This subject starts off with Paul teaching the church at Corinth 1 Corinthians 3: 1 - 15 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.As I said, I prefer this gospel of Mark 4:14 because it goes on to teach about the 4 levels of plant growth. All believers learning to be a successful gardener will have to start in the first garden. Each one of these gardens are significant because they are likened to a stage or a marker on this journey we're on down the narrow Way. There is only one path that leads to the Cross of Christ, and this path is very narrow with only enough room for you and Jesus. There is only one door at the end of this path, John 10:7 & 9. One of the most sought after truths in this journey to the Cross is the believer having some standard he or she can stand their own walk up against and see if they are making any progress. Speaking for myself, I am always wondering where I'm at on this journey. Paul says in Galatians 2:20 and we should all stand on this daily. I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Jesus who lives in me , and this life I live in this body, I live by Faith in the Son of God Who gave Himself up for me. This daily sanctification by grace in the crucifying of our carnal man daily, is what keeps us on this path to the Cross.
2) I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3) For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4) For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5) Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6) I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7) So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
8) Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
9) For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's garden, ye are God's building.
10) According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11) For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12) Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13) Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
14) If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15) If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.Paul understands God's Garden principle. He says in verse 9 above, Ye are God's husbandry, or God is the Vinedresser and we are the vineyard. John 15: 1 - 8. Jesus Himself used this same principle in John 4: 34 - 38 to explain The Kingdom of God. Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.
35) Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
36) And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
37) And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
38) I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.All we have to do is look how the Bible starts and how it finishes. God starts His word with The Garden of Eden and ends it in the same Garden. The garden where the Tree of Life grows. This is the tree of obedience to God's Word or His commands. They were instructed to obey and not eat of the Tree of Knowledge. This tree can be called the tree of disobedience to God's Word or commands.
The most interesting of all the parables that our Lord taught, in my opinion is the parable of the Sower. When I first came across this teaching on my own in Matthew 13:3 (Amp), I noticed that this is one of parables the disciples asked the meaning of. Th reason why it's so intrigueing is, our Lord said in the Sower in Mk.4:13 If you can't grasp the meaning of this parable, you won't be able to understand the others!
God always likens things of the Spirit or things of the Kingdom to things of the natural. All the parables attest to this fact. Jesus didn't come to teach us a fleshly or carnal walk, He came only to teach us the things of the Spirit. The Sower in Mark 4:3 - 20helps me hear the Garden Principle more effectively, but I will occasionally jump back to Matthew 13 of the Sower so please bookmark that chapter.
In Mark 4:14 this garden is the sowing of a crop of God's Word plain and simple. God's Word are the seeds and our heart is the ground. And the purpose for growing a well producing crop of the Word is so it can produce Faith or Fruit in our lives. Something I've found that is interesting, you can always swap the words Faith for Fruit in God's Word at all times. Romans 10:17 (Amp) says---So Faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard (or understood) comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself). So faith comes to us only by hearing or understanding what our Lord Jesus teaches and no other way. I will elaborate here and on all the pages on Holy Spirit born faith in a believer because we don't fully grasp the importance of this precious attribute. This Faith is what Jesus will be looking for when He returns. Luke 18: 8 This quality of faith is the only quality that pleases our Father. Hebrews 11: 6 This Faith is what the Kingdom of God is completely made up of. And this Faith is what this parable of the Sower is all about. Notice first of all, there are four gardens in this parable. The garden along the footpath, the one sown on stony ground, the one sown among the thorns and the one sown in good soil.
