Monthly Archives: January 2011

Luke 6:43-45 – “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, [44] for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. [45] The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Salvation by free, sovereign, electing love will always produce fruit in a person’s life. This is the consistent testimony of the Scriptures. God has chosen to save people from their sins. Sinless perfection well not become a reality this side of glory but there will be change; change of heart, attitude, direction of life, and behaviour. There will be change of desire. Salvation brings the desire to please the God who in love has reached down and rescued us. This is what Jesus has been teaching in this little section of the sermon that Luke records for us in Luke 6.  A tree is known by its fruit.

But Jesus takes this very non surprising teaching to a shocking level when he states that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” It pictures the heart like a container that, when it gets filled, to prevent it from bursting, has an overflow valve that allows the liquid coming into it to escape and cause less damage.

Picture that container as your heart and the overflow valve as your mouth. What comes out of that valve, your mouth, is what gets poured into the container, your heart. It is unavoidable.

You find yourself in an argument with your spouse (or someone else) and out comes an insult, a slur or an attack of some kind that just makes him/her shrivel up and surrender. And out of your mouth come the words – “I didn’t mean it”. And while you are hoping that this attempt at restitution will suffice, you hear the question “Then why did you say it?” Whatever reasons you may find in your own defense will not likely be what Jesus says here. You said it because that is what is in your heart.

We may talk about people whose mouths seem to be disconnected from their brains and their number is legion. Attached to their brains or not, they are firmly glued to their hearts, their inner being, their real motives and deep seeded beliefs. This is not easy to accept, mainly because so many of us have said some pretty harsh, hurtful, ignorant things. To conclude that that is a reflection of what is in our hearts is very convicting. It is frightening. It is horrifying. It may be why we seek to lessen the blows of what Jesus says here. Some people will just outright deny that their words come from their hearts. But they do.

We are saved by free, sovereign, electing grace. And we had better be glad that we are. Sanctification is a gradual process. We do not come to faith and get zapped with sinlessness. This is why we are told to chase after righteousness (Romans 14:9, I Corinthians 14:1, I Timothy 6:11, II Timothy 2:22). But we are told to pursue it because by His grace and power – we can.

The words that come out of our mouths are a constant call to us regarding just how sinful our hearts still are and how far we have to go in the sanctification process. But there is also this: the words that come out of our mouths are a constant reminder of just how great the grace of God was when He came and saved us; just how great it is in keeping us; just how faithful He is in loving us and just how powerful the work of the Holy Spirit is in sanctifying us.

Don’t try to wiggle your way out of the severity of these words of Jesus to His followers. See them as a gift to you about just how much you need the grace of God. See them as His call to you to get to work on even this gauge of the heart. See them as an opportunity to triumph even over the tongue and the heart. This “unruly evil” (James 3:8) can be tamed by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. By His power we can have renewed hearts and therefore renewed mouths. What a work God has accomplished for us!

Psalm 31:9 – Be gracious to me for I am in distress.

David’s call is for grace. God owes us nothing. If He comes to the aid of His children, which He does, it is not because we deserve it. It is because He is gracious. And the ultimate demonstration of His grace is Jesus Christ. We are in Christ. Christ sits at the right hand of the Father and lives to intercede for us before Him. We are the children of God and the Father treats us so because of the work of Christ. We are dearly loved and that is because in love Jesus brought us into a relationship with the Father. The reason we can call out to God for help in our distress is because of what Jesus did, is doing and will continue to do for us.

And we need not be shy about asking Him. We do not need to wonder if we will get help this time. We do not need to worry about whether there is enough grace left for another calamity in our lives. We do not have to wonder if Jesus has just grown tired and decided that we call upon Him too much for help. The glory of God and the glory of Jesus hangs on His coming to the aid of His children. If He did not, He would be a liar. It would be because the work of Jesus on the cross had gone past its due date. It would mean that the Father no longer found the work of Jesus to be satisfactory. And none of these things are possible.

God will never dishonour His Son and therefore He will never dishonour those for whom Christ died and rose again. In love for us God sent His Son into the world to purchase us out of our slavery to sin. He knows we are helpless. He knows without Him we can do nothing. And in love and grace He hears and answers our calls for help. We go with confidence to the throne of grace to find grace and mercy to help us in our time of need.

