God Brings Growth
Mark 4:26-29
Rev. Brian Bill
7/19/09
Probably because I’m not real handy, I often have no clue how certain things work. I have some visuals up on the stage to show what I’m stumped about. I was going to bring a video of the moon walk from Apollo 11 but apparently it’s been erased. Let’s start with this microwave. I know you plug it in and punch some numbers and it cooks your food but I have no idea how it works. I did learn this week that it was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and the chocolate bar in his pocket suddenly melted.
I have no insight into how this iPod works either. It’s so small and yet it can hold about 2,000 songs and sermons. I have no clue how this sermon can go through this wireless microphone, be recorded on the computer upstairs, uploaded to iTunes and then by the time I get home and plug my iPod in, the sermon will download in seconds to this credit-card size device so I can play it as a sleep-aid tonight when I have a hard time falling asleep. Incidentally, I subscribe to 18 different podcasts, which include sermons by three other pastors (Ray Pritchard, Steve Brown, and James MacDonald) and other interesting programs like “Bill O’Reilly’s Talking Points,” “The Dog Trainer,” “Focus on the Family, “60 Minutes,” “Plugged In Online,” “Stuff You Missed in History Class,” and my current favorite called, “How Stuff Works.”
The most recent “How Stuff Works” episode was called, “How Twinkies Work.” Invented in the 1930s, these delectable delicacies have 39 different ingredients, with two of the flavors coming from petroleum. Their long shelf life is legendary. The company that makes them states that they can last 25 days before they go bad but we all know that they’re essentially indestructible – especially if they’re deep fried. These yellow cakes are baked first and then the cream is squirted in through three small holes on the bottom. Would anyone like this one? I bought it back in 1978 but I think it’s still good.
Last week we looked at four different soils on which the seed is sown. Since seed sowing in souls can be discouraging, today we’re going to study a short story that is found only in the Gospel of Mark. It’s located right after the parable of the sower and its aim is to bring encouragement to us. The parable of the sower demonstrates the importance of the quality of the soil. This parable shows the power of the seed itself. We could summarize it like this: When the seed takes root, there will be fruit. We might not know how God works, but we know that He is working.
Let’s listen to this very practical parable from Mark 4:26-29: “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
I like what a commentator said about the parables of Jesus: “There is no easy take-home message for us in these parables. They ask that we engage our imaginations to follow the possibilities and incongruities that we distinguish between a world where everything is planned, linear, and logical, to one filled with mysteries and surprises into which a Sovereign God invites us.” This parable certainly contains some mysteries and surprises. The first thing we notice is that Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God, which was one of his favorite topics. Basically, the kingdom of God represents life as lived under the Kingship of God. When we recognize God’s right to reign supreme, this is how things will work. I see two main characteristics of the kingdom in this passage.
1. We can sow but we can’t make the seed grow (26-27). One of our tasks as Christ-followers is to sow the seed of the Word of God: “A man scatters seed on the ground.” That is our responsibility and according to Spurgeon, “Holy seed sowing should be adopted as our highest pursuit.” We must get the seed of God’s Word into the souls of people because if Jesus is to be known, the seed must be sown!
Ecclesiastes 11:4 challenges us to not delay or procrastinate: “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.” Some of us have been perpetually plowing but we’ve not scattered the seed in the souls of our friends, co-workers or family members like Isaiah 28:24-25 says: “When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil? When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?” I love what Josh Marchetti said last week when asked what advice he would give to those who don’t know Christ: “What are you waiting for?”
But notice that once the seed is sown, a farmer can’t really do anything to make it germinate. The seed sprouts and grows on its own. Even though we can learn a lot about crops, it’s still a miracle when the seed sprouts, isn’t it? Actually, we’re surrounded by miracles in this area because the fields are full of green growth. I’m certainly no expert on corn or beans but I’m fascinated by farmers. I’ve ridden in a combine a couple times but I still have a long way to go in my understanding. A year ago when someone was talking about her beans I asked her how many she freezes and stores in the freezer. She still teases me about this.
After the ground is prepared and cultivated and fertilized, the sower can’t make the growth happen. We can sow but we can’t make the seed sprout. No matter if the farmer is sleeping or doing something else, the growth of the seed is in God’s hands: “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows…” The farmer goes through his daily routines without exerting any extra energy into the plant to make it sprout.
