THE PARABLES OF JESUS: "ARE YOU BEARING FRUIT?

There is a little fable in which a woman goes into the town square and sees a store sign that reads "God's Fruit Stand." "Thank goodness," she says to herself. "It's about time they began selling some decent produce in the square." She enters the store and says, "I would like a divine banana, a divine cantaloupe, and some divine strawberries and peaches." God, (who was behind the counter) says, "I'm very sorry my dear woman, I only sell seeds."

This story illustrates that if you want to have a divine fruit you need to sow a divine seed. The outcome of the fruit depends on the SEED. Some times the seed may be good but if it is not planted in the right soil it will not bear fruit. During his ministry on earth Jesus told stories or parables to communicate powerful truths to his followers. On one of those occasions Jesus shared the parable of the Sower and the SEED (Luke 8:4-15) The Parable:

A farmer went to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed some of it fell on the road; it was trampled down and the birds ate it. Other seed fell in the gravel; it sprouted, but withered because it didn’t have good roots. Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it and strangled it. Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop.” Are you listening to this? “Really listening? (Message Bible)

In eastern practices the seed was sometimes sown first and the field plowed afterwards. Roads and pathways went directly through many fields and the traffic made much of the surface too hard for seed to take root in. You may be asking what these four different soils represent. What is the seed? What does this have to do with me today? In the parable the seed is the word of God and the grounds represent four types of people1. I would call them, 1. The Skeptics 2. The Enthusiasts 3. The Compromisers 4. The Implementers.

I. THE SKEPTICS: “As the former sowed some fell on the road, it was tramped down and the birds ate it up” The way side people are mainly the skeptics, the unbelievers, they hear the gospel preached over and over again but they never respond to it because the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they won’t believe and be saved.

Have you wondered why inspite of many wonderful Christian TV channels preaching the gospel, churches doing the evangelistic outreaches so many still remain un-touched by the Gospel? Even some of those who regularly attend church, and listen to inspiring messages every Sunday could also remain unchanged. Why? Because there truly is satanic opposition. Our enemy doesn’t want people to come to know the “Truth”, if they come to know the truth they can no longer be under his control, they will be free indeed.

Paul writing to Corinthians exposes the strategy of the Devil 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” The message of the gospel can be stolen by Satan if we let him. Paul writing to Ephesians reminds them who they were coming against, “Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Even today we are up against a strong enemy but we have some one who is greater and stronger than our enemy.

II THE ENTHUSIASTS:
The seed that fell in the gravel sprouted quickly but because it didn’t have deep roots it withered as quickly it came up. This year we have tried our hand at some gardening and learned a few lessons in the process. One thing we learned that in order for plants to survive and bear fruit their roots must go deep into the ground. If they are shallow they will wither and die quickly. We see this in the Christian life too, some people whom I call the Enthusiasts, they respond with great enthusiasm but their excitement doesn’t last long. When they encounter trouble or tough times they quickly “throw in the towel” and quit walking with God.

There are some who respond to the gospel with great enthusiasm but never go deeper in their understanding of who God is and what his will is for their lives. Initial enthusiasm is great, but that is not an end in itself we should learn to go deeper with God. That is why discipleship is so important. This is how Jesus put it just before he returned to heaven in Matthew 28:18, 19 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Let’s suppose you were enlisted in the army, it may be a great feeling initially but if you never attend the nine week intense Basic Combat Training (BCT) where you are not only trained in skills but also in character by learning the core values of the Army such as receiving orders, loyalty and the importance of teamwork, duty, respect, selfless service, honor and Integrity, you will never come out to be a proud soldier of the United States Army.

We can not keep on surfing on the waves of enthusiasm, and excitement forever, sooner or later they will crash. When the rubber hits the road what makes us stand strong is not our enthusiasm but our discipleship, which is our personal commitment to obedience. The crowds followed Jesus because they were excited about his miracles and message but when he turned to them and explained the cost of discipleship by saying “unless you pick up your cross daily and follow me you are not my disciple,” every one left except the twelve.

These twelve Disciples stayed back because they were willing to go deep with Christ. They were the ones who in the end went and turned the world upside down through their message.