As we all seem to experience a one step forward and three steps back dance so to speak, we are never really sure of where we are on this walk. And we all have experienced this frustration of just when you think you have arrived and have some knowledge into spiritual things, you find out the contrary, you are just beginning to understand the Kingdom and the horizon you have reached is just another view of the next horizon. In the first garden, the seeds sown along the path, and they are likened to those who have the Word sown in their heart. Matthew 13:19 says, while anyone is hearing, or is in the process of understanding the Word, and does not grasp it; Satan is allowed to come along and snatch away what was sown in the heart. These are ones who are in the process of understanding God's Word. These are the ones that are just attempting to understand the principles of God's Kingdom. As we all know, the understanding of anything is a process. The complete understanding of learning to be a pilot of an airplane comes in individual lessons. No one can fully understand a principle unless it is presented to him in this way. This is the newborn believer. The ones with that first love. The ones with that overwelming excitement due to the first understanding that Jesus is real. Notice, they have just started on the path. All new born believers are so excited about the feeling of just having discovered Jesus is real! Notice I emphasized feeling. The first thing all of us say when we are saved and acquire that first love is I feel so different. But this is okay. It's all part of the process.
We give no thought or study to the fact we are in the process of hearing and understanding. This could be likened to a person taking one flying lesson and then claiming they understand enough about flying to fly a jumbo jet. Once we get wrapped up in the carnal feeling of knowing Jesus, we miss the spiritual knowing. And the same thing always happens. After a while the feeling starts to get foggy and we frantically start wondering if it was all real. This is still part of our Father's perfect plan.
Matthew 13: 19 says---When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. Notice---when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not. Just hearing the Word is not enough to hold on to it. We have to understand it in order to keep Satan from stealing it. While the fleshly man feels this relationship with Jesus is real and loses it, the inner spirit man in all of us knows this was real and attempts to hold on to it. This knowing or understanding God's Word is what causes spiritual growth. Our inner man is the one that runs around frantically searching God's Word, attempting to stand up on our own Faith looking for that which was stolen. This is done with a steadfastness and diligence to do whatever is necessary to understand and grasp God's Word and it does take time as any kind of growth does.
So God's plan is perfect. This is likened to just having a newborn baby, at first there is so much excitement over this new little one, all the hassles of the care are joyfully taken. But after a few months and the newness wears off and you are up all night with this little one, and this little one starts taking all your time, the excitement of that first love isn't as joyous as it was. This doesn't mean there is any less love, just less enthusiasm. I have a subject up called the Four Stages of the Journey which ties in and completes this Garden principle. First there is the infant in Christ, then the young child or toddler in Christ, then the youth or adolecent in Christ, and finally the grown man or father in Christ. This will give you a view of how this growth is needed, and how we cannot grow up any faster than God wants us to grow. All who get through this first garden advance spiritually to the next.
Very many in the church never get past this first planting. They seem to just stay in the same place spiritually, never growing in grace, constantly having to be taught the basics of salvation and all the things pertaining to it. Paul confronted this same problem in the letter to the church in Rome. Hebrews 6: 1 & 2 (Amp) Therefore let us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrines of Christ (the Messiah), advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead formalism) and of the Faith (by which you turned) to God.
2) With teachings about purufying, the laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgement and punishment. (These are all matters of which you should have been fully aware of long, long ago.)
For this reason pastors have to constantly give salvation sermons and sermons about the infant walk In Christ, and sermons of rededication. They are forced to keep the milk bottles full and at this point most of us start to doubt our salvation. Paul confronted the church at Corinth about this same problem above in 1 Corinthians 3: 1 - 3. This church at Corinth should have been well past the fleshly problems they were in. This is why darkness is allowed to take what was sown by force, because as a newborn, very soon after you hear the basic principles of God's Kingdom, the Holy Spirit will start the work of weaning you off the milk bottle. This is done by darkness being allowed to take by force what was heard. Understand, this is not a bad thing. The persistant in Faith will continue studying God's Word seeking only to advance on to the next garden. The immature infant will lay there and bawl and whine because he has no more milk constantly having to be taught the basics of God's Kingdom.
Only the Truth you understand and grasp will free you from this infancy. John 8:32 (Amp) says---And you will know the Truth and the Truth that you know will set you free. Another key I've found is you can always exchange the word Truth for the word-Word. John 1:1 says Jesus is The Word. John 14:6 says Jesus is the Truth. Any of these three words, Truth, Word, and Jesus can be substituted for each other. Try it, It works!
