Sermon - Bearing Fruit For God - Kinds of Bibilical Fruit

The past couple of posts have been looking at fruit and fruitfulness.

Jesus comes looking for and expecting to find fruit and a lack of fruitfulness has consequences—that’s what we learned from Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree.

You can see in John 15 that God desires to see us produce abundant fruit that will last and how He prunes or lifts up branches to help them produce more fruit than they already are.

We are called to Bear Fruit For God

Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah , so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead —that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us and bore fruit for death.”

Just as there are two Kingdoms battling over the souls of every human being in this world, there are two kinds of fruit we can produce as humans—Fruit for God and Fruit for Death—the kind of death Adam & Eve experienced back in Genesis 3—so to this day, people all over the world, including us here in this church are repeating what they did and bearing fruit for death.

For those apart from Christ, that’s the only option.  But in Christ, we can actually bear fruit for God—for His Glory.

So what does fruit for God look like?  Are we talking Apples, Oranges and Pineapples?

The First Fruit

Those of you who plant gardens know that even if you plant a variety of plants on the same day, some will produce fruit and be ready for harvest before any others.  There’s one like that when it comes to Fruit for God—it bears fruit before anything else—the Fruit of Repentance

John the Baptist first mentioned this when He was speaking to the Pharisees, questioning their motives for coming to him.  He said in

Matthew 3:8—“Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance.”

10b Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit [fruit for God] will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Without this first fruit, the only destination is being thrown into the fire.  Repentance must be harvested before anything else—that is talking about Salvation.  The second fruit then becomes possible.

We know from John 4 that God is seeking worshippers who will worship Him in Spirit & Truth.  God is actively looking for and desires worshipers.  True Worship is the second fruit.

Hebrews 13:15— “Therefore, through Him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips that confess His name.”

Because of all that Jesus did on our behalf, purchasing our freedom, we offer up praises to God.  Confessing His Name, speaking His name, singing His name, testifying to His Name—even when it’s not easy, even when it costs us. 

We Worship God for Who He is and what He has done Romans 12—offer yourselves as living sacrifices.  This is essential to a healthy harvest in the Kingdom of God.

The Third Fruit – Sanctification

Out of our repentance & worship comes a true life change—where we are made more and more like Him, conformed to the image of His Son.  To be made holy is to be Sanctified—which is the third fruit.

Romans 6:22—“But now, since you have been liberated from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification —and the end is eternal life!”

We have been set free—delivered from bondage to sin—and set free to be a voluntary slave of God—He makes us holy—the fruit is Sanctification—being more and more like Him—having that corrupted image restored and brought back to life.

You can infer what kind of people Adam and Eve were and who we are to be again in Galatians 5:22—“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 gentleness, self-control.”

I’d guess the first fruit of the Spirit they ignored was Self-Control.

To be Sanctified means to be Set Apart—God sets us apart for a Purpose—to Serve Him and participate in His mission.

The Fourth Fruit—Service & Mission

We have a purpose and something to do—that’s why He keeps us here.  As long as we are here, we have more to do, more opportunities to be watching out for in order to fulfill our mission.  Paul understood this—as long as He was alive, He was to live for Service & Mission.

Philippians 1:21-22—“For me, living is Christ and dying is gain. 22 Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose.”

Paul prays for his readers

Colossians 1:10—“so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.

God doesn’t just want us to be working and laboring—spinning our wheels until we die—He desires us to be fruitful in our Service and Mission.

And in order to be more and more fruitful, we must continually Grow as a Disciple—

The Fifth Fruit--Discipleship

James 3:17-18—“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.”

Wisdom is more than just knowledge—it starts with the fear of the LORD and walking with Him.  It is what you know of God that translates into how you live and make decisions. 

This wisdom changes how you pray, what you pray for, how you prioritize your life, how you know your Bible.  You become someone who loves Peace—peace with God and with each other—loving God and loving your neighbor.

As you grow, you become full of good fruit.

And Discern Good from Evil

Discernment – by their fruit you will know them

Ephesians 5:8-11—“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light results in all goodness, righteousness, and truth— 10 discerning what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.”

As you grow in wisdom with the Lord, discerning good and evil as a Disciple then you will begin to produce more and more of

The Sixth Fruit--Evangelism 

Making new disciples and participating in the harvest

John 4:35-37—“Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest. 36 The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so the sower and reaper can rejoice together. 37 For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’”

We sow and reap as disciples—we are to bear good fruit—fruit like ourselves—Disciples make more disciples.   

