Let's Throw Some Seeds!

Scripture: Mark 4:26-34 (cf. 26 - 29)

Title: Let's Throw Some Seeds!

Scripture: Mark 4:26-34 (cf. 26 - 29)

Title: Let's Throw Some Seeds!

Theme: Organic Christianity - Scattering Seeds of Growth

I. There are some things that are under our Control

II. There are some things that are totally under God's Control

"Wisdom is knowing the difference and living accordingly"

SCRIPTURE:

Mark 4:26 - 29

"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. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in which his sickle, because the harvest is come.'"

INTRO:

Mr. Andrew Prior in his blog, "One Man's Web" shared this wonderful little insight as we begin to look at our passage in the Gospel of Mark this morning -

"Farming is the great liturgy of faith which country folk enact each season."

Anyone who has ever attempted to grow a garden or even a few plants understands the wisdom of that statement -

"Farming is the great liturgy of faith which country folk enact each season."

Most of chapter four is taken up with one parable after another dealing with either seeds, soil or plants. Each one of them is easy to read and Jesus takes some time to share with us some lessons that we are to glean from them - in particular, the Parable of the Four Soils. But when we come to our passage - verses 26 - 29, we don't quite have that luxury even though the more you read these verses and the more you allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you the more you begin to understand the true nature of this particular Parable.

It is of course a parable about Organic growth; in particular, organic spiritual growth.

Mark wants us to understand that our spiritual growth as both individuals and as a community is more of a divine mystery than a human manipulation. This parable speaks of a walk with Jesus that leans more on the side of patience, spiritual discipline and surrender than it does on strategy, programs and agendas. That does not mean to say that we are to believe that things merely happen on their own, but, it does teach us that most of the good things that happen to us are organic in nature. This parable teaches us that it is our responsibility to work with the moving of God's Holy Spirit and not convince ourselves that we can somehow either control/manipulate God or His Kingdom.

Jesus lived in a world that was very familiar with insecurity and instability. It was not uncommon for a harvest to fail because of poor weather conditions or soil conditions. And when the harvest was plentiful more often than not the Romans would come in and take the majority of the harvest for themselves; telling the farmers that the Empire needed the grain for the military or for the elite that lived in Rome. The common folk that lived in that time simply understood that there were a number of things could happen that would overtake them and leave them homeless, penniless and reduced to a life of begging.

In some ways that is also our context as well. Oh, we may not have to worry so much about drought or the government coming in and taking our food but we do live in a time filled with anxiety, insecurity and turmoil. We live in a world of false security. Even in our country while we promote our tremendous power and might we all know that a well placed EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) bomb, the right group knowing how to bring down our power grid or hack into our most secure servers can bring our nation to its knees in a matter of minutes, hours and days.

And if you are like me, I try not to let those things concern me. There are simply some things that you and I can do nothing about and then there are things that we do have a measure of control. There are some things that our actions can make a big difference. That is a great deal what Jesus' parable in verses 26 - 29 wants to teach us.

I. We are to understand that there are some things that we can control

That is the whole meaning behind verse 26 -

"The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seeds on the ground"

There are some things that we can control around us. There are some emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually things in our lives that we are able to have a certain measure of control over and can influence through our direct actions. There are some things that we can do to make sure that we live the best life on this earth as possible.