Living life on mission

Well good morning

How was everyone’s week?

So its the last Sunday sad to say

Once again

I have truly enjoyed being here

Truly enjoyed every minute

But as you know

The Army is an occupation that comes with change

And now is that time

So for those of you that asked

I am heading to the career course

And then CPE

And what I find interesting about this job

And You know, I think one of the more frustrating,

or perhaps the most frustrating part of ministry,

especially in chaplaincy

is not being able to see the fruit

of what you have been laboring towards

CH Heibel continuously tells me

that this is a labor of love and he’s right

The whole reason I started this church

was because I love God

and I love you

and he’s right

and over the last year.

I’ve gotten to see how we have grown

from a small congregation of three or four people

to you know potentially 30 or 40 people on a given week

And so I see the potential

I see what could be

but at the same time

I come down on orders,

and I have to PCS

and all of my efforts

and all of my struggles

and all of the sleepless nights

and all of my concerns

and all of the countless hours of coming up with programs

and sermons and counseling,

All feel as if they are being pulled away from me,

and I won’t be able to see the fruit of the effort

And that, in all honesty

is one of the hardest parts of being a chaplain,

But at the same time

I am ok with it

Because I know that God has a plan for everything

And maybe I was just a small part of what has been started here

And it all goes back to that trust that you have in God

Believing in His sovereignty

Believing in His plan

Because a lot of times

you don’t get to see the outcome of the efforts

that you put into the ministry

and that’s hard.

And so

This passage that we are gonna go over today,

is an encouragement

and a motivator

towards those of us

that are in ministry

towards those of us

that are thinking about going into ministry.

And even towards those of us

That just simply want to share the word of God with others

I think one of the best examples of this that I can think of

That matches what this passage is going to go over today

Was of a friend of mine

Who I used to work with

Back in recruiting command

But I recall this young man

Coming into my office

Every single day for months

And I recall him

Challenging me in my faith

Challenging me in what I believe

Even to the point that he was quite insulting at times

And I recall very patiently answering his questions

Debating him very calmly on multiple topics

And I’m sure as some of you can imagine

These debates got a bit heated at times

But you know

to my surprise

This young man became a believer

I recall him taking leave at one point

and he called me

Randomly one Sunday

And he said

You’re never going to believe what happened to me today

He said he ventured into a church service

And for some reason the sermon that this pastor

was preaching

Just hit him in a way that he couldn’t deny

what was going on in his life anymore

Suddenly everything that we had discussed in my office

Began to make sense

Suddenly everything that he was so boldly making fun of me for

Became the very reason he wanted to exist

And so amazingly enough he apologized to me

But he said he wanted me to be the first that heard from his mouth

That he became a believer

To be honest if you heard the conversations we would have

You would have been astounded that he is now a christian

But God works in ways that we don’t truly understand

And that’s really what I want to go over today

Because many times in ministry you many not see

What is going on

Many times you may be pouring your heart out

And nothing is happing

But then suddenly God moves

And things change over night

And so today I want to go over a the parable

Of the growing seed

And i want to talk about three things

Our effort towards the kingdom of God

Our mission in the hear and now

And then I want to do something different

I want to play a video for you

That maybe some of you have seen

Maybe some haven’t

But I want you to gain some perspective on eternity

So if you would please open up your Bibles to

Mark 4 verses 26-29

And lets talk about the parable of the growing seed

Mark 4:26–29 NLT

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 does not 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.”

Prayer,

Once again, remember what’s my number one rule

context is always king right here, right

So let’s go back to the context of the passage, and I know this may seem simple

But remember Jesus is teaching here

and if you recall he just finished teaching from a boat

To potentially hundreds of people chapter 4 verse 1

But Now he is alone with his disciples and he is teaching them parables

about future things .

Sort of giving them insight

into what they will soon face and what they will soon be challenged by.

And if you recall last week

Jesus literally and very cryptically

Predicted his death

And the reality that he would become the final sacrifice

And yet once again, what we are seeing here is a very cryptic way of Jesus,

teaching them

warning them,

guiding them

about THE ministry,

that they will be presenting to the nation of Israel,

About the mission that he would soon be putting them on

and so let’s start to look at this difficult passage

and start to break it down

and really begin to understand what Jesus is trying to say here

And I really want you to pay attention to this,

because this is so relatable

to our own lives

to our own ministry

to our own purpose here on earth

Because passages like this are going to encourage you

To get out there and work

To get out there and share the good news of eternal life

With the world

And really think on this

we did not receive the gift of salvation

The gift of eternal life

Just to

sit here and wait for the lord to return,

or to sit here and wait for our own death

No your job here on earth

While we wait for his return

Is to follow his instruction

and to bring the gospel to the world

to fulfill the great commission

and to be the very embodiment of Christ to the world.

