“Knee high by the Fourth of July!” That’s what my wife always says as we pass by the corn in the summer. The road is so frequently traveled that folks like us are actually able to watch the corn grow from tiny sprouts to seven-plus foot mature stalks. All the while, under the tutelage of their instructors, the students at the Aggie are tending to the crop, ensuring a good harvest as the culmination of their training.
I was thinking today, as I was reading chapter three in the Book of Acts, what it must be like to grow a crop on a farm. Farmers always make it look so darn easy, but even a quick examination of facts about agriculture reveals that it’s anything but easy. While passersby like my family and I take this for granted, it turns out there’s a lot of preparation and labor that goes into growing corn, or anything for that matter. Only in our ignorance do we suppose anything less.
Preparing farmland for planting cash crops or garden vegetables requires preparations. You cannot simply go out in your yard, dig a hole, place a seed and expect a vegetable or crop plant to produce. Though you may end up with a plant, farmland preparation requires quite a bit more attention to detail. Even hobby or personal farmland used to feed your livestock or family requires more preparation than simply sticking a seed in the soil.
Step 1: test the soil for pH levels (acidity)
Step 2: assemble a soil test by collecting soil samples
Step 3: mow/rake the area to be planted
Step 4: till the farmland
The more research I do on the topic of farming, the more I realize how critical the pre-planting stages of growing a crop are. In the Bible, Jesus’ “parable of parables”, the Parable of the Soils (Matthew 13), uses an agricultural analogy to explain how the soils of people are prepared to receive the Gospel. In fact, three out of the four types of soils Jesus describes result in useless crops (unbelievers). Only the last type, “the good soil” (v8) yields a crop (believers). The reason is that the aforementioned soils weren’t prepared to receive the seed. Such is the distinction between believers and unbelievers.
Back to Acts 3 now…
First of all, the context is the early church. The Apostles had been given the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and were encouraged by Jesus to spread His Gospel seed for the sake of reaping a harvest of believers. Given the fact that the Jews had just murdered Jesus, you can imagine the estate of the soil the Apostles were charged with tending! It was difficult farming, to say the least.
The first thing we see is a miracle, one that was undeniable even by the most hardened soil, the fervent Jewish leaders.
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms.
But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene — walk!” And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.
— Acts 3:1-11
God certainly had their attention at that point! In a sense, God pointed out a field to be cultivated by the Apostles, the plot boundaries being those who witnessed the miracle. Peter seized the moment to make a critical point. He credited the source of the miracle to Jesus Christ, the Messiah they had hung on a cross.
But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?
“The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.
“And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.”
— Acts 3:12-16
What a beautiful display of good timing, huh? May we all learn what that means, by the power of the Spirit.
As is the case with actual farming methods, you don’t use a stick of dynamite to blow up the soil and then proclaim it tilled. While there’s a certain violence to preparing soil, there’s also a very purposeful, gentle, caring aspect to farming, given the fragility of most soil.
“And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.”
— Acts 3:17
As we believers are all called to sow the seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we must learn to appreciate the gentle, forgiving nature of evangelism. As I alluded to earlier, we don’t show up with dynamite to prepare a field for planting. Cultivating soil begins with thoughtfulness. The last thing we want to do is make the soil even more difficult to penetrate, or render it unplantable because we blew it up. It’s better to soften a heart with love than to harden it with callousness.
Let’s continue with this magnificent scene where Peter continues his sermon. At this point in the story, the miracle has gotten his audience’s attention; he’s given the glory to Jesus and reminded them that He’s the one they killed. However, to soften the blow, he shows them mercy and forgiveness, for his desire is God’s, “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
Once the soil was prepared for planting, Peter sowed the seed of the Gospel.
“But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
“Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you. And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’”
For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”
— Acts 3:18-26
Peter wrapped up his sermon in a way that I fear most contemporary evangelists fail to. He reiterated the criticality of repentance, making it very clear that without it, there is no salvation (their soil would never produce a crop if it wasn’t yet ready to receive the seed implanted, as James wrote, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” - James 1:21). A person cannot be saved if they refuse to be turned from their “wicked ways” (Acts 3:26).
One last really important thing to consider here is a truth very much analogous to a farmer’s craft. Not every plot of land is the same. Some are flat with lots of sunshine in a climate that is conducive to harvesting large crops, year over year. Others are much less friendly, depending on the area of the world, the terrain, the type of soil, etc. No matter the case, we evangelists must tailor the Gospel presentation in such a way that the soil is prepared for sowing the good seed. We cannot expect that every situation will be the same. In fact, if you read the Book of Acts all the way through, you’ll notice that each time the Gospel was presented, it was unique. The facts were always the same but, as is the case with farmland, each plot required a different cultivation strategy. Paul proved himself a master evangelist because he understood this very thing.
To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
— 1 Corinthians 9:20-23
As the Bible states, we that sow the good seed are like farmers. Through the power of God the Holy Spirit we are able to contribute to the cultivation of soil. Incredibly, we are called to follow the same basic preparatory steps an earthly farmer must take in order to reap a good harvest (see fourth and fifth paragraphs of this blog). While salvation is an issue between God and an individual, we know the work that must be done. So, we toil on, as fellow workers in God’s fields.
So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
— 1 Corinthians 3:7-9
The Gospel seed is perfect, always producing good fruit and crops “some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty” when the soil is “good,” cultivated and prepared (Matthew 13:8). Man must be humble to receive both repentance and faith from the only One who is able to save him, for, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE” (James 4:6).
“He who has ears, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9).
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins
