Word of Salvation – Vol. 25 No. 21 – February 1979

 

Growth In The Kingdom

 

Sermon by Rev. W. Wiersma, Th.Grad. on Mark 4:26-32

Scripture reading: Psalm 104

Psalter Hymnal: 439; 170; 350; 115; 315

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

If you are interested in the work of God in the hearts and lives of people and in His making all things new, you will find some important lessons in these two small parables of the growing seed and the mustard seed.

Jesus used these two illustrations to show those who are interested and involved in the progress of the Kingdom of God that there is a need for patience, and hope. Christians must realise that small beginnings can (often slowly) lead to great things.

It is quite striking how well the Lord Jesus understood the world of plants and animals. And how he used examples of the great variety and complexity of the natural and physical world to teach us something about the variety and complexity of the world of God's kingdom. He said, the Kingdom is like this... and he gave an example from daily life and experience, but, He said, the Kingdom is also like this.

All kinds of things are possible and true at the same time. One truth does not cancel out another. That is one general thing which we do well to remember. Very often we tend to lose sight of the variety of the truth. We forget that many things are true. We become interested in one particular aspect of the truth and hammer it as if it were all the truth. We hear someone stressing a part which we don't like and we are all inclined to emphasise something else as if that were all that really mattered.

Take for instance the growth of the Church, or the "Kingdom community". Some lay all the stress on evangelism, on the Christians' responsibility to witness. Others lay all the stress on the fact that only God is able to bring people into His Kingdom.

So some in the Church are frantically busy, while others are sitting back.

Now, obviously, the Christian community, (and that's us, too, isn't it?), has the task to evangelise, to spread the good news, to call people to repentance and faith in Christ. Jesus has given the Church the task to preach the Gospel, to let the light shine, to bring people in. And somewhere all of us are involved in that work of promoting and spreading the Kingdom of God.

Of course, not all of us are preachers and evangelists. In an army, not everyone is in the frontlines. But every enlisted man and woman has a part to play, a role to fulfil.

And so it is with the Kingdom, not only in what we call the task of evangelism. For the Kingdom of God is more than getting to know the Gospel. The Kingdom is God's rule and control over people and their lives;:all their work, their aims and their activities.

It's in connection with the spread and growth of this Kingdom that Jesus told these two parables. To encourage us in patience and hope. For is it not true that Christ's disciples sometimes find the whole business somewhat discouraging?

Thinking about the Kingdom.... what can we see of it?

How much progress can we see?

Does it help talking to your neighbours about Christ?

Is it worth working for Christian Education?

How far have we, have I, progressed in understanding God's will for our work and our methods? Are we living accordingly?

How much of our lives is truly under the control of His Word and Spirit?

As I said, we can sometimes become a little discouraged.

We would love to see results, to see the power of the Kingdom, the power of God Himself, changing things in a moment. Yes, people want to see things. And where there are no immediate visible results, we may be inclined to ask whether anything is happening at all.

Well, listen to the parable of the growing seed. (I may just point out that this is not the same as the parable about the tares.) Now, on a cropping farm, one where they grow grain, there are two busy periods: The first at sowing time, the second at harvest.

The preparation of the ground, the ploughing, harrowing and drilling, takes a lot of time and energy. And once the grain is ripe, the farm becomes a hive of activity, for then that grain must be off the field and inside as quickly as possible. But in between these two busy times, there is a period of slack. The farmer can relax for a while. Nowadays he may do some spraying or irrigating. But on the whole, he has to wait and see till the grain ripens.

The point of this parable is that the farmer can do nothing for his crop after he has sown it. From that moment on he relies on forces outside of himself. At sowing and reaping he has to do the work, in between, the seed and ground have to do their work and all the farmer can do is wait.

So it is with the Kingdom of God. There are times of human activity. There are times for preaching, teaching. For sowing the Word, the seed of truth. There are times for talking.

But there are also times for keeping quiet. Times when we must rest from our work. Times when we must give the Word, the seed, time to settle and germinate and grow. You can't keep ploughing and harrowing. The farmer, the Kingdom-worker must know his limitations. Whether we are teachers or parents, elders or whatever in the Kingdom, we must realise that we can only do so much and no more.