Luke 6:[43] “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, [44] for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. [45] The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Coming to faith in Jesus Christ results in a change of heart. Paul will phrase it as becoming a new creature with the old things gone and new things come (II Corinthians 5:17). Peter will talk about the new birth having purified our souls so that we can love one another sincerely and obey the truth (I Peter 1:22-23). When a believer sins such texts can be a knife to the heart. We are prone to excuse our sins and when the Bible tells us that faith in Jesus results in changed lives it is very convicting.

But change does not mean sinlessness. We must never excuse sin but we must realize that we are not saved because we are good. We have been saved by grace, are being saved by grace and will be saved by grace. It is necessary that the tension remain. We will never lives as righteously as is required by God, for what God requires is sinless perfection and only Jesus did that. That is what makes the Gospel such a marvel. He who committed no sin became sin for us that we might be the righteousness of God (II Corinthians 5:21). When we believe, that faith is credited to us as righteousness. We are not righteous. We are still sinners. But because we believe in Jesus Christ and have come to Him as our only hope, God counts us as righteous.

Some will say that if that is true then people can live like the devil and still be confident of an eternity with Christ. Ah, not so. Or as Paul puts it in Romans 6:1, “By no means!” When Paul said that he had just finished a lengthy explanation of the Gospel (Romans 1:18 – 5:21). Paul knows that an accurate explanation of the Gospel will lead people to ask “Then can we sin to make grace look more amazing?” “Not at all”, Paul replies.

What we need to remember is that the Gospel is not just us changing our minds about Jesus. It is, in the words of Romans 1:16-17, the power of God. When we come to faith in Christ, it is because God has already done something. Real change has taken place. We have been baptized into the death of Christ. We have died to the power of sin. We can now say no to sin and that is what we will want to do. No real Christian will be content to say that since he has come to Christ he can now live a reprobate life. When we come to faith in Christ we died to sin and were raised to newness of life. We are new creatures. The Holy Spirit now lives in us and the fruit of the Spirit is (not should be, could be, might be,) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self control. By the indwelling Spirit we put to death the deeds of the flesh (Romans 8:13). The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a powerful thing. It does not just result in a change of destination. It first of all results in a change of heart, of desires, of behaviour. This is why we now can say with Paul that our sin breaks our hearts and thrusts us to Christ for help and hope (Romans 7:21-8:8). So, while we are not righteous, we are righteous.

Now then, all that was said to get to the phrase of Jesus in Luke 6:45. One of the changes that the grace of God in the heart brings is a change in speech. We’ll try again tomorrow to deal with that. For now, we revel in the marvellous work of God in bringing us to faith in Jesus. We marvel that He has taken up residence in us and we marvel that what we were once powerless to do we can now do by His power and grace. Thank God for what He has done!

Psalm 27:1 (ESV)

Of David.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

“Mortals are immortal here until their work is done”. That line from an old hymn is true no matter how many questions it engenders and debates it may cause. David writes that he will not fear, because the Lord is the stronghold of his life. In other words, because life and death are not in the hands of his enemies but in the hands of the God He knows and loves and serves and who knows and loves and serves him. The fearlessness comes from reminding himself that for all the trouble and torment that his enemies give him, it is all within the providential hand of God who has permitted his enemies the leeway. What David’s enemies intend for evil God intends for good.

This type of thinking is not easy to master. First of all, it needs to be understood properly. Fearlessness does not mean that we like the hardships that we are called to go through. Fearlessness is not stoicism, fatalism or an ignorance of the situation. Fearlessness is faith in the God who is sovereign and who has said that He works out all things for the good of all who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

It is right to avoid pain. It is right to hide when enemies hunt us down to hurt us. It is right to try to escape from unjust suffering. But it is wrong to think that God has abandoned us. It is wrong to conclude that the results are all up to us. It is wrong to think that all we have to do is wait for God to act. It would be wrong to conclude that God has forsaken us or that the bad guys are winning.

We live in a real world with real issues that need to be handled like real people. But the one area where we will not be like others is that we will not fear what people can do to us. Jesus said that we need not fear men since all they can do is kill us (Luke 12:4). What a striking thing. To us that is the worst case scenario. Jesus puts it in proper perspective. All they can do is kill you. Then what? Then nothing. As soon as you die you are ushered into the presence of the God who loves you, who sent His Son to save you and who has used the wickedness of others to bring you home into His presence for eternity.