In the next garden Jesus starts off by saying---And in the same way the ones sown upon stony ground are those who, when they hear the Word, at once receive and welcome it with joy but they have no real root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word (that they welcomed), they immediately are offended [become displeased, indignant, resentful] and they stumble and fall away. Matthew 13:21 puts it this way; He is caused to stumble [he is repelled and begins to distrust and desert Him Who he ought to trust and obey] and he falls away. In other words when it starts to heat up or when it comes to one standing, not wavering in the Faith on account of this new understanding clashing with our carnality; the Word that we welcomed and understood, many of us will fall away and begin to mis-trust. This is still part of the process and is a good thing.
Notice---there is growth here in this garden. In this garden we are able to hear the Word and welcome it, or understand it. In the first garden, there was no understanding. When you are called to witness at work or to your family, sadly, most of the time you will be rejected. We all know this is just how it is. Most who get rejected will also get offended and as the Word says and will fall away or give up. Some for a season and some for good. It depends on us. This is what the Word says as, they have no real root in themselves or no perseverence. Some that are rejected will say, They don't want to hear because they are lost and of the devil. We all need to learn a lesson from Jesus on how to witness to a lost world. He didn't go around forcing His beliefs down peoples throat. The people followed Him because of His actions. He didn't go around wearing a sign on His back saying, ~ Follow Me, I'm the Son of God ~ We need to let who we are In Christ show to the world, not what we say.
Some of us will stumble and fall because our old friends don't want any part of Jesus. So either they try to act worldly around our old friends and like a child of God around the church. This will not work, brethren. Some that get rejected enough, will eventually become offended or ashamed of Christ or the Word and stumble over the Stumbling Stone. Isaiah 8:14 (Amp) And He shall be a sanctuary [a sacred and indestructible asylum to those who reverently fear and trust Him]; but He shall be a Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This garden pertains directly to Jesus because of it's reference to stumbling. Also notice The Word says in Matthew 13:21 (Amp) He is repelled and begins to distrust and desert Him Whom he ought to trust and obey.
In the third garden in Mark 4: 18 & 19 (Amp), Jesus starts out; And the ones sown among thorns are others who hear The Word;
19) Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke The Word, and it becomes fruitless. Or in other words ~ It becomes faithless or spiritless. This is the garden where the Word is heard and understood but this understanding is mixed with the wisdom, cares and desires of the world. If the believer puts his trust in this worlds economic system and the constant pursuit of money and possesions instead of God our Father, the Word doesn't produce fruit or Faith in this garden. This is the point in a believer's journey where God will cause lack and a leanness and trial and tribulation to try by fire the child of God's Faith.
This is the point where God will send much trial and tribulation into our life to refine our Faith or complete the work of the Holy Spirit. This stage is where the fire gets the hottest it seems because we have never been this far before. We have never had to completely trust by Faith before. We have never been forced to stand on that which we cannot see before. This isn't for God to find out how much heat we can stand, it is for us individually to understand.
Please listen brethren; God is raising up a people that will be able and have the stength and stamina to stand in the face of the terrible and perilous times that are as we speak coming upon the whole world. A soldier that is in boot camp will tell you at that time, it is the worst experience he's ever gone through. But ask that same soldier when he is in the heat of battle and he will tell you that he's glad to have been trained in that way. We will always be given a choice at this point. We can continue to chase after the the deceitful riches of this world. Or consciously, willfully turn from them or stay the course and count all that happens as joy and that Father knows where we are at. He knows if we are in lack and suffering and He surely knows how to rescue the righteous from temptation. 2 Peter 2: 9 says--- The Lord knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.
Listen---This is my point at this most critcal stage in which many of us forever fall away and never come back. We will be given a choice to follow our own way and our own will. Just as an adolescent has that inner urge to be on his own but also a fear of the unknown. We want the car keys and the credit card but do not want to pay the bill or the consequences. At this point, God will back away and let our will be done, if we so choose. He's always the perfect Gentleman. He never forces us to follow His will. As a young adult that reaches a certain age will go their own way, so will we. The one place where Father has set as off limits even to Himself is the this area of our free will. He will not overide our free choice to do our own thing here. Just as we have to let our young adults go there own way and find out themselves what growing up is about---So it is with the Spiritual growth. He doesn't herd or force us into the Kingdom, we have to follow Him. He's not a sheep herder. It would be so much easier for us if He would. But He can have no part of a people that love and trust Him because they are slave driven to.
