied about small town evangelism in Japan and we started an English Conversation School. That was a very good way to meet people in the town. We made many friends and we planted seeds of love and the Gospel.

In Japan this type of evangelism is called "pioneer evangelism" or "ground breaking evangelism." I remember what my Grandfather told me, and it became part of my evangelism philosophy. My Grandfather told me about homesteading in South Dakota. He and his cousin (I think) both received 160 acres of virgin prairie, which they had to develop and improve. They both started to plow in order to plant seeds and to harvest a crop. Native prairie is a mass of roots and hard soil. This sod is very deep. My grandfather�fs cousin started to plow as he had in ordinary soil, plowing deep to turn over the soil. But it was very hard and slow work, and he didn't get much plowed or tilled and so could only plant a small area. My grandfather, on the other hand, didn't plow so deep, but plowed a much broader area, so he put in more seed and harvested a larger crop. The next year he could plow deeper and better. But he got a good start.

This was basically my evangelism method in Hokkaido, and here in Okinawa, too. When I meet someone for the first time, I seldom plow deep, but just enough to start something growing. Then nurture can start. The heart is softened with acts of love and kindness and acceptance, then the Word about Jesus can find a place to sprout and take root and grow, then watered by the Sacrament of Baptism and nurtured by the Sacrament of Holy Communion and fed by the Word of the Bible in Sunday School and Bible classes and sermons and conversations around the coffee pot.

We are told that "you reap what you sow." Let us sow seeds kindness, of love and peace. Then the Holy Spirit will bring this fruit into our lives, too. Let us sow seeds of the Word of God, then the Holy Spirit will bring a harvest of believing souls into the Kingdom of God.

I wonder if this sermon was plowing too shallow for most of you today. Some of you need some deep plowing and nourishing. You might need to read the Bible to get more than just Sunday Morning worship. You might need more Christian fellowship and worship to nourish your faith. Just as Jesus sent out the disciples two by two, perhaps you need a partner for evangelism, a partner for prayer and support and advice, perhaps a mentor, or your own disciple. But remember, the seed is always Jesus Christ crucified and risen. Any other seed will be a weed. The seed of the Gospel will be eternal life and salvation.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church