When we go to the annual state fair (which just occurred this month) many of us like to pretend we are farmers or ranchers. As we go and visit the horse barn at the fair or go to the rodeo arena, we love to watch the riders and pretend to know the differences between horse breeds. When we take our kids to the pig barn and watch the momma pig with 13 little piglets, we pretend to know all about animal husbandry. When we go to the tractor exhibit, we love to sit on them and pretend to know what it is like to drive the fields and harvest the rows of corn or wheat. There are many of us who love to pretend to be a farmer and a rancher even if we are not. And the greatest pretending of all is when we put on cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, and wear our jeans and maybe throw in some camo for extra credit — and we are set, right? When we dress right, we are finally farmers! Right???
This Sunday we are beginning our lead up to the GIC week (which officially is October 16-20) and we have titled this season for us “Scattering Seeds.” GIC, by the way, is our annual “Global Impact Celebration” week where we focus on the mission that God has called LifeWay to in this community and around the world. The focus of our study in this month is the Parable of the Scattering of Seeds that Jesus told. It is very much a ‘farmer’s parable’ of the sowing seeds in the field and watching what happens. Some of the seed scattering from the farmer ends in frustration and non-productivity. But some seed scattering ends in a great harvest. Jesus calls this parable a lesson in teaching us principles of the Scattering of Seeds.
As you prepare for this Sunday, I am mostly going to focus on this parable that is found in Mark 4:1-20. You can find the same parable in Matthew 13:1-23; Luke 8:4-18. As You come to join with our LifeWay family for worship, you would do well to prepare yourself for worship by reading all three of these Gospel accounts of this parable teaching of Jesus, contemplating on this parable and the depth of meaning it has for us as His Church. Now, if you want to come to worship with your cowboy hat and cowboy boots, put some hay straw in your mouth, and drive up with a Ford King Ranch style pick up truck in order to better put your mindset around what it means to be a ‘seed-scattering farmer’ for Christ, then that would be great. But no matter how you dress or what vehicle you use to come, be ready to learn and apply God’s principles of Scattering Seeds that is meant for us as His Disciples.
