In Mark 4:26-29, Jesus tells a parable about the nature of His Kingdom. Jesus says, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself, the soil produces grain — first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” According to Jesus, this phenomenon should teach us something about His kingdom.
While followers of Jesus have a responsibility to “scatter the seed” of the gospel of the Kingdom, it is ultimately God’s responsibility and pleasure to make the seed take root and bear fruit. Notice how the parable differentiates between the work of the man scattering the seed and the inherent and independent power of the seed: “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets ups, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.” I love that vision of “seed sprouting and growing’ whether we “sleep or get up.”
What an important reminder for us! While the advancement of the Kingdom of God is inextricably related to the faithfulness of God’s servants, the power of the Kingdom of God is at work even when we are not. O’ the freedom and encouragement to know that God has not tasked me with making the seed effective! He does not command me to be God. He knows my limitations. He knows my weakness. He knows that the seed of the gospel of the kingdom will not return void and that I do not have to concern myself with “how it works. I simply need to know that the seed of the Kingdom works! It is good seed! It will bear fruit in due season! It just needs to be sown in the field. It works while I’m sleeping!
To rephrase something that a hero of mine used to say, “We must sow the seed, and pray for the rain,” but we must never confuse our role in this work. We are laborers in the harvest that God has prepared for us (Matt. 9:35-38). We neither make the seed effective nor do we know how it all works. Instead, we sow the seed of the gospel of the kingdom, day in and day out. We sleep and we wake up. And eventually, we see the seed sprout. And we give glory to the Lord of the Harvest.
CBH
