Both parables set out to teach us, "What the Kingdom of God is like."
Note two things,(1) Growth is taking place because God is working, (2) Growth has nothing to do with the Size of the Seed
Growth comes from God.
Jesus uses the illustration of a farmer to emphasize this point.
• The farmer goes out to the field and plants his seed.
• That’s about all he can do. The rest is up to God, literally.
• He does not know how the seed grows. He just waits.
And then the next act of man is in 4:29, the grain is ripe; the farmer puts the sickle to it and reaps the harvest.
• He had two major contributions – throwing the seed and reaping the harvest.
• Nothing in between. Growth comes from God, not from man.
4:28 says “all by itself the soil produces grain…” – Greek automatos (‘automatic’).
• It grows. Man did not produce it. God did it.
• Today, if I were to put a seed in your hand and tell you that within that tiny seed lies the power to grow a plant and produce a tomato thousands of times bigger than the seed, and ten to twenty of them, and they change from green to red, and round in shape, you wouldn’t have any trouble believing that, would you? Why? We’ve seen it. We know it’s possible.
• You know from experience that even though that tiny seed doesn’t look like a tomato, somehow, given the right environment, it will become one.
• Not just one, but scores of them.
This is the natural realm. The same is happening in the spiritual realm.
• God is at work today. You may not be, but God is.
• Night and day, you may be sleeping or doing your own things. But God is changing lives, all over the world.
• The seed of Gospel are being sown by Christians all over, and the Spirit of God is touching lives with it.
The Straits Times had an article in Aug 9 saying that Christianity is growing in Singapore, especially among the youth. The same is happening as in many other nations, especially China.
• It may surprise us because we are not in the thick of the action. But for those who are, they are not surprised.
• This is the way it is with God’s Kingdom, the Lord says. Just like a seed, it has the power of life and it will grow.
• God’s Spirit works in the human heart. Over time, we will see its fruit.
4:27 “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows…”
• Above ground, nothing seems to be happening. Yet God is working and causing a change unseen by the naked eye.
• God is ALWAYS working. When we feel that God is not working, what we are really saying is that God is not doing it according to MY plan, MY time, and MY way.
• There is a world of difference between “God is not working” and “God is not working according to MY REQUEST.”
• Remember that God is Sovereign, and He is our Lord. We submit to Him and trust Him.
Archibald Hunter summarizes it well,
A new divine force has been released in the world, and grow it will, as surely as the sown seed, by the gracious ministry of God’s sun and rain, ripens to the harvest. A parable of ’agricultural grace’ we might call it.
When a distinguished American surgeon was asked upon what he relied when he operated, he answered, ’medical grace’. By this he meant that recuperative and healing power in the human body which, like the seed in the parable, works ’by itself’, and without which all his professional expertise with the knife would be vain.
[Archibald Hunter, The Parables Then and Now (Philadelphia: Westminster 1971) p.40.]
The body has to respond and continue the work of healing.
• The doctor can do so much; the rest is up to the body to react to the medicine.
• We plant the seed, and wait for the power and grace of God to take its effect.
Paul says (1 Cor 3:6-7), “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”
• Farmers have a keener sense of this - crops don’t simply grow because of man’s efforts.
• They are at the mercy of everything else – the sun, the rain, the soil.
(1) WE PLANT THE SEED, (2) WE PRAY
If hearts can be changed only by the Spirit of God, then we need to rely MORE on prayer, than on techniques.
• Paul said in 1 Cor 2:1 that it is not “with eloquence or superior wisdom” that he preaches the Gospel.
• [READ] 1 Cor 2:1-5 “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”
The Lord says in John 16:8 “When [the Holy Spirit] comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” He will enlighten and convict.
If this is the case, then PRAYING for the person is more important than the techniques of reaching out to him.
• If there is a limit to what man can do, we need to pray more and rely on God’s Spirit.
• Think about it. We need to spend time praying for those who have no desire for the things of God. If you own heart has drifted from God, you need to pray.
(3) WE NEED TO BE PATIENT. We wait.
• The farmer plants the seed and waits many months for the harvest.
• Growth takes time. We cannot take the crop out or pluck a fruit before they are ripe.
You remember the story of the lad who went and bought some seeds. He followed the directions and put the seeds in the soil and faithfully watered the seed. After several weeks he returned to the place where he bought the seed and wanted to get his money back.
The dealer was confused and asked for details about how the seed was planted. Everything sounded right until the boy shared that every morning he dug up the seed to see if anything was happening!
So, wait for the harvest. Don’t give up. It may take longer than we want, but wait.
Jesus went on to tell us another parable – about the mustard seed.
• The Kingdom of God will grow. It does not matter how small the seed is.
(2) It is not about the size of the seed…
It is not about how big or small your contribution is. It is about how faithful you are in doing it.
