Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.”
But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
A number of years ago I conducted a wedding for a young couple at FBCG. At the time they came to me seeking to get married, the young woman, who had grown up in church, was a follower of Christ. But the young man, who had never really attended church before, was not a believer. He was, however, very interested in spiritual things because of what he had seen in his fiancé.
Eventually, “Tom” came to faith in Christ through the ministry of FBCG and they got married in a beautiful ceremony.
The sometime in the year after they were married I met Tom for lunch just to see how he was doing in his new life. He loved being married but what he wanted to talk about most was his new and growing faith.
I remember our conversation went something like this:
“Pastor Brian, I’ve noticed the weirdest thing!”
“What’s that?”
“Well, all of my life I’d had a temper; I mean a real temper. It’s gotten me in a lot of trouble and I just haven’t been able to control myself when I get frustrated. And I have a very stressful job, so it’s a bad combination. But the last few months I’ve noticed that I just don’t get that frustrated any more - and when I do - I don’t blow up at people. It’s just weird!”
Then I said something like, “Well, I think I know what’s happening but it might sound a little spooky to you.”
He said, “What?”
I said, “Remember that I told you that when you accept Christ as your savior that he not only forgives you of your sin and gives you the gift of salvation, but that he also comes to live in your heart in the form of the Holy Spirit?”
“Yeah, I kinda remember that.”
“Well”, I said, “when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives he starts to change things.”
“What do you mean?”
Then I quoted Galatians 5:22 for him:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control.”
I said, “What you are experiencing is the Holy Spirit growing a different kind of fruit in your heart.”
He looked at me with a big grin and said, “That’s SOOOO cool!”
But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
The harvest Jesus is talking about begins when we allow the seed of the gospel to penetrate our hearts; when we open our hearts to the forgiving and transforming grace of Christ. But the seed is also designed to produce fruit in our lives; the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.
And just as a farmer doesn’t harvest corn until the stalks are fully grown, so also the harvest of the gospel isn’t complete until we are fully grown!
Pastor Brian Coffey
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