[Hold up corn seed and corn plants]
When I was driving to the office on Wednesday morning, I heard a report on WJEZ from the Illinois Extension Office. I’m not sure if I captured everything, but here’s what I jotted down: “Farmers can just wait now because the corn and beans are doing well. It’s time to take off and enjoy the County Fair.” Now I’m sure you farmers are keeping a close eye on bugs and fungus and wondering whether to spray or not, but really the growth of the crop is out of your hands. It takes a lot of faith to be a farmer, doesn’t it?
I called Stan Blunier on Friday since I know I’m way out of my field (pun intended) when it comes to farming. Stan is a farmer so I thought I’d ask him some questions. I learned a bunch of things. He told me that he and other farmers use methods and agricultural insights to do all they can to get the highest yield from their fields. Planting needs to be at the right time and the soil needs to have the right composition of minerals and fertilizer. If all the conditions are good, the seed will germinate because that’s all part of God’s plan. When good seed goes into good soil, good things happen. When the seed takes root, there will be fruit. And then he told me that farmers can do only so much because ultimately it all depends on “the Lord and weather.” I also asked him if he is surprised when the corn comes up out of the ground. He responded: “Yes, every year I’m amazed that corn actually comes up.”
I know I understand very little about how corn grows, but it strikes me that you don’t have to know how things work in order for them to work. I don’t know how this microwave or iPod or Twinkie work, but that doesn’t stop them from working. According to the last phrase in verse 27, things grow, “though he does not know how.” In Greek, the word order is quite lively: “How, he does not know.” Ecclesiastes 11:5 reminds us that the way God works is not always understandable: “As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”
But just because we might be deficient in knowing, that doesn’t mean we should stop sowing. Some of us don’t share Jesus with people because we think we don’t know enough. Listen: Our part is to sow; God’s part is to make it grow. After establishing the necessity of the new birth, Jesus told Nicodemus that there’s a sense of mystery about the Spirit in John 3:7-8: “You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” If someone were to ask you to explain exactly how the new birth works, you’d probably struggle a bit. If anyone does ask you this, tell him or her that once they experience it, then they’ll know what it is.
What’s true in an agricultural setting is true in the spiritual world. The beginning is often insignificant. What we see next is that spiritual progress is often imperceptible.
2. Growth is slow but it will eventually show (28-29). In verse 28 we see that something spontaneous happens when the seed is put into the soil: “All by itself the soil produces grain…” The phrase “all by itself” in Greek is where we get the word “automatic.” It’s the idea of being self-acting or without visible cause. The only other time this word is used is in Acts 12:10 where we read that the iron gate “opened for them by itself.” We cannot make seed grow; we can’t even explain how it grows. All the farmers I know are very busy but this statement describes the organic growth that explodes underground leading to impressive growth above. Just like the seed germinates out of sight, so too, the seed of the gospel begins to grow before it will show.
In his commentary on this passage, Wuest writes: “The mystery of growth still puzzles famers and scientists of today with all our modern knowledge. But nature’s secret processes do not fail to operate because we are ignorant. The secret and mysterious growth of the kingdom in the heart and life is the point of this beautiful parable…When man has done his part; the actual process of growth is beyond his reach or comprehension.” While I don’t recommend doing exactly what Martin Luther did on Sunday afternoons, his attitude is spot on when he states: “After I preach my sermon on Sunday, when I return home I drink my little glass of Wittenberg beer and I just let the gospel run its course.” When someone was converted, Luther would give them two items – a Bible they could understand and a hymnal from which they could sing. This is what he said, “Let them loose and like fire they will spread on their own.”
