Luke 6:43-49 - Easter Sunday

From Friday to Sunday

For those that are new, why we go through the Scriptures verse by verse and why we continue that this week.

If you were with us Friday night or watched online we looked at the death of Jesus as it was prophesied and read the account from the book of Matthew. As we closed we reflected on what His death meant and how our sins were buried with Him. This is the first half of the Gospel. Friday is the part of the Gospel that tell us the weight of our sin, the judgment earned by all who walk the earth, and the lengths that God went to in order to rescue his people.

And then there is Sunday. Resurrection Sunday. Where we say, “He Is Risen!” (Indeed)

Luke recounts the narrative of Jesus resurrection in the 24th chapter of this book. From the women who first found the tomb empty, to Peter and John rushing to the empty tomb and leaving in amazement, to Jesus appearing on the road to Emmaus and meeting some of his disciples there, to his appearance in the upper room with the 11 apostles where Jesus, as Luke says, “opened the apostles minds to understand the Scriptures. The Risen Christ was seen, heard, spoken to, and even ate a meal with those closest to him.

HE HAS RISEN!

But what does that mean for us?

Romans 6:4–11 “Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

We are raised to “newness of life”. And that just so happens to be the life that Jesus has been teaching his disciples and apostles on the Sermon on the Plain.

And so today we look at the life that we are called to. A life that is shaped by the Resurrection.

Would you join me in prayer for the Spirit to move this morning, to continue moving.

The Resurrected Life

Read Luke 6:43–49 ““A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn’t shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river crashed against it, and immediately it collapsed. And the destruction of that house was great.””

1. A Resurrected Life is a Fruitful Life

Luke 6:43–45 ““A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.”

Jesus begins the closing part of his message with another example similar to the beam of wood and the splinter, by basically saying that every tree produces the kind of fruit that it is made to produce.

Figs come from fig trees, and grapes from vines. It would be like walking up to a dogwood tree and looking for oranges on it. They aren’t there because they are not the fruit of that tree. It’s nonsense to expect a tree to produce something that is different from what the seed is that was planted.

And just like the beam of wood and splinter, Jesus tells his apostles and disciples that they must tend to their own fruit first, which required the disciples to be willing to pay attention to their own lives and assess their own motives, and that command is still true for us today.

In Matthew 12:33–37 Jesus provides a little more insight into the idea of good trees and good fruit. ““Either make the tree good and its fruit will be good, or make the tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. A good person produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil person produces evil things from his storeroom of evil. I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.””

The fruit we produce consistently will always tell us the kind of tree we are. And one of the places that fruit shows itself most often in with our words. So the call for the apostles and now for us is to examine ourselves.

What am I producing? Is my fruit good? Is it something else? If I asked those closest to me what kind of tree would they say I am? If I asked those I work with, what kind of tree would they say I am?

Thomas Schreiner sums it up nicely, “If the fruit is not good, people must become new trees.”

So what does healthy fruit look like in the context of what Jesus is saying? When taken with the rest of the sermon on the plain it is easy to see. Healthy fruit is consistent obedience to Christ’s words.

Healthy fruit shows up in the way that we live, think, and love. Verses we know all to well, many of us:

Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.”

Consistent obedience is consistent shaping and consistent surrender. The result is “good fruit”, but it is also our next point, a “firm foundation”.

2. A Resurrected Life is a Firm Life

Luke 6:46–49 ““Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn’t shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river crashed against it, and immediately it collapsed. And the destruction of that house was great.””

The foundation must be dug deep. Have you ever tried to dig a hole? Easier on top and harder the further you go down?

Umbrella at the beach? Basketball goal? Bird feeder? You start off getting through the dirt pretty easy, but if I stop too soon, is the pole going to stay? No, the deeper you go, the stronger the pole is to resist wind, activity around it, etc….

“healthy fruit is consistent obedience to Christ’s words”, and obedience helps to “lay a firm foundation”, but how do I know Christ’s words?

This is where the importance of discipleship comes in. Discipleship at it’s very core is growing in our understanding of Christ. This is accomplished in many ways, it CAN be a Bible study, it CAN be a Small Group, it CAN be working through a book together, it CAN be a “Sunday School” class….it can be a “program”

BUT Discipleship can also be, and maybe SHOULD also be, bringing others into the everyday rhythms of our life, sharing with others our struggles and burdens, practicing hospitality in our homes, sharing meals together, modeling a faithful everyday walk with Christ.

Discipleship is foundation work. And we need others. And the Spirit

OUR OBEDIENCE IS ACCOMPLISHED BY THE SPIRIT

A Resurrected Life is a Discipled and Discipling Life

Why do we need the firm foundation? Because the rivers will rise and the winds will blow. Our faith can and probably will be shaken in the things around us. But the hope of the resurrection….

Conclusion

RESPOND to the offer of salvation

CONSIDER the “fruit” in your life

COMMIT to being a Discipled

COMMIT to discipling others

TRUST the Spirit’s faithfulness in providing the growth

HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word

What more can He say than to you He hath said, To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled

Fear not, I am with thee; oh be not dismayed, For I am thy God and will still give thee aid

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand

When through the deep waters I call thee to go, The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design, Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake