The Hardworking Farmer - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Believers are generally familiar with the metaphors that speak of a high calling of total devotion to Christ when it comes to being a sold out soldier or a well trained athlete. Maybe you might think differently of this, but I think it's less common for believers to hear about the Christian walk or Christian work being like that of a farmer. And yet Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, concludes these series of illustrations of what spiritual success looks like and what a well disciplined life looks like in Christ by speaking about and reaching into the realm of those who have devoted their lives to working in the field. And that might be strange to us. There might be a disconnect between us and that concept because of our urban context.

But nonetheless, the Holy Spirit inspired this verse knowing that it would cross generations and that it would cross cultures and that would reach us today in 2021. And that's why look quickly at verse seven at the instruction. Think over what I say for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Think over what I say after he speaks about the soldier, after he speaks about the athlete, and now as we're about to uncover what it means to be a farmer in the sense of spiritual disciplines. Paul says think, consider, meditate, take it seriously.

And here's the promise, when a believer is serious about the word of God, illumination is on its way. When a believer actually takes into consideration what is being said, and not just the insight, not just the interpretation, but how does this apply to my life? How does this interpret in my context? What does it mean for me to be a soldier as a mother of four? What does it mean for me to be an athlete for Christ though I I work every day, six days a week, nine to five?

What does it mean for me to be a farmer though I'm not a pastor? See, when you start thinking this way, the promise is the Lord himself by the Spirit will give you understanding. Will give you the application in your context and you will know it well. And so as we come to verse six and we conclude these pictures of what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, we can draw three things from this idea of being a farmer. Number one, the struggle of the farmer.

Number two, the surrender of the farmer. And number three, the satisfaction of the farmer. And so we come to the first point. Notice here in verse six, that before Paul mentions the word farmer, he speaks of the work ethic beforehand, just like what he did with the soldier. He doesn't just say a soldier, he says a good soldier.

And he does the same thing here with this idea that it's the work that is considered. The toil, the labor. Hardworking is what's supposed to be highlighted here. Because like a soldier, you can be a soldier or you can be a good soldier. And here, you can be a farmer or you can be a hardworking farmer.

And the word hardworking here is the same word that Peter used when Jesus challenged him to cast his net on the other side of his boat. And he says, we have toiled all the night and have come to have nothing. So we're speaking here of a series of striving, a pursuit, an effort that is continuous even to the point of exhaustion. Labor is one thing. Hard work is one thing.

But when it comes to the efforts in this realm of investment, it's different. Some of you in here maybe grew up with a farming background and you know what it's like. The daily grind, the back breaking efforts, the long hours, the early mornings and the late nights, the dirt underneath your fingers, the the sense of even anxiety of not knowing where your efforts are gonna go. Are we gonna get a crop this year? Are our animals gonna flourish this year?

All those things seem foreign to us but we're gonna get understanding by the spirit. And see, for us who don't have immediate contact with rural life, we might not understand fully what Paul is trying to say. We don't really realize the layers of preparation, the planning, the management, and the distribution, even in our daily consumer reality. Let me prove it. You go to the grocery store and you walk into those grand buildings, and as you enter into those giant rooms filled with fruit and vegetables and bread and meats nicely stacked, you just go, you take what you want, you go to the register and you get into your nice car and drive home, not even considering one thought what it took for all those things to get there into your neighborhood.

And I think that's that's true of of Christian work as well. Those who benefit from ministries, They come, they receive, they are blessed, but they don't fully comprehend the work. They don't fully comprehend the things that need to be operated in order for blessing and consistent ministry to continue. And because of that lack of insight from many people, sometimes, if not oftentimes, the greatest critics of ministries are those who receive from them but don't put a hand in any production, if I can use that word. Serving God on any level through any gift, listen, is extremely hard work.

I'm not talking about sporadic volunteering, though that is important. I'm talking about a life that is determined whether you're in full time ministry or not, to serve God in all seasons regardless of what that looks like and to make sure your whole life gravitates around that sole purpose. If that is somebody in this place, you will know in due time, if you haven't figured out already, serving Jesus Christ, especially in the context of the local church is hard work. And anybody, anybody that does not realize that now might come to great disappointment when it comes and it hits them. And if you serve God, you know this very well too that there are satisfying moments.

