In Mark Chapter 4, Jesus invited His followers to share in the joy of spreading the kingdom. We’ve looked at two of His parables under the title, “Risk-Free Investing.” So far we’ve learned that God doubles our investments and guarantees the growth. Today we see that He takes the smallest investments and transforms them into something great. Here’s Mark 4:30-32,
Again Jesus said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”
Do you think Jesus’ followers had any clue about the magnitude of what God was going to do through their imperfect, faltering human, efforts? No way!
Perhaps you’ve heard of the great evangelist of the late 1800s, D. L. Moody. When Moody was 17 and unable to find work, he moved to Boston to work in an uncle’s shoe store. One of the uncle’s requirements was that Moody attend Church. Moody’s Sunday School teacher Edward Kimball found him indifferent to the things of God. Never-the-less he went to the young man’s workplace and shared the Gospel with him. Kimball left totally disheartened … thinking he’d thoroughly botched the presentation. But in time, Moody gave his heart and his entire life to Jesus. Kimball’s mustard seed investment grew into a thriving gospel ministry that reached around the globe, introducing thousands to Jesus. It also grew into Moody Bible Institute, a school that still trains pastors, missionaries and evangelists.
In 1956, five young men gave their lives trying to take the Gospel to the Waudoni Indians of Ecuador. The mustard seed of their faith planted in an Amazonian riverbed, watered with their own blood seemed a tragic waste. But God has the final word on our investments in His kingdom. Not only were the Waudoni reached for Christ, those missionaries’ sacrifice inspired thousands of young men and women to invest their lives for the Gospel. You might object, “Giving your life is hardly a small investment!” You’re right … but nobody could have foreseen the disproportionate growth that came from their faithfulness. What followed has been called the largest mission movement of our century.
