Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
John 12:20-26 NIV
Growing up I lived on a cattle ranch in the Kittitas Valley. We had 180 acres at the ranch, Grandma had another 120 acres across the road, and we owned or leased another 2000+ acres of sagebrush and timber land. As part of running the ranch, we also grew wheat to use as feed.
I was always amazed as a young child how a single grain of wheat would sprout up in the spring, growing into a full-sized plant with a head full of new kernels of wheat. What happened to that little grain of wheat after it was plunged into the dirt each Fall? How did it know to wait until Spring to start growing? Why didn’t it rot over winter like vegetables left in the garden? How did the little kernel of wheat know to sprout into a plant? How did the plant know to stop growing taller and push out a head full of more wheat? I was an inquisitive little boy full of questions.
Throughout Scripture, Jesus uses agricultural themes to help His listeners understand. He speaks of the vineyard, separating the chaff, using a millstone, pruning the vines and the planting of seeds. Jesus’ reply to Andrew and Philip is no different, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
As a District Licensed Evangelist, I am called to preach in many churches across the Northwest District. Recently, I had the opportunity to preach at two small churches at opposite ends of our district. Though they were both in small towns, they were very different experiences.
Both churches were in similarly sized rural communities. One church was located more than seventy miles from any other Nazarene church, the other had two Nazarene churches within forty miles in either direction. One’s congregation had only 14 in attendance where Marcy and I were by far the youngest and the other’s had 100 or more in attendance with congregates of all ages. One church was stagnant, inward focused with little desire to be out in their community. Where the other church was outward focused, engaging their community and growing.
Preaching in these two churches on back-to-back Sunday’s opened my eyes. Why had one church flourished while the other declined? The answer was simple, the church in decline was choosing not to adapt to their current situation where the second church adapted and is now flourishing.
The same can be applied to our individual lives. In my life there have been times when the world around me has been changing and I chose not to adapt, leading to decline. At other times I embraced change, though sometimes difficult, leading to growth. It’s not a one-time deal, we must constantly be observing and considering what changes may be required to continue to grow.
Each of us need to consider what it is that God is asking us to break free of in order to grow into the new creation that He desires for us. Not only individually, but corporately, we as a church need to consider what needs to pass away so we can grow into the thriving congregation that Christ desires.
I pray for those two congregations I visited this summer. I pray the one will allow their hard outer shell to die away, springing fourth into new life, growing and producing much fruit. For the other, I pray they will continue to grow. That they will recognize when other aspects of their church have served them well but when they must die away to allow new growth, new life.
I pray for our own church. We were planted by visionaries before our denomination was even formed. Spokane First Nazarene has had times of trials, times of adaptation and times of growth. As we follow God’s call to love our neighbor’s and boldly proclaim the Good News, there will continue to be times when we will need to allow the old to die away, bringing us new life and growth. I believe we are at that tipping point. We opportunity lays before us to spring forth into new life, life abundant, full of growth for the Kingdom. We just need to allow God to strip away that which has previously served its purpose, allowing for transformation and growth that only He can fathom.
Pastor Vic