Sowing Seeds: "Easier Said Than Done"

We are ALL "Seed Planters" and it's just a fact we need to face. So much that we feel the need to deep a little deeper into the subject of seeds, plants, and fruit. In this episode, we're continuing the conversation by looking at John 15 and Matthew 13, discussing what makes or breaks us in the seed planting mission. Don't let the enemy render us ineffective! Let God prune us DAILY!

Transcript

Sowing Seeds: "Easier Said Than Done”

We are ALL "Seed Planters" and it's just a fact we need to face. So much that we feel the need to deep a little deeper into the subject of seeds, plants, and fruit. In this episode, we're continuing the conversation by looking at John 15 and Matthew 13, discussing what makes or breaks us in the seed planting mission. Don't let the enemy render us ineffective! Let God prune us DAILY!

[Music]

What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Churchosity Podcast.

If you're looking for the place to have conversations about church culture but through the lens

of a Gen Xer, then you have landed in the right spot. My name is Heath Brady.

And I'm Andrea Brady. And we are your faithful Churchosity Podcast personnel.

Coming atcha. Coming atcha! We're still coming atcha! In 2024! That's right.

We continue to be on a roll with this high caliber quality content that our listeners have come to

love and enjoy. At least that's what I hope. Yeah exactly. So Andi, my love. Yeah. How you doing today?

Are you making small talk with me? Small talk. Oh the Christians kryptonite.

Are you making fun of me? Yes of course. Gee, it's what I'm here for. It wouldn't be us if there wasn't fun

Pokemon. How are you doing though? I'm doing alright. It's getting really cold outside and I'm not

liking it. But you know, we could talk about the weather. It's one of those awesome small talk

conversation topics. How's the weather up there? Yeah. Well in this moment that we're recording so

prior to when our listeners are actually getting this, hopefully we'll all be alive and kicking

because apparently here in the greater Salem, Oregon area we're supposed to get hit with quite

the winter storm over the next couple of days. Yeah it's going to get kind of cold. Cold and wet.

Down to 17 degrees maybe. I mean I know in other parts of the country that's nothing. That's nothing.

You know 17 degrees in the Pacific Northwest is like it's freezing. It's too cold. It's very cold.

It's like anything below 38 or above 82. We hate that here.

But yeah we'll see how it goes. It'll be fine. Yeah we'll see. We're all going to run to the store and

get milk and bread and bottled water and clear the shelves and everything's going to be fine.

Oh how was it hoping we were going to make a Costco run and get bagel bites and quesadillas?

No. No. No. Not like we need any of those things right? Right. We'll be cooking from scratch and

baking our own bread. Well I hope the power doesn't go out. Yeah. Then I'll have to fire up the grill.

Oh yeah. Oh we could bake bread on the big green egg. Hmm. Hmm. Better get some charcoal.

Oh I have some. That's right. I still have some. All right we're good to go there. All right sweet.

So we'll let you know on the next episode how we fared in this first winter storm of 2024.

How are you doing honey? I'm doing pretty good. All right. Doing pretty good. I'm very proud of us

because we managed to take down almost all of the Christmas decorations on the inside of the house.

That's right. I think that all that's left on the inside to take down are my things,

the Disney decorations. It's kind of apropos that those are the last things coming down.

Right. And then of course I haven't even stepped outside to start taking everything down from

outside because it's too cold. We have to wait for it to stop raining. So maybe if the sunshine comes out

we'll be motivated. Or you know we could do it old school and just pull everything into the garage

and let it drip dry in there. Yeah that could work too. Yeah we might have to do that. Yeah.

But other than that I'm doing pretty good. That's good. Lots of exciting things going on.

Mm-hmm. I'm happy to still be pumping out this content for folks and continuing our conversation

about seed planting, seed casting. But before we get into all of that we want to remind all of you

that if you want to support us here at Churchosity why don't you go ahead and leave us a rating.

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On all of our merch and guess what that QR code shows when you scan it. Our episodes. Our episodes.

You can listen. You can listen to our episodes or you can walk up to somebody and say scan this and

listen to Churchosity. You can do it right off your shirt. Right off your coffee mug. Right off your

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if you want to support us in that way we would just so appreciate it and yeah that's all I have to

say about that. All right Andi business handled. So let's get into this continuing conversation

about planting seeds. Planting seeds. That everyone has a seed to sow. That's right. On our last episode

we started this conversation about how every single one of us in the church is a seed caster,

a seed planter, a seed sower if you will and we're we're focusing this part of the conversation

on how to live our Christian faith our Christian life outwardly into the lives of others and we do

that by the types of seeds that we cast in their direction the types of seeds that we plant the types

of seeds that we water and cultivate. Right. The fruit that is generated within our church culture

whether it's physically in our churches or metaphorically speaking corporately as Christians in the

lives of others and it's a pretty deep conversation. Yeah we talked about bad seeds. Bad seeds.

