Written by Sgt Jack Lim Kuan Wei of 12th Kuala Lumpur Company

 

September 12th, 2014

 

The Bible records that Jesus, our great Captain, had always received a large audience wherever he went sharing the good news about the Kingdom. In order to make His audience understood better, Christ always taught in parables. By using parables, He was able to make His message to be more plain and easy to understand, and at the same time more difficult and obscure to those who were willingly ignorant. The Parable of the Sower is one such plain parable. The seed sown is the word of God. The sower is our Lord Jesus Christ, the farmer in this parable. The act of preaching to a multitude is sowing the seed; we do not know what would be the outcome.

The ground here refers the hearts of the audience, bringing out the different characters of individuals. There are four types of ground that the seed can fall onto :-

a)     Some seed falls on the paths, and the birds quickly eat it.

b)     Some seed falls where there are rocks, and not much soil. Plants grow quickly, but soon the sun dries them. There is not enough soil, and the plants die.

c)     Some seed begins to grow among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants

d)     Some seed falls on good ground. So, the plants grow well. The farmer has a harvest from these plants.

 

As I read this parable, I am reminded of the work in The Boys’ Brigade. My Company is based in the Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur, a Christian school. The school placed emphasis on all Christian activities and events. The Boys’ Brigade is a Christian-based uniformed unit. We should aim to sow seed that fall on a good soil or ground. The Word of God is being taught, preached and shared holistically within the school curriculum and The Boy’ Brigade and the Girls’ Brigade are just two of the arms used to “sow the seeds”. We need to seize every opportunity available to share the Good News to people around us. We are like the farmer too, aiming to produce good harvest from the good seed that falls on good soil or ground. Before we can have good harvest, we need to be good soil ourselves; to examine ourselves to be good audience of the Gospel that was shared with us.

When we hear the message of the Kingdom, we need to be like the seed sown on good soil. We need to understand the message and act upon it. Don’t be like the seed sown on rocky ground or those falling among thorns or by the paths. We need to be receptive to God’s Word and stand strong to God’s word. Do not let any obstacles stop us on our path to righteousness. By doing this, the message of God will prosper within us and yield many times more than what was sown. And in turn, we need to sow the seed (sharing the Gospel) as much as possible. Just like the farmer, the more seed we sow, the higher possibility we will be able to sow seed onto good soil. We need to pray for open hearts, willing hearts that are receptive to the Gospel or the Good News that we want to share with them.

The Bible in 2 Timothy 4:2 says “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” (NIV)

 

We are to bring God's good news to many different places, sharing with people of different background, cultures, etc. To some people, it has produced a good yield or good results and to some others it has does not benefit the audience, producing a poor result in their lives.

 

The first seed fell on the path, where there was no soil. Some people hear the good news but they give no attention to it at all. This is like the seed on the path. These people do not change their behavior. These people do not think about other people. They are selfish. They quickly forget about the good news.

 

Some seed falls where there are rocks. It grows quickly, but then it dies. This teaches us that some people are quick to listen to the good news. They seem to like what they hear about Jesus, but this excitement does not last long. Once they encounter problems, or have a difficult time, or other people laugh and make fun at them, they would have no more interest in Jesus. We can say that these people don’t really have faith in God or do not trust and obey God fully. They never really trusted him.

 

Some seed began to grow among thorns or weeds as some Bible translations read, and the weeds killed it. Some people have no time for Jesus. They are selfish, and they want things for themselves. Perhaps they want to be rich, or to be powerful. They worry all the time and they are always anxious about their possessions. In Matthew 19:16-22, Jesus counsels the rich young ruler, saying that “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. This is very true nowadays when we are living in an era where material gains are one important element of our daily lives. How many would actually part with their possessions for something else seemingly less significant?

Finally we hear in the story about seed that falls on good ground. The good ground is like those who respond openly and are excited to hear about God’s Word, eager to learn more about who God is and what He has done and they are those who really love the Lord. They believe in Jesus and they trust him. These are the good harvest that the soil has produced. Many times, these people are joyful because they fully have faith in God.

One verse that I could recall so clearly is, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NIV). This verse is God’s love letter to mankind because it clearly says that God loves us so much until he was willing to die for us! This proves that the Bible is still relevant to today’s contexts and provides all answers to all our human problems. I remember learning that Bible is acronym that actually means Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

For the past two years, I have witnessed some of my fellow Brigade Members accepting Christ into their lives. This year Pesta, I was told that out of 44 Boys who went, about seven of them accepting Christ during the Concert! What was more encouraging was my Officers told me that we also had about 10 of the rest who rededicated their lives to Jesus during the altar call as well! Really praise God for all His wonderful works! In fact, during one of the

Devotions we had in our campsite, when the speaker asked how many campers were non-believers, almost 60% of the hands were raised! Indeed we saw the largest non-believers participants in this year Pesta! As for us in the 12th Kuala Lumpur, this year is also a year for harvest for us and for the school too!  

 

Personally, I could testify that throughout these four years, I got to know more and more about God through the school as well as from the Boys’ Brigade. In the many camps I have been to like Pesta and Concordia, I have always stood up and raised my hand whenever the pastor asked who is willing to accept Christ. Although at those times I did not truly understood what it meant at that time. Now I can fully understand that what it meant to be a good seed that fall onto good soil that produced good yield.

I want to take this opportunity to give thanks to God for bringing me closer to Him in these four years of my secondary school life. I thank Jesus for sending Officers to serve in BB and to teach all Members with the Word of God. I am now on a bible plan to finish reading the entire bible in a year; having regular Bible Study with my Officer and Members as well. I have since been able to understand God’s Word and the message God has for us through the Bible. So, let us continue to sow the seed of the Gospel to the people around us. Surely God will reward and send more workers to harvest! All glory and praises to Jesus, our Great Captain, Lord and Saviour.