That is your job while we wait for his return

does that make sense

And I know some of you right now

Are getting very uncomfortable

Some of you right now

Are saying but chaplain

I’m not called to do what you do

Its not my gift

Its not what I’m good at

But notice I’m not saying that you have to stand on the street corner

with a big old sign saying God is coming

Or repent before you go to hell

I’m not saying any of that

but at the same time

sitting at home doing absolutely nothing

It’s not gonna cut it

And the more you read Scripture

The more you will know what I am saying is true

The reality is

not participating in church,

not participating in any type of missions

or anything like that

not sharing the word of God with someone else,

because you fear that they may be offended,

that’s not what we are called to do

And I want you to start to begin to think like this

To begin to think like you’re on mission

Like you actually have a purpose in this life

And If I may be so bold

You are the farmer or the sower in this passage

you are the one spreading the seed.

Sharing the good news

As the body of Christ

You are called to a purpose

And I want you to try to relate this to your own lives

maybe your own desire to share the gospel

Maybe your own frustrations in attempting to share the Gospel

And I understand I do

It’s hard to do such things

It’s hard to get out there and share your faith with others

how many of us have ever try to do so

It’s difficult because you’re usually met with an awkward discussion

Or maybe a certain amount of resistance?

I can tell you, I get this every single day

I’m the chaplain,

So I get to listen to all the different various types of beliefs,

the different various types of non-beliefs,

all the scolding

and all of the ridicule that comes

with these various types of beliefs,

It’s never been easy to share your faith

But the point of this parable

Is to encourage you to do so

Despite the hard times

One author put it like this

He said

The end emphasis and perhaps primary focus of the parable is the assurance of the harvest or the reality that eternal life, heaven or hell is coming for all of us. The harvest almost certainly represents the judgment at the end of the age. Even so the concern is not the condemnation of the wicked in this particular parable but the manifestation of the righteous. Jesus by telling the story—and Mark by recording it—encouraged disciples who were experiencing rejection of their message and frustration at their lack of understanding of God’s mysterious purposes that God’s kingdom would surely come.

And its interesting because the more you understand the Bible

The more you study the characters of the story

The more you realize that eternity and salvation was their motivation

You begin to understand that

This is why they suffered so much for the Gospel

They lived their life as if on mission

As if this book is real

They lived their life as if eternity was at steak

You know who understood very well

Was the apostle Paul

Turn with me to 2 Cor 6 and go to verse 3

And I want to read to you the account of Paul

And his sufferings for the Gospel

And its interesting because he is using his suffering

As an encouragement and a rebuke

towards the purpose or the mission

That ought to be on the heart and mind of every Christian

2 Corinthians 6:3–10 NLT

We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense. We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.

Paul was a man who truly understood the meaning of this particular parable

He was a man who understood that regardless

Of the fruit that he saw

He was to be obedient to the calling

He was to be obedient to his purpose as a child of God

He was a man that understood

That regardless of the effort that you put forth

You May not see the outcome you desire

But know this

the seed that you planted

May just be what God has called you to do

You know many times in our lives you don’t see what God is doing

Behind the scenes

You don’t see how a person’s life has changed

You don’t see the seed you have planted

And I get it

That can be frustrating

Because you don’t see the immediate results

And I’m here to tell you that ok

It’s not up to you to save anyone

Your job is the message

Salvation comes by the Lord

Look at verse number 27

Mark 4:27 NLT

Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens.

I want to make this point abundantly clear

The growth you see in someones life

The growth you see in ministry

The growth I saw in my friend

Is not because of you or me

Or any one else

Its not because of how wonderful you are

It is not because you the God’s gift to this world

The growth you see in a person’s life

Is 100% because of what God is doing in that individual

And you know what I found amazing

Every commentary

Every author I read

Agreed on this one incredibly important point

One guy put it like this

Mark (3) The Parable of the Seed Growing Spontaneously (4:26–29)

The success of the Christian message similarly does not depend upon human effort or understanding—though Christians certainly need to scatter the seed—but upon divine power. It will succeed precisely because God is active.

You know who understood this the best,

Again it was Paul

And I love how Paul puts it in

This next passage as he is arguing

With the corinthian church

About how God works when someone is saved

1 Corinthians 3:5–7 (NLT)

...Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.

In other-words,

When you are out, sharing your heart with others

When you are pouring out your soul

To ensure that others hear the Gospel

And they don’t convert right away

Maybe they scoff at you

Laugh at you

Tell you to shut up

Maybe even run from you

It’s ok,

You did your part

You did what you were called to do

And At just the right time,

God will cause the growth

Trust me, and I’m sure that CH Heibel will agree with me

There is not a single soul to have ever existed

That hasn’t been saved without the assistance of God himself

But its having that eternal mindset

That will keep you focused

Keep you on mission

And so as we close today I wanted to do something a bit different

I wanted to play a video for you guys today

and I know I’ve done this illustration before

but I think Francis Chan does this so much better

than I possibly ever could

and some of you have seen this video before,

But I wanted to bring a new perspective for you

when it comes down to our understanding of eternity

Not only to help you in your own walk

In your own day to day with God

But also to help motivate you

In spreading that seed

In sharing the Gospel

And Watson if you would please

Lets close in prayer.

Numbers 6:24–26 NLT

‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’