OPEN: Back in the 70’s, a man and his wife were driving to thru Cape Cod, when they spotted a field loaded with blueberries. They stopped and proceeded to eat their fill. As they turned back to the car, the husband noticed that the rear door was open. In the back sat a Cape Codder munching away on the cantaloupe that they had bought at a fruit stand.
“Hey,” shouted the husband, “that’s my cantaloupe!”.
The old fellow swallowed the bite he had in his mouth and, with a nod in the direction of the field replied, “Them’s my blueberries.”
APPLY: Those tourists had treated that field of blueberries as if it belonged to them. But the field didn’t belong to them. The blueberries didn’t belong to them.
I. Likewise… there are people who forget that God is like that farmer: He owns everything. He owns everything because He created everything.
And, even more importantly, He owns us.
When we became Christians we gave ourselves over to Him. When we confessed that He was now our Lord and Master, we were declaring that we now belonged to Jesus. When we were buried in the waters of Christians baptism, we “put on Christ.” We said to Christ – “you own me.” “You own EVERY part of me.”
Paul writes in Romans 7:4 “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to… him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
In other words: Jesus died for us… He bought us… AND because of that He “owns us,” and has the right to expect that we will bear “Fruit.” He has every right to expect that we will be productive with what He has given us.
IN FACT: throughout Jesus’ ministry, He constantly talked about the fact that we should bear fruit:
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit— fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
Matthew 12:33 "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.
John 15:4-5 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit…
In fact, Jesus goes even further, declaring
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. (John 15:1-2)
What that tells us is: bearing fruit is a serious thing with God!
II. That brings us to our text this morning…
AND I specifically want us to look at Mark 4:8
“Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."
Now – what does that mean?
ILLUS: One man I read, pointed out that “Reaping more than we sow is fundamental law of the harvest. Every farmer lives by this principle. If his work only returned exactly what he had planted in the ground, his labor would be futile. He would never gain anything extra from his efforts so that he could use it to feed his family or sell it for a profit.
Consider the potential of one kernel of corn. One kernel of corn will produce one corn stalk. Each stalk produces one ear of corn. The average ear of corn has 250 kernels, so that a single kernel of corn will yield a 250% increase.”
Now… different plants will have a different numbers of kernels or seeds depending upon what type of plants they are… BUT, they will all produce a crop THAT IS MORE than what was planted. Or… as Jesus said they grow and produce “a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times” Mark 4:8
So, what Jesus is telling us is this: if the true seed of the Kingdom has been planted in our hearts
… we will bear fruit,
And WHEN we bear fruit, it will be yield far more than the single seed that was planted in our heart.
That is what God expects of us. He expects us to bear fruit.
III. So, what constitutes fruit in our lives?
Well… there were three things that I could find described in Scripture.
1. 1st - We’re expected to bear fruit in our attitudes
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
· Now… it helps to understand the fruit of the Spirit by what it is contrasted with in Galatians 5:14-21
Paul implied that the Galatian church had people that we’re too happy with each other…
“The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
… The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
So… if I’m bearing fruit (of the Spirit) then
· I’m not going to be biting and devouring other Christians…
· I’m not going to have hatred in my heart towards others
· I’m not going to be jealous or envious of my brothers and sisters in Christ
· I won’t have anything to do with anything that would divide up the church or create dissention in the congregation
Instead, Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that bearing the fruit of the Spirit means
· I’m going to seek to create an atmosphere of love around me
· I’ll work to create an atmosphere of Joy in the church
· I’ll be a peace maker when people are mad at each other
· I’ll have patience with others that are hard to get along with
· I’ll be kind even when those around me don’t deserve it… And on, and on, and on…
(“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”)
As Jesus said: “You’ll know a tree by it’s fruit” and you SERIOUSLY want to bear good fruit on this issue.
2. Now, your attitudes will lead to your actions. Paul wrote: “…we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work…” Colossians 1:10
· In others words… when you bear fruit… you will be doing things
· … you’ll be doing “good works”
· … good things for Jesus
These “good works” won’t save you (you’re already saved). Nor should you think of them as actions you can do to “get something out of” God. You don’t use “good works” to barter with God. No… these “good works” are just the by-products of a grateful heart. These are the things you do because you LOVE Jesus.
