FRUIT
FROM A FIRM FOUNDATION
Luke
6:43-49
Luke
6:43-44 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit.
For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
Susie: Jesus
is about to compare people to plants. In my yard, I grew tomatoes, onions, lettuce,
bell peppers, banana peppers, and broccoli in raised beds. However, in my lawn
were weeds with prickly stickers and even poison ivy. I did not expect to find
Romaine lettuce growing on the weeds or tomatoes on the poison ivy vines. The
good plants produced delicious food, but the bad plants were an annoyance to be
dealt with because they consistently produced stickers and itchiness. A plant
is known by what it produces. People are known by the product of their lives as
well.
Luke
6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which
is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth
that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
Susan: How
does a man become “good?” We are not born that way:
Romans
3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Romans
6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Susan: The
only way a person’s heart can be turned from evil to good is not found in religion.
It is found in the relationship with God offered as a free gift that Jesus, the
Son, purchased when He paid the debt of our sin on the cross. Those who believe
and trust in Jesus are filled with His Holy Spirit. It is that Spirit within us
that cleanses our hearts and enables us to live in obedience to His word.
Susie: Once
we surrender our hearts to Jesus’s control, we fill them with the good found in
His word:
Psalm
119:11 (AMP) Your word I have treasured and stored in my heart, That I may not
sin against You.
Susan: The
Holy Spirit, the third person of the God-head, causes us to produce good fruit:
Galatians
5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no
law.
Luke
6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Susan: Jesus
was addressing people who presented themselves as acknowledging Him as Master,
as if they had relationship with Him, but did not obey Him, living any way they
wanted. It is not enough to hear His teaching and say you trust Him. The ones who truly believe will act upon what they
have heard.
Matthew
15:8 (NIV) “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far
from me.”
James
1:22 Don’t deceive yourselves by only
hearing what the Word says, but do it!
Luke
6:47-48 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will
shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged
deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream
beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded
upon a rock.
Susie: Most
people understand the importance of a foundation in building a house. Whether
your home is on a slab foundation or pier and beam, you know that it is
critical to have a foundation that goes below the surface of the ground in
order to support the house when the dirt shifts due to rainfall. We’ve all seen
the commercials reminding us that “cracks are bad.” LOL In the next few verses,
Jesus speaks to the importance of our spiritual foundation.
Susan: As
believers, storms of life continue to assail us—work stress, personal loss,
financial difficulties, worn out earth-suits—to name a few. When we have dug
deep into God’s word and laid our foundation upon the unshakable truth of
relying on Jesus alone for salvation, we will not be moved or blown away.
Susie: We
will be able to stand in the day of God’s judgment because our faith in Jesus
will cover us in His righteousness. He is our rock, and we shall not be moved
because He Himself enables us to stand.
Romans
14:4 (NIV) Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master,
servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them
stand.
Luke
6:49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a
foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat
vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
Susie: Matthew
makes it clear that this house was not only directly on the earth, but on sandy
soil! I love the Complete Jewish Bible translation:
Matthew
7:26-27 (CJB) But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on
them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the
rivers flooded, the wind blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed —
and its collapse was horrendous!
Susan: If one
does not have Jesus as his/her foundation, he or she cannot stand in the struggles
of every day life. The only way a person can stand firm in the day of God’s
judgment is to stand on the relationship with Jesus, the Rock of our salvation,
by the grace of God imparted to us by Jesus’s death on the cross and the
victory of His resurrection from death.
Susie: This
passage reminded me of a hymn we sang often in the church I grew up in. Edward
Mote wrote this lyric around 1834, and immediately, the Lord used it to encourage
the dying wife of a friend. Below is a link to hear “On Christ The Solid Rock,
I Stand:”
Ponder
This and Apply It: What is the foundation of your life? Is it your
membership in a certain church or denomination? Is it the fact that you have been
immersed in baptism? Is it that you try to be a “good” person? None of those
answers will stand before a Holy, All-Knowing, All-Seeing God. Are you certain
that your hope is in Jesus, the Rock of our salvation, alone; or are you
trusting other things? Take stock of your commitment to Jesus today. Surrender
your entire being to Him. Then the foundation of the rest of your life will
stand strong no matter what you face on this earth, and you will be able to
stand before a Holy God “dressed in His righteousness alone.”
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