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Time to Grow

A pastor had two conversations with two men in his church. They were both brief and very penetrating conversations. They were marked by intensity and urgency. The first one was a man who had recently become a Christ follower. After a lot of reading and research he concluded that Christianity was legitimate and he accepted Christ. His family followed his example and now here he was a few months later waiting to talk to his pastor after church one Sunday. His eyes were heavy and he finally blurted it out. Everything was great for the first few months but something had happened. You could look into his eyes and see that the wheels had fallen off. He said, “This morning was a disaster. My one son didn’t want to get out of bed and come to church and other kids are in a big fight. The glow has kind of faded. Is there something I need to know about being a Christian to keep this kind of stuff together? Is there something I’m not doing? This is a guy who is reading his Bible everyday and in a one on one mentoring relationship with a mature Christian. He had been all fired up but now the fire is starting to dwindle down. He is eager and committed but something’s missing and he if feeling very up and down in his walk with Christ.

His pastor says this guy is as committed as any young Christian he has ever met.

The second story is with the same pastor and a member of his staff. It was a conversation he didn’t expect and went much deeper than the normal staff conversations. The staff members voice was filled with strain and what came out of his mouth had obviously been rolling around in his soul for a long time. The frustration level underneath his controlled conversation was very evident. He said to his pastor, “I am convinced this is where God wants me to be. I can see Him working in very exciting ways and sometimes even through me, but something is missing. Inside I am so up and down. My joy level is never consistent. I’m frustrated in my heart. Is this the way it’s supposed to be?

His pastor says he is not a young Christian but he is as loyal to God as any man he knows.

The Question: Why is it that those we admire, who are the most committed and zealous to grow spiritually often experience significant degrees of frustration.

Mark 4:26-33

Two key concepts:

The dynamics of commitment: What produces commitment? What are the truths that we remember in review that produce committed people?

The dynamics of frustration: What produces frustration?

1. The dynamics of commitment: What produces commitment?

Remember Jesus sitting with a group of people and someone alerts Him to the fact that his mother and brothers are at the door wanting to see Him? He responds by asking who are my mother and brothers. He then goes on to say, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” We asked the question how do you know when you are doing God’s will.

Parable one: The way it is.
The four soils: same seed falls on four kinds of ground three of which are not very responsive and one that produces growth. Our response to God’s word will determine the results in our life.

Parable two and three: A warning.
The lamp: The word of God must be seen. Your relationship with Christ is not secret. You put your life (light) on display so that the world will be influenced by your life.

The measure: In the same measure you apply God’s word in your life He will open up His word and give you more truth.

Committed people remember these three principles:

        a. Our response to God’s word will determine the results in our life.
        b. The word of God is to be seen.
        c. The word of God is to be applied.

When you remember these three things and you are trying to apply them to your life you are a go for broke kind of person. You want to experience everything God has for you. You long for you relationship with Him to be alive and growing and accompanied by lots of joy and emotion. You want to be a good husband or wife and father or mother. You want to be a great employee or supervisor or student because you want to live out your faith in Jesus Christ.

These first three parables are meant to motivate warn and challenge believers. The next two parables comfort and encourage believers.

When people are deeply committed but no matter how committed you are if you have unrealistic expectation you are going to be frustrated with trying to live all this out. If all you are focusing on is YOUR duties you will live trying to make it all happen on your own.

There are a lot of Christians who live in a zone of performance that causes them a great sense of frustration.

2. The dynamics of frustration: What produces frustration?

Perspective: These parables are about expectations and how spiritual growth occurs.

26He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up,

It’s a mystery and a process. At night it grows, when he is awake or when he is sleeping it grows.

“. . .the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

It’s as though he has done all the right things and now the seed is growing into a plant. Like the two men I started this sermon with. He did all the right things. In the context of today the man in this story would be worshipping, participating in a small group to experience community, involved in a ministry somewhere, reaching out to someone and no doubt he would be strong in prayer.

There is not a farmer in the world that can explain how a seed grows. They know how to prepare the soil and when to plant the seed and how to fertilize it and irrigate but they can do nothing about making it grow.

28All by itself the soil produces grain. . .” Interestingly enough we get our word automatic from the word itself in the original language. We get the word auto from self and another word that means desiring eagerly without any outside control. This growth is a mystery and a process. . .

—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."

Out of this parable there are a couple of things we need to remember. Never forget: Spiritual growth is a process not merely an event. It is not just a commitment. In the context of this parable or our present day situation all the things we do our important. Reading the word, praying, being in community and doing life together, reaching out in ministry but once you have committed to God or once your committed to the word relax and rest and let God work.

Know that it is a seasonal thing. Spiritual growth and maturity is a process. What would you think if a farmer planted his fields and then gathered the family every day and went out to see if anything was happening? Is that the way it works? No. He lets the seed do its work and he rests in the promise of a harvest much later. What doest the farmer know that we need to know? He understands that it will take a couple or even three weeks before anything appears and then it will be very tiny. It is going to be quite a while to harvest. He understands that growth is not just a commitment it is a process.