I read this week that a seed that was buried in an Egyptian tomb was found thousands of years later and when it was planted in the ground, it grew! Why? Because there is life in the seed. I love what 1 Peter 1:23 says about the seed of the Word of God: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active.” The Word of God goes out on purpose with a purpose according to Isaiah 55:11: “So is my word that goes out from my mouth; It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
While germination is spontaneous, growth is always gradual. Look at verse 28: “First the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.” I came across a time-lapse presentation of how corn grows this week. [Show YouTube Video] After the seed is in the soil for awhile, it begins to send down some roots and then a blade, which becomes the stalk, pushes up through the ground. With time the plant matures and after pollination, kernels appear on the cob. [Demonstrate with different size corn plants]
Another faithful farmer in our church is Wes Stalter. He sent me an email that explains the intricacies of corn plant pollination. Here are some “fast facts” from www.icorn.com:
* Tassels emerge about 2-3 days prior to the silks
* Silks are receptive to pollen for up to 10 days after they emerge
* If silk is clipped by insects, it will regrow until a pollen grain lands on it
* Once the pollen grain lands on the sticky silk, it germinates in a matter of minutes
* Within 24 hours of fertilization, the silk will detach from the ovule and fall off signaling complete fertilization
Agronomy experts tell us that there are a number of variables that consistently occur with corn but even understanding a little about it makes me marvel even more at the miracle of growth.
Verse 28 describes stages or phases or steps in our spiritual growth – the stalk, the ear, and the full kernels. The Reveal Survey that we took over a year ago spells out a Spiritual Growth Continuum: Exploring Christianity, Growing in Christ, Close to Christ, and Christ-Centered.
As part of PBC’s mission, after connecting you to Christ, we want to equip you to be growing and faithful followers. Pastor Dick will be talking more about this in August but suffice it to say that our aim is to help you take the next step spiritually. Your next step may be different from the person sitting next to you, but each one has a step to take. I asked Pastor Dick for his thoughts on discipleship this week. Here’s what he said: “…While God provides the rain and sun, we add the fertilizer. Spiritual growth happens as we do our part and God guarantees to do his, and that growth is a continual process. PBC will do its part in the process but believers need to do theirs as well and the growth is the result of the Holy Spirit combining all of those efforts.”
Because the Word is powerful and productive, we need to be patient. The great missionary Hudson Taylor once said that there are three qualifications for missionaries: “patience, patience, and patience.” I don’t know much about how corn grows, but here are some “fast facts” about how faith grows.
Fast Facts about Spiritual Growth
* It’s normal for a Christian to grow. To say it another way, if you’re not growing, then something is wrong. Here’s a truly radical thought. Believers in the Book of Acts were simply living their Christian lives according to what Jesus taught. What you and I consider to be radical behavior was nothing more than a sincere attempt to live obediently. What many of us consider normal Christian living today – compared to what the first church experienced – is not normal at all.
* Germination is spontaneous but growth is not instantaneous. While some of us want to have “microwave” faith where everything happens quickly, the truth of the matter is that growth takes time. J. Oswald Sanders writes: “The temper of our times is for instant gratification and short-term commitment – quick answers to prayer and quick results with a minimum of effort and discomfort. But there is no such thing as easy and instant discipleship. One can commence a walk of discipleship in a moment, but the first step must lengthen into a life-long walk.” William Carey, the father of the modern mission movement, often said of himself that his one great strength was that he was a ‘plodder.’ He may not have had the greatest skills but he had extraordinary tenacity.
* Growth is not always easy to measure. Kingdom growth is often detected only at certain stages because we can’t always see change in our lives from day to day. But, when compared to what you used to be there should be change and visible fruit. 2 Peter 3:18: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
* Be intentional about your own growth. We’ve said this before but it’s worth stating again. We grow when we want to grow. Or to say it another way: You are as close to God as you want to be. Maturity does not come from eating “Spiritual Twinkies.” If you want to grow, you’ll need to be intentional about it. Read your Bible every day. Pray. Serve. Attend and participate in Sunday services. Join a small group this fall. Share your faith. Find an accountability partner. Get rid of sin in your life. Change your friends. Practice the spiritual disciplines. Ask yourself these questions: Do I love God more today than I did yesterday? Do I love people more today than yesterday? Do I love my enemies? Is there fruit in my life? Is there an attitude I need to change? A sin I need to confess? A person I need to forgive?
* We need to help others grow but ultimately it’s God who brings growth. Have you ever tried to help someone grow but because their heart wasn’t into it, nothing happened? While I enjoy mentoring and discipling others, I take great comfort in the fact that God is the one who brings growth. Kevin Ruffcorn states: “Christian growth has more to do with allowing the Word of God to be planted in our lives then it does with doing great things for Christ” (www.sermoncentral.com). Listen to 1 Corinthians 3:6-7: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” It’s God’s providence, not the farmer’s power that makes grain grow. Likewise, I can’t make anyone else grow but I can direct them to God who will grow them.