Looking at this third garden sown among the thorns, Mark 4: 19 says ~ The cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless or faithless. If you will notice---This crop did take root and start to produce the plant. In the other two gardens there was no taking of root.Notice Jesus says, the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age. The distractions of the AGE of the believer is another view that is valid. The worry over money, possessions and the things pertaining to it. This is the first indication that there is an advancement process going on. There's no denying it in this world, and in this age and of this carnal realm, no matter how much we stand on 1 Peter 5:7 we always seem to get off into concern and worry. Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. And Luke 12:22 & 29 And He said unto His disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
23) The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
24) Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
25) And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
26) If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
27) Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28) If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
29) And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
30) For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
31) But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
32) Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
John's revelation to us reads; and this will be Will's parphrased version, but I'm sure you'll see how I come to explain it this way; Revelation 3: 14 - 22 Since you are not walking in complete righteousness and at the same time you do these unrighteous deeds in My name, I will claim I never knew you to My Father. For you say in My name, we are rich, we are blessed and the Lord has supplied all our needs, I say, you are worthless, pitiful, lacking in Spiritual knowledge, blind to the Truth, and you are completely full of sin! Therefore I advise you to purchase from Me by trial and tribulation, which produces Faith and Righteousness that you may be truly wealthy, and put on clean white garments to cover your nakedness so you can be presented to My Father blameless and accept the Truth of My Word to heal your spiritual blindness. Those that are My brethren and those that I truly love, I discipline and chastise, so be excited when I tell you of your faults so you can repent of them. Listen! I'm calling My chosen unto righteousness, and if you will answer Me and listen to Me, I will come and we will eat of the Tree of Life together. Whoever fights and wins the fight of Faith and overcomes this world as I did, I will allow him to sit with Me at My Father's Throne. He that is able to understand let him obey what My Spirit says to the Body.
With all of this prosperity teaching running rampant and every preacher telling you if you would just buy his or her tape series, you will surely have the key to spiritual success, or if you would just name it and claim it all riches are yours, it's no wonder the Word becomes fruitless or faithless. This is the key to carnal and worldly success, but people, we ain't gonna take this body or our money or possesions with us. James 4: 4 likens this behaviour as adultery.--- Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. And again I say, there are no accidents in God's Kingdom, we have to get through these fruitless gardens to learn to be a successful farmer of righteousness. Just like all natural gardeners, we're not going to learn to grow seed producing fruits. It'll take a lot of trial and error. It takes getting the soil prepared just right, knowing just what kinds of and how much of the right kinds of nutrients to put on. And it will take most of all the patience to nurture these crops and be able to know when they are right for harvest. All of these things in the natural work the same way in the spiritual.
This last garden in Mark 4: 20 only takes Faith and trust in our Lord Jesus to get here. ONLY Huh? Just like that. Like I said in the previous garden, our only job is to trust God, learn from our shortcomings, the trials and tribulations, and most of all be patient. We will not finish this journey or complete the good fight of Faith until our Lord says we are finished. There is no crown of glory promised to the cowards and the those of us that give up. Getting to the mature, father stage in the Walk depends solely on who we are in Christ. Most of us in the Body will have to completely relearn how to walk the believers walk. With all of the false teaching for these many generations, what God has to say to His chosen in these last days and what He will want them to get done, will only be done spiritually.
The final garden is a very easy garden to manage because it practically grows itself. By this time we have already made the mistakes and have learned what not to do, and we have turned so much compost and fertilizer under, or in other words we have been through much trial by fire and a lot of maturing In Christ, so the soil in this garden is well prepared. We have learned and are continuing to daily learn to trust only in Him. Verse 20--- And those sown on the good [well-adapted] soil are the ones who hear [understand] the Word and receive and accept and welcome it and bear fruit—some thirty times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some [even] a hundred times as much. This sounds so simple, all we have to do is hear the Word and we bear fruit? It is when you hear and understand the Truth of God's Word. The fruit stage is important because each fruit item contains 30---60---100 fold more plants in them.
