To Grow You've Got To Sow

Well, speaking of plants, there's my segue. I have been thinking a lot about seeds and plants lately. Yes, it is springtime and it's been very nice to find a little bit of time to get my hands in the dirt and the earth and try to get my... I'm still struggling to get my yard work caught up from the winter time. Yeah, I know it's almost summer. I'll just wait till next year and say I'm up. But as I thought about the spring and the seeds and the plants, of course, we're also about to observe Pentecost. And, of course, the Old Testament is called the Feast of Weeks, which, back in that ancient time, it coincided with the wheat harvest in ancient Israel.

So I have been thinking about seeds and plants and harvesting and what God is doing with you and me and with all of humanity. And I've tried to wrap my mind around that, and perhaps you have too, and I find the word indescribable rather appropriate. It's certainly amazing and astounding to consider what God's plan of salvation is all about. I mean, think of it. We are physical beings composed of chemical substances of the earth. I looked it up. Some of these substances include oxygen elements. 61% of our body, apparently, is composed of oxygen.

There's carbon and hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, magnesium, silicon. Just a little bit of silicon. We have a lot of sand in East Texas that bring minimum amount in our bodies. And then, of course, there's many, many other trace elements that become in the thousands of percentiles. It's amazing what scientists have done to understand these things. We're composed of dust. It's my conclusion, based on what science tells us, but, of course, we know that. That is how God created us. If you turn with me to a very familiar scripture, Genesis 2, verse 7, as a look here, Genesis 2, verse 7, we are composed of dust.

We read here, Genesis 2, 7, flip a page. There I am. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. And to help us stay in a rather humble and repentant mindset, I think we should all know that this Hebrew word for dust is ephar, a-p-h-a-r, and it does mean dry earth, dust, powder, ashes, earth, ground, mortar, or rubbish.

That last word really bears some good, wonderful meaning, doesn't it? I like that, because that's right. We're composed, you might say, of rubbish, dust. Over in Ecclesiastes 3, verse 20. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3. My thumbs, all of them don't want to work today. There, okay. Ecclesiastes 3, verse 20. Of course, the preacher, otherwise known as wise King Solomon, he also understood, of course, that human beings are made of dust.

Ecclesiastes 3, verse 20. All go to one place, he wrote. All, many people, all men, women, all are from the dust, and all return to dust. In his father, King David, let's turn to Psalm 103, his father, King David, knew the same fact as well. Psalm 103 and verse 14. Psalm 103.14. David wrote, For he, God, God knows our frame. He knows what we're made of, how we're built.

He remembers that we are dust. Now, I find David's words there very encouraging. Of course, God made us, and he knows we're dust, but it's nice to know that he does remember that we are but dust. It assures us that God is very much aware of our frailty.

We have limitations. And so what we see here, just very quickly, in essence, every physical thing, every element of this universe is what? It's dust. It's dust. Therefore, my conclusion is, we walk on dust, we build with dust, we wear dust, we even treasure dust, those material things. We eat dust. We love dust. We return to dust. Of course, if your house is dusty, it's okay because it's going to be dusty anyway.

We are dust, and everything about us is dust. Talk about indescribable. We are dust, but we can be so much more. We can be so much more. And that's part of the gospel of the kingdom of God.

That Jesus Christ declared, and we as his church declare and teach, even as Christ himself and the disciples and men and women for multiple centuries have been doing, and will keep doing, it's long forever. Of course, we dusty beings are mortal. We do not possess eternal life. We do not possess eternal life.

Romans 6.23 tells us that that immortality is the gift of God. Romans 6.23, you read that with me, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life and Jesus Christ our Lord. Now also to 1 Corinthians 15, 51-53.

I'm rather certain Dr. Ward referred to this, and the message he spoke at Mr. Hagen's funeral this morning. It's always inspiring to me. So uplifting. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 51-53.

Paul is reminding us, telling us how we can receive eternal life, and we will receive eternal life, that salvation in Jesus Christ returns to this earth. So we read here, 1 Corinthians 15, 51, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible, this mortal, must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. In this precious and wonderful gift, then, we're told in 2 Timothy 1, verses 9-10.

Let's turn there as well. 2 Timothy 1, verses 9-10. This absolutely wonderful gift, 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. It's made possible because of God our Father and Jesus Christ. Because of them, Christ who gave His life for all humanity, they love us, and they made it possible. 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. 3 He called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Jesus Christ before time began. It's been a long plan. But has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

So we human beings are dust. I think I made my point pretty clear.