There are explosive testimonies that come once in a while. There are seasons where there seems to be an open heaven over your efforts and over the ministry that you are a part of. But you have to admit that most of the time, like the farmer, it's a daily grind. It's a daily grind. I'm speaking about a commitment to a daily or weekly routine that oftentimes shows for little or almost sometimes nothing throughout stretches of time.

And just like the analogy of the grocery store, if you come to the understanding that you think food just appears in that place, and you don't think about the breaking up of soil, and the early mornings, and the sweat, and the tears, and the planning, and the replanning, and the protecting and the watering, you will come to a place in your Christian walk, talking about those who want to serve God, where you will know great discouragement and listen, even the great temptation of wanting to quit altogether. And that's what we wanna protect ourselves from. And if there's any person who would have related to what Paul said if he was alive to read these words, I'm telling you it would be a man by the name of Jeremiah the prophet. I want you to see something in chapter one of the book of Jeremiah quickly. In Jeremiah one, it is the often quoted chapter that speaks about the wonderful calling of this young man into the ministry of a prophet.

But when you come to verse nine and ten, you see the details of his ministry and what it entails. In Jeremiah one nine, what do we read? Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, behold, I put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

This calling was great. It would not just be local. It would not even just be national. It would reach nations. And with this great calling came great great great responsibility and you read it here in these six terms that are used.

But if you pay close attention, you'll notice that four out of the six are negative and two of them are positive. Four of them speak of demolition, while two of them speak of construction. Why is that? Well number one, because it speaks of the nature of Jeremiah's message. Jeremiah would be preaching a message solely of judgment more than comfort, and you see that in the book of Jeremiah.

But I believe it's more than that. I believe here we see a principle, a principle for what ministry looks like, especially when we live in a world where there are ministries, organizations and even people as individual who are in need of reform. See, there has to be plucking up and breaking down and destroying and overthrowing before they can be building and planting. And many people are unwilling to do those things. And the idea here is that there are great energies that must take place, great efforts that are made before we can even see what we desire to see being built up and planted for the kingdom of God.

And you can look at that in a church context, in a local church context. Perhaps it's been operating in a certain way for so long, but it's in need of pruning and it's in need of change in order for it to be healthy and to grow in a fruitful direction. And if it's not true on a macro level, it is certainly true on a micro level when you deal with people that come with different backgrounds. And the soil of their hearts are filled with rocks and weeds and different ingredients that make it difficult for the word of the Lord to to flourish in their hearts. And so there is great patience in removing and pulling down strongholds and dismissing and proving lies wrong before truth can have its way in an individual.

And that was Jeremiah's task. In fact, this is a common thing among the prophets in Hosea ten twelve, and you don't have to turn there. We are told to break up your fallow ground, so that the rain of righteousness may come upon you. You and I have to do a work in our hearts and the apostate nation of Israel had to break up their own fallow ground before God could send blessing upon them. And so many people who draw inspiration from Jeremiah chapter one, love the idea of a young man being called because his calling held so much promise with years ahead of him.

But I love when you come to the middle of the book of Jeremiah, you read an interesting insight that's not so inspirational at least at first. You're in Jeremiah, correct? Go to chapter 23. Excuse me, chapter 25. And look what this man says near the halfway point of this book about his ministry.

Jeremiah one, he was called as a youth. Very likely, he was a teenager. And then you come to this point in Jeremiah 25 and look what he says about his ministry in verse three. For twenty three years, for twenty three years, from the thirtieth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken persistently to you but you have not listened. Twenty three years.

Twenty three years of preaching, twenty three years of prophesying, twenty three years of praying and crying, twenty three years of declaring judgment and warning, not one person listened. Let's put in the context of a pastor. All the Saturdays devoted to prepping for Sunday morning message. The countless counseling sessions with people. All the outreaches that have been organized.

No marriages restored. No baptisms for decades. Not even somebody who has renewed their faith and devotion to Christ for twenty three years. What if Jeremiah was a minister in our day? And he pastored in some storefront church?

How would we interpret his ministry? Would we say that he was a success? Or would we would we question his message or his methodology? This guy, nothing has changed for twenty three years in his ministry. And in our carnal perception, we might even look at another prophet like Jonah and say, what a success.

The guy preached a few words and the entire city comes to repentance. But let me ask you this, who was more reluctant to obey? Was it Jeremiah or was it Jonah? You see, men interpret success differently than God does. And oftentimes, when we see a people blessed by a ministry or a minister, we equate that that that minister or ministry is in right standing with God.

