February 20, 2017
Jesus came proclaiming and establishing a new kingdom. Men were oriented to the kingdom of this world. Christ came announcing that the kingdom of God had come. Everything in His life and ministry was about this kingdom.
He knew that we must understand how this kingdom would be built, how it would grow. We also needed to know what our vital part was in this growth ... and His.
THE CASTING
Believers play a vital role in the building of this kingdom.
And he was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;" (Mark 4:26)
Believers are this “man.” Our job is to cast the seed. We do not know what will grow and what will not. We are simply to cast the seed. This is the mom who witnesses to a neighbor; the man who tells his co-worker about Christ and then lives the Christ-life before him; the preacher who faithfully preaches God's word; the student who shares the Lord with another in a stumbling way ... and on and on.
We all must cast the seed of the gospel. It is not even critical to sow the seed with a finely polished performance. We must get the seed out. Sow it!
And, we must do it constantly and everywhere. No seed cast, no harvest, obviously. That is the tragic truth (and the explanation about why so many believers are seeing so little evangelistic fruit.) But there is a glorious law of averages. Little seed cast, little harvest. More seed cast, more harvest!
THE GROWTH
"... and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head." (vs. 27-28)
Seed falls on all kinds of ground, Jesus would later explain to his disciples (and to us). Some soil is receptive, some is not. The soil is not to be our concern. We must cast the seed.
But how does that gospel seed go into the human mind and heart and bear fruit? We do not know. It is the absolute mystery of the Spirit! It is the work of the wind that “blows where it wills” as Jesus told Nicodemus. It is the gracious activity of a sovereign God. But it does! And it has for 2,000 years—over and over again in millions of lives!
And we must believe in this Spirit-work of loving, saving God!
THE HARVEST
"But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." (vs. 29)
And then there are the glorious moments when we ask someone if they are ready to believe in Christ, trusting Him alone for their salvation, and they say ""Yes."" We think it depends on our glorious presentation or persuasive words, but it was simply and purely the work of the Spirit, graciously bringing the seed sown to fruition ... and a new life is born into the kingdom.
My brother, Jim, was once at the Mexico border with a youth group. There was a long line of trucks and their youth bus was stuck in the line to cross the border. So, they decided to get out and go truck-by-truck and share the gospel.
Jim looked down the line and there was one of his students on her knees with a big trucker, giving his life to Christ. She had knocked on the door and asked him if he knew Jesus. He reached up and pulled a soiled, crumpled 4 Spiritual Law gospel tract off the dashboard.
“Are you talking about this?” he said.
“Yes,” she replied.
“Someone gave me this tract on the streets of Dallas and I’ve been reading it over and over again, hoping someone would tell me what to do next,” and the harvest time had come with a scared, but faithful teenager. She could not boast. It was a joint effort of sower and reaper and, most of all, the Spirit who works in a way we cannot describe.
Your job may be to sow today or to reap. But be assured: The Lord is preparing people for both all around you.
""Look at the fields,"" Jesus said, ""they are white for harvest!""
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