SERMON OUTLINE:
• All Trees Bear Fruit (vs 43-44)
• All People Bear Fruit (vs 45a)
• Your Words are the Fruit (vs 45b)
SERMON BODY
Quote:
"Remember God wants spiritual fruits and not religious nuts!"
Quote:
• Dr. Martin Kaonga,
• Director of Science & Conservation for Christian conservation charity
• “Trees are an invaluable part of our world.
• In fact, there would be no life on earth without trees and other plants.
• They produce oxygen for us and other animals to use,
• And they absorb the carbon dioxide we breathe out!
• Trees also provide habitat and food for countless animals,
• And food and medicines for people.
• Forests are the nurseries of life;
• They contain more species per hectare than any other kind of land-based habitat”
• TRANSITION: you don’t need me to tell you that tees are important,
• Just recently we have heard and seen on the news stories of raging fires,
• That have ripped through the Amazon rainforest for weeks.
• Yet people seem to care more about a burning Cathedral in Notre Dame,
• Than a forest known as “the lungs of the earth”,
• More than 20% of the world’s oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest.
• It is also home to about 3m species of plants and animals,
• And one million indigenous people!
Now this morning’s sermon is not about the ecosystem,
• Because the trees mentioned in this passage of scripture,
• Are symbolic not physical.
• They are part of a parable Jesus told.
Ill:
• Jesus did not invent parabolic or teaching through stories and metaphors.
• It was common among Jewish Rabbi’s and teachers.
• And there are many stories and metaphors in the Old Testament part of the Bible.
Ill:
• Whenever we see a word starting with ‘Para’ it has a common meaning.
• ‘Para’ is a Greek word that we have transliterated into the English language.
• (instead of translating it, with have just included it as it is)>
• ‘Para’ always means ‘alongside.’
• e.g. A parachute is a chute alongside.
• e.g. Parallel lines are one line alongside another.
• e.g. The Para-Olympics is one event alongside another event.
• TRANSITION: So, Jesus told a story about two trees,
• But always don’t forget to look for what Jesus is teaching ‘alongside’
Ill:
• I explain a parable to children this way.
• Think of a jam doughnut.
• The story is the dough and the meaning is the splodge of jam in the middle!
(1). All Trees Bear Fruit (vs 43-44)
“‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn-bushes, or grapes from briers.”
• The statement by Jesus is not complicated or confusing,
• In fact, it is fairly obvious, and it doesn’t require much explanation.
Ill:
• Even a sick and weak tree will produce a crop
• What it produces may be measly and tasteless; maybe even bitter.
• But even a sick and weak tree will produce some fruit,
There are often three reasons your trees, plants or vegetables will not grow:
FIRST: Malnourishment
• Lack of nutrition in the soil can cause a tree to be bad or produce poor fruit.
• So, if your fruit tree or vegetable plants persistently keep refusing produce,
• You should apply a fertilizer to see if it improves.
SECOND: Watering and General Care.
• Healthy growing is a time-consuming venture.
• If you are not taking proper care of your trees or vegetable plants,
• They will not give fruit.
• For instance, if you are neglectful of the plants’ needs,
• Don’t plant them with enough space,
• And don’t remove weeds regularly;
• The plants will just not give their finest produce.
THIRD: Sunlight and temperature.
• Sunlight is an important necessity for good healthy growing,
• Strong sunlight will give you great, tasty fruit and vegetables.
• Gardeners use Greenhouses in cold weather for young saplings or vegetables.
• To protect them.
• Sunlight and temperature can be very important when it comes to production.
• TRANSITION: Now those three general principles regarding gardening,
• All have a spiritual application.
• FIRST: Malnourishment
• You all know the statement, “You are what you eat!”
• What we feed on will determine how we grow and the fruit we produce!
Ill:
• True not just in trees but also with people.
• Just recently on the news we had the story of a teenage boy from Bristol,
• Who has gone blind and partially deaf because of his poor choices regarding food.
• For the last ten years the seventeen-year old boy;
• Has been living on a diet mainly made up of chips, sausages and crisps.
• His diet was so bad that he suffered from a condition;
• Normally only seen in malnourished children in the developing world.
• TRANSITION: If we want to grow in our faith,
• We need nutrition, we need to be nourished,
• That happens as we feed on the Word of God.
Quote: 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 2:
“Like new-born babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation”
Quote: 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 6:
“…nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed
• SECOND: Watering and General Care.
• The Psalmist in Psalm 1 verse 3, instructs us to be like a tree whose roots find water.
• If we have water, we have life and without it we die!
“That person (whose delight is in the law of the Lord – Psalm 1 verse 2),
is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.”
