Test the Fruit and Prove the Root
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A little boy wanted to help himself when the wine and wafers of Communion were passed out. His mother leaned over and told him that he was not old enough to take Communion.
Later, when the collection plate came by, his mother again leaned over and tried to coax a nickel out of the boy’s clenched fist. He held on and shouted, “If I can’t eat, I won’t pay.”
—J. R. Love, Rushton, Louisiana[1]
[1] Larson, C. B., & Ten Elshof, P. (2008). 1001 illustrations that connect (p. 97). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
Have the Deacons begin to pass the plates with (olives or sour candy)
I am going to have the deacons pass a plate in front of you. You don’t have to pay to eat. It’s not communion so you do not have to worry about partaking unworthily, but what you will see in the plate I do ask that you take it without hesitation. What you will eat should cause you to begin to consider all that the observance of the Lord’s Supper means when we do:
Come to the Lord’s Table
Come to the Lord’s Table
Today we are in our 3rd week in our Sermon Series on Come To The Lord’s Table.
I have mentioned the Apostle Paul’s appeal to the Corinthian Christians each week. Today we will read and consider a little closer the text from 1 Corinthians 11
As you take in what I have asked listen to God’s Word Read to You.
28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.
29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
30 This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep.
PRAYER
Misunderstanding this text, an imbalanced focus on confessing sin and not being guilty when participating can often cause a timid approach resulting in many Christians to miss the primary purpose of the Lord’s Table.
An old highland minister, seeing an old woman hesitate to receive the cup, stretched it out to her, saying: ‘Take it, woman; it’s for sinners; it’s for you.’
If the table of Christ were only for perfect people, none might ever approach it. The way is never closed to the penitent sinner. To all who love God and their neighbours, the way is always open; and, as Isaiah had it, ‘though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow’ (Isaiah 1:18). - William Barclay
[1] Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 124). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.
Nonetheless, Paul in his 2nd letter to the church at Corinth, calls on the same group of Christians again to test themselves and Prove themselves
5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
“The problem with self-examination is simple. According to the apostle, there are but two conditions, either Jesus is in you, or you are reprobate…There is no third condition. The life of Christ in you may still be weak; but if you are truly born and a child of God, Christ is in you. And then as a child you have access to the table of the Father and a share in the children’s bread.” - Andrew Murray
Test the Fruit to Prove the Root
Test the Fruit to Prove the Root
Examinations can be nerve wracking
“Take out a half sheet of paper,” was the phrase my classmates and I hated hearing most from the professor.
When I was in Bible College, one of the main requirements for our Bible classes was the required reading of certain scripture each night before class.
That half sheet of paper was the pop quiz to let the professor know if we had done what was asked of us. It was the Test of the Fruit that Proved our Roots
But the test revealed either good fruit (passing grade) or bad/no fruit (failing grade)
The good fruit came from the root of obedience in reading
The bad fruit came from the root of disobedience or doing what self wanted instead of reading
Up until the professor made that gut wrenching statement, it was or could be assumed that everyone had done the reading, and no matter how badly we wanted to pass the test if the answers were not in us it was impossible.
There was nothing we could do. - the test revealed the counterfeit from the true
“But if Christ is not in you, you are a ‘reprobate.’ Nothing that is in you, nothing that you do, or are, or even desire and wish to be, makes you acceptable to God. The God against whom you have sinned inquires only about one thing: whether you have received His Son…(in faith)…if you have come to the Lord’s Supper without the wedding garment…you are unworthy.” - Andrew Murray
The word “reprobate” means counterfeit, or literally “not passing the test”
Christ lives in the heart of the believer by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit works to conform us, to make us to be similar in form, nature and character - essentially more and more Christlike
Holy Spirit works to make the truth of our profession of faith evident.
Either Christ is in you, or Christ is not
The Bible calls the evidence of Christ in you “fruit.”
John the Baptist exclaims to religious people/leaders in Matthew 3:8 produce fruit that matches repentance
8 Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance.
The Apostle Paul says in Romans 6:22 - Believers saved by grace are set free from sin - and the fruit we get from the Spirit is good and holy
22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
Then in Colossians 1:10 he tells Christians to walk - meaning to live - pleasing to the Lord, bearing fruit
10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God,
later in Colossians 2:6-7 Paul gives us the means by which to bear fruit - walking and rooted in Jesus - what we do by becoming Rooted in the Word of God and established in our faith.
6 So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.
Jesus the master of the vineyard leaves no room for a third condition in Matthew 7:17 - when we are rooted in him it will be evident.
17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.
Let me give you the context of 1 Corinthians - Paul wrote probably 4 letters (2 in Bible) because Christians in the church were being extremely un-Christlike - evidenced by the bad fruits of worldliness, immorality, unloving, refusing to forgive, improper worship, disunity, selfishness, and more.
