The Precious Seed

A seed is planted, and we can trace the process through the growth period to when it bears actual fruit, be it an ear of corn or an apple on a tree. Then comes the harvest and the potential is realised. There is growth and potential in our lives, in our faith and in our relationship with God.

The idea of the seed in scripture speaks not only of a beginning, but also of what that can lead to. Think of the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32) "What can we say that the kingdom of heaven is like?.... It is like a mustard seed which at the time is the smallest of all the seeds on earth. Yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade." The mustard plant is very useful. Faith as a grain of mustard seed can achieve enormous amounts because it looks away from the power of self achievement and looks to God.

God calls on the humble and uses their weakness as his opportunity to show his power and his love. Moses was a prime example. He was the most humble of men as a shepherd in Midian, but out of that humility God made him into a mighty leader.

Every seed has potential. Inside it has the blueprint for the adult plant and all the information it needs to blossom and mature. Growing into the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ is usually a gradual process. As we walk with him we learn more about him and he will bring more insight and changes to our ways of thinking and feeling, unless we allow the growth to be stifled or overtaken.

A plant drops a seed into the ground and what grows is an approximation of itself. As it grows it spreads its leaves and grows very like the parent plant. You can tell what species it is by looking at it. The likeness of the Saviour grows in us from early beginnings and then grows to full maturity.

1 John 3:7-9 "Dear children: do not let any one lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the Devil because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No-one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him."

'God's seed' is a picture of human reproduction in which the sperm (the Greek word for seed is sperma) bears the life principle and transfers the paternal characteristics. That God's child cannot go on sinning does not mean that sin stops completely, but living a life not characterised by sin. A part of the Christian life is about growing away from the darkness into the light of God's righteousness.

A mother with teenage children was talking about the way she related to her offspring as they became more independent. She was asked how it affected her. She said that she realised that as she got older, she herself was 'turning into her mother'. She sometimes was surprised at her attitudes, which were echoing the same attitudes her mother had when she was a teenager. The things that her mother worried about, she worried about. She found that she said things in the same way that her mother had said them. She had inherited more than her physical characteristics, but something of her spirit. That is what John is saying. Because we have been born again in God's spirit, and in a sense have been re-parented, because God has become our Father, we will inherit his characteristics and begin to echo his love of justice, his love of righteousness, his loving attitudes to all people.

When we think of harvest we think of corn. An ear of corn begins as a single seed, and when it grows into full maturity each ear of corn contains many seeds, which can grow into many plants if the conditions are right. The blueprint of the seed has the ability to reproduce itself many times. In Mark 4:20, as part of the explanation of the parable of the sower, Jesus says "And there are those who have been sown in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundred fold." Isn't it true that every seed in the kingdom of heaven is made to give this same yield?

We were not made to be single seeds but to spread so that there is a greater harvest. The apostles were given the great commission to make disciples of all nations. That commission is still valid. We are meant to be spreaders of the seed so that, in God's providence and in God's way, the kingdom grows.

In each of God's children there is a growing realisation of God's character and his love. Very few have blinding flashes of enlightenment, for most it is a gradual growth in understanding, each according to their capacity to learn about the grace of God.. God sees the potential for spiritual growth in each person, and if that person is willing and ready to accept God's careful tending, then growth will happen. There is no need to be anxious about it. The seed will grow without a doubt. We just have to accept it and let the Holy Spirit of God do the work in us. That is the meaning of the parable which tells of the seed that grows by night.

The Christian faith was never meant to be a cause of worrying or fretting, but of peace and poise. If that were not so, why did Jesus say that his yoke was easy and his burden was light? What would peace, in the sense that Jesus uses the word, mean to a worrying man who constantly fretted over his spiritual state? This is not to say there will be no storms to get through: we all know that there will be, but because we recognise that not only is God with us but also within us, we need not be afraid. This is very liberating.

Growth is not about our own efforts, (Jesus said, 'who by taking thought can add an inch to his height') although some effort is needed. We can fool ourselves that knowing the gospels and having an understanding is alone responsible for growth. The study of scripture does help us to grow, but it is only the Author of Holy Scripture that gives us the power to grow. We cannot grow if our understanding of the scriptures is purely academic, and not linked with our relationship with Christ. The scribes and Pharisees knew every aspect of the law, but they had forgotten the God who made them. They had substituted their own traditions for a true relationship with God. The law had become more important to them than the God who made them. The rich young ruler was correct in keeping the law, and Jesus loved him, but in a way his growth was stunted because he would not take the ultimate step of giving his all and following Jesus, the author of all true spiritual growth. Is our love for God growing? Are we becoming more loving to others?

The seed is imperishable seed (1 Peter 1:23) "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For all men are like grass, and all their glory is like the grass of the field: the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands for ever." "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created" James 1:18

Because new birth comes about through the work of the holy spirit and not through man's efforts, does this mean that we simply sit back and let God do all the work? Not at all. Paul had been urging the stronger churches to give generously to the weaker churches to help and support them. He wrote to the Corinthian congregation and spoke about the promises that they had made, and urged them not to give grudgingly but cheerfully. In 2 Corinthians 9:6-10 he says, "Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided to give in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written, 'He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor: his righteousness endures for ever'. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion."

We are to be sowers of seed not reluctantly or stressfully, but with the joy that should be a part of what Watchman Nee calls the normal Christian life. As we give, not just in material giving, but in encouragement, in loving actions, in generosity of spirit, we grow. The seed that is in us, that reflection of god-likeness, grows ever more rich and real. From small beginnings great things can come. The mustard shrub becomes a tree, and its branches reach out and give shelter to others.

JDP