TEACHING

Don Atkin

SEED TIME AND HARVEST

This was the theme at our recent International Conference. All of the speakers were inspired as they brought several aspects of this theme to the table. They were both nourishing and edifying. However, there was at least one important aspect that didn’t get attention:

WHAT YOU PLANT IS WHAT YOU GET

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. - Galatians 67-8.

The Genesis account of creation makes it abundantly clear that everything reproduces after its own kind. Elephants reproduce elephants; daffodils reproduce daffodils. You cannot cross a petunia and a puppy dog to get a pussy cat! What you plant is what you get.

The life is in the seed. Planting a seed from a bean will, under proper circumstances, reproduce beans. Under no circumstance will it ever reproduce anything other than beans. If you want corn, you must plant corn. Because, what you plant is what you get.

WHEN THE SEED IS THE WORD

The soil is the hearts of people. The gospel of the kingdom is a word that is to be indiscriminately broadcast without regard for the soil or its preparation. Jesus’ parable of the sower explains that:

As he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.

And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. - Matthew 13:4-8.

Jesus then explained the meaning of the parable to His disciples in verses 18-23.

Another form of sowing takes place once the word of the gospel has been received on the good ground and begins to produce fruit. The words of the kingdom are not indiscriminately broadcast, but are carefully and selectively planted as hearts are prepared. This is a process called making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20; Galatians 4:1-2). The objective and inevitable fruit of discipleship is sonship (Romans 8:14-19).

WHEN THE SEEDS ARE SONS

The soil is the world. Jesus’ Great Commission to disciple the ethnos was given to those whom He had discipled, who had come into maturity as sons of the kingdom.

He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. - Matthew 13:37-38.

It is difficult to understand how some can pray for harvest, yet never go beyond the indiscriminate broadcasting of a watered-down gospel. They pray for harvest, yet never carefully disciple anyone into mature sons of the kingdom. They pray for harvest, yet never plant sons in the world.

CHRIST, THE INCORRUPTIBLE SEED

. . . having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. - I Peter 1:23.

Paul anguishes, My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you" (Galatians 4:19). His purpose was to bring forth mature sons of the kingdom. He was given to God’s purpose, bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10). He had revelation of the mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

Much of what we call "church" today is not given to God’s purpose. It is, at best, proclaiming a gospel of "salvation" ~ getting people "saved." Next week will be a repeat performance of this week. Organized, structured, institutionalized and programmed to the hilt, they keep people busy in "church work" rather than discipling them for the work of the church: bringing the saints to maturity in the image of Christ, and planting them in the world to bring Him glory.

THE PROBLEM: CORRUPTIBLE SEED

Whatever life is in the seed is what it will produce. Therefore, what is produced (the fruit of our labors) proves what life was in the seed.

When asked for fruit, some will point to their annual short-term mission trip. Any "Clark Kent" can step into a phone booth at the border and come out looking like "Superman." This kind of fruit may result from the color of their skin or the size of their contribution. It is at home, where we live, move, and have our being, that true fruit makes us known.

If the fruit is corrupted, then perhaps the seed was corrupted to begin with.

David Orton, in his book, "Snakes in the Temple," writes:

Beginnings determine endings. God’s creation is built on a seed-principle (Genesis 1:11-12, 21, 24-25). We all know Biology 101 teaches that humans reproduce humans. Why is it, though, that when it comes to spiritual things we are suddenly rendered ignorant? The same principle applies. The seed determines the harvest. The Bible calls it sowing and reaping. Or, alternatively, beginnings determine endings. Recent surveys in the UK and Australia show a rapid decline in weekly attendance. Between 1982 and 1998 Australia had a 12% decline in weekly attendance and the UK a 26% decline, representing 272,000 and 1, 072,400 people respectively. Peter Brierley, author of The Tide is Running Out, points out that if this rate of decline continues, less than 1% of the population will be attending church on a typical Sunday in the UK by 2016! We have planted bad seed and we are reaping the harvest. It is time to rediscover the good seed of the kingdom – to find a new starting point.

OUR STARTING POINT HAS BEEN WRONG

We have started with man (all have sinned and need salvation) and therefore we end with man. Paul offers us this insight – a new starting point:

For us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. - I Corinthians 8:6.

"Our starting point is not found in the Fall, in the human condition, but in God the Father, from whom all things come." – Orton

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. - Ephesians 1:3-5.

God began the process of bringing many sons to glory with the placement and commissioning of Adam in the Garden. He has not been surprised by anything that has happened (or failed to happen) from that moment until now. The process continues.

"Regardless of sin’s intervention Jesus would still have come as man to be the first-born of a new humanity." – Orton

RETURNING TO THE INCORRUPTIBLE SEED

As we receive the adoption, the Spirit of sonship, our hearts cry out, "Abba Father."

We are no longer slaves to a religious system, bound by the traditions and organizations of men, under the influence of the world, the flesh and the devil.

The heart of our heavenly Father is the starting point; His Seed has been planted in our hearts to reproduce after kind. Jesus Christ is our precious Cornerstone, our point of reference for all that we desire to be, do and build. He is the Head and Builder of the church that is destined for the Throne.

The Bride that will reign with Him on the Throne originates from the Throne, and is nurtured through intimacy with Him in the Throne room. Only this intimacy with God will produce and nurture the new creation. Paul Hunter writes from Uganda:

One particular night I keep meditating on the phrase "Fruitfulness flows from intimacy." It is so easy for ministers to work with diligence when it comes to spiritual disciplines like prayer and Bible reading, to work hard to accomplish the vision of their ministry, and at the same time begin to lose the intimacy that was so valued when we first came to know God through Christ. God's primary reason for saving us was to love us in a restored relationship so that we would love Him back and give His love away to others. There is a natural flow of service from the supernatural intimacy of relationship with God. This continues to be my focus.

THE LAW OF ORIGINS

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. - John 3:6

What is the origin of your life?

What is the origin of your thinking?

What is the origin of your planning?

Jesus: Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. - John 5:19.

Jesus: I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. - John 5:30.

Paul: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. - Galatians 67-8.