A bag of bad seeds. Yeah. How that bag is usually empty and we have to go looking for the bad

seeds to fill it with. Yeah that's a lot of work. It is a lot of work. It's Roman 623. The wages of

sin is death. You got to work at it. Oh wages. Yeah. You got to work at it. And yet the good seed

which is the gospel that's given to us by grace through faith alone. So that bag is always full.

Great. And yet how often do we as followers of Jesus Christ neglect to pull seeds from the good

the good side and go looking for bad seed to cast to others. Right. That's that's a real heavy

you know a deep conversation. I don't want to sound like a doomsday person or anything like that

but I think that it's a message that we all need to hear. I think it's a conversation a real

conversation that we all need to have. We need to really think and look introspectively into how we

live out how we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling as Paul wrote.

I think that I might be guilty of not casting seeds at all.

Ooh that's deep. Yeah like maybe I zip up the good seed bag and just keep it to myself.

You know so I'm not in action. I'm just I'm not casting bad seeds but I'm not casting good

seeds either. It kind of sounds like being rendered ineffective. Yeah either either by circumstance

or by choice. Yeah yeah or by like storing it all up for myself. You know. Oh unpack that a little

unzip that bag for us a little and cast some seed. Well I don't know as I'm starting to think about

it. If I have this kind of attitude when I go to church what am I going to get out of this today?

Oh I got you. Yeah. What's in it for me? What's in it for me? Hmm or maybe I'm being selfish when I'm out

and about and instead of like wanting to even take time to talk with people. I don't want to people

today so I zip up my pouch my seed bag if you will and just go about my business keep my head down

you know. Wow that's heavy. Yeah. But that's so true. Yeah we're busy. We don't want to be bothered. Yeah.

I got to get to the drive-through line at Starbucks. Yeah. I got Aaron's to run. You know as many drive-through

things I can do or as many delivery options as I can get away with where I don't have to people.

Sometimes I feel like that. Yeah. You know as I'm sitting here listening to you

kind of unpack that whole idea of zipping up your good seed bag and keeping it all for yourself.

I just my mind went to this time in my life where I was so focused on my church attendance revolving

around. Gee I hope the so-and-so sermon's going to be good today. Yeah. Or I hope that they don't

sing that song today. You know those kind of things. Right. Because you know if I can't be edified

why am I even here. Right. That's that's that's the attitude right. And that is a conversation

for a different podcast but it's very very true Andi. Yeah. I think that it's somewhat murky waters

when you start entering into the conflict between self-care and selfishness.

Mmm. Because there is a difference between the two. Like on the one hand we would say you can't

pour from an empty cup. That's true. But on the other hand you're talking about having a full bag

that's zipped and you're hoarding it for yourself. Those are two completely different perspectives.

Yeah. I mean there have been times in my life even recently where I felt like my seed bags pretty

empty. I'm like I don't have much to give. Yeah. And all I can do is just try to love and be kind.

And that's all I got. Yeah. Kind of like what I used to tell my football players on the field.

Like I'm not dumb enough to think that every day when you come to practice that you're 100% excited

to be here. All I'm asking is that whatever percentage of excitement you have give me all of that.

Mmm. Mmm. However full or however empty our bag of good seed is.

God wants us to give him all of that. Mmm. I think that that is just a real honest, transparent

accurate depiction of what the everyday seed sowing mission is actually like.

Because I think that there are definitely no I know that there are definitely days where

I'm just not feeling it. Yeah. Like I'm just not feeling it. And yet we still are

commanded. We are implored by the Lord. Hey, that rhymed.

To live our lives outwardly. Mmm hmm. To constantly be on mission of demonstrating Christ's likeness.

Even when we're just not feeling it. Right. And I know that that is so much easier said than done.

Like I get that. We're supposed to be lights in the world. Oh yes. Yeah. The salt of the earth.

Yeah. Sometimes I just want to keep the light switch off and be bland. Right.

It's a reality. It's a reality. I don't know if that's a generational thing. I don't know if it's

a typical thing. I just know that there are a lot of times. And I know I'm not the only one.

Right. There are times where I know what I should be doing. I know what I could be doing. But as I have

jokingly said before, I'd rather lay in bed and ride on a ferris wheel made out of pizza.

