I. EXORDIUM:
Please raise your hand if you're a farmer.
II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:
General Believers
III. OBJECTIVES:
To promote bearing much fruit
IV. TEXT:
Matthew 13:23
The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted.
Pray that God will put in us a good heart that bears much fruit, a heart after God's own heart, a doer of the Word and let us have a huge harvest.
V. THESIS:
Take God's own heart.
VI. TITLE:
Good Soil Bears Fruits
VII. EXPLICATION:
A. Author: Matthew, also called Levi, one of the twelve (12) apostles, Mark 2:14, Jew who was a Roman tax collector, Matthew 10:3, called a sinner because he enters Roman court.
Mark 2:14
As he was walking along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax collector's desk. Jesus told him, "Follow me!" So Levi got up and followed him.
Matthew 10:3
Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
B. Audience: to the Jews
C. Keywords: Fulfilled
D. Purpose: To show Jesus of Nazareth was the Kingly Messiah of Jewish Prophecy.
E. Job/Profession:
Tax collector, a publican.
A Jew prohibited to enter courts of non-Jew to deliver the collected tax to the Roman (non-Jews). His profession made him a sinner.
(Isaiah 52:11, 2 Corinthians 6:17, Colossians 2:21, Genesis 3:3, Acts 10:28, Acts 11:3, John 4:9)
Isaiah 52:11
"Depart! Depart! Go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
2 Corinthians 6:17
Therefore, "Get away from them and separate yourselves from them," declares the Lord, "and don't touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.
Colossians 2:21
"Don't handle this! Don't taste or touch that!"
Genesis 3:3
"but as for the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You are not to eat from it, nor are you to touch it, or you will die.'"
Acts 10:28
He told them, "You understand how wrong it is for a Jew to associate or visit with a gentile. But God has shown me that I should stop calling anyone common or unclean,
Acts 11:3
They said, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them!"
John 4:9
The Samaritan woman asked him, "How can you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" Because Jews do not have anything to do with Samaritans.
Events that will make Matthew unclean or a sinner:
1. Matthew will touch the money of the people.
2. Often thought of him stealing money, or adding charges to the people that will go straight to his pocket.
3. He will enter Roman courts to deliver the money.
4. He might be probably advised to eat with them if he has a good tax collection that day.
5. Touch unclean hands of the Romans.
VIII. MAIN BODY:
A. Good soil is the heart that accepts God's message:
1. Different hearts (Matthew 13:18-23)
Matthew 13:18-23
Mat 13:18 Now listen to the meaning of the story about the farmer:
Mat 13:19 The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts.
Mat 13:20 The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away.
Mat 13:21 But they don't have deep roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.
Mat 13:22 The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything.
Mat 13:23 The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted.
a. Those who don't understand. (Matthew 13:19)
Matthew 13:19
The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts.
b. Those who have accepted but not very long. (Matthew 13:21) - temporary Christians
Matthew 13:21
But they don't have deep roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.
c. Choked out heart (Matthew 13:22)
Matthew 13:22
The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything.
d. Those who hear, understood and produced much fruit.
B. The difference is the fruit.
1. The only way to avoid being a temporary Christian, or a choked out Christian, is to produce much fruit.
a. If you stay joined to the LORD, and the LORD is joined to you. (John 15:5)
John 15:5
I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me.
b. Make disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28:19)
Matthew 28:19
Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
c. Parable of the fig tree that did not bear fruit. (Luke 13:6-9)
Luke 13:6-9
Luk 13:6 Jesus then told them this story: A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. One day he went out to pick some figs, but he didn't find any.
Luk 13:7 So he said to the gardener, "For three years I have come looking for figs on this tree, and I haven't found any yet. Chop it down! Why should it take up space?"
Luk 13:8 The gardener answered, "Master, leave it for another year. I'll dig around it and put some manure on it to make it grow.
Luk 13:9 Maybe it will have figs on it next year. If it doesn't, you can have it cut down."
- 3 years Paul was 3 years a baby Christian and was not allowed to teach (Galatians 1:17-19)
Galatians 1:17-19
Gal 1:17 I didn't say a word, not even to the men in Jerusalem who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went at once to Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.
Gal 1:18 Three years later I went to visit Peter in Jerusalem and stayed with him for fifteen days.
Gal 1:19 The only other apostle I saw was James, the Lord's brother.
d. Abnormal growth is a tree that don't bear fruit. - so it was cursed by the LORD, for the LORD does not want anything abnormal.
(Matthew 21:18-22; Mark 11:12-14, 20-21)
Matthew 21:18-22
Mat 21:18 When Jesus got up the next morning, he was hungry. He started out for the city,
Mat 21:19 and along the way he saw a fig tree. But when he came to it, he found only leaves and no figs. So he told the tree, "You will never again grow any fruit!" Right then the fig tree dried up.
Mat 21:20 The disciples were shocked when they saw how quickly the tree had dried up.
Mat 21:21 But Jesus said to them, "If you have faith and don't doubt, I promise that you can do what I did to this tree. And you will be able to do even more. You can tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it will.
Mat 21:22 If you have faith when you pray, you will be given whatever you ask for."
Mark 11:12-14
Mar 11:12 When Jesus and his disciples left Bethany the next morning, he was hungry.
Mar 11:13 From a distance Jesus saw a fig tree covered with leaves, and he went to see if there were any figs on the tree. But there were not any, because it wasn't the season for figs.
Mar 11:14 So Jesus said to the tree, "Never again will anyone eat fruit from this tree!" The disciples heard him say this.
Mark 11:20-21
Mar 11:20 As the disciples walked past the fig tree the next morning, they noticed that it was completely dried up, roots and all.
Mar 11:21 Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree. Then Peter said, "Teacher, look! The tree you put a curse on has dried up."
C. Bearing fruit is easy if we abide in the vine.
IX. CONCLUSION:
Challenge to bear much fruit.
