He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,
and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. Mark 4:26
The Kingdom of God is described like the growth of a seed. Science has given us a much greater understanding about seeds and how they germinate and grow, but even with that knowledge, it is still a magical and mysterious thing to watch a seed grow.
You place this tiny seed in the ground. Something that looks dry and dead. And then, somehow, it begins to grow. It then transforms itself into an entirely different thing, a plant that in no way resembles the seed planted.
Growth is mysterious.
And that’s true for us too. Maybe if I asked you where you were with God, what your understanding of the Christian faith was five, ten, fifteen years ago, maybe you would be able to identify ways in which your understanding has grown, your commitment to Jesus has grown, your faith in God has become stronger. But if I was to ask you ‘how’ that growth came about, I wonder if you could tell me?
Growth is mysterious. We can see that it has happened, but we are not always sure how, or even when it happened. Maybe there were key moments, key insights, key decisions, key experiences in life- good and bad; but mostly, growth is a mysterious thing that happens, and we are not always even aware that it is happening.
‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.’
The second thing we learn from this is that the power is in the seed, not in the sower. The sower, having sown, simply goes on about his business, sleeping and rising, just going through the everyday rhythms of life.
The seed goes about its own mysterious thing and the sower has no idea what is going on. The first thing the sower knows about it is when the plant starts to appear above the ground.
As we share the message of Jesus with those around us, we have no idea whether that seed is taking root and growing or not. But that is beyond our pay-grade.
Our job is to sow, God’s job is to make grow.
Bizarrely, the sower’s role in this parable is both essential, and ineffectual. He scatters the seed – an essential act – no sowing, no growing. But the sower has no control over what happens next. He cannot influence it in any way. Whether he sleeps or wakes, the seed will do its own thing.
But once that growth is seen, then the sower’s job changes. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, St Paul is writing to a church that is divided into factions, grouped around different leaders. Some are calling themselves “Paul’s people”, others “Apollos’ people”, they want to express their loyalty to the apostle who was most significant in them coming to faith. But St Paul writes correcting their understanding;
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”
St Paul’s point is exactly the one being made by Jesus. Paul had sown the gospel seed in preaching to them. Apollos had followed on, seen the signs of spiritual interest and spiritual growth and he had watered and encouraged that through his ministry and his prayers. Yet who was responsible for the growth? God alone.
The challenge then to us, is about how are we sowing the gospel seed in the hearts and lives of those around us? I have never known a church to grow without its congregation doing their job as sowers of the gospel seed.
Let me say that again, I have never known a church to grow without its congregation doing their job as sowers of the gospel seed.
So, if we want the churches of the Hexagon to survive, we have to be sowing the gospel seed. Even then we cannot guarantee that there will be growth. But I can guarantee that without sowing, there will never be growth.
How are we showing and sharing the love of God to those around us? Who are we inviting to church? No sowing, no growing.
But we can take heart that it is not our job to make the seed grow. That is God’s job. And we can take heart in the fact that there is no expiry date on the gospel seed. It can lie dormant in someone’s heart for decades and the suddenly burst into life.
One of our new members is going to be confirmed this afternoon. He first encountered the Christian faith as a child, but it is only over recent years that that gospel seed has started to sprout and grow, and this afternoon, he will declare his allegiance to Jesus in confirmation. He is now 68 years old, the gospel seed has lain dormant in his heart for 60 years, yet has suddenly, mysteriously sprung into life. There is no expiry date for the gospel seed.
However, when we see the first signs of that seed growing – people expressing an interest in Jesus, asking deep questions about life, saying stuff like, “You know that thing you said to me about Jesus the other week, that really made me think.”
Then that is our clue that the seed is starting to grow. That is the sign of the Father working, so we go and stand beside it, we water the growing seed. We do that by our prayers, with invitations to go deeper. We invite people to church, perhaps we invite them around to our home to read one of the parables of Jesus and simply chat about what we make of it, or maybe we gather a few people and do that as a group. It’s not rocket surgery! It is God that does the clever stuff. We just have to sow the gospel seed.
And it is a wonderful seed to sow. At its heart the message of the gospel is beautiful, it tells people that they are loved, that their lives can have meaning and significance, that every day of their existence can count for eternity if they live each day for God and with God.
That’s a beautiful message to be able to share in a world that tells you your existence is an accident of atoms and molecules, that you your life and your choices don’t have any meaning, or any purpose, and that the moment you die, everything you did counts for nothing. That’s bleak.
The Christian message is beautiful and rich. It says God made you, God loves you, God is so desperate to be reconciled to you, to have you back in His family, that he came and died for you. God wants to give you a key role in his work to renew the whole universe.
What a story to share!
Whether people receive that gospel seed, is out of our control. How it grows in their lives is out of our control. Our job is simply to share the message in sensitive and appropriate ways.
Maybe we think we can’t do much for God. Maybe all this talk about sowing the gospel seed in peoples’ lives, seems impossible for us. We wouldn’t know what to say, or where to start.
Well, when you were baptised, the Holy Spirit of God came upon you and anointed you for this calling. Every Christian is called to be a missionary disciple. Every Christian has the duty and responsibility before God, to share the gospel with those around you.
When God calls, God empowers.
You are empowered to do this. And the power is in the seed not the sower. All God asks you to do is to share whatever you know, show whatever you can, and leave the rest to God.
FuelForPilgrims 