Wednesday, October 18, 2006
The Mystery
Mark 4:26-27 and He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; 27. and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows how, he himself does not know.
It is our responsibility to know the gospel and proclaim the whole of it. This is our portion and our joy to see the furtherance of the kingdom as we sow the Word of God in all types of soil. Once we have done this part we then back off as the farmer finishes his hard day and goes to bed at night taking rest in a task well accomplished. The field is left into God’s care when he gets up the next day because he can do no more. This sequence; night and day is in the oriental thought as being the rest period of night begins the following day.
After the sowing, the farmer must trust in the power of the seed and it’s Creator. He may water, weed, and fertilize but there is nothing he can do to sprout the seed. He must tend to other things and go about his routine life of going to bed at night and when he gets up by day he is left to observation as far as the seed is concerned. This is also true of spiritual things as Paul proclaims to the Corinthian believers in 1Cor. 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus the focus is on the kingdom of God. Nicodemus does not ask the question but Jesus answers any way in John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The seed must be planted in good soil and God will accomplish His will as Jesus explains this to Nicodemus in verse 8 "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
We as sowers must cast the good seed but the mystery of germination and growth is wholly of God. Spurgeon says, “You cannot, after the seed has left your hand, cause it to put forth life… we cannot create, we cannot quicken, we cannot transform, we cannot regenerate, we cannot save.” We are taught to be patient in this parable. The farmer casts seed upon the soil and returns to his work in preparation for his crop lest he be foolishly overwhelmed come harvest time. He patiently awaits the fruition of his sowing until he observes the seed as it sprouts up and grows. This occurrence remains in Gods hand, it is a mystery limited from man’s knowledge and capacity to understand; how this happens, he himself does not know.
Those who take offense to being told that they he himself does not know will invent something from their own imaginations to refute this clear truth. Spurgeon says, “The philosopher may say that he can explain life and growth, and straightway he will, according to the ordinary process of philosophy, bamboozle you with terms which are less understandable that ordinary talk of infants; and then he will say, ‘There is the whole matter it is clear as possible.’ He cloaks his ignorance with learned jargon and calls it wisdom.”
It is our responsibility to know the gospel and proclaim the whole of it. This is our portion and our joy to see the furtherance of the kingdom as we sow the Word of God in all types of soil. Once we have done this part we then back off as the farmer finishes his hard day and goes to bed at night taking rest in a task well accomplished. The field is left into God’s care when he gets up the next day because he can do no more. This sequence; night and day is in the oriental thought as being the rest period of night begins the following day.
After the sowing, the farmer must trust in the power of the seed and it’s Creator. He may water, weed, and fertilize but there is nothing he can do to sprout the seed. He must tend to other things and go about his routine life of going to bed at night and when he gets up by day he is left to observation as far as the seed is concerned. This is also true of spiritual things as Paul proclaims to the Corinthian believers in 1Cor. 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus the focus is on the kingdom of God. Nicodemus does not ask the question but Jesus answers any way in John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The seed must be planted in good soil and God will accomplish His will as Jesus explains this to Nicodemus in verse 8 "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
We as sowers must cast the good seed but the mystery of germination and growth is wholly of God. Spurgeon says, “You cannot, after the seed has left your hand, cause it to put forth life… we cannot create, we cannot quicken, we cannot transform, we cannot regenerate, we cannot save.” We are taught to be patient in this parable. The farmer casts seed upon the soil and returns to his work in preparation for his crop lest he be foolishly overwhelmed come harvest time. He patiently awaits the fruition of his sowing until he observes the seed as it sprouts up and grows. This occurrence remains in Gods hand, it is a mystery limited from man’s knowledge and capacity to understand; how this happens, he himself does not know.
Those who take offense to being told that they he himself does not know will invent something from their own imaginations to refute this clear truth. Spurgeon says, “The philosopher may say that he can explain life and growth, and straightway he will, according to the ordinary process of philosophy, bamboozle you with terms which are less understandable that ordinary talk of infants; and then he will say, ‘There is the whole matter it is clear as possible.’ He cloaks his ignorance with learned jargon and calls it wisdom.”
