A Time to Plant

Photo by Dragfyre 2011

Our church's Missions Conference this year reminds me that everyone is either a missionary or a mission field. If we are saved by trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the only Way to Heaven, He has commanded us to witness about Him to the unsaved, who are the mission field. This led me to repost the article below.

Romans 10: 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?… 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

What’s your excuse for not witnessing? Mine is fear. Fear of rejection, of offending, even of not being politically correct. But love, even if human and therefore not perfect, should cast out fear (1 John 4:18).

We are told to plant the seeds of belief in Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20). But shouldn’t we also accept the responsibility of tilling the soil, watering the green shoots of faith, shedding light on the new growth, and tending it as it matures and bears fruit? What if we are the only gardener in one soul’s life, from sowing to harvest if we fulfill our mission (John 4: 34-38), or from sowing to withering if we fail?

In the first picture I saw of my foster child Sathit, he was a gaunt, solemn lad of 11, standing with his parents and younger sister before a fragile ornamental cherry tree in full bloom, in his native village in Thailand. He was an average student who liked to garden, or “to sprinkle plants in his leisure,” as the awkwardly translated letter put it.

My intentions were honorable. I had picked up a brochure at church and had decided to sponsor a foster child. But I failed him. I didn’t know then that I would commit the cruelest sin of omission possible (James 4:13-17).

The sponsoring organization had “Christian” in the name, so I naively assumed that my monthly monetary gift would provide Christian outreach, along with food, school supplies, and contributions to community projects such as better wells in Sathit’s village. Providing for physical needs is important, but securing our eternal future even more so (Matthew 6:31-33; 16:24-26).

Eventually, I learned that their resources were too limited for missionary services, but by then, it seemed unkind to withdraw my support. Despite the thousands of miles that separated us, I came to know and love Sathit from his letters, drawings, and progress reports.

As time went on, I also sponsored other children through Compassion International, another organization that does offer Christian teaching. It is never too early to nourish children in the Word of God (Mark 10:13-17; 2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14-17). Reading letters from these children telling me that they loved our Lord and Savior brought me great joy. Arakiados, from India, even drew me an awe-inspiring picture of Jesus, as if he had seen Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).

But Sathit was not that blessed. I sent him Christmas cards, and I wrote him about Easter, about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 28:6-7) through which all believers can have eternal life (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

He wrote back about offering food to the monks in the temples and about Buddhist festivals: “I would like you to throw water on Songkran Festival in the province very much.”

I always wanted to tell him more, to share the Good News (Proverbs 25:25) that Jesus came to save sinners like all of us (Luke 19:10; Romans 3:23) and to reconcile us to Holy God through His shed blood (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 4:10). I wanted to prepare the way so that the Holy Spirit could convict him and so that he would be born again and welcome Jesus into his heart (John 3:3-8; Romans 10:9-10).

But I was still a babe in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1), and I failed to do this. After all, I reasoned wrongly, Sathit lived in a Buddhist family and attended a Buddhist school, and I didn’t want to complicate his relationship with his parents or make trouble for him with his teachers or classmates (Matthew 10:34-40).

Anyway, he was growing up so fast, and now that he was a young man of 16, perhaps his circle of friends would widen. I hoped he would travel outside his village and learn about other cultures and beliefs. I thought others would germinate the seeds of Christian faith I had sparingly scattered across his path (2 Corinthians 9:6; 1 Corinthians 3: 5-11).

Sadly, I thought about it too little and too late (2 Corinthians 6:2). A letter from the sponsoring organization notified me of an emergency situation – could I please call for more information? My prayers in those 12 hours before the office opened were for the problem to have a solution, even if difficult – crop failure, housing destroyed in a storm, even illness in the family. Surely I could help somehow. After all, with Christ, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

But without Christ, there is no hope (Ephesians 2:12-19; Romans 5). I learned that Sathit was riding a motorbike when a pedestrian darted across the road. Sathit swerved to avoid him, crashed into a tree, and died instantly. His young life was plucked up before it even had time to take root.

“Well, at least he’s in Heaven now,” well-meaning friends said upon hearing the news. How I wished that were true. How I wished I had another chance to make a difference, to tell him how he could be saved.

Had I know Sathit had so little time (James 4:14) to make the most important decision of his life – to choose where he would spend eternity – would I have been less afraid, more persistent, more committed? (Galatians 6:9) Would I have given him the Word of Life (John 6:63-68) instead of speaking idle words (Matthew 12:36), for which I will have to give an account to Jesus at the judgment seat? (1 Corinthians 3: 10-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10)

May God help me to remember Sathit every time He gives me an opportunity to witness, to nurture the growth of belief in Jesus. For many souls we meet, we may be the only gardener they’ll ever have.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

© 2003 Laurie Collett

Edited and reposted from the archives

 

What Can Grow in Your Heart?

As our church and others are enjoying annual Missions Conferences and the missionaries who sow God's Word,  I thought it would be appropriate to edit and repost an earlier writing on the parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20; Matthew 13:1-22). Praying that you enjoy it, that the Gospel seeds you plant take root in fertile soil, and that you reap a bountiful harvest!

An interesting question is whether the seed (Word) planted in rocky ground or among thorns represents the beliefs of those who were saved and then turned away from God, or the beliefs of those who were never truly born again (John 3:3-8). 

This is a crucial issue, for how we respond to the Good News of the Gospel is the most important decision anyone can make, one that will affect our eternal destiny. Those who repent from their sins and place their trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6)  will spend eternity with Him in glory, and those who reject this truth face eternal punishment in hell. 

