by Mike Perkinson
The power of story is in the seed. More simply said, the power of story is in the telling or sowing of that life-giving seed. After all, Jesus said that a seed must fall to the ground and die before it can bear fruit.
In an agrarian society like Israel the language of sowing seed and reaping a harvest was common. Being a farmer was more than a profession but a way of life that took care of the basic needs of a family.
That is why the prophetic instruction in Hosea 10:12 is so stunning as it seems to violate the natural sequence of this agrarian way of life. The prophet declares, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.” I find it fascinating that the prophet oddly violates this natural sequence that would require one to first break up the fallow ground before sowing the seed as Jeremiah correctly instructs, “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.” (Jeremiah 4:3) Why does Hosea place breaking up the fallow ground after sowing and reaping? What in the world is he trying to say? And how does that relate to story?
It is stunning that the logical progression of cultivating and preparing the soil to receive the seed is oddly missed in the Hosea passage. I find it striking that the prophet immediately moves us to the language of sowing. What is intriguing is what we are called to sow.
The seed that we are to cast is that of righteousness. Not so much doing right things, but being in right relationship with the God that has so marvelously kept His covenant and provided for Israel. As a matter of fact everything Israel had received was a gift from the hand of God. Included in this gift was the land that God so graciously provided. Israel’s undertakings were then to be done in accordance with her relationship to this faithful, covenant-keeping God.
The prophet is instructing the people, as well as the Church in the 21st century, to sow first the seed of covenantal relationship with the gracious God that has so wonderfully provided all we have – having made possible full reconciliation in and through Christ.
It is when we sow to this life-giving sphere of relationship with the Father that we find our hearts enriched with His steadfast love (hesed). What we reap (not merit) when we are living in this life-giving sphere is riches of His love that empowers our lives and enlarges our capacity to live as His sons and daughters who steward well our Kingdom responsibilities. It is then that we are able to adequately break up the fallow ground (“of knowledge” which can mean our knowledge of God) and seek His face not only for ourselves but for our neighborhoods, cities and nation. When this happens the prophet boldly asserts that the Lord will then come and rain righteousness upon them. May God rain down His righteousness on the barren soil of our country and may we sow to righteousness, reaping His steadfast love – living the empowered life and doing only what the Father is doing!
What's the correlation to story, Mike? That’s right. I mentioned that the power of story is in the seed. Story is the place where the seed finds it greatest power. As Revelation 12:11 reminds us, those that overcame the evil one were those that were washed in the blood, shared the word of their testimony (story) and had bold faith, they did not fear death.
There is something about story that jettisons one’s faith and that also of the hearer. It is the conduit by which the seed is most proficiently cast as it facilitates the life-giving environment of heart engagement and decision. After all, story requires conversation which fuels relationship; relationship is the basis of community. Story is then a key to life, community and multiplication as it allows for the transforming power of the Cross (life-giving sphere) to be sown (righteousness) in relationship with God and His people, resulting in an amazing harvest of salvation, healing and restoration of individuals, families and communities.
It is through the medium of story that we find ourselves most able to sow righteousness, coming to right relationship – reaping His love and power so that we love others as we love ourselves and then engage in breaking up the fallow ground that resists the seed of hope that is in Christ. As we press on and pursue our great God and seek His face we are confident that this covenant keeping God will rain downs righteousness on our land. May it be!!!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
On Being a Grain of Wheat
by Tom Johnston
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” John 12:24-26
Seeds get planted. They exist for one purpose – to give life in order to produce fruit, a crop, a harvest. So it was with Jesus, the Ultimate Seed, who in giving His life for humanity released the potential for harvest of souls throughout the ages. And in each generation He calls His followers to do likewise – lay down their lives in order to bear much fruit. The call to follow Christ is the call to perpetual death of the self, choosing instead a life of loving devotion to God, His people and His harvest.
Such dying to self for most of us will not take on a singular grand heroic act such as martyrdom, but rather we will die 10,000 little deaths to our flesh, our fallen human nature, so that Christ might live through us. We have an opportunity to mortify the flesh each time we are presented with a decision in our day-to-day lives in the context of our marriage, family, vocation and ministry. In each and every relationship we have, with God and others, we can choose either to live for ourselves or to live for Christ. It encompasses our inner life as well – the desires of our heart and the thoughts of our mind, as we make choices being led of the Spirit as opposed to the flesh. Again, it is in such choices that we allow Christ to release His life in us and through us, bearing spiritual fruit in our own being and in those around us as well. All such choices – both internally and in our relationships – are based on what we value.
In speaking of losing our life, Jesus seeks to focus His disciples on something transcendent, something beyond this life – eternity. We often say “everything pales into insignificance in the light of eternity.” This is Jesus’ point exactly: don’t live your life in the flesh, in the moment, but rather live your life in the Spirit, in the “now and not yet” of the Eternal Kingdom of God. Such a life is costly, Jesus teaches us, requiring we pay the ultimate price of self-sacrifice. But in doing so He promises us fruitfulness – a harvest of righteousness and of souls which will outlast this life, extending into eternity.
In dying these little deaths daily, we are not paying some “price of admission,” not earning our way into heaven, but rather we are allowing Christ to live through us in ways which He cannot do when we live life focused on us. It is when Christ shines through a life which is yielded and surrendered that people take notice and ask us about the hope that is within us. Through a life overflowing with the abundance of His life we truly can be witnesses to the Risen Lord and the power of His resurrection. Today it seems much of the Church in the West is grappling with cultural relevance. Forget it – grapple with the Cross. Let us grapple with what it means to die daily that Christ might live through us. Let us wrestle with God through spiritual disciplines that Christ might be formed in us. Let us lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of us. Let us strip away everything from our lives that will hinder us from running the race that is set before us. All this we can do, when we choose Christ and His life, allowing Him to increase in us, and our flesh to decrease. We must see our lives as that grain of wheat which Jesus has sown into the world, so that He might reap a great harvest.
We have this promise from Him – that where we are He will be, and where He is we will be for eternity. Choose to let Him sow your life, so that He might live in you and through you, now and for evermore.
What are your thoughts?
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” John 12:24-26
Seeds get planted. They exist for one purpose – to give life in order to produce fruit, a crop, a harvest. So it was with Jesus, the Ultimate Seed, who in giving His life for humanity released the potential for harvest of souls throughout the ages. And in each generation He calls His followers to do likewise – lay down their lives in order to bear much fruit. The call to follow Christ is the call to perpetual death of the self, choosing instead a life of loving devotion to God, His people and His harvest.
Such dying to self for most of us will not take on a singular grand heroic act such as martyrdom, but rather we will die 10,000 little deaths to our flesh, our fallen human nature, so that Christ might live through us. We have an opportunity to mortify the flesh each time we are presented with a decision in our day-to-day lives in the context of our marriage, family, vocation and ministry. In each and every relationship we have, with God and others, we can choose either to live for ourselves or to live for Christ. It encompasses our inner life as well – the desires of our heart and the thoughts of our mind, as we make choices being led of the Spirit as opposed to the flesh. Again, it is in such choices that we allow Christ to release His life in us and through us, bearing spiritual fruit in our own being and in those around us as well. All such choices – both internally and in our relationships – are based on what we value.
In speaking of losing our life, Jesus seeks to focus His disciples on something transcendent, something beyond this life – eternity. We often say “everything pales into insignificance in the light of eternity.” This is Jesus’ point exactly: don’t live your life in the flesh, in the moment, but rather live your life in the Spirit, in the “now and not yet” of the Eternal Kingdom of God. Such a life is costly, Jesus teaches us, requiring we pay the ultimate price of self-sacrifice. But in doing so He promises us fruitfulness – a harvest of righteousness and of souls which will outlast this life, extending into eternity.
In dying these little deaths daily, we are not paying some “price of admission,” not earning our way into heaven, but rather we are allowing Christ to live through us in ways which He cannot do when we live life focused on us. It is when Christ shines through a life which is yielded and surrendered that people take notice and ask us about the hope that is within us. Through a life overflowing with the abundance of His life we truly can be witnesses to the Risen Lord and the power of His resurrection. Today it seems much of the Church in the West is grappling with cultural relevance. Forget it – grapple with the Cross. Let us grapple with what it means to die daily that Christ might live through us. Let us wrestle with God through spiritual disciplines that Christ might be formed in us. Let us lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of us. Let us strip away everything from our lives that will hinder us from running the race that is set before us. All this we can do, when we choose Christ and His life, allowing Him to increase in us, and our flesh to decrease. We must see our lives as that grain of wheat which Jesus has sown into the world, so that He might reap a great harvest.
We have this promise from Him – that where we are He will be, and where He is we will be for eternity. Choose to let Him sow your life, so that He might live in you and through you, now and for evermore.
What are your thoughts?
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