For some reason, I really felt God tugging on my heart tonight to open His Word as He had something to share with me. As an experiment, I did one of those cliche things Christians do and just opened up the Bible randomly to see where it would lead me.
And my finger landed on the following parable from Jesus:
“And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” Mark 4:26-29
Being a member of a small church plant and seeing new people walk in every week, this parable struck a chord within me. Being a church plant in a poor neighbourhood of a major Australian city is tough work. I take my hat off to my Pastor who planted this church 7 years ago for his unending perseverance in what he does for our little church.
But this passage gives me a glimpse into how God works in the lives of our immediate and extended community and provides me an awesome motivation to keep doing what we do at Church.
At first, the farmer scatters the seeds. it’s his job to do what he needs to do. This represents our need to be faithful servants in the matters of the Kingdom. Do our job, fulfill our duties - share the Gospel. As the seed needs to dig into the soil, so our message needs to be relevant to our community - or else it simply won’t stick.
But the reference to “sleeping and rising” indicates a long passing of time. Sometimes we want immediate results from our efforts. However imagine how bizarre it would be to a farmer if, the second he threw his seed and BANG, he had a mature crop. It’s absurd indeed.
The reference to “he knows not how the seed grows” is an awesome reference to how the Spirit of God does His work. We need to get the message out there and learn to relax and rely on the Spirit of God to do His thing. Those destined to love God will grow and will thrive - often without us even being aware of it or even understanding it.
But that’s cool. Just like the farmer scratching his head day and night as he sees the seed he’s thrown sprout into “blades and ears and full grain” I think we should allow God to do His mysterious work in the lives of people. And we should do this in the absence of anxiety. Imagine a farmer peering out his window at the end of the day looking for sprouting blades and ears - he would go nuts!
But the stickler in all this is the farmers knowledge of when the crop is ripe - it’s harvest time! In his experience, he whips out the sickle and, once again, does what he needs to do. And this is where I believe, we as Christians, should ask for wisdom.
I think it’s prudent to ask God when the harvest is ripe and when to step in and do our thing when it comes to the spiritual development of people. May we have the insight to whip out our “spiritual sickles” and lead people to Jesus.
God’s in partnership with us. We do our thing, He does His and then allows us the delight to “close the deal” in the salvation of human souls. What an honour! And how terrifying it is to do so if we haven’t a clue as to how to “swing that sickle!”
My prayer for me and all those at our church plant is to have our eyes opened to this reality. God is bringing people into our church. The harvest seems to be on our doorstep. May we know how to lead people to Jesus. Afterall, all the mystery of salvation is in his hands - we just need to be available and do our thing. But may we do our thing in the best way possible! And be expert “sickle swingers!”
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