In this parable, Jesus uses the sower to represent one who spreads God’s Word; the seed as a symbol of the Word itself, and the soil as the state of the heart of the one who hears the Word. Mark 4 and Matthew 13 have nearly identical accounts of the parable and its explanation, emphasizing the importance and veracity of this passage in Scripture. 

Jesus describes four conditions of the soil, or of the heart, when confronted with the Word. If the seed falls alongside the furrow that the farmer has prepared, birds will eat the seed before it can even germinate (Mark 4:4). This represents the person who hears the Word but is immediately distracted by one of Satan’s lies (Mark 4:15), which replaces the truth of God’s Word. Clearly, this person rejected the Word and was not saved by hearing it. 

The second condition of the heart is like that of stony ground (Mark 4:5-6). Seeds planted here sprout quickly because they are in shallow earth, but the rocky ledge beneath the seed prevents it from rooting. In the heat of the sun, the shoot withers away because it has no root to nourish it with water. 

By using the word “likewise” in His explanation of the stony ground (Mark 4:16-17), right after He explains the seed sown by the wayside, Jesus implies that the person whose heart is rocky ground also undergoes no permanent change after hearing the Word. They react at first with gladness, but the Word has not taken root in their heart, and the Holy Spirit has not indwelled them because they “have no root in themselves.”  

Such a person might be pleased to hear that Heaven could await them, but they do not repent of their sins, trust Christ as their Lord and Savior, or enter into a personal relationship with Christ. We speak of such a person as having a “head knowledge,” but not a “heart knowledge” of the Gospel. They may call themselves Christians and may join a church, but if it becomes politically incorrect or dangerous to do so, they will renounce the “faith” that they never had in the first place (Mark 4:17). 

They may even believe that Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead, but that truth does not change their life in any meaningful way – they are not a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). They could be happy with the idea that Christ died so that they could have a “get out of hell free” card, but they see no reason to labor for His Kingdom.  

A Biblical example of such a person could be King Agrippa, whom Paul “almost persuaded” to be a Christian (Acts 16:28). Sadly, you can’t be almost saved any more than you can be almost pregnant, and a person who is almost Christian is doomed to eternity in hell. 

The third type of soil or heart condition described by Christ is the thorny soil, in which the thorns rapidly overtake the good seed of the Word, choking it so that it cannot grow and bear fruit (Mark 4:7). In this situation, the Word never has the chance to affect the hearer, because worldly cares, such as the love of money or power, crowd it out (Mark 4:18-19).  

The rich young ruler, for example, asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life, but it was clear that he believed he was righteous in his own merit and that wealth was his god, leaving no room for the true Savior (Luke 18:18-25). Jesus explained that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25). 

Another example was Judas, who may have latched onto Jesus because he thought the Messiah would overthrow Roman rule, but his greed (John 12:6) and desire for military power outweighed any alliance he felt to Jesus. The devil entered into Judas (John 13:2), and he was described as the “son of perdition,” (John 17:12) confirming that he was never saved. 

Jesus will disown those who hear His Word but have hearts like stony or thorny soil, even though they may have done good works in His name and may even have shared the Scripture with others: 

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 

It is not enough to believe that Jesus was a good man, that He died for our sins, or even that He rose from the dead. It is not enough to call ourselves Christians, join a church, or be baptized. We must trust Him, and Him alone, with childlike faith and love (Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:14-15), as our Lord and Savior. 

As our former pastor used to say, the distance between knowing about Christ and knowing Him as Savior, Spouse, Brother and Friend could be as little as 15 inches – that length representing the distance from head to heart. Only when we accept His precious gift of salvation by grace alone through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) will the Holy Spirit of Christ indwell our heart (Ephesians 1:13-14). 

That state of heart is represented by the good soil in the parable of the sower, in which the seed of the Word grows to maturity and allows the hearer to bear fruit in an increase 30 to 100 times over the seed that was sown (Mark 4:8,20). Ask any farmer what it takes to have good soil, and he will answer that it must be plowed up to remove rocks and weeds and to allow nourishing air and water to penetrate it. Similarly, our hearts must be thoroughly worked over before we ache and groan with despair over our sinfulness, and before we realize that without our Savior, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Trials and heartache often precede coming to the end of ourselves, making our hearts fertile and ready to receive His saving grace. 

The good soil is the only one of the four heart conditions that bears fruit, confirming that this is the only condition resulting in true salvation, in being born again (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23). Jesus tells us that we can know others by the fruit they bear (Matthew 7:16-20). 

Although we are saved by grace through faith and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9), we are saved not to sit idly by waiting to go to Heaven, but to do good works, because faith without works is dead (James 2:20,26). 

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 

Once we are genuinely saved through faith and the Holy Spirit has taken root in our heart, we can never lose our salvation (Romans 8:35-39) even though we may go through barren, rocky or thorny patches. Born-again Christians may grow cold in their faith, backslide and become disobedient, or become unproductive for Him.  

Nonetheless, He will never leave nor forsake His children (Hebrews 13:5), and He is there waiting like the prodigal son’s Father to run to us and shower us with love once we take the first step back to Him (Luke 15:20). If we repent of our sins, He will renew our faith and revive our hearts (1 John 1:9; Psalm 51:8-12). 

May our hearts be like good soil, ready to cultivate His Word and nurture our growing faith to maturity, so we can sow more seed and bear much fruit! May we sow light for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart (Psalm 97:11). 

 May we learn and follow the law of the harvest, that we will sow what we reap, either to the flesh bearing sorrow (Proverbs 22:8), or to the Spirit bearing eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8).  May we sow God’s Word boldly, without waiting for perfect conditions (Ecclesiastes 11:4), and bountifully (2 Corinthians 9:6) so that the harvest of souls brought to Him will be great!  

© 2012 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives