What is God Doing In Us During This Strange Season? I


do not know all that God is do- ing, but I know that he is up to something. For the Bible tells me


so. In Mark 4:26-29, “ Jesus said, “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, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” This is one of the most encourag-


ing of all Christ’s teachings. It’s pret- ty clear what he is talking about here: the growth of the Kingdom of God in people’s hearts as they receive the Word of God taught and preached. That’s definitely what the first part of this chapter was about with the well-known Parable of the Sower and the Seed and the four soil types (we might say the four soul types) who each receive the word different- ly. So now this other, shorter “seed and growth” themed parable is about yet another aspect of that same sub- ject: namely, the manner and speed of the growth of saving and sanctifying faith in the hearts of people. And it also might include something larger in scale than that. Because later in this chapter, there is yet another agricul- tural parable: the parable of the tiny mustard seed that grows into a vast mustard bush which provides shelter for all the birds of the air. Many have thought this is a picture of the king- dom of God growing throughout the world, the church in its full universal expression and full sanctifying effect. So our little parable in the middle of these other parables applies to both things: individual Christians and the church catholic, the church at large in the world. And what do we learn from Jesus’


words? The Kingdom of God grows through means. God doesn’t typi- cally change people without provi- dentially employing some practical means and method, what we call the ordinary means of grace. It is not


22


By Dean Turbeville


through a mystical cloud descending upon a person that they come to know and love Jesus in eternal salvation; it is through the word read and preached by a man. I love how the old Anglican J.C. Ryle put it, “Grace in the heart of man is an exotic. It is a new principle from outside, sent down from heaven and implanted in his soul. Left to himself, no man living would ever seek God. And yet in communicating grace, God ordinarily works by means. To despise the instrumentality of teachers and preachers, is to expect corn where no seed has been sown.” Now, we all know that in this strange season of our diminished means of


grace – without the sacraments, without the in-person fellowship of the church, without the fullness of congregational prayer and singing, our joy in the Lord is reduced. It just is. Yet, he ministers to us still through his Word, doesn’t he; and we are being sustained. We don’t have the full banquet of covenant blessings now, but praise God, we are not starving, and in a strange way Christ is making himself specially known all the more to us through the ministry of his Word in these days. His Word, even ministered through the internet, is not returning to him void. In a beautiful painting by Vincent Van Gogh entitled The Sower, very much based on the parables in this chapter, the artist portrays a man scattering seed in a blue and purple field. He is the sower, and he is involved, certainly. The painting is named after him, after all: The Sower. Yet he is colored similarly to the earth which he farms, for he is of the earth, a creature among created things. But the striking center of the painting is not the sower who scatters the seed, but an enormous, outsized sun, whose gold, orange and bright yellow rays are the source of all the vitality below it. The story of the sower is really the story of the sun. And just so, the story of our ministry to God’s people right now is really the story of the Son of God himself, Jesus Christ, sustaining his people spiritually through the storm. God uses means, yes, but salvation --- make no mistake -- is of the Lord. Secondly, Jesus teaches us that the secret of the seeds’ growth is unknown


to the sower. He says in verses 27 and the first half of 28, “He sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself….” One of the first things I did when we were quarantined was to plant a packet of Zinnia seeds. Zinnias are such audaciously colorful flowers, and I just thought it would do me good in this time of isolation to watch them grow. How they grow, I don’t really know. I just planted the seeds, and then each morning, as I walk about our property, I see the progress they have made through the night. It’s quite a mystery, really, and that’s the joy of it. Jesus says it is the same way with the word of God implanted in human


hearts through our ministry. When he says in verse 27 that the seed sprouts and grows as the sower sleeps, and “he knows not how,” for the earth “produces by itself,” Christ is teaching that the real work of conversion and growth in grace happens in the souls of people via the secret work of the Holy Spirit. It is not ultimately the work of the sower, but the Savior. It’s like Dr. Currid said recently in his message: “God works the night shift.” In verse 28, the phrase “by itself” comes from a Greek word, automate, from which we get the English word “automatic.” It happens without our help, without our knowing, without our sustaining it. It happens “while we sleep,” so to speak. This truth is an enormous comfort to your pastors and elders right now. Even


when we cannot see you in person, even when the Lord’s Day has a whole new shape to it, even as our beautiful sanctuary sits painfully empty on Sundays, still we know that the Word we planted in you is growing. We must trust God to nurture and care for your souls by the secret work of his Spirit. And, by the way, this does, in fact, seem to be a season of great spiritual growth. As I have called


The Associate Reformed Presbyterian


Feature


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32