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30, 60, 100: Can We Conclude That More Fruit Was Caused by the One Receiving the Seed?
You might hear something so many times that you think it is the truth, but sometimes it is the truth and sometimes not. In the classroom teaching for over 25 years, I will ask students a question, and after the first one responds, others will take their answer down the same path, even though it is wrong. It is human nature. I’m asking you reader if the same thing is done with one vital aspect of the parable of the soils (sower) in Matthew 13 and Mark 4. Here is what I’m talking about in Matthew 13:
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
I’m especially referring to the last part, “some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”Does the text itself connect the differences in fruit bearing to something done by the person who received the seed? I’ve never myself heard a presentation that would imply a “no” answer to that question. I remember hearing a number of factors that differentiate between the results someone sees in his sowing of seed — more power with God and more fruit, more dedication to God and more fruit, or more sowing and more fruit — those types of reasons. I’ve never heard someone teach a theological randomness, ambiguity, or dubiousness.What I’m saying is that Jesus wasn’t communicating cause of the greater fruitfulness. He was only telling us that the amounts might be different. We can’t conclude anything from the greater results. What we do know is that they’ll be varied. Fruit will be there, but it will be varied.Men have taught that one could conclude something about the quality of this believer, the one who received the seed, by the nature of his 100, versus the 60 or 30 of the others. 30 is an average Christian, 60 a good one, and 100, par excellence. This has fueled a desire to be the 100. And so how do you get 100? Well, here’s how. And then comes the almost sheer pragmatism. The bigger church claims superior spirituality based upon its size, and they often uses these verses as a basis for that. The smaller church must be doing something wrong, and it needs some kind of reeducation to be a 60 or 100 church, if it’s only a 30. Even if someone doesn’t teach this as true, it is most often what it seems that churches believe.The Matthew 13 and Mark 4 passages are used as a proof text. But do those passages prove this? Look at them.We can conclude that a believer will be fruitful, but the passage doesn’t say that the more fruitful he is, the greater believer he is. Some bring a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty, but with no stated reason. Certain Christians will bear more fruit than others.Matthew 13 itself makes the point that the fruitfulness doesn’t result from the seed sowing, but from the condition of the soil. Many other passages confirm this theological view. 1 Corinthians 3:7 says, “neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” The ones who plant and water, all Christians, are irrelevant as to reproduction. God gives the increase. In the Matthew 13 text, Jesus refers back to Isaiah 6 and God’s revelation that Isaiah would not see fruit from his endeavor. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says that if your labor is in the Lord, it is not vain.The passage isn’t about the sower bearing fruit. It’s about the condition of the soil having an impact on the result of the seed sown. You’ll know someone is good ground because he receives the seed and brings forth fruit of whatever amount that might be. Hundred, sixty, and then thirty are about the soil where the seed is planted, not about the sower.A lot of wacky strategies, techniques, and deeds have come from seeking the 100, like some sort of lost city of gold. Seminars explain how to get the greater fruit. Certain programs offer a guarantee. They will work.True conversion won’t happen just anywhere. The hearts must be good ground. The recipients must strive to enter the narrow gate.Will some churches get bigger because they are more obedient, more faithful to the Great Commission? I believe so. If one church sows to one million people and another one to one thousand, the one who sows to more people might see more fruit. On the other hand, you can sow one million seeds on concrete and one thousand on good ground and the one sowing on better ground will get better results. You can’t judge anything as to the spiritual condition of the sower from the result.Some churches that are disobedient and unfaithful will get bigger, because they have used worldly means of accomplishing the growth. When someone does everything right, he can still see very little tangible results, doing more and better than someone with larger visible consequences. Scripture doesn’t emphasize how big your church will become. It teaches faithfulness and purity and love for God and his neighbor.You could argue that the church with thirty has the smaller production, because it doesn’t sow enough seed, but you can’t tell that by the number. You would have to be able to see the faithfulness, the obedience with the gospel, firsthand. Some churches get much bigger, but their ministry is actually far smaller. We cannot conclude that more fruit was caused by the one receiving the seed.
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