The One you should fear is the One who can send do something to you after death. And that is God Himself. If you are trusting Him then you have the assurance that He who can destroy people after death, is on your side and that because of Jesus Christ, will not destroy you. Because of the work of His Son, He will welcome you into His presence and give you an inheritance that cannot perish, spoil or fade away (I Peter 1:3-5). Because He has already dealt with the only thing worth fearing, you do not need to fear those who can send you into the next life. Jesus has already taken care of that.

Go through this day in the confidence that this is a reality and show it in fearlessly living for the glory of God. Walk in obedience.

Luke 6:[43] “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, [44] for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. [45] The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

The first word of the Scripture quote above is “for”. This means that what Jesus said is a direct result of what He spoke before He said that. It most likely goes all the way back to verse 27. From verse 27 to 42 Jesus has said that we are to love our enemies, not judge others, and deal with our own sins before we focus on the sins of others. And then Jesus says “For no good tree bears bad fruit …” This means that the specific fruit Jesus is talking about is those things.

Jesus is not saying that His disciples will never sin once they know Him. If we were to maintain this we would be testifying that we are not Christian at all (I John 1:8). But Jesus is saying that when a person comes to know Him there will be a change in his heart that shows itself in changed behaviour. He says nothing here about finding ourselves in a church meeting several times a week or getting so busy in formal church things that we have no time for family or neighbours. The fruit He mentions have to do with interpersonal relationships.

People who know Jesus Christ are going to treat other people differently than they did before they knew Him. The enemies they used to hate and work against and gossip about they will now love and seek to help. People they used to enjoy condemning as great sinners they will now mourn over and seek to win to Christ through prayer and Gospel witness. They once held grudges but now they have found the desire and ability to forgive those who have done them harm. They will no longer be greedy but giving instead. Because they now know Christ they will be able to lead others into an awareness of the claims and requirments of the Gospel. And they will constantly be aware that they have sin that they need to pay attention to in their own hearts, minds and actions. They know that their own sins need to be dealt with before they start pointing accusing fingers at others.

How do we measure the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives? The fruit of real conversion will always, always, always include improved relationships with others. This will especially show with other believers. We can become so prone to saying we are saved because we read our Bibles, go to church, put money in the offering plate, get involved in ministry. Nothing wrong with any of those things. But any pagan can do them (See Luke 18:9-14). Jesus doesn’t even hint at these things. Eliminate those things out of the proof you would offer to show that you are a believer and focus instead on how well you get along with other people. Are you bearing good fruit now? At the end of this section Jesus mentions another piece of the good fruit of a real encounter with Christ, but we’ll get to that next week. For now we camp here. The good fruit that Jesus focuses on as evidence of real faith is our attitudes and behaviour toward other people. And if we are honest, we will see that we all need to work hard at improving those relationships.

Psalm 22:24 – “For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.”

He has not despised the afflicted. This means, at the very least, that some are called by God to be afflicted while others are not. James was arrested and put to death by Herod. When Herod saw how the execution pleased the people he had Peter arrested with every intention of putting him to death as well. But God sent an angel to the prison to escort Peter out. Why didn’t he do it with James? Some might say that no one prayed for James. We do not know that. It could be that the reason the church prayed for Peter was because they didn’t want a repeat of James. But we do not know that they did not pray for James. God allowed James to be killed. God rescued Peter from being killed. Peter was not more loved than James was. But God was not finished with Peter yet. James work was over and Peter’s was not.

Some believers will travel through life persecuted, hungry, abused and forgotten. Others will be famous, comfortable, popular and healthy. The Bible says very little about the final reward of the latter group. He says very much about the former. But we get it all twisted. We aspire to greatness, wealth, and fame. It is one of the chief ways that we are worldly. We can fall into believing that our success, number of converts, fame etc. are evidence of God loving us more than those who are not so blessed.  So, those churches who have many converts, many baptisms, many hungry people who long to grow in their faith are seen to be more faithful to the Scriptures than those who are not seeing such fruit. Success is attributed to leadership skills, holiness, or innovative evangelistic methods among other things.

