The MVP - good ground

We’re looking into The parable of the sower.  It was this parable that Jesus referred to as the “key” to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13).  As such, I’m calling it: The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included this parable.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  So far, we have looked at the sower, the soil of the path, the rocky soil, and the thorny soil.  We’ve also observed that the word of God produced new life in the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil.  Now we’re taking a closer look at the good ground:

While we might best identify with the conditions of thorny soil, I think it’s safe to say that we’d all like to be good ground.  The good ground produces good fruit, which pleases God…so why wouldn’t we want that?  And all we have to do in order to be considered good ground is do good things and avoid doing really bad things, right?  Well, that’s not exactly what Jesus said about how good ground believers end up producing abundant fruit.

Luke 8:4-8, 11-15
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:

“A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.”  As He said this, He called out, “Let anyone who as ears to hear listen.”

…“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.  As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.  But the seed in the good ground – these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.

There are two big observations about the good ground we need to look at – 1) When did it produce mature, abundant fruit? and 2) How was that fruit accomplished?

The first observation question – When did the good ground produce the mature, abundant fruit?  Jesus says that the fruit came when [the seed’s plant] grew up – not before it had grown up and matured, and not immediately when the new life burst forth from the seed.  God’s word needs time in your life to grow in you.  So don’t berate yourself if you still have stress, struggles, and doubts.  God isn’t tapping His foot and being disappointed that you haven’t yet forced out some fruit growth.  That’s not our job.  Mature fruit is the natural result of the seed being planted in good ground.  Our job is to become that good ground.

How was the ground made “good” and not have the same rock issues and thorn issues that the other soils had?  How can we be made into good ground?  As for me, I can tell you that others have helped pull weeds and thorns from my life.  In one of my favorite song lyrics, the singer states he’s “Still pulling weeds from seeds of yesterday’s scheming”.  We often need help to get rid of those.  Also, I can look back and see that God has removed boulders from my life, so that Godly roots can be laid down, often in that same space where the rocks once were.  Lastly Jesus said that good ground will hear the word with an honest and good heart, putting into practice the lessons God is teaching through His word.  Am I learning and applying His lessons?  In all my examples here, nothing was automatic.  God is willing to take the time for me to grow up and then produce fruit.

However, just because ground is fertile and relatively clean does not automatically mean that mature fruit will be brought forth…there is one more step here, and that involves our second observation question: How was that fruit accomplished?  In a word, by enduring.

We can survive just about anything, but if we are to endure and grow and come out stronger after a trial, we’re going to need to rely on God.  We must trust His path and His leading.  2020 has had more societal disruptions than we’ve seen in the last decade, and it feels like it’s just one crisis/problem after another.  Your persistence in these days matter.  Pursue God.  Seek Him out.  Ask Him to make you like His son.  Cling to the promises of God.  Your efforts in doing so will grow, multiply, and echo in ways your can’t imagine right now.  Don’t just survive; instead, endure these times as training, knowing that your Heavenly Father will produce mature fruit in your life because of it.

Growth takes time.  Enduring takes time.  As much as we want successful, spiritual fruit to happen immediately…all throughout Scripture, we find God taking His time to bring about the results He desires.  So let’s be patient with our growth and trust God as He removes rocks, weeds, and anything else that keeps us from becoming like Jesus.  Let us believe Him with an honest and good heart, holding on to the word of God planted in us…so that we can endure the times set before us…and then, because of God, produce fruit in quantities we could have never imagined.

Keep Pressing,
Ken