Sermon - 2018-06-17
Planting a seed is something many of us have done. Some of us can relate to going and checking in on the progress of the seed. Even the next we want to see if maybe the stalk is already started. We know it is unrealistic but still, we do it. As the days and weeks unfold, as we water and remove the weeds around that plant. We wait, hoping and longing for what we expect to come. However, for all of “our” work that we do. I am more amazed at what God is doing through that seed and in our own life. By planting that seed, God has allowed us to be part of the work of creation. We are able to labor and see the fruits of the labor. LITERALLY.
However, it still astounds me sometimes the way in which our society has organized itself. Declaring that land is actually able to be owned even though God gave it to us. Deciding a price for the seeds, fruits, or the trees that God himself has grown. And perhaps even more surprising to me is the way in which we withhold the gifts God has given to us from others around us or even worse, the God who has given us all this very gift.
Yes, the work that we do, the possessions we have and even the life that we have is nothing without God. Now many of us know this, we have this information in our head however, we do not always apply this to our life.
Now that I have shared that with you, let’s return back to the Gospel. Jesus is speaking to the crowd about the mustard seed. Of course, it is the smallest of all seeds that grow into a large bush in which even the birds of the air can make their nest in. So too, God’s love and the Kingdom of God are larger than even what we expect. However, the mustard seed for many who were listening to Jesus thought of it as a weed. Something that was undesirable. Something that was actually in the way of what it was they were trying to grow and develop within the land and within their life. How many of us do that, regard faith and what God is calling us to do as something that is getting in the way of what we are wanting in this world? Be it a title, wealth, status, a dream someone said we could have if we only worked hard enough.
Yes, when Jesus is talking about the growing of a seed. Jesus is speaking about our own understanding and relationship with God. For as a seed is planted, much like our faith is planted. It grows but how much has your faith grown? Are you growing the stalk? Are you growing the leaves? Are you bearing fruit? Please understand, a person does not grow closer to God and in a relationship with God by having a lot of head knowledge but rather living that faith and work that God is calling us to do. The bearing of fruit is not having wealth, status or even so much that we strive for in the world. However, we then make this into a list of things that we need to do. Yet God does not give us a list to do within our life once and when we complete it we are done.
Many of us have heard this same passage over and over again. But it is the application of this passage that for many of us we DO NOT do. For we know the calling that Christ gives to us, the fruit that we shall reap at the harvest, and even still the message of love from Christ himself. Now how shall we answer that calling? Will we follow our own desires or follow the direction that God is calling us to live.
However, it still astounds me sometimes the way in which our society has organized itself. Declaring that land is actually able to be owned even though God gave it to us. Deciding a price for the seeds, fruits, or the trees that God himself has grown. And perhaps even more surprising to me is the way in which we withhold the gifts God has given to us from others around us or even worse, the God who has given us all this very gift.
Yes, the work that we do, the possessions we have and even the life that we have is nothing without God. Now many of us know this, we have this information in our head however, we do not always apply this to our life.
Now that I have shared that with you, let’s return back to the Gospel. Jesus is speaking to the crowd about the mustard seed. Of course, it is the smallest of all seeds that grow into a large bush in which even the birds of the air can make their nest in. So too, God’s love and the Kingdom of God are larger than even what we expect. However, the mustard seed for many who were listening to Jesus thought of it as a weed. Something that was undesirable. Something that was actually in the way of what it was they were trying to grow and develop within the land and within their life. How many of us do that, regard faith and what God is calling us to do as something that is getting in the way of what we are wanting in this world? Be it a title, wealth, status, a dream someone said we could have if we only worked hard enough.
Yes, when Jesus is talking about the growing of a seed. Jesus is speaking about our own understanding and relationship with God. For as a seed is planted, much like our faith is planted. It grows but how much has your faith grown? Are you growing the stalk? Are you growing the leaves? Are you bearing fruit? Please understand, a person does not grow closer to God and in a relationship with God by having a lot of head knowledge but rather living that faith and work that God is calling us to do. The bearing of fruit is not having wealth, status or even so much that we strive for in the world. However, we then make this into a list of things that we need to do. Yet God does not give us a list to do within our life once and when we complete it we are done.
Many of us have heard this same passage over and over again. But it is the application of this passage that for many of us we DO NOT do. For we know the calling that Christ gives to us, the fruit that we shall reap at the harvest, and even still the message of love from Christ himself. Now how shall we answer that calling? Will we follow our own desires or follow the direction that God is calling us to live.
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