There is precious little Truth being taught out there in organized religion and so very few are hearing and understanding it. I especially do not claim in any way to have the market cornered on the Truth. But I do know this ~ In these final days we have to trust in no man, except the Man Jesus Christ. He is our Mediator of the things our Father wants us to know. 1 Timothy 2: 5 (Amp) For there (is only) one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. This is very clear, there is only One who can perfectly teach God's Word to man. Man cannot do it.
This Truth is going to be a very bitter pill to swallow by many of us. Especially if we have sat in a church pew for a decade or two. It will be called false teaching by many but these many will not be able to tell you how they know it's false. The cannot disprove it by His Word. The church has become too dependent on the pastors and teachers that this whore called organized religion has ran in and out of the believers lives. Most of us truly have a heart for Jesus. We are just looking for Him in the wrong place. All we have to understand in God's garden is that maturing in Christ is exactly how a successful garden is to grow. The soil has to be right. The soil is our hearts. Our hearts have to be right towards God and man. The seeds planted in the soil have to be the correct seeds. The Seeds are God's Word. But it can only be the Truth from the lips of Christ Himself. It can't be a watered down, misinterpretation to foster mans doctrine or lift up someone's ministry.
In Mark 4:22, Jesus goes on to explain a little about His Kingdom. He says in verse 22 that things are hidden temporarily only as a means of revelation. Simply put He hides these Truths so we will diligently seek and find them. There is nothing more satisfying than to have Jesus illuminate some part of His Word, knowing this is done especially for you. Just to know that He loves me enough to take time with me is so overwhelming. He does just this in verse 23 He says again pay attention, I'm about to tell you something about My Kingdom. He says in verse 24, The more study you give to the Truth you understand will be the amount of understanding that comes back to you, and more besides. Sounds like sowing in good soil and reaping 100 fold to me. How about you?!?
In Mark 4: 26 & 27 (Amp) He says, The Kingdom is like a man who scatters seed upon the ground.
27) And then continues sleeping and rising night and day while the seed sprouts and grows and increases---he knows not how. This farmer doesn't know how all of this happens underground, he just believes and trusts that the ground will do what it's supposed to do acting upon the seed. If he digs it up to see how it happens; the seed will die and not sprout. It takes Faith to be a good farmer.
As we can see in Mark 4: 28 and 29 ~ there are also four stages of plant growth, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear, and then finally the harvest stands ready for him to put in the sickle. This growth process can't be hurried up. It has to progress as God has designed it. If at any point we interupt this process, the plant dies and the seed has to be replanted and no harvest comes. We have to let this garden grow to harvest. Our spiritual growth can't be hurried either. We can't jump from an infant drinking milk, to an adult ready for T-bone steak. We have to go through the young child stage and on to the adolecent, and from there to the father in Christ. As I said above; The critical stage is likened unto the impatience of a teenager to grow up and one that longs to have the privileges of an adult. If we listened to the adolescent; They would be convinced and try to convincve us that they are fully grown at 14. This is as it is in the church of today also. Many of us never advance past this stage. We wind up staying a 35 year old still living at moma's house.
These four stages of growth that this farmer doesn't understand how it all happens witnesses to the the four garden stages in our spiritual walk. If we can fully understand and hear this is a growth process. Speaking only for myself, finding out about this has given me enormous hope and confidence that I can and am indeed able to finish the race. GLORY TO GOD!
I have done this writing to say this, growing in Christ is something like this man in Mark 4: 28 & 29 experienced. When we take Christ's Seed into our heart we have already been fashioned by God to produce that Seed into a manifested harvest. We don't know how this process occurs, but just like this man in the physical garden; If we are patient and let the Holy Spirit, act upon and complete the work on this Holy Seed, there will indeed be a manifested harvest. As He says in James 3:18 it is a harvest of righteousness which comes from Christ's Seed sown in peace.
