The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
– Mark 4:26-29, ESVWhat then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
– 1 Corinthians 3:5-7, ESV
No farmer spends his days sitting in the fields, staring at the dirt, exerting his will in hopes of making his crop grow. The farmer tills the ground in preparation, plants his seeds, waters, fertilizes, and trusts that growth will happen because that’s what happens when seeds are planted in good soil. There may be seasons of drought and dismal harvests occasionally, but the earth has an amazing capacity to produce life from its soil. The farmer’s staring or willing doesn’t make any difference. His tilling, fertilizing, and watering can prepare but they don’t make things grow.
In three weeks the fifteen or so people in our Threshingfloor community will all be giving our Wednesday nights through the summer to plan and host weekly grill outs at Island Park, a park in downtown Fargo. Last summer Luke and Matt, a couple guys from the community, started the grill outs as a way to give international students something to enjoy during their weeks. In a matter of a month or so it went from 20 to about 60 people coming each week to eat, talk, play games, and enjoy the beauty of God’s summer nights. The majority of people there, to my knowledge, weren’t Christians.
We want to continue with what God blessed last year and make a space for people who aren’t believers to encounter the love, service, joy, and peace of God’s people. We’ll be spending the next few weeks preparing to spend our Wednesday nights through the summer as missionaries, demonstrating God’s love and welcoming near his ever-near kingdom by feeding people, praying for them, and who knows what else.
We won’t be paranoid farmers, fretting over our fields. We know our God is the one who causes growth. We’ll scatter seeds and lay down to sleep. I’m confident that when we come to the end of the summer, after we’ve done the work of prayer and believing and loving, God will have caused growth and a salvation harvest will be taking place. It’s going to be awesome.
No Comments