Accepting And Bearing - Mark 4:13-20

Mark 4:13-20 ESV
And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown:when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground:the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

There are four types of people given in this parable that hear the word. Only one type of listener successfully hears the word. Jesus mentions two following steps to assure and help the believer to endure to the end.

It is not merely hearing the word while nodding one's head up and down that saves a person, but it is in the acceptance of the word such that changes that life. It is a difference that manifests in the heart and shows itself on the outside through an ongoing display of the fruit of the Spirit. Our fruit will vary from tree to tree, in type and quantity, but it needs to be present.

Not everyone bears lasting fruit. Accepting and bearing are possible when we stay connected to the vine that is Jesus Christ.

Luke 8:15
As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

John 15:4-7
Abide in me, and I in you. 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. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.