But God wants us to be so much more. He wants us, as we understand, to be members of his eternal family.

But we have some things to be doing.

Mr. Lucas talked about repentance. There are some things we need to be doing.

Repentance points us to doing good works. We have good works to be doing now. Now these are not works to earn salvation. I've already made the point. We can't earn salvation. That's a gift from God. But each of us must be doing his or her part to be found worthy of receiving eternal life, to be qualified. Well, how do we do that?

Well, as I said, I've been thinking a lot about seeds and planting and harvesting. And all of it has to do with God's Word as well. So what I want to share with us today is that with the help of God's Word and his Holy Spirit, we must be growing and sowing the fruit of God's Spirit through everything we do—our thoughts, our words and actions. In other words, we must be cultivating our hearts.

We must be cultivating our hearts. I've entitled this sermon, To Grow, You've Got to Sow. To Grow, You've Got to Sow.

I'd like to begin with the parable Jesus Christ taught back in—there are three different accounts or versions of this parable. I'm going to have us look at the one in Mark chapter 4. It's the parable of the sower. I'd like for us to read this familiar parable and draw from it some valuable insights about dust or dirt and seeds and about bearing fruit as well.

So if you turn with me to Mark chapter 4, and I'm just going to read with you, if you follow along with me, verses 1 through 9. Mark 4 verses 1 through 9. And we get the setting here to begin. And again, Jesus began to teach by the sea. A great multitude was gathered to him so that he got into a boat and sat it on the sea. And the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea, facing him. And then Jesus taught them many things by parables, and he said to them in his teaching, verse 3, Listen, in other words, pay attention. Behold, a sower went out to sow, and it happened as he sowed that some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground where it did not have much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground, and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased, and produced, some thirty-fold, some sixty, some hundred. And he said to them, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Now, this is familiar to us, but I want us to think about it from a little different perspective here as I begin.

You see, the scene Jesus described in his parable was an extremely typical event. It was an ordinary, everyday, every year for as far as people could remember this is what they did.

It occurred throughout the countryside of what we call the Holy Land today, a field being sown with grain. Now, I realize that not everyone here today may understand what a sower did, because few people in our modern times have ever stepped foot on a farm. And unless they've watched a video or something like that, well YouTube, okay, I'll get up to speed, they may not know what a sower does. They may not know a whole lot about farming in general. I've done a little sowing, not with just needle and thread, but a little by hand, myself, years ago.

But I just want to make sure we understand. It seems rather exotic and interesting to us, but back in that time it was a common, everyday thing. And so a sower was a farmer. A sower scattered or sowed seed by hand, and he did so by walking back and forth across his field. And he carried the seed grain in this large cloth bag, typically on the opposite side from the hand that he used. It was very much like one of these great big large cloth bags I see women wearing, often in the airports. You could put a sink in there.

The farmer would have put a good number of pounds of grain. It was some weight he had to bear there. Now the seed might be barley or wheat, oats. There's a few other grains that were sowed that way. And he would reach his hand into the bag on the opposite side, take up a handful, and then deftly scatter it, just keeping that up.

And he did it repeatedly, left and right, constantly moving. Not too fast, not too slow. Just right. The Goldilocks rule. And he had to do it repeatedly for as long as it took to seed the entire field. It was hard work. It was very hard work to sow. Of course, I haven't figured out if they plowed and then sowed. Some scholars said, no, they sowed and then plowed. Their fields were not nice and tidy things like we see around today. It was somewhat low tillage, meaning they just kind of didn't have these nice plows that would throw this nice piece of ground all the way over. It was a little more minimal tillage, but we might associate with it today from what I've read.

It was hard work, but needful if he and his family were to survive. I think sometimes in our modern era, I know I do, we forget how critical a good harvest was in ancient times. If we have a drought in this country, like we did some years ago, the effect we had was beef prices went up because everybody had to sell their cattle and hay wasn't to be found unless you trucked it in from way up north. I'm speaking here in Texas. But back in that time, if you didn't sow your field and if you didn't have at the right time and if you didn't have a good harvest, farmers and their families would worry about starvation. Of course, that can happen today. It happens today, and we may face that in the future. But it's something to consider about a harvest and sowing and how important it was and how hard it was. It was about survival.

