1 Corinthians 3:6 KJV
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
Our helper came over for the next garden expansion. We collected more newspapers and a trunk full of cypress mulch. We alternated rows of newspapers (covered with mulch) and lawn grass. The grass will be dug up for the new seeds recently ordered.
He said, "You know exactly what you want. You can see it in your mind." I watch where the sunlight is falling during the day and look at what we can trim from the trees.
Someone blogged the same method for killing off weeds and building up the soil - How I smother weeds with newspapers. Earthworms love newsprint, so the combination robs the weeds/grass of sunlight while providing a haven for all the soil creatures to turn obstinate turf into teeming compost.
The Malabar spinach, pole beans, and radishes are coming up along the fence. To water that area I have rigged the soaker hose above the plants, so we can mow and trim and tend the plants. The fence gives us another 50 or more feet of growing area - with support for vines.
If one planting is rather successful, it will pay back all the costs in seed. Cucumbers are about $1, and my neighbor just gave me a large bag of them. My other neighbor said she likes tomatoes, but she only produced two of them last year. Looking over her yard, I saw very little sunlight under all the shade trees. I believe she tried growing them in a pot, which promises more than it delivers. She probably watered too little and had soil that was not productive.
God gives the growth. No matter what we do or plan, the ultimate mystery is the growth of the plants, the multiplication of the seed, from tiny packets into baskets of produce. Hyperbole. A small Atlantic Giant pumpkin will weigh 500 pounds, and one vine can produce several.
If this works so well in Creation, then it must be even more effective in the Kingdom of God. There is no essential difference between gardening and evangelism, as Paul and Jesus taught.
There is no crop unless the seed is planted, so the experienced gardener will plant seed wherever he can and plant as much as he can. I threw lettuce seed in a flower box at one parsonage. Someone asked about the seedlings, but no one asked when nothing grew there. "Lettuce? There?" Yes, better than weeds.
The Lutheran Left seems to think their purpose is to raise cash for big salaries and sell merchandise to the public. Koine charges $3,000 to show up and play their awful music. Another sty in Jeske's Gulag Archipeligo sells chicken through Wings to raise cash. All the synods sell their credibility to Thrivent, placing "ads" in their magazines and gushing thank-yous in their promotional literature. The synods all believe that cash is the one and only, efficacious, never-failing Means of Grace.
The quest for cash displaces any thought of the Gospel being the Means of Grace. Moreover, the established synods exist as a Ministry of Law, a Ministry of Condemnation and never get beyond that. They are not interested in the Torah or teaching of God, but in vilifying anyone who questions their incompetent management.
The Kingdom of God only includes those with faith in Christ. Forgiveness is found only through faith. How does anyone become a believer? Paul answered that in Romans 10 - someone must preach the Gospel to them. Faith comes from hearing the Gospel preached. The content of the Gospel, as Paul makes clear, is Christ dying for the sins of the world.
There was a time when people thought of the Bible as a whole, instead of isolating a verse. In Romans 10, the reference to Isaiah 53 is clear - Who has believed our report?
Isaiah 53 is clearly the most important prophecy in the Old Testament, quoted repeatedly in the New Testament. The passage is both Gospel and fulfillment, for Jews and Gentiles alike.
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| A herd of sheep passes through a gate. |
Children always know what Isaiah 53 teaches. The rationalists say, "Oh no. It is not about Jesus, not at all." That clinches the argument - "You must believe as a child to enter the Kingdom of God." The blind become even blinder and hardened in their denials.
Likewise, the synods explode with fury at the suggestion they no longer teach the Gospel. They teach themselves. They teach the efficacy of cash - if they are given enough - and it is never enough. They offer absolution only for their pals and sycophants. Thus they are planting and harvesting weeds, and gaining an abundant and ever-increasing yield from their work of malicious deception.
But when the Gospel seed is sown with abandon, the efficacious Word shows the power of the Holy Spirit in the most astonishing ways. Sometimes the effect is immediate. But in many cases the growth is steady and takes place over generations. A couple marries. Often one spouse is more interested in the Christian faith than the other. Children arrive and they are baptized. They grow up in the faith, which is nurtured by their parents - and they marry. When the great-grandparents pass away, 100 or more direct descendants attend the funeral.