Can I prove otherwise? I want you to consider the prophet Moses. The man Moses. And in numbers 20, he was told, I want you to to minister to my people. Go to that rock and do what?

Speak to it. And when you speak to it, water will come. And Moses, if you study the life of Moses, he had a little bit of an anger problem. I mean, when we see him at first, he wants to perform justice and he kills an Egyptian. And God looks at me says because he had it According to Acts, it was in his heart that he knew that he was supposed to deliver his people.

But he tried to do it one Egyptian at a time. He kills one Egyptian, tries to hide the evidence, and God looks at us and says, it's gonna take a long time if we're gonna do it your way. Let me bring you to the backside of the wilderness. Let me humble you and let's take care of all these Egyptians at one time with the Red Sea, shall we? But he has these moments where he outbursts and he has these moments of rage and that came to this time when God said, speak to the rock.

He was so furious with his people that he called them rebels. He took the staff and he struck the rock twice. He disobeyed God's word, but what happened? Water still came out. The people were still ministered to.

The people still had their thirst quenched even though Moses disobeyed. So that proves to me that just because even millions of people are blessed by someone who might stand as a man of God with a specific gift or ability, doesn't mean that that person is in right standing with God. Why did God do that? Because he loved the people. He wanted to extend mercy to the people and oftentimes God will be so merciful that he's willing to tolerate someone's disobedience at least in the moment in order for others to receive from God through that vessel.

But he would deal with Moses later because God is just. When we come to Jeremiah, this prophet, like a hardworking farmer, he plucked up, he uprooted, he stood his ground for righteousness, he declared the word of the Lord, even though the fruit did not match the labor. But I praise God for the honesty of the scriptures because if I came to Jeremiah 23 or 25 verse three and I saw this, that for twenty three years, not one person listened to his message, I would think he was unmoved by that. I would think that he had his face like flint and he was just he was stone cold in his faithfulness. But then we are provided a chapter that shows the the humanity of this prophet in chapter 20.

Because this moment in chapter 20, like many other moments in this book show that the reality, the harsh cold reality of people not listening to this man's message overwhelmed him at times. Look at chapter 20 verse seven, oh Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived. That's one thing to say to someone who is susceptible to being deceiving, but to the one who never lies, who never never lies, who is honest and true, to be attacked with the claim that he's a deceiver? What is he trying to say? This whole ministry thing, you tricked me into it.

He told me I'm gonna be over nations and this, I'm gonna do that. And look at me, not one person is listening to what I have to say. I didn't sign up for this. This is difficult. And he's saying this in the context that he was beat up and thrown into the stocks.

That's where he's saying this. But the idea is Jeremiah failed to understand what many Christians understand today. God never said that it would be easy. You go back to chapter one and you realize that he says at the end of that chapter, they will fight against you. He said it, they will fight against you.

But he promised that they will never overcome you. And this prophet here, failing to understand, allowing his circumstances to interpret the character of God, says, you tricked me. I did not think this is what it would be like. This is hard. And you have prevailed.

I have become a laughingstock all the day. Everyone mocks me. For whenever I I speak, I cry out. I shout violence and destruction for the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all the day long. And what's amazing about this complaint, it's not his first one.

Go to chapter twelve and fifteen, don't turn there on your own time. Chapter twelve and fifteen, he complains before, But every time he complains up to this moment, God answers him. God gives a response. He corrects him. He rebukes him and he realigns his thought process.

But when you come to chapter 20 and he complains, you don't see God answering. God is silent. He doesn't respond. He doesn't correct him. He leads him to himself.

And you have to wonder, if God answered him in chapter 12 and in chapter 15, why is it that God is not speaking to his servant in this chapter? I believe the reason is because as Jeremiah continued to speak, he came to the conclusion for himself. The answer to overcoming the pain of an apparent failure of a ministry or the difficulties of serving God, he himself answered in verse nine. If I say I will not mention him or speak anymore in his name, there is in my heart as it were a burning fire. Shut up in my bones and I am weary withholding it in and I cannot.

As agonizing and gnawing to the soul are the frustration of an ignored and unappreciated ministry might be, there is something more painful to me and that is giving up after all that God invested in me. The conviction that this man possessed in his heart was a raging fire so great that it would overcome the attempts of the temptations in his life to quench his zeal for God. You know what I learned from what Jeremiah just said? This passage proves to us that devotion and commitment to Christ is not dependent upon your emotions. It's dependent upon conviction.