• We like to be a ‘Billy Graham’, preaching at one go to thousands. But God has not called us to be Billy Graham.
• He calls you to be yourself. You are to be faithful in the place God has put you, and shine for Him.
You may be as small as a mustard seed. So be it.
• The smallest seed can grow and becomes the largest of all garden plants, the Lord says.
• With such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade. (v.32)
• It can become so tall and so strong that even birds can rest on its branches.
So a small seed can also yield a great result, and become a blessing to many.
• It is not about the size of the seed; not how great you are or what great deed you can do.
• It is whether you are willing to offer that small seed to God.
Think about the small seed that Jesus started with.
• Twelve ordinary men who became his disciples. Who would have thought that God could change the world through fishermen, tax-collectors and other such men?
• Jesus expected them to bring God’s message to the entire world, at a time when there is no car, no aeroplane, no radio, no television, no internet…
• They were ordinary men, but when ordinary people put their faith in God, great things happen.
We may be a small seed but God can bring forth great things from this small seed.
Edward Kimball, a Sunday School teacher in Boston, brought a teen Dwight L. Moody to Christ. Moody grew up to become a great evangelist in England. He touched the life of Fredrick B. Meyer, pastor of a small church, who eventually went to America and converted a college student J. Wilbur Chapman. Chapman became an evangelist and groomed a baseball player Billy Sunday to be his disciple.
Billy Sunday held revival meetings in Charlotte, USA. He formed the Billy Sunday Layman’s Evangelistic Club and later this group invited an evangelist Mordecai Ham to their town in 1934. That year, a young man Billy Graham was converted by Mordecai Ham.
Many know Billy Graham today, but not many know Mordecai Ham. Few know Edward Kimball, the Sunday School teacher, who started the chain of influence.
Only eternity will reveal the tremendous impact of that one Sunday School teacher, who obeyed God and shared the Gospel.
God is able to use the smallest seed (the Mustard Seed) to bring about a great harvest.
• Perhaps you feel there is nothing you can do. You may feel that your contribution is really small and unimportant.
• Jesus reminds us through these parables not to look at ourselves.
• Don’t look at yourself. Look at our heavenly Father. Realize that God can use you to change your world.
• It’s not about your talent or your position. It is about your faithfulness to God. Are you willing to offer that seed in your hand?
You do not know what God can do through you!
• But listen, if you belong to Him, if you’re a Christian today, then God is using you to advance His Kingdom.
• You and I may be the smallest of seeds, but in the hands of the Almighty God, we can do a good job.
We must not be discouraged by small beginnings.
• It is very tempting to think that a small mustard seed cannot do much.
• We are discounting the Lord; we are undermining what God can do.
you may think the small class you teach isn’t worth your time
you may think that your dollar in the offering place can’t do much
you may believe that your visits to your sick friend isn’t helping
you may think that your faltering speech wouldn’t convince anyone of the truth
you may think that your simple deed is no big deal
We do not know what God is going to do through your faithfulness!
• You don’t know the number of people who are encouraged because you are faithful in the little things.
• You don’t know what the child will grow up to be, because you are faithful in teaching him God’s Word.
• You don’t know what God is doing through the seed you plant.
We need to stop thinking of ourselves as "just one person".
• Think of all the times God used one person to change the world – Noah, Moses, Paul, Martin Luther, Mother Teresa… and countless others along the way.
• We are one person, but placed in the hand of a Mighty God!
The big question is, are you willing to be used by God? Are you willing to serve Him? Are you willing to obey Him and share His Word, and plant the seed?
We need to stop thinking of ourselves as just a small seed.
• In Christ, we can become a tree of immense blessings for the world.
• Even the smallest seed can be used by God to bring about eternal significance.
• Start imagining what He can do through us.
For some of us here today, the issue may not be the smallness of the seed.
• You are not willing to sow the seed. You are not faithful.
• You have no harvest because the seed is still in your hand.
• No wonder you’re not experiencing any joy or blessing. You have not sown anything.
• Since you sow nothing, you will reap nothing.
You may be sitting here today and feel that you are so insignificant, so small, so weak, or so bad, that God would never notice, care about you. But the truth is, God does see you. God loves you. And Christ died for you.
We may be but one piece of dust in an enormous universe but God knows your name and mine. He knows my heart and yours. He cares about our heartaches. And He wants you to know He loves you. Jesus was thinking of you and me when He went to the cross. To God we were so valuable that He sent His Son to set us free.
We are His children! Though we are weak, He is strong. Though we stumble, He never does.
Are you willing to accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour, if you have not done so?
Let’s bow our head and look to God in prayer.
• Are you willing to offer yourself and let others know Christ through you?
• Would you bring a friend to the Gospel Rally? Pray for this friend you want to bring to Christ.
• Let’s throw down the seed and wait in faith to see God’s amazing work!
