PARABLES OF JESUS || The Fruit-Bearers

Will you be fertile for His Word to germinate, grow and give good?

Hello,

Welcome to July!

In 2021, I started a series on the Parables of Jesus on Medium, before moving to Substack in August of the same year. Recently, I have been inspired to revisit this series and I believe that it is an opportunity to relearn and learn new things from God.

If you wish to read previous posts on Parables of Jesus, please click here

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It is no news that Jesus employed the use of parables in His teachings when on earth. In various circumstances, He used them to speak about the Kingdom of God, its importance, our need for it, and how it applies to the lives of those who accept of reject it.

The Parable of the Sower is one that Jesus Christ used to explain the various types of hearts, their conditions, interactions and responses to Word of God brought unto them. In both accounts of this parable, Matthew 13 and Luke 8, Jesus Christ pointed out four (4) heart types that came in contact with the seed of God’s Word. They are:

• #1: Heart that did not receive the Word and it got stolen by the enemy

• #2: Heart that receive the Word but had a shallow penetration

• #3: Heart that was surrounded by thorns which choked the seed and impeded its growth

• #4: Heart that was good ground and yielded fruitful crops

While today’s writing focuses on the fourth heart type, you are welcome to read more about all the hearts in the link below.

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Luke’s Account of the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8: 4-8,11-15, NKJV)

And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

Here, we see that each ground and set of people had peculiar features. Amongst the four categories, only one was viable and brought forth desired fruit after the seed was sown on it. Verse 15 highlights the qualities that set this category apart from other heart types.

Heart Posture

What is the state of your heart?

This parable highlights two qualities of the fruit-bearers’ heart — nobility and goodness. Both words are translated from these root Greek words:

• kaloj which means noble, excellent in its nature and characteristics, therefore well adapted to its ends

• agaloj, which means useful, upright, agreeable, of good constitution or nature

Soil quality is very crucial to reaping a bounty harvest — fertile soils help boost a seed's germination while the infertile ones do nothing for it. Similarly, our heart postures largely determine the results God’s Word will produce in us. Time and time again, the Scriptures reiterate the need to be willing and malleable to Him. Our hearts must be true and honest, useful and agreeable if we want to bear fruits for Him.

Hearing and Keeping God’s Word

Will you cooperate with God and hold on to His Word?

Hearing and keeping God’s Word indicates an active consideration of all He says and holding fast to it. The word “fast” is an adverb that shows the manner we are to hold God’s Word — it suggests that there is a contention with an ability to make a person forfeit their beliefs or ideas, and embrace another. Simply put, it means having a tight grip and not letting go off Him.

Being committed to God is a deliberate choice that must be made as a believer’s decision to obey Christ is challenged by distractions, relationships, associations, desires and the noise of the world daily. We have a responsibility to follow Him and keep on; not loosing the heavenly vision but doing all He asks us to do.

Bear Fruits

Will you be fruitful?

In John 15, Jesus Christ emphatically spoke about our incapacity to bear fruits except we remain plugged to Him.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. - v. 5

Using Biology for further illustration, the concept of photosynthesis states that plants require carbon-dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll to grow. As they undergo this process, these plants produce glucose (energy) and oxygen which is emitted into the atmosphere since they use carbon-dioxide for their growth instead. This is summarized in the equation below:

6CO₂ + 6H₂O → C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂

(Carbon-dioxide) (Water) → (Glucose) (Oxygen)

We can use elements in this process to draw parallels to our Christian growth:

• Plants are you and I

• Carbon-dioxide is the Holy Spirit

• Water is His Word

• Sunlight is Jesus Christ

• Chlorophyll is Time

• Glucose is the strength we get from God in our Spirit-man

All elements mentioned (and more) are necessary to bear fruits for our King in all ramifications. His Spirit is our air, His Word water for nourishment. We must remain connected and constantly walk in the Light of Christ as stated in 1 John 1:7 so that His fruits can be borne in us. If we dissociate and leave Him, we cannot thrive in this world.

Patience Is Inevitable

To walk with God is to move at His pace.

In Luke’s account of this parable, patience is mentioned as a key feature of fruit-bearers. This word is translated from a Greek word, upomonh, which means steadfastness, constancy, endurance. It is the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings. It involves a conscious waiting, sustaining and perseverance come what may.

James also spoke about the necessity of patience in the first chapter of his book.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. v.2

Endurance, perseverance and patience are essential when walking with God. Allowing His Word do its work in our lives demands a consistent surrender and endurance in difficult moments. God moves at His pace and we cannot hasten Him nor his work. Just as how a seed dies in the ground and waits for a time period before yielding fruits, so also must we die and let Jesus mould us accordingly.

God has specific fruits He desires to bring forth in His children. In the midst of trials, our discipleship mixed with perseverance leads to maturity and perfection in Christ. Through tests of our faith, we are refined and made complete, lacking nothing.

God the Perfect Farmer

Farmers are deliberate people who expect a harvest of crop produce after planting seeds on their farmland. They go through many steps to ensure that all conditions are met for the sown seeds to grow and fully develop.

If a piece of land has been used consistently over a period of time and lost nutrients, it is left to fallow before re-usage. Farmers also employ techniques such as tilling, crop rotation and manuring to ensure that the soil becomes fit before the seeds get planted.

When unwanted plants grow around the actual crop, a farmer uproots them so that they do not affect the stability of the main plant. If the plant grow wildly, he prunes it so that it can get his desired outcome. He waters the plant constantly and patiently waits for its harvest.

Likewise, God is the Perfect Farmer and Creator. He created man with a good heart in Genesis. The Bible says God saw everything was good — there was no mistake in any creature made. However, when sin came in through Adam, all creation lost pureness and became corrupted and defiled.

Yet, through Christ, everyone has been offered the opportunity to be reconciled to the Father. As people get saved and come to God, He starts His internal work in them. He is the Perfect Farmer who begins to clean and remove the impurities of our hearts and lives, feeding us with His Word till we produce the fruits of His Spirit in us.

Summary

No believer can truly bear fruits without cooperating and abiding in God at every turn, twist and step of life. He is the Source and Sustainer — His Spirit our oxygen, His Word, the water that moisturizes and the Light we need to survive. We must therefore receive His Word willingly and walk with God in submission, perseverance and humility always.

Prayer

Dear God, thank You for being my Saviour. I ask You to help me yield myself to you wholly. Help me to live according to Your will in this perverse world, to be faithful and committed to You no matter the storms of life. Change my heart, Lord and cleanse me so that I can obey Your Word and bear fruits of Your Spirit. In Jesus name. Amen.