If you're a person that is prone to making decisions based on your emotion, I don't feel like it, I feel like it, I'm sad, I'm happy, you're setting yourself up for failure. What was this man feeling? Disappointment, discouragement, confusion even. But what kept him on course? Conviction.

You know what I mean by conviction? Not talking about feeling guilty for something. I'm talking about wholeheartedly believing a certain truth. You framing your life based on a truth that you hold to be right, and that's what he has here. He has the word of God so embedded in him, so infused in him that it's as though it was his own bones, the very structure of his physical person.

And so let me put it this way, if you're waiting for feelings to kick in before you restore your marriage, your marriage will fail. Conviction will keep you fighting. What's gonna help you love your wayward children and not give up praying for them. You think feelings are, You think feelings are? No.

I'll tell you what, Will. Conviction. What keeps a person going out and sharing the word of God, sharing the gospel? I'll tell you this. It's not gonna be feelings.

Conviction will, though. Get conviction and then you'll know consistency. And that's what I believe most Christians lack today, conviction. They just float around. There's nothing concrete in their soul.

There's no anchor. There's no foundation laid. It's just feeling. I I just I haven't felt like it lately. Oh, really?

Think God can use someone like that? Do you think there's testimony waiting for a person like that? I just don't feel like it. I'm just I'm just in the ruts today. Get conviction, and you'll know consistency.

This man had it, and conviction is so great, so powerful, so profound that when the feelings betray the conviction, conviction will win. That's what he's saying. There's something in me. Despite what's swirling in my mind or swirling in my heart, there's something in my soul that I am convinced of, and that's what's keeping me on course. I can't shut my mouth.

I know too much. The word of God has has its way in me. Therefore, I must open and declare the word of God. The struggle of the farmer, it's not easy. It's not easy.

Like the farmer, there's a lot of season where you are planting and sowing before you reap anything. But as much as it is a struggle, there must be a surrender. The farmer, yes, he struggles. He works hard. But there is a surrender that is needed for the farmer.

What do I mean by that? Unlike the soldier and the athlete, there's a unique element to the work of a farmer that is not shared with the others. What I mean is that the farmer, though he is called to exert physically, though he's called to make great sacrifices, he is dependent upon natural forces in order for the fruit to really become a reality. Do you know what I mean by that? That there is a certain limit that is reached no matter how many hours you put in, no matter what kind of machinery you have, no matter how much you plant, there is a limit you reach as a farmer before nature has to jump in and intervene and make your plan succeed.

At this moment, there are places around the world and even in The United States that are suffering severe droughts. And there are those who are given to this work where all their plans and their provision for self and others will not move forward because of one thing, nature is not cooperating. It is no different in Christian work that you and I are called to serve, to spend, to surrender, to say many things, but also we must learn that our efforts are dependent upon the intervention of God himself. Our investments must require the intervention of a supernatural force. Paul says that in first Corinthians, in chapter three verse six.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. I planted. Apollos, he watered, But God gave the growth. Why is he saying this? Because there's divisions in the Corinthian church.

What are the divisions about? They're trying to elevate one leader over the other, and I'm part of this group, and I'm part of that group, and I'm this kind of preacher's guy, I'm that kind of pre and it's it's making clicks, and there's there's arguments and debates over who's better and who's greater and who's deeper. So Paul wants to step in and clear this thinking. He goes, listen. I played a part.

Apollos played a part. But you wanna know who gets the credit? God. God is the one that you need to focus on. Because just like the farmer who plants the seed and might nurture it and water over time, in the end, he is trusting in the miracle of life to make that plant grow.

As he buries that thing and as he watches over it, there's only so much he can do before the miracle of life steps in and has its way. So in the end, no matter how much a farmer does, though he does have a calling, it's amazing how even people who are not Christians in times of drought, they call for prayer. It's amazing. Remember? We we forgot about that crazy year in 2020, the wildfires in Australia.

Remember that? And even the government was calling for the nations to pray for rain. There's a dependency upon something beyond yourself and there's only so much you can do before you sit back and allow nature to run its course and produce life. Why is this important to understand? Because it's the way we view Christian work as well.

First, this principle postures people to give God glory. That's what he's saying here. Verse seven, so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. The instruments used to prepare and plant are nothing, but the supernatural grace of God that causes growth is the only one who deserves the credit. So then any achievement, listen, any achievement that is made in the souls of others whether it is in the lives of few or many, you cannot fail to perceive it as an act of God.