The problem Paul is expressing in chapter 11 has to do with v.26 - each time The Lord’s Table is observed it is a visible presentation of the gospel to the unbelievers around us - the Corinthian Christians were failing the test - trying to proclaim a good gospel with bad fruit - ongoing sin.
Some of you may have seen a video I did on Facebook this past Tuesday. If you did you probably have been on the edge of your seat waiting on me to tell you what the Titanic has to do with Coming to The Lord’s Table. It was a root sin, not a fruit sin that sunk it.
Set sail in 1912. Declared unsinkable b/c of new technology - 16 watertight compartments, 4 of which could be damaged or flooded and still the ship would float - we know the outcome.
Why? Well it was thought for the longest time that the iceberg must have ruptured 5 or more of those compartments upon collision.
Surprisingly, on September 1, 1985 - they found something different when they found the Titanic lying upright on the ocean floor - there was no sign of a long gash in the hull - what they discovered was that damage to one compartment affected all the rest.
Claude King writes in his book “Come to the Lord’s Table,” None of us will fully be like Christ this side of heaven. But some Christians have the faulty view that they must continuously live in sin. I’ve heard Christians say, “I sin every day,” as if it were a necessity.
The director of the movie Titanic has said the ship Titanic is a metaphor for life. I don’t know if James Cameron is a Christian or not, but I agree. And, in our case it is even more true.
It is a metaphor for the Christian life and can be for a church.
A person professing a faith in Christ and a proclaiming Church who flirts with one unrepentant sin, will soon find their life or church sunk and sitting on the bottom of the spiritual ocean. Paul makes clear, that the weaknesses, illnesses and deaths in the Church were God’s discipline for such un-repented of sins. Not all sickness and death but in this case
No Christian or Church can compartmentalize sin and be effective and fruitful - ships are suppose to sail, Christians are supposed to be Christlike and churches are suppose to make disciples
The Taste of Sin
The Taste of Sin
Conclusion: That piece of candy, that fruit, I asked you to take at the beginning, I am sure has turned most of your mouths inside out because of its taste. (Some of you may have even tried to find a way to spit it out)
That is how God feels about sin - it leaves an awful taste in his mouth; especially when its in the lives of those who are his children
Do you remember Jesus’ words to the last church in Revelation - you are lukewarm - I want to spit you out of my mouth.
1 Corinthians 11:31 - is essentially a call to repentance
31 If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged,
In 2 Corinthians 13:7 - Paul prays they do nothing wrong - meaning He prays they do not refuse to repent of their sins, for if they refuse to repent, they may prove not to be believers at all. - just counterfeits.
7 But we pray to God that you do nothing wrong—not that we may appear to pass the test, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear to fail.
Invitation: So the first invitation I make this morning is to you whom God has convicted in your heart, and you are now realizing this hard truth of your counterfeit Christianity, that you are not in the faith. The hope in this is that forgiveness is available now.
Why wait - come to the altar now before you come to the table next week.
Christian, same is true for you. Why wait? Examine yourself to make certain your:
Conscience is Clear
Understanding is Correct
Attitude and Conduct is Christ-like
Pride was the root sin that sunk the Titanic and it is the root sin that will sink a Christian and a Church. Claude King blew me away when he said, “Pride is a root sin because from it grows most every other sin.”
Pride says, “Get out of the way God, I want to:
be arrogant and argumentative, be boastful, complain, have a critical spirit and have a judgmental spirit, desire and demand control rather than serve humbly, exalt myself thinking more highly of self than others
be haughty find fault in others, have harshness instead of gentleness toward others, to gossip, slander and lie, and have an uncontrolled tongue
have angry outburst, be filled with malice and rage
to care about and express my personal opinions, preferences, desires, plans, and dreams than I do about other church members
be impatient, be independent from church, show ingratitude, please people instead of God
be prejudice and racist, show rudeness, stubbornness, and be selfish
be unforgiving, stir strife and live in conflict with family and church members
be apathetic, show a lack of love, compassion and mercy
not care about my prayerlessness, not care that I am self-righteous, self-sufficient, have selfish ambition, or self-promotion instead of kingdom promotion
live in sexual immorality, take license to sin when I want, show rebellion toward authority, be disobedient, follow my own evil desires
have a love for the world and things of the world instead of God
be unrepentant and hold on to my sin.
These are all fruit sins
The truth is, we can grow in Christlikeness because the Holy Spirit of Christ lives in us to enable our victory over root sin and fruit sins.
Before Coming to the Lord’s Table - Come to the Altar repent of the sin God convicts you of, find that victory and make it right.
When invitation is over mention the sour taste again and have them exit the building in quiet reflection.