Luke 6:43-49 Fruit Trees and Builders.
Main Idea: As Jesus continues to teach his disciples, they are to be characterized by bearing good fruit through a Christlike character and having a firm foundation in Jesus Christ.
v43-45 Jesus is talking to the disciples here. He is asking them to examine what kind of fruit they are bearing for the Kingdom of God. Christians should be recognized by the good fruit that they are bearing for Jesus Christ. Jesus is telling the disciples that they should be characterized by good fruit.
“As a pupil follows the example of his teacher (v. 40), so "fruit" from a tree follows the nature of that tree.” Constable, Notes on Luke
“As a man is, in his own inward self, in his deepest being, so he will also act. The nature of his personality will determine the nature of his acts and the quality of his influence. Geldenhuys, The Gospel of Luke
What kind of fruit are you bearing for God’s kingdom today? Good fruit or bad?
Are you producing any fruit at all or are you ‘lukewarm’ (Revelation 3:14-16)?
How can you maximize your ‘fruit bearing’ potential?
“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” Matthew 15:18,19
Whichever fruit a person bears comes from the heart.
As any farmer will tell you, there is a season for bearing fruit - now is your season! Now is the time for you to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.
“Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14
What is stopping you producing fruit? Is it lethargy, fear, busyness or something else?
The differences between bad fruit and good fruit.
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:19-25
Is there any sin (bad fruit) that you need to confess today?
Is there any ‘good fruit’ that you need to be working on?
What aspect of your character do you need to ‘crucify’ today?
The world around us has a desperate hunger that needs to be satisfied. They are hurting and are facing life’s trials on their own. Only Jesus can satisfy their spiritual needs.
“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35
Unbelievers will walk past your ‘fruit tree’ and look at your character/life witness. They may watch your tree for a long time to see what kind of ‘fruit’ you are producing.
Pastor Bills testimony about good and bad fruit.
As someone looks at your life/character, Is the ‘fruit’ that you are producing appealing or not?
Would they stop at your fruit tree and be pointed to Christ or be turned off by the ‘bad fruit’?
“When you live a godly life in front of people, it reaches them emotionally, either positively or negatively. It makes a person very conscious of his state, or perhaps just very conscious of your state. He realizes that he is unhappy with his, and he admires yours.” Jim Wilson, Taking Men Alive
v46 Jesus is our Lord and master. We are not to pay lip service to him. If we say that we love him and have faith in him that means we need to be obedient to his teaching. We need to work at the good and bad fruit in our lives. Our foundation must be in him as believers. When we hear Jesus’ words and put them into practice, this is building on a strong foundation (James 1:22, John 14:23,24).
“Token acknowledgement of Christ as Lord will not pass for radical obedience to his teaching.” Garland, ECNT Luke
There are plenty of people who call themselves Christians but are really not. Jesus knows who his true disciples are and at the end of time he will make his final judgment:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left…41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25: 31-33, 41, 46
v49 ‘its destruction was complete’ - this is referring to eternal destruction i.e. hell.
What we see in this parable is that humans have a choice in whom to put their foundation. The foolish builder represents the person who has heard about the truths and teachings of Christ. They have put their trust and faith in the worlds teaching/values. The foolish builder represents unbelief and what happens to unbelievers i.e total destruction and separation from Christ the foundation.
Where is your foundation today?
Do you put your trust in the world and it’s temporary values or in Christ’s eternal values?
It is possible to have eternal life and know God personally through Jesus Christ and have a personal relationship with him. Perhaps you are here today and don’t know how to have a relationship with God. Firstly, we need to recognize our human condition. In the book of Romans it says this:
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:23,24
God is holy, pure and righteous and we are not. If we are honest, we have all done things wrong in our lives. Every human being has this sinful condition. Sin is basically going our own way and not God’s way. There is hope for us through Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross. God says in his word that the penalty for sin is death:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life inChrist Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
This means that our sin brings death and judgment. This death is referring to spiritual death and not physical death. We all have to die physically. Unless we have dealt with our sin issue, we are spiritually separated from God forever. Our foundation will not last.
So how can we deal with our sin issue?
Jesus Christ - who was God’s son - was born of a virgin. He was fully man and fully God. He was the only human who ever walked this earth who was sinless. Jesus was without sin.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:16-18
Every human being on the planet has eternal life. They either have eternal life without Christ; this is called hell, or they have eternal life with Christ in heaven. We all have a choice to decide where we want to spend eternity. That choice about our foundation has to be made here on earth before we die physically.
God loves you so much today that he gave up his sinless son Jesus to die for your sin. God does not want anyone to perish. He does not want for any person to be separated from his loving presence. Jesus was sinless and was innocent of the false charges against him. Yet the religious rulers and Romans had him crucified; an excruciating form of death.
You see there is nothing we can do about our sinful condition on our own; God had to intervene for us. God said the penalty for sin is death and you Jesus, my son whom I love, have to pay that penalty. When they crucified Jesus he took our sin penalty and died for us. Jesus was innocent and sinless yet we were guilty and sinful. There was an exchange happened on the cross. After Jesus died, they laid him in a tomb but death could not hold him because he was sinless and had done nothing deserving of death. God raised him supernaturally from the dead and that is why he is alive today. When we confess and repent of our sin and ask Jesus to come into our hearts we too can have eternal life and forgiveness of our sins. Jesus says:
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.”
““I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:1-5,6
Jesus is the only way to God and the only way to heaven for eternity with him. He is the Savior of the world.
To have a foundation in Christ, means to accept that Jesus has died for your sin and is your Savior.
Jesus knows your past and he knows about your sin and wants to forgive you.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8
There is nothing that he cannot forgive if you trust him with it.
Would you like to choose to accept Jesus as your Savior today and have eternal life?
Dear Lord Jesus, I come before you today and confess that I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sin and going my way. Please forgive me. I want to experience your love in my life and need you as my Savior. I choose to follow you now and ask you to be Lord of my life. I want to spend eternal life in heaven with you.