Gospel
The parable of the sower
Sunday 16 November 2025 · Luke 8:4–15
When a great crowd gathered, Christ told them a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed. Some fell by the wayside, where it was trampled and the birds ate it. Some fell on rock, and as soon as it sprang up it withered, because it had no moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell on good ground, and yielded a crop a hundredfold. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
When His disciples asked what the parable meant, He explained that the seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside hear, but the devil takes the word from their hearts. Those on the rock receive it with joy, but have no root and fall away in temptation. Those among the thorns are choked by the cares, riches and pleasures of life. But those on good ground, "having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience."
Read the whole passage at home this week: Luke 8:4–15.
From the pulpit
Loosening the bonds of the world
Evan Kardaras · Sermon summary
In the parable of the sower, we learn of people who hear the word and immediately are attacked by the devil, who comes and takes away the message that was sown, spurring their unbelief. For the devil to take away that blessing with lightning speed, it means these people were totally consumed by sin; their lives were exclusively focused on their own pleasures, leaving no room for God's word to penetrate. Otherwise, the enemy would not have that degree of power over God's people, unless they had allowed it.
The next category are those who hear God's word and accept it, but as soon as trials and temptation come, they fall away and falter in their faith. This means God's word was only accepted superficially. They're not entirely consumed by sin, so there is an opportunity for God's word to land, but it still fails to penetrate. Christianity requires effort and struggle, and since this category of people prefer comfort, Christianity doesn't appeal to them.
Choked by the cares of this life
The third group hears the word but then is choked: they are bound by the burdens of life. This group is the focus of this sermon, as it best describes people like me, and Christians generally today. Most of us will pass through different groups in different chapters of our lives, but for those of us in the Western world today, this group describes us best.
The Greek word for cares is merimna (μέριμνα), a noun that signifies worry, anxiety or solicitude. It is often used in the plural to mean "cares" or "anxieties", and comes from the root word merizō (μερίζω), meaning "to divide" or "to separate". When I am fractured, I am being divided into the many distractions of this life, which demand a portion of my heart. Life in the Western world demands a love of holidays, love of money, love of our own comforts. The great deception of this chapter is that we can fall into a trap of believing that we are living good lives by our own definitions of Christianity. There are plenty of people who don't have Christ who demonstrate this same "goodness" without knowing God, and this simply isn't enough.
We read in Mark 12:29–31, when someone asks the Lord what the greatest commandment is: "Jesus answered him, 'The first of all the commandments is: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." There is no other commandment greater than these.'"
We learn from this that God does not want fragments of us; He wants all of our hearts. So if we are consumed by the pleasures and riches of this life, then our heart will lack space to become a vessel for God's work. The desire with which we seek God is equal to the measure that God will have room to fill.
The disease of our times is this covetous behaviour, where we all want what others have, tearing our hearts away from Christ. We live in a world that glorifies self-satisfaction and promotion. Social media algorithms are designed to fracture our hearts, but God's request of us is simple. He wants our hearts, undivided.
We turn to God
So how do we loosen the bonds of the world? We turn to God. We show up for Him with honesty, rawness, in our purest form, and we ask for forgiveness, for love, for guidance and for a new beginning.
With a few simple words, the thief on the right hand was saved and inherited eternal life. The path to sainthood is in accepting Christ as Saviour and King, and in creating a home for Him within us. In doing so, we glimpse heaven and forge a path forward which leads us to eternal life. Christianity is a journey, and the small steps we take every day allow us to live righteous paths that lead us to Him.
Our path may be flawed, but in our willingness to become fertile soil on which God's word can grow, we earn a joy beyond this world. We cannot find satisfaction in earthly things; we find the fullness of everything in Him alone. This is the witness of the saints, who come before God daily in repentance, to ask to be renewed and restored.
God loves us, and He wants nothing more than for us to inherit eternal life alongside Him. May God help us to find true joy, true love and true peace, and may we enter eternal life through the steps we take today.
Glory be to God.
