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“Juicy Fruit”
Januay 21-22, 2017– Pastor Michael Craft – Text:Luke 6:43-45
Luke 6:43-45–NKJV
43“For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.44For every tree is known by its own fruit. Formendo not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.45A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
We must remember the verses directly before these versesall have to do with judgment and showing mercy… giving FORGIVENESS. It is interesting, however, that here Jesus seems to be saying that although we should be quick to show mercy, and not condemn, we must remain those who are careful.
“Careful of what?” Careful of who we are listening to.
I believe that Jesus is trying to make a case to these listeners that He was indeed Someone who could be trusted, Someone they didn’t need to be sitting in judgment upon. He directs their attention to the fruit that He was showing… and ultimately the words that were coming out of His mouth, as pointing to the righteousness that was in His heart.
In the context of showing mercy, and refraining from judging… it may seem odd that now, Jesus is basically saying, “judge… a tree, by the fruit that it produces”. But you see, judging a book by the cover and judging a tree by its fruit, are two radically different things.
As responsible followers of Jesus Christ, we are called upon to make assessments…
The Book of Acts tells us that there were a group of people, called the Bereans, who…
“… were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagernessand examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11 -NIV).
Would we say that these Bereans were judgmental? No… they were diligent, and wise.
You and I are hearing, so-called, ‘wisdom’ from a million different sources these days. Everything from biased newscasts, to personal blogs – from celebrity/movie stars with an audience and no business speaking on certain subjects to preachers and so-called Bible teachers with an agenda that seemingly couldn’t be further from God’s agenda.
In that kind of environment, we had better be diligent, and perhaps a bit judgmental – in that we don’t take everything at face value, but research hard enough that we at least look to see if the messenger is bearing any real fruit in their life! Why?
Because… If the fruit is rotten… chances are the tree from which it came ain’t so hot either!
I’m not saying that we become so judgmental that we just turn off everybody, but I am saying that we pay attention to the messengers.
"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
For example: This is why the Bible speaks very bluntly about those who desire to be leaders in the family of God. The men are to have only ONE wife. They are to maintain their own household well. They aren’t supposed to have kids that are way out of whack. They aren’t supposed to be getting divorced and having affairs. Seems obvious, right? I mean, why should anyone listen to someone teach them what the Bible has to say about a certain subject, if that speaker isn’t LIVING that for themselves?
Now, this brings up something that we must consider: Before we can properly assess ANYONE else… me must properly assess ourselves. How is OURfruit?
“Michael, you keep saying fruit. What are you talking about?”
Galations 5describes for usthe kinds of fruit that God desires to see in a Christian’s life:
Galations 5:22-24
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And thosewho areChrist’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
You know what this means? It means that IF you have God’s Spirit living inside of you, then the fruit of that… the evidence of that… the proof of that… is going to be that you are going to start being more:
LOVING
JOYFUL
PEACEABLE
KIND
GOOD
FAITHFUL
GENTLE
and you’ll start showing a littleSELF-CONTROL
I used to think that these particular things were things that I needed to strive for… things that I needed to “work on”. But that’s not necessarily true. These things are the fruits… like the “SYMPTOMS” of being a person that is full of God on the inside!
For example: If someone is ‘brokenhearted’, the ‘fruit’ of being brokenhearted is that they are crying all the time, they can’t eat, and they’re singing sad songs. That’s the “fruit” of being brokenhearted! And the “fruit” of God’s Spirit living inside of us, is that we will simply ‘BE’ – loving, joyful, peaceable, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.
Having a life that is full of God does indeed require that we make certain decisions...
It’s about choosing correctly, Who you are going to follow,Who you are going to be influenced by. I think each of us make these kinds of choices each day…
Think with me all the way back to the Garden of Eden. God had given Adam and Eve full reign to do as they pleased, simply enjoying the Creator and His awesome creation. But God gave humanity a choice, remember? There were two trees, amongst the myriad of others in the Garden, that stood out, and were pointed out by God.
The first tree: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The Second Tree: The Tree of Life.
One of those trees lead to death, one lead to life. Adam and Eve chose death. They chose to have the ability to decide what is good and what is bad – to have that knowledge for themselves:
“Why should I have to have God decide what is right for me… or what is wrong for me? I am my own person… I’m not stupid… I want to make my own decisions! I know what is right… I know what is wrong!”
People are still making that “wrong” choice today:
“I don’t need some old Book to tell me how to live, how to have a successful marriage, how to raise my kids, how to handle finances, how to truly find peace! I’ve figured out what’s right AND what’s wrong all by myself!”
The Bible even tells us that “there is a waythat seemsright to a man, but its endisthe way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25). When we make choices based on what we think is good, and what we think is evil – not based on what the Bible teaches us is good and evil – we are living in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil… and it inevitably leads to death for us, and many times pain and suffering for those around us as well.
In the same way, when we make choices that show that we are reliant upon God’s leading and wisdom, we are making choices that lead to life for us and those around us.
Psalm 1:1-3
“Blessedisthe man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delightisin the law of theLord,And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.
