Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro
Recap -
The things Jesus has been teaching in this sermon up to this point have all been building upon one another.
The perception and contrast of two different types of people, one that reflects the world, and another that lives as a disciple of Christ.
How a disciple is to interact with others who are not followers of Jesus.
How a disciple ought to view the resources God has provided.
How a disciple is to treat others, with a generous and forgiving heart rather than a judgmental and condemning one.
A disciple must have discernment in who they are following and know who is following them.
Are we following good teachers, are we a blind guide ourselves?
As Christians, as disciples, we are called to live with integrity for the glory of God.
These have all been building and growing and now bring us to where we are today in our passage.
A tree and its fruit.
This verse, while simple from the onset, truly gives us a lot to speak about in the context.
I appreciate how Eugene Peterson paraphrases this passage in the Message
This is a parable still so we must ask ourselves what are these things meant to represent?
The tree is meant to be people.
The fruit is meant to be the things they do in their lives and the character that shows in them.
Jesus again makes a somewhat comical statement, that is I believe made even more so by the words used.
He makes the statement that figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
This word translated brambles bush is the same word that was used to speak of the burning bush which God revealed himself to Moses through in the wilderness in the OT when it was translated into Greek.
That type of bush bush is believed to grow a sort berry that bursts releasing oil on the leaves which cause it to be flammable.
Definitely not something to eat.
No good tree bears bad fruit.
Many of us I am sure know from personal experience that both literally and metaphorically this is not strictly true:
there may be rotten or malformed apples among a good crop,
But most often, bad fruit becomes bad because of outside influences.
Worms and other pests get into a good tree and eat the fruit.
Good people sometimes do bad things, we will bring this up again a little later.
The focus is on the crop as a whole, and thus on a person’s whole lifestyle.
The way one lives testifies to what sort of a person one is.
Disciples should stand out as different by the way they live.
Christian profession must be validated by Christian living.
We see this idea reiterated elsewhere in scripture, especially in James.
We can even look back into material we have already covered.
The message given by John the Baptist.
John went on to respond to the people asking him what they should do in the next verses 10-14
In reality, this is not a new message.
The approach may be the difference tough.
Jesus moves on to explain the purpose of his analogy in verse 45
John didn’t explicitly push for the heart motives as Jesus does here.
When you think of a worm laden apple, where do they come from?
They don’t bore into the core, but rather the eggs are layed and the apple grows and the eggs mature, and the the larvae then eat their way out.
This is really an amazing picture for us of what Jesus showing us here.
A good person brings good things out of the good stored up in their heart.
What is true of behavior (6:43–44) is equally true of speech.
What one says reveals the real person inside.
Again the whole of a person’s “speech style” is in view.
Anyone, perhaps having a bad day, can speak out of character.
It is also sadly possible to deliberately conceal one’s true character by the way one speaks,
so that the test of “fruit” (6:44) may be needed to unmask a deliberately false profession.
But it is not easy to keep up such an act consistently, and truth will come out.
Have you ever bitten into a apple that looks good, and feels good on the outside, only to discover that the core is rotten?
Not a pleasant experience.
Checking the fruit.
Where we live today, normally when I think of a good apple, I think of Washington apples.
There are wonderful apples grown across the country, but here in Montana,we get a lot of Washington apples.
I have a short video I would like for us to watch together.
Play Video
Jesus uses the analogy of checking the fruit because it is essential.
Just as it is an essential part of the Washington produce.
It is an essential part of the Christian life.
We all know the saying you are what you eat.
If that is true, it is more true that you are what you say.
Our words reveal our hearts.
The things we say, and how you say them expose and unveil the condition and attitudes of our hearts.
I would say that most often we don’t even realize this.
We speak and act without thinking.
Because if we did, we would probably be a lot more careful with what we say and how we say it.
This really hits home in our homes, our relationships with our spouses, with our children, because they see it the most.
Most people think actions reveal the heart.
There is even a saying we have all heard: “Actions speak louder than words.”
I don’t disagree with that, but the Bible says words speak loud enough on their own.
For it is out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks.
It is the tongue that sets the body on fire.
It is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean, but what comes out of him.
As we were reminded in the previous verses, we should judge our own characters, the condition of our hearts.
And while behavior is one was of observing this, it is not the only or necessarily the best way.
We are experts at seeing only the good actions in our lives, and overlooking or excusing the bad.
Which is why a fruit inspector is necessary.
Could you picture the apples on the convey belt inspecting themselves?
If we really want to judge our own character, we must listen the what we say and how we say it.
a heart can produce words and deeds only of the same kind.
The parallel to this passage in Matthew especially helps to draw out some application for us.
While seen from the context in Luke, it is stated directly in the Matthew passage.
Beware of false prophets, or also known as false teachers.
They may appear to be good, but are inwardly rotten.
Think of picking fruit in the grocery story.
Often you can pick out a bad apple quickly by seeing,
sometimes you must pick it up and feel it firmness.
Sometimes an apple that appears to be good on the outside, is still rotten from the core.
Again what comes to mind is the classic western mindest that comes up and everyone knows, thou shalt not judge.
But is inspecting the fruit judging?
It is less judging then quality control.
As believers, we must be very careful because as we are told that whatever measure we use to judge others is the standard we will be held to.
Jesus makes this reference in
Paul also speaks of it in Romans 2 and James in chapter 4.
Leaders must also be held to a higher standard.
This passage in Luke is directly following the verses speaking about the blind man leading the blind.
Matthew begins with the warning.
But that does not give us excuse to not examine our own fruit.
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