ILLUS: On a sweltering summer day, a mother was scooping ice cream into cones and told her 4 children they could "buy" a cone from her for a hug.
Almost immediately, the kids lined up to make their purchases. The 3 youngest each gave their mother a quick hug, grabbed their cones and raced back outside. But when her teenage son at the end of the line finally got his turn to "buy" his ice cream, he gave two hugs. He smiled and said “keep the change.”
Bearing Fruit… is doing things for God because you love Him - NOT BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO - but because you want to say “keep the change.”
That’s what it means to produce the fruit of “good works.”
(At this point we introduced our Talent Sheets to the congregation)
3. So – bearing fruit for God involves our attitudes and our actions… And those attitudes and actions will hopefully lead to the last aspect of how we can “bear fruit” for God
Proverbs 11:30 “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.”
You see - ultimately – we want to “win souls” for Christ. That’s our major goal.
Well, how do I win people to Christ?
a. I win them by inviting them to church
b. I win them by talking to them about my Jesus
c. But – ultimately - I win souls by my attitudes and my actions - by the FRUIT of our hearts that they see in our lives
CLOSE: In 1997, a young Christians named Chris was an employee for a large funeral home in his city. It came to pass, that this funeral home purchased a 2nd funeral home across town, and long with the funeral home, his company gained two morticians – one of which was named Eric - who had lived on top of the funeral home for eighteen years.
Eric was 6’3’ and weighed about 240 lbs. He was an ex-professional baseball player - loud, obnoxious and arrogant. Eric was a crude man and a womanizer. In short, he was a worldly man. He came from an abusive, dysfunctional family and had been an alcoholic since he was a teenager. Chris knew that working with him on a daily basis was going to be difficult. When Eric noticed the difference in Chris’ life, Chris told him he was a Christian. "That’s fine for you," Eric said, "but don’t go preaching any of that Christian [curse word] to me."
"That day," Chris said, "I decided to put him on my prayer list. I thought OK God, let’s see what you can do!"
As time went by, Eric had real battles with his alcoholism. It finally got to the point where he went into a clinic to get cleaned up. His job was on the line & he knew he had to do something. He was gone for a month. Upon his return he apologized to everyone, and was ready to work and stay away from the alcohol. The program told him he needed a spiritual focus to help him combat his alcoholism. Chris tried to tell him at that time what a relationship with Christ was and how God could change his life. He still didn’t want any part of it & quickly shut Chris down claiming that the spiritual focus could be anything or anyone. "Besides," he would say, "I’ve done way too many rotten things for Jesus to love me."
Eric stayed clean for a year. Then he had a relapse. Eric told Chris that he had started drinking again and was not sure what to do. Again, Chris told him where he could start.
Once again, Chris ended the conversation, not wanting to hear about Jesus.
In May 2001, Chris prayed faithfully every day for several weeks for some of his friends and family members to be saved. Eric was one of the persons on his list. Chris prayed for Eric faithfully, not missing a single day, for 8 weeks.
The praying did not appear to be changing Eric much, but it did change Chris. He became more sensitive to opportunities to witness to Eric because Eric was specifically on his mind. Chris was on a mission!
On the 8th week, Chris went in to work like normal and was met at the door by another worker who told him "Chris, you need to get over to Eric’s, he is at home not doing good. I think he needs God and I figured you are the one to go visit him."
Chris went to the funeral home, where Eric lived, and knocked on the door. He heard a very feeble, "the door is open." Eric was still in his pajamas and looked very depressed. He would not look at Chris. Instead, he just stared straight ahead.
"What’s going on?" Chris asked.
"I don’t know," Eric said, "my life is a mess and I don’t know what to do."
"How can I help?" Chris asked.
Eric responded, "For the past four years I have watched you and your family and I’ve noticed that you have a peace and joy that I have never had." Then he said, "I want it."
“The answer is simple," Chris said, "You need Jesus."
Finally, Eric said, "Tell me about Jesus." For the next hour he sat and listened, with no sarcasm, jokes, or teasing that Chris had become so accustomed to. When Chris finished giving the plan of Salvation, Eric said, "I want Jesus in my life!"
Today, Eric is a different person. The crudeness is mostly gone & when it does show up, Eric expresses remorse. His language is cleaner. He has read through the entire New Testament & has been faithful at church. After Chris baptized him, Eric whispered in his ear two simple words-- "thank you."