In his parable, Jesus oft described the typical outcome of the sower's efforts.

Again, this is typical. Nothing surprising. Some seeds grow and produce grain, and some don't. That's just the way it was. Not every seed you planted was going to grow and produce something.

Now, we might assume that these great multitudes of his audience, or standing or sitting there on the hillside, I'm sure they probably listened eagerly to his words.

Jesus spoke from the boat, just a few yards offshore, it seems. It kind of helped to amplify his voice. If there's a bit of a hill they could easily hear. Also, being in the boat, of course, is a great way of managing crowd. It's great crowd control. They couldn't press in upon him too much that way. Perhaps this huge crowd tried very carefully to listen to what he said. I think they did. But perhaps there was even some of them shushing, if they shushed people back then. When the noisier ones among them kept talking, especially when Jesus said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Other translations say that it may be something more like this. Anyone with ears to hear should listen, listen up, and understand. That kind of makes me sit up a little bit more. I hear it that way. Listen and understand this. But I also wonder how many of his listeners were rather puzzled by this parable. What did the teachers say that we didn't already know, they might have said, among themselves? He hadn't taught them anything.

He had merely described what they already knew, what they did and had been doing for years and years. He was just explaining what they do. They understood that, yes, just like he said, most fields have a wayside. That's a path running alongside of it, or even possibly traversing the field. If you don't do it now, necessarily, but back in Mark 2, Mark 2, chapter 2, chapter 2, chapter 23, chapter 24, there's an incident of Jesus' disciples going through the grain fields and plucking heads, probably of wheat, to eat the grain as they walked along the way. The paths were right up against the wheat fields, or even crisscrossing them at times.

So they said, yes, we know that. Many fields had stony ground. That part of the world, ancient Israel, limestone, where they're broken in chunks and slabs, laid just really a few inches in some places below the ground. So plants didn't grow too well there. Of course, thorns and also thistles or weeds of any type, just like today in our gardens, in our yards, they were a nuisance. And they were a nuisance for farmers. They had to continually contend with them. And likewise, everyone actually could appreciate the great value, then, and worth a rich, fertile, good ground that Jesus described here. Though sowing grain may seem, again, like I said, an unusual rather exotic thing to do today, it wasn't to them. It's what they knew.

Well, the point I'm making is that most people there are listening likely, for one reason and another, and we know what the other is going to be hearing in a little bit, they likely didn't hear anything new or learn much of anything from what Christ said in some ways that they didn't already know. They might also have been very disappointed. Some scholars pointed out, and you read it, it looks possible, it's quite apparent they're disappointed, quite possibly because in this situation, at that moment, it seems, he hadn't, Jesus didn't perform any miracles. We get the sense that a lot of times the multitudes followed because they're hoping to see something wondrous.

They wanted to see it, and they wanted to be among the first to go back and report about it. Guess what he did? Guess what I saw? So, for many, this parable may have struck them, and the situation is so much to do about nothing. I almost got it right. Much to do about nothing. They already knew what he was talking about, or so they thought. But thankfully, not everybody felt the same way. Unlike the multitudes, Jesus' disciples were aware that there's something else below the surface of the story that must be going on because they knew Jesus spoke in ways that might not always be clear, but there would be understanding.

What they did, unlike the multitudes, they actually went and asked some questions. They wanted to know.

They needed his help to understand. So, they approached him. We find chapter 4, verse 14.

They'd approached him with questions, and Jesus explained for them, then, the parable's meaning. Verse 14, he said, the sower sows the word. They knew there was some meaning going on here that wasn't obvious at first. The sower sows the word. Now, the parallel account in Luke 8.11, you don't need to turn there, but you can jot that down. Luke 8.11 states that he said the seed is the word of God. Then, in Matthew's account, Matthew 13.19 is even more specific. There, Matthew writes that Jesus said the seed was the word of the kingdom, the kingdom of God. He was preaching through this parable something very important about the gospel, the kingdom of God. And so, the seed is the word of God. It's all about the kingdom of God and salvation. The seed was sown in the ground, which we will learn in Mark 4.15, symbolized human hearts.

But as we've already reviewed, and as we know, we should know this, that the word of God should mean more to us than just mere words of language. It's more than just writing on paper. It's more than just enunciation and breath. The word of God is spirit and life and truth.

