The Bible In Your Hand

Mark: According To

Part 23

Mark 4:26-29

The Mystery of The Gospel

²⁶ And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, ²⁷ and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. ²⁸ For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.

One would have thought that this group of verses would have followed directly after the parable of the sower, but instead it follows the parable of the candle and candle stick. We have discovered the seed that the sower sowed is Christ and the gospel message. This message is sowed by the sower far and wide, with little regard to where the message (the seed) falls because it is impossible for us to discern who is ready to receive the gospel and who is not.

Many times, I have shared the gospel with those I was sure were willing, able, and ready to accept the gospel message only to find they had turned a deaf ear. There are other times, in which I thought it hopeless to share with this person, for they have no interest, yet they are now active members in God’s church.

This is the mystery of the gospel, we may scatter seed far and near, take our rest to become refreshed to work some more for the Lord and when we come back find that the seed that was sown has taken root, sprouted and beginning to grow.

How can this be, for we have only spread the seed, yet now it grows. As a seed that falls on the ground is watered, heated by the sun and begins to grow, so are the seed of the gospel message. The seed looks lifeless and dead, but within the seed is all things necessary for growth, it only needs the warmth of the heavenly Father and the soaking rain of the Holy Spirit for the seed to suddenly take on life, grow roots and suddenly sprout.

Too much sunlight and the young plant will wither and die, to little or too much rain and the seed will rot before it germinates or not grow at all. This delicate balance that exist before the seed can grow is the same in the life of a Christian. First the seed must be sown, then the Holy Spirit can use any one of several means at its disposal to water the tender seed. But the method most often used by the Holy Spirit is you and me. It is when we share the gospel, a little here, a little there, that we water this tender seed. The light in our life that shines forth from the very thrown of God, flowing out of our heart warms the seed, allowing it to germinate and spring to life.

All measured and directed by the Holy Spirit as the spirit works within our heart, directing us in the service of God.

By divine appointment we are placed in the path of others to share before them what the spirit directs us to share. As Christ was on earth, he was constantly in communication with is heavenly Father, who directed him in all that he did. The Father and Son worked in unison to seek and save the lost.

As Christ was our example we to should be in constant communion with our heavenly Father, praying in the name of Jesus to be used in the service of God’s kingdom. As we pray, study and are open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we to like Christ will as Christ did, meet the needs of the people, and touch their life in such as a way that the seeds of the gospel message can take root, sprout and grow.

Yet often we feel that once the seed has taken root and sprouted our work is done. Out work continues, until the harvest is ready.

The mystery of the seed that grows is something we often fail to understand. How is it that something dead and lifeless, can change and become a living thing that sends its roots deep into the earth, sprouts, grows, and then yield a harvest. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that the sinner is restored to life. It is the Holy Spirit that guides and directs so that their roots sink deep into the gospel message, then because of the living water and the nutrients that are stored within the gospel, they spring forth to life and eventual yield fruit for the kingdom.

As we have studied the gospel according to Mark, I have tried to stay away from what the other gospels have to say, but Christ himself upon the Mount of Olives addressed this very issue with Nicodemus. Jon 3:5-8 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes, so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

As we do not understand where the wind comes from or where it goes, we can see the power of wind and hear the wind, so it is with the Holy Spirit. We cannot see or understand, but we can see the power of the spirit as it brings life to that which is dead.

My friends all around us are people that are dead to Christ, either they do not know or believe they know but really have no relationship with Christ therefore it is as though they are lifeless. God designed that in the great plan of salvation that the Holy Spirit would take the place of Jesus upon this earth, and that we in cooperation with the Holy Spirit are used to point others to Christ who is the source of life and restores life.

How the Holy Spirit works upon the hearts of mankind to point them to Jesus is a great mystery, one we may never understand. But as the seed grows, or we see the effect of the wind as it blows, the workings of the Holy Spirit are evident for us to see in the changed lives of those that accept the seed of the gospel truth.

As a Christian, I feel humbled that Christ would chose a sinner like me, to aid in the spread of the seed of the Gospel message. Yet it is just not for me, for he has called all his faithful followers to aid in the spreading of the seed. The seed which is faithfully watered by the Holy Spirit, and warmed by the pure hope of the gospel message as Christ’s love through the gospel message shines upon the world.

Each one of these seeds that takes root, sprouts and grows that is not choked out, scooped up by the birds of the air, or withered by the trials of life that Satan puts upon us all, will grow and be nourished by the Holy Spirit will eventually produce fruit of their own. Galatians 5:22, 23 tell us what the this fruit of the spirit is, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such there is no law. There is only grace, the grace of God’s mercy toward fallen man who seeks to bring life to that which is lifeless.

But for the seed to bring forth fruit it must soak up the living water and sink its roots deep into the gospel or else it will not survive to bear fruit.

May we humbly seek to do the will of the Father so that the seed may sprout, grow and ripen and bear fruit for the harvest. Amen