Mark 4:1-20 - "In His Time"

I said something Wednesday night in group that comes to my mind this morning.  It was something about how I think believers don't think as much as we should about the fruit we reap.  I think a lot of believing parents concentrate on raising their children in the right atmosphere in order to reap good fruit with them and that's important.  There are people with non-believing spouses who are reaping fruit with them as they are a daily witness to them.  But there are too many who aren't reaping fruit.  

Jesus expects us to bear fruit.  Mark 4:1-20 gives us the parable of the sower...

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”  9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”  10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
    and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’[a]”

13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word.15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

Verse eight is a key verse in this story.   Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.  I came upon this illustration that shows the importance of reaping more than we sow.

One man I read, pointed out that “Reaping more than we sow is fundamental law of the harvest. Every farmer lives by this principle. If his work only returned exactly what he had planted in the ground, his labor would be futile. He would never gain anything extra from his efforts so that he could use it to feed his family or sell it for a profit. Consider the potential of one kernel of corn. One kernel of corn will produce one corn stalk. Each stalk produces one ear of corn.  The average ear of corn has 250 kernels, so that a single kernel of corn will yield a 250% increase.”  Now… different plants will have a different numbers of kernels or seeds depending upon what type of plants they are… BUT, they will all produce a crop THAT IS MORE than what was planted. Or… as Jesus said they grow and produce “a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times” Mark 4:8  So, what Jesus is telling us is this: if the true seed of the Kingdom has been planted in our hearts… we will bear fruit, And WHEN we bear fruit, it will be yield far more than the single seed that was planted in our heart.  That is what God expects of us. He expects us to bear fruit.

As believers, we need to make sure we are living where the soil is good in order to please the Lord with our sowing and reaping.  We also need to realize we may never know how much reaping will occur with what we sow.  It's hard sometimes to not see results but in the Lord's timing the seeds we plant will reap.  I think of my friends who have non-believing spouses.  They get so discouraged yet they have to keep the faith that the Lord will see to their sowing.  They need to continue on sowing each and every day with their spouse with expectation.  I also think about people we come in contact with that blatantly turn away from what we sow.  The Lord knows all and will bless our efforts.  The chorus "In His Time" comes to my lips this morning.


Dear Jesus,
Thank You for the reminder of the importance of good soil.  I pray, Lord, that the seeds I plant will be blessed in a mighty way.  I pray You will take what I sow and reap it in abundance.  Lord, keep my eyes open to opportunities to sow.  Father, I praise You for taking care of things in Your time.  I try to be so careful to not manipulate situations for my timing.  Thank You Jesus for being My Time!  Amen.