Luke 7:1-10

Transcript

00:00:00:36 – 00:00:23:15
Clint Loveall
Welcome back, friends. Thanks for joining us on a monday. As we kick off as we kick off the week, continuing through the Gospel of Luke, wrapping up the sixth chapter as we move through here. Find yourself in verse 43. Finish up the sixth chapter today just to kind of reminder, we’re in a section called the Sermon on the Plane.

00:00:23:16 – 00:00:50:36
Clint Loveall
It’s a collection of Jesus sayings and teachings. The equivalent is found in early Matthew. Luke has this version of it, which is similar but slightly different, some different emphases, some different content. So let’s jump in here verse 43, and then we’ll stop and and discuss it. No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit.

00:00:51:19 – 00:01:27:30
Clint Loveall
For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns nor grapes picked from brambles. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good. The evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil. For out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. It helps, I think, to remember that in the passage immediately preceding this one, Jesus is talking about judging others and the speck in our eye, the speck in our neighbor’s eye versus the log in our own eye.

00:01:27:57 – 00:01:55:33
Clint Loveall
And now we have this, which I think is connected. This idea of bearing good and bad fruit. And there’s a simplicity to this that is perhaps a little uncomfortable, because I think most of us understand that people are nuanced and complicated. But there is a kind of bottom line here for Luke that is interesting. Michael. If we have good fruit, it comes from a good tree.

00:01:55:33 – 00:02:21:37
Clint Loveall
And if we have a good tree, it produces good fruit. In other words, that the disposition of our heart, the direction of our heart will determine the kind of things that come forward in our life, the way that we treat people, whether we love or whether we judge the two sections preceding this one, that the way in which we care for the people who is the section before that blessed are the poor and the needy and the hungry, etc..

00:02:21:57 – 00:02:51:37
Clint Loveall
And there is while I think we have to be careful with this, particularly in the negative. I think we do have to have some reluctance to simply label people who do some improper things as bad people. I think we want to be very careful with that. There is something appealing to this kind of simplicity and this kind of challenge to do good things and be good people.

00:02:52:28 – 00:03:23:09
Clint Loveall
The simplicity of that, I think, is helpful at times. Just a reminder that, yes, faith is complicated and yes, discipleship is tough. And yes, battling our own sinfulness is a struggle. And then at other times, it’s just a matter of bear up, be good and do good. And and that’s in some ways the heart of the matter. And I think you want to be careful building an entire theology on this, but I think it’s a helpful word.

00:03:24:41 – 00:03:56:58
Michael Gewecke
Jesus often in his teachings will very specific address particular issues of the heart. And I think that this particular teaching, as you’ve already said, does need to be held in tension with others. But there’s a very important, I think, kind of spiritual measuring rod that’s being offered here. And I think we need to take it seriously. We need to look at it closely because fundamentally Jesus is saying you don’t look for good fruit in thorn pushes.

00:03:56:58 – 00:04:27:12
Michael Gewecke
You don’t look for good things in plants that have been bred or that have grown to yield bad things. And I think that we do need to take this as a measure of self reflection. I think Christians have often used this as a kind of judgment tool against other people, but if used properly as a self-reflective tool, I think that this forces each of us for a moment to ask what kind of fruit are we growing in our lives?

00:04:27:12 – 00:04:49:49
Michael Gewecke
What do people come to us looking for? Do they come to us looking for gossip? Do they come looking up to us that we might be melodramatic, that we might offer criticism of other people? Or do they come to us as a peacemaker, or do they come to us to be encouraged? That is a really helpful spiritual measuring stick.

00:04:49:49 – 00:05:14:04
Michael Gewecke
I think. And I also want to make very clear, I think Luke, as he tells us, this teaching of Jesus, is including very specific language for very important reasons. Verse 45 So the good treasure of the heart, treasure, wealth, that that beautiful sort of gift that we’ve been given and we know how much Luke emphasizes. We’ve mentioned it so many times already.

00:05:14:22 – 00:05:39:13
Michael Gewecke
Luke emphasizes the loss, the outcast, the poor, the downtrodden. And here, now that Luke is beginning to talk about the treasure of the heart, we should see that. That ultimately you don’t need to have a lot in your bank account for your heart to be full, that there can be a treasure, a spiritual kind of treasure that should exist within the life of a good person.

00:05:39:13 – 00:05:59:20
Michael Gewecke
And I think that is a unbelievably helpful way to discover within ourselves that there’s good there, even in difficult seasons, that there’s strength there in our lives, even when we feel weak, because an outer reality may seem bleak. But if we look inward, we might see that by the power of the spirit, there’s good there that we’ve missed.

