Flight 815 - The Good Soil

In preparing this post my mind jumped at the scripture reference of Luke 8:15 and the infamous flight number Oceanic 815 from Lost.  The passage in Luke is a description of the good soil.

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. 

Pretend with me that I know what I'm talking about.  I know there are many wiser men and women who have examined this passage in depth and know oh so much more about it than I do.  But surely a standard blue-collar bloke like myself should be able to pull something from it.  I mean, what's the point of having a Bible if God can't reveal things to us with out a degree in it?

Look at the four actions listed:  Hear.  Retain.  Persevere.  Produce.

Everyone is capable of doing those things.  Right?  I surely hope so.  Okay, so what does this have to do with Lost?  Well, in truth, not a whole lot.  I mean I could pull all sorts of comparisons to the people on the plane and what kind of soil they were and all that, and maybe one day I will...but not today.

I will say that many of them were capable of being good soil.  Having noble and good hearts, with the ability to hear, retain, persevere (which they surely did) and produce.  But I want this to be about you and me. The couple sitting across from me at Panera who prayed over their meal.  The lady across the restaurant who didn't.  Jesus' teachings were meant for the people around him.  Including us.  We might not have been there, but he is here with us now.


The soil is about us as much as it is not.  Jesus had already called the disciples.  If you're reading this chances are he's already called you.  If you're thinking about how to disciple others and spread the seed that is the word of God, You've already been the soil.  It's time to move on to being the farmer planting the seed.


Good soil will Hear.  If you are out there scattering seed the good soil will hear it.  And trust me, there is plenty of good soil out there.  I've read descriptions of this parable that the good soil is a 1/4 of the types of soil...but let's think about that for a moment.  What kind of farmer scatters seed across all his land knowing that only 25% will accept it?  No.  The path is a narrow, small portion of land.  The rocky ground is going to spots and here and there.  The weeds...well, hopefully the farmer has done a good job of weeding before planting.  But weeds are weeds and will creep in at places.  A majority of the land is then good soil.


The good soil will also Retain.  That means it will keep it.  It will hold the seed, the word, and let it grow.  The word of God will grow in them.  Not because of what we the farmer have done, but because it's the Word of God!


Persevere.  This is probably the most difficult of the four actions.  Other words like; endure, faith, hope, cling to, hold on, push through...you get the idea.  It makes me think of the verse in Ephesians that challenges us to put on the whole armor and after everything...to stand.  Persevere.


The last one is Produce.  Jesus talks several times about bearing fruit.  It's a common theme.  I mean he even curses a fig tree because it should have been producing fruit and it wasn't.  That's like a Christian who looks like a follower of Jesus but isn't really doing anything about it."

I've been that guy.  Would you admit to yourself that you have too? 

Okay now that we've admitted that...let's do something about it!  Jesus tells us that if we remain in him, the true vine, he will remain in us, the branches.  And what do branches produce?  Fruit.  In that fruit is seed.  So once we mature enough to produce fruit, fruit with seed, that fruit needs to grow and scatter the seed.  We move on and start over again.  And so do they.  It's a simple, difficult, beautiful process that Jesus hardwired into the very creation of the world.  Genesis 1:11 

"Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.

Find the good soil.  Scatter the Word.  And watch God work.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse

Counting Chickens...or Something

The Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson once said,

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

 In Luke's account of Jesus' life we find the Parable of the Sower (8:1-15)  Take a few minutes and read it.  Go on, I'll wait for you.  Okay, done?  Good.  So what does Jesus tell the disciples the seed is?

That's right.

In case you didn't hear whoever just said it, the answer is: the word of God.

Does the word ever fail in this story?  No.  It does not.  The soil is what fails.  What is the soil?  Different types of people.  Some never believe because the word is taken from them.  Others don't allow the word to take root and fall away.  Still more are choked out by "life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature."  (I had a good bit to say on maturity a few weeks back.  Read at your own risk.)

The last type of people are those with "noble and good hearts, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop."  That one sentence has so much information on it.

Look at the actions:  Hear.  Retain.  Persevere. Produce.  (This will be another post in itself!)

In this story I believe Jesus is telling us that as his disciples we are to scatter the word of God.  He was doing it then.  The disciples did it after he ascended.  Now we are doing it.  You and me.

Now, the farmer doesn't have anything to do with the harvest.  At least not specifically in this story.  Usually the workers are the ones who are mentioned as doing the harvesting.  The point is that once the seed is scattered, the farmer can't make the seed grow.  He can water it.  Protect it from animals and other dangers, but a farmer cannot make the seed open, take root, push through the soil and stretch out toward the heavens.  It is beyond his control.  You and I cannot make the word of God grow in someone else.

We don't need too.

The word is capable of doing that on it's own.  That's not to say toss a Bible at someone and say, "Hey, here's a Bible, go be a follower of Jesus."  The word will grow in the right soil.  We are to spread it around.  And here is the best thing about the word being the seed...it can never run out!  Yeah, you don't have to go order more.  The Bible is it.  Jesus' words are it.  The only way to fail is if we don't keep taking it in.  It's still there, but we might not know enough.  (So read more.  Study more.  Spend more time with God learning who he is, that he loves us.)

So as we continue to let the word grow in us, we are to spread it about to others.  There are so many ways to do this.  If you attend a "church" regularly, check into their resources on how to do this.  Or talk with a leader or pastor.  There are many websites that you can go to also.  (M28 is one such example...and I had to plug it!)

Maybe it's meeting with a small group.  Maybe it's bringing someone with you to a service or gathering.  It could be anything.  The world, and closer still, your neighborhood is full of people who are the right kind of soil.  They are searching, hurting, desperate, and hungry for God.  They are out there.

So let us get out there and plant the seed.  Let God worry about what is harvested and how much.  The harvest won't happen with out the planting.  We can't plant the word if we don't go out to the field.  A farmer has a house he comes into for rest and food, but he works in the field.

If you're not catching my metaphor, as a follower of Jesus we probably have a "church home" to come to for rest and food, but we can't plant seeds inside the house full of other followers.  We have to step out of the house and walk to the field and start working.

Get off your duff.  Put on your muck boots.  Walk outside into the world.  Start planting the seed of the word in the soil of people around you.  It's something we all need to do.  Like Mr. Stevenson's quote says,

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

Or maybe the old saying, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch," is more to your liking...and now the title makes sense.

Until Next Time...

grace, peace + hope

-Jesse