Whether it is the moment someone comes to Christ or the subsequent graces of growth that come for the redeemed. Though God uses men and though you may be exposed to many resources, in the end, it is him who providentially uses these things to cause your maturity. Every single time. No man can truly say, I have won these souls. No man can say, this is the church that I have built.

No man can dare attempt to receive glory for any disciples that he might patiently raise up in his lifetime. It's God. You're just an instrument. You're just a vessel. This also shows me something else though besides the point of God getting glory.

You know what I love about this? Wonderful ingredients to seeing ministry grow. If you and I want to see this church grow, if you and I want to see your ministry grow, any ministry grow, especially when it's ministry that's done with people, which is usually all ministry, we have to adopt the same attitude as Paul and Apollos. What is that attitude? I and Apollos are nothing.

We're nothing. And because we're nothing and God is everything, God is able to cause growth. You wanna see your ministry succeed? Let me give you one hint. See yourself as a nobody.

Because if you don't, even if one person in a church strives to serve in that church in order to be a somebody, that's where great hindrances to growth appear. It's not until every single person in this place is convinced I am a nobody. I am not anything. And no matter what my role is, Paul was to plant, Apollos was to water, I don't see you as any less, I don't see your ministry as greater or less than my ministry, we need each other, only then, only then will God step in and bring in the growth. Look at verse eight, he says it clearly.

He says, he who plants and he who waters are one. We need each other. I need you, you need me. And each will receive his wages according to his labor. See, listen, I'm telling you, if even one person does not see themselves as as such, it will breed a competitive spirit in the church and God doesn't work with competition.

God can't work with a ministry that operates that way, but oh, when he found an Apollos and Apollo that says, we are nothings. We're nobodies. Then he says, I can work with this. Why is it important to understand this principle? This surrender?

Because God will get glory but not just that. The servant of God will know rest. The servant of God will know a comfort. Because Jesus illustrated that point in one of the most unique parables in the entire New Testament. You're familiar with the parable of the sowers.

Right? The four different types of soil that receive the word of God and respond to it differently, but that's not the same parable of the sower. That teaching is a challenge to the hearer of God's word. What kind of soil are you? Do you have the weeds in your heart that choke up the potential of growth because you love the cares of this life and the riches of this life?

Are you those who when the word of God comes to you, you rejoice immediately, but once persecution comes, you jump ship? See, when Jesus taught that parable of the sowers, it was a challenge to the hearers of God's word. Which one are you and what's the application? Well, what I said earlier, if you're not the ripe soil then break up the fallow ground. So that the gospel of righteousness may rain upon you and bear fruit.

But the parable that I'm about to show you is not a challenge to the hearer of God's word, it's a means of comfort to the declarer of God's word. That's found in Mark chapter four in a very very short parable, verse 26. 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 and the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. This is a parable that's only found in the gospel of Mark. You won't find it in John, you won't find it in Matthew or in Luke, only in Mark. And he's speaking to his disciples and he's teaching them.

There is a trust that you must have as you sow the seed of my gospel. I wonder what kind of relief the disciples felt when they heard these words. And maybe you don't understand it right away but consider what he's trying to say. There is a responsibility. You as a believer, you do plant and you do so, but in that responsibility there must be a knowledge that will cause you to rest.

That will cause you to be comfortable in the sovereign work of God. Look at this, the earth, verse 28, produces by itself. There is a work apart from you that will be done and that is symbolized by this, pointing to God's sovereign and providential efforts after you do your part. In fact, it's not just God's sovereign and providential efforts, you look at the the few words before in verse 27. The the sower, he knows not how.

He doesn't understand. Preaching is a mystery. Evangelizing is a mystery. Counseling is a mystery. I've seen it in my own life.

I don't understand how in a setting like this, the same message can go forth with the same passion and one person you can even see it is being ministered to and the other person is just going over their head. How? I don't understand it. In fact, I'll give you one example. I remember many years ago, I was sharing at a youth conference and we made an invitation for people to publicly confess Christ by coming forward.

And in that meeting, every single youth came forward except two young ladies. Every single one. And as I as I watched I saw they weren't just not they were like, they were laughing and they had their arms crossed and they were giggling. I thought to myself, forget it, I'm not going to focus on that. Here are all these people that want to confess Christ.

