We are Responsible for the Ground

Hosea 10:12 (NKJV) ¹² Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

(Pastor Wayne Holcomb spoke to our church Sunday morning concerning the need for fruitfulness in our lives.)

I have never had a garden. My wife tried to grow tomatoes a couple of times in our 40 plus years of marriage. Once she actually succeeded. Most of the time, our attempts at fruitfulness have resulted in nothing more than weeds or empty dirt. As a result, I am convinced that fruit comes from the fruit department at the grocery and vegetables come mostly from the frozen food section of the same store.

In our culture, we are not programmed to fruitfulness. We go to the store and buy what we need. The fact that the things there are a product of someone else’s fruitfulness does not enter our thinking. Many times, we go to a restaurant where we do not even have to cook the food. We wait a short time until someone brings us our meal. Then we eat it, pay the bill and are on our way.

The problem with this kind of thinking is that we meet the instant need but we have nothing for the next need that arises. I remember the talk around the year 2000 concerning the vulnerability of computers entering the new century. I never believed that the disaster that many predicted would come. However, it did get me to thinking about some things. One of the things predicted was the collapse of the system that provides food to our stores. Many were planting gardens and even keeping animals in anticipation that the shelves at the grocery store would be bare. What would I do if the frozen food section, meat section and dairy section had nothing to buy?

Fortunately, that was not the case. Nevertheless, when we talk about fruitfulness we also need to consider our relationship with God. God did not create the supermarket. God created the earth and everything that grows from it. God is a God of fruitfulness not a God of instant gratification. For many of us who lack an understanding of natural fruitfulness, we have a difficult time understanding spiritual fruitfulness.

This thought goes right along with what I have been talking about concerning waiting. Fruitfulness requires that we wait. We must plant the seed, water the seed, weed the seed and wait. After a time the seed will produce if it is cared for. However, you cannot rush this process.

Mark 4:26-29 (NKJV) ²⁶ And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, ²⁷ and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. ²⁸ For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Mark 4 is one of my favorite scriptures. Jesus is explaining a parable to his disciples. He likens the seed to the Word of God and the ground to the heart of men. If the seed goes into good ground, it will grow. Fruitfulness in the life of a Christian is a result of sowing the seed of God’s word into the ground of our heart. The process takes time but if we allow the process to work, fruit is inevitable.

There are many kinds of fruit that we should produce as Christians. One type is the fruit of the spirit from Galatians 5.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV) ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Another kind of fruit is the fruit of the ministry we do in the earth. If we allow the process of fruitfulness to work, we will see people touched and changed by our works and our words. Philippians 1:11 says that we should be filled with the fruits of righteousness which will bring glory to God. When we are fruitful believers, our personal life and our public life will be such that we both please God and touch the hearts of men.

The thing about fruitfulness in the kingdom of God is that there is never anything wrong with the seed. The seed of Godly fruitfulness comes from God himself. The seed is the Word of God and it is the same seed that causes the new birth in our hearts.

1 Peter 1:23 (NKJV) ²³ having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.

If the seed is the same for everyone, why do some achieve fruitfulness and some do not? The only variable is the ground. We are responsible for the ground the seed goes in. If the ground is good, the seed will produce fruit. If the ground is hard, it will not. It is just that simple.

Mark 4 is all about the ground. I do not want to take the time or space to talk about that chapter but you should read it. Instead, let me comment on today’s scripture. There are a number of things in this verse that will help us prepare the ground of our heart for fruitfulness. First he tells the reader, “Sow to yourselves righteousness and you will reap mercy.”

We will never be fruitful in God’s kingdom if we do not sow righteousness. There are two kinds of righteousness spoken of in the bible. One is the position we have because of the ministry of the Lord Jesus in salvation. We cannot earn that position. We must receive it by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says Jesus was made sin so we could be made the righteousness. If something is made it has not hand in its own construction. I was made right with God. I did not earn or work “right with God.”

The other kind of righteousness is the acts of right living we do in life. Matthew 6 says we should seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. This is not speaking of the positional righteousness of salvation but the acts of righteousness. In other words, we should seek to live as God would live. Our actions should be what his actions would be in any situation. If we do that, we will be preparing our ground to respond to the seed of the Word of God and we will be fruitful.

Then it says that we must break up the fallow ground. Fallow ground is unproductive ground. We have many areas in our lives that we allow to lie fallow. That means they are not producing for the kingdom. This fallow ground needs to be “broken up.” What does that mean? It means that we need to allow the Holy Spirit to deal with us so that our hearts are ready to receive the Word.

When we have hard, fallow ground, we must yield to the dealing of the Holy Spirit. No one can do that for us. We must also be willing to judge ourselves and make changes that we know are necessary. There are times when God will break our ground for us but it is much better if we do it ourselves. We must prepare our soil to receive the Word. Some things we need to do to break up the ground are accepting when we are wrong, rejecting ideas that go against the Word of God and repenting of known sin. There is much more to this, but I am sure you get the idea.

Finally, he says we need to do this because it is time to seek the Lord. God wants to rain righteousness upon us. I am convinced that God wants to do something special through our generation. It is the time for the rain of God. When that rain comes, God expects us to be fruitful. If our ground is not ready, the rain will come but the Word in us will not produce. Fruitfulness cannot come from hard ground.

So break up the fallow ground, plant the Word in your heart, receive the rain when it comes…..and wait.