In the Gospel books, our Lord Jesus gives us a parable that we as Christians ought to know and understand. There is a beautiful paradox in what I just said; we ought to know and understand this parable and yet, we cannot understand this parable without the grace of God, which is exactly what this parable addresses. He alone, by the sovereign work of the Spirit, gifts us with eyes to see and ears to hear; not just with this parable, but the Word in general. Only He alone can gift us with the illumination we need to understand His special revelation.
When we read the parable of the sower, we as Christians can understand that our Lord was addressing the idea of the Gospel taking root in our hearts. Matthew 13:3-9 says the following:
3 And He told them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and they sprang up immediately, because they had no depth of soil. 6 But after the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 But others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much. 9 The one who has ears, let him hear.”
For the sake of this post, I want to focus and draw upon verse 6, “But after the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.” The concept of “bearing fruit” should be familiar to our Christian ears. We should know specifically what this concept is referring to in the Christian life. We should be able to provide examples of what bearing fruit is. As we are able to understand what it means to bear fruit, it gives us a lens to examine our hearts and our own Christian walk. It also provides guidance on how to discern the body of Christ, I’m referring to the Church.
But back to verse 6, notice what it says; “because they had no root, they withered away.” We can see when people hear the Gospel and there initially appears to be a change of heart, but then the person sooner, rather than later, returns to their old way of doing things and denounces Christ altogether. In fact, I have seen many people appearing to have harder hearts after an apparent response to the Gospel than they did before hearing it. Other people there is no change at all. Other people appear to be saved after hearing the Gospel but when trials come, they turn away. Some people, I believe, are genuinely saved but their rate of Christian maturity is not as strong as others. The parable of the sower addresses all these different groups and shows us the different responses the heart has to the Gospel.
I pray we all aspire to be a different group than the others listed above, which our Lord also addresses in this parable: the group that hears the Gospel and by God’s Grace, and us working out our salvation, properly respond, mature, and actively grow in our roles as being Christ imitators. If you’re genuinely imitating Christ, with the intention of glorifying Him, it’s theologically safe to say you’re bearing fruit.
But what does it take to bear fruit? You think of a plant, bush, or tree for instance. The only reason anything can ever grow, is because the root is growing deeper into the ground. The roots become longer, thicker, stronger, and transcend deeper into the soil. If you have ever inspected the roots of an old healthy tree, you will find that the roots often time appear to be in the shape of a lovely maze underground. The roots have grown so much overtime that they can’t be contained in one space. The roots eventually spread and cover a series of grounds. When you look at that healthy tree, you can tell that something awesome is before your eyes, even if your eyes don’t have the ability to observe the multitude of roots below the surface of the ground.
With all of this being said, this is the prayer that I have for myself, my family, my friends, people I have never met and even my enemies: that the Gospel would take root in our hearts that we may bear fruit for Christ. “Bearing Root” is the name my wife and I decided on for our blog for this very idea. Once the Gospel takes root in your heart, inevitably you no longer belong to yourself and everything you do should be for Christ. Everything should be out of adoration for what Christ did for us on the cross. This idea has major implications for your life. To have Christ be your intent, focus, and foundation to any and everything you think, say, and do is the Christian goal. Though we all fall short of that everyday, myself especially included, may it ever be our lives mission. May we persevere until the end.
My wife and I pray that the things we write about in this blog may find you well. We seek to discuss all the lists of things we encounter in this life, but with Christ in mind. Whether it be work or play, food or fasting, baking or homesteading, may it all be rooted in Christ. I pray that we would all bear fruit and therefore be bearing root.