Bearing Good Fruit
Sunday, December 12, 2021 at The First Congregational
Church of Marshalltown, Iowa
Luke 3:8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and
do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as
our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up
children to Abraham from these stones.
• Introduction: True repentance involves planning for
the mindset involved indicates a change in thinking
and in worldview. As such it is an ongoing part of the
Christian life. To be a truly repentant person one
must move away from past choices but also plan to
make better choices in the future. So, I decided to
begin this talk with a joke about planning and
planners.
• This is a joke I found on some website.
A shepherd stands on a mountainside in Europe watching
over his large flock of sheep. He sees an expensive
sportscar speeding toward him on the road nearby. The
car skids to a stop, and a man in a tailored suit holding a
laptop gets out of the car and approaches him. He asks, “if
I can guess the exact number of sheep in your flock, will
you give me one?” The shepherd pauses, then says, “I
guess so.” The young man fires up the GPS on his
computer, utilizes several algorithms and a satellite uplink
and concludes that there are 1,586 sheep on this
mountainside. He picks up one and puts it in the back
seat of his car. The shepherd asks, “if I can guess your
occupation, will you return the animal to me? The man
consents. “You’re a professional planner”, says the
shepherd. Nonplussed, the man asks how he knew. The
shepherd says, first, you came uninvited; second, you
charged me for telling me something I already know; and
third, you know nothing about my business. Now can I
have my dog back?”
Algorithms and GPS aside, the stern words of John the
Baptist, so often observed during Advent, speak as much
about planning as it does about sorrow for past wrong,
sinful choices. Imagine that it is another hot day in Israel
and we are at the banks of the Jordan River where John
preaches.
• set the stage
Luke tells us that during the tenure of Annas and Ciaphas
as high priests the word of God came to John out in the
wilderness, and he began to preach repentance in the area
of the Jordan River, in fulfillment of a prophecy by Isaiah.
He is not gentle with his audience, calling them a “brood of
vipers” and demanding that they bear the fruits worthy of
repentance. He sometimes used “fruit” in the singular as
Mathew’s Gospel records it and Matthew also notes that he
did not give religious leaders any special courtesies. They
were “broods of vipers” as well. He warned them that their
association with Abraham would not save them from
judgment and that the “ax is laid to the root of the tree”
indicating that God did not consider “fruit” optional.
Coming from an agricultural society, the people would
have seen what happened to trees that did not produce
fruit. The same is expected of people as well.
• fruits worthy of repentance
other examples of “fruit”
Aside from the literal meaning, “fruit” symbolized answered
prayer, children, prayers spoken in praise of Almighty God
and the qualities of a person growing spiritually-qualities
like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The fruit
mentioned in this context is somewhat different in that it
does not come about naturally but requires us to be
deliberate.
• examples in the immediate context
The people who heard this asked a question that should be
considered after any and every sermon: “What shall we do
then?” Happily, John gives specifics. He tells the people
who have two coats to give one to someone who has none.
Do the same with food. He told tax collectors to collect
only what was appointed. Tax collectors were allowed to
set their own fees and most of them extorted large sums
well beyond the governmental tax. He told soldiers not to
intimidate, nor give false accusations and to be content with
their wages. Note that both groups had the common
temptation to abuse people due to greed. The Apostle
Paul would later write that the “love of money is a root of
evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10)
• but note the verb for “bear”
The big difference between these obvious examples of
“fruit” and some of the others that develop over time is in
the verb here translated “to bear”. It does not mean “to
bear fruit” which refers to the character traits of someone
who is growing spiritually as a follower of Jesus Christ.
That is something that happens over time and does not
require the immediate and total attention of the person so
bearing. We don’t grow in the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians
5:22) by thinking about the fruit of the spirit all the time.
But here it is different. The word translated “to bear”
literally means “to do” or “to make”, and it is in a form of
the past tense sometimes used for immediacy and
emphasis. The verb is also imperative. One could argue
that John was saying “don’t talk to me about ‘being children
of Abraham’ as if your association with Abraham freed you
from right and wrong. Do the fruits of repentance! Do
them now! You should have done them yesterday!” He is
not allowing them any time to “grow” in this fruit.
application: growing involves how we treat other people as
well has how we reverence God
John Calvin wrote “Repentance is an inward matter, which
has its seat in the heart and soul, but afterwards yields its
fruits in a change of life.”* These fruits are “entry level
fruit” that should be expected immediately from someone
who is truly repentant. It is basic for a follower of Jesus to
share clothing, food, and never take advantage of people
just to get more money. It means to make a serious effort
to make right any wrongs. One article I read said this, for
example: “If someone steals money, it should be repaid to
the extent of his ability. If a banker has embezzled a
million dollars from the financial institution for which he
has worked, he might never be able to repay that entire
sum, but he should attempt to do what he can.
We are not permitted to enjoy the fruit of our crimes. Of
course, it is always possible that a victim of abuse might
‘forgive’ the debt (Mt. 18:27), but the sinner must never
take that for granted. We must never reason, ‘Because I
cannot repair all my sins, I will make no attempt to
remedy any of them.’”** Advent is a good time to take a
review of our lives, and of the church. Where are we
now? How is our soul, both corporate and individual?
Do we need to revisit the basics of Christian charity?
• Conclusion: John the Baptist, no doubt a fiery
preacher, demanded the fruit of repentance of those
who came to him. If he were here in the United States
today, what would he say? Advent is to good time to
review our fruits, including those most basic fruits of
all, the fruits of repentance.
*https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/fruitrepentance’
**https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1015-whatis-the-fruit-of-repentance