Posts Tagged ‘ Good fruit ’
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
John 15:4, ESV
Works can never save us, nor can we do truly good works apart from Christ.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age
Titus 2:11-12, ESV
In a world that tells us to “just do what feels good,” God simply says to do what is good. And He helps us with the Holy Spirit.
So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Matthew 7:17-20, ESV
We are born as diseased trees, selfish in nature, so that all our works are as bd fruit.
But Christ’s blood can restore us and make us living and healthy, able to truly do good works.
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
Matthew 3:8 ESV
This fruit is what is found in Galatians 5, but it is also to grow in godliness and to bring others along for the ride through sharing the Gospel and caring for each other.
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9, ESV
We may get rewarded for our good works in this life, but our ultimate reward comes when Christ returns!
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23, NASB
If you lack any of these fruits, examine yourself and your salvation. All of these will spring forth as you pursue the righteousness of God and love others.
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:2, NASB
Not all who call themselves Christians truly are. We can put on a good show, but God knows our hearts, and He judges our actions, or lack thereof.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Galatians 5:16 ESV
You can try being a good person and avoiding sin, and you may even have some success, but to live a truly good life takes relying on the Helper: the Holy Spirit.
In today’s video, I think it is pretty clear I had not had my coffee, yet! But if you look in the background, you can see evidence I was about to remedy that.*
The last entry touched on the Las Vegas shooting and how “But for the grace of God, there go I” in terms of how each and every one of us could be capable of committing such an atrocity. Today, I look at the exact opposite end of the spectrum.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor, theologian, and professor who was killed by the Nazis just days before the end of World War II.¹ Both he and James, the brother of Jesus, focused heavily on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
The Sermon on the Mount is basically Jesus’ teachings on how the Christian should live. Specifically for today, in 5:16 (ESV), Jesus says:
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
If all we do are good things, but we do not really mention God, how could others give God glory? We may merely be “good people” in the eyes of the world.
Therefore, God gives us the direction we need in this matter:
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
Psalm 50:23a, ESV
When we give thanks to God, this directs people to Him! Thankfulness, a lifestyle of gratitude, is the thing that helps to center our life around Christ and leads others to Him.
A heart of gratitude not only gives the glory to God, but it can also help us to feel great and can help others to feel better.
However, the main point is that God is glorified. Gratitude, likewise, can keep us focused on Him so that we are more likely to seek His glory than to turn to anything else – including lashing out at this world and those in it.
Therefore, give thanks to God. As Paul said, give thanks in everything in your life² – yes, everything, even the bad things.
And thank you for joining me today!
daniel
Make sure you read David’s wise words on Proverbs 26:23 at Proverbial Thought!
Here is another look at who we are, this time through the lyrics of David Crowder.
Consider the following passages:
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 2:73 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Matthew 13:3-943 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 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. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Luke 6:43-45
God created us from the earth, and we are frequently referred to as soil or plants (which grow from soil).
Earth is soil which can support life.
Dirt, on the other hand, is misplaced soil. While things can grow from dirt, usually all you get are weeds or weak plants.
Only with soil do you get strong plants which are capable of producing good fruit. Good fruit are good deeds, good speech, and praise of God.
Weak plants and weeds do not give good fruit. Any good deeds from people like this are tainted by pride or do not have lasting or good results. There is a lack of, if any, praise to God.
And the thing that needs to be remembered is that only God by the grace shown through work of the crucified Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit can make us clean soil, fertile soil capable of growth and good fruit.
Listen to David Crowder and his band worship God for His creation and grace. Read the lyrics, and I pray grow in some understanding of just how much our God has done for us out of His love for us.
Wholly Yours by David Crowder Band
I am full of earth
You are heaven’s worth
I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity
You are everything that is bright and clean
The antonym of me
You are divinity
But a certain sign of grace is this
From a broken earth flowers come up
Pushing through the dirtYou are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I wanna be holy like You areYou are everything that is bright and clean
And You’re covering me with Your majesty
And the truest sign of grace was this
From wounded hands redemption fell down
Liberating manYou are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy like You areBut the harder I try the more clearly can I feel
The depth of our fall and the weight of it all
And so this might could be the most impossible thing
Your grandness in me making me cleanGlory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy, holy GodSo here I am, all of me
Finally everything
Wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly YoursI am wholly Yours
I am full of earth and dirt and You