But then I remember I would regularly visit that place, it's out of state and we would have different meetings and different and sure enough, one of those two girls, the other one just I never seen her again, But one of those two girls would would be there. And and different meetings there would be invitations, would not would not respond, would not respond, would not respond. I remember there was a bigger meeting where we had different churches come, young adults and youth. And there it was, an invitation to accept Christ. And unlike that first meeting, no one moved forward.

It was like no one. There were there was many more people, not one person came forward and I thought to myself, okay. That's it. Few weeks later, I got an email and it was from that one girl. That one girl who, at the first time I appeared in that area, not only not responded, but had her arms crossed and was mocking.

And she emailed me about that particular night when no one came forward in that bigger church setting and she says, I want you to know, I accepted Christ that night. It was that night that I came to the Lord. And I I praise God for it, I celebrated, I rejoiced, but I also step back and thought to myself, how does this stuff work? I don't get it. In the first meeting, the place was charged with the presence of God.

There was conviction. There was such an obvious sense of his moving, and this person didn't move at all. And then years later, when apparently not even one person is you can tell people are ready to go almost. That's when you accept Christ? The sower doesn't know how this works and that's okay.

So what is he supposed to do? Well, we're we're told here, he sleeps in verse 27 and rises night and day. After he has done what he is supposed to do, he is able to go about his daily affairs and rest and rest. This is not promoting a, a laziness in Christian work. It's promoting a trust that after you have said all that you need to say, after you have counseled with all the counsel that you could give, God will do his part now.

Give it to him and let the earth do its work. Not that God is earth, it's just symbolic. Let God intervene and do what he can. See the beauty about that is that we think, especially those who are hardworking farmers that want to see things happen, we think that we have the ability to calculate or to force the timing of someone's repentance. We think that we can manipulate it and that we can we can convince someone to cuff it up.

When in reality, you don't know how it works. You don't know when it will work. But you have to trust that once that seed is planted, that the word of God is able to wrestle with that conscience without your participation needed. That they can lose sleep on their own. That the Holy Spirit can deal with that person.

And what do you do? Well, does the farmer lose sleep after he plants the seed? Does does he pace back and forth nervously? Does he think that if he doesn't monitor it all the time that it won't succeed? No.

He goes to bed and he wakes up. He goes to bed and he wakes up. He goes about his daily affairs. So the farmer, though he is hard working, he must also have a posture of surrender. I trust that God will do what only he can do.

And this parable teaches us that the servant of God must develop the wisdom to know that once the seed is planted, once my efforts have been contributed, God doesn't need my continuous collaboration for things to bear fruit. And when I studied this in Mark for the first time, I thought to myself, why is this parable in the gospel of Mark out of all the gospel accounts? One, Mark is not a teaching gospel account. Mark inspired by the spirit desires to display Jesus Christ as the suffering servant found in Isaiah. And that's why you see less teaching and more doing.

Miracle after miracle after miracle. One place after the other. In fact, you know it if you have the ESV that one word that keeps appearing is the word immediately. One place here. And it's so fast paced.

And that's on purpose because he's a faithful servant that is not hesitant to serve his father. He moves forward wherever God tells him to go immediately immediately immediately. And you get the impression that God works in suddenly's and he can. He can save someone suddenly. He can bring revival and raise a church suddenly.

He can change the course of your life, tell you to move and be somewhere else, suddenly. But in the midst of all the suddenly's and the immediately's in the gospel of Mark, you have a parable of how the kingdom event advances slowly. And that there are steps. Right? What are the steps that we read here?

It says here, the earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. Steps. Process, series, patience. And so I'd love to to see that this teaching is found in the gospel where we are seeing Christ moving from one place, doing from one thing to another. In the midst of all that, he teaches uniquely in this account, learn to trust God.

Learn to trust his timing. Learn to trust that he is working with you. You're not working on your own. And that's why Paul says earlier, as we read in first Corinthians three, we are God's fellow workers. We are God's fellow workers.

Brothers and sisters, the hardworking farmer knows the struggle, but he also knows how to surrender to God. And we come to the last point here in second Timothy two six. It is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops, the satisfaction of the farmer. Yeah, he struggles. It's tough, asked Jeremiah.

But there is a surrender so we have to also know how to rest. The hardworking farmer knows how to sleep on the pillow of God's sovereignty. But there's also a satisfaction that's unique to the farmer. What I believe Paul is not saying is that the hardworking farmer should be paid for his efforts or his duties. He argues that elsewhere concerning full time ministers that they should be paid for the work of the gospel through the gospel.