And in this parable, the seed represents God's calling or invitation to salvation. And what is to happen with that? What happens after that's received in people's hearts?

We understand that when we are called and we welcome God's message, His word, His calling into our lives, into our hearts, we come to believe in time.

And we're for wise, we'll become convicted of what we hear. We'll become convicted of our sins. We'll repent, as we heard in today's sermon. We'll commit ourselves to God. We're baptized, and then we receive God's Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands by God's ministry. We thereafter continue. We keep growing. We continue our commitment. We endure for the rest of our lives. We just keep growing. We keep striving to bear good fruit.

Of course, I don't want to go too much into this topic. Tomorrow's Pentecost. I'm very much aware it could be nervous if you're speaking tomorrow, and the guy speaking today may encroach upon your topic. So we're going to hear much more about this tomorrow, I'm sure.

So in the parable, the seed of God's word is sown to grow in the dusty ground of human hearts.

And we're going to see it with varying results. This is where you can maybe think about this later too. Just imagine, here we are, just physical beings, dust, and yet God decided to do something very special. He put something immortal within us, something eternal with us, of his own essence. And the more you think about, the more incredible that seems.

Well, let's look at verse 15. We're going to continue now with what Jesus describes here. Verse 15 we read, speaking of what the sower sows, the siege, and these are the ones by the wayside, where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. Now again, as I referenced, wayside is another word for a well-worn footpath. Perhaps some have said even a narrow road of sorts. What we learn is that the word of God is sown liberally, everywhere, for everyone to hear. But some hearts are hardened, perhaps already entrenched with, I would say, well-worn habits or ideas, maybe religious ideas, philosophies of the world. Minds of most people today have already been set to believe evolution, for example, or human secularism, agnosticism, atheism, skepticism, or what is also called nihilism. They believe in nothing. They just believe life, death. That's it.

It's kind of a bummer attitude, I think. It's really negative. And so God's word bounces off their conscience with no effect, like seeds scattered on a hardened clay path or something. It doesn't go anywhere. And like birds on the wing, Satan, the prince of the power of the air, along with his influence over the world, the world influence, it swoops in and snatches away. Even the remembrance people may have of hearing anything about God's kingdom, God's word. Verse 16, we read, "...These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness. And they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time.

And afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble. Some translations say they fall." In hard, stony, rocky ground, seeds may quickly sprout and even grow somewhat tall, especially early in the season, in the late winter, early spring. Wheat and barley was sown in the winter time in ancient Israel, so it would grow and be ready to harvest in the season of spring. So when the weather was cool early in the season, I'd say, it was not a good season. But as soon as it started getting warmer, they shriveled up. The shallow roots of the plant can't penetrate the hard stones in the ground. I haven't had a chance to plant some flowers I've bought. They've been sitting in the plastic little things on my patio, and I forgot to water them yesterday. And so this morning, they're all, you know, and I'm thinking, I should have brought them. That would have been my visual aid for today. Yeah, their roots need to get uncrammed. They need to stretch out. Hard ground won't let God's word reach out and stretch deep within our hearts and minds and our conscience. Some are fair-weather Christians. We might call them today. Some are fair-weather Christians. We might call them today.

When the weather is good and cool and nice, oh yeah, what's that they say? Love our Lord. Yeah, I don't say that, but people say that. I don't use that pat phrase.

But as soon as testing of their beliefs and God begins, as soon as some are challenged, perhaps as I've seen, some may be challenged over keeping the Sabbath, you're going to lose your job if you don't come in today. Maybe they're challenged about tithing or conflict with another person they can't seem to cope with. For some reason, whatever trial is, they can't deal with it right. Their faith and trust in God begins to shrivel up and it withers away. Trials help us and they help God to see just how deeply rooted we are in His Word, in His way of thinking and being.

