The Parable of the Growing Seed

Mark 4:26-29:

²⁶ He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷ Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. ²⁸ All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. ²⁹ As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

It Is A Human Ministry
Notice who sows the seed in verse 26. It is sown by a “man”. For His Own reasons, God has chosen to grow His kingdom through human ministers. God could have chosen angels to do this work. He could have created other beings, but He chose to use us! He saved us to use us - Eph. 2:10; 2 Cor. 4:7. Each of us was saved because some believer somewhere sowed Gospel seed. That seed fell into the good soil of our heart. There it germinated and produced life, new life, within our hearts. Now, we have been given the task of carrying the Gospel seed wherever we go and we are to sow it as we go, Mark 16:15; Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8.

After the farmer has sown the seed, he has done all that he can. He cannot bring life out of the ground, he can only sow the seed. He cannot make it germinate nor can he make it bear fruit. So, he places it into the ground and waits to see what will become of the seed. That is humbling work! The farmer is at the mercy of the seed, the soil and the elements. Yet, he is able to go about his daily routine without worry for the seed. Why? Because he knows that God has placed within the seed everything that is necessary to produce life! Therefore, even though he may not be able to make the seed grow, he can rest assured that the seed will do exactly what God has prepared it to do! You see, the seed grows totally apart from any human agency! 

It Is A Humbling Ministry
So it is with the Gospel of grace! The witness can but sow the seed and then he must leave the results in the hands of sovereignty! You see, the Gospel has power, Rom. 1:16. God has placed within the Gospel seed everything necessary to being life out of death. And, when that seed is sown into a prepared heart you can rest easy knowing that God will produce His harvest in His time, Isa. 55:11. So, let us spread the Gospel seed around liberally, knowing that when God brings His good seed into contact with a prepared heart, the result will be the salvation of that soul!) (Note: Why doesn’t every witness produce a saved soul? Not all seed falls into good soil, Matt. 13:1-9! All the sower can do is sow the seed, the condition of the soil is not his worry!)

Verse 28 points out that there is a progression in the growth of the plant that is produced by the germination of the seed. It starts off small and fragile, and in that state, it would be easy to crush, but in time it matures and produces fruit. It has the potential to multiply itself many times over as it reaches maturity. This is a picture of how a Christian is to grow in grace. After the seed has been planted in the soil of our heart, it germinates and produces new life. This new life is tender and easily damaged, but as the Lord gives grace to that life and as He waters it and feeds it, it grows strong in the Lord and bears much fruit for His glory! Let’s take a moment to look at each of the stages mentioned here:

When the fruit is formed and the time for harvest is come, the farmer receives the return on his investment and he receives the glory for the things that have been achieved! When a person is saved and lives his life to the fullest for God’s glory, when he reaches his true potential for Jesus, it honors the Lord and accomplishes what He intended all along! Our goal as we live for Him should be to bring honor and glory to the name of the Lord, 1 Cor. 10:31. Nothing honors Him like a redeemed life and a life that grows in grace and honors Him!)