Jesus was so strong in earlier parables. But what He is saying now to them is once you have made the commitment to My word and living My way understand that God causes the growth. It is a process. It takes time.

Did you know there was one man in the Bible that had the title, “a man after God’s own heart?” Do you know who it was? It was David. Here is a man that had a heart that beats after God. If you want to have a window into his soul and life you would read the Psalms because most of them are authored by him. It’s like his diary.

If David was a real committed believer or an American Christian we would expect every Psalm to better, better, better and higher and higher on the scale of godliness with no problems.

Our unrealistic expectations tells us that because we are committed and we are praying, reading our bibles, going to a discipleship class, attending small group, learning how to tithe and give offerings etc. that everything should be going off the chart.

Look at the Psalms with me for a few moments.

The process of David’s life is simple: up down, up down, up down. Psalm one starts out with praise for God but you have to go to Psalm eight before David gets out of the pits of despair. Chart David’s life and heart and you will find that he understood and went through a process.

The first guy I told you about had unrealistic expectations. He’s only been a Christ follower for a few months and his nine year old daughter has also become a believer and guess what she still argues with her brothers and sisters. The bible says, If anyone is in Christ he is a new creature, all things become new. Some of us need to relax and understand that ups and downs, the periods when you know God has answered a prayer and the times when you don’t know if He even heard your prayer, the discouragement and even depression are all part of the process of letting God work in our lives. The seeds in the ground and it’s producing in your life.

Unrealistic expectations and a warped perspective of what the Christian life is produces a lot of deep seated frustration in many believers who are giving it their best. You need to relax and let God do His work. Lighten up and let God do His work.

“12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Phil. 2:12-13

Application: Focus on faithfulness and relationship and not so much on results. Rest in the Lord a little bit. Don’t be so evaluating.

Spiritual growth is a mystery and not a formula. We are always looking for experts to help us with our stuff. When we are having trouble parenting or with finances or in our marriages we want to find an expert who will give us some steps or a formula to follow. There is nothing wrong with that but that is not the way the Christian life works.

Internationally known author, counselor and speaker Larry Crabb lost his brother in a tragic plane crash and through the experience he learned some incredible things. “We remove the mystery out of our spiritual life in order to come up with a principle or a formula so that we can be in control.” He continued, “When God stripped away one of the most important relationships of my life I learned that I need to come to the scriptures and instead of looking for a plan to make my life more comfortable I need to come and find a person to make my life more complete.”

Too often we are looking for a streamlined formula to all of our stuff, (parenting, marriages, finances, work etc.) and we do all the right things and focus on doing the right things with an eye to our producing answers to all our problems or challenges.

Jesus said, “...the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.”

It’s a mystery that should bring us to our knees in dependence on God. There is no magic formula. We follow the principles of God’s word so that He might get glory from our lives. You need to know that three chapters and fifteen minutes of prayer and a small group won’t guarantee you anything. You need to let God work.

The final parable:

30Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."

What’s the point? What’s the temptation? The first one is to have unrealistic expectations and to forget that this walk is a process and a mystery. If we forget it we get frustrated and we tend to give in. Some of us are faithful and faithful and yet look at what we do and we are convinced that it is so small and that we are having no impact. We look at our families, a son or a daughter, we look at the small group we’ve been leading, or we look at those we work with and we convince ourselves that we are having no impact. We give up and feel like forgetting it.

This is the teaching that Jesus is emphasizing. The kingdom of God starts out so small and insignificant in you but if you make the commitment you will grow. It will grow in you and your life. You fill your life with the word of God, place yourself in a community of Christ followers who understand grace, relax and let God do His work.

The kingdom of God started out as a little tiny nothing in Israel with Jesus and a few loser followers. It is now all over the world in orphanages, hospitals, churches and in the lives of believers who are filled with the love of God and grace. Jesus never traveled more than thirty miles from home but the kingdom of God grew. He is simply saying, to you and I be faithful and then let me do my work in you and through you.

M.W. Knapp was a Methodist preacher in the late 1800’s. He lived in Cincinnati and published religious books from his

Jesus is saying hang in there and let me work. Maybe this is normal. Maybe the ups and downs of life are the way it is supposed to be because it is during our lows that we can connect with God the most.

I pray for everyone here today but especially those who are committed to you who are frustrated because more is not happening in their lives or in the lives of the people they love or minister to. Give them the grace to know where the line is and the grace to rest and relax in you. Help them to realize it is a process and to enjoy the mystery that is you. Help us to be able to look back years from now and see how You worked on our behalf and thank you for helping us to stay faithful. Help us to be amazed at how You worked and grew our lives into a mighty, sturdy plant or tree. Let us rest in your grace and relax in our commitment to You.



2006/05/08