There is something humbling about that, isn't there? Jesus is saying: now let what you have been so busy with, rest. You can't do more. You must let nature take its course. You might desperately want to see results, but the grain won't come up more quickly if you keep poking it. You've got to give it time. You've got to stop worrying as if it is all up to you. You have done your part, now sit back or get on with other things. Let the seed grow.

There is also something comforting about this. You may relax. It is out of your hand now. You may be called upon to do something later, but for the moment you must leave it to powers beyond your control.

All the farmer can do in this period of rest is hope and pray that God will give increase on his labours. That is what we have to d realise, too. Maybe we have spoken to a neighbour; maybe we have advised a friend; maybe we have warned a church member. And we would love to see results. But these results won't hurry because of your worry. Seed takes time. That does not make the process of growing less wonderful, does it?

Maybe you have never thought much about the wonder of growth. Think about it now. A bit of seed. A bit of barren ground. A bit of water. For days or weeks nothing seems to happen. Finally, you see a bit of green here and there. Slowly you see more. Leaves, then spikes of stems. A small bulge, growing to reveal more clearly the shapes of individual kernels. And after some more weeks the golden grain ready to be picked.

Growth, so slow that you can't see it. That's what it is like in the Kingdom, too. Growth, according to a pattern, a law, a time schedule. So slow that looking at it you can't see the difference, except over a period of days, weeks, or even years.

Now the farmer does not worry if he doesn't see ripe grain the day after sowing. He does not even expect it. That does not mean he doesn't care. He knows that seed takes time to grow.

Which brings us to the important point, that we should not expect full grain at a time when there can only be young blades. We can't expect children to be at the same stage than adults. We can't expect new Christians to have progressed as far as mature ones.

Which means that in practice we have to recognise this by showing much understanding and patience for one another.

There is growth. It doesn't come at once. And, might I suggest, that climate and soil have some influence on plant life. We shall find cultural differences. We shall find that in some church groups there is evidence of an abundance of certain trace elements and perhaps a shortage of others.

Not all plants will be alike or at the same stage of growth.

We must appreciate that. We must even realise that for ourselves. We can at times get very impatient with ourselves. Someone compared the stages of the growth of the grain with the stages of growth of fruits, like apples. He said: blossom time is very beautiful and appealing to the eye. But after the blossom time comes the long time of growth in the green stage. That's not so appealing. For instance, if someone were to pick an apple in that stage, he would spit it out as unpalatable. If the apple were wisely left to grow and ripen, it would give great pleasure.

In the green stage, neither the Kingdom nor Christians are always pleasant. But that should not make anyone think that they are not on the way to becoming so. A growing Christian is on the way to becoming ripe for His Lord. So, patience!

Confidently trust in the Lord Who makes people grow at the proper rate. This principle can be applied to all kinds of aspects of growth in the Kingdom of God.

The parable of the mustard seed shows that this is particularly true of the growth of the Kingdom itself. There is growth. From a small beginning to something big.

We should not despise small beginnings. The mustard seed was the proverbially small thing. If someone wanted to say that something was very small, he would say it was as small as a mustard seed - just as we say, as small as a mouse or as strong as an ox.

The Kingdom, said Jesus, might be small now, but that should not make anyone think that it is not there at all. The Jews, for instance, were expecting the Kingdom of God to come with power. But it was not with that particular kind of power that Jesus came. He did come with power. Jesus came healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead. But still, even a man like John the Baptist asked, are You the real Messiah?

Jesus was small-time by worldly standards. He did not make headlines. He had a few disciples. A small beginning. Who would want to join that, especially since that would assure you the opposition of the high and mighty of the land? A small, ignoble beginning. A King with a crown on a cross. But now His followers are spread all over the world.

The seed may be small. But the Kingdom of truth has great potential and power. It will grow. It will spread and influence. It will conquer and defeat till it covers all things.

The Kingdom of God will provide food and shelter for the nations of the earth.

May we learn to have patience. The patience of confident trust in the Lord God.

For surely the Lord will complete the work which His hand began in this world when He laid a little baby in a feed trough somewhere in a small town in Palestine.

AMEN.