Plant, Nurture, Harvest, and Repeat
If you’ve ever worked on a farm, or maintained a garden for any period of time, you understand this is how it works. The ground is prepared, the seed is planted, the ‘row’ nurtured with water or fertilizer as needed in the growth of the plant till the harvest of the ‘fruit’. One can only expect a good harvest if the process is carried out with ‘good seed’ and one tends to the crop properly by nurturing it at each stage of its development. After the harvest, the process begins again and the ‘work’ continues.
How is it that we can readily see this in horticulture, yet fail to understand the analogy the Lord made in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13 as He spoke to the multitudes by the seaside while He sat in a ship? His final Words as He concluded the parable were: “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matt. 13:9) In the Luke account of this parable, the Lord explained to His disciples “the seed is the Word of God” (Luke 8:11). Then, in verse 15, we find what MUST exist for the seed to become effective. The Word of God must be “planted” into the right type of soil. Those with an honest heart can develop a good heart by ‘keeping’ the Word. We are told that the end result is ‘fruit borne with patience’.
It is equally true in the physical realm and the spiritual realm that seed, if not planted cannot grow. Seed is a remarkable thing. One obtains seed through God’s providence. God created every living thing and He created each for a purpose and with the capability to reproduce. The purpose for each herb and tree was to feed man whom God also created. We are told this in Gen. 1:29. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. After the flood, in Gen. 9:3, God also included the beasts of the field as food for humanity. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
Every living thing God made was created containing the “seed” needed to reproduce “after his kind” so when the original (or parent plant or animal) is consumed, additional plants and animals (of the same kind) would be available for the continual sustenance of man. If, when each plant was cut down or pulled up, or when each animal was killed and eaten, their kind became extinct, it wouldn’t have been very long before man himself would likely starve to death for lack of something to eat. This was God’s way of ‘providing’ food, and foregoing the need to create continually. This is also evidence of ‘patterns’ that are seen throughout the Word of God.
From Genesis we read of the dream of Pharoah and the famine that was to occur after seven years of plenty. We read of the plan of God using the literal seed (grain) to preserve the family of Israel in Egypt until it became a great nation. After this, Israel was delivered from bondage and much later the Spirit had the psalmist pen the Words of Psa. 105:6. In this verse He was speaking of the Old Testament chosen people of God, the physical ‘seed’ of Abraham. O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. We also know that Christ came in the flesh. This follows God’s pattern. God created man, and after that all that have been born have been “begotten”. John 3:16, perhaps the most misquoted verse, shows that Christ is the “only begotten Son” of God. Matt. 1:18 & 20 should make it clear to all, that the Christ was “of the Holy Ghost”. Therefore, Christ was of the ‘seed’ of God spiritually, (begotten of God), and of the seed of Abraham physically, (a Jew, of the tribe of Judah and of the house of David).
But how are we to apply this today? In Luke 10:2, the Lord directed His servants, in this case the 70, regarding the harvest. He told them: “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” What were they to do? They were to “plant” the word of the news of the Christ and the coming kingdom. Israel was being called back to God to “repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” as Jesus also preached (Mark 4:17).
Today, that kingdom has come, yet the “seed”, the Word of God needs to be continually ‘planted’ in the minds of lost souls. When this is done, they can then be “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine” (1Tim. 4:6). Those that are obedient to the doctrine of Christ become part of the earthly harvest and are added to the church (Acts 2:47). And only if they continual faithfully until death, (Rev. 2:10b), can they be part of that eternal harvest. This occurs when the Lord returns.
Sadly, many misunderstand this concept. Many misapply 1Pet. 1:3b and think that simply because Christ died on the cross, and came forth from the grave to die no more they have hope of eternal life. But 1Pet. 1:23 clarifies this as the ‘seed’, the Word of God must be planted and nurtured, before that soul can be ‘harvested’ for the kingdom by their obedience to the gospel. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. Only when one obeys the gospel, can they be ‘born again’.
So, plant that seed, nourish it, and it will bring forth life in the soul that gladly receives and obeys it. Then repeat with other souls. This is how God gives the increase,1Cor 3:6. I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. Be part of God’s plan to save souls. Plant, Nurture, Harvest and Repeat.
Dennis Strickland – Mooresville church of Christ
