Thursday, Oct. 10

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As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.  - Luke 8:15

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”   - Matthew 13:23

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus is urging His followers to be “Good Soil”.  He wants us to receive His word into our hearts the way that good soil receives a seed.  He wants us to be receptive the His Spirit and His Word so that He can produce the fruit of His Righteousness in our lives!

What does it really mean to be “Good Soil”?

Being Good Soil means taking the time to read the Word and meditate on its meaning. Even among regular church goers, so many are simply ignorant of what the Bible says because they do not take the time consistently to read it and think about what it means. In our busy schedules, we often rush through devotions (if we have them at all) without taking the time to chew on what the text means and how it applies to our lives.

Carl W. Sharsmith was an American naturalist and Yosemite park ranger, famous for his knowledge and interpretation of the Sierra Nevada.  He taught botany at various universities, and even discovered a species of flower in the Sierra. Carl spent over 50 summers as a ranger and guide in Yosemite National Park.  He was said to have explored nearly every "nook and cranny" of Yosemite's High Sierra.  

Old Carl loved the everything about the mountains and he took particular delight in the spectacular beauty of Yosemite, and he was always discovering some new facet of it to revel in.  He once said that in order to motivate people to learn, "people are not interested in facts. The greater appeal is to the heart." 

There is a story that one afternoon a female tourist rushed up to him and said, “I’ve only got an hour to spend at Yosemite,” what should I do?  Where should I go?”  The old naturalist ranger finally found a voice to reply.  “Ah, lady, only an hour.” He repeated it slowly. “I suppose that if I had only an hour to spend at Yosemite, I’d just walk over there by the river and sit down and cry.”

Just as there is enough in Yosemite to spend a lifetime of summers exploring, so there is enough in the Bible to spend your lifetime digging out and meditating on.

Being Good Soil means always seeking to apply the Word to your own heart and life. The two questions that Paul asked the Lord on the Damascus Road are good ones to ask when you read the Word or listen to it being preached: “Who are You, Lord?” and, “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:8, 10). Those two questions are linked: If He is the risen Lord and Savior, who gave Himself for my sins, then it has a great deal of bearing on how I must live.

To read the Word without applying it doesn’t do us any good. The Word was not given to fill our heads with interesting facts, but to change our hearts into conformity to Jesus Christ. I have met Christians who can tell you the tense of Greek verbs in the New Testament and who will argue the subtle nuance of some theological point, but they are angry and insensitive toward their families. The whole point of Scripture is summed up in the two great commandments, to teach us how to love God and to love one another. If we aren’t learning to do that, we’re missing the point.

Oh Lord help us by Your Spirit to become truly good soil, so that we might receive the seed of Your gospel into our hearts and bear the fruit of Your righteousness as we grow into the likeness of Your Son - Amen.

Jeff Frazier

Wednesday, Oct. 9

To listen to the audio version, click here. 

And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears let him hear.”
  - Matthew 13:8-9

Yesterday we saw that the only thing that distinguishes “good soil” from all of the other soils is the fact that it yields fruit.  Fruitfulness is the distinguishing characteristic of the genuine believer.  Notice that Jesus does not say that the good soil is perfect, He never says it has no weeds or rocks, or problems, He simply says that it bears fruit. 

So, if Jesus clearly wants us to be “good soil” as His followers, and if fruitfulness is the distinguishing mark of good soil, then let’s ask the question - what can we do to produce more fruit in our lives?

The answer is - Nothing!

You cannot do anything to produce more fruit in your own life, that is God’s job!
Jesus makes this abundantly clear in John’s gospel, where He says;  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5).

This is one of the things that can really trip us up in the Christian life, we think we are responsible for producing spiritual fruit in our lives, but we are not - God is!  This is not to say that we have no role to play at all in our own spiritual growth and fruitfulness, we do.  However, we must always remember that we are not the source or the power behind it - Jesus is!

Simply put, we are not in the production or manufacturing business, we are in the distribution business!  God works in us to produce the fruit of His Spirit, our job is to let his work be seen and to share it with others.  Notice in John 15 that Jesus says we are the branches, and the job of the branch is to “bear” fruit.  Bearing is not the same thing as producing.  The Vine (Jesus) is the fruit producer, we are simply the fruit bearers.  What does it mean to bear fruit?  Well, just as fruit hangs on the branch for all to see, so too we let the work of Christ in us show through for all to see.  

