February 13, 2004
Morning Worship
Text: Mark 4:21-29
Subject: Part 2 in the Harvest series.
Title: Growth Unto Harvest
I believe that we are quickly coming to the end of the age. The Bible clearly states things that will accompany that end. One of the things that I personally believe about the end is that the Bible teaches of a great falling away. I also believe that at the same time we are going to see a great revival. How can both happen at the same time? Well, I would say that God, by His Spirit, is drawing a line in the sands of time and is calling mankind to make a decision, either for Him or against Him. WE are seeing a great harvest in third world countries. We are also seeing that great falling away in the so-called Western cultures. In those countries we see that God is systematically being remove from society (the US included) and being replaced by secular humanism (the belief that man can eventual correct his own problems). So as the world is slipping further into sin and towards the realization of its own goals (life without God) the word of God continues to go forth as the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin and draws people to a decision. Sometimes the seed has to be in the ground for a while before it sprouts, but once it does there is some growth that takes place.
The passage immediately before today’s scripture was about the parable of the sower and how the seed was sown on different types of soil. The main point is that regardless of the fertility of the soil, seed is still to be sown, for as long as seed is sown there is the possibility of growth and as long as there is growth there will be a harvest.
I. THE HARVEST REQUIRES LIGHT. (21-22)
A. Let Your Light Shine. Why do we need to let our lights shine? Because seed had just been planted. Without light there is no growth. Verse 21Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand?” The lamp that Jesus talks about is a light source. Do you take the light source when it is needed and hide it? Do you but it under a basket? Webster defines light in many ways. Let me share some of them with you. 1) It is part of the electromagnetic spectrum including infrared, visible and ultraviolet light. 2) It is the presence of this radiation, which is the opposite of darkness. 3) It is the source of illumination (the Holy Spirit) 4) a flame or spark used to ignite something! 5) To see the light is to have a spiritual revelation. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of the world.” verse 5, “and that light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not comprehend it.” Jesus is the light. He is made known by the gospel. We should never hide Jesus but put Him up on the lampstand for everyone to see. John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up form the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” The light of the world cannot illuminate the darkness unless we lift Him up. If we confess Christ before men He will confess us before the Father, and if we deny Him before men, He will deny us before the Father. Let your light shine!
B. Watching the Seed Sprout. Verse 22 says that not all things concerning Christ has been revealed yet, but it will be. “For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.” It is the same with sowing seed. Though it may appear that the seed falls into the ground and is hidden and you may never see it again, there is a force that is working on it while it lies dormant. When you plant the seed of the gospel into the lives of others you may not see it at work. But it will be revealed to that person and will be revealed through that person. A couple of years ago when we were doing visitation, we shared the gospel with a lady on the north end of town. At first she was a little reluctant to hear, but allowed us to continue speaking. The more we talked about Jesus, the more we could see the change in her expression as she moved from doubt to faith in Christ. The word that is translated “revealed” in verse 22 means to be made obvious. When the gospel is sown there comes a point that the truth of it becomes obvious. Does that mean that everyone will accept Christ at some point? No, some will still reject Him, but it won’t be because they doubt the truth. It will be because they have hardened their hearts to receive. I’ve had people tell me, “you know, I believe what you are saying is true. But I’m just not ready to change my lifestyle.” Well Pastor Mike, if that’s the case why bother? Well, our job is not necessarily to test the soil. It is to sow seed.
C. Seed Will Increase. If you look back at verses 13-20 you can see that not all types of soil have zero chance of being effective for the kingdom. Verse 15 says that, “satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.” But look at the others. The stony ground received with gladness but it didn’t last long. But it may be long enough to influence another. Our middle daughter, Emily, was introduced to Pentecost by a friend, who invited her to youth group one Wednesday and she loved and took our youngest with her the next week and then some other friends. The girl that invited Emily never came back. The third type of person is one who hears the word but the word isn’t effective because they are too concerned with the cares of this world. But there is the good ground that produces thirty, sixty, a hundred fold. The apostle Paul always went into the synagogue first to preach. It would appear that those who knew the word of God would be receptive to the gospel. Not so! The Jews beat him, stoned him, tried many times to kill him and followed him around in order to make life miserable for him. But he kept sowing seed. In the place where it looked on the surface as though it would be the worst of soil produced a church that moved in the Holy Spirit. That was the church in Corinth, the vilest of Roman cities. Paul wrote to them that, my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power…” (1 Corinthians 2:4) and verse 2 of the same chapter, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” It is a simple seed that we sow. – Jesus Christ and Him crucified – and if we remain faithful to sow we will see increase. Now, I want you to see something else. We are not to waste our time arguing with people who have resisted and denied the truth of the gospel. Shake the dust from your feet and move on. But if we stop and wonder, “will they receive the gospel?” before we share it, we won’t see much happen. We are second-guessing the Holy Spirit. We’ll do our work and let Him do His.