III. THE COMPROMISERS:

Other seed fell in the weeds; (In other translations it reads thorns, but I think in this part of the world we can relate better to weeds) the weeds grew with it and strangled it. This spring we learned that before you plant seeds you remove the weeds, till the ground and then plant the seeds. After a while we have noticed along with the good plants there were weeds also growing with them. From time to time we had to remove the weeds otherwise the plants wouldn’t have grown and borne fruit.

The seed that fell in the weeds represent another group which I call “The Compromisers. These people hear the truth, they respond to it and they seem to be growing in it but along the way some things happen and they begin to compromise with the truth. They let other things (weeds) come in between them and God. What are these weeds? It is important to take note of this, what are the 3 things that could easily cause anyone of us to stagnate in our Christian growth? In the NIV it says it crystal clear; the word is choked by life’s, worries, riches, and pleasures.
Is it wrong to worry about life? Is it wrong to become rich and enjoy pleasures? Most Christians nowadays would be quick to say No!! There is nothing wrong with enjoying the good life. Over the years I have come to observe a difference though in the life and the fruit of Christians who want to have it all and those who are willing to deny themselves certain legitimate riches or pleasures for the sake of the Kingdom. The world pushes us towards self advancement; where as Jesus calls us to a life of self denial and sacrifice.

Moses grew up in the palace, he could enjoy every thing to his hearts content if he wanted to, but when God called him to follow him on the narrow way, Hebrews 11:25 “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.” Instead of choosing the pleasures of this world that will choke our faith we need to learn to come to God because he has made known to us the path of life, he will us with joy in his presence with eternal pleasures at his right hand (Psalm 16:11).

IV. THE IMPLEMENTORS: Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop.” During this spring we have planted Tomatoes plants and flower plants. We watered them every day and now it is harvest time. However simple we enjoy these tangible fruits of the earth, it is very satisfying to pick and enjoy produce from ones own garden.

The seed that fell in the rich earth represents people I call, “The Implementers” They hear the truth, receive it, retain it and implement it under severe trials and testing’s hence they produce fruit. In other words they not only hear the word but they act upon it. Similarly, the more we apply the truth the more growth we will experience. It is not so important how much you know but how much you practice.

In the Bible the word “hear” is often associated with obedience, and action. In the NT several times Jesus emphasized the correlation between hearing and obeying. We all are familiar with the Sunday school story of “The wise and foolish builders” the main point in this story is not whether you should build your house on the sand or on the rock but it is about hearing and obeying. Matthew 7:24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man…Matthew 7:26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man.

These days we have information over load. We attend church regularly and hear great sermons, or tune into Christian TV/radio listen to the best preachers, and enjoy the best worship team, by doing all that we acquire a lot of information about life and God. But ironically how much of it do we really apply in our lives. Marva Dawn explains why so many people while they receive so much information apply either little or none of it in their daily lives. I quote “The problem with the media revolution that bothers me most is what Neil Postman calls the “Low information-action Ratio” (note the acronym) Television offers its viewers enormous amounts of data about which they cannot do a thing; consequently it trains them to receive and discard information without acting on it. Television makes us L.I.A.R.s because we do not what we could with the truths we learn. We watch news reports about poverty, but we don’t lessen our consumption in order to give more away to feed the hungry and to build economic possibilities for others. We learn about war and crime but we contribute to violence ourselves because we don’t have enough time to listen to our children.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if only we obey 1% of what we hear from God, our lives and Church will be radically transformed? The only way we can bear fruit is not by hearing the word but by obeying it. Why bearing fruit is is so important? It is so important because God is looking for fruit in our lives. Read John 15:1-8. What kind of fruit that God is looking for? Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Each of us can fall into either one of the four categories. Some may be skeptics. They listen to the word again and again but never believe it. Some may be Enthusiasts, they hear the word, get excited about it, and keep moving from one experience to another but never take time to go deeper with God. Some may be compromisers, they hear the word but let the worries of this life, pursuit of riches and pleasures keep you them from maturing. Some are implementers, They hear the word, receive it, cherish it and act on and have started to bear fruit and there is much more to come. Which one of the four are you today? I hope to be in the forth category where I am growing in bearing fruit much fruit for God. May God help us to bear fruit for Him.





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