Walk Of Life – Day 05, May 2022 – Thoughts From The Words Of Jesus Christ

The Sprouting Seed

And Jesus said, ‘The kingdom of God is like a man scattering seed on the ground. 27He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows —he knows not how. 28The earth, by itself, produces first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29But when the grain is ripe, at once the man puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.’” (Mark 4:26-29).

Now, it is interesting to note right away that this particular parable is not found anywhere else in the Gospels, it is unique to Mark’s gospel. If you look at it, let’s just peruse the details of it: ‘The kingdom of God’, the Lord Jesus said, ‘is like a man who cast seed into the ground; and he sleeps, and rises night and day, and the seed springs forth, and he doesn’t understand why that is happening. The earth brings forth this fruit of itself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn ear. But when the fruit is ripe, when it is brought forth, immediately the farmer puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come’.

Now of course this is all spiritual language the Lord Jesus is using, that the seed is the word of God.

There is a sower, and he is planting this seed, and that has to happen. Though the growth is independent, and the life is in the seed itself, someone needs to go and put it out onto the soil. It’s the same with the gospel, people will not get saved if we just sit and rest on our lees and do nothing about it, but as Paul said in Romans: how shall they hear without a preacher? There needs to be a sower. It pleased God, through the foolishness of preaching, Paul told the Corinthians, to save some – so there are contributory factors to the growth of this seed, though it grows independently.

There must be a sower to sow. Then secondly, not only must there be a sower, there must be water. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul could say: ‘I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase’.
A sower must sow, the seed must be watered, and thirdly: the soil must be fertile. There is an inevitable and independent growth of the seed, but there are other contributory factors that God has ordained.

The farmer has sown the seed, he sleeps night and day, leaves it, waits, and it grows! He is dumbfounded at the process, he doesn’t understand how. Robertson, the Greek scholar, makes a valuable note on this, and says: ‘The mystery of the growth still puzzles farmers and scientists of today, with all our modern knowledge; but nature’s secret processes do not fail to operate because we are ignorant’. This secret and mysterious growth of the kingdom in the heart and life is the point of this beautiful parable by Mark. It is mysterious, it is imperceptible, it is going on all around us, though we do not see it – but though we are ignorant of how it happens…we know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin, etc. We know that the seed is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.

So we learn something of the unique power of the word of God: just as the natural seed has life in itself, so the word of God is infused with life and power. This parable that we’re looking at today ought to reaffirm our faith in the Bible. Hudson Taylor, that great pioneer missionary to China, said that there are three qualifications for missionaries: patience, patience, and patience. That’s a qualification for anyone in the work of the Lord. It takes good faith to be a farmer like this man, it takes good patience to be a farmer like this man, and it takes the same faith and patience to be a sower of God’s seed.

The secret of the growth is in the seed itself. The life is not in the water, the life is not in the sower, the life is not in the soil, the life is in the seed!