Seeds with Weeds

I gave this “Children’s” Message based on I John 2:28-3:10 during our sermon series on the book of I John. I hope it will be a tool you can use to convey God’s love and desire for all of his children to be like him. God plants the seed of faith in the hearts of believers. He goes on to call all believers, those with this seed of faith implanted in their hearts, his children, readily affirming that He is our good Father.

But despite the seed of faith rooted in our hearts, we have weed seeds, sin seeds, sprouting all over our lives. What do we do about these intruders? Why does God keep calling us his children if our “seed packet” contains a seed of faith and a bunch or nasty weed seeds?

Main Idea: As believers, we have been given both the seed of faith from God our Father and a new name, his children. However, our seed of faith grows among weed seeds of sin. Even though He knows we will sin, He calls us to to confess our sin and ask him for forgiveness. He wants us to turn from our sin and live righteous lives and in doing so we will become more and more like Jesus. 

I like to grow plants. And I really like to plant the seed instead of buying the plant mostly because then I get to watch it grow. When I buy a packet of zinnia seeds, they will grow into zinnia plants. When I buy a packet of marigold seeds they will grow into marigold plants. When I buy a packet carrot seeds they will grow into carrots. If I saw a seed packet at the store that said: one zinnia seed and lots of weed seeds would I buy it? Absolutely not. That would be ridiculous! What if I found the seed for the best-tasting carrot inside a packet of ferocious weed seeds? Would I buy it? Of course not!

But guess what? God would buy that seed packet! Isn’t that strange.

John uses the word “seed” as a picture of what is inside each of God’s children. It is the seed of our faith, the seed inside of us which has been planted by God’s Spirit so that as we grow we look and act more and more like our Father God. 

Just as my zinnia seeds turn into beautiful zinnia flowers and my marigold seeds become marigold flowers, and my carrot seeds become delicious carrots, each of us who believes in Jesus has the seed of faith inside of us so that we will grow to be like our Father in Heaven.

In today’s passage from the Bible, in I John 2 and 3, God calls all of us who follow Jesus his children. And he is not speaking of just those of us who are actually young children, but our parents and grandparents and all adults who follow him. It is a great honor for God to call us his children. He didn’t have to call us that, but He wants to be our Father. We have our earthly fathers with whom we live and often look and act like. But it is even more important that we have God as our perfect Father. He will never leave us. He will never fail us. Our human parents make mistakes and sometimes do the wrong thing, but God is our perfect Father.

In God’s eyes, If you were a real seed packet it would say something like:  ___________(Name), Child of God. Plant and water and ____will become more and more like God her/his father.

Your parents have a seed packet too. It says Mr. and Mrs. ________, Children of God. As you grow you become more like God’s child you obey him. You turn away from sin in order to grow like God. So do your mother and father and all of us who are followers of Jesus. 

It is amazing to me that God, the Creator of the world, would call us his children when we do wrong things. It’s like we have the seed of faith in Jesus, but lots of weed seeds that are our sin. Why didn’t God give me the seed packet name like this:

Mrs. Fischer: A Human Being that I Created and Love:

Packet includes: One faith seed and a Lot of Weed Seeds. Will have trouble growing sometimes, will need to be weeded.

Would you buy a seed packet that had weed seeds in it? I wouldn’t buy a seed packet that had a weed seeds in it! I never, ever would. But not God. He says, “you are my child” and He buys us even though we have lots of weed seeds! In fact He still calls our seed packets: _________(Name), My Child. He knows I have weed seeds, but He still calls us his children. And He calls us his children because He wants us to live and act like him because He calls himself our Father. Wow!

What will happen with those weed seeds? God doesn’t want those weed seeds to keep sprouting. We need to hear God’s Spirit talk to us when we want to do the wrong thing. He says,“You are my child. Doing this wrong thing is not the way to live as my child. Stop growing weeds of sin.”

Instead when you sin, repent, tell God you’re sorry and turn away from your sin and live rightly. He longs for you and me to live righteously. I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Let’s Pray:

Dear Jesus, You call us your children. We are amazed that we are called not only the children of our parents, but the children of the Most High God, the Creator God, the God who Died for us. Thank you for loving us so much, for wanting us so much that you have named us your children. Will you help us grow into children who live rightly? May we be quick to repent and turn from sin and return to following you. Thank you for planting the seed of faith in our hearts. We want to grow into beautiful children of yours our Father God. Amen.