sowing

Faithfulness Versus Fruitfulness

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14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. – Romans 10:14-17 ESV

Paul has just finished saying, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:11 ESV), and “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13 ESV). As he was prone to do, Paul used the Old Testament Scriptures, quoting Isaiah 28:16 and Joel 2:32, to prove his point that belief in God leads one to call out to Him in times of need or trouble. His focus throughout this section of his letter has been on the Jewish people. He has expressed his heart’s desire that they be saved, even suggesting that he would be willing to suffer eternal damnation if it resulted in some of his fellow Jews coming to faith in Christ. But Paul knew they would have to experience salvation the same way as everyone else; they would have to call on the name of the Lord.

But at this point in his letter, Paul turns his attention to the believers in his audience, both Jews and Gentiles, asking them, “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? ” (Romans 10:15 NLT).

Yes, the Jews were required to express belief in Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, just like everyone else. But Paul was adamant in stating that the believers in Rome had an even weightier responsibility to tell the Jews in their community about Christ. After His death and resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples and commanded them, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (Matthew 28:19-20 NLT).

He also told them, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21 NLT). And that Great Commission didn’t just apply to the eleven men Jesus left behind; it has been the non-negotiable marching orders for every Christ follower since that day. Once again, Paul quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures, using Isaiah’s words to support his point.

How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of the messenger who brings good news,
the good news of peace and salvation,
    the news that the God of Israel reigns! – Isaiah 52:7 NLT

Isaiah wrote this message to the people of Judah to announce that God would soon restore them from captivity in Babylon and return them to Jerusalem. Paul uses these words of comfort and joy to express what it is like to hear the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time. It is like the Jewish exiles in Isaiah’s day hearing that God is going to end their 70 years of captivity and allow them to return to Judah. Despite their disobedience and rebellion against Him, He is graciously promising to restore their relationship with Him, even though they are undeserving of His amazing grace. In a similar way, when someone shares the gospel with an unbeliever, faithfully obeying Christ’s command to tell, they are delivering news of peace and salvation.

But sadly, Paul reports that not everyone who hears will listen. Even when Isaiah told the people of Judah that God would set them free from captivity in Babylon, not everyone responded positively; not everyone believed. God told them, “Get out! Get out and leave your captivity, where everything you touch is unclean. Get out of there and purify yourselves” (Isaiah 52:11 NLT). Yet the prophet declared, “Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?” (Isaiah 53:1 NLT).

Many of the Jews living in Babylon refused to return to the land of promise. Rather than believe God and make the long and arduous journey back to Judah, they chose to remain in captivity. And Paul states that in his day, not everyone who hears the gospel receives it. When told of Christ’s offer of redemption from slavery to sin and death, many refuse to accept it, choosing instead to choose captivity over freedom.  Paul had firsthand experience watching both Jews and Gentiles rejecting the good news regarding faith alone in Christ alone.

For Paul, it always came back to faith, but proclamation must precede acceptance. That is why he declares,  “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17 ESV). No one can accept or believe in that which they have not heard. So, disciples of Jesus have a responsibility to tell the good news of God’s grace made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus. But every person who hears must also obey, expressing faith in God’s gracious offer of salvation.

As followers of Christ, we have a responsibility to communicate the gospel with unbelievers, but we are not responsible for their conversion. They must confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9). Only then will they experience salvation.

Ultimately, it is God who calls, justifies, and glorifies (Romans 8:30). Salvation does not depend on human will or effort, but on God, who has mercy (Romans 9:16), and God said, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (Romans 9:15 ESV). Conversion is never the result of coercion. We will never debate someone into a saving relationship with Christ. Our responsibility is to share and then to leave the results up to God. Paul provides us with an interesting and important analogy in his letter to the Corinthians believers.

After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. – 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 NLT

Some plant, others water, but only God produces the results. We simply do our part and allow Him to work the miracle of regeneration and new life. Jesus once told a parable of a farmer whose task of sowing seed appeared to be haphazard and, ultimately, unsuccessful.