Ill:
• Last Christmas I bought a Christmas tree with roots,
• It came in a pot and over the Christmas period I regularly watered it,
• After Christmas I put the tree (still in pot) onto the patio.
• It stayed green and healthy for a few weeks and then went brown and died.
• The reason was in the pot the roots under the soil were wrapped in a plastic bag,
• So, none of my watering made any difference because it could not get through to the plant!
• THIRD: Sunlight and temperature.
• The New Testament often instructs us to walk in the light.
• (1 John chapter 1 verse 7).
• The apostle John tells us that God is light;
• And Jesus himself claimed to be the ‘Light of the World.’
• So, light points to purity, honesty, transparency, holiness.
• And if we aim for these things we will grow.
Ill:
• Ever had that embarrassing situation;
• Where you are sitting in a room that looks neat and tidy,
• And some visitors turn up?
• You make them a cup of tea and sit down,
• Then a burst of sunshine comes through the window and it exposes,
• How dirty the windows are or shows up a pile of dust on a shelf etc.
• Light reveals things and we should walk ‘in the light’
• We should be people who are not embarrassed when the light shines on them!
Note: verse 46:
“Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn-bushes, or grapes from briers.”
• Jesus talks about figs and grapes,
• These were two of the more common fruits of Israel.
• But the principle is the same for any fruit tree.
• e.g. an apple tree produces apples. e.g. a plum tree produces plums.
• e.g. an orange tree produces oranges.
• TRANSITION:
• People can tell what type of tree it is by the fruit dangling on its branches,
• That too is true for people as we will see in my next point…
(2). All People Bear Fruit (vs 45a)
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.”
Ill:
• The bitternut tree does not bear fruit every year.
• It only bears fruit every three years and sometimes only every five years.
• The beech tree bears fruit every eight years.
• The white oak can go ten years without bearing fruit.
• But the champion in delay is the bamboo which bears fruit only every 120 years!
• TRANSITION: We will not live to be 120,
• But here is a tough question;
• How long will it take for people to see fruit in our lives?
Question: What fruit does a Cristian produce?
Answer: The New Testament talks of various fruit bearing:
(a).
• Romans chapter 6 verse 22.
• The fruit of holiness.
• “…the benefit you reap leads to holiness”
• God is a holy God; he gives each follower his holy spirit to make us holy!
• Quote: C.S. Lewis:
• “God was so pleased with Jesus he wants to populate the world with replicas”
(b).
• Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15.
• The fruit of praise.
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise -
the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”
(c).
• Philippians chapter 1 verse 11.
• The fruit of righteousness.
“filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ -
to the glory and praise of God.”
• The fruit that is produced in Philippians chapter 1 verse 11.
• Is the lifestyle that Jesus wants for us - righteousness or right living.
• Note: And that idea is expanded upon by Jesus himself in John chapter 15,
• Where we are never commanded to ‘bear’ or ‘produce fruit’.
• The command is to ‘remain’ or ‘abide’ in Christ,
• And then we will automatically bear fruit!
Ill:
• Don’t get the cart before the horse,
• Because we cannot produce fruit by ourselves;
• It is always the result of ‘remaining’ or ‘abiding’ in Christ,
(d).
• Galatians chapter 5 verse 22-23.
• The Fruit of the Spirit.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law”
• Question: How many ‘Fruits of the Spirit’ did I read?
• Answer: People normally say nine, but actually there is only one!
• Did you not notice that the verse has ‘fruit’ singular not ‘fruits’ plural!
• In fact, there is really only one fruit of the Spirit and that is ‘love’,
• All the other characteristics mentioned are the results of love.
• i.e. For if we love someone then we are joyful with them.
• i.e. For if we love someone then we are patient with them.
• i.e. For if we love someone then we are good towards them.
• i.e. And so on.
Ill:
• If you remember a fruit juice drink called Five Alive you’ll get the idea.
• It was one drink, made up of five different flavours.
• So, it is with the fruit of the Spirit.
• There is one fruit, but there are nine flavours.
Note:
• Jesus is quite specific as to what fruit a Christian should be producing.
• And that is my next point…
(3). Your Words are the Fruit (vs 45b)
• N.I.V.: “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
• N.L.B.: “Whatever is in the heart overflows into speech.”
• K.J.B.: “for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”
Ill:
• A little boy was watching a vicar fix the Church fence,
• The boy simply stood there and watched him for quite a long time.
• The vicar noticed the boy watching him and said:
• "Are you trying to pick up some tips on how to build something?"
