Parable of the Sower, a sermon by Richard Winchester

Parable  of  the  Sower  and the  Life  of  the  Spirit

12 July 2026 – Wk 15 Ordinary Time

By Richard Winchester, preached at St George's Church 9:30am 

Opening Prayer

• May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer

• Today’s Gospel reading, the Parable of the Sower, appears to be quite a simple message that doesn’t really need much discussion. In fact, Jesus explains the meaning of it in the second part of the reading, so why go any further?
• Unfortunately, we are human beings. And this always seems to complicate things.
• In my experience, as we go through life, and in the context of this parable, we can find ourselves on the different types of ground that are alluded to because we find ourselves in different places with regard our circumstances and this can place a strain on our faith.
• What I am going to attempt to do today is to explain this through today’s readings and, hopefully show that, no matter what ground we find ourselves on at a particular point in time, there is always a way back to the good, well-tended soil. Along the way, I am going to try to illustrate this with some anecdotes from my own journey in life and faith.
• Again, I have found that, unless we are careful, we can easily move, positively or negatively, between the type of ground that our faith is growing or floundering in.
• The world is full of things that can push people away from Christ:
• We have outside, worldly influences that tempt us away from being the good Christians that we want to be. From the draw of watching England at the pub the night before you are preaching in church…
• Through overcoming some of the harmful actions members of the church have carried out in the past, to…
• Working out what is the true way when we hear contradictory messages coming at us from different elements of the church or so-called influencers who can bombard social media with questionable theology.
• The New Testament reading we heard from Paul’s letter to the Romans, although it can be complex to interpret, helps us understand these influences and how, as Christians, we are helped by God along the way.
• And it is this that I am going to look at first as it can help us get to grips with the types of ground we find ourselves in.
• Paul begins by giving us the great news that there is no condemnation for those who believe in Jesus Christ.
• We are told that “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death.”
• By the law of sin and death Paul is referring to the inherent sin that is within us that makes us incapable of steadfastly keeping the law of God that was given to Moses, even though we want to.
• However, he continues, telling us that the law of the spirit liberates us from this law of sin.
• So, just as the law of sin prevents us from living by the law of God.
• The law of the spirit gives us the strength to prevail over the law of sin and adhere to the law of God.
• What is being said is that, having the Spirit in us enables us to restrain the urges of sin in order that we can fulfil the moral requirements of the law given to Moses, the law of God, the Mosaic law. What we have to do is listen to the Spirit within us.
• It can be confusing thinking of the law of the spirit instead of the power or grace of the spirit, which we are more accustomed to. Here we need to travel back to the time that the letter was written and understand that it was being written to Jews as well as Gentiles.
• The Jews would be aware of the prophecies such as the Lord's pledge that "I will put my spirit within you so that you walk in my statutes." This was part of the prophecy of Ezekial. Paul is merely telling his listeners that Jesus has fulfilled the Lord's promises as laid out in earlier Scripture.
• I think that the best way to summarise all of this, and this is the important bit, is that the Spirit (of Life) is the presence and power of God in the life of the believer. The Spirit (of Life) brings Christian morality and spirituality alive in us. It allows us to live as a disciple of Christ.
• Paul is telling us that we need to live by the spirit and not by the flesh. That the focus of the spirit is true life and peace.
• Because God sent Jesus in the likeness of man, the way to life is to follow Jesus’ example and not the hedonistic life preached to us by TikTok, celebrity and the other earthly influences that abound today.
• Back to the Parable of the Sower. And I will start with a quick reminder of where the seed lands, we have:
• The path – people who hear the word and reject it.
• The rocky ground – people who accept the word but give up when trouble or criticism comes their way.
• The thorns – similar to the rocky ground, but more about finding the pleasures that the world offers more alluring.
• The good soil – where we understand the message, we stay the course, we grow in faith and we take on whatever our calling is.
• And now for my first illustration:
• I was fortunate to start my life among the good soil. Very lucky, no need to explain further.