The Great Commission is—Go and make disciples of all nations—it’s not just a conversation in sharing who Jesus is or asking a question—this fruit is a whole life of influence.—the Vineyard owner oversees it all.  If we would just open our eyes and look around—at our community, we would see there is a great harvest.

This is what it means to be producing Fruit For God.  And God desires us to be effective and fruitful in our lives.

The Jenga Church

Have you ever played Jenga?  That’s the game where you build a tall tower of wood blocks then go around the group removing as many blocks as you can.  The loser is the one on whom the tower falls.

So the goal is to see just how many pieces you can remove before you make the whole structure so unstable that it collapses.

But unfortunately, the more you remove, the harder it is to find the next piece.  Throughout the game, you can see holes and gaps.  You can tell the structure is missing something and that it is not as strong as it should be.

Most of the time, when you remove a piece, you simply discard it without really thinking about how important and necessary that piece was.

Sadly, many churches in America look like a Jenga tower that is on the verge of collapse.  Far too many believers have removed themselves, their gifts, their lives, from the Temple that is God’s People.  

We have a foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets.  We have a Chief Cornerstone that is the true basis of the whole entity and we, according to Ephesians 2:22 are “being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.  

Here’s the whole context:

Ephesians 2:19-22 : “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

God is making us into a spiritual house.  A well built house needs a foundation, needs walls, supports without which the house will leak or collapse.  But instead of using 2x4’s and drywall, He is using people.  People that He has shaped and positioned together to provide a solid and functioning structure.

What’s amazing is that in Paul’s day, many built with stone and did not use cement or any other types of adhesives between the blocks.  Each piece was cut and carved to exact specifications so that it will fit tightly and not be moved.  Some of those structures still exist.

Peter echoes the idea that we are built together by Christ into a Spiritual Temple for a purpose and function.   1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10 : “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ… 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

We are drawn together to serve as a priesthood, to declare His praises.  Each of us is fitted for a purpose in that structure.  Ephesians 4:11-13 : “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Christ’s Body needs to be built up, in order for us to reach maturity, completeness and unity.  In order for us to attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, there can be no holes.  We all have to be in our place.

We forget how vital that is.  Many in America seem to think their particular church exists to serve them.  When things don’t go their way or feelings get hurt too often they take themselves out of the church.  But like the game of Jenga, the structure is weakened and the individual piece is no longer fulfilling its function.

We think people, like the Jenga pieces, can be removed without any real consequence.  After all, it’s my life… right?

The church doesn’t exist to serve its members.  It exists to fulfill the purpose and mission of Christ.   He needs to be pleased and satisfied in all we do in the church and as the church. 

And when you remove yourself, you leave a gap.  You isolate yourself and cannot accomplish the work of the Kingdom.

I remember watching the movie, The Patriot with Mel Gibson about the Revolutionary War.  The British forces would often concentrate on the militia rather than the Regular army because they had seen the everyday farmers break ranks and flee for lack of discipline and training.  The fact that they ran made the rest of the army easier to defeat.

That’s where we are.  We have holes in our structure… soldiers are missing from our front lines and our flank is vulnerable because we are not true disciples (ironic that Disciple and Discipline are so close isn't it?).

How is your church?  Do you see a lot of missing pieces?  Is the structure teetering and near collapse.  Are you taking yourself out and leaving a teetering structure?

When a church collapses, there’s only one winner and a whole lot of losers trapped in darkness waiting to be freed.

Don’t play Jenga with the church!

Why it is Reasonable to Apply the Bible to Modern Life - Part 3

Is the biblical text we have reliable or has it been corrupted?

This is Part 3 in a series about the Relevance of the Bible to Modern Life.  Part 1 and Part 2 dealt with the fact that human nature hasn’t really changed since the days of the Bible, despite our new toys & technology.

This discussion sets aside the issues of Inspiration and the possibility of God accurately conveying His intent to human authors.  Many people who reject the idea that God effectively used human authors will conveniently say, “Even if He did, and that’s a big if, what has survived has been corrupted.”

The typical story goes that the Bible has been copied and recopied so many times that what we have today cannot possibly be accurate to what was originally written.

In relation to Jesus, the Gospels were written so long after the fact, stories were embellished and legendary materials and/or mythology entered into the text and so we have things like His miraculous feedings or healings, we have the Virgin birth, we have the resurrection.

Such critics claim none of these stories are actually historical.  If true, these are deal breaking issues. 

But are these charges accurate?  Are there reasons to think that what we have today is well preserved and very close to the original text? 

I would answer, Yes.

