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I think one of the greatest mysteries of all time is how a seed grows. I'm sure biologists have this one all figured out. You take a seed and put it in a moist environment. The shell automatically begins to decompose and lets off gases which coupled with the moisture produce some sort of enzymatic reaction in the seed and it shoots out something called a radical which becomes a root. Then a sprout develops and the seed as you knew it before is consumed into a plant which grows and in turn produces more seeds.
The dandelion is one of the most fantastic examples of this mystery. If it weren't for the lawn care industry, the dandelion would probably be the most dominant plant on earth. The sheer power of its growth is amazing. I remember in my former church we paved our parking lot. The following Spring a dandelion plant miraculously pushed its way up through at least five inches of compacted gravel and probably four inches of asphalt. If someone could find out how to tap into dandelion growth as a power source, I think the world’s need for power could be quite easily met.
Here's some science for you. Newton’s first law of thermodynamics is that “energy may be transformed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed.” We can’t make energy out of nothing. It has to come from something else. If you apply that law to dandelion seeds, it becomes mind boggling that in those tiny little seeds that parachute around throughout the spring and the summer, there lies dormant enough power to grow a plant through compacted gravel and asphalt. Let me hear someone say “Praise the Lord!” or at least “Wow!”. It’s mind boggling.
I think Jesus himself was quite impressed with the mystery of seeds and how they grow. He probably sat down in many a field saying, “Father, we done well.” When you consider the latent power in a small seed – its ability to transform and grow and become a plant, and its ability to produce an astounding number of more seeds – it is no wonder that Jesus compared the “word” of the kingdom of heaven to a small, unassumingly insignificant seed. Let’s talk about the Kingdom.
Just a couple of preliminary remarks about the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom is Jesus himself and his power to reign in this creation manifested in the new reality that all things are being and, in the end, will totally be made new. The Kingdom is the power of God’s love for his creation being made manifest through Jesus God the Son become human and those, who by the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit, follow him. Moreover, God the Son uniting with physical matter is changing things. (Don’t short change what God is doing through Jesus Christ by thinking it only concerns human beings. It involves the whole of physical matter, the whole of Creation.)
Looking at this parable, Jesus wants us to know that the kingdom of Heaven or rather the incarnation of God the Son as Jesus Christ is like a seed and its energy, its power to grow. Seeds have this latent power in them to change, grow, and reproduce. Jesus was/is a new seed planted into the creation that has within itself the power of God’s very self and God’s incomprehensible love for his creation; a new seed has been planted in the entirety of the physical universe with the power of God to make all things new; a new seed that through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit has been and will continue to grow the kingdom of heaven, a kingdom where humanity begins to bear the image of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the seed of the new creation who by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in his followers is becoming the plant of the kingdom of heaven which is bearing the fruit of more seeds, people like you and me in whom the Spirit is living and working making us more like Jesus until in the end we are all raised from the dead and all things will be made new and be filled with the knowledge of God.
I know that’s a deep little bit of theology for you and I’ll try to sum it up. Jesus is the seed of the kingdom who died and was raised and who is being transformed into a new humanity filled with the Spirit of God. By the Holy Spirit’s work among people just like you and I, we too right now are being transformed to be like Christ. In, through, and as Jesus Christ God has reconciled all things to himself and by the continuing presence and work of the Holy Spirit God is regenerating all things to become like Christ Jesus until in the end the great harvest of the New Creation happens and all things are made new.
That’s the seed, the word of the kingdom of heaven. This is a new word spoken by God, a word which will come to fruition just as creation came into being. Just as God spoke through Isaiah saying, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the Sower and bread to the eater, so shall be my word that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
This word of the kingdom of heaven is going on at all times in all places in all things. And as it is a word that is spoken, so it is that we somehow hear it. It's heard like a summons, a call to stand before God, a call to find the answer to the question of “who are you God?”. Many people are wrestling with that question these days. There are many church experts who say that there has been a great spiritual awakening going on globally since the mid 1960's. Yet, oddly in Europe and North America people have been awakening with a hunger for things spiritual but have not turned to the Christian faith to find the answer to who it is that is calling to them. There are many people outside the church who say they know there is a God who is personally present in their lives and that their lives would be incomplete without the sense of purpose that God brings to them. They pray and have experiences of the mystical nature. In these people, the seed of the word of the kingdom has been sown, sown by God himself. The Holy Spirit is indeed at work in this world in people who are outside anything having to do with church and is calling them to faith.
The question that then follows is where does the seed grow from there, from this simple uninformed and often misinformed experience of God. If the seed that has been sown in them is indeed the work of the Holy Spirit sooner or later these people will look to Jesus to find answers. Therefore, we in the church need to be darn sure we are giving them the right Jesus. I think that the number one way that the evil one snatches away this seed that God has sown in so many is by using the church and Christian hypocrisy. We have to make clear to all people that Jesus has wonderfully called them to discipleship, to come to him and learn and be changed and healed along the way. We need to be clear that the one who calls them is fully found in the community of believers. Jesus cannot be known apart from his body, the fellowship of his disciples who are wrestling with the Scriptures and holding one another accountable to growing and becoming more Christ-like, a true community where mutual self-giving love is the rule, a community that worships together, prays together, and ministers to one another, and together serve in charity. The Holy Spirit calls people to meet Jesus in the midst of Christian community. He calls us beyond our own private experiences into the place where two or three are gathered in Jesus’ name and he is in their midst.
Unfortunately, this call to the kingdom can turn people away because it is costly in personal terms. Jesus places demands on our lives. As the Apostle Paul said we cannot continue to live according to the flesh and be Jesus’ disciples. As Romans 8 says we must live according to the Spirit. Christian hypocrisy, indeed the seed snatcher, becomes most evident when we in the church say we follow Jesus but we don't yield to his Spirit who is at work in us. We don't let ourselves be changed and the result is that our Christian fellowship winds up being nothing more than a Jesus club that celebrates with joy when things are going well but as soon as we find ourselves in a situation where we must stand on faith, rocky places with shallow soil, we forget we ever knew Jesus.
Our lifestyles are our greatest barrier to the growth of the seed in us. In all honesty, we don't bear seed bearing fruit because we refuse to let our lifestyles come under the scrutiny and transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Our lifestyles are shaped more by the values of our culture than by the Scriptures. We have our thorn bushes, our cares of the world and wealth, that hinder us. Growth in Christ occurs, fruit bearing occurs, when we yield up every corner of our lives to the refining fire of his great love and will to heal us and make us more like Him.
Good soil for the Christian is simply not letting ourselves stand in the way of the Spirit's work in us as individual believers and as a community of disciples. Good soil is prayer partnership. If you look at the churches that are sincerely growing in Christ, not just in number but in Christlike-ness they will all have in common this thing of two or three or more friends in Christ getting together sharing their joys, sharing their hurts, owning up on failures, and praying together. That kind of fellowship is good soil and from it comes forth much growth and seed bearing.
So, I ask you folks a question. We are four small churches. The fellowship in each of us is quite deep, yet should we ask ourselves how good the soil really is. So, the question is what would it take to get us together in smaller groups that we might pray and minister together. Moreover, what is the weed that prevents it? Amen.
