Thursday, August 1, 2013

The Reproducing Hearer

Scripture: Matthew 13:23

"And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." 

Insights:  Beloved, the ultimate mark of salvation is fruit bearing—fruitfulness.  So, this truth makes us have to ask the question, what is fruit?  It's evidence of the divine life.  Paul described three kinds of fruit.  The first is attitude fruit as in the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23.  The second is behavior fruit as found in Paul’s letters to the Colossians, Thessalonians and Philippians.  Behavioral fruit is the “don’t do this” and “do this” lists that most lost people think of in regards to religion.  The third is soul fruit as found in Paul’s letter to the Romans.  Soul fruit is the harvesting of new believers.  No matter what kind of fruit is being born out in a believer it is God producing those spiritual realities in us.  You show me somebody who has no manifestation of those attributes and I'll show you somebody, no matter what they may look like on the surface, who's going to die out.  Fruit is the issue.  In Ephesians 2:10, Paul says you are created unto good works, and God ordained that you walked in them.  It isn't that you're never going to do something wrong.  What is really going on is the one who is truly good ground has a consuming desire to be productive, to let God produce through his life.  And even when there's failure, there's great brokenness over the failure because the desire is to see God at work.  Notice another thought as well.  It says that there will be some who bring a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.  Not everybody is equally productive.  God uses people in different ways and there are some Christians who never really fully get their act together.  They go through life being a thirty-folder when they could be a sixty or a hundred.  Christians will always be fruitful, I’m not saying that all Christians will always be as fruitful as they ought to be or could be.  Because when we do become disobedient, then we restrict the productivity of God in our lives.  What I am saying is all Christians at this point in the parable start at thirtyfold and thirtyfold is three times what was even normal.  So, a true believer isn't somebody you've got to scrounge around looking behind the leaves to try to find a piece of fruit hanging somewhere.  A true believer is one whose fruit is multiplied and manifest. 

Questions:
  1. Is your life characterized by the three types of fruit?
  2. What percentage of results are you bearing?
Prayer: Father, I desire to bear much fruit for You.  Give me a heart for the lost that is like Your heart.  Help me to see them as You see them.  Amen.

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