This distinction between fruit bearing and fruit producing is absolutely crucial to the Christian life.  If we get this wrong, if we start to think that it is entirely up to us to make ourselves into spiritually fruitful people, then the Christian life can become a very heavy burden.  Think about this for just a moment...have you ever tried, by sheer force of your own will and effort, to make yourself be more patient?  It doesn’t work does it?  You may be able to hold back from acting impatient or from saying impatient things, but does that mean that you have truly become a patient person in your heart?  No, it doesn’t.  This is the difference between behavior modification, and genuine spiritual transformation (fruit).  God’s agenda is not simply to modify your behavior, but to transform you completely into the likeness of His Son!  

When you accept the fact that you are not a fruit producer, but only a fruit bearer and a fruit distributor, then you will discover that a whole new kind of freedom and joy open up to you as you allow god to do His transforming work in you!

Jeff Frazier

Tuesday, Oct. 8

To listen to the audio version, click here.

As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.  - Luke 8:15

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”   - Matthew 13:23

At the close of the Parable of the Sower, Jesus describes what he calls “good soil”.  Jesus gives us only one distinguishing characteristic of “good soil”.  There is only one thing that separates good soil from the other three kinds; hard, rocky, and thorny.  Do you see what it is?  It is Fruit!  

Notice that good soil is not the only soil that receives the seed, both the shallow and thorny soil receive the seed.  Neither is the good soil the only soil in which things grow, there is growth in both the thorny and shallow soil too, although it is short-lived.  But, it is only the good soil that yields any fruit when harvest time comes.  It is interesting, and a little discouraging, to discover that only about one quarter of the seed that is sown with end up producing any fruit!  

When you think about it, even though Jesus describes four separate conditions of soil, in the end, there are really only 2 types; fruitful and unfruitful.  This idea of fruitfulness is a very important theme throughout the Bible.  Fruitfulness is the primary image used to describe the lives of those who obey and trust the living God.  The Apostle Paul describes just exactly what this fruit is in the lives of “good soil” believers.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.   - Galatians 5:22-23

In the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, the prophet contrasts the fruitful life of the one who trusts in God with the life of the who trusts in himself.

Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,
    whose heart turns away from the Lord.

He is like a shrub in the desert,
    and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salt land.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.

He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:5-8

Jesus Himself says that fruitfulness is the mark of the true believer, By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (John 15:8)

How do you recognize a genuine Christ-follower, someone who is good soil?  You look for the evidence of spiritual fruit in their lives.  This does NOT mean that fruitfulness is what saves you or what makes you a Christian, not at all!  Christ is the one who saves through His death and resurrection and becoming a Christian means simply trusting in Him.  However, the Bible is very clear that genuine spiritual fruit is the evidence that a person has placed his/her trust in Jesus.  So fruit doesn’t make you a Christian, but it does prove that you are one!

Jeff Frazier

Monday, Oct. 7

To listen to the audio version, click here. 

And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears let him hear.”  
- Matthew 13:3-9

As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.  - Luke 8:15

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”   - Matthew 13:23

Several years ago I went on a spiritual retreat with a few other pastors and friends of mine.  The purpose of the retreat was to pour into pastors who spend most of their time pouring into others.  The retreat was held in the mountains of New Mexico, it was an absolutely gorgeous setting.  On the second night, we were sitting in an outdoor amphitheater for a worship service under the stars, the music was fantastic and it was a beautiful evening.  About 15 minutes or so into the service I found myself overwhelmed by the glory of God.  

It was one of those rare moments when you completely forget where you are because you are so caught up in the moment and the presence of God.  I felt both sorrow and conviction over my sin, and at the same time, great joy at knowing that I was forgiven and loved by God.  I stayed in that place for several more minutes when the service was over, not wanting it to end.  

When I finally caught up with my friends, they were sitting around a fire talking together.  I was excited to talk to them about what we had just experienced.  To my surprise, they were engaged in a heated debate about which of the two worship leaders was better.  I remember thinking to myself, “They missed it!? How could they miss it?”  

The truth is that we all “miss it” from time to time.  None of are 100% tuned in to the Spirit of God 100% of the time.  In fact, years later, I was attending a C.S. Lewis conference with a mentor of mine.  We sat together and listened to some of brightest and best scholars in the world lecture on the finer points of Lewis’ literary and theological impact.  Most of these lectures would later become books that Lewis geeks, like me, would purchase and read.  