Those who do not get the results that these people get are told that if they become better leaders, get rid of the sin in their lives, get with the evangelistic programme, or lack of it, and hang around the right kind of people they too will be great. They are seen as somehow deficient.

It is true that God may withhold blessing from a church because of sin or because things are done poorly, led improperly or organized ineffectively. But it is also true that a lack of growth may have nothing to do with those things. But we do not believe that. While we are not “name it and claim it” types, we are. We just name and claim different things.

O Lord, forgive us where we have sinned by attributing your works of grace as our works of leadership or management or methods. Forgive us for looking down on others whose successes may not be as evident as ours. Forgive us for thinking that if only people would do what we are doing they would be better off.

O Lord, keep us from being satisfied with the lostness around us. Keep us from thinking that not much can be done because their sin is too great. Teach us that you who gave the dry bones life can do the same thing today in the hearts and minds and souls of those we preach to and witness to. Give us souls O God and keep us aware that it is you and you only who can give them.

Cause us to really live for the praise of your glory. Cause us to refuse to take credit that only belongs to you. Cause us to be jealous for your glory and not our own. Cause Jesus to be seen and wondered at as people watch us. Save us O Lord.

And thank you. Thank you for not despising the afflicted. Thank you for loving those churches and leaders who are afflicted with small numbers and meagre results and opposition and small budgets and cantankerous people. Thank you for not measuring us like we sometimes measure ourselves. Thank you for helping the afflicted persevere when times are really tough and the going is really slow. And help them to keep their eyes on you in such times and not succumb to the temptation to look at those who are at ease and envy them.

Luke 6:[39] He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

Jesus has just taught the disciples that they are to love their enemies, do good to those who do evil to them, not judge other believers but instead forgive (Verses 27-38). Then He says that a blind man cannot lead a blind man. We will not be able to keep these instructions of Jesus if we are blind. We will not be able to teach others to do them if we are blind to them ourselves.

What it takes to keep these instructions and to exemplify them and teach them to others is spiritual sight. It takes the miracle of conversion. To read this sermon of Jesus and resolve to love one’s enemies, do good to those who hate me, bless those who curse me, pray for those who abuse me etc. is to embark on a fool’s errand. It cannot be done, at least not for long and not from the heart. What it takes to do this is a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit in the heart so that I am a changed person who lives for the glory of God and not myself. I may be able to do some of these things outwardly and maintain them for a short while, but only God at work in me will enable me to live like this consistently. And living like this, for the glory of God, is what it is all about.

This message, improperly understood, will lead people to a works righteousness that will keep them from ever knowing the real righteousness that comes from Christ. It is not a coincidence that at the end of the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5 – 7, that Jesus tells the parable of those who stand before God claiming the right to enter glory based on their preaching, their miracles and their exorcisms (Matthew 7:21-23). He is warning us that if we hear this message and then conclude that salvation comes by keeping the rules outlined in it we are going to hear “I never knew you” when we stand before Him.

The point of the Sermon on the Mount and this one in Luke 6 is to show how those saved by grace live. It is how those renewed by the Spirit and forgiven by God because of the work of Christ on the cross, will live. Salvation comes to those who recognize their spiritual poverty and flee to Jesus for spiritual riches (Matthew 5:3). It is this spiritual poverty that God accepts and then we will live like this sermon says.

Far too many people miss this. And they will miss eternal life because of it. On the other side of this coin are those who claim to have a saving faith in Jesus and yet do not demonstrate the attitudes and life that Jesus says will mark those who have real poverty of spirit. Real Christians will forgive, love their enemies, see the log in their own eye before they see the speck of dust in their neighbour’s. They will not claim faith in Jesus and live as if Jesus only changes destinations and not hearts. The blind cannot lead the blind. Jesus opens our eyes and when He does we want nothing more than to live to please Him.

Luke 6:[41] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? [42] How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

What sins are the really big ones? If someone were to say to you that they might not be perfect but they haven’t committed really big sins, we generally know what they would be talking about: murder, rape, grand theft etc. When talking about our sins we may speak of famous criminals and compare ourselves with them and say that at least we are not that bad. “I know I’m not perfect but I’m no Jack the Ripper.” The purpose of this, of course is to make ourselves look good. We do it to prove that we could be a lot worse.

