THE KINGDOM GOSPEL & GOOD SOIL
By Stacy R. Wood, Jr.
"What was sown on good soil is the man of the noble and good heart, who hears, accepts, and understands the Word. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times the amount of seed sown." (Mt. 13:23, Mk. 4:20, Lu. 8:15).
Let us take a look at the seed as it falls into the fertile ground of a noble and good heart. This area of the field speaks of the spiritual mind that God gives to his chosen. In First Corinthians 2:9-16 we read, "It is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.' However God revealed it to us through his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. This is because they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."
It is the Christ mind that gives exclusive consideration and acceptance to the Word of the kingdom. This is where the seed finds the room to root deeply within the personal life and understanding of the hearer. The union that takes place between the Christ seed and the Christ mind generates more than just a hearing of kingdom dogma. This joining takes two distinctly different things, the Word of life and the regenerated soul of mankind and produces a new creation man.
The experience produces a doer of the kingdom Word. If what he receives is truly the revealed Word of the kingdom, it produces the faith necessary to bring forth The Substance of the seed. The seed deposited in the good soil of the hearer and cultivated with true expectation will bring forth the convicting evidence of the invisible kingdom. There is a response needed when we hear and truly understand the Word that God discloses concerning his kingdom. The commitment to walk it out, by putting into action all we know to be correct, rests within us. Remember. "To whom much is given, of him shall much be required." (Lu. 12:48).
The purpose of the seed planted within the life of the hearer is to bring forth kingdom fruit to the glory of the Father for all the earth to see. In the process of growing to maturity, changes and transformations continually occur in the recipient's heart and character. The death and bare earthen carnality of the first Adam can never inherit the kingdom of God. The seed works within the earth swallowing up death while transforming it into victory and life. Hallelujah!
What Must We Do to Give Formation to Our Salvation? Let us become aware of our accountability to the implanted Word of the kingdom that is able to save the soul. The apostle Paul wrote to the Church saying, "Continue to give form to your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who enables you to will and to act according to his good purpose." By this he meant we are to cultivate and advance the life of the seed by willing and functioning out of God's energizing. We are to endeavor earnestly to press on to full maturity and salvation, with godly reverence, awe and trembling. Doing all we know to stand righteously, taking serious thought of what we hear, putting no confidence in human capability. Becoming watchful as to the temptations that come because of the Word, while avoiding all that discredits godliness and scandalizes the name of Christ Jesus (Phil 2:17-13).
We must consider that we cannot accomplish any of this in our own strength. It is the seed of promise that is all the while effectually at work in us. It creates and makes the power and desire of God, that is necessary to overcome the flesh and grow up into maturity, active within us. It is the seed of Christ that produces the fruit of the kingdom. The ability is in the seed and not in ourselves. It is Christ in us that will enable us to accomplish the good pleasure, satisfaction and delight of the Father. There is more to seeing a seed grow to a mature fruit bearing stage than just getting it into the ground. It is also necessary to cultivate, fertilize and irrigate the ground that holds the seed. It is God who accomplishes all these necessary things within our lives in their proper seasons. We only need to respond to him and walk faithfully in that which he entrusts to us.
What Is The Fruit of The Kingdom Seed? This glorious fruit of the kingdom is but one fruit, yet its expression is multifaceted. The fruit of the kingdom and the fruit of the Spirit are the same. The fruit that qualifies the seed of God's kingdom is love. Love that is Gentle, yet disciplines to bring forth the best from every son. Love so full of joy that it produces the Lord's strength in times of weakness and doubt. Love that superabounds in peace that passes all understanding. Love with transcending patience that takes full possession of the soul. Love that teems and runs over with kindness that manifests in mercy. Love so generously filled with goodness that it demonstrates by overcoming evil. Love so devoutly steadfast it results in the possession of great authority. Love so genuinely meek that it allows one to find the true rest of God and complete satisfaction with life's circumstances. Love that is principled in self-control resulting in a new creation man who becomes renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Love that excels in righteousness that proves the wisdom of peace in those that make peace. Love that moves in truth and reality revealing the fullness of Deity within the life of the believer.