Each day, when we wake up, we make a choice to either live in the Tree of Life… or in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Now… the bummer is that some people fake it. And guess what? They’re pretty good at faking it. They seem to have mastered what it looks like to be a person that “bears fruit”. They know how to smile at the right times and how to put on the… show, but the truth is that they are living out of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
They are trusting in man – themselves. Not God.
EXAMPLE: Plastic grapes on mom’s dinner table.
Jeremiah 17:5-8
Thus says theLord: “Cursed(arur)isthe man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,Whose heart departs from theLord.For he shall be like a shrub(arar)in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, ina salt landwhich isnot inhabited.“Blessedisthe man who trusts in theLord, and whose hope is theLord.For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Once again we see two trees mentioned – in connection with two men. The first is really a shrub, and the man who’s like the shrub is cursed, because he has trusted in man and makes “flesh his strength”. The second tree is planted by the water, it has deep roots, it is powerfully strong – so much so that it matters not if the heat comes or even if there is a season of draught because it’ll keep on yielding fruit… it’s awesome. It’s like a man as well – except it’s not like a man that trusts in his own strength, it’s like a man who “who trusts in theLord, and whose hope is theLord”.
Now, what I really want you to see is that there is a hidden message here that I think is totally cool. I hope you will too!
When you look at the original language(Hebrew) at this verse you see that the word “cursed” is the word “arur”. When you look at the word translated “shrub”, it is literally the English word for “Juniper Tree”. Now, according to Wikipedia, there are 50-67 species of Juniper trees in the world.However, according to Nogah Hareuveni, an expert on plants of the Bible, in Hebrew the name of this tree is called the “Arar”. Does that sound similar to the word for “cursed” (arur)? Yes, it does, and what this gentleman claims is that what Jeremiah is doing here is something that many writers did when they wrote in the Hebraic Poetic Form;He is using a wordplay which drives home an interesting point in this powerful poem that you may not see when reading it in our language.
“What’s the point?” Again… glad you asked!
The Bedouin call this tree the "Cursed Lemon" or "Sodom Apple" because it grows in the desert salt lands that surround the Dead Sea where Sodom and Gomorrah once were. According to their legends, when God destroyed Sodom, He cursed the fruit of this tree also.
Interestingly, the cursed tree looks very healthy and abundant, as if it has survived, even in hard times, and still has done well in life. Like the tree, many people who rely on their own strength really persevere enough so that they seem to "have it all." But again… they’re faking it. They may look awesome on the outside, but on the inside they’re dry… and their fruit is… bad… not juicy.
Jesus, in our text, gives us all a real great way of cutting through all that phoney-bologna-ness… and judging correctly – whether we are judging others… or taking an honest look at ourselves and trying to determine if we’re the ones who are full of phoniness.
Luke 6:45
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
What comes out of your mouth, often betrays what is truly in your heart. From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks… and it gives away who we REALLY ARE.
There’s different ways to test this, for instance:
Many times, when you ask someone where a specific location is…
Another way to test what’s in the heart is to watch what comes out when you’re ‘cut’…
Many times, the words of the answer to a chance question… or how they react when they are “cut”… will show where a man’s thoughts most naturally turn and where the interests of his heart lie. Always our speech betrays us.
All fruit, that is any good, sucks up water from the branches or vine, which is in turn sucking water from the ground. Actually, the water from the ground will determine the taste of the individual fruit. This is one of the reasons why an orange tastes different if it was grown in California from one that was grown in Florida: Different soils… different water sources.
ILLUSTRATION:In 2008 the state of California suffered many severe wild-fires. One strike of lightening began a fire that raged and raged. Do you know that vineyards over 150 miles from where the fires raged are now dealing with a serious problem? The wine that has been sitting in oak barrels for the past few years is now ready to be sold. However, when it was first squeezed, the grapes used were grapes that sucked water that had traveled all that distance and was filled with ash from those fires. Many of these vintners are struggling with trying to sell wine that tastes like a “wet ash tray”.
(The Wall Street Journal – March 31st, 2010 by Ben Worthen - ).
Seriously… How’s your fruit today? Is it juicy?
If you are struggling with a serious lack of:
LOVE
JOY
PEACE
KINDNESS
GOODNESS
FAITHFULLNESS
GENTLENESS
and not even a smidgeon ofSELF-CONTROL
…perhaps it is because you aren’t absorbing your water from the right place?
Jesus said in John 7:37-38
“…If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
He said in John 15:5
“I am the vine, youarethe branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
It really is a choice that you and I must make each and every morning. Which tree will we choose? One last verse and then we’re all done:
Deuteronomy 30:19-20a
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you,thatI have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;that you may love theLordyour God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for Heisyour life...”
The "juice" comes when we do those 4 things:
- Choose Life – we trust in God, not our own strength
- Love the Lord our God– where is your heart… your words will give it away
- Obey His Voice – whenever He speaks, we’re tuned in and listening… and obeying!
- Hold Fast to Him – abide in Jesus – cling to Him – hold on tight, thru trials and pain…
Without this, our lives are empty and hollow… and we’re not fooling anybody.
Especially God.