• However, in my late teams, along came a very big van which fly tipped a load of rocks and thorns over the good soil and even tried to build a path through it.
• Germany was where they tried to build a path. I was at RAF Bruggen during the Pershing Missile crisis. For those who haven’t heard of it, the Pershing missiles were nuclear cruise missiles that were based in West Germany and could hit the Soviet control centres within 10 to 15 minutes of launch. The Soviets didn’t like this. For those who aren’t familiar with the Soviets think Russia and its empire at the time.
• At Bruggen, we did the inevitable work hard and play hard. In working hard, we prepared for war, which we thought would happen. In play hard we enjoyed sport and spent an awful lot of time in the bar drinking tax free beer. For a young, single man with too much free cash this was really quite enjoyable.
• However, there was always this niggle that was telling me that I was a Christian and so I decided to prove that God didn’t exist. Being a bit of an analyst at heart, I did this by reading and studying the bible and I inevitably failed. The path wasn’t built and I ended up on the rocky and thorny ground. Saying my prayers but not much more.
• So, God, in the form of the Spirit that is within us seems to give us a nudge to readjust our relationship with him, providing, of course, that we are willing to listen. Remember that Jesus said to us “Listen, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his house and eat with him, and he will eat with me.
• This promise is always there, no matter what is going on in our life.
• Going back to my journey, and being honest, at the point we have got to I am still a lot further back than I was when I was younger.
• I got back from Germany and calmed down a little bit. I even went to church and read bits of my bible occasionally – probably still among the thorns but a lot of the rocks had been removed. I was happy to say I was a Christian – if I had to.
• And then something wonderful happened – I met Madeleine. This didn’t immediately clear the ground and put me back into the good soil. What it did do was make me less self-centred. Something that lessened again when Annabel and Roger were born.
• Eventually, we started coming to church and my faith grew back to what it was when I was younger – back to the good soil, I hope… Listening and growing in faith and, with the help of Father Edmund, establishing a way of life that feeds my faith, something that I would encourage everyone who hasn’t done so to take up.
• A way of life is creating a discipline of prayer and bible reading or study that reminds us of God in our daily life when we are away from church. I do not think it should feel onerous.
• If you have tried dieting or trying to get fit, you will know that if you go in too hard at the start you give up.
• Start light , be inquisitive, try different things to see what works for you and listen to the spirit that grows within you as to if you feel you are doing the right thing. If life is stressful, cut back to what is sustainable. The yoke should not be a burden to you.
• I found that a good place to start was simply saying the Lord’s prayer in the morning, after work and at night.
• Pick a book of the bible and read a chapter a day. Have a break afterwards for a while, before choosing another.
• As I said earlier, be inquisitive. If a bible story interests you, dig into it a bit more. What about Esau and Jacob who we heard about earlier? What is their full story? How does it relate to what I am talking about here? I have my ideas. Why not have a look at this and we can have a chat next week and see if we agree.
• If you don’t understand something, just ask someone from the ministry team and I am sure they will help you. We are after all, a church ?
• A way of life can sound quite formal and onerous, but it can be, and should be, enlightening and enjoyable. It can also be a great deal of help as it provides you with a foundation to get through times when you are struggling or having doubts.
• One part of my journey that I missed out was that a few years back I struggled with the church and stopped attending services. I carried on with my way of life at home but there was a struggle going on within me again. Thanks to Madeleine, and Jordan, I ended up back in the fold, but I was sustained in this period through prayer, my readings and my study.
• So, what does my journey tell us.
• It warns us that even though we may be living in the good soil, if we focus on the ways of the world, we can easily find ourselves back on rocky or thorny ground.
• But the good news is that we can recover from this and return to the good soil if we listen to the Spirit and follow the way Jesus has shown us.
• Along the way, the Spirit will be nudging us to do this however resistant we may be. We just need to listen.
• Oh, and the best way to stay in the good soil, and please do this… Till the ground by taking up a way of life that includes prayer and bible study.
• Remember what Jesus said…
• “Listen, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his house and eat with him, and he will eat with me."
• In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.