II. THE HARVEST REQUIRES FAITH. (23-25)
A. Faith Comes by Hearing. Verse 23, “if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus shared His parables with those who were seeking after Him. They were hidden from the “religious”. Hear it now so that you will remember it later. Faith does come by hearing doesn’t it? But it doesn’t always come at the time you hear it. It took a long time for the word to take root in me and spring up out of the soil. Folks, I have to tell you, when that seed was planted in me it was planted in rocky soil. But over a period of at least twenty years something happened to the soil. The rocks were removed. The hard patches were softened. The soil of my heart was plowed, disked, and harrowed so that at just the right time, when it looked like all was lost and there was no hope for me, a shoot pushed up on that cold February night seventeen years ago. And I have never been the same. Who is verse 23 referring to? Who has ears? Everyone! The word translated “hear” means to understand. So if you have ears to hear it, then understand it. If you understand it then share it with others. It is not intended to remain hidden.
B. According to Your Faith… verse 24, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear more will be given.” If I could take the liberty to rephrase this verse so it maybe would make a little more sense it might read something like this, “be careful of what you hear and understand as truth because “in the last days some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons”. Stick to the truth in the scriptures for the more you hear and understand the truth, the more truth will be revealed to you. With the same measure you use – studying, meditating, praying the word of God – it will be measured to you; and to you who hear (understand) more (revelation) will be given to you. Now what is required to hear and understand the gospel message? You must have faith. What does it take to read and understand the bible in general? It requires faith. What is necessary to receive God’s promises as revealed in the Bible? It takes faith. So if you accept God’s word by faith He will give you more grace to increase your faith. “And to you who hear (and understand) more will be given.” I want to take you back to the beginning of that verse, “Take heed what you hear…” I recently got into a disagreement with someone over the subject of music. They said, “Ugh! Rock and Roll bad. Country music good!” Probably many of you would tend to agree with that statement. My point to them was that you have to be careful what you listen to (hear) because if you hear it enough it may become part of your belief system. That’s one of the tricks of the devil. He likes to de-sensitize people to sin. So tell me how a country song that promotes drinking, sexual immorality, or murder (Good-bye Earl) is any worse than a rock and roll song that does the same? Take heed what you hear and let the truth of God settle into your spirit so that you can take the abundance of what you receive and share it with the lost. When you are fully persuaded that what you have in you is the truth, then you can really begin to minister salvation to the lost.
C. Faith for Increase. Verse 25, “For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” So now you re meditating on the word. You memorize the word. You stand on the word and you let the Holy Spirit illuminate scripture to you. To you more will be given. But to those (I believe even some who think they are saved) who disregard the word or are indifferent to it, to them whatever ability for understanding they have will be taken away from them. The same applies to faith. You have the faith to be saved. And we say that we have faith to receive God’s promises. Therefore if we step out in faith and act on those promises our faith will be increased. Now if you take this verse in the immediate context of the passage right before (the parable of the sower) we can believe that if God has given us power to witness, through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and in faith we act on that promise, then we can expect an increase in our faith as well as an increase in the number of saved. How do we attain that kind of faith? Seek after the One in whom we have faith. Go to Jesus. Believe in your heart and not just in your head that God’s promises are true.
III. THE HARVEST ANTICIPATES GROWTH (26-29)
A. You Have to Plant the Seed. Faith without works is dead. Saying that you believe that God is bringing a harvest without going out into the field means nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-2, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging symbol. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Look at what Paul writes here coincides with what we have just talked about. 1) You can say the words of faith but if you don’t love the lost enough to share the gospel, you are just a clanging symbol. 2) You can hear God’s voice (prophecy) and understand (connected with hearing) all mysteries and all knowledge, but without love what good is it? 3) You can have that mustard seed faith that moves mountains, and not have love, and it amounts to nothing. Verse 26, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.” We’re getting back to sowing again. And Jesus was talking about scattering. I get the mental picture of one who is walking along and throwing out handfuls of seed as he walks along and not just a seed here and one there. He is sowing abundantly so he can reap abundantly. Did you ever see an old time farmer sowing wheat with a seed horn? As they walk across the field they sling the horn back and forth scattering seed. They don’t look at the ground and say, “this looks like a good spot for a seed.” And then drop one or two. They scatter everything they have. Just a side note. Sowing seed like that works better when aided by wind. Sowing spiritual seed works better when aided by the breath of God, His Holy Spirit.
B. Don’t Question the Process. Verse 27, “and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.” Just sow the seed. Didn’t your mom and dad ever tell you that? “Don’t ask why. Just so what I told you to do.” I have to think our Heavenly Father is saying much the same thing. Remember what Mary told the servants at the wedding feast? “Whatever He says to do, do it.” That’s good advice. So many Christians desire to be saved without responsibility. Look at the parable Jesus told in Matthew 21:28-31, 28“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?”
