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Chapter 22 - Sower
Mark 4:26-29
26 And [kai] he said [lego] , So [houto] is [esti] the kingdom [basileia] of God [theos] , as [hos] if [ean] a man [anthropos] should cast [ballo] seed [sporos] into [epi] the ground [ge] ;
27 And [kai] should sleep [katheudo] , and [kai] rise [egeiro] night [nux] and [kai] day [hemera] , and [kai] the seed [sporos] should spring [blastano] and [kai] grow up [mekuno] , he [autos] knoweth [eido] not [ou] how [hos] .
28 For [gar] the earth [ge] bringeth forth fruit [karpophoreo] of herself [automatos] ; first [proton] the blade [chortos] , then [eita] the ear [stachus] , after that [eita] the full [pleres] corn [sitos] in [en] the ear [stachus] .
29 But [de] when [hotan] the fruit [karpos] is brought forth [paradidomi] , immediately [eutheos] he putteth in [apostello] the sickle [drepanon] , because [hoti] the harvest [therismos] is come [paristemi] . KJV-Interlinear
26 And He was saying, 'The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; 27 and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows — how, he himself does not know. 28 'The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. 29 'But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.' NASB
Though we as mankind might think that we are wise, in reality we are pretty dumb. Plants have existed since God created them. Seeds fall and sprout up and produce more seeds and they fall onto the ground and they sprout up and so the cycle continues.
Even in today's advanced technologies, we still cannot produce from scratch, a single seed. We are just in the beginning stages of genetic engineering, but even that is a trial and error effort. There exists nowhere a manual on the seed. How it works. What each DNA part does. How it gets its programming so to speak. We don't have those answers.
Now back in the days of Christ's first advent, technology was far less than in our present day. We are more advanced in knowledge as far as the world goes, but here is the point of all of this. We do not know many things about a plant, and likewise we do not know how spiritual growth occurs, but it does occur.
We plant a seed and it grows. Our part is to go to bed each night, to get up each morning and repeat the process. The seed grows without our help. When it is in good soil with all the ingredients, moisture, etc., then it produces well. When the seed falls on bad soil, rocks, in weeds and so forth, it does not do well.
Our soul is the soil. The seed is the word of God. The growth ingredients are our volition, our attitude, the decisions we make daily, even moment by moment decisions which determine the production of the seed of truth.
When we read the Bible, we do not read of advanced mathematics. We do not read of advanced sciences. We do not study biology, cooking, technical topics, advanced frequency theory, nothing of the sort. We read the word which God gives us - 'In the beginning ...'
Nothing in the Bible will give us a clue as to how we can build a better mouse trap, a better kitchen tool, a faster car, or even think up a funnier joke. All those topics are academic. We read of God, of His promises, of His expectations, and a whole lot of keep in the word, keep in the word, be perfect, be perfect, don't stray, don't stray, and so on and so forth.
So, with all of this not so technical educational education, how do we grow up spiritually?
Well, we get ourselves into fellowship, and we monitor ourselves to maintain that fellowship status, we study the Bible as we are doing now, and we repeat that process over and over again and again throughout our lives. The magic occurs. We grow up. We mature. Then God will harvest us (as it were) in His own good time.
Remember that the underlying principle of the spiritual life is that we do nothing, and God does everything - lest man should boast as to accomplishing his own growth.
All we do is make decisions. We decide to comply with Gods rules or we reject (or ignore) them. Bible doctrine is Gods word. It comes from God. The Holy Spirit communicates it to us. Here is our first decision point - do we listen or not. If we listen, then the Holy Spirit takes that spiritual information, funneling it into our human spirit, and there we reach our second decision point - do we believe it or not.
If we believe it, then God the Holy Spirit funnels it (spiritual information) down into our soul and there it becomes the building blocks for more doctrine, eventually building up a framework within our soul from which we can function more and more (as we grow up) within our spiritual life.
We use what we know and apply it to our life. That is the production of our spiritual life. In effect we do nothing but God does everything. Even the knowledge we possess belongs to God. We simply believe it and use it in our daily life.
The magic happens. We did not learn advanced math. We did not discover the latest stealth technology. We did not invent the greatest household tool, nor make our social life better. We merely open up our Bibles daily and read the same verses over and over again and again. We listen to instruction, and we maintain our spiritual life by allowing God to do all of that work for us. Our soil is fertile.
When we get bored, when we become disinterested, when we let the things of the world distract us, when we allow little compromises to become big compromises in our standards of life, then our soil (the status of our soul) drifts off among the weeds and rocks and perhaps onto the path, of un-productivity.
Thus far we have studied seven of the Parables of Christ. Do you remember them? If you can write all seven of them down then you have been paying attention. If not, then perhaps you should consider a little review. You never know, you might just discover the secret of the universe !!!
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