Mark 4:1-8

Mark 4:1-8  Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.  He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.  Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” 

Unless a seed is planted and unless that seed dies, it abides alone and will not produce anything beyond its own reality.  No new plant, no new life, no new identity will come unless the seed loses its conformation, its existence.  When the Lord talks about a seed, He is speaking about us and our lives.  We, our essence, our hearts, are the soil.  Unless our essence is yielded, unless our hearts are amenable to change, we will produce no new life.  The environment of our hearts will determine our future existence, likeness.  If we are stony to anything spiritual, we will crumble into dust without any sprouting; for we will reject anything about God or a future life in God.  Therefore, all we will get out of life is what we choose to experience in the present: eating, drinking, sleeping, and so on.  With such a life, exposure to the world's environment of disbelief will destroy the seed itself.  Without spiritual depth, the seed will die without fulfilling its designed purpose, which is to glorify God in the body.  Human beings have an eternal purpose to fulfill in their lives, and that is to bring glory to the Father of all things by surrendering to him.  Paul prayed for the church: May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  (Romans 15:5-6)  When we yield our lives to the Lord and the seed of God grows within us, Paul wrote to the church at Philippi that they would shine like stars in the universe.  (Philippians 2:15)

Unfortunately, all do not receive the seed with openness or allow God the freedom to cultivate healthy spiritual growth.  Some lives sprout for a short period of time as if they will grow into lively plants.  Their hearts are open to experimentation.  They include spirituality in all of their life experiences.  They dabble with many things, but only hook into the latest fad or desire for a short time.  Yet they are unwilling to make a genuine commitment to anything for very long, so when a new day comes when life and its perplexities bears in another direction, they forget God.  They allow the new life to wither within them.  Others do not endure to the end because the cares and concerns of this world crowd God out of their lives.  They spend all their time working on earthly concerns or entertaining themselves with fleshly pleasures, crowding God and his concerns out of their lives.  They made a pretense of following God but remained among the weeds and thorns of life.  Some may have thought they were believers but their closest friends and relatives saw the inconsistencies.  Their spiritual lives are emaciated and fruitless because of the concerns and temptations of life.  God gets the leftovers of their days, the tail end of their life experiences, the dregs of life.  The Christian life without depth and a sure foundation with not last when trials, temptations, and the storms of life press in upon us.  We fail miserably without strong roots.  We are like the man Jesus spoke of who built his house upon the sand: But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.  (Matthew 7:26-27)

But those people who allow the seed to be planted in the deepest part of their soil, their souls, produce much fruit for their Father.  They will go through a transformation not imagined by the seed.  Just as the red oak acorn, if it had an awareness of some sort, could never imagine the great tree that would eventually emerge and develop from its existence; so we as humans, experiencing good soil, can never imagine what God has in store for us when we die to ourselves and live for him, not only here but in the eternal future.  What kind of beautiful entity will develop from such meager, finite lives fully yielded to God.  We will be a glory to our wonderful God forever.  We will reveal together as his beautiful church a garden of splendor beyond mere human imagination.  In Revelation, we read about the glory of heaven.  The beginning of the description says: The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.  The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone.  (Revelation 18:18-19)  The redeemed of God who have endured to the end will experience a personal and collective existence far greater than the transformation of the acorn into a majestic and mighty oak tree.  We can see the results of the acorn transforming into a several thousand pound majestic tree, but the Bible says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” — but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.  The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  (1 Corinthians 2:9-11)  We cannot know with our natural minds what God can do when we come alive in the Spirit and grow up in Christ that we might be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.  (Isaiah 61:3)  Nothing can stop seed from multiplying when it falls into good ground, a heart with soil ready to receive and nourish the seed.  Today may our hearts and minds allow the Holy Spirit to bring forth a mighty harvest in our lives.  God loves you and He calls you by name.  This is the year of the Lord's favor: walk in freedom!  Love, Dad and Mom