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
SPONTANEOUS GROWTH
84. The parable of spontaneous growth
Mark 4:26-29. And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;
27. and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows how, he himself does not know.
28. "The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.
29. "But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
This portion of scripture is included only in Mark’s gospel and should awaken us to pay particular attention to his inspiration. He has just given us the details on the sower and the soils and then pulled us out of sequence by the parenthetical explanation to His disciples after He had them alone.
We look and find that Mark gives us this sequence of three sowing parables; the sower/soils (4:3-25), the germination and fruition of the seed (vv. 26-29), and the abundant growth we shall see in the mustard tree (vv. 30-32). These Markan parables taken in context tell us about human responsibility in the parable of the sower and soils. In this present parable of mysterious growing we learn of the sovereignty of God. In the next parable of the mustard tree we see the abundant growth obtained when these two powers operate harmoniously.
Mark 4:26-27 and He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; 27. and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows how, he himself does not know.
It is about this parable that C.H. Spurgeon says, “It is a parable for all who are concerned in the kingdom of God. It will be of little value to those who are in the kingdom of darkness, for they are not bidden to sow the good seed: Unto the wicked God saith, ‘what has thou to do to declare My statutes?’ But all who are loyal subjects to King Jesus, all who are commissioned to scatter seed for the Royal Husbandman, will be glad to know how the kingdom advances, glad to know how the harvest is preparing for Him whom they serve.”
This is spoken to teach patience to the kingdom citizens in that there are things that they can actively contribute but there are also those which are out of their control and jurisdiction. The kingdom citizen can sow and he can reap but in between those points the seed is completely left in God’s hands. We are also to understand that no kingdom citizen lives in obscurity and no one is excluded in sowing the seed. Again Spurgeon says, “There is not within the family of God an infant hand which may not drop its own tiny seed into the ground… sacred service is within the reach of everyone’s capacity and carried by the feeblest hand where it shall multiply a hundred fold.
Mark 4:26-29. And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;
27. and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows how, he himself does not know.
28. "The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.
29. "But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
This portion of scripture is included only in Mark’s gospel and should awaken us to pay particular attention to his inspiration. He has just given us the details on the sower and the soils and then pulled us out of sequence by the parenthetical explanation to His disciples after He had them alone.
We look and find that Mark gives us this sequence of three sowing parables; the sower/soils (4:3-25), the germination and fruition of the seed (vv. 26-29), and the abundant growth we shall see in the mustard tree (vv. 30-32). These Markan parables taken in context tell us about human responsibility in the parable of the sower and soils. In this present parable of mysterious growing we learn of the sovereignty of God. In the next parable of the mustard tree we see the abundant growth obtained when these two powers operate harmoniously.
Mark 4:26-27 and He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; 27. and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows how, he himself does not know.
It is about this parable that C.H. Spurgeon says, “It is a parable for all who are concerned in the kingdom of God. It will be of little value to those who are in the kingdom of darkness, for they are not bidden to sow the good seed: Unto the wicked God saith, ‘what has thou to do to declare My statutes?’ But all who are loyal subjects to King Jesus, all who are commissioned to scatter seed for the Royal Husbandman, will be glad to know how the kingdom advances, glad to know how the harvest is preparing for Him whom they serve.”
This is spoken to teach patience to the kingdom citizens in that there are things that they can actively contribute but there are also those which are out of their control and jurisdiction. The kingdom citizen can sow and he can reap but in between those points the seed is completely left in God’s hands. We are also to understand that no kingdom citizen lives in obscurity and no one is excluded in sowing the seed. Again Spurgeon says, “There is not within the family of God an infant hand which may not drop its own tiny seed into the ground… sacred service is within the reach of everyone’s capacity and carried by the feeblest hand where it shall multiply a hundred fold.
