Keep the Word; Bear much Fruit

“But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”  ~Luke 8:15

You’re all familiar with the parable of the sower.  What I want to point out to you today is the action of those whose hearts are typified as “good soil.”  Many of us desire to bear fruit.  In fact, this concept is a biblical idea.  Colossians 1:10 is our goal: “So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

So how, as Christians do we bear good fruit?  John 15 offers an answer: “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”  In order to bear fruit, we must abide in Him.  Yet what does “abiding in Him” look like?

That’s where Luke 8:15 comes in.  Those in the parable whose hearts were “good soil” heard the word, and kept it.  And that, my friends, is how we abide in Him. That is how we bear fruit.  By keeping the Word.  I like what Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible has to say on this subject:

“’Such who hear the word, and receive it;’ as the word of God, in whose hearts it works effectually; who receive it not into their heads only, but into their hearts; and having received it, hold it fast, and abide by it in the worst of times.”

As believers, we are to “hold fast” to the Word.  The Greek word used in Luke 8:15 for “keep” is katecho which means “to hold back, detain, retain.”  So, in relation to the Word of God, we must hold it back. So often, what we read or hear in Scripture goes in one ear and out the other.  Yet, in order to bear fruit, we must detain the Word in our hearts and minds.  We must meditate on God’s Word and consciously keep it in our thoughts.  Those who bear fruit retain God’s Word in their lives and hearts and minds.  They are constantly meditating on it and digging from it the rich gems that lie hidden behind mere words.

The second part of the definition of keep is “to get possession of.”  Not only are we to be retaining the words we have already receive, but we are to be digging into the Word even more.  We are to continue to gain a hold of the Scriptures, by Bible reading and memorization.  We should be continually poring ourselves over the Word.  Therein, we find the keys to life and strength.  But even more, we find the key to bearing much fruit.  It aids us in developing the fruit of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Again from Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible:

 “as Mark says, ‘receives it’; as the word of God in faith, and with the love of it, and with all readiness and meekness; and, as Luke observes, ‘keeps it’; holds it fast against all opposition with great struggling; will not part with it at any rate, nor depart from it in the least, nor entertain any doubt about it; but abides by it, stands fast in it, and is valiant for it: and this he does in and with ‘an honest and good heart.’”

You see, God’s Word reminds us of things we need to do.  Scripture, as a tool used by the Holy Spirit, pricks our conscience and prompts us in obedience to the commands of Christ.  We need to be meditating on the Scriptures, so that we might be used as a vessel in the hands of Jesus Christ.

James 1:25 says, “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”  Let us look into the perfect law of liberty and continue in it.  In this way, we will abide in Him and bear much fruit, that He may be glorified.