Verse 18, verse 18, we read, Now these are the ones sown among thorns. They are the ones who hear the word and the cares of this world. And here Christ elaborated a little further the deceitfulness of riches, the desires for other things, entering in, choked the Word, and it becomes unfruitful. God's Word in one's heart, like seeds striving to grow and thorn or weed-filled ground, well, it's got to compete against other noxious weed-type worldly influences, we might say. Those influences can suffocate or smother God's Word, that gospel message in us. And living in an increasingly hedonistic, materialistic society without accepting its values and ways is very challenging for anyone whom God is called and who's striving to live according to God's way of life. It's very hard. It's hard for our kids, too. Focusing on wealth and power, on being Mr. or Miss Popular, and all the other harmful things of society, if we focus on these sort of things, whether we're young or older, focusing on the wrong things like that, it's going to choke out our interest. It's going to choke out our time we might spend better with God. It's going to choke our loyalty to God. We're not going to be as interested in practicing his way of life. And so these thorns, Christ said, grew and overtook the growing plant. And eventually the plant might still have been kind of standing there, sickly looking, surrounded by weeds and thorns, but it produced nothing. Maybe it was just a stalk with a few showy leaves, but it produced no fruit. There's no grain in the head. I've seen wheat stalks. The head's actually been empty. Looks like something's there, but it's empty. Yeah.

The lesson for us is not to allow wrong things to crowd out and overtake God's presence in our heart, his word, his spirit. Very important scripture we need to be reminded of here. You can hold your place and turn to 1 John 2. I remember this is one of the first scriptures. I seem to remember being deeply embedded in my mind when I came in the church and later on at Ambassador College, 1 John 2, 15 through 17. We really need to think about this. 1 John 2, 15. Do not love the world. That would suggest we're putting it above God. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away. Remember? It's made of dust.

The world is passing away in the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever.

And again, we need to be ever mindful of this scripture. I would encourage us all to be sure we teach it to our children and help them to understand what that's all about.

Now back over to Mark 4, chapter 20. Here's the good part.

Verse 20. Jesus continues, he says, But these are the ones sown on good ground. Those who hear the word accept it, they welcome it, they embrace it, and they bear fruit.

On grain, that means they're making more grain. They're creating more grain, more of that good seed from which they sprouted. Some of this fruit, some bore 30-fold, some 60, and some 100. The good ground is the heart of those who grow, immature, in belief and obedience to God. They remain focused on God and their purpose. They're focused on what life's about. It's overcoming sin, repenting, being found worthy of salvation, of being in the kingdom of God, receiving it. And the evidence of their steady spiritual growth is seen by the righteous fruit 36-year-hundred-fold that's produced through the good works of their lives.

Let's turn to 2 Peter 1, verses 5-8. 2 Peter 1, verses 5-8.

Here Peter writes, But also for this very reason, talking about diligence, give all diligence, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control. Here's some of the fruit. To self-control perseverance or endurance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. Verse 8, For if these things are yours and abound, you're producing it, you're bearing fruit in these areas. If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is bearing good fruit.

So what we learn here is that when we choose to act in harmony with God's word and his Holy Spirit, good things are bound to happen.

Now, the parable of the sower, for Christ helps us to understand, means so much more than the multitude at that time understood, and so much more than I'm quite sure most people living who have ever lived since then or even now understand. The parable is especially for those who have received God's Holy Spirit with its sensitive ears to hear and to grasp the deeper significance of Christ's words. Sure, people can read Christ's explanation and gain from it, but there's something even deeper than that that we can understand here. We understand that God is not calling everyone now. That's why not everyone can understand this. Not everyone can understand his word. But God does have a plan of salvation, and each person will be called according to God's time, and they will understand in a way that's most feasible to them to grasp. And however God reveals his truth to them and when, we can be comforted knowing it's for the best. I cringe every time I think of how I try to convert people I know and love. It doesn't work. It has to be God's will and time. So the parable's deeper meaning is a warning and exhortation for us, God's firstfruits, for those who have received the indwelling of his Spirit, to encourage us to persevere in the way of God. We are to keep growing and producing the fruit of God's Spirit and to allow nothing to distract us or draw us away from our goal of the kingdom. Anybody's well-grounded and faithful heart, you see, can become hardened.

It can become rocky. It can be overtaken by the weedy worldliness around us.

We must give our hearts very careful cultivation.

You might think about that as you work in your gardens later this week. We must tend our hearts.

To be even more clear, let me give you four things we must be vigilant to be doing.

First, hearkening back to this parable, we must break apart the hardened paths of our sinful carnal nature.

We must break apart the hardened paths of our sinful carnal nature. These are like the old habits.

I grew up in Wheat Country in south central Nebraska, and I can remember some of these things the parable speaks about. It speaks to me from my own experience. My dad had a track, the dual tracks, where the pickup went back and forth, and the tractors.

