Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.
Being over sixty has some advantages: cheaper train rides, discounts at events, and more. But one of the very best is being around long enough to observe and experience what Jesus talks about here: the kingdom of God being like tiny seeds that grow into substantial trees.
I look back decades ago to fellow-students who began their Christian journey about the same time as me, and how they have gone on to lead amazingly useful lives for Jesus. Then I remember a Bible study I used to run as a school teacher. They were just regular meetings on a Tuesday at tea-time with a pile of dog-eared Bibles and – always – a tin of Rachel’s flapjacks. But now, decades later, some of the teenagers who came are writers of books about Jesus, some are in pastoral ministry; some are not pastors but using the opportunities God has given them to train ministers, or to use the situation the Lord has given them to speak bravely and publicly about Him.
I could not have seen then how these guys would grow!
A fortnight ago Rachel and I were in Singapore, at a camp for a local church there. The pastor told me how he grew as a student, reached through Bible studies here at our church (before I came to work here). I met a lecturer at a theological college who was similarly nurtured. Again, mustard seeds have become trees! One of the biggest perks of being a pastor is seeing the Lord at work in this way, as He grows people.
Jesus explains this in the series of parables He teaches about the gospel in Mark 4. Fascinatingly, He pictures the word of God as a seed. True, much of it will seem wasted (as every sower experiences), but some finds a good soil and produces a big crop.
A seed is a living thing, which has a life of its own, growing silently in the ground, even though the farmer doesn’t know how! When we teach the gospel, we are not sowing ball bearings but something which germinates, blossoms and produces seed of its own. The consequences can be huge.
What a joy it is to see this! Of course, some of our sowing is in tough places, and we may initially see little in the way of results. But read missionary bios, and you’ll see often that even in situations where there seemed initially to be little progress, the mission work was not wasted, but led to a harvest years later.
Seeing this is such a joy! And how to have it, apart from just getting older? Sow the seed, and pray for individuals – and see what the Lord will do!
