Utumishi Blog

I’ve been loving the parable of the sower and sharing it in a few contexts recently. My excitement was really sparked by Michael McClenahan’s brilliant talk at the John Owen Centre’s ‘Adam in the Bible, the Church and the World’ conference last year (all the stuff there is well worth downloading). If you listen to McClenahan’s talk there you can see how much I stole from him for this sermon (edited down version of talk given in Chelmsford):

I expanded this stuff on Matthew 13:1-23 for a session on mission at Cornhill Northern Ireland a couple of weeks ago. Here’s the outline:

Bookends of Matthew: 1:3, 5, 6 (nations); 2:11-12 (nations worship); 28:16-20 (worship, all nations); “Mission exists because worship doesn’t.” (Piper, Let the Nations be Glad)

Question: How is Matthew 13:1-23 normally taught in your context?

The focus is not on the soils but on the Sower – a) 13:37, b) 13:16-17 (cf. 12:41-42), c) the parable is an answer to ch. 12:14,24; d) the pattern of Adam/New Adam

1. The importance of the Doctrine of God – What sort of God do you see in Matthew 13:1-9? (One brilliant answer from one of the Cornhill guys – “A God who gets his feet dirty”).
   1. Common mission motivation techniques: Whip them or whip them up.  Best motivation is knowing a gospel-shaped God – revealed only and fully by Jesus (e.g. Matt. 11:27).
   2. If we take the concept of ‘God’ for granted, Christians and even whole churches can easily inadvertently be worshipping Baal (the distant, hard to please, amoral, prosperity god).
   3. In evangelism to unreached people groups and in Bible translation there is the whole question of whether to take the people’s vernacular word for the supreme deity / sky God and try to redefine it, or whether it is safest to introduce a new, unknown God. Whichever way, it needs to be clear that the people have not been worshipping Yahweh in ignorance but have been worshipping false gods, demons and idols from which they need to repent. (I know this a contentious point – maybe we could take it up on this blog.)
   4. In reaching muslims, we are not trying to convince them that Jesus is Allah but that God is Jesus.
2. The importance of sovereignty, history and heart
   1. Sovereign grace – (Matt. 13:11-13, 16; 12:25) – In the East African context, partly through the influence of pentecostalism with its roots in the holiness movement and partly through the influence of the East African Revival with its roots in 1960s Keswick theology, there is a strong emphasis on total consecration, making a decision, committing your life to Christ, giving your life to Christ. There is far more emphasis on me and my choice than on God and his choice of me. A greater emphasis on sovereign grace – you were blind and God opened your eyes, you were dead and he raised you to life – is a humbling but freeing gospel that would lead to much greater assurance and focus on Christ.
   2. History – (Matt. 13:14) — The parable of the sower is first and foremost about a particular historical situation: as Jesus walks around Israel the Pharisees and teachers of the Law have massively rejected him; vast crowds follow but their faith is shallow and they will quickly fall away; there is some good soil – in particularly the apostles (13:11). The parable is not so much timeless principles as about what is happening in the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. When the gospel becomes a now-focussed message of personal transformation, we need to recover the historical gospel.
   3. Heart. Humans are passion-driven. Heart leads to behaviour (Matt. 12:34; 15:18-19). The order in 13:14-15 seems to go heart then mind/understanding then repentance/behaviour. The heart is responsive and is drawn to what it sees as valuable, what excites (Matt. 6:21, 24; 13:16-17, 22). Implications for mission:
      1. Emotion, feeling not a bad thing – answer is not less emotion but get emotional about right thing.
      2. Remember you are always preaching to the heart, whether you know it or not – that is entry point into the human person (Matt. 13:19). What we need to do is present Jesus as incredibly valuable and good, so hearts are captured by Him. Richard Sibbes: “woo for Christ, and open the riches, beauty, honour, and all that is lovely in him.”
3. The importance of the Word – Matt. 13:19-23. The Word does the work. A few implications for mission:
   1. It’s the “Word of the kingdom” (v19). Kingdom is a massive theme in Matthew but what is kingdom all about? Compare 13:11, 13:16-17 and 12:42 – the ‘secrets’, the ‘something’ can only be the ‘greater Solomon’ – the KING. So we mustn’t separate ‘kingdom mission’ from ‘gospel mission’ – they are the same thing – preaching the gospel of the King of Grace (e.g. Matt. 18:23-27). (Again – I know this is a contentious point.)
   2. Jesus’ mission strategy is God’s word to God’s World – and that continues to be his strategy in Acts and today. Obvious but worth underlining because it is rare on the mission field. Not many mission societies are completely focused on this. So easy to be distracted.
   3. The ‘mile wide inch deep thing’ is a bit misleading.
   4. Not only in evangelism but also in discipleship (for those who already have open eyes and ears) let’s preach the gospel – Jesus – union with him, the Cross, the great exchange, being clothed in him, adopted…