Sometimes, when he'd go to reload the drill, he planted seed with the seed drill. We didn't walk in the field, so we were a little more advanced than that by the time I was a kid. The seed would land just like Christ says here in his story. It would land on the path, and it just lay there because it was very hard. You could hardly hoe it if you wanted to even try it. Of course, for us, all those blackbirds would show up and eat it, or the sparrows.

They ate it up quite quickly. The same thing happened when the wheat would spill out of the wagon. They put the chickens and the birds love that.

Then, in the season when dad would try to plow, sometimes he'd have to try to plow where those hard paths had been and worn. It was hard. He could hardly get his plow through there. It was so compacted, so hard. I noticed it took him a couple years, but he got it softened up. So, if he wanted to expand the field, he could. But it took a lot more work, so does it take us more work.

to soften up the hard paths in our hearts. Secondly, we must cast out the stony hardness of pride and selfishness. We must cast out the stony hardness of pride and selfishness. We didn't have rocks where I come from. I never saw rocks in the ground until I came to East Texas. So, it seems. But we did have hard pan. That's what dad called it. Hard pan. It was parts of the ground that were clay. Most of the soil we had was sand. But that hard pan was just like trying to grow something on rock. It would start out, the wheat would start out looking great, but as soon as it got hot, it would shrivel up. Maybe grow an inch or two, but that'd be it. It'd become food for grasshoppers. And it was done. Third, we must clear out the thorns of worldliness, which strive to smother God's influence in our hearts. Clear out the thorns of worldliness.

We had a lot of weeds where I come from, too. And again, I mentioned this earlier, but it's funny where the weeds are. It doesn't necessarily mean that the wheat suddenly disappears, and it's just weeds is all you see. Sometimes the wheat is still growing among the weeds, kind of like the tares you can read about in another parable. But the wheat, a lot of times, had no grain in it. It looked like good wheat, but it was choked out. All the nutrients were being drawn out by the weeds. I think there's a lesson there for us to think about. In number four, we must enrich continually the good ground of our hearts to bear good fruit. Now, I could have said fertilize or manure. That's what you do on the farm. But enriching our hearts is what we want to be doing.

Have you ever seen a big, huge field of wheat that's full and ripe? It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. When I was a kid, we used to play in the wheat fields. When it was still green, well, I'm a lot taller than I used to be, but at that time it seemed like I'd reach up under my arms. Beautiful stuff. And my brother and I and the dog, somebody in this congregation has the name of my dog, so I'm not going to say it.

Don't want to offend anybody. But our dog and us, we kids, we'd go out there and we'd sleep in it, and you could hear the crickets and the butterflies and the clouds and the wind would blow, and it'd make this rustling sound. And it was full. There's been a few more days. Actually, probably another week or so, and it's going to be ripe and dry and white. I remember, yet, we used to love playing hide and seek in that rich field. Playing hide and seek with the dog.

She couldn't see us, so we'd hide in the peak, and she kept... You wouldn't see her all of a sudden. She'd jump up, just like a dolphin in the water. She'd pop her head up to see where we were. Couldn't see us. It makes me think of what our hearts rich with the good fruit of God is supposed to be full and happy and wonderful. Imagine the fields one day, people being this field of wheat, for example. It's a beautiful thing having good ground with a rich harvest, rich abundance of wheat ready to harvest. And so we need to make sure we cultivate our heart. We can have more and more of that good ground, make more of that precious good fruit ready for harvesting. When we yield to the instruction of God's Word and His influence, we're going to grow.

That's the fact. We're going to grow. We're going to become more like God. We're going to have more of His mind. Dr. Ward said, I think maybe last week, we're going to have more of His conscience, more of God's conscience. And we will be very fruitful and good works, thoughts, words, and actions. But to do that, we must maintain a strong, close relationship with God. And we know how to do that. In cultivating our good ground, we need to make good use of the spiritual tools that God has given us. And you know what they are? Prayer, study, meditation, fasting.

I'd throw in their godly fellowship. We truly need to be iron-sharpening iron. We need to help sharpen the iron of our spiritual tools, you might say, so that we can help each other cultivate our hearts, our own, and others.

