Ask any driven church planter if they have a vision of someday having a church with 500 people or a few thousand people and/or multiple campuses, (and if they are honest) they will likely tell you yes. Ask any church planting denomination, and they will definitely tell you yes!
This is a successful church in today’s era.
All for the sake of the gospel, right?
I’m reading through the book of Mark right now and I’ve been struck by how almost every one of the early chapters describes Jesus with a huge crowd surrounding him to listen to him preach.
This is the pastoral jackpot.
And a very impressive Twitter following.
Yet we know how the story ends…these same people, these same crowds, are the same ones we find only a few chapters later screaming at the top of their lungs, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Utter pastoral failure.
And if we’re honest about Jesus’ life, it was an utter failure in the way we measure church success today. With the crowds of popularity long gone, he dies with a small handful of followers watching from a distance, with some of his most loyal followers, most notably Peter, having denied and disowned him.
This all struck me anew when reading Mark 4 today. With the giant crowd crushing in on Jesus so intensely he had to get into a boat near shore just to have breathing room (the modern day equivalent of planting an instant megachurch and being on the best-seller list), he delivers parable after parable about how his Kingdom works. And the irony can’t be missed. 
In a nutshell, he says: what you see right now is not how my Kingdom works. How my Kingdom works is that farmers (that’s us) plant seeds (the good news of Jesus).
Tiny.
Miniscule.
Insignificant.
You aren’t going to stop traffic with a seed.
Or get asked to speak at a national conference.
A seed barely shows up in a salad.
One life at a time.
One message at a time.
One example at a time.
One tiny microscopic corner of historic and global humanity at a time.
Seeds.
A lot of these seeds don’t amount to jack.
They get eaten by birds, choked out by weeds, or scorched by the sun.
This is reality.
This is going to happen.
But a faithful farmer just keeps planting.
Keeps scattering the good news of Jesus.
Because some of those seeds will find good soil…
…and BOOM.
Trees.
Fruit.
Life.
Massive multiplication.
How in the world does this happen?
I love how Jesus describes it in Mark 4:27, Night and day, whether he (the farmer) sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
New life is a miracle.
An absolute miracle.
The food we eat and the trees we build our houses with and sit under for shade come from tiny seeds.
It’s mind-blowing.
Who does the miracle?
Who makes the seed grow?
Who takes something that looks like a small rock and explodes life from it?
GOD.
It’s ironic that in the last week of Jesus’ life, he would never have been invited to be a keynote speaker at a national church conference.
Many pastors chase big crowds.
Not for the gospel (the good news of Jesus).
But to validate ourselves.
To make us feel like we’re important.
I’m no exception.
Everything in our culture and in our flesh warps us to operate this way.
To produce.
But if it were about the gospel, we’d remember who the miracle maker is and who it isn’t.
Jesus never told the crowds to go away.
Pastors with crowds shouldn’t either.
Crowds aren’t evil.
But those with crowds, and those longing for crowds, should remember the very poignant truth of Jesus’ ministry: the big crowds are an illusion.
They aren’t the way the Kingdom works.
They aren’t what we are to strive for.
The Kingdom brings new life in such a way that King Jesus gets the glory.
Not the farmer.
So if you’re doing your ministry for the sake of the gospel, and not to fill your own insecurities, not to attempt to earn people’s or God’s approval with a certain level of performance, not to make your name known, but to make Jesus’ name known, then keep planting seeds.
Tiny.
Miniscule.
Insignificant.
One life at a time.
One message at a time.
One example at a time.
One tiny microscopic corner of historic and global humanity at a time.
And let God handle the rest.
Related posts:
He is:
Author of Beyond the Battle: A man's guide to his identity in Christ in an oversexualized world
Host of the The Flip Side Podcast
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Great stuff Noah! Thanks!
What a great post! Thank you!!
Thanks Ben and Jim! Just read Mark 9 this morning and the more I read in Mark, the more I see I am just scratching the surface of this principle. The disciples are constantly trying to produce results/performance while Jesus stays laser-focused on his role to play in the Father’s redemptive timeline. This is deep and rich stuff, and is very liberating for me.