You reap what you sow

Mark 4:3-8

"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."

I'm reading a book called Organic Church. It has challenged my soul which has surprised me a bit, not that I can't be challenged but I thought I'd have no questions about the content of this book. I tend to think I'm more of a "liberal; postmodern" type of believer when it comes to doing church. Organic would be a good descriptor, as I often find myself longing for the simple (i.e. no politics of the modern day churches, no excuses, or stereotypes) days of when Jesus and the apostles began these small home churches. I've only finished 5 chapters in this book of 14 and yet I find myself with questions, needing to discuss them with other believers.

A very, very brief picture of where my heart is on the issue of outreach: I've always thought that our generation has a huge task at hand when it comes to starting a revolution for Jesus, but I've also thought we have what it takes. Either we can sit by and be comfortable in our walk with Jesus, growing and pruning ourselves, eventually becoming stagnant or we can get out there and serve others, meet others where they are in life, therefore flourishing. Aside from cultural differences and our modern-day society (which I think we often use as excuses) Jesus, Paul, and the apostles were always on the move. If not from city to city than from one synagogue to the other. They went to where the people were, they didn't set up camp in one location and advertise for people to come to them. We have clearly grown comfortable and apathetic. Sure we need to be there for support and encouragement of our fellow believers but didn't Jesus say "it's not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick?" And looking at the great commission Jesus also said, "GO," I don't remember him saying "Stay". I'm not being exclusive of today's churches and how they do things....at least not all of them. I could ramble on and on but I think I've made my point.

Ok so in one particular chapter the author refers to the parable of the different soils. What I found interesting at first is that Jesus described 4 different types of soils and yet only one was fruitful. It seems to be an accurate indication of the percentage of people who will actually be fruitful; we complain about 20% of the people doing 80% of the work but Jesus knew. Another thing I've never thought of before and I'm not sure I've heard anyone teach on it, a farmer in this situation would take time to tend to the 'good soil', they wouldn't continually throw seeds onto the the other three soils hoping that at some point a plant would sprout up and flourish.

To focus more on the people that are represented by the soil I started with the very first one Jesus mentions, the "hard, unreceptive path". I think about the Pharaoh in Exodus not letting the Israelites go. He was famous for his hard heart. I often struggle with this because it says in Exodus God hardened Pharaoh's heart, would God sacrifice a soul to hell in order to save others? Clearly, this was seen in Jesus but Jesus overcame it all, do these people with hardened hearts not get a chance or does God know they will never be receptive to Him? I know this gets into predestination, although I think this specific action can exist in conjunction with free will.

Secondly, I've stumbled upon some scripture I've read before but not comprehended in this way. In Acts there were many times where Paul and the other disciples "shook the dust from their feet" and moved on from cities because the people there were simply unreceptive to the message they offered. They were the first type of soil, the hardened path. In this specific chapter the author makes a very compelling argument (seemingly aligned with scripture) that our responsibility is to share the good news not to accommodate and babysit those who reject it. Even in Mark 10:17-31 Jesus is approached by a rich man who wanted to enter the kingdom of God. Upon asking Jesus this and getting the truth from Jesus about selling his wealth, the man walked away sad. Jesus was straight with this man about how to have eternal life and the rich man didn't like the answer. Jesus turned to his followers and continued to talk to them he didn't run after this guy trying to "convince" him of selling his wealth. Jesus also didn't make accommodations for this man to keep him in his circle of followers so that at some point, maybe, he'd come around. Although, please note in verse 21 it states "Jesus looked at him and loved him."

I have several questions about all this and then I'll have to continue a different blog tomorrow on the remainder of this chapter.

How long do we work with those who are seemingly unreceptive to the gospel before we "shake the dust from our feet" and walk away?

Isn't that giving up?

How is this 'loving' as Jesus 'loved' the rich man?

Are we enabling people when we work so hard to keep them at our church or in our lives trying so hard to convince them of the gospel even when they constantly reject it?

I'm praying and seeking the answers which is what I love to do with God when I read these kinds of things. This is very much a rambling of my thoughts so it's likely unorganized and confusing but it's real.