Life Audio. Hi, from the Salvation Army. You are listening to Words of Life. These are the words. These are the words.
These are the words of life. These are the words. These are the words. These are the words of life. Hey, and welcome back to Words of Life.
We are launching a brand new series today that will be a little bit different from the series we've had more recently. We wanted to have a deep teaching series focused on the parables of Jesus, so we invited our friend Major Cam Henderson to join us for the next five weeks as we dig a little deeper into these stories than maybe some of us are familiar with. If you don't know Major Henderson, he is currently the local Salvation Army pastor at Atlanta Temple Core, a Salvation Army church here in Atlanta. He's also the one who made the Holiness podcast possible with Lieutenant Colonel Vern Jewett. If you were a fan of that show.
I think you'll love his spirit and his preaching style. And maybe we don't say this often enough, but if you are enjoying Words of Life, first of all, thank you so much for listening. It would be a huge help if you would leave us a rating and review on whatever platform you listen on. That just helps more people find the show. And with that, here is Major Cam Henderson.
Well, welcome, you guys. It's great to be with you for this series. It's going to be a series on some parables of Jesus, and try to seek better understand the kingdom and our lives as His people. And I'm really looking forward to it. Glad to be with you and learn some of the mysteries that Jesus taught.
It's interesting; he confused the crowds who didn't really want to know, and he made glad the hearts of those who did want to know. They wanted to know God and how they could be part of His kingdom and His work. And so, I pray that we're part of that second group. I pray that as we look through these parables, we will be the ones who truly do want to know. And not ones who are confused or clouded by his teaching.
Why in the world, first of all, why did Jesus teach in parables?
Well, they were teaching tools. My mother always had a visual aid when she preached. I remember that. In fact, we would make fun of her a little bit. You always have a visual aid.
You always have something in your hand, but it made us remember.
So Jesus would use memorable stories about real life things or real life objects. And when he told about baking bread or planting seeds or building, people in the crowd who were bakers or farmers or builders and they do it every day. Immediately they related to what he was saying and what he was doing. They'd stop, maybe, because they were related to their everyday lives. Maybe they weren't listening before, but all of a sudden he's talking about something I know about, and now I am listening.
But then, also later, every time a mother or a baker was adding yeast to the dough, or each season a farmer or a gardener was planting seeds or picking fruit, or a builder was laying a brick, they'd remember his stories, and it would teach his lesson over and over again. Or maybe they would teach it to their children or to others nearby. Them, they were extremely useful tools for teaching. Jesus was revealing the mystery of God, but interestingly, not to everyone. Matthew 13 teaches that Jesus was asked why he speaks in parables.
For those who want to know, he's revealing truth and answers. For those who don't want to know, and for his enemies, the full truth is somewhat disguised. And we read about it in Matthew 13, verse 34 and 35. Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them without using such parables.
It fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet, "I will speak to you in parables. I'll explain things hidden since the creation of the world." So let's study some of these parables and ask the Lord if we might be some of those who do seek to truly understand and obey what we learn from Jesus. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. In college, I began to study physics because I really enjoyed it in high school. It was fun.
We raced cars and launched them off of ramps. We shot fake darts at targets to watch the movement. It was about kinetic energy, and it was so much fun. And we could figure out formulas and figure out where the car was going to land or how fast it was going, and we could figure out where to aim the. Dart depending on which things were falling, it was fun.
So when I went to college, I went to do the same thing, and it was the same thing. I enjoyed it a lot. It was great. We we added new things to it and learned more about why it was doing. In some ways, it was a refresher.
But then I got to the second semester, and we began to study thermodynamics, how energy moves. How heat energy moves, and low and high pressures, and how air conditioners work and refrigerants work. I have no idea how any of that works, and it wasn't any fun. I couldn't figure it out. It was there what I learned a valuable lesson from college.
I should really be a preacher and not a scientist. I did not understand, and I didn't really want to understand. I was ready to move on.
Well, in today's message, we'll see a farmer scattering seed. Kind of like me in college, he doesn't know how the seed really works. It's a mystery, but he's scattering, preparing for a harvest to come.
