Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 2 Study # 5
February 8, 2009
Lincolnton, N.C.
(Download Audio)
(504)
Thesis: Fruitfulness requires both a legitimate "love" and a legitimate "faith".
Introduction: For several weeks now we have been considering Jesus' preparation of His disciples for their participation in His agenda. As we have considered His parable about what they could expect from their participation, we have seen that His main interest was whether they would permit the responses of others to the Word of God to dictate their own. Then, under that issue, we have seen that Jesus simply declared the realities which will determine the responses that men give to the Word of their God. The first reality is the reluctance of men to immediately respond. This gives the devil time to come along and swoop up the seeds of the Word just like birds eating the exposed seeds that lie upon the open ground in plain view. The second reality is the fact that many men are simply completely unsuited for the task of bearing fruit. They have no capacity to relate to God so that the water of His Life can flow into them, nor have they any willingness to permit God to reach into them to draw out of them the things that would give His words the ability to bear fruit. Thus, the first two "types of people" who will hear the words of faithful disciples will not produce anything more than a superficial interest in the Truth.
This morning we are going to look at the third of the types of people who will hear the words of God from His disciples. This type is the first of the four to actually permit a sustained growth of the plant from the seed. The birds do not eat the seed. Temptation does not kill off the ensuing plant. But, even here there is no fruitfulness. We are going to ask this question: what is it that prevents those words from accomplishing their beneficial purpose? There are three factors in the answer.
- I. The Ultimate Issue.
- A. When explaining the third type of person who would hear the words of God, Jesus chose to use a word that is not used anywhere else in the New Testament.
- 1. In the other Gospels, there is a phrase which means "it became unfruitful".
- a. This expression focuses upon the general intention for seed.
- b. In Matthew and Mark there is a simple declaration that the plant that grew from the seed did not bear any fruit [Illustration from tomato seed planted in soil over shredded paper].
- 2. In Luke's record the issue is more precise: the "telos" is not reached.
- a. By bringing this word into the record, Luke deliberately presents a different focus: the issue is not "whether", but "to what end".
- b. There is always a reason for what God says.
- 1) The issue of the words of God is "Life".
- a) This "Life" is the joy of the realization that an unfettered connection to God is all, and everything, needed.
- b) Every utterance of God is designed to shatter the "fetters" that keep "Life" from happening.
- 2) The frustration of those words is Luke's point.
- B. By the deliberate emphasis upon the ultimate frustration of the words of God, we know that Luke had decided to attempt to drive a particular "T"heology home.
- 1. Almost everyone's focus upon "fruitfulness" turns on the concept of an "externalized production".
- a. This is automatic to legalism and is hardly shed even by those who believe in grace.
- b. The problem is that it generates the "God uses" concept that is endemic to the rebellion within man.
- 1) In this respect, unwilling man finds that God is just like He expects Him to be.
- a) Note Luke 19:22: at the point of justice it is too late for God to care what a man thinks of Him (that has never affected God as much as it affects the one assigning "character issues" to God).
- b) Note also Matthew 9:29: within the realms of mercy, it makes a great deal of difference what a man thinks of God.
- 2) God is not "above" doing things that let men "justify" their anger toward Him.
- 2. But Luke's focus is upon the God Whose concept of "use" is overflow, not wringing.
- a. For Luke, the ultimate intention of the words is their impact upon those who hear them.
- b. But that impact has two edges.
- 1) One edge is the "original" hearer.
- 2) The other edge is the "subsequent" hearer.
- c. "Fruit" in Luke's mind is not isolated from the "original", it includes him/her.
- d. Thus, real "fruit" is not what God produces from a creature's actions; it is what God produces in the creature that affects those actions.
- e. Though God can be a "user", He prefers to be a "sharer".
- 1) Tools can be used to get jobs done.
- 2) People benefit in God's tasks only if they partake first (2 Timothy 2:6).
- II. The Factors of Frustration of the "Sharer".
- A. The illegitimacy of "worries".
- 1. They are illegitimate in that they block God's principle of "sharing".
- a. They do this on one hand by being fundamentally illegitimate (having no legitimate place in the values of the "worrier").
- b. They do this on the other hand by being conceived of as "up to me" (having no legitimate place in the faith of the "worrier").
- 2. Their ability to "block" the principle of sharing depends entirely upon their position of strength.
- B. The illegitimacy of "riches".
- 1. They are illegitimate in that they block God's principle of "sharing".
- a. "Riches" almost invariably produce the pride of self-direction.
- b. The pride of self-direction undercuts dependence (faith) and encourages the pursuit of false objectives (love).
- 2. Their ability to block God's principle of "sharing" is rooted in their ability to feed the creature's deceived condition (thinking "Life" is in self-direction).
- C. The illegitimacy of "the pleasures of this life".
- 1. They are illegitimate in that they block God's principle of "sharing".
- a. "Pleasures" seek to obtain the highest place of value in the "system".
- b. God seeks to use pleasures for "respite" between battles.
- c. He cannot share His victories with those whose battles are for the wrong ends.
- 2. Their ability to block God's principle of "sharing" depends entirely upon whether they operate on a short leash (1 Corinthians 9:27).
- D. Summary.
- 1. "Worries" elevate false priorities and unbelief.
- 2. "Riches" bypass God's priorities and Truth.
- 3. "Pleasures" replace God in both priorities and Truth.
