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Mark 4:26 - 34
Can You Make Seed Sprout?

The key phrase in this paragraph is "of itself." Our Lord is making the point that those who sow have absolutely no control over the sprouting or maturing of the seed - it all happens without human intervention. That's the way it is with the Kingdom of God as well - those who bring the Gospel to others need to realize that the results don't depend on them, but upon God alone. Paul said the same thing in his first letter to the Corinthian church. He said, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." (1 Cor. 3:6)

Looking at the context here in Mark, though, we remember that our Lord had just been explaining to His disciples the parable of the sower. He continues, in verses 21-33, by adding some illustrations and parables for even better understanding. Their purpose is to illustrate the impact that the Gospel has upon individuals. Some people have no interest at all, others respond with a kind of carelessness, and still others have a kind of distracted lack of seriousness  But there are some who really do  receive it and respond appropriately.

In the particular verses before us, our Lord uses an illustration about "good soil" hearers. He makes it very, very plain that a good response like that results from a secret, inner work of God, a work that occurs without human intervention or awareness. In the following verses, he will teach His disciples that it may begin in only a small way, but that the final result may be very great indeed.

Many  in our own day attempt to contradict our Lord's teaching here. They tell us that "the only feet our Lord has are our feet, and the only mouth He has is the one we use for Him." They actuslly mean that the work of evangelism depends entirely upon the energy and efforts of the Church, and that the response depends on how the Gospel is presented. If our efforts are great enough, and if we bring the Gospel in an attractive enough package, then our churches will be full! They point to the larger churches in our land as examples of how successful we can be if we go about our task in the right way.

I am concerned that such an attitude almost seems to suggest that their interest is not in individuals at all, nor in obeying their Lord by evangelizing, but only in full churches - to the glory of their church administration! But our Lord leaves no room for such an attitude.

He tells us that our responsibility is twofold: the seed we sow must be the true Gospel, and we need to get out and sow it. That's about all the responsibility we can handle! Sowing, of course, includes soil preparation. The sower needs to be very careful how he prepares the soil. And you and I need to pay some careful attention to a good and loving approach to people when we're sowing the seed of the Gospel. Good deeds and a caring manner are far better than buttonholing and pressure. But we do need to be aware that even with a good approach, once the seed is sown, dependence for results has to be upon God alone.

Such things as constant reiteration of the supposed benefits Jesus brings, great musical entertainment, beautiful buildings and soft pews, lots of clever advertising - all are merely an attempt to circumvent this plain teaching of our Lord.

Our Lord's mustard-seed illustration makes it still more plain. We could paraphrase it, "When God first begins His work of salvation in a soul, it may seem as if nothing much is happening, yet the results for time and eternity are gigantic!" God's work in the heart can seem to be like the tiniest mustard seed (just a "seed thought" – pun intended). But that seed germinates, giving rise to further thoughts, and then, as additional information comes from God's Word or from the lips of friends, etc., little by little the conviction grows that the Gospel is the TRUTH. Finally, there's a glad surrender to Jesus Christ, and the Christian life begins. Then, little by little, there's growth in understanding, growth in obedience, growth in Christian witness and behavior, so that other people are affected. The possibilities and results of the one, tiny seed can be very great and are known only to God.

If you've read this far, then you're probably beyond the "seed-thought" stage. You find your heart warmed by the teaching and ministry of our Lord as you read and consider it. In fact, it moves you to want to share your heart-warming experience with others. What began in your heart as just a little thought has become vitally important to you, and it affects every part of your life.

If this is indeed true of you, then it's for you that our Lord added the last scene of His illustration: ". . . and it produces many branches, so that the birds of the heavens can take up their dwelling in its shade." The little seed thought is becoming your entire life.

Just as any simile compares two unlike things in order to illustrate one of them, so this one compares an individual Christian life to a growing "garden herb," one that produces more and more branches. Our Lord intended to encourage us in growing more "branches" and in providing more "shade" for others as well.

Every new Christian feels that his relationship to Christ is all-important, that it has changed his entire life and his eternity as well - and, truly, it has. But at the beginning he doesn't yet realize that there are many battles ahead, and that there are many changes that must take place in his personality, his behavior, and his relationships in the world. In our Lord's metaphor, the new Christian's spiritual life has lots of "branching out" to do!