150 years ago the age of biblical Higher Criticism began its ascent.  The theories vastly undermined the trustworthiness of the Bible as the Word of God.  One of the things that contributed to the theory was the limited number of ancient manuscripts—especially those in the original languages like Koine Greek or Hebrew. 

Some of the earliest Hebrew manuscripts we had were around 800 AD, some 1200 years after the close of the Old Testament.  We had some Greek texts from the 300’s & 400’s but most Western scholarship was based on translations in Latin.

So after copying and recopying coupled with translating and retranslating, the academic world was convinced that the text we have could not possibly be anything close to the original text.  They proposed that even those “originals” were really compilations of various authors—edited and compiled together with no real connection to the names listed as the authors.

They were able to make this argument largely because of a lack of evidence.  That was then… this is now.

We actually have an abundance of manuscript evidence.  We now have more selections of the New Testament—over 5000 selections and fragments in Greek alone—than any other ancient document.   Here’s a comparison with a few important documents.

Author	Date Written	Earliest Copy	Approx. Time btw. Original & first Copy	# of Copies
Pliny	61-113 AD	850 AD	750 yrs	2
Plato	427-347 BC	900 AD	1200 yrs	7
Herodotus	480-425 BC	900 AD	1300 yrs	8
Caesar	100-44 BC	900 AD	1000 yrs	10
Tacitus	Circa 100 AD	1100 AD	1000 yrs	193
Aristotle	384-322 BC	100 AD	1400 yrs	49
Homer (Iliad)	900 BC	400 BC	500 yrs	643
New Testament	45-100 AD	Circa 120 AD	Less than 100 yrs.	5600 in Greek + other languages & quotations

The NT has more manuscripts from dates closer to the original writing than any other ancient documents—from Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Homer’s Illiad and others that scholarship does not question. 

That is not accounting for the thousands of manuscripts in other languages like Syriac or Coptic.  Neither is that accounting for the quoting of the New Testament by the early church fathers—with which scholars estimate we could reconstruct the entire NT except for 11 verses. 

In other words, if scholars are going to dismiss the accuracy of the New Testament, they will have to throw out every other ancient document which cannot match the close proximity of copies and the sheer number.

We have almost too many documents—too much evidence about the New Testament because there are so many documents.  This high number of copies let us see the mistakes, blunders, edits and insertions.   Some site these variations as indicative of the unreliability problem.  But in most cases, the divergent texts are limited to certain geographical areas in the Mediterranean and can be compared to others where the same changes have not been made. 

In other words, they can be cross-checked for accuracy and increase our sense of reliability. 

Ron Rhodes gives an example of the kind of variations we typically see and their significance.

By practicing the science of textual criticism – comparing all the available manuscripts with each other – we can come to an assurance regarding what the original document must have said.

Let us suppose we have five manuscript copies of an original document that no longer exists. Each of the manuscript copies are different. Our goal is to compare the manuscript copies and ascertain what the original must have said. Here are the five copies:

Manuscript #1: Jesus Christ is the Savior of the whole worl.

Manuscript #2: Christ Jesus is the Savior of the whole world.

Manuscript #3: Jesus Christ s the Savior of the whole world.

Manuscript #4: Jesus Christ is th Savior of the whle world.

Manuscript #5: Jesus Christ is the Savor of the whole wrld.

Could you, by comparing the manuscript copies, ascertain what the original document said with a high degree of certainty that you are correct? Of course you could.

This illustration may be extremely simplistic, but a great majority of the 150,000 variants are solved by the above methodology.

By comparing the various manuscripts, all of which contain very minor differences like the above, it becomes fairly clear what the original must have said.

Most of the manuscript variations concern matters of spelling, word order, tenses, and the like; no single doctrine is affected by them in any way.

The earliest fragment we have of the New Testament is called the John Ryland fragment from the Gospel of John, dated to the second century--about 120 AD  (though there has been a recent announcement regarding a selection from the Gospel of Mark that may prove to be from the first century—we’ll see more of that announcement and intense scrutiny within the year). 

Given that John is considered to be the last gospel written, the most theologically oriented and thus considered the “most corrupted”—the fact that this fragment exists in Egypt a mere 20-30 years after the latest it could have been written—about 90 AD in modern day Turkey (allowing for transportation around the Med.) and you’re establishing the gospels written within the lifetime of the first apostles. 

Atheist Antony Flew stated: “There’s a much greater richness of manuscripts for all the major early Christian documents than there is for, say, the plays of Aeschylus or Sophocles or the works of Aristotle. But of course, that’s not evidence about Jesus, but very good authority for the accuracy of the text that is printed in translation in the New Testament”

Here’s some more evidence about the copying process.  They did take it seriously.

