Go Deep!

Inch by inch, row by row, I'm gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground
Inch by inch, row by row, Someone bless these seeds I sow
Someone warm them from below 'til the rain comes tumbling down

Early this spring I built a garden box for my wife.  She put fresh, clean garden soil in it, free of rocks and sand.  She put just the right amount of fertilizer in it.  Then she planted seeds for tomatoes, squash, bell peppers and okra.  She carefully watered the young plants, and put mulch over the soil to keep the moisture in.

Well, the tomatoes are coming in nicely.  The squash a little less.  The okra plants are there, but there is no fruit.  And we don't know what happened to the peppers--they didn't come up at all.  Our neighbor, who has had a garden box for years, told us that the squash plants are too crowded, that they need to be thinned out.  He also said something about picking off the "male" buds and letting the "female" buds grow, because they are the ones that produce fruit.

I thought of our little garden box today when I heard a sermon on The Parable of the Sower found in Matthew 13.  You are probably familiar with the story:

A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.  He who has ears, let him hear. --Matthew 13:3-9

In this parable, the four types of ground are compared to the hearts of the hearers of the word. Some are better prepared than others to receive the seed of the Word of God.  The farmer cannot discriminate, as he does not know where their hearts are at any given time--only God knows.  And when the harvest comes, he may be tempted to call himself a failure: only 25% of the seed yields a return.  From God's economy, however, that 25% that fell among the good soil yields between 3000%  (30 times the investment) and 10,000% (100 times the investment).

That's a pretty good return, even if 75% of the time the Word goes unheeded.  Think about it.  Who led you to Christ?  Was it a parent, or a pastor, or a person you knew?  Someone led that person to Christ, and that person was led to Christ by someone, and on and on.  Somewhere deep in your spiritual roots (your spiritual great-great-great-grandparent) had no idea you would be saved as a result of their sharing Christ with someone else.  Somebody led Billy Sunday to Jesus.  Billy Sunday became an evangelist, and his message was heard by a young man named Billy Graham.  Billy Graham became an evangelist, and his message has been heard by millions.

The farmer was faithful to sow the seed.  He did not hold back, but spread the seed everywhere.  As evangelists who sow the seed of the gospel, we are called to spread the Word to all, and not pick and choose who hears it.  The more farmers who go and spread the seed, the greater the harvest. "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth." (1 Corinthians 3:6).  In this analogy, the "seed" is more aligned with the soul that is saved.

None of us really understands how a seed grows.  It is placed underground and covered up.  Unless it is buried, it will not do anything.  Nothing happens to it unless it is cut off from light and air. "I tell you the truth," Jesus said, "unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds." (John 12:24).  Similarly, we don't know how a person comes to know the Lord.  Not really.  "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8, emphasis added).

Somehow the Holy Spirit brings us to the place where we are willing to die to self, and come alive in Christ Jesus.  God made us all with that longing within us, the longing to know Him.  Like that seedling, we are only able to spring forth into new life if we are covered up and buried, cut off from any other source.

I found this chart while looking for something else.

I don't know if you can see it clearly, but the deeper the Word of God penetrates the surface, the better chance you have of responding positively to it.  You have to go beyond the birds, the rocks, and the thorns.  Only then can you bear much fruit.  Fruitful Christians are sorely needed in this world, especially now.  Especially where you are right now.

Let me encourage you to go a little deeper in your study of the Scriptures.  Go a little further to help someone in need.  Get beyond surface speech, and get into deeper discussions with people.  Sow the seed, and God will make it bear fruit, as only He can.