Monday, June 8, 2009

Good Ground, Good Growth Part 2

How did that plant get there? I asked that question many times when I was a boy looking at a certain plant on my grandparents’ farm. The plant was not planted in the field. It grew by the front porch beside the steps. As near as we could figure it was an orange tree. The leaves it produced year after year were green and smelled like an orange. But the tree never grew very big or produced any fruit. It was more like a bush, stunted in its growth, hindered by the seasons, yet there it lived. The farm country of Coastal South Carolina was a long way from the orange groves of Florida or California. How did that plant get there? My grandmother said it was a “volunteer” plant. That was what someone called a plant out of place. She speculated that someone may have been eating an orange while sitting on the steps and spit the seeds out onto the ground. It made sense to me. But the “volunteer” plant’s name can be misleading. It did not choose to place itself there. Even a volunteer plant is planted by design. Behind every plant there is a planter who plans to plant.
The Kingdom of God is growing in places that seem out of place and people marvel at how it is growing. The Kingdom of God grows by a seed that has come forth from the very Word of God. Behind every plant there is a planter who is a planner. Let us look into part two of Good Ground, Good Growth and read the passage together.

He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 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.”
And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.”
And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 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.” (Mark 4:1-20)


The Kingdom of God is a planned and planted community.

Last week we discovered that the parable tells us there are four types of soil in which the seed of the gospel, or the word of God, is sown on humanity. Let’s look at some additional points about the passage in today’s lesson.

I. OUR LIVES MUST HAVE ROOT IN GOD’S WORD TO ENDURE FIERY TRIALS. (17)

...they have no firm root...when affliction or persecution arises... they fall away.

A shallow layer of soil represents a shallow, superficial life with God. This is the plight of the modern day Christian. We are living in a land of visual images and thirty second sound bites. We are pragmatic and practical. We don’t want to waste our time. But time with God is never wasted. It has always been that way for the human creature. We invest our time in earthly pursuits and are bound in temporary things. But these things will pass away. But the word of God is eternal. And time in God’s word will yield fruit in eternal pursuits.
Without time with God’s word, it will not be a resource in hard, hot times. The earthly trials in our lives seem to endure. But they are only for a season in light of eternity. God is growing His Kingdom to endure eternity. It will be built to last. This world has trouble for the child of God. Sometimes the trials last longer than others. But these are momentary afflictions and to endure the momentary affliction we must have an eternal resource. God’s word is designed to grow His kingdom people. Even in hard times and fiery trials.
Some hot times and hard times are planned events. All of life’s sorrows are the result of sin. Some of our trials and troubles are the result of our or someone else’s sinful choices. Some of our struggle is the natural result of living in a fallen and sin sick world. But some of our testing is designed to teach us how to endure by trusting in the ultimate Goodness of God. He may allow the enemy to touch us like Job and use the trial as a proving ground of faith. Sometimes the trial comes because we are being prepared to bear fruit, much like the vines are pruned in John 15 so that they bear more fruit. God knows what He is doing growing His kingdom. The Planter is a Planner.
Peter endured as a disciple who was sifted like wheat in the hands of Satan. But listen to his apostolic writing of later years as he wrote to encourage a church that was in the midst of hard, hot times of testing and persecution.
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. (1 Peter 4:12-13) Fiery ordeals are to be expected for followers of Christ. Our lives with God have been planted and planned. And from time to time, calamity comes that results in trusting God on a deeper level. Much like the farmers of yesteryear used to burn over fields that had grown up and were not producing, God sometimes allows the field of our lives to be scorched and torched so that the thing which is real remains.

II. OUR LIVES MUST BE FOCUSED ON GODLINESS INSTEAD OF WORLDINESS TO BE FRUITFUL IN GOD’S KINGDOM. (19)

...the worries of the world...deceitfulness of riches...desires for other things... choke the word...