So I'm going to look at Mark chapter four, verse twenty six to twenty nine. In this little passage, we see a powerful message. Again, Mark chapter four, verses twenty six to twenty nine. This is what it says: Jesus also said. The kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground.
Night and day, while he's asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he doesn't understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First, a leaf blade pushes through. Then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally, the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.
Harvest time has come, and it started with him scattering seed. The farmer has a job to do: scatter seed. He doesn't really understand how the seeds work, but they grow. They produce fruit, and he knows when to reap the harvest when it's time. I find something really interesting about the scattering of the seed in this story, and another parable just prior to it, at the start of the chapter, chapter four.
In both of these, the spreading of the seed is all over the place. This is just a story to tell a message. It's not a lesson on how to be a farmer. The farmers I've seen have rows and spacing between the seeds. The planting is specific and only after preparing the soil just right.
Maybe Jesus told it just to get the farmers' attention, and they're thinking, "What in the world? That's not what you do." I don't know. What do I know? But here, this is a farmer seen throwing seed everywhere. He seems to have no idea how the seed works.
What makes it work? Again, it's not a characterization of farmer's knowledge of how things grow. My wife's cousin married a farmer, and he knows everything there is to know about seeds and harvesting and soil and letting soil recoup after this plant and then that plant. But the important note here that Jesus is making is that he knows that if he scatters this seed into the ground, the harvest will. Come, he has complete trust in that, and he knows that in that moment it's his time to work again to reap the harvest.
Why is he not concerned with anything but scattering and reaping?
Well, because the Lord provides three things: the soil, the earth, and the seed. Many other things too: water, sunlight, all those things. But in the story, soil, earth, and seed. They don't come from the farmer. They come from the Lord.
These things do know what to do. Interestingly enough, these things are just waiting for someone to use them in preparation for a harvest that's coming, and we can trust in that. How interesting! Those three things know what to do. They know how it works, and they're just waiting for someone to get them together, to make contact with each other, and and make the seed hit the soil.
So, why did Jesus tell this parable? The Lord calls us to scatter the seed of the good news. When planted, this seed grows deep into people's hearts and produces fruit—eternal fruit. And it's clear that the seed is to be scattered everywhere. We don't know which seed will strike where.
We don't know which seed will take root and become fruitful. We can't see the future, and we cannot see into people's hearts. You ever heard somebody say you've got one job? Or if you failed, they'll say you had one job.
Well, they've said that to me once before too. I didn't like that. But anyway, the farmer has one job: scatter seed. Does this characterize you? How much seed have you scattered?
Do you consider this part of your job as a believer, or is that someone else's job? Maybe someone with that spiritual gift, or someone who's more outgoing, or whatever else. But if you were to hear Jesus' words and obey the teaching, what is He asking you to do today from this parable? Do you know all about the gospel? Do you understand exactly how it works and how grace works and how forgiveness and redemption works?
Nope. And you don't have to. You're not even expected to know all of it. We can learn and grow, but we don't know all of it. We have one job: scatter the seed.
One last consideration. Who scattered seed on you as soil when you were just barren soil? You were unsuspecting, waiting for the seed to fall on you, or maybe you were completely ignorant that something was happening to you. But somebody was planting seed in you. Thank God, someone told you about Jesus and the good news that God forgives your sin and makes us whole.
Someone's waiting on you, and one day they'll thank God for you. Where will you go today? Maybe to the store. Maybe home, to your family, work, school, neighborhood, walking the dog. You can scatter seed today, telling people about the good news of the forgiveness of your sins.
Of God's love and grace in your life, of how He's changing your life as you learn to walk with Him, and how you have someone you can trust in for help and comfort. And don't forget about telling them about eternal life. Explain every bit of it. No, just tell them what you've discovered. Just tell them about God in your life.
Just scatter seed all over the place today. You can never waste it by scattering it. You can only waste it by letting it sit idle. God bless you as you scatter seed, and may the Lord bring the harvest. Praise God.
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