The American people expect everything fast, easy and cheap. And we often treat the Christian life like that. We want it to be like a McDonald’s drive through — drive up to the window, get what you want and drive off.
Have you noticed all the ads that tell us about the products that work “instantly”? One said, “Get the gym body without going to the gym.” Sounds good to me. But I’m thinking about getting the Flex Belt that promises I can get great abs in only a few weeks, just by putting on this special belt. A Medifast commercial said that I could lose 20 pounds in 30 days. The ad said, “Forget counting calories or carbs, Medifast does it for you.”
If I want to learn a foreign language, whether it is Spanish, Russian or Chinese, I found that you can learn any language in just 30 days. The ad says, “Use the Pimsleur Approach and start speaking a new language in just 10 days! Each CD has been scientifically sequenced to rapidly lock language material into your brain. Just sit back, relax and let the audio guide you. Once you start listening you’ll be learning in under 5 minutes and be speaking in just 10 days! Before you know it, you’ll be able to engage in real conversations. Travel to the country of your choice and order your favorite meal and a fine bottle of wine. Get directions and get around town. Even hit the bazaar and buy exactly what you want... All this with no reading, writing or computer use.” I suppose if they told you that it would take two years of memorizing vocabulary, verb conjugation charts, and noun declensions, not to mention all the irregular verbs, etc., before you might begin to feel comfortable with the language, you wouldn’t enroll in the course.
A while back we were around a child who was so out of control that he could have been placed on a terrorist list. I wanted to tell the parents about The Total Transformation Program. It advertises that it will help you, “Say Goodbye to Disrespectful, Obnoxious and Abusive Behavior, and Regain Control of Your Child, Your Family & Your Life... In Day One of this step–by–step program, you’ll learn a whole new way to get your child to cooperate and comply, without having to raise your voice — ever... Now, when you talk, your child will listen and respond appropriately. Plus, if you start your 30-day free trial now, you’ll also receive a special Bonus CD: How to Turn Around Your Child’s Attitude in One Minute or Less.” I don’t know what it costs, but whatever it is, it is a bargain.
Well, I could go on and on about all the things that you could learn or accomplish in just moments, but you get the idea. We live in the instant age. We are a people who want a lot without it costing us much. We want to accomplish much without putting forth much effort. We want perfect health by taking a pill. We want to be an expert in something by simply listening to a 30 minute CD. And if you think this hasn’t affected the way we think of the Christian life, you don’t know yourself very well.
Why are Christians not more consistent in worshiping together with other Christians? Why is it that Christians read the Bible so little? Why is our prayer life so paltry? Why do we talk so much about conversion and so little about discipleship? Why are we not putting forth the effort to in our Christian life? The surprising answer is: Because we don’t think it is necessary. Perhaps we haven’t admitted it to ourselves, but it is true. We know that when we were 12 years old or younger that we “went to the altar” where we were saved. Essentially, we got our ticket to heaven, and that is what it is all about isn’t it? Why read the Bible when you really don’t have to? You already have your ticket to heaven. Why come to church faithfully, when you don’t need anybody else, or the church, to be a Christian. Why do works of service when our good works don’t save us? We believe in God, isn’t that what it is important? So we settle for a quick trip to the altar and breathe a sigh of relief — quick, easy, cheap grace.
In the Scripture today, Jesus tells the parable of the soils. Jesus explained that in this parable, he was the one who was the one sowing seed. We are in the parable too. We are the different types of soil. Like Adam, we are made from the dust of the earth. The twist in the parable is that these various forms of soil have a choice about what kind of dirt they turn out to be — and they are held accountable for their choice.
The seed first falls on soil which is a path. A path is where people are always walking and hardening the soil by pressing it down. Some people are so hard the seed can never sink in. They have let other people pressure them and walk over them. They are conformists. They want to please people more than they want to please God. They have hardened their hearts, and this is where God has been trying to sow the seed, but it cannot penetrate. Then Jesus said the birds, representing the evil one. come and snatch the seed away. Harden your heart against the opportunity for God’s Word to get to your heart, and other opportunities may be snatched from you.
The next type of soil is rocky ground. This is what I call the instant Christian. It all sounds so wonderful: Just believe in God, ask Jesus for forgiveness and you are on your way to heaven. And Mr. or Ms. Instant Christian is full of enthusiasm. In fact, they can’t understand why everybody isn’t as excited as they are. It is so wonderful to experience the love of God. It is so wonderful to know that you are forgiven and have a home in heaven. And all of that is good... but that is as far as it goes with them. The seed sprouts, but does not continue to grow. It is taken in immediately, but it does not last. Jesus says that this person, “immediately receives it with joy, yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.”
This person starts out well, but does not end well — he does not endure. He sprouts, but he does not grow. He is a surface plant that puts down no roots, and therefore has no chance of survival. If everyone who started to be a Christian was still a Christian, we would be the great majority. If every person who started to be a Christian would have put down roots and did what was necessary to grow as a Christian, we would have great maturity in our churches today. If all those who immediately received the Word of God with joy had done what was necessary to endure persecution and trouble, the Christian community would be very different today. We would be a great blessing to the world and to God. Think of how differently the rest of the world would see us today. Think of how we could be used by God today. Instead, there are many who have fallen away, because they thought the Christian life was instant and easy — a thirty day program and a promise of heaven. They thought it was like a packet of instant pudding — just pour and stir and sit. But the real Christian life takes work. And if you do not work, it does not last. It may actually leave you without you even realizing it is gone.