We make time and give priority to what we deem important. To focus on God we must not be distracted with what this world has to offer. We can spend a lot of time investing in what will not endure. Some people enjoy a more healthy life than those who are chronically afflicted or diseased. Some people have more money or property than others. But all men share a common resource. Time can only be used and it can never be hoarded away for when we need more of it. We come under the delusion that we will have time in the end of our lives to turn to the things of God. But who knows when the last breath of life will leave our bodies? We waste a life when we spend our time away from God. When we neglect eternal things while pursuing worldly things, it will produce the fruit of man’s futility…thorns and thistles.
Thorns grow in ground left unattended. Thorny ground offers nothing but restriction in our freedom. It is increasingly binding. Imagine getting caught in a briar patch and trying to move quickly out of it. The more you struggle and try to struggle out of it, the more bound you become. Thorny ground is cursed ground. It is not fruitful in God’s kingdom. But the King has done something about this cursed ground. He took our thorns, our curse and wore them Himself.
Thorns were worn to the cross in man's mockery at the Crucifixion. That was not without design. God ordained that shameful display so we would not miss what was taking place. The evidence of that crown of thorns in the empty tomb is non-existent. The thorns were left at the cross. In redemption’s story they do not survive…the curse is broken. Life with God brings blessing and not cursing. That is good news.

III. TRUSTING GOD’S WORD IS THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT HARVEST. (20)
...they hear the word and accept it, and bear fruit...

Hybrid seeds do not reproduce. These are the seeds genetically engineered and altered by man for a greater and timely harvest. These seeds quickly produce a harvest but do not reproduce viable seed. Seeds that reproduce are called heirloom seeds. This is illustrative of what Jesus is getting at here. The heir of God, the child of God will be instrumental in the disciple making process. I am an heir to the kingdom of God because I am born of God. I will be equipped to make disciples. The Planter has planned for it. Heirloom seeds reproduce.
Hybrid disciples will not make disciples. A hybrid disciple is one that is a disciple of Christ and a disciple of any or many other contradictory teachings. A hybrid disciple places trust in man’s enlightened ideas. This is the follower of Jesus that follows other teachings like secular humanism. Some things are incompatible with Christianity. Islam, New Age and Mormonism are just a few. Idolatry is incompatible with Christian teachings. Jesus is not one among many gods. Jesus is the One True God.
Accepting God’s word is to trust its truth and base our life upon the merit of its teachings. God’s word is not true because we believe it. It’s true because it’s God’s Word. We can believe it and trust it because it is true. God is credible. To accept it is to apply it. To receive it is to believe it. A believing life is the good soil.

Good ground is godly ground. Godly ground yields good growth.

Godly ground is God’s hope for humanity. An illustration of God’s mission to the world is given to us in John 12. Here is the turning point in John’s Gospel where the Greeks, or people outside of the covenant people of God, come seeking Jesus. Here is the Planner and the Planter at work. These pagans would not be eager to see Jesus if God had not planted that desire within them. This exchange comes after the seventh sign Jesus gives in the Gospel of John which is the raising of Lazarus.

Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus.
And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:20-26)


Here is our “So What” for today.

Good growth is when someone loses their…
…livelihood to a failing economy and chooses to believe and hope in God’s word.
…health to crippling disease and chooses to believe and hope in God’s word.
…childhood to sexual abuse and chooses to believe and hope in God’s word.
…marital dreams to an unfaithful spouse and chooses to believe and hope in God’s word.
…loved one to the darkness of death and chooses to believe and hope in God’s word.
…pride through a series of failures and chooses to believe and hope in God’s word.
…life in their own strength and chooses to believe and hope in God’s word and His work.

Life with God is all about life coming from that which was dead.
Life without God is all about death coming to that which was living.
How is your garden growing? What does your life look like?
God grows life…sin yields death.

IS THE GROUND OF YOUR LIFE BEARING FRUIT FROM GOD’S WORD?

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