00:05:59:51 – 00:06:24:00
Clint Loveall
Yeah, and this is in accordance with Matthew two. Jesus talks about, you know, out of the abundance of the heart, this is a theme of the gospels that shows up in other places. But this idea that ultimately there is something you know, we use this language of heart, but there is a guiding premise inside of US beef, whether for good or evil.

00:06:24:19 – 00:06:56:11
Clint Loveall
And it will by and large direct us. It will direct how we speak. It will direct what we do. It will direct our priorities will direct our ethics and our morals, our behaviors. And we see that here. And, you know, to to kind of maybe narrow the focus a little bit. Mike, I think for Presbyterians who come to this text, maybe reform Christians in general, there’s always a little reluctance here because of the idea of a good person.

00:06:56:11 – 00:07:24:52
Clint Loveall
And we’re you know, with our theology of sin, we’re kind of reluctant to talk about whether people are good or not. And so when Jesus so clearly seems to indicate that good people do good things and bad people do bad things, that’s a distinction I think that creates some nervousness in it. But at at heart, I think it’s a call to be good people to make that our aspiration.

00:07:24:52 – 00:07:53:11
Clint Loveall
It’s not as if we’re born one way or the other. It is to say what we fill our heart with guides, our life, and if we fill our heart with good things, those good things will bear fruit in the way that we act, the way that we speak, in the way that we live. And so, again, I think you have to be careful here at times to distinguish between maybe theological language and practical language.

00:07:53:11 – 00:08:19:42
Clint Loveall
And I would say from my perspective of at least for whatever that’s worth, this is clearly in the realm of practical language. This is a an encouragement, a call to seek good and ultimately to try and be good. That is to be filled with goodness rather than to be filled with evil. And I don’t think that is somehow undercuts the idea of sinfulness or anything like that.

00:08:19:42 – 00:08:26:09
Clint Loveall
I think this is a call to faith, and as such, I think there’s a deeply practical sense of these words.

00:08:26:29 – 00:08:50:29
Michael Gewecke
You know, I think there’s another aspect here that can be very helpful as well. And that’s if you look at this closely and you ask yourself, you know, what are the evidences of a deep and abiding faithfulness? And I think that some of the answer to that is simple goodness. If there’s goodness in another person that is compelling and that often speaks of the Spirit’s work within a person.

00:08:50:51 – 00:09:24:37
Michael Gewecke
And there are far too many cases where Christian leaders are people whose lives shows bad fruit the way that they treat other people, the way that they speak to other people, the way that they live with the people closest to them. And when that happens, my point isn’t to judge anyone else. It’s simply to say that at the end of the day, if we see a repeated pattern in a person’s life of some sour things growing, then we should be cautious of the wellspring from which that is coming.

00:09:24:37 – 00:09:51:59
Michael Gewecke
And I think that there are some real practical, important that don’t turn your attention to a person who is teaching the gospel when their life is full of rancid anger, or when a person is fixated on the faults and failures of others instead of a person whose character is rather than a win, some kind of gracious humility that that it’s not a measuring tool by which you might judge another person.

00:09:51:59 – 00:10:13:17
Michael Gewecke
But I do think there’s some wisdom in being able to navigate life and say this is a kind of fruit I don’t want to consume because it’s not the kind of fruit that comes from Jesus. And I do think it also helps us navigate some of our faith communities because it enables us to see what is going to help us grow, what is the direction we’re called to go into as people of faith?

00:10:13:28 – 00:10:16:49
Michael Gewecke
And what are some directions we might want to go? The opposite direction.

00:10:16:49 – 00:10:37:30
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think even so far as to say, Michael, it’s not the kind of fruit I want to grow in my own garden, right? It’s not the kind of fruit that I want to produce. And I think as we move on here, we see just a explicit connection. The next verse. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you.

00:10:38:33 – 00:11:06:10
Clint Loveall
I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words and acts on them. So let’s just stop here for a minute. I think verse 46 is a very challenging one. You know, to call Jesus Lord is to be obedient. The idea is that our profession and our life will will match, that there will be held together, that that ultimately they will be the same.

00:11:06:32 – 00:11:30:18
Clint Loveall
So why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you? That’s a you know, that’s a challenging verse. I think at some point all of us would be called on that carpet and it would be a humbling place to be. And here Jesus then follows up and what we get next. Michael I guess let’s just read it and then we’ll come back to it.

00:11:30:18 – 00:11:49:31
Clint Loveall
So verse 48 here, that one is like a man building a house who dug deeply, laid a foundation on rock. When a flood arose, the river burst against the house, but could not shake it because it had been 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.