“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants.” – Matthew 13:3-7 NLT

The farmer was faithful, but his efforts were apparently unfruitful. Yet, Jesus finished His parable by adding, “Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand” (Matthew 13:8-9 NLT).

The disciple is responsible for sowing the seed of salvation by telling others about Jesus, but not for the results; that is up to God. Some will receive the good news with open arms and softened hearts. Others will stubbornly reject God’s gracious offer of salvation and choose to remain enslaved to sin and condemned to death. When we share the good news concerning Jesus, we have no way of knowing what the outcome will be. Like a farmer scattering seed, we are to sow the gospel on all kinds of soils, leaving the task of germination and regeneration up to the Lord of the harvest. We tell so that all can have an opportunity to hear, but we leave the results up to God.

We’ve a story to tell to the nationsThat shall turn their hearts to the rightA story of truth and mercyA story of peace and light, a story of peace and light. 

We’ve a song to be sung to the nations,
that shall lift their hearts to the Lord,
a song that shall conquer evil
and shatter the spear and sword

We’ve a message to give to the nations,
that the Lord who reigneth above
hath sent us his Son to save us,
and show us that God is love

We’ve a Savior to show to the nations,
who the path of sorrow hath trod,
that all of the world’s great peoples
might come to the truth of God

– “We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations,” H. Ernest Nichol

Father, we are always about results. Productivity is king in our culture. We hate to waste time and despise failure. But in Your Kingdom, efficiency and effectiveness don’t always go hand in hand. The apostle Paul appears to have failed quite frequently. The apostle James was martyred for his efforts at sharing the gospel. Jesus Himself was crucified for claiming to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Faithfulness doesn’t always produce the fruitfulness we were expecting. The prophets faithfully proclaimed Your message of repentance to the people of Israel, but their words fell on deaf ears. From our success-obsessed perspective, we view them as abject failures, but to You, they were dediicated servants who faithfully fulfilled their God-given responsibilities. And that is what You have called me to be. You are concered with my faithfulness, not my fruitfulness, because, ultimately, that is Your responsibility. I can’t save anyone, but I can tell everyone about the good news of Jesus. I can plant, water, and even harvest, but I can’t cause the growth. Help me stay in my lane and accept my role in Your grand redemptive plan. Because, as Jesus said, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields” (Matthew 9:37-38 NLT). Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

The Mystery of the Kingdom

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26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. – Mark 4:26-34 ESV

In this passage, Jesus continues to utilize parables when addressing the large crowd that had gathered to hear him speak. These simple stories were basically extended metaphors that were intended to make complex concepts easier to understand. But as we have already seen, even Jesus’ closest disciples found it difficult to grasp their meaning. So, Jesus took the time to explain each detail of the parable, ensuring that the 12 understood the vital point He had been trying to make.

In these two parables, Jesus focuses His attention on the Kingdom of God. His earlier parable made no mention of the Kingdom but addressed the receptivity of various people to the Word of God. But what aspect of the Word did Jesus have in mind? If you recall, Jesus had begun His ministry by proclaiming the very same message that John the Baptist had been declaring in the Judean wilderness: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17 ESV).

Later, when Jesus sent the 12 disciples on their first missionary journey, He commanded them to “proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 10:7 ESV). And He told them that this message was intended for one audience only: “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6 ESV).

This message of the Kingdom was central to Jesus’ ministry and mission. He was declaring Himself to be the one who would usher in the Kingdom of God. But there was much confusion among the people of Israel as to the exact nature of that Kingdom. Most Jews believed that when God’s Kingdom came to earth it would be in the form of an earthly king who ruled over the restored nation of Israel. They were expecting another king to arise from among the people who would prove to be a descendant of David and would reestablish the Davidic dynasty. This human savior would be a warrior-king who would set them free from their enslavement and subjugation to Rome. He would restore the political, military, and financial fortunes of Israel, making them a force to be reckoned within the region.

But Jesus presents a much different picture of the Kingdom than the one they held. And He describes it through the use of two parables. In both cases, His focus seems to be on the mysterious nature of the Kingdom. It is not going to come quickly or through the use of military power. Once again, Jesus utilizes agrarian imagery to make His point, describing the Kingdom of God as seed being sown. His use of this rather bucolic imagery to describe the Kingdom must have seemed odd to people who were expecting something a bit more aggressive and revolutionary in nature.

