IMPERISHABLE SEEDS
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
I Peter 1:17-23
So, there I was on Saturday, wandering through the garden center of one of those big home improvement stores, surrounded by plants and flowers in 6-packs, gallon containers and planters and racks of brightly colored seed packets. Tom is always a bit apprehensive when he sees me disappear into this mass of vegetation because it usually results in hoping that the car's suspension system can handle all those flats of plants and bags of compost. It was his lucky day. I only bought a 12-pack of marigolds to put in the planter in front of the house.
I like marigolds. They're hardy, and they'll re-seed themselves. Seeds are awesome little bits of God's creation, don't you think. Inside even the tiniest seed is the genetic material, DNA, which produces a plant like its parent plants, which will produce seeds which will produce more plants like it. If I remember my high school biology correctly, that's one of the criteria for classifying something as living -- it reproduces.
As Christians, we read in I Peter, we're born again through the living, enduring Word of God, Jesus Christ, of imperishable seed. We carry the Gospel DNA of grace, God's love in action in the world. Grace that:
Peter, as we read in Acts 2, was out on the streets of Jerusalem during the feast of Pentecost sowing Gospel seeds. This fisherman and the other disciples, ordinary human beings like all of us, spoke with power and authority because they had been authorized and empowered by Christ to do so, just like we have.
Three thousand people that day became believers. God, like a good gardener, had been preparing the soil of their hearts and minds to receive the imperishable seeds of new life through Jesus Christ. God continues to do the same thing, reaching out with God's love, to all people, preparing their hearts to receive Christ.
On the back of every seed packet, there's all sorts of if information and directions on how to plant and grow the seeds: the amount of sun light needed, level of moisture, how far apart and how deep to plant the seeds, and so on. If God gave us a packet of Gospel seeds to grow some "Gospel Glories," I wonder what the directions would be. Maybe we'd read:
"Gospel Seeds require plenty of Son light and living water." No problem there, because God has taken provided both of those through Jesus Christ.
"Preparation: Work of the Holy Spirit, prayer, and relationship-building." God has the first one covered. We're responsible for praying and being the friend and neighbor Christ would have us be to all the people we meet.
I was at a conference after Easter when one of my colleagues who is active in outreach ministry said that the people of God shouldn't be disappointed when God doesn't answer the prayers they don't pray. I guess if we want people to come to church, we need to pray, individually and as the Body of Christ, for God to send the people.
"Planting: Share your faith and invite people to come to church as the Holy Spirit directs." If we're praying for people to come, we shouldn't be surprised if God gives us opportunities to extend invitations to people.
The same colleague also shared that if we send out 1,000 postcards to our neighbors, we can expect at best, one response. But when people are personally invited by someone they know, many, many more of these people will accept the invitation than will respond to something they get in the mail.
"Germination: According to God's time table." Don't get discouraged. We're called just to help prepare, to plant, and to assist Christ in nurturing the growing disciples -- it's God who grows the seeds.
As insignificant as we may feel in the grand scheme of things, with so many needs, so many hurting people, so much brokenness, we are still awesome works of God's creation and grace. As Christians, our inheritance is the legacy of the Gospel DNA we receive by grace through Jesus Christ. We carry imperishable seeds, waiting to be planted and waiting to be germinated by God's grace into disciples who will in turn plant more seeds which will make more disciples.
This is how the world is transformed: by making disciples for Jesus Christ.
I Peter 1:17-23
So, there I was on Saturday, wandering through the garden center of one of those big home improvement stores, surrounded by plants and flowers in 6-packs, gallon containers and planters and racks of brightly colored seed packets. Tom is always a bit apprehensive when he sees me disappear into this mass of vegetation because it usually results in hoping that the car's suspension system can handle all those flats of plants and bags of compost. It was his lucky day. I only bought a 12-pack of marigolds to put in the planter in front of the house.
I like marigolds. They're hardy, and they'll re-seed themselves. Seeds are awesome little bits of God's creation, don't you think. Inside even the tiniest seed is the genetic material, DNA, which produces a plant like its parent plants, which will produce seeds which will produce more plants like it. If I remember my high school biology correctly, that's one of the criteria for classifying something as living -- it reproduces.
As Christians, we read in I Peter, we're born again through the living, enduring Word of God, Jesus Christ, of imperishable seed. We carry the Gospel DNA of grace, God's love in action in the world. Grace that:
- Frees us from futile and unproductive living because we have been ransomed by the blood of Christ;
- Works resurrection power in our lives, building our trust in God;
- Is the source of our faith and our hope;
- Calls us to live in obedience and love;
- Empowers us to reproduce the image of Christ in our lives;
- Is ours through Jesus Christ who commissions us to reproduce, to multiply ourselves by making disciples for Jesus (Matthew 28:16-20).
Peter, as we read in Acts 2, was out on the streets of Jerusalem during the feast of Pentecost sowing Gospel seeds. This fisherman and the other disciples, ordinary human beings like all of us, spoke with power and authority because they had been authorized and empowered by Christ to do so, just like we have.
Three thousand people that day became believers. God, like a good gardener, had been preparing the soil of their hearts and minds to receive the imperishable seeds of new life through Jesus Christ. God continues to do the same thing, reaching out with God's love, to all people, preparing their hearts to receive Christ.
On the back of every seed packet, there's all sorts of if information and directions on how to plant and grow the seeds: the amount of sun light needed, level of moisture, how far apart and how deep to plant the seeds, and so on. If God gave us a packet of Gospel seeds to grow some "Gospel Glories," I wonder what the directions would be. Maybe we'd read:
"Gospel Seeds require plenty of Son light and living water." No problem there, because God has taken provided both of those through Jesus Christ.
"Preparation: Work of the Holy Spirit, prayer, and relationship-building." God has the first one covered. We're responsible for praying and being the friend and neighbor Christ would have us be to all the people we meet.
I was at a conference after Easter when one of my colleagues who is active in outreach ministry said that the people of God shouldn't be disappointed when God doesn't answer the prayers they don't pray. I guess if we want people to come to church, we need to pray, individually and as the Body of Christ, for God to send the people.
"Planting: Share your faith and invite people to come to church as the Holy Spirit directs." If we're praying for people to come, we shouldn't be surprised if God gives us opportunities to extend invitations to people.
The same colleague also shared that if we send out 1,000 postcards to our neighbors, we can expect at best, one response. But when people are personally invited by someone they know, many, many more of these people will accept the invitation than will respond to something they get in the mail.
"Germination: According to God's time table." Don't get discouraged. We're called just to help prepare, to plant, and to assist Christ in nurturing the growing disciples -- it's God who grows the seeds.
As insignificant as we may feel in the grand scheme of things, with so many needs, so many hurting people, so much brokenness, we are still awesome works of God's creation and grace. As Christians, our inheritance is the legacy of the Gospel DNA we receive by grace through Jesus Christ. We carry imperishable seeds, waiting to be planted and waiting to be germinated by God's grace into disciples who will in turn plant more seeds which will make more disciples.
This is how the world is transformed: by making disciples for Jesus Christ.
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