I believe what the apostle is simply stating is that the Christian who refuses to be a lazy farmer, but chooses rather to be a committed servant of his king will eventually enjoy the fruit of his labor. And often, we interpret that like how we would interpret Jeremiah's case, that that will come at the end. At the end of the day, just like the athlete, there's a crown waiting for you in the next life and that is that is greatly true. That there is something that you will know, like Jeremiah, he didn't know it in his life very much, but at the end of it all, he would know it. But I believe that we often limit spiritual satisfaction, that concept that one day it will be worth it, only in the sense that when I perish from this life and move on to this next life.

When in reality, listen very carefully to this point, that there is a joy and a delight in the act of serving itself. And not only in the results of your service or the reward of service from Christ. There is a benefit spiritually that you inherit when you give yourself to spiritual work. There is a taste, there is a a satisfaction, a wholeness, a completeness, a comfort. There there's something that words can't really describe that only come when you serve God.

And that's proven in a proverb and that's our last scripture for this day. In Proverbs eleven twenty five, we read a principle that is true, not just in the immediate context that it's presented. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched and one who waters will himself be watered. If you look at the verse before this, the context suggests that this is speaking about financial blessing. That whoever gives financially, God will make sure, especially when it comes to righteous purposes, God will make sure that you yourself will be taken care of.

But the principle of watering and being watered is beyond just giving of resources, it is also the giving of your gifts and your time and your energy and your sacrifice. And one who waters, who gives his attention in his efforts to make sure that you are replenished, you are refreshed, you are rejuvenated, you have tasted something of spiritual truth and glory, whoever does that, in the same process, as a result of that kind of effort will himself be watered. When I read this, I knew exactly what is being meant and you do too if you serve God in any capacity. Let me give it to you in the context of a preacher. Every single week when I have to study and prepare for Friday and Sunday, do you know what part of my excitement is?

Great part is in sharing the truths of God. But one of the great joys beforehand when I start my week Monday, Tuesday, knowing I have to prepare on certain days that are are set apart for that, I'm gonna learn something myself. I come like a little child. Lord, what are you gonna say to me? Especially when we go through a series and I know there's a text coming up.

By the way, these things are not prepared in advance. Every week, it's it's set up just whatever is there, I'm gonna learn in that moment. And so as I come and say, I just even had this conversation last week. We finished the athlete and I was talking to pastor Daniel, I'm like, I can't wait what I'm gonna learn about the farmer. What am I gonna see?

What what does God have tucked in there? And yes, it's true that you have some things that from the past that are in the mind, but there's something there's something enriching about knowing that people are gonna be watered. I know I myself are gonna be watered. I know it. And you know it too if you've counseled anybody.

I can tell you this, any type of counseling, whether it's formal or not formal, oftentimes, I walk out of there as though I've been counseled even though the person's coming for counsel. Sometimes you sit down and you hear the suffering that people endure, The things, the abuse that they've experienced. The hypocrisy and they're trying to seek counsel, but while they're talking you're thinking, and you still want to serve God after all that? You still want to worship him? You still wanna you still wanna love him?

And there are moments where I walk away scratching my head and think, how can I even complain about whatever I'm enduring when I just sat with a person that still has the scent of hell on their skin but is still willing to worship God with everything in their hearts? I leave water and I go, how? Before this confusing pandemic hit our world, we were able to minister in a rehab center, men and women, and sit down with people who were drugged up and in gangs. And people here, you know, even though you worked all day, bone tired, you still chose to get in your car, drive almost an hour, sit in a room with people where you don't know how they're gonna respond to your bible teaching and your gospel presentation. But it never failed, did it?

It never failed you, did it? That you left out of there feeling full and satisfied. You were awakened. I'll tell you why, because when you get back into your car and drive another forty five minutes back to your house to get into your room and wake up the next day for an early morning at work, you know something. You know this, I'm doing what God called me to do.

The spirit in me is bearing witness that this is why I was created and there is a sense of satisfaction. And the farmer knows the satisfaction in his hard work. Yeah, there are tough days, but even Jeremiah himself said, there's a fire in my bones. There's something in me that can't keep me still. There's something in me that keeps me zealous and passionate.

