Growing a Root
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· 6 viewsWe are called to be fruitful. We need a root in ourselves to be fruitful. We grow that root – from start to finish – by walking in Messiah Jesus by the power of the Spirit. We walk in Messiah Jesus - and in the Spirit - by obedience to Son and the Father, not the traditions of men.
Notes
Transcript
Welcome
Welcome
I’m glad to be here and honored with the opportunity to deliver a message from the Scriptures today.
Today, I come to you with a message from the words of our God and his Messiah. This message is one of opportunity and warning. Each individual hearing the sound of my voice and all of us together have an opportunity from this day forward to be fruitful. However, I warn you, our fruitfulness is not guaranteed. There is work that needs done to ensure fruitfulness. And there are consequences for a lack of fruit.
Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
Introduction
Introduction
Colossians 2:6-7 (NRSVue): “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
The goal of the Christian life is abundant fruitfulness in and through our Lord, Jesus the Messiah.
Indeed, the goal of human life is fruitfulness. As God told humanity when he first created them - and hear these first words from our God and Father to his human children after he blessed them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion.
Not only are we called to be fruitful, but we must recognize there are consequences for being unfruitful.
Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Of course, the concept of “fruit” has multiple meanings. There is a physical, biological meaning in terms of reproduction. Fill the earth with babies! Yes, and amen. There is also a spiritual and, ultimately, even more important meaning: fill the earth with the knowledge of the LORD!
As the Prophet Isaiah said:
They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
But, how do we fill the earth with the knowledge of the LORD?
How is God’s name known, how is God’s will done, and how does God’s Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven?
The “fruit of the Spirit” is how we make God’s name known in the earth.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
It is by bearing the fruit of the Spirit - being fruitful in the Spirit - that the world becomes like the Garden of Eden: full of the knowledge of the LORD.
But how do we bear fruit?
Well, that’s what this message is about. We are going to look at an important parable of the Master and some related texts in the Scriptures to answer this question.
The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23)
In this parable, Jesus talks of four kinds of souls which are really four different kinds of hearts. The seed of the word of God is planted into each kind of soil/heart. Only one type of heart is fruitful. The other three do not bear fruit for one reason or another.
The soil sown on the path doesn’t bear fruit because the seed never even got into the soil. Why? It was too hard. Why? It was a pathway on which people had traveled. It had been “walked all over” by people, and it became hard as a result. This is like a hard heart. For whatever reason - maybe a hard life or some series of difficulties or offenses - a heart can become hard. But the problem is that a hard heart cannot receive the word of God, and it is therefore an unfruitful heart.
The seed sown on the rocky ground doesn’t bear fruit because there isn’t enough soil on account of all the rocks in the ground. The seed can only grow a small root that cannot go very deep or receive much nourishment because the rocks crowd the available space. The heart identified here isn’t hard, and it can receive the word, but there are too many things along with the word in the heart. The word cannot go very deep into the heart because of everything else that is in it preventing the seed of the word from developing a large enough root to receive enough nourishment for the plant to grow and survive and bear fruit. We will talk more about this heart condition later as this is going to be the main focus of this message for us as individuals and as a beginning movement/alliance.
The seed sown on thorny ground doesn’t bear fruit because the plant, once the seed has taken root and is receiving sufficient nourishment, it is not protected from other plants that grow alongside it but threaten to kill it. The heart identified here isn’t hard, and it has a root in itself, but once it starts to grow, it isn’t kept well enough because other things grow in the heart that end up killing the plant from the seed of the word.
And, then, of course, there is the seed sown on the good ground that does bear fruit to varying degrees of fruitfulness. Some people and some organizations bear more fruit than others, and that is okay. The goal isn’t to bear the most fruit ever; it is to bear as much fruit as you can. “Don’t compare yourself to someone else today; compare yourself to yourself yesterday.”
Another Look at the Rocky Ground (Matthew 13:21)
Another Look at the Rocky Ground (Matthew 13:21)
Let’s look more deeply at the seed sown into the rocky ground.
Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away.
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
No root: not enough soil, too many rocks; trouble/persecution on account of the world
What is a Root?
What is a Root?
Definition of a Root
Dictionary: "The source and foundation of a tree or plant, anchoring it to the soil, usually found beneath the surface of the ground."
A root is the channel or medium of nutrition/nourishment for the plant so that it can grow and bear fruit. It is the source of the plant’s very life.
Tracing the idea of a root in the Bible
They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream...it does not cease to bear fruit.
The root is what connects the plant to the water of life.
Remember the Question: How do we bear fruit?
You need a root connected to the water of life.
Jesus offers those who will hear him the Water of Life.
"Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now he said this about the Spirit...
The Spirit of God is the river of living water in one’s heart that bears fruit. Remember: The Fruit of the Spirit.
But you need to grow a root that will drink deeply from that Water of Life.
the root of the righteous will never be moved
the root of the righteous bears fruit
Why No Root?
Why No Root?
Why do some not have a root?
Jesus told us.
For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they might not look with their eyes, and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn— and I would heal them.’
Some close their eyes and shut their ears. They stop listening to Jesus. Why? They have rocks in the soil of their heart. What are these “rocks”?
The rocks in the soil of the parable are the traditions of men.
These traditions of men fill up too much space in the soil of our heart and overcrowd the word of God. These traditions keep us from being able to grow a deep enough root to tap into the Water of Life.
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
So, for the sake of your tradition, you nullify the word of God. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’ ”
Notice now the description again:
yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
In the book of Acts, we see the themes of fruitfulness and persecution on display.
the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons
So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.
praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
But many of those who heard the word believed, and they numbered about five thousand.
Look at all this fruitfulness. Believers bearing the fruit of the Spirit, building households, and adding people to the Church based on the word of God.
But, then trouble and persecution start
The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,
But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women
Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy
Remember the Question: How do we bear fruit?
You need to grow a root.
How to Grow a Root?
How to Grow a Root?
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers, but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
To grow a root, we must stop listening to the traditions of men and start listening to the word of God.
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
To be rooted in Messiah is to be established in the faith that Jesus and his Apostles taught, not the traditions of men.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.
I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
We are rooted in Messiah and tap into the Water of Life when we live by the Spirit. We live by the Spirit when we obey the commandments of God through Jesus our Messiah.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Summary
Thank you
Praise
Priestly Blessing
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
