Dear Christian friends:

The text is the first of two parables which Jesus told, which make up the Gospel Lesson for this Sunday. The Parable of the Growing Seed.

Before Jesus told this parable He admonished His disciples to let the gospel light shine. He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand?" He told them this parable in order to encourage them to let their light shine.

We, like Jesus' first disciples, also need encouragement to let the gospel light shine. This parable can encourage us a great deal as it is explained and applied. This parable shows the innate power of God's Word to bring salvation.


The good seed of the gospel planted in the world and in the heart of man produces wonderful effects.

The first wonderful effect is rebirth. In the Parable of the Growing Seed Jesus says, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. (Mark 4:26-27)

Have you ever considered what a miracle a seed is, planted in soil and then springing to life? Although the seed seems dry, dead and buried in the dirt, it will sprout and find its way out of its "grave" and begin to grow. A birth of sorts has happened!

Likewise, let the word of God be planted in the heart of a spiritually dead person and it may very well cause that person to come alive spiritually whenever and wherever the Spirit of God wills. After a field is planted with wheat seed, how soon the field is altered, how pleasant it looks when covered with green!

So it should encourage us to plant the Word for we know a miracle may happen, a change from death to life!

We may find this hard to believe because we can't explain how it happens. Nicodemus refused to believe because he could not understand "being born again". (John 3:10) It's true, we can't understand it. Jesus says, "the seed sprouts and grows, though he (the farmer) does not know how." (John 4:27b) Although the farmer does not understand the miracle of a sprouting seed, that does not stop him from planting.

We also, do not know how conversion happens, but that should not stop us from believing and planting. As the farmer has faith that his seed will sprout and grow, so we should have faith in God's Word and plant it.

Listen to what Jesus says about the great power of His Word in John 5:24-25, "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live."

Indeed God's Word is powerful, but often we don't really appreciate it. Instead we put faith in other things to try to make the church grow.

We may think more of the planter than we do of the seed. The farmer, after he has planted the seed does nothing to cause it to sprout and grow, and yet the seed and the soil working together brings forth the plant by the ordinary course of nature and the concurring power of nature's God. Here in the parable Jesus says, "Night and day whether he (the farmer) sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows. (verse 27a)

We may give to much credit to preachers whose congregations are growing or we may prefer one preacher over another. In the congregation at Corinth the members were quarreling over which preacher was better, Paul or Apollos. Paul wrote them these words: "Are you not acting like mere men? For on says "I follow Paul" and another says, "I follow Apollos", are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants through whom you came to believe - as the Lord assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." (1 Corinthians 3:3-7)

The church grows where God's Word is preached and taught and where the members witness and support it. You don't have to have a charismatic pastor or an eloquent speaker, just one who preaches Christ and Him crucified!

Sometimes we become discouraged because the growth is slow or hardly noticeable. Well, here in the parable Jesus tells us that's to be expected and not to worry, because the seed grows gradually. (Read verse 28)

Another wonderful effect of the planted gospel is that it gradually causes the church to grow in maturity and in numbers.

Nature does nothing abruptly. Parents who raised children from infancy to adulthood can tell you all about it.

So the church also grows gradually, hardly noticeable, yet without failing. Christ's interest in nature and in the heart of man is and always will be a growing, maturing interest.

Sometimes pastors, elders and other church leaders become impatient and discouraged because the congregation does not seem to be growing in numbers or in spiritual maturity. Then they may try other things, which really can't produce true spiritual growth and the Word is neglected. That's a big mistake. We need to keep plugging away with planting the Word of grace in order to have real church growth.

Although the beginning is small, the growth slow and hardly noticeable, in the end it will be large, and great, causing a joyful harvest festival. That is what Jesus tells us in the last verse of this parable. He says, "As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." (verse 29)

This is the third wonderful effect of the planed Word. The church is perfected at last.

When the powerful Word of grace has done what God sent it to do the end of the world will come to pass.

Then Christ will accept the services which have been done to Him by the believers, the fruit of the gospel seed. This will redound to His honor and glory, because it was He who made the gospel possible by His incarnation, ministry, suffering, death and resurrection. It is He who sent the Spirit to create saving faith in the hearts of men and caused them to cross over from death to life.

Christ will at the same time reward the believers who by the gospel seed have been fruitful. Jesus will command His angels, "Gather the wheat and bring it into my barn." (Matthew 13:30) And the prophet Daniel tells us, "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12:2-3)

If you want to be a real star, not the Hollywood type, then let your gospel light shine and lead many to righteousness. This should certainly encourage us to let the gospel light shine, to be zealous in planting the seed of the Word.

We may do this by supporting the public ministry here at St. John, and by also supporting the missions of the Pacific Southwest District and also the world missions of our Synod. It should also encourage us to plant the seed of the Word into the hearts of those with whom we may have an on-going relationship.

St. Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." (Romans 1:16) We need not be ashamed of Jesus either, although we may have been, for His gospel is the greatest power on earth, the power to cause innumerable people, including ourselves, to cross over from death to life.

Amen.