Beware the Selective Sower

"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold."
– Luke 8:5-8a (NKJV)

 

This well known parable of Jesus is repeated in three of the four Gospels, and it's one of the few parables of our Lord where we have a very detailed explanation of its message and meaning. He explains that the seed is His Word, and He describes the meaning of all the different sorts of ground on which it falls. Yet He does not come right out and tell us who the sower represents.

However, by taking the parable in its own context, as well as the full context of Scripture, it is clear that our Lord Himself—the Word made flesh (John 1)—was also the Great Sower of that Word. And He commissioned us to continue the ministry of sowing until His return. ("As the Father has sent Me, so send I you.")

Let us then take heed to the important details we may have missed in this parable, as our Lord makes it clear that, in our ministry of sowing His Word, there is something on which we MUST focus, and another on which we must NEVER focus:

• - We MUST focus on scattering the Word generously WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION as to where it will fall. Notice that the sower apparently did not take pains to avoid "wasting" seed on the trodden path, the rocky spots, and the thorny patches. Let us never hold back sharing the words and love of our Lord Jesus Christ because we perceive or suspect that the hearers might not be receptive. 
• - And, secondly, we must NEVER focus on the outcome. Once we've been faithful to scatter the precious seed, the outcome belongs to God ALONE. We take no credit for those who yield a hundredfold crop, nor should we take the blame for those who reject the Word or who quickly fall away. Because, at the end of the age, EVERY knee shall bow—even those who rejected our Lord or cursed His name. (See Philippians 2:9-11). All people shall answer to HIM ALONE.

So, in the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Let us, then, be up and doing, with a heart for any fate”—as faithful sowers sharing His love, spreading the seed of His Word INDISCRIMINATELY to all men through our words and our actions. And leave all outcomes to HIM.

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