* Sow the seed in your children and wait patiently for it to sprout. Psalm 126:5-6: “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.” I received an email from Lisa Watson this week that I wanted to pass along because it shows how we as parents have a lot of opportunities to sow the seed with our kids and to do some teaching with them: “Last Sunday after church, I was weeding in the garden and thinking thru the message about the soil types. As I pulled weeds, I thought how it is easier to pull a weed while it is small, with shallow roots than a large one that has really gone deep. It also was true that if I pulled the top off but didn’t get the roots, I know that it will grow back very soon and be stronger than ever. No one likes to pull weeds but if let it go; it chokes out the good things trying to grow. Even well fertilized, good soil grows weeds. So much of this is true with the ‘weeds’ in our lives. When Rachel was working with me [her daughter], she got frustrated and said that she couldn’t always tell what was weed and what was a good plant. I told her I understood and let her go play. Later I realized how wrong that was, that instead of teaching her how to identify a weed, I tried to just do it for her. How true in parenting that it is important to teach our kids to recognize ‘weeds’ throughout life.”
Verse 29 shows us that sowing eventually leads to harvesting because when the seed takes root, there will be fruit. “As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” We sow, God is in charge of “grow” and then we get to focus on what will show. If you’re weary of sowing the seed and tired of all the weeds, then you might want to memorize Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” One pastor hit it on the head when he writes: “You can’t see what God is doing – working behind the scenes and beneath the soil of hearts – to bring souls to Himself.”
I love harvest time in Livingston County but I’m sure farmers love it even more! That’s why they plant in the first place. Our girls get a kick out of me because sometimes I feel sad when all the corn plants are cut down. Everything just seems so brown and desolate. But then I remember that the golden nuggets are in the bins or on the way to the elevator. And that puts a smile on my face.
An insignificant beginning leads to imperceptible progress which results in immeasurable success. That’s how it’s always been in God’s plant kingdom and that’s how it is in his “people kingdom” as well. We don’t have to know it all before we sow to all because when the seed takes root, there will be fruit.
How the Word Works in the World
I came across a really strange story this week about a new TV game show scheduled to air in Turkey. Here’s how Reuters reported on it: “What happens when you put a Muslim imam, a priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk in a room with 10 atheists?” The idea is that these four spiritual leaders will seek to convert a group of non-believers before a television audience. While this might make for good ratings, it’s not how conversion works. God does His Work through the seed of His Word. In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus says: “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” It takes time and is not quantified like we measure other things. I like how someone summarized this passage: “The sprouting, growing and ripening of the Gospel is a supernatural process beyond our prediction and control.”
We don’t spend near enough time celebrating what God is doing around the world. I love how we did that at our Missions Festival last year and I’m anticipating more of the same again in October as we invite three other missionary families to join us. In spite of all the bad news that we hear, God is on the move and His harvest is coming in! Check out the words of Jesus in John 4:35-38: “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Some of what I’ll share is deliberately vague because of where the harvest is taking place.
* I know of an intern serving in an Asian country who had the opportunity recently to hold hands with a Christian woman from a Muslim background and pray for her. She will never forget this woman’s story or the privilege that was hers to pray for this suffering sister in Christ.
* Ten years ago Jeannette Shubert started a women’s ministry training center in Russia. The 21 women initially trained taught others, who taught others, who in turn taught others. There are now fourth and fifth generation groups in over 40 cities across Russia! One Russian woman said, “It seems like I live so far away and it is lonely. Here at the conference we have seen how big this ministry is – all across the country. We are not alone.”
* A Pastor in the Middle East was attacked while distributing Bibles at a local bazaar. He has been threatened with death and cursed as an infidel, but continues to hand out Bibles. In an update in the Voice of the Martyrs magazine (www.persecution.com), this man states, “Sometimes I face problems from the Muslims when I share the Word of God. They say, ‘No, we will lose our faith if we read your book.’” He knows that there is power in the seed of the Word of God and scores of Muslims are coming to faith when they read the Bible. I’m greatly challenged by his sense of urgency: “We have to do a lot. I realize that the work has to spread to many people and there are many that don’t have the word, and we need to get it to them.” His evangelism is simple and effective. He wakes up, prays, and before he eats a simple breakfast, he fills his bag with the word of God: “I’ve had my literature bag four years. I saved for two months to buy this bag…Time is very short and in this short time we have to reach many people.”
