To Be a Sower

Posted On October 13, 2020

Let me tell you a story about Pioneer. Pioneer was called by God to minister to people in a place where no one had heard of Jesus. Pioneer loved God, loved the people around him, and tried to show his community the love of Jesus. Despite his best efforts, those he ministered to were uninterested in the gospel; but that did not dissuade Pioneer! He served year-in and year-out telling people that Jesus loves them – without results. No churches started, no committed Christians. 

Although a few people did claim salvation, they all caved to the pressures of society and quit. As for the unresponsive community, they accused Pioneer of being backward. Even after years of showing those people nothing but love, they summarized his kindness as something evil. To add insult to injury, Pioneer’s brothers and sisters in Christ consistently “educated” him on how to do his job better. (They assumed he was doing something wrong because of his lack of spiritual results.) 

Nevertheless, Pioneer persevered and continued to love God, love people, and share the love of Jesus. At the end of his life, Pioneer’s observable accomplishments were the following: zero churches started; a few converts who claimed salvation and then quit; an unappreciative community who labeled him evil; and criticism from fellow believers for his failure to reach people with the gospel.

Pioneer was a sower.

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You might be wondering why I told this story. Honestly, I feel that this is a valid part of being a Christian and want to examine some of the struggles surrounding it. Now, you might say, “Well, this is just a story. That’s not how real Christianity is!” I understand the desire to make ministry and Christianity look fun and amazing; but this story is built on personal experience. I have seen this happen. I think it is dangerous to try and look at a service to Christ through rose-colored glasses. Of course, this is not every person’s testimony; but it is a real calling. So please, bear with me, and let us look at the topic this story alludes to – the sower.

In John 4:37-38, Jesus describes two ministers:

“One soweth, another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye entered into their labours.”

For clarity’s sake, the two ministers are the sower and the reaper. The reaper sacrifices his life to Jesus but benefits from what the sower has done. Hearts are ready. People trust Christ and live for Him. Churches are started. But what about the sower? The sower is the guy who gives his life to Jesus, does the work, but does not see the ultimate results.

What does it look like to be a sower?

1.  The sower sees very limited spiritual response. While focusing on loving God and those around him, the sower actively works to see people trust Christ. He uses every ministry model at his disposal, every technique suggested to him; yet the people to whom the sower ministers do not want the gospel. Of course, the sower must be doing something wrong! (I say this in jest.) I submit that maybe, just maybe, some unbelieving hearts are simply not ready to receive the Gospel. Perhaps the sower’s life – and I mean entire life – is simply God’s means of preparing or “breaking” those hearts for a reaper to come later – “Break up your fallow ground” (Jeremiah 4:3).

2.  The sower is detested by unbelievers and criticized by believers. I have found that modern Christianity often defines spiritual and ministerial success as results (i.e. baptisms, churches planted, souls saved, etc.). Therefore, when believers notice a Christian not producing results (“success”), they assume that he is doing something wrong. They then proceed to explain why and how he is, according to them, failing. On top of such Job-level encouragement (Job 16:2), the sower is loathed by unbelievers: “they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you” (1 Peter 4:4).

3.  The sower deals with a “failure complex” If it is true that a Christian can serve Jesus correctly yet not see major spiritual responses due to hardened hearts (“fallow ground”), the sower will struggle with the image of failure. This is especially true with modern Christianity’s view of success. If success is proportional to results, then the sower is a failure – thus, the “failure complex.” But remember, he is the guy who gives his life to Jesus, does the work, but does not see the ultimate results.

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I want to emphasize that not everyone is called to be a sower. (Whew! Right?) Some people will see minimal results in their service to Jesus, and others will see a multitude of “successes” (2 Timothy 4:2). I simply wanted to highlight the sower because I fear that modern Christianity has replaced the heart of the sower with expectations of the reaper. Modern Christianity expects results. By assuming or expecting all Christians to be reapers and produce results (“success”), the sower is marginalized. While salvations, baptisms, revivals, etc. are noble and necessary goals, they are simply not the end to which God has called Christians. God wants his people to serve – even if they do not get what they or others expect, even if they never see the ultimate results (“not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off” – Hebrews 11:13).

As for a challenge, is your service to Jesus contingent on results? There is nothing wrong with having big goals and dreams; in fact, we should live with the mindset that God can use us to do something great. However, I do believe that it is detrimental for those going into ministry to expect results.

What if God has called you to be a sower? 

To conclude, think back on Pioneer. No glory. No vindication. No results. Did he fail? 

I do not believe so. He was called by God to be a sower; and he served with a sower’s heart – just an unconditional love and service for Jesus.

_{Post written by William Weimer}