We must do these things to have more of God's strength of will in order to better combat the weediness of our carnal nature, what Paul calls that old man. And staying close to God in these ways will help us produce God's righteous character. We cannot truly grow and abound in the fruit of righteousness without God's word and his Holy Spirit in us, because remember, we're just dirt otherwise. Rich, intelligent dirt, like ourselves, are not going to produce good fruit alone. It's not possible. We've got to have God's Spirit to be able to develop the fruit of the Spirit. And you can jot this down. You know what they are. Galatians 5, 22. Galatians 5, 22, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.

We need to grow. Let's notice a few scriptures about growing. And notice in these scriptures how the way it's stated, it emphasizes that we can't grow alone. We have to have help in growing. Let's look at 1 Peter 2, verse 1 through 3. 1 Peter 2, 1 through 3. 1 Peter 2, 1 through 3, were exhorted, therefore laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Now, only God's Word provides true and pure spiritual nourishment. So my question for us is, do we eat of it daily? Or are we spiritually starving ourselves with the empty calories? Let's say empty calories of spiritual junk food the world offers us. We're also urged to bear fruit. John 15, verses 8 through 10. Let's look at that one, please. John 15, verses 8 through 10.

John 15, verses 8 through 10. Jesus said, By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit. You want to make God happy. You want to bring honor to God, bear good fruit. And we'll be His disciples. And this is how. As the Father loved me, I have also loved you, abide in my love, Jesus said. And if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love.

They had the same commandments. There's 10 of them.

And so we're reminded here that we cannot hope to bear the fruit of righteousness of the Spirit without living according to God's 10 commandments. Can you still list the 10 commandments in order? Can our children? Can our children? That's a good thing to think about and try.

God also urges us to abound. We saw that word earlier, but let's look at Philippians 1, 9 through 11. Philippians 1, 9 through 11. Philippians 1, 9 through 11. Paul writing here, And this I pray that your love may abound, may grow, meaning abound means to thrive, proliferate. Don't be scrawny in your love. Be abundant, abound. And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by, or some translations say, which come through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

So without Jesus Christ, whose selfless sacrifice made our receiving of God's Spirit possible, our understanding of His word possible, our love for God and neighbor will not flourish. It's going to shrivel up. The fruit is going to shrivel up. I don't know if you've ever seen drought-stricken wheat grain. There's nothing more disappointing to a farmer. You see a full head of grain and you take it and you rub it in your hands and you blow away the chaff and you're thinking, this is going to be good. They hope. And I've seen my dad, once summer was really bad, he practically broke down in tears. My dad never did that, but he's really depending upon that crop. And he took a couple heads and he did that and those wheat grains were so shriveled up, there's nothing to it.

Just hard like gravel. There's nothing. And he walked away. He walked away.

Came back later, said, well, next year. That was good. Next year. We don't want to have drought-stricken grains of God's fruit because we're not cultivating and drinking in of God's word.

2 Corinthians 9, 8 through 10. Let's look here, too. 2 Corinthians 9, 8 through 10.

2 Corinthians 9, verses 8 through 10.

Here we're encouraged to trust in God. Because God is going to help us to abound and increase in the righteousness that we want to produce. Verse 8, 1 Corinthians 8, 1 Corinthians 8, verse 8. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, God will give us everything we need, both spiritual and physical, that you may have an abundance for every good work. For every good work we're supposed to be producing. Verse 9, as is written, He has dispersed abroad. The idea of God is sowed. He's giving His goodness. He is given to the poor, which we are. We're just dirt. Dirt poor. He is given to the poor, and His righteousness endures forever. God loved us first, and He has shown us more compassion and mercy than I or we can comprehend. And because of His mercy and goodness towards us, He's going to keep helping us grow, in His mind, in His righteousness and love. But, of course, part of His love means that we have to help others do the same. We have to be helping others. And so, brethren, what that means is that not only are we to be growing, we've got to be a sower. We have to be sowing.

We have to be sowers. In fact, Paul exhorts us, who bear the fruit of God's Spirit—that's you and me—he exhorts us to also sow to the Spirit. I don't know if you noticed that phrase. I probably have. Let's look at Galatians 6, 7-10. Galatians 6, 7-10. So do the Spirit. Galatians 6, 7-10. Paul, again, writing here, says, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. We're not going to trick God.

For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap, cause and effect. Of course, Paul is giving us a really serious reminder and admonition.

