During the month of February, I had the opportunity to preach upon a wonderful parable presented to us in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, that parable being the Parable of the Growing Seed. At the time Jesus gave this parable, He was speaking to His disciples about the Kingdom of God, and in this particular parable, Jesus focuses in on the ‘growth’ of this Kingdom. In examining this growth, four key truths are presented.
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The Parable of the Growing Seed
The Preciousness of Time
This is a subject that I often think about come the start of a brand new year. With each January 1st, I am moved to think back over the previous year, and years, to see how I have improved, or wasted, this precious commodity called ‘time’. I am compelled to ask questions such as ‘how have I spent my time’, ‘have I made the most of my time’, and ‘how much time have I wasted on meaningless things’. Questions that all of us Christians would do well to ask ourselves.
In Ephesians 5:16, the apostle Paul exhorts his Ephesian readers to ‘make the most of their time’, again suggesting that time is a precious commodity. But, why so? Why is time so precious? Let me offer some reasons.
Put off slothfulness, put off procrastination. Live every moment to its fullest.
Don’t Forget These Blessings
In the same vein as Pastor Jeff’s last blog post (there’s an opening I never thought I would have to write), I wanted to look at an Old Testament reference to our attitude of thankfulness. Psalm 103 rides the crescendo of psalms that are directed towards God that ultimately praise Him. While the other Psalms are addressed to God, perhaps spoken to other people—the righteous, the sinners, Israel, the Gentile, the nations or other groups—Psalm 103 is different. It is different because David is speaking to himself. Why? Why is David “preaching” to himself? You only have to look at verse 2: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” The point is to remind himself of God’s blessings so he will continue to be grateful for all that God has done for him. We will only look at the first five verses, but I challenge you to read the rest as you will note that the psalm is characterized by attitude of thankfulness and the goodness of God.
Thanksgiving: A Day or a Lifestyle?
Given that ‘Thanksgiving Day’ is fast upon us I thought it would be useful if I shared some brief thoughts on the Scriptural teaching of giving thanks. In examining the Bible’s teaching on the subject, three important points immediately come to mind.
I must admit that the first thought I had when hearing the crunch of my rear bumper was not ‘Thank you God’.
First, the giving of thanks is a command, and not simply a suggestion. In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, the apostle Paul writes this; ‘in everything give thanks’. This particular exhortation takes the form of a command, a command with no qualifiers or exceptions. The command does not say ‘in everything give thanks, unless…’ Or, ‘in everything give thanks, but only if…’ No, the command simply says ‘in everything give thanks’. In other words, we are to give thanks in all circumstances. We are to give thanks in the good times and the bad. We are to give thanks when we feel like it and when we don’t feel like it. We are to give thanks in everything. This past week, I had someone hit my car as I was backing out of the parking lot at my son’s school. I must admit that the first thought I had when hearing the crunch of my rear bumper was not ‘Thank you God’. However, upon further examination, I realized that even in that situation, I should have expressed thanksgiving. I should have been thankful that I wasn’t hurt. I should have been thankful that I had car insurance. I should have been thankful that I owned a car in the first place. In other words, in spite of the ‘frustration’ and ‘inconvenience’ of having a car accident, there was much to be thankful for. Unfortunately, we don’t always see it that way. But, as Paul commands ‘in everything give thanks’.
The Lost Discipline of Silence
Stemming from a convicting sermon preached by Pastor Jeff on the topic of Christian Speech (Col 4:6), I was persuaded to consider very carefully the implications of holy speech. Perhaps no other topic hits closer to home than the topic of speech and the necessity for our speech to be edifying and gracious. Pastor Jeff’s sermon noted that our speech should be highlighted by three characteristics: graciousness, purposeful and timely. It was under the first characteristic of Christian speech that made me pause and consider a different topic related to our speech. According to his sermon, one of the reasons for our lack of gracious and edifying speech was our tendency to speak too quickly. Couple hasty speech with our tendency to speak too much and to please others added to one outcome in my mind: silence is an overlooked discipline.
A New Year of College Ministry
As the Pastor of Harvest Church, late September is one of my favorite times of the year. After a relaxing (but often times slow) summer season, things suddenly pick up again, as we welcome back all of our college students who have been away from us for the last three months. With the return of these students inevitably comes an influx of many new visitors as well, most of whom are college freshman looking for a church home for the next four years. These young folks will come from a variety of different backgrounds. Many will come from different parts of the country…and the world. Others will come from different ethnic backgrounds. Still, others from varying church traditions, or no tradition at all. But, they will come, and they will all be different. And because of their differences, each, in their own way, will bring something unique to our ministry. It is this that we, at Harvest, find most exciting. However, as different as they all will be, there is one thing that all of them will have in common. They will all come with a great amount of youthful energy and idealism, something older folks like myself can only reminisce about. And so, this time of year will certainly bring to our ministry a great deal of vigor and enthusiasm, something that I, as pastor, am most grateful for.