• The little boy replied,
• "No. I am just waiting to hear what a vicar says;
• When he hits his thumb with a hammer."
Notice:
• On this occasion in the teaching of Jesus,
• The fruit he is talking about is our WORDS, not our WORKS!
• Because works rarely reveal the heart.
• But our words always will!
Note:
• In these verses Jesus is not giving us a standard;
• So that we can go around and judge other people.
• To rightly apply what Jesus is saying,
• We must remember the context of His words.
Ill:
• The context is his teaching on judging others,
• And in verse 37 he tells us not to do it!
“‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.”
In fact, he then goes on to say (vs 41-42):
“‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,” when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
• This simple parable is not about judging others,
• Rather it is about our attitude toward ourselves.
• He is talking about; “taking the plank out of our own eyes first.”
• Jesus is saying that my words reveal my heart.
• And my words reveal my heart, not so much to others, but to yourself.
• So, before you start making judgments about other people’s hearts,
• Based on their words,
• To paraphrase Jesus, who said, “Listen to your own words first.”
The Bible has a lot to say about the sins and the right use of the tongue:
(a). The Lying Tongue or the Truthful tongue?
• God said that he hates a lying tongue
• (Proverbs chapter 6 verse 17).
• The apostle Paul instructed us to; “speak the truth in love”
• (Ephesians chapter 4 verse 5),
(b). The Flattering or Honest Tongue
• The Bible speaks of flattery as a characteristic of the wicked, not the righteous.
• (Psalm 12 verses 2-4 & 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 5).
• The Bible says; “An honest witness does not deceive”
• (Proverbs chapter 14 verse 5),
(c). The Proud or Humble Tongue
• The Bible also speaks of the proud tongue.
• “May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things.”
• (Psalm 12 verses 3-4).
• 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 5-10:
• The apostle Paul wrote:
“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
(d). The Overused or Guarded Tongue
• Some people sin by simply overusing their tongue.
• Like a speeding car they allow it to go out of control and crash.
• “Many words mark the speech of a fool” (Ecclesiastes 5 verse 3).
• The apostle James instructs to (chapter 1 verse 19):
• “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak2
(e). The Backbiting or Healing Tongue
• A backbiter is someone who uses their tongue against you when you aren't present,
• (Proverbs chapter 25 verse 23 & Romans chapter 1 verse 30).
• Proverbs chapter 12 verse 18-19:
• The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing
(f). The Talebearing (slander/gossip) Tongue
• Talebearing (carrying and telling tales) spreads all sorts of hurtful information around, and Satan uses such information to hinder and tear down God's work.
• (Proverbs chapter 18 verse 8 & Leviticus chapter 19 verse 16).
• The apostle Peter instructed us to (chapter 2 verse 1).
• “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”
(g). The Cursing or Pure Tongue
• Swearing is using words that are, for the most part,
• Culturally or socially unacceptable.
• (Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29).
Quote: John MacArthur has written of this verse,
“The word for ‘corrupt’ refers to that which is foul or rotten, such as spoiled fruit or putrid meat. Foul language of any sort should never pass a Christian’s lips because it is totally out of character with his new life in Christ.”
(h). The Piercing or the Graceful Tongue
• Our tongues can be like the piercings of a sword.
• (Proverbs chapter 12 verse 18).
• Colossians chapter 4 verse 6:
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
(g). The Silent Tongue
• A silent tongue is also a sinful tongue because;
• We have been commanded to speak up against injustice,
• We are commanded to speak up and witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.
• (Deuteronomy chapter 27 verse 19 & Proverbs chapter 22 verse 8 & Acts chapter 1 verse 8)
Now before you get depressed!
• Remember these are the signs of our old life,
• Jesus Christ has the power to reverse or rather renew our langue,
• Because he is the one who changes hearts!
Ill:
• An old Native American was sitting around a campfire with his grandson.
• He started telling him about a battle that goes on inside people.
• He said,
"My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all. One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, greed, and arrogance. The other is Good - It is peace, love, hope, humility, compassion, and faith."
• The grandson thought about this for a while and then asked his grandfather,
• "Which wolf wins?"
• To which the old Native American simply replied,
• "The one you feed."
• TRANSITION:
• If you want to a clean heart, a strong character that produces good fruit,
• Then choose wisely!
SERMON AUDIO:
Teaching Version: https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=aUAXPIzyBgRDGMJG01GwbpCOLxn4y4GF&forceSave
Harvest Version: https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=KLCB4rWQRGrxVcO4T9JfZc50qLT7tCpk&forceSave
Gospel Version: https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=31eSuzgwGXkQdT03KvOpMwN35VCn37gq&forceSave
