How can we become a fruitful, productive, creative, and generative person?
God works in our lives and even helps us trust Him, but there are things we must do to really grow. With His help, we have to work hard to overcome silence, trials, temptations, and rebellion.
As we read this, consider which of the soils best describes you?
Luke 8:1-15 (NIV)
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable:5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out,“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
Jesus’ parable of the sower points out that we struggle to become who we were created to be when we fail in any of the following areas:
To avoid these pitfalls, we can discover our God-given destiny by becoming receptive, tenacious, intentional, and proactive.
The journey to become the person we were created to be can be outlined as follows:
SOILS -------- ALTERNATIVE ----- SKILLS
Hardened ----- Vulnerable ----- Receptive (Overcoming Silence)
Shallow -------- Deep ----------- Tenacious (Overcoming Trials)
Thorny ----------Clear ------------ Intentional (Overcoming Temptations)
Desolate -------- Fruitful -------- Proactive (Overcoming Rebellion)
According to Jesus, if you follow Him then it is natural and normal to bear fruit – 30, 60, 100 times the fruit. In the Scriptures, “bearing fruit” refers to a change in our character – being transformed AND helping others find faith - transforming others.
When you consider your life, would you consider yourself fruitful? Would others consider you fruitful?
According to Jesus, there are four types of people in this world or four types of seasons in our lives. Which one of these best describes you?
· Some of us have a hardened heart. We have been walked on. We haven't heard from God in a long time, or we don't want to hear from God.
· Some of us have a shallow faith. Our faith has been based entirely on our circumstances and how we feel at the time.
· Some of us have been distracted by temptations that we keep falling back into over and over.
· Some of us are in a good place. We are seeing change in our lives and change in the ones we care about, and it's happening through us!
Determining which soil best describes our current condition helps us make the adjustments necessary to become fruitful people the way God intended us to be.
Some of us see a glimpse of more than one of these in our lives. We are seeing God do good things or even great things, yet we are on the edge of falling back into darkness.
The natural result of following Christ is a life described as fruitful, rich, and productive. If we can become receptive, tenacious, and intentional, we will find ourselves in a position to respond to do the right thing.
The good soil describes someone that hears the word, understands it, and produces a crop. In other words, they obey. The words used to describe hearing, retaining, and understanding all imply action - obeying God. If you hear, you will respond. If you retain or put to memory what you hear, you will live it out. If you understand, you will do it. Jesus was saying: if you comprehend my message then you will put it into action. When you act on what you hear, you will bear fruit.
Even in our culture, we equate hearing with doing. For those of us with kids, have you ever asked them: "Are you listening to me?" We equate listening with obeying.
When we say: "You aren't being a good listener" this actually means - "you aren't doing what I am asking you to do."
When we say: “Do you understand what I’m saying?” we are communicating: “If you understand me then you will trust what I am saying and act on it.
Unfortunately, we often rebel. We know what we ought to do, and don’t do it. Or we know what we shouldn’t do, and we do it anyway.
We treat God the same way our kids treat us. Too often, we aren’t good listeners.
There are four questions that we can derive from the parable of the soils that give us a process to move forward. The questions include the following: