pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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Seeds

Reading: Mark 4: 26-29

Verse 27: “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how”.

The gospel today speaks of the ‘miracle’ of life. Each year I experience this in my garden. I saw rows of carrots and lettuce and peas and so on. Then I wait. Some time passes and I begin to see little green shoots coming up. Although I know scientifically why it happens, it still amazes me that these tiny hard seeds that I bury in the earth become live plants that will produce a harvest. The time in between planting and sprouting is not easy. Verse 27 reads, “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how”. While I know this is true, each morning I got up and looked upon my garden to see if life had yet sprung forth.

Waiting is hard to do. Our society is a “now” culture. We expect our browser to pop up answers for what we typed into the search box before we’re even done typing. And watch out if the little wheel spins too long! We want quick results in our personal and business endeavors. We want a million sales by Tuesday for the add that just started airing Monday. We want that non-believer that we talked with on Friday to show up to church on Sunday and to leave that day asking to be baptized and to join the church on the following Sunday. But Jesus is telling us to be patient, to wait upon God’s timing.

In the passage, the soil is like the Holy Spirit. As evangelists of the good news of Jesus Christ, we are planting seeds all the time. Always with our actions, sometimes with our words, we are sharing our faith with others. We do not know if our actions or words will lead someone to faith in Christ. It may happen ten people later or it may be that the 243rd person after we sowed is the one who finally leads that person to belief. It may happen and we never know about it. But we are assured that the seeds of faith that we plant in others will be nurtured by the Spirit and will one day, in God’s timing, bear fruit. We do not know how or why or when the seeds will sprout into faith. But we do know that we are called to plant seeds.

Just as each of our journeys has been long and is not yet complete, so too is it with those who have not yet found Jesus. May we be ever faithful in our role in God’s big plan, doing all we can to plant seeds in the lives of all we meet.


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Grow Well

Reading: John 15: 9-17

Verse Sixteen: “You did not choose me, but I chose you… to go and bear fruit”.

“Love each other as I have loved you”. This is the command we find in verse twelve of today’s passage. But Jesus, you were perfect, the incarnation of God in the flesh. And I am just a simple human being, often tempted by the things of this world. Jesus, you were so smart – you knew just what to say or do at just the right moments. I stumble and bumble and bumble opportunities.

Yes, this passage from John 15 is beautiful in its imagery of a loving relationship, but sometimes I feel inadequate. Yes, this passage promises that God will give whatever I ask in Jesus’ name, but at times I feel unworthy and powerless to ask. I do try to remain in God’s love and to obey the commands. On our own, we are destined to fall short and to fail. But through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, “everything I learned from my Father I have made known to you”. The Spirit reminds us and teaches us what we need to know, helping us to live in an intimate connection with Jesus.

In our passage we see that Jesus makes the choice to exit the master-servant relationship and to enter into a friend-friend relationship instead. This new relationship is based upon love instead of on hierarchy and power. It also shifts our role in the relationship. Instead of doing because we are “supposed” to or because it is our “job”, we do out of a mutual love and affection. When this is our perspective, we “abide” in His love. It is from this place of constant presence that we can love one another as He first loved us.

Jesus also says in our passage today, “You did not choose me, but I chose you… to go and bear fruit”. Much like the first twelve disciples, we are chosen by Jesus. It feels good to know that Jesus picked you and me. He does have an expectation that He voices. Jesus picks us to go and bear fruit. Bearing fruit comes after planting seeds. We plant seeds by sharing the Word and by being Jesus to others. In doing so we become more like Him.

Athanasius, an early church father, wrote, “He became what we are that we might become what He is”. Jesus lived and modeled love so that we could live and model love. In doing so, we grow in His image. May we grow well today.


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Bearing Fruit

Reading: John 15: 1-8

Verse Eight: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples”.

As the branches connected to the vine, we have a relationship with Jesus. This relationship is like most of our other relationships – it has an ebb and flow to it. There are moments when the connection feels rock solid and moments when it feels very distant. Most of the time the relationship is spent somewhere between these two extremes. Verse five reminds us of an important truth: “apart from Me you can do nothing”. Now, Jesus is talking about spiritual things here, the things that really matter in life.

