Hi Everyone
Finally, we conclude this wonderful parable and this series on Truth.
If you have missed any of these in the series, I would suggest getting the audio files and listening to them to get the complete picture.
As always, share it as you are blessed!
Chris
The Need for Spiritual Nourishment
There are diseases in this world that cause people to be unable to absorb nutrition. Such diseases can cause sever malnutrition; regardless of whatever kind of good food is fed him, the person is malnourished and if it is a child, the child will never grow properly, becoming deformed, weak and easily prone to sicknesses, invalid and unable to work.
This is the same with spiritual truths. If we have a disability in our taking in of God’s Word, we will be spiritually malnourished, unable to grow properly, growing to be deformed, unlike what Christ meant for us (formed in His image), spiritually not strong (not built on the Word, on the rock, tossed by every wind of doctrine), unable to bear fruit – do the work of the Kingdom.
Grow to Become Who You Really Are
The first thing we need to know is that in the Spirit, we are already like Christ because of His finished work.
1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. (NKJV)
This is the New Creation. The old has gone. What is needed now is for our minds, our souls, to realise that increasingly and walk in these truths:
Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. (NKJV)
Paul would not ask us to imitate God if we had no such ability. Like Jesus, we are flesh powered by Holy Spirit. Our soul, our thinking, has to come to grasp this. This is what Paul laboured for:
Galatians 4:19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, (NKJV)
It happens when our minds are renewed by the Word and we are transformed (Rom 12:2).
Grow to be Free
When we are transformed to the image of Christ, who He is in us, what He has bought for us with His blood, what was finished on the Cross, that is when we are really free. All other forms of freedom are not real.
John 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (NKJV)
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (NKJV)
Bearing Fruit is ultimately growing in His likeness. Growing up as Christians is not something for the “super-Christians” only. There is no such thing, for we all partake of the same Spirit of Christ. It is not an option in the Christian life, just as growing up physically in all areas is not.
It Came Through His Crucifixion
All that we have is because of Christ and Him crucified. That is why this is what Paul said he preached (1 Cor 1:23). It is not by our works. Let’s see what Paul said to the Galatians about this:
Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (NKJV)
From the above passage we see a few things:
1. There is a going on to perfection in the Christian life. This is the goal, that Christ is formed in us (Gal 4:19).
2. It is not something that will happen in the flesh, behaviour modification, following of principles and methods, right morals etc.
3. It is found in a person – His name is Jesus. He died for us and His crucifixion in itself is enough for our perfection.
4. The only discipline we really ever need is a discipline in seeking to know Him, and seeking the Kingdom.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (NKJV)
It is all about belief. Jesus has finished it all. We need to eat of Him and Him alone, feast on His finished work, all that He has accomplished on our behalf.
All this comes by how we receive the Word.
Review of the Soils
Remember – this parable is only about people who did hear the Word. In spite of the odds, the point Jesus wanted to make was for us to be good hearers of the Word that it may bear fruit in us, that we might go from glory to glory, that we might become like Him. This part is in our control. The soil determines the fruit-bearing of the seed. The soil cannot bear fruit without the seed.
If a believer has been hearing and hearing the Word without fruit, it makes sense to review the hearing process.
Wayside
Matthew 13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. (NKJV)
Wayside hearers are those who did hear the Word but for a variety of reasons (often related to unbelief) ignored and lost it. Some common reasons are:
- Unbelief/scepticism – must be willing to believe what we don’t see but is in the Word
- Tradition/theology/teachers misrepresent or ignore certain truths – we must discern against the Word
- Experience does not line up with the Word – the Word holds true
- Word runs against conventional thinking – we must trust the Word
Stony Ground
Matthew 13:20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. (NKJV)
We need to get rooted in His love. Feelings can be good, but we must not depend on them. Stay to what the Word says even if your senses don’t say so (“it is written”). We walk by faith in the Word, not by our senses.
Remember – persecution will arise for those who choose to believe in the Word. Very often, these come from those inside the Church, those who believe but don’t believe: there are many believers who believe that Jesus is God, but find it hard to completely believe His goodness to us as written in the Word, especially in areas they don’t see. We don’t go by what we see, but by faith. When we go by faith, it is then that we receive.
Thorns
Mark 4:18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (NKJV)
Coming to church alone does not make anyone fruitful. Many “attend church” but bear no fruit. They hear the Word but cares, riches and pleasures choke the Word. The very fear of not having, not achieving in this life causes much of this life and the next to be lost.
The seed has the potential to bear fruit but in this ground, that potential gets lost – it becomes unfruitful. The irony is that when we seek first God’s things, we miss nothing and the payback is much greater and for all of eternity.
Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NKJV)
We will serve what we treasure. Serving cares, riches and pleasures means our heart will be there and we won’t lay up treasures in Heaven. Doing things God’s way, serving Him, is as fun as life gets. We don’t miss anything for pursuing the Kingdom:
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (NKJV)
Good Ground
Matthew 13:23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (NKJV)
Mark 4:20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” (NKJV)
Hear it. Have it everywhere with you as much as you possibly can. Accept that all scriptures are good for us to be complete and fully equipped (2 Tim 3:16). Don’t discard what you fear or don’t understand for it was there for our good. Mull on it, imagine it until it gives insight. When this happens, it will start to grow and bear fruit in that area in time.
How much fruit is dependent on us too. Some soils will bear more than others.
Be Ready to Receive More
Mark 4:21 Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25 For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” (NKJV)
The lamp will be set on a lampstand. The Word will go forth. Nothing is hidden anymore – revelation in the body through the Word continues to increase and we must be willing to be the good soil, to take heed and hear, that more may be given. When we rest on our laurels and stop hearing, when we think that we know it all, we will start to lose even what we have.
Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. (NKJV)
The Take Away
- Bearing fruit is not an option for Christians.
- It does not come by what we do but by how we hear the Word of Christ.
- Without having the right heart in hearing the Word, no amount of Bible study/reading/messages will bear fruit.
- There is plenty of revelation from the Word today, but needs us to hear
- If we diligently hear and meditate, we will have more. If we are complacent, we will lose what we have.
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