I've been saying this many times in our series in second Timothy, especially with these illustrations. If you're bored as a Christian, you're probably not doing anything. If you're not watering others, of course, you don't feel refreshed. Let me give you some help if you ever feel dry in your spiritual life according to that verse. Whatever strength you have left, get up and endeavor to water someone and watch how you'll be refreshed.

I can tell you this, people who go through these dry spells, if you wanna call it that, whatever it is that they experience where they feel just all crusty and they feel like they have no life in their walk with Christ. You know what God providentially does oftentimes? I've seen it because I've talked to people, many people who have admitted this. They go about their day in work or they go to the gym or wherever and they bump into somebody and they end up witnessing. They it's like set up to them on a silver platter.

Like they come up and they're like, what is truth? Like that that kind of thing. And they're like, okay. And they start presenting the gospel. And you know what ends up happening?

They're awakened. They come to life again. I've had it. I've had people call me, hey bro, man, I just witnessed to somebody and they begin to explain the things and I answered it this way and I felt like the spirit of God helped me say it like this, and there's excitement again. Why?

Because you watered. And what happens when you water? You'll be watered. So next time you feel like removing your hand from the plow and not giving it your all and staying in that state, water someone. Witness to someone.

Sign up for whatever needs to be signed up so that you can serve and watch what will happen to you. It's a proverb. It's a principle that is true in all ways of life. And God will allow you to know his satisfaction and remind you this is what it's all about. You heard today of the struggle of the farmer, the surrender of the farmer, and the satisfaction of the farmer.

Think over what was just said in these past three, four weeks. And God will give you understanding of how to be the athlete in your home, the soldier at your workplace, the farmer in your local church. The Lord himself will help us walk in these things by his grace. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you've called us to be soldiers and athletes and hardworking farmers.

We choose to meditate on these things. Help us do so throughout this week, knowing that you will meet us with illumination and revelation and application. Lord, we refuse today to allow what we've heard these past few Sundays to spill out of our ears. But Lord, you promise that you will supernaturally set up our lives in a way in which we can live these things out when we show you as you examine our hearts and minds that we want to live these things out. We may not know how.

We might be afraid that our flesh will betray us and that we'll fall back into a lifestyle of anything less than this standard. But Lord, you promise that you will give us understanding. You promise to guide us and then infuse us with the grace to fulfill it. Lord, in this place, perhaps there are some who can resonate more with the struggle of being a hardworking farmer. They've prayed, they've counseled, they've evangelized, they see little fruit if any.

Their children are still the same, their husbands are still the same. There doesn't seem to be any news of a harvest. Lord, we pray that that conviction would be set in their hearts. We pray for that same fire in the prophet Jeremiah's bones to be given to each one of us who know the struggle, who know the struggle. Lord, for those who might not know what it means to rest and to trust, may they be comforted to know that if they've done all they could, you will take care of the rest.

Lord, we choose after speaking to our children, after speaking to our parents, our coworkers, our extended family members, that you will wrestle with their conscience. You will deal with the soil of their hearts. We believe you, Lord, that your word will not return void. It is powerful on its own. And Lord, if anybody in here has not yet known the satisfaction of serving you, not just in a day to come, but in the middle of the service itself, Lord, show us if we're doing it in our own strength.

Show us, Lord, if we're doing it for the wrong reasons. And Lord, remind us that if we are doing it for the right reasons, but we we get tired, or we lose motivation, or we we get distracted by the world, and we feel the lukewarmness seeping in. We feel Lord, our the river of living water becoming a swamp in us. Help us remember that proverb, that those who water will themselves be watered. That you will give life to those who choose to give life to others.

Help us remember that. All it takes is one testimony. All it takes is one time of praying for someone. All it takes is one weekend devoted to ministry, and life can come back. And so we pray, Lord, that you would help us, show us, rescue us, and keep us in that place of knowing what it means to be satisfied in the hard work of a farmer.

Lord, we bless you for the wisdom that you've given us today. We praise you. We worship you, God. And today we declare to you in in your presence, we are nothing. I am nothing.

No one in here is anything, but you are everything. Receive maximum glory, Lord. Oh, God. You give the growth, Lord. You cause growth, God.

And we wanna give you praise that even though you use human vessels in our lives, help us see them as transparent vessels and see you in them. You working, speaking, providing through them. It's all about you. It's all about you. Lord, we worship you tonight, rather this morning.

We give you all glory in Jesus' name. Amen.