There is another way to do this too and we do it all the time. We see some sin that someone else commits that we do not commit, even if it isn’t on our “big” list and make that the big issue. When we do that we define big sin thus: any sin that we do not commit. “I may cheat on my income tax but at least I’m not a gossip!!” And that word “gossip” is spit out from between our teeth as if there couldn’t possibly be anything worse. A big sin then becomes any sin that we do not commit. We set up a standard that makes us look good. We know what God really hates. He really hates that. And that will not be something that we are particularly bothered by.

It’s as if there is a list of sins that God doesn’t really concern Himself with and – surprise!! Those are all the ones that I do! This makes us feel better. It enables us to not work on the sins that so easily beset us. It helps us look down on others. This is what Jesus is addressing in Luke 6:41 when He says that we are prone to see a speck of dust in someone else’s eye while ignoring the log in our own.

The issue is not that our brother is not sinning. He may indeed be sinning. The issue isn’t even that the other person does not need to have his sin pointed out to him. He may be blind to it and needs help to see it, deal with it and be done with it. The problem is that we treat him as the big sinner while giving the impression that we are not bothered by anything so vile as what he is dealing with. The fact of the matter is that we need to pay as much attention to dealing with our own sin as we do digging up the sins of others.

We are commanded in the Scriptures to help each other overcome sin. When a brother is overtaken in a fault those who are spiritual are to restore him – in a spirit of gentleness (Galatians 6:1). If a brother will not truly repent we are to bring him up about it and even discipline him out of the church if he insists on continuing in his sin. But we are never to think that the reason a person sins is because his sins are big and ours are small. We are never to conclude that the discipline was due to the enormity of his sin.

There is only one sin that merits church discipline and that is the sin of refusing to repent. When we see other people’s sins as big and ours as small that is precisely what we are doing. We are testifying that there is no repentance necessary – because our sins are too small to need it.

This is serious business and we need to see ourselves in this teaching of Jesus. We have all done this. We all do it. And we are all mentioned here by Jesus. There is, of course, hope. The Holy Spirit has put this before us today so that we can start doing something about it. And He will help us. He has given us His indwelling presence, the Scriptures, the fellowship of others, the proper practice of the Lord’s Supper. All these things will help us gain the victory over even those sins that we have treated as insignificant. It’s a log, not a speck.

Luke 6:[39] He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? [40] A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

Now here is truly frightening stuff for any teacher who has been teaching for more than just a few years. Those you teach will be like you. The general principle that Jesus is getting at here is that a teacher cannot take people to places he has not been. Teachers must know their stuff. It is not enough to know good teaching techniques and be personable and know how to influence people. If what you are passing on to them is not solid, sixteen-ounces-to-the-pound of biblical doctrine and application, then go do something else. If a blind man takes another blind man by the hand to lead him somewhere they will both get in trouble.

In a culture such as ours where appearance and charisma and popularity are highly valued there will be a greater danger of people being grabbed by the hand by those who cannot see. There is a warning in Jesus’ words here to both teachers of Christian doctrine and life and to their pupils.

Teachers need to read this text and commit themselves afresh to knowing their stuff, living it out in front of those they teach and growing in their own understanding of the truth. Teachers need to ask themselves how happy they would be if all their students turned out like them, because that is what Jesus says is going to happen. This brings to mind Paul’s words to Timothy in I Timothy 4:16.

I Timothy 4:[16] Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Do you teach others? Keep a close watch on both the doctrines that you teach and the way that you live. Make sure that you teach only the truth as it is given to us in the Scriptures. And be a person above reproach. Live honestly before the world and before God. It is not only you that you are in danger of ruining. Your students will become like you. Get your act together or get out.

Are you a student of Bible teachers? Maintain a Berean spirit.

Acts 17:[10] The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. [11] Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

You have a duty to study the Bible on your own. You are not an empty vessel simply waiting to be filled. You are to study and grow as you are taught. You are to be open to the possibility that you may be wrong and that your teacher has turned you in the right direction. You must work at putting the things that you are taught into concrete action in your daily living. Remember that you are not above your teacher. In the teaching relationship your teacher is above you. This is why it is crucial that only sound teachers be appointed in churches.

All of us are teachers and students at the same time. Both positions carry responsibilities. The greater lies with the teacher. You will produce people like yourself. Live so that will not be an embarrassment to you or to the Gospel.