During one such lecture, I remember thinking to myself, “I hope this guys is a better writer than he is a speaker, because this is seriously boooooring!”  When we walked out together afterward, my friend and mentor turned to me and said, “Wasn’t that amazing?  Weren’t you so blessed by his insights?”  I was immediately humbled, here was this man who I considered to be brilliant, and he was praising a lecturer that I had just been criticizing and judging in my heart - I missed it!

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus clearly explains that there will always be those whose hearts are too hard, too shallow, or too distracted to really take in the message of His amazing grace.  Most of us tend to think about this in terms of a person who either receives the message of saving grace and becomes a Christian, or not, but this parable is also given to those of us who have placed our trust in Jesus Christ.  We too can become hardened, distracted, or shallow and miss the Word of God. 

There are many layers of meaning for Jesus’ great Parable of the Sower, but I think one of the most important reasons He told this amazing parable is to make sure that we don’t miss it!

Jeff Frazier

Friday, October 4

To listen to the audio version, click here. 

Luke 12:16-21

“The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

“‘Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

I think that all of us carry a secret number around in our heads. That number isn’t our Social Security number or the PIN number for our debit card; that number represents how much more money it would take for us to be really happy, really secure.

Take a moment and think about your number. 

Got it?

When I was a college student my number was about $100.      I really thought a hundred bucks would do the trick. When I was a young married guy my number would have been something like $1000; you know, enough to have a little breathing room. Today, with two kids in college and two more headed that direction, my number is somewhat higher! But I have a number and so do you.

While there’s nothing wrong with earning and saving money; and nothing wrong with sound financial planning; the number we carry around in our heads can eventually become that which both distracts and distorts our hearts.

That number can create worry, stress and fear. It can create greed, unhealthy ambition and workaholism.

It can cause us to sacrifice our time, our families, our health and our faith on the altar the number builds in our hearts.

In Jesus’ parable of the “rich fool” the number takes the shape of a bigger barn. This parable is jarring to a reader embedded in our North American culture because, at first, the man’s vision for a bigger barn seems to make perfect sense! Isn’t this exactly what we would expect a successful farmer, businessman, or entrepreneur to do? Of course it is!

Build a bigger barn; build a bigger warehouse; build a bigger operation; build a bigger company; build a bigger house; after all, bigger is always better right? I mean, is there really any other option?

God’s response to the man tells us we are asking the wrong question:

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

Jesus is telling us that the question is not the size of our barns or the number we have tucked away in our heads, but rather, the condition of our souls.

As pastor and writer John Ortberg has eloquently put it, when you play a game of monopoly, no matter how many houses and hotels and streets you own, eventually it all goes back in the box.

The same is true in our lives!

Jesus is not saying that material success or shrewd financial planning is wrong; he is saying that building bigger barns without an eternal perspective is pointless and foolish!

Notice the rich man’s motivation:

‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”

See it? His motivation is himself. He sees his crops as his; he sees his barns as his; he sees everything through the lens of his own comfort and pleasure. 

The gaping hole in his perspective is that God isn’t part o fit. He fails to recognize that all he has comes from God and belongs to God. He fails to ask whether God has a greater purpose in mind for his wealth than storing it up for himself.

God’s word for him is stark, “You fool!”

In the parable of the sower that we have been studying all week, Jesus says:

The one who receives the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

Jesus is warning us that wealth has a way of choking out gospel growth in our hearts; making us unfruitful in his kingdom. 

May we allow the gospel to penetrate deep into the soil of our hearts so that when we are blessed with abundance our desire is not to store it up for ourselves, but rather to invest in the kingdom harvest.

Pastor Brian Coffey

Thursday, October 3

To listen to the audio version, click here.

Mark 10:17-23

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good - except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.”

At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

At first glance this story about Jesus and a rich young man seems to be all about money. It seems as if Jesus is condemning wealth and those who possess it. 

But that would be a huge misunderstanding of the story!

This is not primarily a story about money at all; it’s a story about a cluttered heart; a heart yearning for God but settling for the lesser god of wealth.

The young man starts with the central question of human existence, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

By his response, one gets the sense that Jesus already knows where the young man is going and so he gets out way ahead of him.

“Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”

By saying this Jesus is establishing right off the bat that the young man isn’t as good as he thinks he is. But even so Jesus gives him a chance to declare himself by quoting a few of the commandments.

The young man tips his hand, and his heart, by responding, “All these I have kept since I was a boy.”

In other words, “I am truly good; good enough that I think God owes me eternal life; after all, that’s what I deserve.”

