seeds
(part 4 of 5 on the book of Acts)
“Now on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.”
— Acts 8:1b
When the first rock struck Stephen as he knelt in the center of a fierce and feral crowd, something huge was unleashed. Did those men, as they frantically hurled their cruel stones, understand that the church was gaining strength even as Stephen’s life ebbed away? I’m sure they didn’t. After all, Stephen’s death was the start of a great persecution against the church, and that must have felt like victory to the church’s foes.
As the great persecution grew, most believers ran for their lives, scattering throughout Judea and Samaria. But this wasn’t the church collapse hoped for by Stephen’s murderers. It was the church expansion planned by God from the foundations of the universe!
Almost immediately after we read of Stephen’s death in Acts 7, we witness Philip’s roadside encounter with an Ethiopian man in Acts 8:26-40. In the first century, Ethiopia was considered to be the literal edge of the world. The church had only just begun, yet the gospel of Christ was already spreading to the ends of the earth!
God orchestrated Philip’s “chance” meeting with the Ethiopian after he fled the persecution in Jerusalem. He revealed the fertile soil Philip needed to sow seeds of truth into the life of a stranger. Then God caused those seeds to grow.
What prevents us from taking the good news of Jesus and sowing it into our children, our friends, our communities, our world? Do we think that we aren’t smart enough, or eloquent enough, or brave enough? Even Moses, who considered himself a lousy public speaker, wondered how he could possibly do the work God was calling him to do. God’s response to Moses in Exodus 4:12? “Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
Seed sowing does not require theological brilliance or compelling arguments or an advanced degree in witnessing. All it requires is a willingness to live a Christ-centered life in front of others. Then, as God reveals patches of fertile soil around us, we sow seeds of truth, and water them, and wait. Because, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:7, “it is God who causes the growth.”
In the early 1960s, a young Islamic boy named Nouh was kidnapped from his Saharan nomadic tribe and forced by French colonizers to attend school in a city far from home. Some Christians were offering ball-point pens to children who would recite four Bible verses. Nouh got his pen, received a beating for associating with infidels, and—because the seeds of scriptural truth were planted in his heart that day—he eventually found abundant life and salvation through Jesus. Now a pastor in Mali, Nouh is responsible for the New Testament being translated into his native language. The seeds were small, but the harvest was great!
“For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” (Isaiah 61:11)
Oh God, would you reveal the fertile soil all around me as I go out into the world to sow the good seed, which is the gospel of Christ? Would you help me wait with joy and anticipation to see how you will bring that seed to life? I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“Now on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.”— Acts 8:1b
When the first rock struck Stephen as he knelt in the center of a fierce and feral crowd, something huge was unleashed. Did those men, as they frantically hurled their cruel stones, understand that the church was gaining strength even as Stephen’s life ebbed away? I’m sure they didn’t. After all, Stephen’s death was the start of a great persecution against the church, and that must have felt like victory to the church’s foes.
As the great persecution grew, most believers ran for their lives, scattering throughout Judea and Samaria. But this wasn’t the church collapse hoped for by Stephen’s murderers. It was the church expansion planned by God from the foundations of the universe!
Almost immediately after we read of Stephen’s death in Acts 7, we witness Philip’s roadside encounter with an Ethiopian man in Acts 8:26-40. In the first century, Ethiopia was considered to be the literal edge of the world. The church had only just begun, yet the gospel of Christ was already spreading to the ends of the earth!
God orchestrated Philip’s “chance” meeting with the Ethiopian after he fled the persecution in Jerusalem. He revealed the fertile soil Philip needed to sow seeds of truth into the life of a stranger. Then God caused those seeds to grow.
What prevents us from taking the good news of Jesus and sowing it into our children, our friends, our communities, our world? Do we think that we aren’t smart enough, or eloquent enough, or brave enough? Even Moses, who considered himself a lousy public speaker, wondered how he could possibly do the work God was calling him to do. God’s response to Moses in Exodus 4:12? “Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
Seed sowing does not require theological brilliance or compelling arguments or an advanced degree in witnessing. All it requires is a willingness to live a Christ-centered life in front of others. Then, as God reveals patches of fertile soil around us, we sow seeds of truth, and water them, and wait. Because, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:7, “it is God who causes the growth.”
In the early 1960s, a young Islamic boy named Nouh was kidnapped from his Saharan nomadic tribe and forced by French colonizers to attend school in a city far from home. Some Christians were offering ball-point pens to children who would recite four Bible verses. Nouh got his pen, received a beating for associating with infidels, and—because the seeds of scriptural truth were planted in his heart that day—he eventually found abundant life and salvation through Jesus. Now a pastor in Mali, Nouh is responsible for the New Testament being translated into his native language. The seeds were small, but the harvest was great!
“For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” (Isaiah 61:11)
Oh God, would you reveal the fertile soil all around me as I go out into the world to sow the good seed, which is the gospel of Christ? Would you help me wait with joy and anticipation to see how you will bring that seed to life? I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
posted by zephaniah3:17 at 12:34 PM
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