While there are some similarities between this parable and the earlier one Jesus told, I believe they are unrelated. While both mention the sowing of seed, the second parable portrays a sower who is a rather passive participant in the process. Jesus states that this farmer scatters the seed, then “Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens” (Mark 4:27 NLT). The sower is clueless when it comes to the germination process necessary to turn a single seed into grain. He simply sows and then waits to see what will happen. Once the farmer sows the seed, the rest of the process is out of his hands. And Jesus describes the unseen process that must take place for fruit to be produced.

“The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens.” – Mark 4:28 NLT

Jesus is clearly emphasizing the process of time. The coming of the Kingdom will not take place overnight. It will not involve a radical and immediate overturning of the status quo. No, it will be methodical and divinely orchestrated, operating in an unseen manner but ultimately producing abundant fruitfulness. And only then does the sower step back into the process.

“…as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.” – Mark 4:29 NLT

This recalls another made by Jesus as He and His 12 disciples made their way through Galilee, “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 9:35 NLT).  Matthew describes Jesus as seeing the crowds and having compassion on them, “because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36 NLT). And Jesus turned to His disciples, and said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38 NLT).

The sowing of the word concerning the Kingdom was going to produce fruit. It would take time, but it would happen. And when it did, there would be a need for many to harvest the fruit of God’s labor. Don’t miss the point of this parable. The sower simply sowed the seed. It was God who caused the seed (the Word) to take root and produce fruit. The sower had no idea how it happened, but could only testify that it had. He could see the fruit and play a part in harvesting the bounty that God had produced.

Ultimately, salvation is the work of God. As Paul so aptly put it: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV). And Jesus clearly communicated the vital nature of His role in the process.

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.” – John 12:24 NLT

The farmer sows the seed and God does the rest. What happens in-between is a miracle and a mystery. But Jesus assures His disciples that there will be fruit – “a plentiful harvest of new lives.”

With the second parable, Jesus extends His focus on the mystery of the Kingdom. He gives the impression that He is searching for just the right metaphor to use and He lands on the image of the mustard seed. Jesus states a fact that would have been well-known to His audience. He refers to the mustard seed as “the smallest of all seeds” (Mark 4:31 NLT). But He points out that, when planted, this minuscule, seemingly insignificant seed “becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade” (Mark 4:32 NLT).

Everyone in His audience knew what a mustard seed was and they all knew what kind of tree it produced. But they had no idea how the transformation from one to the other took place. It was a mystery. And that seems to be Jesus’ point.

Jesus is using the imagery of the mustard seed to illustrate the nature of God’s Kingdom. And what He has to say stands in direct contrast to the expectations of the Jews. They were not looking for a small, insignificant Kingdom that would ultimately grow into something more impressive and impactful. They wanted immediate results. They had been waiting a long time for God to make things right. It had been hundreds of years since they had been a powerful nation with their very own king. So, the thought of having to wait for the “seed” to take root and grow would not have been something they found attractive.

But again, Jesus had come to establish a different kind of Kingdom. Several years later, as He stood before Pilate, the Roman governor, Jesus would declare, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36 NLT).

Jesus had not come to sit on a throne, but to hang on a cross. He had not come to be exalted to the highest office in the land, but to take “the humble position of a slave” and be “born as a human being” (Philippians 2:7 NLT). Paul goes on to state that Jesus  “humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8 NLT). And as a result of His willing humiliation and sacrificial offering of His own life, “God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11 NLT).

And one day, the exalted King is going to return and set up His Kingdom on earth. But in the meantime, the Word concerning the Kingdom must be faithfully sown. And those who sow must faithfully trust that God will do what only He can do: produce a plentiful harvest of new lives. God is in the business of producing citizens for His Son’s future Kingdom. He is raising up children who will live with He and His Son for eternity. How does He do it? It is a mystery. How long will it take? No one knows. How much fruit will He produce? Who can say. But we must faithfully sow and be ready to reap the harvest that He will produce.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson