Pollinating for Jesus

“How are they to hear without someone to proclaim Christ? And how are they to proclaim unless they are sent?” - Romans 10:14b-15

If you've followed me on Instagram (@RevSHW) or you are one of my Facebook friends, you know that I love to take pictures of moths and butterflies. It started out as a fascination with the intricate design and detail you can see on these amazing insects, when you take time to look at them. 

I'm blown away by God's artistry in creating these beautiful (though sometimes bothersome) winged creatures. But recently I've also taken an interest in their function, not just their form. You see, we have always had mediocre results in our vegetable garden in years past. This year, though, we decided to plant more flowers than vegetables – because the flowers are beautiful, but also because we have had better success with the flowers. As it turns out, the flowers have benefitted our vegetables, because the flowers attract bees, butterflies, and moths that help pollinate the vegetable plants. So this year, we're enjoying success on both fronts.

When we bought our plants for our garden, the owner of the nursery suggested we buy a special variety of basil that not only would provide wonderful flavor to our cooking, but even more because she said that this particular variety of basil is great for attracting the much-needed pollinators. So we put the plant right alongside our vegetables, and the results have been wonderful.

It got me to thinking about the wonder of pollination, and how a vegetable plant is able to bear fruit. Now, I'm not a botanist by any measure, but I do know just a little bit about pollination. Before I 'splain what I know, though, you need to make sure that no young children are reading this because, well, pollination is a subject for mature audiences only. So please make sure any children are looking the other way.

Ok, here goes. Pollination is when the pollen from a male flower is transferred to a female flower.

Makes me blush just thinking about it.

In all seriousness, most plants need help in pollination. They need the assistance of insects or wind to transfer pollen. In most cases, pollination doesn't happen on its own. Pollen has to be shared in order to bear fruit.

I see a parallel in the Christian faith (Of course I see a parallel. I don't just write these things without also showing some relevance to faith, you know). Here's the deal: Good news doesn't share itself. Good news has to be shared. Just like there has to be some way to share pollen between plants in order to bear fruit, so does there have to be some form of transmission of the Good News of Jesus Christ in order for the gospel to bear fruit.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul has this to say about sharing the gospel:

“...if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved... The scripture says, 'No one who believes in him will be put to shame'... for 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'” (Romans 10:9-13)

So Paul establishes the centrality of believing in Jesus and calling on his name. But doesn't someone have to know about Jesus and his love before believing in him and calling on his name and following him? Of course they do. That's why Paul continues his teaching with this series of rhetorical questions:

“But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? 

(Romans 10:14-15)

You see, someone has to tell about the Good News before it can be heard. Someone has to demonstrate what the love of Jesus is like before it can be experienced and understood.

If the gospel is going to spread and bear fruit, Jesus needs some pollinators to do the work of taking the gospel person to person.

Back in 1978, one of the predecessor Presbyterian bodies of my current Presbyterian denomination affirmed a threefold definition of evangelism (or gospel pollination, if you will): The General Assembly of that body affirmed that 

• “The proclamation of the Kingdom of God is Evangelism; 
• the love of Christians one for another in the fellowship of the Christian community is Evangelism; 
• and the life style of the Christian person and the Christian community in radical obedience to the biblical mandates of the Kingdom of God in the world is Evangelism.” (Presbyterian Church U.S., 1978 General Assembly)

In other words, if we are going to pollinate the gospel around the world, we need to share the gospel by proclaiming the salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and we need to demonstrate the transforming power of the gospel by loving one another in the Christian fellowship in the same way that Jesus has loved us, and we need to live in obedience and faithfulness to the demands of the gospel as given to us by Jesus in his life, his teaching, and his word.

There's an old poem that puts it well. It's kinda cheesy, but still it makes the point:

You are writing a gospel, a chapter each day 

By the things that you do and the words that you say, 

Folks read what you write, whether faithless or true, 

Say, what is the gospel according to you?

Do folks read His truth and His love in your life, 

Or has yours been too full of malice and strife? 

Does your life speak of evil, or does it ring true? 

Say, what is the gospel according to you?

In the end, we pollinate the gospel by rubbing shoulders with our fellow human being, telling them of God's love for them, and showing the world what God's love, mercy, and truth look like.

I think we can do that. I know we can do that.

What is the gospel according to you?