The core of being connected to and in relationship with Jesus is bearing fruit. The acts of sharing His love and serving others are lost when we allow the relationship to become disconnected. When we allow this to happen then we are not making an impact for the kingdom and we are not bringing glory to God. Therefore, we need to make every effort to remain connected to Jesus.

Our society is now an instant gratification culture that tends to focus inward and on our own pleasure. Fortunately, the act of bearing fruit often runs against these two norms. Our faith and the practice thereof make us stand out from the secular culture and draw attention to God. When we are doing the work of sharing our faith and proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, we are aiming to bear fruit.

More often than not, the seeds we plant will not bear fruit for a while. Every once in a while we might be blessed to be the one when another finally decides to confess faith in Jesus. More often than not we are just the twentieth or the sixty-third or the seventy-fourth person to plant a small seed of faith in someone’s life. We are most often just one more step towards someone entering a saving relationship with Jesus. Nonetheless, we are a part of another’s faith journey and are therefore part of bringing glory to God.

Our passage today closes with this verse: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples”. Today, may we show ourselves to be His disciples, bearing much fruit. May it be so today. Amen!


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Gardeners and Bakers

Reading: Matthew 13: 31-33

Verses 31 and 33: The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed… like yeast.

Our two parables today are seemingly about something small – a tiny mustard seed and some yeast.  These two parables follow two others.  One is about the receptivity and sticking power of a seed of faith and the other about the weeds of sin that can grow in people’s lives.  Taken in the context of the today’s parables, the previous two are all about the planting of a small seed as well.

Just as the tiny mustard seed becomes a large tree that gives shelter and rest to many, the tiny yeast works its way through the whole batch of dough, causing it all to rise.  These are like the good seeds planted in the good soil that produce a crop 100, 60, or 30 times what was sown.  Satan’s “bad” seeds also work the same way – producing a crop that must be bundled at harvest time.

This brings us to two questions.  First, how are we planting seeds or being yeast?  Second, what kinds of seed or yeast are we planting or mixing in?  Like the sower and the baker, we are called to work in and through all areas of our lives – at work, at home, at church, on the ball field, in the restaurant… – and with all we meet all the time.  Like the mustard seed, we are called to offer even the smallest of kind words or the simplest act of kindness, trusting that God can do a mighty work through any act of love or kindness or grace or mercy or … that we can offer.  How? Any place, any size, any time.

Hopefully we are choosing to sow good seeds and to act as good yeast.  In our simple and small acts and words we want others to see Jesus.  If we are all-in, 24/7 Christians then we are like the yeast – permeating all aspects of our own lives with our faith as well as permeating the lives of those we cross paths with each day.  What kind?  The kind that speaks love.  The kind that Jesus spoke.

The small seeds and the simple leavening yeast bear witness to the love of Jesus Christ in us and to the love He wants to share with the whole world.  May we be good gardeners and bakers today.


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Grains of Faith

At times in my faith journey I am like the chaff.  My faith becomes dry, seemingly purposeless.  In those times I too can be blow this way or that.  I feel adrift in these times.  It is easier to be drawn to the things of this world as well.  Yet God always draws me back in.

I want to be like the grain.  We all do.  It is the grain that sheds the chaff so that new life is made possible.  The grain is happy to be and do what God created it for.  Joy is found in fulfilling its purpose.

Some grain is used to nourish others.  It can be used in many ways to accomplish this purpose.  Each of us has a gift or talent to use in some way to nourish our fellow believers.  We are called to use these gifts and talents not for ourselves but to build up the body of Christ.

Other grain is used to yield more grain.  As we plant the Word of God in others, we are sowing seeds of faith.  Each of us has a faith unique story and a voice to use to tell that story.  Each of us has the ability to cast seeds far and wide both with our story and with the witness of how we live our lives.  Our hope is that some takes root and new lives of faith are formed.

God promises to watch over the ways of the righteous.  His promise is to those that love Him and seek to walk in His ways.  It takes sacrifice to give of oneself to help others grow in faith.  It requires the same to sow seeds of faith in others.  God’s love will lead us to do both.  Allow His hand to guide you today.

Scripture reference: Psalm 1: 4-6