I think it's a human thing. I mean, even Paul talks about doing things that he doesn't want to do

and not doing the things that he knows he should. Yes. So. Is that Roman seven? Yeah, I think it's Roman seven.

You know, one kind of peculiar thing that I see a lot in scripture, especially in the New Testament.

Is a lot of mentioning of seeds and plants and trees and vines and branches. A lot of vines.

Yeah. It's almost as if the Holy Spirit inspired men and women to write and dictate metaphorically

what being a Christian looks like through the examples of things that grow. Yeah.

In nature, things that require planting and watering and nurturing and cultivating and pruning.

They also experience seasons. Exactly. So I'm thinking specifically in this moment of John chapter 15.

Okay. Which is a phenomenal chapter. Like we could we could take three episodes and unpack this whole

conversation. We don't have that kind of time. So I'll just, you know, hit on a few hot spots here.

We're familiar with a lot of these verses. Jesus says to his disciples, "I am the true vine and my

father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit."

So right out of the gate, Jesus says, "He is the true vine. He is the source that all of the other

seeds come from. And the father is the one who dresses the vine, who protects the vine, who

keeps that main source of growth constantly producing." Right. And every single branch that is attached

to Jesus that doesn't bear fruit, the father removes. But every branch that does bear fruit,

the father prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. Like you mentioned how things grow in seasons.

Yeah. I think a lot of times we forget that maybe we're in a season where we're just kind of

coasting along. And there's this tendency to kind of feel discouraged. Right. Yeah. Like Lord,

I just don't feel like I'm doing anything. Lord, I don't feel like I'm bearing any fruit.

Consider the possibility that those off seasons, if you will, really aren't off seasons.

There are pruning seasons. You know, we like to talk about how the Lord likes to sit down with us and

peel away a layer of the onion and expose that next thing in our heart that he wants to change or

work on or remove. That's that pruning process. And as painful and as ugly as that might feel or

seem in the moment, that is his grace towards us. That he loves his children so much and desires

for his children to bear so much fruit in the name of Jesus Christ and for his glory. That he

actually takes the time to be intimately acquainted with our lives in such a way that he removes,

he cuts out, he prunes the things in our lives so that we can bear more fruit. Wow. This reminds me of a time

in our old house where we had, I think it was three little apple trees in the front yard.

Oh, I know. I missed those little trees. And they were so pretty like when they would blossom

in everything, but not a single one of them would ever produce one apple. They were choking each other

out. Yeah. And so I had this crazy idea. I'm going to cut down two of them and just see what happens.

So we cut down the two weak ones. We cut down the two weak ones. And what happened?

The third one, flourish. It flourished and produced a ton of apples. And that's what Jesus is talking

about here. That if there's a branch that isn't bearing any fruit, if we are not bearing fruit,

God needs to prune us so that we can. And that's, that's, it's kind of scary, but it's also wonderful

because it means that not only does God call us, he also fills us and empowers us by a pruning process.

It's true. That's pretty awesome. Don't you think? Yeah. I love it.

Jesus goes on to say here in this chapter, abide in me. This is verse four, abide in me and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine.

Boy, that brings to mind so many different things like all of the works in the flesh that we do in

the church. Yeah. That really don't produce any fruit whatsoever other than bad fruit that puffs us

up. Right. But he says, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine,

the only way that we are going to produce fruit, the only way that we are going to get that constant

full bag of good seed is if we are attached to the vine, which is Jesus.

Just as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you

unless you abide in me. And then he goes on in verse five, I am the vine. You are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing.

Yep. And I looked that up in the Greek. And it means nothing. It means absolutely nothing.

Read that anything in ministry in the church that we attempt to do apart from the leading of Jesus

Christ and the filling of the Holy Spirit is useless because it's not going to produce any fruit.

Other than the puffing up of ourselves. Wow. And that's intense. Yeah, it's yeah.

Oh, but it gets worse. What? Verse six, if anyone does not abide in me,

he is thrown away as a branch and dries up and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

That's that's pretty scary. You know, that's pretty scary. It makes me think of some of the lamp stands

in Revelation two and three that Jesus wants so badly for us to be his workers, his laborers together.

And yet if we're not truly authentically abiding in Christ, we're useless. At best, we're pleases of

ourselves. And it says that if anyone does not abide in him, that they're thrown away like a branch

and it dries up. Mm hmm. Man, there's a difference between a minister being put on the shelf for a season

and someone being cast aside and dried up. Yeah. So just chew on that for a little while.

But then here comes the good news. Okay. Verse seven, if you abide in me, now notice it's conditional.

