When we think of ourselves as being a farmer, minister, disciple, do we really believe it? When we think about the crops that Jesus tells us we should produce, do we give that anythought?
For farmers today, the science behind crops has become exceptionally informative and strategic to help each farmer produce a more fruitful harvest.
When we hear or think about producing crops, how can someone who don’t have the gifted ‘green thumb’ do any good?
Lets read Mark:
And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up daily, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.
The soil produces crops by itself; first the stalk, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. Now when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
This parable is obviously talking in the Godly sense of crops, but it bares to mind nonetheless the importance of the Spiritual crop. Christ is telling us that crops, themselves, are meaningless unless we have an ear to hear, as Jesus said many times.
Each one of us, and that includes you, has the ability to spread seeds, only found in Christ, to produce the Spiritual crop that can grow in the life of the individual. Some of us do NOT believe we have what it takes!
Now what can happen at times, is we can be tempted to do short cuts in the crop production and even cultivating them. Making it fit our way.
Sometimes we tend to get wrapped up into trying to understand how something works, more so than the results they produce. We honestly don’t fully understand how crops are produced in what Christ tells us in this parable.
A patient had conversation with a surgeon about a topic I think fits good here. Patient said to surgeon, “I could perform an operation myself. What I could not do is to come around the next morning to see if the patient was still alive. After the operation, I would take a plane for South America.” The surgeon replied, “What we depend on is not skill or technique chiefly. The automatic body, in other words, which brings forth fruit of itself. It is ‘medical grace,’ the recuperative, healing, restorative powers of the body, which work of themselves.”
Crops that we are talking about today, have something like agriculture grace that freely given power of the earth, which man does not make or direct or knows truly how its works, but can confidently rely on.
So all this talking about producing crops, how does that apply to me?
One of the first aspects of producing crops is acknowledging God, through us, scatters the seed. We can plant the seed, but God works to help the seed grow. When we sew the truth that is from God, we are doing our part. Now here is the interesting part!
If any man has ears to hear, let him hear!
Some people do not understand nor want to hear the things that Jesus said to them. They were spiritually deaf. They could hear the truth and yet not hear one bit of its meaning.
You can hear God's word, but not receive any of it, all due to the condition of the receiver's heart.
Because of the unbelief of the people, they had no ability to See. They could physically see, but they could no longer see the obvious truth, especially the truth of Jesus being God, the Son, before them.
No ability to Hear. They could physically hear, but they could no longer hear with any discernment the things they were spiritually taught because they were judged.
No ability to Understand. No longer would they, or could they understand the things of God. They had all of the evidence to respond properly to the Son of God in repentance and saving faith and refused to do so. They no longer had the ability to put together the truth with perception. That was gone. They were judged.
Billy Graham on his crusades stated this several times (paraphrasing) “If you are here at this moment, I urge you to come to Christ, you may not have another opportunity to do so! You are NOT promised your next breathe!” That alone is what caught my attention as a young Christian.
The day we decide to stop listening; to stop comprehending, to stop understanding, or consider what is or has been said and to perceive the sense of what is said, may well be the last day that you will ever hear from God. What a sad thought!
Ezekiel 12:1-2
1 The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.
We friends, each one of us, are responsible to help plant the seeds of God, and even receive the crop God produces. But how?
Acts 2:41-42 (read).
So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Sometimes we do not think about our planting seeds, or what good we did today to help spread the light of the Gospel. When we give light to someone in need, give Godly advice or tentative ear to someone. We seem to feel unqualified, not worthy and inadequate. But that does not give us any excuse NOT to do Gods work.
Isaiah: Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
We each are to be a light, beacon to others. Why have a candle or light but just to hide it?
The purpose of lighting a candle is not to hide the light but to light up the room or the place where it is. The light of the candle is to shine and give light to all who are in the house. When a man brings a lighted candle in a room of darkness, there is no doubt to those who see the light where the light comes from or what light is. The same is true of the genuine disciple of the Lord Jesus.
In closing friends, let me read from 1 Corinthians:
Paul tells us, I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
The main concern for any farmer, is the condition of the soil. The conditions of the soil, being man’s heart, of the hearers once the word is sown.
Hearing the word, in and of itself, is meaningless. The heart must be conditioned.
What did Jesus tell us many times, "He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear".
To hear means: To consider what is or has been said, and to understand, or to perceive the sense of what is said. In simpler terms it means to listen, not just with your human ears.
Jesus tells us friends, For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. The fruit you bear is what others will experience and see. Matthew tells us Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. You will be known by your fruit! Producing Crops! Ask God today, to help you spread the seed of the Good News of Jesus.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.