Mark 4:26-29 - Homiletics

Spiritual growth.

There are common truths and a common interpretation underlying this and several other parables. In all this group the seed is the Word of God, the soil is the heart of man, the life is the spiritual history and development, the fruit is Christian character, and the harvest is eternal result and retribution. But the peculiar lesson of this parable is the nature of spiritual growth. It this case it is presumed that the seed is sown in good soil.

I. IT IS HIDDEN , AND CANNOT BE TRACED AND WATCHED . Until it is deposited in the ground, seed may be beheld and examined by the eye. But then it is covered up and concealed, and germinates and begins to grow beneath the surface. In like manner you may see the truth as written, you may hear it as spoken; but when once it gets into the heart, germinates, and goes to its work, the preacher and teacher fail to follow it, and altogether lose sight of it. In the silent soul the Divine seed works in secret, lives, strives, moves, grows. Probably those reared in Christian homes cannot recollect when the truth, quickened by the Spirit, first began to live in them. Certainly you can only very dimly follow the process of growth in others. Years pass; the youth grows into the man, goes about daily duty, takes nightly rest, and all the while the hidden seed is living and developing slowly or swiftly, but unperceived even by those who planted it. How little, in some instances, preachers and teachers and parents can follow the Word, as it does its work within the hearts of those for whom they care! Yet "the kingdom of God comes without observation." Convictions of their own spiritual nature and immortal destiny, of the character and government of God, of the love and reign of Christ, are all forming within, becoming part of the spiritual being. And the vital growth, though unperceived, is giving signs of its reality.

II. IT IS MYSTERIOUS AND NOT TO BE UNDERSTOOD . The husbandman, the gardener, "knoweth not how." Even the scientific observer cannot explain the mystery of life and growth. There is no caprice; all is reason and law, yet the process baffles our understanding. So in the working of God's kingdom within, there is much that is mysterious. How can Divine truth, naturally so unpalatable, gain a hold upon the heart? How can it overmaster other principles so that it shall flourish as they fade? And, looking to the external, how can we account for it, that the kingdom of God, so unworldly, can advance to universal victory? The power of life must be that of the holy Spirit, acting like the sunlight and the genial warmth, the frequent showers and the morning dew. It is the Lord's doing, invisible, incomprehensible, admirable, adorable, Divine!

III. IT IS ACCORDING TO ITS OWN LAWS , NOT OURS . In dealing with vegetation, there is much which we can do if we work with nature. We can till the soil, expose the seed to moisture and warmth, protect it from unfavourable conditions. But we cannot work against laws of nature; we cannot make pebbles grow, acorns produce elm trees, or barley yield a crop of wheat; we cannot grow the produce of the tropics at the poles. Providence has imposed laws upon nature, and with regard to life some things are possible, and others impossible. So spiritual life follows laws which we cannot change, and much of our interference has no influence or but little. The seed grows "of itself," i.e. as God appoints for it. The truth of God is not trammelled by our notions or fancies; the Spirit of God is not hampered by our rules. Men prove their own pettiness when they attempt to prescribe how the Divine seed shall grow. The Giver of the seed and Lord of the harvest does his work in his own way and time. He carries on a heavenly process in the conscience and the heart, in the bosom of human society. Vain is our fancy that we can rule the life. "Paul plants, Apollos waters, and God gives the increase."

IV. THE PROCESS IS USUALLY GRADUAL AND PROGRESSIVE . There is a regular law of development, "first the blade," etc. We never get the fruit first, the blade last. Everything in its season. So in the spiritual kingdom of God. In the child or the young convert, we look first for signs of life—the blade which proves that the seed has germinated. By Christian nurture, scriptural instruction, and Divine discipline, gradual and sure progress is made. The promise is partly realized when the ear is formed; it is the time of vigor and manifest growth. Then with the long and profitable years comes the full corn—the ripeness of Christian knowledge, experience, and service. A few favorable years bring the seedling to the sapling, and the sapling to the stalwart tree; a few months cover the broad brown tilth with the golden shocks. So in the Church of Christ we see the gradual unfolding of character, the gentle ripening of experience, one stage of growth left behind in making way for that which succeeds.

V. THE HARVEST IS THE END AND THE RECOMPENSE OF ALL . If the growth is unobtrusive, the harvest is conspicuous. The secret working has prepared for the open result. Life ends in fruit. It is so in the spiritual field. When there is ripeness, then the time has come for the sickle to be put in. The harvest is gathered, and the garner of God is filled with golden grain. Fruit is yielded upon earth; and the richest crop is reaped hereafter.

APPLICATION.

1 . The Christian sower and labourer may learn to think humbly of himself, highly of his work.

2 . There is encouragement for the "babes in Christ;" their stage of experience is the necessary preparation for the more complete fulfillment of the high purposes of God.

3 . The glory must be given to God when life is vigorous and when fruit is ripe.