These are all conditional phrases. If anyone does not abide in me, if you do abide in me,

it's conditional. What's the conditional upon us? Us. Us. If anyone abides in me, if you abide in me,

my words abide in you. There's the sap in the branch, if you will. Yeah.

If we are attached to Christ, then his words fill us kind of like in Colossians three, where Paul says

to let the words of Christ richly dwell within you. Yes. If you abide in Christ,

if you spend time with Christ, if you are fastened to Christ, if you are coming to him, even when you

are weary and heavy, laden, seeking rest from Christ, guess what? His words abide in you.

Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.

My father is glorified in this that you bear much fruit. And so prove to be my disciples.

Amen. That's the kicker. What is the proof that we are disciples of Jesus Christ?

That you bear fruit. Yeah. We're fruit bears. And what does fruit come from?

Planting seeds. Give me stumped here because we're talking about vines.

Vines, trees, plants, branches, fruit. It all comes from one thing. There's a source.

It's all about planting seeds. All about planting seeds. Yes.

Yes. So I just think that that's pretty cool. That is cool. There's a lot of different

analogies and metaphors and idioms and types and stuff in scripture that define what it's like

to be an outward living Christian. Yes. John chapter 15 is something I really can relate to.

I don't know if it's because I like wine. I don't know. It's so I'm around vineyards a lot.

I don't know what it is. But for some reason, this passage in John 15 really resonates with me.

That real fruit production, real seed casting has nothing to do with my efforts other than

choosing to be permanently attached to the vine, which is Jesus Christ. Because in Christ alone,

I am filled with his words. The father prunes me and gets rid of all the stuff that is useless

unnecessary and unwanted and potentially could render me ineffective. And I prove to be a disciple

of Jesus Christ because I'm bearing much fruit. I think that's kind of a cool deal. That is a

cool deal. And it just makes sense to me. Yeah. You know what Andi? What is it? There's another

pretty powerful passage of scripture that talks about a particular seed in the New Testament.

That I think is also necessary for the conversation we're having now.

But we'll lead us into the conversation that I know that we're going to have on our next episode.

Okay. Are you familiar with infamous kingdom parables?

Yes.

Those can be found in two places. The ones that I prefer are in Matthew chapter 13 because there's

seven of them. Right. Without getting into too much background on these parables,

because there's a lot to unpack in respect to that. These are seven parables that Jesus gives

to a bunch of non-understanding Jewish people. Like they just have no idea what Jesus is talking about.

And out of these seven parables, Jesus pulls the disciple aside and explains two of them.

Nice.

And then says, now do you understand everything that I have spoken? And they say, yeah, we get it,

Lord. And I'm still mad about that. Because I'm like, bro, there's five more. Just say no.

Just to have them explain it all. Help a brother out. Yeah.

Like these other five parables in their explanation, they're on my list of things that I want answers to

when I cross over the threshold of heaven. I'm just saying. Well, I think, you know, in high school

and teachers like, do you says everyone understand? We're like, uh-huh. Yeah, just keep moving.

Yeah, we want to get to lunch. Come on now. I need to meet so-and-so at my locker after class.

That's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's keep moving. Well, anyhow, one of the parables,

which of the seven parables is actually my favorite one. These parables again, they are what's

called the kingdom parables. These are seven ways that Jesus describes what his heavenly kingdom,

because you remember he said that his kingdom is not of this world. These are seven ways that Jesus

gives a depiction of what is going on in his in his heavenly kingdom while on the earth.

And it's not all good news. Let me say that again. It's not all good news. And I know for a fact that I

have this crazy, unpopular view of these seven parables, especially when it comes to the parables.

The mustard seed, which is the one that I'm going to talk about right now. So in Matthew chapter 13,

verses 31 and 32, Jesus says, uh, Matthew writes, Jesus presented another parable to them saying,

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. And this

is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and

becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches." Now most scholars,

most pastors and preachers and teachers, they allegorize this parable and say things like,

this is the church and how insignificant it is, but it grows and takes over the world or encompasses

the whole world and everyone can seek solace and solitude in its branches. And you know what? I hope

that that's the right interpretation of this parable. However, I do not subscribe to that view and

I'm going to tell you why. You and I have mentioned on previous episodes before this thing that we

call the law of first mention, where the first place in scripture that something is mentioned,

that is the primary definition, meaning or explanation of the thing. Right? Right.

So when I look at this parable, I see this phrase that jumps off the page in verse 32, the birds of the air.

