Appleseed Remembered

On the surface this parable is about horticulture, but the obvious underlying message for believers is that we must be involved in witnessing for our Messiah. The first section of the passage is Jesus’ parable, or allegory, which is a story with a deeper meaning. The second section is the allegory’s interpretation for believers.

Jesus says that there are really three persons involved in the process of sowing seed. There is the witness, who is portrayed as the sower. There is the person being witnessed to, the sinner, who is portrayed as the soil. The third person isn’t mentioned in the parable at all, but only in the interpretation. He is the devil, who steals the seed or uproots the seedling. I’m not going to say much about him now, for I want to focus on the sower, the seed and the ground.

Sowing in Three Steps

The sower in the story seems pretty indiscriminate in his planting. He is not hoeing out rows then planting each seed with care. He doesn’t even cultivate the field. He casts seeds around, and then he goes onward. Our sowing begins whenever we go forth into the great field of the world. We witness, that is, "sow seed," by both our stories and our lives.

Sowing word-seed consists of three easy steps. The first step is to do a good deed or a favor for somebody. This makes an aperture in the soil for the seed-Word. The second step is to tell our own stories of how the Word has intersected our lives. The third step is to put a name to the seed; that name is Yahshua / Jesus.

Witnessing is not preaching! If people in the world wanted to be preached at they would already be in church. Also, witnessing is not itemizing someone’s sins for them or throwing someone’s shortcomings in their face. Most people already know they are lacking. This is what witnessing is: (1) doing a favor (or asking a favor), then (2) telling your own story, (3) then naming Yahshua / Jesus in the process. It’s as simple as that. Though simple, this method is as effective as can be. You do the sowing, somebody else does the cultivating, somebody else does the reaping. You don’t really have a whole lot of responsibility in the whole thing except to sow.

Seeds to Needs

Sometimes we can sow our seed to a need. Sometimes it is very obvious when someone is open to our testimony -- perhaps there’s been a death in the family, or there’s a suffering family member or a health or financial problem. When these types of issues come up in conversation, we know that the ground is already cultivated, and our threefold sowing method will often address the need.

Another great way to sow the seed of the Word is by asking someone for a favor. Although you wouldn’t think so, this is one of the most effective ways of witnessing, and you often get your reward immediately and later, too!

And this is a perfect example of using the threefold method of sowing seed. It is easy and fun. And you can do it all the time without fear, because you are not responsible for the outcome, somebody else is.

Aside from perceiving a need, sowers often have no way of knowing whether the soil is prepared or not for the seed. That’s OK, because we just cast our seed wherever we can. It is the prevenient grace of the Holy Spirit that does the cultivating, and we put our hope in the Spirit and keep casting forth seeds. The birds eat some; others fall on rocks. We knew better than to deliberately sow on rocky or hard ground in the first place, but we cast it there anyway. We take advantage of every opportunity. We’ve all seen how a strong seedling can break a concrete sidewalk, haven’t we?

On occasion, success comes, and we are disappointed to find that it is only short-lived. The seed sown germinates and even grows a little. The sinner repents in due time -- may even go running to the altar shouting Hallelujah! May even do a little premature witnessing himself, or clean up his act for awhile, or quit swearing, like brother Grady was convicted to do. But there may be no depth to it, and resistance to the devil or the world or that bad habit is limited to the person’s inability or unwillingness to pray. 40 years later, the "almost persuaded" still gives his testimony of how he "got saved once" or "got religion." Yet no viable seed has ever been sown by this person.

There are many "Christians," so-called, that have a form of godliness but deny the power of it because they don’t do agriculture. Only the undeserved favor of Yahweh can get these folks through the gate.

In other cases, money or pride are the seed-stealing devils. Before we even have an opportunity, we are sized up as to whether we are of an acceptable economic or social status. If we don’t measure up, every word we say goes into one ear and out the other. People with money and social standing are hard nuts to crack. They are often the stingiest of all. And though they may have great material wealth or power, they often are spiritually bankrupt. Nevertheless, all the veneer disappears when a the rich man is on his deathbed or when the socialite loses her status. The seed has a better chance of germinating then. Either way, we plant because we have compassion for the poor in spirit. We wait, then we sow.

There are those in whom we plant the seed that understand it and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, they nurture it. Like the mustard, the seed-word grows into a great bush that casts off its own seeds in due season. How blessed we are when we have the privilege of seeing the results of our sowing, a soul saved, a ministry raised up, a Kingdom ascending. In our ministry, we have had the privilege to have raised up many ministers committed to Yahshua. There might even be a few raised up here before it’s all over! A few words spoken, a deed done, a powerful name named, and now, no matter what happens to us, we can see a the tall trees that we have planted becoming an apple orchard. Some here may know what I mean, for you too have raised an orchard of trees with branches hanging low with heavy fruit.

I grew up in the Ohio corn belt. In my day, children entering public school were taught about Johnny Appleseed. Have you folks down here in the south ever heard of Johnny Appleseed? Everyone in the Midwest knows who he is. There are statues of him, streets and even towns named after him and a museum dedicated to him. His greatest contribution to history was planting apple trees. Let me tell you his remarkable story.

How superior it is for us who scatter the seeds of a Millennium Kingdom! How high is our mission, no matter how low we ourselves may be! For to be a sower of the Word of Yahweh makes one both as lofty as a King and as servile as a slave. Do someone a favor. Tell your story. Name your Savior. Go forth. Sow. If the seed is cast there will always be a crop, and the promise, even for the casual sower, is that he will indeed bear fruit and yield a hundred-fold, sixty-fold or thirty-fold.