* 400,000 copies of “Anchor for the Soul” written by Ray Pritchard have been given away in the last nine years. We give them away for free here at PBC and they are also used by Prison Fellowship, given to military personnel, distributed in jails and prisons and by our own Caring Pregnancy Center here in Pontiac (see www.keepbelieving.com).
* Scott and Aldine Blunier are part of a mission with vision called PAZ in Brazil. Their mission wants to establish 500 new churches by 2014, there are currently 3500 cell groups in their city – their goal is to reach 10,000 groups by the end of 2012. PAZ also provides water filters and medical boats, which are used to open doors to many communities along the rivers. They have installed 8,000 water filters so far and plan to install another 1,000 this year. About 24 years ago, Scott and Aldine attended PBC before leaving for the mission field. Our church did not support them then because their needs were taken care of but since their situation has changed, we now have the opportunity to do so at our annual meeting on July 29th when members will vote on whether to add them to our missionary family.
* A ministry in Syria has produced a low-budget docudrama on the life of Paul. The world premiere took place on March 2nd in Damascus, with more than one thousand religious, political and business leaders in attendance. Amazingly, the President of an Arab country has been promoting it. This film is now being shown in theatres and churches of all denominations and distributed on DVD throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world. Just recently the Vatican found out about it and liked it so much that it will be distributed by the Catholic Church worldwide. Because someone we know is a vice president this ministry, he was invited to the Vatican for this event. I love his perspective in his recent prayer letter: “While Campus Crusade does not embrace all the theology of the Catholic Church…we are honored to partner with them in declaring the gospel and the life of Paul who was radically changed by His Savior. It is our prayer that as others view the film, they also will be gripped with their need for Christ to redeem their life.”
* The Growth of the church in China. Despite, or maybe because of persecution, China, with 1 million evangelicals in 1950, now has upwards of 100 million Christians.
* The Growth in South Korea. A Buddhist country in 1900, South Korea was 20% Christian by 1980 and 30% by 1990 with estimates of up to 50% today. David Yonggi Cho heads a church of over 800,000 members with over 25,000 home groups. They have already sent out 10,000 missionaries. This is where Katie Vietti has been this summer.
* According to the July cover story in “Christianity Today,” the church in Cuba is experiencing an amazing revival. Seminaries have established extension campuses to cope with record enrollment. One leader states, “The church is still growing faster than we can produce leaders…” According to another leader, “The church before was asking, ‘How do we survive?’ Now the church is asking, ‘How do we multiply?’” This harvest is coming in large part because of the faithful sowing of missionaries in the late 1800s.
Friends, the harvest is here! It’s inevitable! It’s exciting! God does His work silently, slowly and yet he does it surely! Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
As we prepare to conclude our service with a song of praise, listen to these stirring words preached by Ray Stedman over 40 years ago (www.pbc.org): “There is the process…which is going on secretly underneath all the confusion and the hoorah and hoopla of the world, beneath all the political chicanery and maneuverings of governments, within and above and beyond and beneath and around all the structures of society, this seed is growing secretly. God is producing his great and final harvest and it will all come to pass exactly as he says…How encouraging it ought to be to us that this seed grows secretly both in our lives and in the entire world. God has not failed, and the church has not failed. It cannot fail. Oh, there is a lot of scaffolding and physical structure, a lot of human organization and trappings all around the church, which we have falsely identified as the church that is rotting and crumbling and falling to pieces. But this is not the building God is building in this age, nor the seed that he sowed and is producing. That seed is growing unto harvest, exactly as the Lord Jesus said. It will increase as you allow that seed to be planted in your own heart and God will give the increase.”
As our country remembers the impact of Walter Cronkite this weekend, I’m reminded of his signature sign-off at the end of his newscasts: “And that’s the way it is on Sunday, July 19th.”
I invite you to stand and listen to the way it is in Isaiah 61:11 before we sing about God’s reign: “For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.”
Closing Song: “He Reigns”
