"The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself." (Mark 4:26-29)
The sower has to scatter the seed. When the harvest is ripe he has to come back and pick the fruit. But the process in between those two events is largely organic. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is organic." The seed grows because it has an inherent life force supplied by God. We can not organize that into our churches. We cannot program that into our churches. We cannot preach that into our churches.
We have to sow the seed and let God produce the fruit. Now there is a real sense in which the Word of God incarnated into our lives makes us the seed. Our daily life in this world tells the story even more than the words we speak. That is why, I think, Jesus says, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." We are called to die to self and to follow Christ.
Is it possible that one of the reasons we spend so much time "begging" people to live a Christian life after they get in the church is that they have been converted to "Christianity" but never been regenerated in Christ? If there is no life force in a person, we can preach at them forever and they will never change. We sow the seeds, and we gather the harvest. God, however, must produce the life within.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Do Our Eyes Get in the Way?
"He who has hears to hear it, let him hear." (Matt. 11:15)
"The way that I see it is...." Have you heard those words before? Sometimes in a Sunday School class or Bible study, sometimes around the water cooler. It is a conversation about something in the Bible and everyone has an opinion about the subject.
We all look at things through the "Lens" or "Eyeglasses" of our own experiences, culture, and presuppositions. There are two different ways to read the Bible. You can read it and interpret it through the eyes of your predetermined ideas, experiences and cultural influences. In other words, you can come to the scripture and read it and tell it what it says.
Another way to read it is to try and take off the "Lens" of your own point of view and in a sense close your eyes. Listen. Let the Bible tell you what it says. Hear what God is saying, instead of telling God what He is saying. I am sure that we all want to do it this way, and most of us would deny that we do it the other way. But let me challenge you to pray and ask God to, at least in this sense, close your eyes and open your ears. Listen to God speak. It will bless your life.
"The way that I see it is...." Have you heard those words before? Sometimes in a Sunday School class or Bible study, sometimes around the water cooler. It is a conversation about something in the Bible and everyone has an opinion about the subject.
We all look at things through the "Lens" or "Eyeglasses" of our own experiences, culture, and presuppositions. There are two different ways to read the Bible. You can read it and interpret it through the eyes of your predetermined ideas, experiences and cultural influences. In other words, you can come to the scripture and read it and tell it what it says.
Another way to read it is to try and take off the "Lens" of your own point of view and in a sense close your eyes. Listen. Let the Bible tell you what it says. Hear what God is saying, instead of telling God what He is saying. I am sure that we all want to do it this way, and most of us would deny that we do it the other way. But let me challenge you to pray and ask God to, at least in this sense, close your eyes and open your ears. Listen to God speak. It will bless your life.
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