Mike Focht 1/3/2025
One thing Jesus taught His disciples about the kingdom of God was it worked in ways very similar to seeds. The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. The earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.
Just as there are certain unexplained forces in the life, death, and growth of a seed, so there will be certain unexplainable forces in the life, death, and growth of God’s kingdom. Every eternal work of God will have a supernatural element to its emergence. The supernatural element is often felt more than seen by the human eye, pulsing with life like the seed living beneath the rich covering of brown earth. There should be an unexplainable quality to fruit that glorifies our Father in heaven.
That is why we need to beware of anyone who can fully explain how God is doing what He is doing. Marketing the “secret” to evangelism, prayer, teaching, miracles, leadership, church planting, and personal spiritual growth is big business today. Anyone accomplishing or experiencing the spiritually noteworthy jumps to the conclusion that they now have the right to explain. They become the enlightened farmers of spiritual success and graciously share their surefire and tested methods with confused and hopeful Christians through podcasts, tours, books, or video series—all for a modest price. Thorough explanations of supernatural works smack of godlessness. We have too many natural explanations for supposedly supernatural occurrences. Unfounded confidence in ministry methods produces all types of rotten fruit.
The first and most obvious rotten fruit of human explanation is that Jesus taught His disciples the exact opposite! He is saying that true spiritual growth and true spiritual fruit have something supernatural we do not see clearly or understand fully. Like the planted seed, the emerging life of God’s kingdom also occurs unseen and, therefore, unknown. When someone recognizes the work of God in our lives and asks Why or How such a thing happened, our standard answer should be: I don’t know. I can only say it was the work of God through His Holy Spirit.
Our inability to explain the work of God’s kingdom does not prove we are ignorant. It does something much more wonderful. It witnesses to the supernatural reality of God’s goodness, grace, and glory. My personal salvation, sanctification, and future glorification are because God is real and graciously working in and through me for the good pleasure of His will. At least the apostle Paul was satisfied with that type of explanation. The man who can explain too much of his spiritual success in God’s kingdom is much too close to touching the glory.
The second rotten fruit is that our explanation of God’s work in a particular life may not be accurate for others. Seeds may grow one way in one specific environment, but that does not mean they will grow the same in every environment. Soils matter. Just because Daniel prayed and was saved from the lions does not mean that all men can pray and have God save them from all lions. Any man or woman who dares to explain all of God’s work as if it were an open and public path for anyone to walk on is perilously close to throwing their unfortunate followers to the lions. To claim that since God worked one way in my life, family, ministry, or church means that I can explain how He will do the same in your life, family, ministry, or church is a dangerous conjecture. God’s way with me does not have to be His way with others.
The third bit of rot is that men will follow the clearly explained methodology of others and succeed. They may succeed in writing a book. They may succeed in gaining a crowd. They may succeed in realizing a dream spouse, career, or home. They may accomplish something that looks like the kingdom of God but is not the kingdom of God. Others have achieved success through human ability, like King Saul defeating Agag and keeping the best for himself, like King Asa in using God’s treasures to bribe heathen kings to win his own battles, like Jonah in finding a ship to Tarshish, or Judas in preaching and doing miracles. We may follow a man’s blueprint and accomplish something. A plant may emerge from the ground only to be proven as a tare to be burned and not wheat to be gathered. Yes, the men we should most fear are those whose explanations have the most outward proofs.
Spiritual fruit is fruit grown from the life of God. How do those seeds sprout? The farmer doesn’t know. The only secret or explanation we need are those that are not secret and need little explanation, like faith and obedience. Any Christian living to love God, in faith and obedience to the Word of God, by the power of the Spirit of God, will have supernatural life grow up around them in ways they cannot rightly explain. Rising by day and sleeping by night, life will organically emerge. Spiritual life, the very kingdom of God, will sprout up all by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. Then, when someone asks you to explain the steps you took to create the life they see, gladly tell them that you don’t know how it all happened.