Now notice the next line, as touching and heartbreaking a line as there is in the Bible:

Jesus looked at him and loved him.

Why? Shouldn't Jesus be at least a little irritated at the young man’s cheekiness, if not outright arrogance?

No. Jesus loved him. He loved him because he already knew the impostor “god” that dwelled within the young man’s heart. He already knew that, apart from being born again by the gospel of the kingdom, the young man was lost.

So Jesus goes straight for the heart:

“One thing you lack,” he said, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.”

Is Jesus saying that we can buy our way into heaven by giving to the poor? No! The gospel is free; salvation is a gift of faith that cannot be earned or bought. Rather, Jesus is confronting the false god of money that holds this young man’s heart hostage; and he’s doing so because he loves him. 

Jesus is saying that in order for the seed of the gospel to grow we must be willing to surrender the “lesser gods” of our hearts. In this case, Jesus called the young man to rid himself of the idol of wealth through radical generosity. But, sadly, the young man’s response reveals the depth of his love of money:

At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

The point is not that we should all be poor; or that we should give all our wealth to the poor! The point is to take a good look at our hearts and ask, “Who or what do we serve?” Do we serve our wealth and the pursuit of wealth? Or do we serve the God who saves us by his grace; and does our wealth serve the God who gives it to us in the first place?

Perhaps Jesus was thinking of that rich young man when he said:

The one who receives the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

Pastor Brian Coffey

Wednesday, October 2

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Matthew 13:22

The one who receives the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

Years ago I had a lunch conversation that I have never forgotten. The lunch was with a man who attended my father’s church and who was an alumnus of the college I was attending at the time. So even though he was 20 years my senior, he invited me to lunch just because we shared that particular connection.

But during the course of lunch we talked about much more than our common experience at the school. He told me part of the story of his life as well.

He had graduated, gotten married, finished law school and built a very successful career as an attorney. As I recall, he and his wife had 5 or 6 children and enjoyed what he called a “perfect life” for a number of years. But as time went on and he continued to climb the ladder of success, cracks began to form in the foundation of his life. His work kept him away from home for long hours every week. The stresses of raising children pretty much alone left his wife increasingly resentful and, over time, she developed a dependence on alcohol.

To make a very long story short, by the time he realized how unhappy she had become, she had already filed for divorce. At the time of our lunch conversation he was living in an apartment by himself, struggling to find time to visit his children, and struggling to make sense of his life.

The part of the conversation that I remember word for word, even after 35 years, is the sentence he used to describe his life as he worked his way to professional success.

He said, “Brian, I just lived at a higher and higher level of poverty.”

Jesus said:

The one who receives the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

There is some debate as to whether Jesus is using the images of rocky, and thorny soil to refer to those who have rejected the gospel (it’s pretty clear that the “path” refers to hearts hardened against the gospel and have therefore rejected God’s grace), or if he might be referring to those who have actually received the gospel but in whom gospel growth has been impeded. 

I tend to think the latter is the case; for two reasons. First, it seems that in both the rocky and thorny soils the gospel seed has, in fact, penetrated and begun to grow. Second, I think Jesus is referring to those who have believed because I have known so many people like this.

I think that thorny soil, or “the distracted heart”, is the defining soil type of our modern North American culture. We live at an unprecedented time in human history. We are bombarded by more information in a week than people living in the 18th century were exposed to in a lifetime. We have more options for entertainment and leisure, and enjoy a standard of living higher than perhaps any civilization before us. Yet, despite all this, we report higher levels of stress than almost any culture in the world. We are busy; we are occupied; but, as a whole, we are neither happy nor healthy.

The result is, even for those who have received the good news of the gospel, who claim to follow Christ as Lord and Savior, a struggle to pay attention to the voice of God amidst so many competing voices, and to keep the pursuit of wealth from the center of our hearts. We struggle to recognize the deceitfulness of wealth.

Again, there is nothing wrong with earning a living; nothing wrong with wealth, per se; but there are at least two pervasive lies in our culture that conspire to choke out the growth of the gospel in our lives.

The first lie is: “More money will make you happier.”

The second follows closely behind: “If more money makes you happier, then it’s worth any sacrifice to get it.”

Who, or what, stands at the center of your heart? Who or what do you serve? Who or what do you want more than anything else?

Have you ever been willing, like my friend from years ago, to sacrifice your family, your relationships, and the growth of the gospel in your heart for the pursuit of wealth? 

Ask Jesus to rule in your heart in such a way that your life produces good fruit.

Pastor Brian Coffey