Yeah, that's weird. Yeah. So you have this mustard seed that grows into a tree that is so big that

it's bigger than the garden plants. Well, first of all, you should know that garden plants don't

typically get very big. So this mustard tree, if you will, doesn't really have a lot to compete with.

And if you do a study of mustard trees, specifically in the Middle East, you will discover that a full,

the average full grown mustard tree doesn't really grow to be much taller than about eight to ten feet.

So these are not big mammoth-like oak trees or cottonwood trees or pine trees that we're talking

about here or the cedars of Lebanon, especially not, but even though this tree is tiny, in stature,

its branches are secure enough that all of the birds of the air can come and make nest in its branches.

What do we know about the birds of the air, Andi, when we apply the law of first mention?

Pretty sure it's mentioned before here in this same passage maybe earlier.

In Matthew 13? Yeah. It is. Okay. But I have it read through it recently, so help me out.

Well, it would be in the very first parable of Matthew chapter 13. And we're very familiar with

this parable. It's the infamous parable of the sower. Matthew 13 verse 13 verse 3, he began to speak

many things to them in parables saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow and he sowed some seeds."

Here we go seed sowing. And some seeds fell beside the road and the birds came and ate them up.

Read that birds of the air. Hold that thought. All right.

And he goes on to explain that there's three other soils that the seeds fall on. And then right after

he gives this parable in verse 9, he says, "He who has ears let him hear."

Verse 10, "The disciples came to him and said, 'Why do you speak to them in parables?'

He goes on to explain to them what this parable of the sower means."

In verse 18, he says, "Hear them the parable of the sower and he describes the seed and the first

soil." In verse 19, "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it,

the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom the

seed was sown beside the road." Okay? So there's all of your definition of all of those idioms from

the first seed and soil. Now go back up to the top of the chapter and let's reread what that first

seed and soil's predicament is. Okay? As he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road and the birds of

the air came and ate them up. So in other words, these birds of the air, they are the workers of the

evil one. Oh my gosh. Okay. Because that's the first seed and soil, right? Mm-hmm.

That it's a person. So when a person hears the word of the kingdom and doesn't understand it,

the evil one, the birds of the air, the workers of the evil one come and snatch it away.

This is a person who hears the gospel. Here is the kingdom message and doesn't understand it.

That is someone whose heart has been snatched away by the evil one. Okay? Okay. So now fast forward

back to the parable of the mustard seed, unpack it a little bit deeper. The kingdom of heaven is like a

mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. And this is smaller than all other seeds.

But when it is full grown, it is larger than the other garden plants and becomes a tree. So that, who?

The birds of the air. The birds of the air can come and nest in its branches.

So why would the workers of the evil one want to nest in the branches of the tree?

Because it helps the bad seed casters produce no good fruit in the church. Oh.

Oh, they render you ineffective. Completely render you ineffective.

Interesting. In other words, ladies and gentlemen, if you are familiar with this type of individual,

and I would even go deeper, maybe you feel like you're this individual. Oh.

Where good seeds are not being cast, good fruit is not being produced for the glory of God and the

benefit of others, as I like to say. Ask yourself. Have the workers of the enemy made nests

in my branches? Ooh. Yeah, what's rendering you ineffective? What's running? Exactly. Yeah, or who?

That's a mighty claim. I don't think I'd be brave enough to be point in fingers, but... Well, you don't

have to point fingers. Well, what he's supposed to do. Go back to John 15. Every branch in me,

Jesus says that does not bear fruit, the Father takes away. Okay. But every branch that does bear fruit,

he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. I see. If you have branches that aren't bearing any fruit,

give your tree to the Father and let him prune the heck out of you. So that you are no longer

ineffective for the kingdom, so that you can get back on the road of casting good seeds into the

lives of others and producing much fruit in your life and in the lives of others. Does that make sense?

Yeah, totally. So I know I kind of went off on this weird tangent with that parable of the mustard seed.

That's going to lead us into the conversation more on our next episode because we're going to dig

a little bit deeper in this whole seed-bearing conversation. Nice. But I wanted to bring it up here

in this episode because I wanted all of us to really get a hold of and really see this direct

opposition of a tree that is producing good fruit and a tree that produces bad fruit or no fruit at all,

what the consequences of each of those are and what the causes of each of those are.

And consider the possibility in our own lives just how much pruning we really need the Father to do to us

on a regular basis with a sense of urgency. That's all we have to say about that.

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is love, from a pure heart, and from a good conscience, and a sincere faith. So we thank each and every

one of you again for listening and we look forward to catching all of you on the next episode of

Churchosity Podcast. Peace!

[Music]