Sermon Text

Today I want to talk about a fruitful life with you. Today’s sort of a Korean harvest, Thanksgiving. And I chose this text because in the season of fall, everything is very beautiful, it’s the harvest season. And I want to talk about that with you. We all want to achieve such life, the fruitful life, just like the tree from Psalm one, Psalm one verse three says, “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.” Who doesn’t want this kind of blessed life. We all want this kind of blessed life, fruitful, abundant, and we want to share a lot of things with one another. But in reality, my friends, we do not take the path that leads to a fruitful life.

Achieving a Fruitful and Abundant Life

Think about it. Think about it for a second. Why is that? Is this because of the temptations written in today’s text, like the cares, riches and pleasures of life? Or is this because we do not even realize our blindness, and just follow the patterns of this world? Jesus showed us what kind of life is a fruitful life today. And I want you and I to hear the voice from Jesus today, and follow the path Jesus showed us. Jesus said a fruitful life is possible only by God’s word. In other words, if we want to live a fruitful life, there is no other way than the spiritual life. Fruitful life or abundant life as John prayed, is not based on how much we have in terms of materials. Rather, a fruitful life is based on how much the word of God is rooted in our life. Because there’s freedom and abundance in those who live their life according to, or by God’s word.

Past Friday, we had the first session of the Friday gatherings, and there we studied Mark chapter 11. We had about 30 people, and I encourage you to make time to come and study. We learned that the temple Jesus saw, and the same temple people saw, or the disciples saw, were different. Why is that? Because they had different perspectives and expectations. The outside walls of the temple were coated with gold and all that, but inside was hollowness. And nearby, there was a fig tree with many leaves, but when Jesus and his disciples approached the tree, they couldn’t find any fruit in it. And it resembles the emptiness of the temple, the symbol of the religion of that time. And I truly pray and hope that, what we want to achieve in this life is the fruitful life, by the word of God. Even though such life is not easy, it is the only way to a fruitful life. Even though such life is not easy, it is worth it. Look at our text today. No wonder among the four different kinds of soil, only one soil has received the seeds, and produced fruit. What a waste, and how difficult it is to produce fruit in life.

Holding the Word of God Fast to our Hearts

Today’s story is written in other gospels too, such as Matthew and Mark, but both Matthew and Mark have this particular ending. It goes like this, “They will bear fruit, 30 and 60 and a hundred fold,” but not in today’s text. Luke, gospel of Luke, it goes like this, it’s a different ending. Let me read it for you, “But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.” The gospel of Luke has a different kind of ending. Whereas, Matthew and Mark have, you know, that 30 times, 60 times and 100 times. I was thinking about this. Why, why so different? Especially in the gospel of Luke, and as I meditated on this last verse again and again, and more and more, I realized there is a secret to the fruitful life. Being in the good soil, meaning when they hear the word of God, they hear with an honest and good heart. It’s not an ethical kind of condition. It is beautiful. It’s virtuous. Their condition of heart is so beautiful.

This is the first key to the fruitful life. Not many of us have this kind of attitude. When we come to the word of God, when we hear the word of God, and we think that, “Ah, I figured out everything,” then the condition of the soul will be like the path where many people have trodden. With prejudice, we may absolutize our views. If then, we cannot expect change or growth. Far from receiving the word of God, the seeds, we would even spit it out. No wonder the birds ate it up. But those with honest and good hearts, they will not impose their views on others. But with openness, in terms of relationship, in terms of conversation, in terms of questioning, with openness, they will seek truth in all matters. Second reason is this, not only will they hear the word with an honest and good heart, but also they will hold it fast to their hearts.

I like this expression, hold it fast. The original word for hold fast is in Greek, “Katecho,” and it has a meaning of keeping in memory. So not just physically holding something, but you make sure to keep something close to your heart. That is, katecho. Hold it fast. Even though the word of God may be like the size of a mustard seed, you received it. You take care of it, and you take it closely to your heart. That is what katecho means. A few years ago, during the Bible study, Rev. In Kee came, explained what will happen in the study of the word of God. There are three different levels or stages. And first there is an intellectual level. This is the level where one could take some words or concepts or principles from the text, but they will just stay on the surface level. That will not change us. Then, there’s a second level. It is called the spiritual level, where one could come up with the spiritual message as one further meditates the text. When you meditated, reflected, and then, when a spiritual message comes up, you cherish that. You take it, but that’s not enough, that will not transform us. That will not change us. The third level is called the sacramental level, meaning, the word of God becomes flesh. It becomes so real, alive. It touches our core of existence.

When I was doing, a couple of years ago, early morning prayer reading, I was reading one of the Psalms. And then as I read the scripture, you know what happened? I felt the scripture starting to read me, not me reading the Bible but the Bible, reading me. And I felt so overwhelmed by that experience. Wow. The word of God is real, the word of God is like God seeing me, looking at my heart condition, and guiding me and leading me. That is our goal. We are not just staying in the intellectual level, in the satisfying level, but more, from head to chest, chest to belly the core of our existence. And that will influence us. We’ll be so confident that, you know, because of the word of God living in us, giving us wisdom so we can have different perspectives on how to deal with the issues and challenges of life.

Harvesting from our Spiritual Endurance

The last key to bear fruit is this, with patient endurance. This is the most important key to the fruitful life. Without endurance, the word of God will not take root in us. If you pick and choose the word of God and the teachings from the Bible, according to what we like to hear or what we do not like to hear, we will not be able to reach that goal, that stage. But when we struggle with the word of God, and we stay with the teachings, not running away from it, even if it is hard to understand or painful to obey. That is the right journey. That is the journey of endurance, and such process is like tilling the ground, cultivating the ground. When you sow, when you want to sow your seeds, what would you do? You have to till the ground, so that seeds can take root in it. In the same way, while we go through perseverance, our hearts will be cultivated. Without struggle, the soil will not be cultivated, only after the soil is cultivated, the seed can take the root in the soil. When we go through this time of endurance, spiritual discipline, you know what will happen?

We will be changed without noticing that. When you’ve reached a certain point, and when you look back in your life, your spiritual journey, then only then you realize that, “Ah, I have come this much.” You go through that endurance, your spiritual journey, and discipline. And then, when you reach a certain point, and look back and only then you realize how different of a person you are, “Oh, I have changed so much. Not only have I attained the knowledge of the word of God, but my character, the insight, and my heart condition have changed as well.”

Today at the KSM service, there was a special performance by the flute class. You guys get to see them during Christmas concerts, annually at least. Some of them, as you may know, are almost 80 in their age. And none of them have professional musical training, but they meet every Wednesday and practice and practice for five, six years. And today they sounded so good. I would imagine there must be a time when they faced obstacles, but they never gave up. One elder complaining, his finger’s so big that he couldn’t, you know, close that hole, but he did not give up. They came to the church and practiced and practiced. I see the harvest today. Wonderful harvest. When we spent our time and energy on certain things, we will harvest from it. Definitely, right? But how about spiritual life? Spiritual life is the base foundation of our existence, but how much time, energy, and effort do we put into that? If you do not go through that endurance, resilience and struggle, how can you wait for the harvest.

Cultivating Our Souls with Perseverance

Speaking of change and growth, there’s one particular change I want to talk about right now. The old self has died, so that the new self could have been born. New thinking, new attitude, and new hope will come, only when we go through this radical change. Then we will dream a dream, we never would’ve dreamed before. We’ll have this strong desire to live according to God’s will. This is possible when our old self dies, and when we experienced the new birth. You know what compost is, right? Compost? Online dictionary defines compost as this: compost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. It is not a chemical for fertilizer. Everything organic has been decomposed, and will be used to enhance the growth of the plants. In order to be compost, any organic matter must be decomposed. If it resists to be decomposed, we cannot use it for fertilizer. Something like plastic, so hard to decompose. You get the picture right?

When we received the word of God and struggle to understand the meaning of it, not only will we experience the cultivation of our souls, but also we will be changed and become the good soil where the seed can take root and bear fruit. In this sense, perseverance is a spiritual thing. In our perseverance, we will always seek truth. In our perseverance, we keep moving forward, to the light. Through this spiritual discipline, we’ll be able to deal with more difficult situations, and overcome them. Martin Luther King left us with so many inspirational words, but this one is relevant to today’s message. “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” If our goal in life is the commitment to find life in God’s word, we must move forward to such a goal, no matter what. You don’t have to explain to anyone why you cannot do this. If this is the way we must take, we just have to do it.

Parable of the Sower

My friends, this fight, we don’t have to fight alone. This fight is not really up to us. We have our God and we have one another. Today’s story is called the parable of the sower, not the parable of the soil. According to the gospel of Matthew, the same passage, it says it. It is the parable of the sower. Hmm. Interesting. Why not, the parable of the soil? And I realized the story, the message is about God, not about us. When God sows the seeds, God will not mind where the seeds fall. When God sows the seeds, God will not complain why the condition of the soil is as such. Why you are like the path people have trodden, God, doesn’t ask. Why you are like the rocky ground, God, doesn’t question. Why you have thorns in you, God doesn’t mention that. But keep sowing the word of God, so generously so freely. To our God, there’s no concept of waste. God’s economy is totally different than ours. Our Lord would keep sowing the seeds as if he would wait and wait and wait to see, even just a tiny piece of land in us that can receive the seeds and bear fruit.

The patience of our Lord for us is much, much greater than our own patience to be cultivated by the word of God. This gospel of Luke is known for that. It is a very inclusive gospel. We have beautiful stories in the gospel of Luke, such as Zacchaeus. He repented, he shared his life, his resources with one another, poor people. And there is also the temple story, a Pharisee prayed and boasted about his self righteousness, but the tax collector, not even closer to the temple, pounded his heart and said, “Lord, I am a sinner, have mercy on us.” In the eyes of the author of Luke, God’s grace and love is huge. Big enough to include everybody. Whether you think of yourself as the path, or the thorny ground, or the rocky ground, don’t give up. God’s patience is greater than our endurance. God will wait and wait and wait.

Being Part of God’s Great Work

So my friends, take courage, and get up, and take the path to the fruitful life. Sooner or later, we will become good soil by God’s grace, and we will bear much fruit in our life. I want all of us to take the path to a fruitful life, and experience God’s abundance. Look at ourselves, even if our church is small, and our life can be small to our perception, the abundance that God will bring to us will surprise the world. We’ll be enormous to the eyes of the world. This is how our God works, and we want to be part of God’s great work. And that’s why the church gives priority to the study of the word of God, not just intellectual, not just spiritual, but sacramental, being with God, tasting the goodness of God, and a deep, genuine relationship with God. God has been so great to us. God has used us to bless others in this world. My friends, let us keep seeking the truth and keep moving forward to the path of fruitful life. And when God gives us harvest, let us use that to bless further, the people around us.