No Seeds without Fruit?

SCRIPTURE: Num. 17-18; Ps. 29; Mark 4

Mark 4:1-20

The Story of the Scattered Seed

^1-2 He went back to teaching by the sea. A crowd built up to such a great size that he had to get into an offshore boat, using the boat as a pulpit as the people pushed to the water’s edge. He taught by using stories, many stories.^3-8“Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. Some fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams.

⁹“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”

^10-12When they were off by themselves, those who were close to him, along with the Twelve, asked about the stories. He told them, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom—you know how it works. But to those who can’t see it yet, everything comes in stories, creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight. These are people—

Whose eyes are open but don’t see a thing,
Whose ears are open but don’t understand a word,
Who avoid making an about-face and getting forgiven.”

¹³He continued, “Do you see how this story works? All my stories work this way.

^14-15“The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them.

^16-17“And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.

^18-19“The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.

²⁰“But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.”

OBSERVATIONS: 25% success rate, but a 100-fold return. One in four will be lost, but our return will be 100-fold. The seeds are scattered, and not planted specifically.

APPLICATION: Stop focusing on success and failure. Start focusing on sharing the seeds and scattering SCATTERING SCATTERING them.

PRAYER: God of the Harvest; God of the Sowing: Let it be not in my control, God, but yours. I resign myself to your leadership, and trust that your answers will come before my questions are ripe. Let the threshing floor be a place for dancing until the harvest comes home, but only after we have scattered the seed to the far places and the near. Through Christ, the Vine, from which we receive nourishment for the fruit (AND SEED) we bear! Amen!!