Gordon MacDonald tells this story from his youth: “Running track in my prep school days taught me a valuable lesson. I was at the Pennsylvania Relays, a famous Eastern track meet, and our relay team was going to run in the championship race. I was the lead-off man and in the second lane. The man in the first lane held the 100 - meter dash record for prep school runners. He also held a record for arrogance. . . When I got to the line and we were putting our starting blocks down, he said, ‘May the best man win. I’ll be waiting for you at the finish line.’ We went into the blocks. The gun sounded. He took off, and the other seven of us settled in behind him. We went around the first turn and down the back stretch. About 180 meters into the race, I suddenly saw the record holder in front of me, holding his side, bent over, and groaning as he jogged along. We all passed him like he was standing still. Because I’m such a gentleman, I waited for him at the finish line. At the end of the race my coach took me aside. ‘I hope you’ve learned a lesson today. It makes little difference whether you hold the record for the 100-meter dash if the race is 400-meters long.”
The Christian life is not a sprint, it is a marathon. It is not a dash, it is a distance race. And only those who are prepared to go the distance are going to last to the end and make it to the finish line. You can’t run a race unless you have trained for the race over a long period of time. It means running every day — when you feel like it and when you don’t. You can’t pass a final exam if you attend class only occasionally, hardly read the text and try to cram the night before. Surely you don’t think that you can’t throw up a “Hail Mary” prayer just before you take your last breath and that will get you in to the pearly gates!
We learn to endure by following the example of Jesus who has gone before us. The Bible says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1-3).
Then Jesus said that some of the seed fell on soil that was full of thorns. He explained that these were the people who hear the word and take it in, but their lives are crowded — crowded with the cares of the world and the lure of wealth. And these things choke the word and it yields nothing. We are all busy — too busy. We are too busy to take time for God, because our lives are crowded with what we have to do for a living, caring for all the things we have, making sure our children have all the dance lessons, music lessons and sports activities that everyone says is important. All of this and more lures us away from God so that we have no time to spend in his Word, which is the very thing that God is trying to plant in our hearts. We have no time for conversations with God, after all, we DO have to check our email and keep up on Facebook. It is interesting that in the parable, the thorns grow and the Word does not. The thorns grow so big they choke the Word. The thorns take all the nourishment from the soil and the Word gets none. Then the thorns take the place intended for the Word. Prayer, worship, reading the word, helping others and working for God all get pushed out of your life because there are so many other “important” things to be done. And the thorns grow, and they choke your spiritual life to death.
The Bible says, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3). The apostle Paul wrote that we were to seek spiritual gifts, in order to, “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:12-16).
I remember watching the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy is trying to find her way home, and along the way she runs into a scarecrow with no brain, a tin man with no heart, and a lion with no courage. But they learn that there is a wizard in the land of Oz who can help them all. They begin their journey together so that the lion can find courage, the tin man can get a heart, the scarecrow can be given a brain and Dorothy can find her way home. But when they arrive in Oz they discover that the wizard is a fraud. He is only a little man hiding behind a curtain, pulling levers, blowing smoke and yelling into a microphone. But he convinces them he can still help them. He tells the lion that there is only one thing that people with courage have that he doesn’t have — a medal. He pins a medal on the lion and he roars, believing that he now has courage. He tells the tin man that he can give him a heart and he hands him a large chain with a big red heart on it. The tin man is full of emotion, believing he now has a heart. The wizard tells the scarecrow that there is only one thing that people with brains have that he doesn’t have — a diploma. As he hands him the diploma, the scarecrow begins to spout the Pythagorean theorem — and gets it wrong by the way. And all that Dorothy has to do is click her heels three times to get home.
How I wish it was that easy to get home when we are lost. How I wish that I could have just gotten a diploma without all the hours of study and work. How I wish I could get a heart full of compassion just by wearing some heart shaped jewelry around my neck. How I wish that I become courageous just by getting a medal. But that is the thing of dreams. It doesn’t happen that way in the real world. In the real world I have to face fear and work past it. I have to read books and have my thoughts challenged in order to learn. I have to work at loving others more than myself in order to get a heart of compassion. I have to do more than click my heels in order to get home to God. I have to face a challenging life-long journey that is often uphill and sometimes dangerous. The path has obstacles and some of the people along the way are hindrances. Many of them may be well-intentioned, but they are pointing me in the wrong direction.
I wish I could just be converted and not have to become a disciple of Christ. I have actually been in religious services where I was told that if I would just come to the altar and become “fully sanctified” that I would no longer have spiritual struggles, and I would never sin again. How I wish that were true. I would crawl to the altar on broken glass if it were so. But it is not. I have to work every day to be good soil — soil that actually produces something. Sometimes the soil of my life may produce a hundred times what has been planted, sometimes sixty and sometimes only thirty or less, but I am still growing, still sprouting, still producing, still living for God and loving him enough to keep at it.
The point is that we are responsible for the kind of soil we are. The good news is that Jesus Christ keeps sowing the seed and letting if fall on every kind of soil no matter what, giving even the most hardened and obdurate an opportunity to change and become good dirt.