Paul said it so well in his letter to the Philippian church.  He said, "Being confident of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil. 1:6) Once the work is truly begun, it's going to go on until our Lord returns! The Holy Spirit began it, and the Holy Spirit will continue it. In fact, the only absolute certainty you can have that your Christian life has begun has to come from that continuing work of the Spirit. To be sure you're truly one of our Lord's people you need to ask yourself whether you're growing.

So the continuing work of Spirit produces, little by little, more "branches" - more conformity to the Character of Christ, more of such things as patience, love, peace, joy, etc. In fact the Apostle paul calls these things "fruits of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22, 23), and they're what make the Christian life beautiful and useful, just as branches and leaves are the beauty of the "garden herb" of our Lord's illustration.

Wherever these fruits of the Spirit are found, they provide relief ("shade), not only to the Christian in whom they develop, but also to all the people around the Christian - in contrast to the often unbearable "heat" of this world. Just as many flocked to Jesus because He represented profound relief from the "heat" of a rebellious and sinful world, so the Spirit of Christ in His people attracts those seeking rest in every age.

But it needs to be understood that Christians aren't passive in growing these "branches." Each of us has to actively seek more and more acquantance with Christ, more and more living relationship with Him, more and more love to Him and desire to please Him. By so doing, we become even more willing to change, even more willing to put forth the effort necessary to become like Him. No passivity here! We have to admit our unloving nature before He can make us more loving, and we have to admit our impatient nature before He can make us more patient. And of course the old nature doesn't die easily - there is conflict and struggle. One moment, we greatly desire to be like our Lord, but the next moment we desire no change at all! But praise God, the struggle is proof of real life!

If we're Christians at all, we want to be like our Lord, and we desire to become a source of relief to our neighbors much like the branches were a relief from the sun in our Lord's illustration. We can begin with just those desires. We can begin by praying daily for grace to become more like Him, more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, and gentle. Our Lord will hear and answer us! Little by little, we'll grow new "branches."

Summarizing, Mark tells us that Jesus taught the people by means of "many such parables." In fact, he says, "without parables, He didn't speak to them (the Word) at all." During this particular time of teaching, Jesus' audience consisted of "His followers, along with the twelve." By this time Jesus had many of these followers. The twelve had also been only followers at the beginning. The important difference between the "followers" and the twelve lay entirely in the fact that Jesus had chosen the twelve to be with Him 24 hours of every day, whereas the "followers" came and went as their particular lives required.

The more casual of these disciples particularly needed parables. Some of them might hear only one such illustration before finding it necessary to be away from Jesus permanently. But Jesus' story-illustrations were calculated to do such people good by remaining in their memories a long time.

But the twelve needed these parables too. Jesus had a great future task for them, a task that required building - teaching upon teaching upon teaching. So Jesus made sure that He "explained everything" to them. They were to be the founders of the Church, able to speak the Word of the kingdom inerrantly and in great detail, teaching others all that Jesus had taught them. Jesus "explained everything" to them so that they would later be able to explain everything to others.

There are some present-day applications we can make of Jesus' methodology. For any who would teach or preach, it's essential to use our Lord's methods, because there will always be casual hearers, hearers who might later on recall vivid, well-thought-out illustrations, and who might therefore be saved! Our preaching and teaching should therefore be an art - not to impress, but so that sin-darkened hearts and minds might retain the truth. God help us to do our best when we are dealing with the eternal destiny of souls!

But there's still another application. Even while He aimed at doing the most possible good for the casual hearers, we've seen that our Lord also made certain that His chosen twelve understood thoroughly. As a master bricklayer lays each brick and each row of bricks carefully so that He can build more upon them, so our Lord Jesus, the Master Artisan, built one truth upon another in His disciples' minds, so that they in turn could minister the truth to others.

In our churches we too should carefully select some for more careful discipling, some to whom every truth and every principle is thoroughly explained. As Paul put it: "And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also." (2 Tim. 2:2) By thus working with a select few, we will bless the many. This is not to say that our teaching to the many should be mediocre - Jesus' teaching was never mediocre - but there should always be an additional, more selective, more intense ministry to those who may become teachers.