Over two weekends in June and July I attended farmers’ camps, one in Gippsland and one in Yackandandah, both in Victoria.
Gippsland was made up mostly of dairy farmers battling to be more efficient to reduce costs as they receive less and less for their milk.
At Yackandandah many of the farmers were graziers, their concern is late rain, it is easy to forget while we have floods in northern NSW, south of Yass water supply is a problem.
The men from Gippsland were asked to indicate how their churches were going, the majority indicated healthy churches; in Yak church life seemed healthy in the regional centres, less so in the smaller country towns.
We must not neglect our rural communities, the need for faithful pastors is great everywhere and the pressures of farming life make pastoral support and the nourishment which comes from faithful systematic preaching, from someone who is known, so vitally important. The needs of our urban areas are great but west of the Great Dividing Range, there are great needs as well.
At both camps I preached on John 12:20-26, where the Lord Jesus announces that his hour has finally come.
He states that what is about to happen, the cross and the resurrection, is the hour of glory. The character of the cross is glorious, because it will lead to his exaltation, it will fulfil the Father’s plan and it will lead to forgiveness and redemption for his people.
Then Jesus speaks of a principle which is close to the farmer’s heart.
It is the central principle of agriculture, it is a central principle of life, without it we would have very little to eat.
It is the principle of germination, without which we would have no milk, meat, cereals or any other staples of life.
Jesus says the principle of germination lies at the heart of the cross; verse 24 says that what he is about to do by going to die, is the equivalent of the grain of wheat going into the soil and dying and thus producing a harvest.
It would have been easy for Jesus to stay in the silo of heaven, but he comes down and goes to the cross and dies and his death is the source of a great harvest.
But this principle also lies at the heart of authentic discipleship, he says in verses 25 and 26 that whoever loses his life will keep it and that to serve him is to follow him into the soil and that such a one will be honoured by God the Father.
It is easier to stay in the comfort and security of the silo, but in verse 24 Jesus says, there the grain ‘remains alone’!
It is one of the big paradoxes of the Faith, the great harvest is produced by the death of the Son of Man; we keep life forever by losing it now; we are truly productive when we follow Jesus into the dirt.
The Puritans called it mortification.
The Apostle Paul was very clear in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, one died for all, therefore all for whom he died, died.
And he tells us what went through the mind of Jesus on the cross in verse 15, he died that we should not live for self, in the silo, but for him.
Paul states graphically: I have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20), in fact calculating yourself as dead to sin and alive to God is the key dynamic of godliness ( Romans 6:11).
The character of the cross: Glory.
The principle of the cross : Germination.
The principle of authentic discipleship: Germination.
In Wee Waa, where I began ministry, I was reminded often that the key to a good cotton harvest was the work of the cotton seed distributors. Seed buried and germinated is the source of harvest.
Jesus urges us to pray earnestly that the Lord of the harvest will have many seeds at his disposal, ready to follow the Lord Jesus, out of the silo and into the soil.
Germination is the key!
David Cook.