This is sermon number five in our series on Jesus’ Parable of the Soils. In this parable, Jesus talked about our spiritual hearts and the various ways our growth can be stunted. He then finished off his parable talking about what a growing heart looks like which is the topic of our conversation this morning.
Matthew 13:23 (NLT)
23 The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”
Now, obviously, this is the kind of heart Jesus is calling us to work towards. We all should be growing in every way. Jesus is saying, very clearly, that we should be the kind of people who not only hear God’s Word, but who give the Holy Spirit permission to make the necessary changes in our character. That does not happen by accident. We will not mature, or grow in godly character, without effort. The Bible tells us that over and over again.
We are God’s masterpiece. He is chipping away at our rough edges over a lifetime as we cooperate with his Spirit. He is working on a transformation of our character so we will become people who know how to love each other, so that others would see Jesus in us.
It’s so easy to forget why we have been saved. We have been saved for purpose. That makes life exciting.