Virtuous Ground
“Virtuous Ground”
Luke 8:8 “And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold.”
1 Corinthians 14:40 “Let all things be done decently and in order.”
I’ve been on the road now for nine years this September. This pilgrimage has been a teacher in itself. The environments themselves have been instructors to me. I’ve been in schools, prisons, rehabs (large and small), and of course churches. Would you believe me if I told you that no matter how similar two churches seem to be, they are their own little world? I can’t say I’ve seen everything. I haven’t, but I have witnessed hundreds of flavors, styles, groups, and different displays of church. I have never met a leader who did not say, “If we had all the people that have come through our doors, we would have a houseful.” Certainly all sheep are not destined to stay, just as others are not destined to leave. You must keep the sheep and let the goats float.
Something that bothers me is that I see ministries communicate in what I call “symbols only” (mantles, signs, colors, etc.). Certainly these things do mean something, but it is very dangerous to communicate in symbols only. This usually produces carnal people who know how to talk spiritual lingo. I have seen churches that were prophetic, a “zoo”, a “morgue”, a “museum”, a “buffet”, “Walmart”, and even “The Wizard of Oz” (“pay no attention to the people behind the curtain”). I have seen leadership that had the “pharaoh” mentality. That did not work well, for the sheep did scream and moan. I have seen the “Fred Rogers” style. That worked well, until the real world set in. It seems to me in all my education, in all my adventures, that the churches that get attacked the most or that Satan targets with great intent aren’t the white churches, nor black, nor hispanic, not even the ones doing the most for the Kingdom. They aren’t independents, or denominational. It’s the house of God, which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. It seems to me that Satan hates the church whose ground is good, tender, and virtuous. Maybe that work isn’t the prettiest field, nor the biggest, yet is the most fertile.
What Jesus called virtuous:
Luke 8:8 “……other fell on good ground and bare fruit hundredfold.”
That word, good, is “Kalos” which means beautiful, valuable, and virtuous. It has the same idea the Apostle Paul had in mind when he addressed all the operations of the Spirit, its functions, and gifts when he said, “Let all things be done decently and in order.
Let all things be done decorously and beautiful. The worst thing you can do in church is confuse someone. The only pretty people in a church are the worshippers. It’s the beauty of worship that makes us a virtuous church. We are what Paul called “God’s Workmanship” in Ephesians 2:10. We are one big redemptive canvas, God’s handy-work and fabric. Like a grand seamstress, Christ is knitting us together in the great plan of God. God has so tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to the part that lacked (1 Corinthians 12:24). This fellowship is to be an emphatic community of believers. Be careful that we don’t fall into a certain style like our neighbor, boldly going nowhere.
What Jesus called carnal:
Jesus said, “a fool will build his house on sand”. A fool is not a fool because he didn’t graduate. A fool is a fool because of what he does spiritually. How he digs, plants his seed, or builds. Carnality is simply being ruled and governed by what you can see with your eye. Don’t plant your children in red mud.
I have been in churches large and small, many times that I’ve said to myself, “God, are you going to talk to me and lead me to what I should say? Do I plant, water, or plow?” Finally, I heard God say to me, “It doesn’t matter what you preach. Preach whatever you want. Encourage them or something. I don’t have a message for you. I have already tried to talk to them and they don’t want to hear it. So the next time, I’ll decide when to sow my voice into them. When I do, their ground will be so hard, rigid, and dry, that they will beg for the water of my word. They’ll beg for real ministry when their children are dying.” A fool is a fool because of how he builds his house.
In many churches, people have said to me, “Oh Brother Eric, we have a jezebel spirit here,” or some other spirit overtaking the church. I wanted to respond, “No, you just have a few dictators. Don’t make it spiritual because it’s very logical.” I have wanted before to simply say, “This person or that person is the problem with this church.”
It is a beautiful thing when this good ground comes together as God wills but an ugly garden when it doesn’t.
What’s in the ground:
Who ever walks in a room and says, “Wow look at this foundation!”? No one does that. Yet the most fascinating part of ministry happens at a place you cannot see. The greatest services I’ve ever been in were ones where there was very little “jumping through hoops” or impartation. People would say, “Yeah, but I don’t see anything or feel anything. I must not be getting anything.” You won’t see anything, today. But in just a short time, out of the ground, the seed will break. Be careful what comes out of your ground (you, your home, your church, your mouth, etc.), but more careful what goes in it. I have met with troubled leaders who had no answer for their crisis then I wondered what they had allowed to take root. Never complain about things you tolerate. You never know what’s in the ground until you start plowing.
Factions or fornicators:
Once, I went to minister at a church. After a few services, I was troubled in spirit, feeling very ineffective, thinking to myself, “What is the deal?”. On a Tuesday night, almost at the end of the revival, I walked into the lobby of my hotel. I struck up a conversation with a very nice lady and inquired about this church. In a very unbiased and kind way, she said to me, “Preacher, the church you’re ministering at has split four times.” So that night I went to service and preached on the subject of “Virtuous Ground”. I spoke to them of how it grieves God when discord reigns. Many times it’s easier to get an adulterer to repent than a sewer of discord. The Bible says that God hates the one that sows discord. Did you know that the tongue gives the first indication of the presence of certain sicknesses and disorders elsewhere in the body? Keep the ground of your church fertile with love and peace and disagree agreeably.
The most effective and fruitful houses I’ve ever been in was where the ground was good. I can usually walk into a service and tell you in three minutes what’s in the ground. If we have to persuade ourselves to pay attention we will have to persuade ourselves to pay tithe. If there’s no hunger to sow an hour of thoughtful observation and consideration there will be no hunger for anything else. A church that is not growing is a church where you cannot fit in lest you are an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher. What if the couple that is coming in the door is just a working couple who want a place to sow their seed- money and children?
Someone says, “How can I know if a ministry is legit or not?” I say, “The proof of a ministry can be revealed by what it produces in you.” What comes out of the ground after that ministry leaves you? What mother language does it put in your mouth? What pops out of the ground a week after that ministry sowed their seed?