They said to Him, “The first.” So if we call ourselves children of the Living God, which son should we emulate? We don’t need to understand how the word of God goes out and never comes back void. We don’t have to understand how the Holy Spirit can convict one, or three thousand, of sin and bring them to the altar of repentance. It isn’t necessary for us to understand how salvation, justification, adoption or sanctification works. We just need to know that it does. And sow the word.
C. The Harvest Comes in Stages. Verse 28, “ For the earth yields crops by itself:” 1) first the blade… Back in the mid 80’s we had just built a house and had some acreage and a large garden. I always liked the spring because I looked forward to the time when I could get in the garden and begin to plant things. Then after a week or so I would begin to walk out to the garden every day to check and see if anything was coming up. How many of you know what I’m talking about? It was so exciting to see that first chute pop up out of the ground because that meant that more would soon be following. But look at what had to happen first. I had to put seed in the ground. When we are telling people about Jesus (that’s all we need to do) we are planting seed. The next thing you know a chute comes up and then another and then another. And it may not even be seed that you planted, but someone else told your neighbor about Jesus and you just reinforce what was told them before. Someone else plants, you water, but God gives the increase. And He will give the increase to the church that is faithful. Go back to verse 25, “Whoever has, to him more will be given…” Whatever it is that you are doing for the Lord be faithful, and more will be given. The full harvest is waiting for us. The only thing standing between it and this church is doubt. I doubt my ability to witness. I doubt if anybody will respond. I doubt if anyone would want to come to our church. I doubt that I would like a larger congregation. I doubt if this pastor could handle a larger church. I doubt… I doubt… I doubt…! Have faith and do not doubt “for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord…”
D. Residual Effects. Verse 29, “But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” “When the grain is ripe,” means that when a heart has softened enough to allow Jesus in, He will bring that person to Him. It may be one or a group. It may be someone who is totally un-churched or it may be someone who has been in church all their lives. When the harvest comes the sickle is put in and they are brought to Jesus. Have you ever stopped to think what happens when you come to Jesus? When corn is combined not every ear makes it into the combine. Some of the harvest is left behind and it comes up again the next year. When a soul is harvested out of the world or even out of a church something happens. I’ve told you before that after we were saved we stayed in that “traditional church” setting for seven years before the Lord moved us out. And we had some success in telling others about how Jesus saves, but in all honesty, I believe that when we left the “church” some of our grain fell off and stayed behind to the point that we are still making a difference in that church. When people are harvested out of the world, those close to them will know that something has changed. When people come out of that “church” environment, where church attendance was all that really matters, and give their lives to Jesus, something happens. There may be some anger at first, but then people start asking questions. What happened? What was it that made such a change in their life? How can I get that? Now I’m not telling you to go and steal people from other churches. I’m asking that you tell people about Jesus. It’s the right thing to do.
So here we are. One more sermon preached about witnessing. But I think the Lord is speaking to us a little differently than before. The Harvest requires the church to sow seed and let the light shine on it. There is work involved. And you must have faith. Believe what you are saying. And then expect the harvest to come.
An elderly preacher was rebuked by one of his deacons one Sunday morning before the service. "Pastor," said the man, "something must be wrong with your preaching and your work. There’s been only one person added to the church in a whole year, and he’s just a boy." The minister listened, his eyes moistening and his thin hand trembling. "I feel it all," he replied, "but God knows I’ve tried to do my duty." On that day the minister’s heart was heavy as he stood before his flock. As he finished the message, he felt a strong inclination to resign. After everyone else had left, that one boy came to him and asked, "Do you think if I worked hard for an education, I could become a preacher--perhaps a missionary?" Again tears welled up in the minister’s eyes. "Ah, this heals the ache I feel," he said. "Robert, I see the Divine hand now. May God bless you, my boy. Yes, I think you will become a preacher." Many years later an aged missionary returned to London from Africa. His name was spoken with reverence. Nobles invited him to their homes. He had added many souls to the church of Jesus Christ, reaching even some of Africa’s most savage chiefs. His name was Robert Moffat, the same Robert who years before had spoken to the pastor that Sunday morning in the old Scottish church. Lord, help us to be faithful. Then give us the grace to leave the results to you.
Are you ready to let the light shine?
A man was walking along the beach one morning and ahead of him was a young boy who was going about picking up starfish and throwing them back into the sea.
The man asked the boy, “Why are you doing that?”
The boy replied, “If I don’t get them back to where they belong they will die.”
And the man said, “But there are so many. You will never be able to get them all back. Do you really think that it makes a difference?”
And as the boy picked up another starfish and tossed it into the sea he answered, “It makes a difference to this one.”
If you make a difference in only one life saved for Christ you have made a difference. And you may never know how many other lives you have touched. Keep planting in power. Keep watering in faith. Keep harvesting for the kingdom of God is at hand.
