Bearing fruit requires deep roots

 

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.  --John 15:8

A fellow once came up to a Baptist preacher in the market, and started teasing him.  "You Baptists," he said.  "You think that you're the only ones going to Heaven."  The wise old preacher replied, "It's even worse than that, Friend.  We believe that a lot of Baptists won't make it to heaven, either."

I grew up in the Baptist church and must have heard that joke a hundred times, but you can really insert any Christian denomination in there and it will be just as true.  A wise evangelist knows that of the millions that went to hear Billy Graham preach back in the day, not all of them responded to the Gospel.  Of the thousands that responded to the altar calls, not all of them became true believers.  Of the hundreds that fill every church in every community in every town across this nation and around the world, only a tiny fraction will come to know God on a personal level.  Nevertheless, a wise evangelist keeps on preaching the word of the Lord.

Jesus knew this when He preached to the multitudes by the sea.  We see in the fourth chapter of Mark,

Again, He began to teach beside the sea.  And a very large crowd gathered about Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.  And He was teaching them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them: "Listen!  Behold, a sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.  Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil.  And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.  Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.  And other seed fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."  And He said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."  --Mark 4:1-9

I have been told that the Sea of Galilee is a natural amphitheater.  People who have been on a Holy Land tour are amazed that sound travels so far in that particular area that when Jesus sat on the boat a few feet from the shore, everyone in the multitude could hear His words.  That does not mean, however, that they understood what He was saying.

And when He was alone, those around Him with the Twelve asked Him about the parables.  And He said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that 'they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven'."  --Mark 4:10-12

Jesus was explaining to His disciples that they would carry His message forward, but that the message would not be accepted and they would face ridicule, persecution, and even death.  His reference to Isaiah 6:8-13 was meant to encourage them to keep on preaching the Word, no matter what.  The disciples knew the story of Isaiah, how God asked, "Whom shall I send, and who will go out for us?"  Isaiah promptly responded, "Here I am!  Send me." (Isaiah 6:8).  You may have heard sermons based on this verse, but like Paul Harvey used to say, here's the REST of the story.  God told Isaiah, "Got and say to this people, 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but doe no perceive'." (Isaiah 6:9).

Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, and He commissioned the disciples to carry on with His message and purpose, even to the point of death.  He then explains the parable to them.

Vandals

And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable?  How then will you understand all parables?  The sower sows the word.  And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them." --Mark 4:13-15

Satan will vandalize the beautiful words of Christ so that they do not take root in the lives of many who hear.  He will steal the message of joy and healing, so that it sounds like foolishness to them.  I Corinthians 1:18 says, "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."  It was not bad seed that was sown.  It is not the fault of the sower that the ground was hard and the seed did not take root.  If the seed was good and the sower did nothing wrong in sowing it, why was it not fruitful?   1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

Scandals

And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy.  And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.  --Mark 4:16-17

 The word translated here "fall away" literally means to be caused to stumble.  The Greek word is skandalizo, from which we get our word "scandalized".  In our current culture, we have an idea that tribulation or persecution means beheading Christians for their faith.  What we don't link to persecution is creating a scandal such as a church meeting in person during a pandemic.  Those who fall away because of the danger of persecution or tribulation or scandal were not in the faith to begin with.

Brambles

Now these are the ones sown among thorns: they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.  --Mark 4:18-19

Many theologians struggle over this part--some say these are carnal Christians but Christians nonetheless, while others say these were never saved to begin with.  In the Jewish world from which the disciples were chosen, there was no sin greater than idolatry.  Remember the story of Lot's wife?  God called Lot out of the city of Sodom before He destroyed it completely, but his wife looked back longingly, missing what she had left.  She did not receive grace because she looked back, so she was destroyed along with those in the city.  John 15:6 says, "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned."  So even though these people receive the word and take root and grow, if they allow the thorns and weeds to choke them and make them unfruitful, they are gathered up and cast into the fire.

Let me reiterate--if you call yourself a Christian, but place more importance on what people think, or wealth and riches, or any other created thing over the Creator, then you are as much a child of hell as any murderer on death row.

Examples

But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.  --Mark 4:20

There are people who are ready to hear the word, whom the Holy Spirit has prepared, whom the Father has chosen by divine election, for whom Christ died.  It is our job to sow the seed, spread the word of God, in hopes that the seed will fall on this good ground.  1 Timothy 4:12 says, "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity."  In other words, be an example by bearing fruit, which can only be done with deep roots grounded in good ground.  Bearing fruit does require deep roots.