STEWARDSHIP FOCUS                   
 
OUR WORK AND OUR GOD’S WORK     Craig Allen Cooper
 
And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Mark 4:26-29

The passage above speaks of God’s work and our work in the kingdom of God. Jesus likens the work of the kingdom to a farmer in a field. A farmer sows and scatters seed, and then he sleeps; all the while, God is at work in the earth to bring forth the fruit, to produce the crop.
 
The farmer is to spread the seed extensively, trusting the Sovereign One exclusively. Seed may lie dormant for a long while, but that does not mean that nothing is happening in the field. God is in control of the rain and the temperature and the timing of any and all growth.

Jesus wants us to look at the fields and learn from the farmers that this is the way God’s kingdom works. As Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6-7).
 
God’s kingdom grows often imperceptibly at first in the hearts of those with whom we’ve shared the Word. There is mystery here, as it takes just the right conditions to germinate the seed at just the right time for the seed to sprout and grow.
 
We cannot control all the conditions, but we can spread the seed and ask the Sovereign Lord to do what only He can do. Spreading and seeking is the way of the kingdom of God. So is sleeping …
 
Notice here that the farmer scatters seed and then sleeps. He has a job to do but is dependent on things outside of his control. It takes the right conditions to germinate the seed at the right time, and that’s not something he can do by himself.
 
This is like life in the kingdom of God. When we partner with the Lord in His work, we get the joy of seeing what only God can do. After we have worked hard and prayed hard, let us sleep hard, looking to the Lord to bring the fruit that only He can bring.
 
The farmer knows that:
Only God can bring the rain.. soften the soil… protect the seed… cause the seed to take root… safeguard the crop from destruction … make the harvest come because only God can give the growth… so only God gets all the glory.
 
The realization that God gets the glory does not make us stop working but invigorates our efforts. Let us go to bed every night with a smile on our face because our efforts matter to the King of the universe who can bring forth the fruit!