Bearing fruit

Itaught on the Parable of the Sower on Sunday (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23). Not only do we find the unbelieving world hard hearted, superficial and worldly but sometimes we have to raise our hands and say, “Me too.”

I’m not sure many people are critical thinkers in 2024. What I’m saying is I don’t think we evaluate ourselves spiritually very well. When do we take an inventory and ask, “Where are we at with Jesus?” Therefore, when do we make the needed adjustments so we are Colossians 1:10 Christ-followers? The Apostle Paul told us, “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects bearing fruit in every good work.”

Every time we open God’s Word, we should be ready, it's go time. It doesn’t matter if we are at home doing personal study or in a worship service or a group Bible Study our hearts should be in a position to be: Challenged, convicted, encouraged and we should be growing in our affection and devotion towards Christ.

So if you gave yourself a letter grade for your Christianity what kind of student are you? Does that make sense? Are you an A+? You might be. You also might be a C student, and you could even receive a failing grade - that doesn’t mean you are not a Christian, you are just not very good at it and obviously need to improve. If your grade is less than desired, what will it take to work on that grade? Hebrews 12:1 & 2 encourages us to, “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus” What can you ditch so you can run freely the race of your faith?

The ultimate metric for how we are doing is fruit. Is fruit being produced in our lives? Fruit requires good soil. When seed fell in the thorny soil (Matthew 13:23) the cares of the world choked it out and it proved “unfruitful.” Fruit can be a lot of things. No doubt fruit requires a surrendered heart like we read about in Galatians 5:22 so the Holy Spirit can create, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.” Fruit can also be converts, people that we share the Good News about Jesus with, and they accept Christ as their Lord & Savior.

The goal is to make disciples (Matthew 28:19 & 20), to multiply and we see this in the parable. Some that accept Christ bear fruit that is “hundredfold, … another sixty, and in another thirty.”

I gotta tell you, being a Christian is the best thing you can be. I just saw on Instagram someone say, “We have to come out as a Christian. Let people know we love Jesus and there is hope, there is joy. We have a purpose and a mission that those outside of Christ don’t have.” Amen, amen! The satisfaction we enjoy is beyond measure and why we would not want to excel at following Jesus and why we would want to waste a minute of our time on earth living for other things is really hard to understand. Let’s be good soil (Matthew 13:8, 23). Let’s be honor students. Let’s go!

He told me to tell you that.