the basic message #E252
3/10/04
Luke 6:43-45
"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart."
I had this message completely written last night, but I didn't save my work. This morning I awoken to a screen that said "Boot disk failure", which for me usually means I lost the hard drive. Fortunately, I restarted my computer and the only thing I lost was E252 from last night. I wonder if someone doesn't want this message written. Anyhow, let's get started.
Jesus cuts to the chase in the passage above from Luke, leaving little room for misunderstandings. For some strange reason, the modern Christian church doesn't seem to put much thought in "fruit", which is our outward actions and displays. Will a Christian have a bad day and lose his temper? I think so, but his life shouldn't be characterized by temper-tantrums. I tend to believe even the very finest Christians will engage in many "un-Christianlike" activities in their lives, but those activities should be few and far between. Example: Foul language. I have a Christian friend that I've never heard use any foul language. I wish I could say the same. How does he do it? I don't doubt he's asked the Holy Spirit to help him with that habit, but more likely, he just makes a stellar effort not to talk that way.
How many Christians identify the areas of their lives that don't please Christ, and then commence to work on those areas? If your boss said you were going to lose your job if you didn't get clean up your office , wouldn't you clean your office? Is your job worth more than your eternal salvation? Let's use foul language again as an example. When I was younger (and stupid) I used to use the nastiest language you ever heard. I thank God that he's nearly got me scrubbed-down and cleaned-up of that bad habit. But let's say that I still talked like that and my boss said, "John, you can get us sued for sexual harassment if you continue to talk that way. If you can't clean up your act, you're fired." Don't you think I'd curb my language to hold onto my job? Sure I would, so why should I give my boss more than what I'd give God? If someone asks a Christian to modify their life to honor what God wants, they'll shout "legalism" or "you can't work your way to Heaven". If your boss asks the very same thing, we'll just say, "it's just business".
When Jesus speaks of the fruit a tree bears, can you see the parallel with us as productive Christians? I wish I had a nickel for every time someone questions the outward actions of another Christian, only to hear someone say, "Well, we don't know what's in his heart, only God knows that." While it's true that only God knows what's in a person's heart, that person's outward actions reveal much about his heart. It's a very rare and isolated case in which a true follower of Christ will exhibit external tendencies that go against the teachings of Jesus. Most of us know, deep down, what kind of "fruit" our "tree" bears. We know how we talk in public, we know how we treat others, we know if we drink too much or gamble or do things that aren't suitable for a true child of God. When we die, God will require us to provide an accounting of our lives. I've no doubt that he will delve into the fruit we bore while on earth in the process of that accounting. Wouldn't it be nice to have a life that is as orderly and clean as possible? Yes, I know that Jesus died for our sins, but how will God feel about us crucifying Jesus for the sins that we could have very easily not committed?