If you’ve heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls you should know that they were an amazing discovery back in 1947.  The manuscripts were in Hebrew and pushed back our earliest copy of Old Testament Hebrew manuscripts by 1000+ years in some cases.  Most famously is the complete scroll of Isaiah that is about 24 feet long.  It has its own museum called, the Shrine of the Book.  Scholars are able to compare documents with 1700 years worth of copying and recopying between them and assess the differences.

What they have found is a remarkable consistency—roughly 95% of the text is the same over 1000 years of copying.  I don’t think Xerox could do that well.  The other 5% are mostly misspellings or word-order switches.  No significant doctrine is altered or contradicted by any of these changes.

That is astounding and should put to rest the notion that the copying process automatically ruins the reliability.

What about the idea that the New Testament was written so long after the events? 

Scholarship reflects a spectrum much like politics with a Liberal and Conservative wing.  Most scholars agree that Paul began his writing in the late 40’s and early 50’s (keeping in mind Jesus’ crucifixion occurred around 33 AD).  Most scholars tend to follow the idea called Markan Priority—which believes that since Mark is the shortest Gospel, it must have been written first (I don’t find this compelling, by the way).  Liberals and Conservatives differ on the dates with conservatives arguing mid 50’s for Mark and liberals mid/late 60’s.  Extreme liberal scholars deny any Gospel was written in the first century but that has proven a harder position to defend given that early church fathers in the late first century (90’s AD) were quoting extensively from them.  It’s hard to quote a document that doesn’t exist.

So Mark was written somewhere between 20-30 years after the events it describes.  That may seem like a long time, but for its day, that was quick—far too quick for legendary material to enter the story.  This is also within the lifetime of eyewitnesses who could confirm or deny what they saw.  After all in the year 2021, I’ll still be able to refute someone who says space aliens destroyed the World Trade Center.

That is one point that Paul makes in his statement from 1 Corinthians 15:3-8—“For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to •Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen •asleep. 7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one abnormally born, He also appeared to me.”

This statement was taught to Paul during the time shortly after his conversion and can be reasonably dated to within 5 years of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.  Notice what is already part of the “story”:

• Jesus died – they weren’t stupid and Romans were very good at it
• The theological reason – for our sins
•  Jesus was raised on the third day
•  All “according to the Scriptures” – thus believed the events to be fulfilling Old Testament Prophecy
• Numerous eyewitness accounts of Jesus appearing to them

One new argument to show the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses makes use of Name Frequency.  I highly recommend watching the video on the link. 

Lastly, I will post the words from a minister named, Voddie Baucham and I would recommend you watching the sermon.  He bases this statement on the text of 2 Peter 1:16-21

“I choose to believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report [of] supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claimed that their writing are divine rather than human in origin.”

Voddie Baucham – Why I Believe the Bible - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZNXMJGYNG8

Since I believe that the Bible is accurate and reliable and because I believe it speaks accurately to the human condition, and most importantly because I believe the Bible has a divine rather than merely human origin; I believe it is very reasonable to apply what it says to modern life despite the fact that it is “so old” or in spite of the fact that we have advanced so much since those days.

I believe the Bible describes our sinful condition and also describes the cure.  I believe the Bible is God’s love letter to us—recording Him trying to reach out to us and save us from our biggest problems, sin and death.   For example:

It speaks to modern families; it defines marriage and calls upon parents to champion the education of their children.  It speaks to how we should relate to governments and calls us to work to change society for the better through the power of the Gospel.  It shows us how to handle our money, our jobs and our time; encourages us to avoid laziness and work hard even when the boss is not watching.  It teaches us to break the cycles of retaliation and violence.  It calls us to personally care for the poor and those in need rather than pass the buck to another agency.  It challenges us to avoid harmful behavior—that harms anyone, including ourselves by taking care of our body.  It calls us to be responsible with our resources and not go into debt.  

The Bible gives us our purpose, identifies the fundamental value of all human beings, invites us to a great adventure and calls us to a glorious future with our Creator.

You may not want to apply the Bible to your life, you may have many reasons.  But do not be foolish enough to think that it is unreasonable to include the Bible in modern discussions.

For Further Reading:

http://theresurgence.com/2012/05/28/what-to-say-when-someone-says-the-bible-has-errors

http://www.wtsbooks.com/pdf_files/9781567691825.pdf

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/07/08/an-interview-with-craig-blomberg-on-jesus-and-the-reliability-of-the-gospels/

Chicago Statement on Inerrancy - http://www.etsjets.org/files/documents/Chicago_Statement.pdf