This cause and effect reminds us that God will and does hold each of us accountable, responsible for what he has revealed to us, for what we know, to how much we've grown so far. What are we doing with it? We're held accountable for what we do and don't do. But continuing on, verse 8, Paul says, But for he who sows to his flesh, will of the flesh reap corruption, death.

But he who sows to the Spirit, will of the Spirit reap everlasting life, immortality, eternal life. And then he continues, verse 9, because farmers get tired, don't they? We get tired of sowing. But Paul says, verse 9, Let us not grow weary, don't get tired while doing good. For in due season, that harvest season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Don't give up. Therefore, he says, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

And so, we're just so to the things that are righteous and godly.

You ever seen someone so seedy? Ever watched them? I demonstrated a little bit. Perhaps it would help us to have a mental image of how we do that.

There's this outward movement of the arm. Where does the hand move from? It moves from the self, near the self. And where does it go? Outward. And just about any culture, if you hold your arm out, hand extended, as we do in sowing, what is the sign of? Typically, giving. It's the way of give.

It's a good reminder of what we're to be sowing. It's God's way of give.

It's the extended arm and open hand of the sower sowing seeds.

That is almost a universal sign, forgive, giving.

But we cannot be serving for ourselves, sowing for ourselves.

A good example of this, we'll just look at a couple scriptures here. Proverbs 20 verse 4. You don't want to sow for yourself, meaning just worrying about yourself. Proverbs 20 verse 4.

Sometimes we might be tempted, because I know we won't do it, right? Sometimes we get tempted to be lazy. Or maybe a nicer word to procrastinate. Proverbs 20 verse 4. This is an interesting proverb. The lazy man will not plow because of winter. What's the result? The next line tells us the antithetical, the opposite. Well, he will beg during harvest and have nothing. Now, you need to remember plowing here implies sowing. They go together. In ancient times, one only plowed to sow. In winter time, it may seem a really weird time to be plowing and sowing.

But that was the season farmers anciently in Israel. That's when they plowed their fields and sowed barley. And then maybe a little later or close to the same time, also in winter, they sowed the wheat. Farmers still do that. We do that in this country as well. We sow in late fall, early winter to have a spring crop. So here the lazy man didn't sow when he should have because it would have made him uncomfortable. It's not pleasant to bundle up in the cold and damp of the winter season and walk back and forth to plow and sow. But the proverb concludes, procrastinating being lazy, failing to act when he should have meant greater misery, hunger, possibly starvation, while other people who did what they're supposed to do are enjoying a well-earned harvest. We need to be doing what we need to be doing now. Not later. Not later.

Let's read one more scripture, John 12, 23, 26. God's expectation through these scriptures we see is that we be generous in spirit.

And that means doing much more than just sharing and giving him material things.

We have to be generous in sowing the good fruit of God's righteousness.

And I want to look at this scripture regarding sowing, John 12, verses 23 through 26.

John 12, 23, 26 is rather poignant. Here we read Jesus' words. Jesus answered them, Jesus said, The hours come that the Son of Man should be glorified, as before his death. Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it.

And he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, him my father will honor.

Jesus' words reflect how well he understood the consequences that his willing sacrifice and death, and how his sacrifice and death would make possible forgiveness for every human sin.

He understood that the sowing of his life would bring about an abundant and glorious harvest of individuals who would be the first fruits of an even greater and more bountiful harvest after that of nearly every human being who will have ever lived, in all to become part of the kingdom of God, to receive salvation, to be members of God's eternal family.

Jesus Christ knew that all that future harvest depended on the death of but one seed, himself, in which he willingly gave for the love and glory of God the Father, and for the fulfillment of the plan of human salvation. And so God's word, Christ's example, reveals that God requires that we humbly commit ourselves totally to him. We need to believe and obey God. We need to love and serve others. We need to follow his Son, Jesus Christ. We need to grow. We need to sow, living and giving the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. Remember the gesture of the sower, hand outward, arm extended.

We need to grow and sow. We need to give and live.

And think of it. Out of dust, out of dirt, with no life of itself, dirt produces nothing that sustains life unless there be a seed in it that grows and produces fruit, substance, something to live on.

What an amazing moment there will be when the trumpet sounds, Jesus Christ returns to establish God's kingdom on the earth.

Imagine all the good ground that's going to be transformed in that twinkling of an eye. When the dust becomes glorious spirit beatings, the first fruits of God's kingdom.

May God hasten that day.