Luke 6:43-45
A Tree and Its Fruit
43 “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.
John 15:1-17
The True Vine
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Mark 2:17
Jesus Came to Earth to Call on Sinners
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Matthew 5:38-40
Eye for Eye
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
Matthew 5:43-48
Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 18:21-22
Forgive Often and Always
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
We can be a good tree and produce bad fruit...And so can a tree...
Jesus teaches us that He is the True Vine...He is where humanity and divinity meet...He shows us man's potential...And His followers know His teachings, yet we are just men and women...We are not at the intersection of man and divine...He left earth two thousand years ago, and the intersection of humanity and divinity remains to me about the same...We have problems...And sometimes those problems spill over into our lives and our lives with others...
Jesus is The Strong Vine, while we are His branches...We tend to be weak...Apart from Him, we can do nothing...We need pruned over and again with His word and His teachings...This makes us stronger...We must remain in His words and in Him to get strong and remain strong...Jesus wants us to produce the good fruit...He tells us that, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit...Each tree is recognized by its own fruit...People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers...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."...Jesus wants us to follow Him and be good fruit...And we try...
C. S. Lewis said this about Christianity and followers of Jesus...“If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a man's outward actions – if he continues to be just a snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as he was before – then I think we must suspect that his 'conversion' was largely imaginary; and after one's original conversion, every time one thinks one has made an advance, that is the test to apply...Fine feelings, new insights, greater interest in 'religion' mean nothing unless they make our actual behavior better; just as in an illness 'feeling better' is not much good if the thermometer shows that your temperature is still going up...In that sense the outer world is quite right to judge Christianity by its results...Christ told us to judge by results...A tree is known by its fruit; or, as we say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating...When we Christians behave badly, or fail to behave well, we are making Christianity unbelievable to the outside world...The war-time posters told us that Careless Talk costs Lives...It is equally true that Careless Lives cost Talk...Our careless lives set the outer world taking; and we give them grounds for talking in a way that throws doubt on the truth of Christianity itself.”...
Followers of Jesus have a lot of expectations from non-believers and non-Christians...And Christians believe very much in decent behavior...We try to behave decently, but it doesn't always happen...So Christianity is found hard and difficult...I think this quote of Chesterton is a good one to follow the quote of Lewis...G. K. Chesterton said “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting...It has been found difficult; and left untried.”...
We do try...The Saints have tried very hard...We must worship God, honor God, praise Him, and thank Him which shows Him that we can bear good fruit and are fruitful...Jesus and His Saints have showed us the path...
Christians have a tough time following Jesus' teachings and remaining in Him and His word...It is hard to turn the other cheek, when one slaps you...Our first thought after being slapped is not "I need to turn my cheek, so it can be slapped too."...It is hard and difficult to forgive an enemy, let alone love them...People do not love each other (all the time) and we sometimes fight and quarrel...It was Lewis who also said, "Everyone has heard people quarreling...“Quarreling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong...And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are….”This was called the “Law of Nature” because people thought that everyone knew it by nature and did not need to be taught it...The fact that people make excuses is one more proof of how deeply, whether we like it or not, we believe in the Law of Nature...“If we do not believe in decent behavior, why should we be so anxious to make excuses for not having behaved decently?”...Human beings all over the earth have this curious idea that they ought to behave in certain ways and they can’t get rid of it...And they in fact do not behave in that way...They know the Law of Nature and they break it...These are foundational facts of our universe....
Man does believe that their is a Right and a wrong in the world, and believers and non-believers both know it had to come from Somewhere or Someone...There is Something about a Universal Right that is almost a mystique, but we know people ought to behave in a just and righteous way...This is not easy always being just and righteous...Sin has turned us toward the wrong...Evil and temptation enters even the followers of Jesus...Sin has made us imperfect...God alone is Perfect...And as Lewis states, "The very idea of something being imperfect, of its not being what it ought to be, has certain consequences."...Because we sometimes quarrel, we sometimes sin, sometimes we trespass on others, sometimes we do wrong things prove -we are indeed imperfect...We need a Savior to save us...One who came for sinners...And when we do wrong things toward others, we are taught to ask for forgiveness...And sometimes we must ask again and again...Sometimes we may need to ask seventy-seven times...