Good Ground

“And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold… that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience ”

I'm going to tell you a dirty story today. No, don't hide the kids . This is a story about dirt . Dirt started out a long time ago. It was originally part of a great explosion of light. God said , “Let there be light,” and there was light. A whole lot of it, super-energized, flying out far faster than it does today, I believe. Space and time warped together, as clouds of the dust of this light began to slow down and create the basic elements. Soon, some of these coalesced into points of swirling gases and ignited as intense ovens of hydrogen, helium, and eventually the heavier elements. This was a beautiful, but a messy process, as hunks of this stardust came flying out at times and made planets, like this one. This all took about a day or two.

This planet, made of stardust, has bones of solid rock, but a topsoil of rich, brown earth. We humans were made from this earth . When men of science examine the elements of which a human being is composed, they are exactly the composition of this earth, including a preponderance of water. “ And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7 These marvelous bodies, while they live, are factories of cells and electrical impulses, reproductive processes and hormones the functions of which we are only just beginning to understand. Study the human body and you must stand in amazement at the handiwork of our Creator.

When these bodies die, they return to the native soil from which they were taken. “ In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Genesis 3:19 “Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” Genesis 3:23

I find it weird to see, in the funeral homes, caskets made of bronze or copper—metals that never rust—with gaskets and seals guaranteed not to allow water to penetrate. Therefore the body is protected against the intrusion of water and dirt. But that body is water and dirt, and the minute it dies, that is what it becomes once again. I haven't actually seen anybody buy one of those watertight caskets. They cost a bunch.

So our bodies are dirt . I think that helps clarify the parable of Jesus known as the Sower and his seeds. This parable is not so much about the Sower nor His seeds as it is about dirt . Therefore, it is about you and me: the dust of the ground. Our value in God's kingdom and our very salvation depends on whether we are good or bad dirt.

One thing I have noticed in the descriptions of the four kinds of ground in this parable is that the dirt is the same in each of them. If the wayside ground were dug up, turned over, fertilized and broken down, it would be good ground . If the stony ground simply had those stones removed, it would likewise be good ground . And if anyone would weed the ground where thistles and thorns grew up with the seed and choked it, this too would be good ground . There is nothing wrong with the dirt, nothing essentially different about the native elements residing in each of these soil samples. Certain changes in life need to take place in order for them to become good ground.

This is like talking about a square mile of property west of Chico. The ground west of this town is some of the best quality agricultural soil in the world. It is by far the A-1, top 1%, best dirt there is. But take a square mile of it and you will probably find part of it that is roadway, part of it hasn't been cleared of rocks, a lot of it may be full of weeds, and yet some of it clear and ready to grow crops. Jesus knew the routine. A farmer, in order to make a new plot of land produce, had to turn the soil, weed out the thorns and thistles, and laboriously remove rocks . The many stone fences we see around this area were made out of the rocks that earlier farmers collected from the otherwise fertile soil.

So, no matter who you are, there is good dirt in you . What must change in order for you to bear fruit and please the Sower is your conditioning.

Are you wayside soil ? Many feet and heavy wheels have packed you down. The hardness of life has so toughened you up that you cannot and will not let anything grow in you. Too risky. Gotta keep that hard-bitten exterior, or else who knows what may happen? You've been hurt. You were a sucker, too many times. Now nobody gets in, see? I feel bad for the wayside. It served others. It was a roadway, an oxcart path, a way to travel across the fields. But it can't grow anything, and therefore it is worthless.

But turn it over with a spade and there is good ground underneath. Break it up, and water it, and fertilize it— voila ! It grows fruit. This is a painful process for the wayside, however. It must submit to others, to the probing and overturning of the farmer. It feels like a violation. It feels like death . But this is life returning to the hard-packed wayside. Air and light and water pour in, giving this ground a chance to live again.

The rocky soil is just native . We all were rocky once, shallow, totally selfish, inexperienced, raw . We're not hardened from the world trampling on us. We're hardened within , naturally having the original sins of our first parents resident in us. These will have to go . Again, turning the soil, exposing the rocks, breaking up the ground and removing those rocks makes this ground fertile and good.

Some of us don't want to give up those rocks. They give us character, we think. These rocks make us handsome, rugged, human, after all . Guys especially have trouble giving up rocks—feeling this process is unmanly, like learning to ballroom dance or take sensitivity training. What's wrong with the way I am? What's wrong is, when the Gospel is given to us, it goes down only so far. It runs into that native stone and the roots can't go any further. Our old sins block the way, and we fight grace until it dies in us. We may never know what happened to our faith. It just stopped appealing to us. The stones have to go. One at a time. God is patient. But He insists.

Thorny soil is just good, fertile ground with the wrong thing growing in it. People ready to bring forth fruit may accept the first thing that looks good to them. The world offers many messiahs, many gospels, many alternative lifestyles, many paths to self-realization and success . These may even dress up like religion, and some Christian churches have actually been created to foster the pursuit of wealth and material possessions as the sign of God's blessing. But the church never does this as well as the world. Cars, boats, houses, cabins at the lake, motorcycles, bigger home theatres, horses, cruises, jewelry and designer dresses : men and women both are allured by the things we can acquire. Men love to buy them because what we do and how much we make is a sign of our value. Showing this off by buying the latest car is how we achieve status, how we feel good about ourselves. Women may show their success this way also, either in their own business achievements, or as a sign of how much they are loved.

The Church has nothing to say against money . The trouble is not money, but how hard it is for a rich man to get into the Kingdom. He already has a kingdom, a place where he is king . What does he need with another kingdom, and as a mere subject ? The cares and cars blind our eyes to our need. This is why the first of Christ's beatitudes is , “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” This kind of poverty is universal. We have nothing God needs. We are dirt , just dust. The sooner we realize that, and how He will truly value us when we bring forth fruit from good ground , the better for us. We waste our lives, as Solomon did, chasing after the wind. Not one thing you can buy will go with you when this body returns again to dirt.

The Good Ground is what we want to be. The seed is cast, you may have noticed, on all four soils . But only the Good Ground brought forth fruit an hundredfold. This multiplication of fruit is important. As Christians we need to bring forth fruit.

What is fruit? It may be others like you . That is what a grain of wheat does in good ground. It grows into a plant that bears a hundred grains of wheat just like it. This is the fruit of evangelism . You are a plant that needs to find others willing to become good ground and bring forth abundantly. Jesus is a vine of which we become the branches. We have to remain in Him in order for Him to bring much fruit to ripeness in us. John 15:4-8

There are fruits in our own character too, fruits of the Spirit , as St. Paul tell the Galatians. “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance...” 5:22-23 Good ground becomes even better.

We must first, however, bring fruits of repentance . This is a humble heart, acknowledging that I am dirt, that I have been filled with rocks and sins and am hopeless to take them out myself. I must give up my sinful pastimes and be willing to lose all I have for the sake of Christ, even my material wealth, my security in the world. I must submit to the turning and exposing process God does to each of His own.

The Sower sows the Word of God. It goes out, onto good ground and not so good. Submit your life to this Farmer, who also prepares for Himself ground that is good and deep and rich and fertile and productive. Let Him make you, dirty you, the kind of dirt He can be proud of.

PFH+