A Seed Watered
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Matthew 13:1-9
Pray
Last week we addressed Pentecost.
We can see in the promise of Pentecost that the Lord watered a seed that has been planted within the human heart.
It is a seed that is found within all of humanity.
A seed that He is watering.
A seed that, in faith, we can allow to grow.
A seed that will produce fruit according to His provision.
As we follow our Messiah, He will cause our faith to grow so that we are established upon a firm foundation.
This morning I want to look at Exodus 23:16 because it connects with the concept of God watering His Word within our hearts to bring forth a harvest
Turn to Exodus 23 KEEP VERSES ON SCREEN SO PEOPLE CAN SEE NASB
“Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field.
Exodus 23 records appointed times defined by the Lord.
If you have participated in the Appointed Times Sunday School Curriculum, then you will recognize the observations in this chapter and how they point to Jesus our Messiah.
In verse 16 there are 2 named festivals.
Maybe a better way to think of these things is times to remember.
All of the Appointed Times of the Lord serve as reminders of His provision and His promises.
One being the Feast of Harvest of the first fruits.
Sometimes this Feast is also called the Feast of Weeks.
Another way to refer to this event is the term Shavuot.
The term Shavuot means Weeks.
Counting of 50 days after First fruits in the Spring.
Counting 50 days after the Resurrection we commonly refer to this as Pentecost.
Counting 50.
The second the Feast of the Ingathering.
I am going to deal with The Feast of Harvest because it relates to Pentecost.
We will address Ingathering later.
The interesting truth revealed in this verse is that the Feast of Harvest is described as a result of our labor.
It is called the Feast of Harvest of the first fruits of your labor
Think back to lasst week. We talked about a seed planted within us.
That seed is the knowledge of God.
A seed that is enlivened through the authority of Jesus our Messiah who has overcome the penalty of sin through His own suffering.
He has caused a seed that lay dormant to sprout to new life.
This seed that is revived is watered through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit enabling us to walk in faith.
To produce fruit of the Spirit.
We can choose to believe.
We can choose to submit to the authority of our Lord and Savior.
And in our faith as we choose to follow His lead, we are to be working.
Laboring to allow the seed that was implanted to grow.
This is discipleship.
We seek to be like the teacher.
Applying His Words to our lives.
Disciplining our selves to not only talk the talk but also to walk the walk.
I am a Christian because I love my Savior.
In V. 16, God tells us to remember the fruit of your labor.
Then fruit produced at the harvest is a direct result of your labor.
Your willingness to follow.
To apply faith to your lives and be at work in the field.
Application:
Turn to Matthew 13
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Familiar verses.
We have all heard the explanation.
The various types of soil are not capable of allowing the seed to take root.
What was planted is quickly destroyed.
Jesus compares this teaching to that of faith.
There are some who will hear the Word but not allow the Word to take root in their heart.
Thus it never takes root.
Faith dries up or is stolen away by sin, temptation or compromise with our world.
We have all heard this an understand this analogy.
But I want to focus on the good soil this morning.
What caused the good soil to produce a harvest?
Jesus tells us that the seed was scattered over all types of soil.
The Word of God and the message of Salvation is made available to everybody.
Jesus is not saying that the Word was given to only a select few.
The Word was scattered everywhere to be recieved.
But the only seed that produced fruit was the seed that fell upon good soil.
What caused the seed to grow?
Compare to a farmer planting and then forgetting
I think at least one of the answers is willingness.
We know that the various conditions of soil represent the human heart.
All of us have experienced times when our heart was hardened like the rocky soil.
Ot times when we were not paying attention and birds came into steal away something that God was doing. Or times when we allowed the sun or thorns to rise up.
But the answer to what caused the soil to be good is willingness.
Are you willing to protect the seed planted from the enemy who is trying to sweep in and steal away your hope?
Are you hardening your heart from the depth of God’s Word?
Are you allowing the trial of the day to burn and wither away faith?
Are you allowing thorns of conformity to grow up and distract you from your purpose?
Or are you WILLING to be used of God?
Are you WILLING to labor in the soil of your own heart so that the seed planted can grow?
Again this is discipleship.
Are you willing to follow?
Are you willing to apply the Word to your lives?
Are you willing to allow the Lord to analyze your lives?
Listening to His correction.
We are still talking in the context of Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, Shavuot.
Last week we talked about the planting of the seed in the human heart.
God pouring out the Holy Spirit to enliven this seed to equip us to be the people that we are called to be.
Ou responsibility then is to labor in the soil.
To do our best to allow the seed of faith, planted by God to grow.
To produce a harvest as a result of our labor.
Our labor being willingness.
That is it.
It does not have to be complicated.
It is not a mystery.
It is pretty straight forward.
Are you willing to follow?
Jesus planted within us the hope of resurrection.
This was a work of His labor.
The Lord has given us the Holy Spirit to Help us along this way.
It is our choice to respond.
Benediction: Matthew 13:18-23
“Hear then the parable of the sower. “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. “The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. “And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”
