Monday, August 8, 2011

Fruit is the proof.

Mark 4:20
20 And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.

This verse comes from Jesus' parable commonly known as 'the sower'.  This verse is typically used to induce  Christians to part with their cash usually around offering time.  Some preacher would bombastically declare that 'if you give into good ground, ie MY CHURCH, God has promised to give you back thirty, sixty or one hundredfold'.  This promise they extract from this verse on the sower.  This is a CORRUPTION of this verse of scripture!  This is no surprise because when your heart is steeped in greed EVERY scripture has something to do with money.  The parable of the sower has NOTHING to do with money; it cannot be spiritually applied to getting wealth NOR is it applicable on ANY level to wealth acquisition.  Consider the words of Jesus:

Mark 4:14
14 The sower sows the word.

Luke 8:11
11 Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.

Jesus says at the beginning of his explanation of the parable that the seed being sown in this parable represents the word of  God.  What preachers are in a habit of doing is going through the scriptures and finding passages and taking these passages out of their context (though they swear the heavens down that they don't) and applying them beyond the scope of the intention.  I can see how someone reading the passage of the sower can come to the conclusion that this parable speaks of a promise for money since 'seed' in their minds ALWAYS represents money.  Such a conclusion would indeed have some validity IF NOT FOR THE FACT that Jesus interpreted his own parable.  He did not leave it up to us to assume what he was talking about, he clearly says that the seed is the word of GOD.  I belabor this point because it is only in understanding this that one can truly grasp the meaning of the parable.  You will see that your understanding of this parable would be completely different if you see the seed as the word of God RATHER than money in an offering plate.

Jesus begins by saying a sower sows the word of God.  He then proceeds by describing four sets of ground.  Again, with the corruption in place, that the seed has something to do with money, the ground that Jesus talks about all of a sudden becomes churches or ministries that are teaching the word of God.  This sounds good UNTIL you hear Jesus' interpretation of HIS OWN PARABLE:

Mark 4:15a
15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. 

The ground in the parable has nothing to do with some ministry! Jesus said that it represents types of people and their interaction with the seed.  Listen, if Jesus says that this is what it means how are we able to give it some OTHER meaning?  This is no slight misstep on their part because the true meaning of this parable is essential for your righteousness.

Now since the seed is the word of God and NOT money, and the soil is types of people and their interaction with the seed and NOT your local church or some television ministry, we can now see the purer truth to this word.  The seed is the word of God spoken through Jesus, and as it comes in contact with the people who hear it they ALL have one of four different types of experiences.  The focus of this study is the experience of the last group called by Jesus 'good soil'.

Mark 4:8
8 Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.

Now Jesus' interpretation...

Mark 4:20
20 And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.

Those of us who are called by God fall into the last category in this parable, the good soil. The end result of this group is that they bear fruit in varying degrees (30,60 and 100).  But what is fruit?  The fruit obviously is the most important part since that is what seperates this group from all the other. Following Jesus' interpretation fruit is the RESULT of the seed sown.  And since the seed sown IS the word of God then the fruit must be the physical manifestation of that word.  So Jesus says to you:

Luke 6:27-29

27 But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.

This is the seed sown, now IF you are good ground you will bring forth the harvest of this word. So when an enemy is identified in your life what is your response (fruit)? Your response should be to love them.  When someone curses you or mistreats you what is your response (fruit)? To bless them.  Whenever someone hits you on one cheek or steals your coat what is your response (fruit)?  To offer the other cheek and to not withhold your shirt.  Your fruit would be completely different if you are NOT good soil. This is why Jesus said:

Matthew 7:20
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Jesus expects fruit from the word sown on good ground.

John 15:8
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

John 15:16
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

The only way that we bear fruit is through complete obedience to the words that Jesus spoke.  When it grows in our hearts it becomes our life

 I encourage you to:

Matthew 3:8
8 Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;

After all the fruit IS the proof.

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