00:11:50:06 – 00:12:15:10
Clint Loveall
When the river burst against it immediately fell and great was the ruin of that house. I suspect, Michael, that most people know this version of the parable from Matthew, the wise man, the foolish man, where they build on different ground, the good ground, the rock versus the sand probably sang the song when we were kids. Luke has a slightly different version of the same parable.

00:12:15:10 – 00:12:55:57
Clint Loveall
It conveys the same idea, but here it’s the effort. It’s the laziness of not building a foundation rather than the laziness of selecting the easiest ground. I don’t know that the parables are significantly different. I think they arrive at the same place, but it is interesting here that the idea here is not what ground one builds on, but whether one takes the time to build a solid foundation and the one who does withstands the torments of the storm, the one who does not topples, and his house has a great fall.

00:12:57:16 – 00:13:20:29
Clint Loveall
I think, you know, again, this is a beloved parable, the idea of what’s holding you up, what are you attached to? And I think if you are, you know, if you’re expanding this sermon enough to preach or think about it devotional, you go so far as to say it is likely that you don’t know that until hard weather comes.

00:13:20:56 – 00:13:52:58
Clint Loveall
You do not know that until difficult times show up. It is then and really only then, often that the foundation is tested and that the building method is tested. And I think what’s interesting here is that both men go through the trouble of building a house. They both put in the effort. They both put in the time. But one ultimately makes a better choice in building on a foundation that is ready to withstand the troubles of life, the troubles of the storm and the other doesn’t.

00:13:52:58 – 00:14:07:30
Clint Loveall
And so in extension, one bears good fruit and one does not because one withstands and one does not. So a different version of the parable, but I think not a different message.

00:14:07:53 – 00:14:33:57
Michael Gewecke
I think the temptation of a story like this is to get caught on the story and not on the thing it’s trying to teach. And by way of illustrating that as people who have given some thought to preaching, there are certain times in preaching when you preach an illustration and sometimes that illustration is just really descriptive or vibrant or it really connects with people in a particular time.

00:14:34:12 – 00:14:56:16
Michael Gewecke
And we both talked about this about the danger of when sometimes the illustration is the only thing that people hear in the sermon they walk home with, Wow, that story was just compelling and not with the point that that story was trying to teach. And what I really direct your attention to, the point that Jesus is trying to teach this is a it’s an incredible way that he illustrates it.

00:14:56:16 – 00:15:29:02
Michael Gewecke
But let’s not forget what he’s trying to illustrate. Verse 47, I will show you what someone is like who comes to me. Here’s my words and acts on them, comes to me, here’s my words and acts on them. That is an unbelievably beautiful, deep, challenging, encouraging summary of the Christian life. If one is going to be a Christian, it is going to involve these movements over and over and over again, a kind of wave turning in our hearts.

00:15:29:02 – 00:15:50:22
Michael Gewecke
It will be coming to Jesus. He’ll be hearing his words, but then it will be acting on them. And of course, you have this beautiful scene that Jesus paints with the idea of it being a house that is either built, that you’ve done the work, you’ve acted upon it, you’ve come to Jesus, you’ve heard what that foundation should be like, and then you’ve taken the action that is required to build it.

00:15:50:34 – 00:16:10:44
Michael Gewecke
That that’s a beautiful image. But don’t let yourself get caught up in the image and missed the call for you. I mean, the devotional point here is when we encounter Jesus in our life and Luke isn’t asking if we will, his point is that we all do. We’re right now in this moment together, as we hear Jesus is teaching, we’re encountering Jesus.

00:16:10:44 – 00:16:35:09
Michael Gewecke
The question is, will we act on it? Will it be in fleshed in us? Will it actually practically show up in our lives in such a way that it is real? And I do think that as Christians, it’s easy to go through an entire day and the only time we’ve given thought to prayer is when we sit down at the meal, or the only time that we make it into Scripture in the entire week is for a short period of time on Sunday.

00:16:35:09 – 00:16:56:23
Michael Gewecke
That that’s the kind of thing I think, that Jesus calls us to a radical renewing of the mind that there’s an actual practical changed life ness to the life of a person who’s come and heard Jesus. And I believe that that is a beautiful, challenging call to to to really measure our self against this.

00:16:56:52 – 00:17:29:50
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I k well, I want to be cautious here, but I think this is interesting. Michael So in our in from a reform perspective, Presbyterian perspective, again, that’s sort of the circle we we live in. You know, we’ve had these long drawn out debates historically and theologically about faith and works. And while those matter at a theological level, I do think they help us understand something of the nature of grace, etc..

00:17:30:46 – 00:18:10:44
Clint Loveall
Those things have been very keys. They’ve been key points in helping us understand who we are theologically. In our tradition, there is a sense in which they add something to the gospel that I think at times the gospel is very worried about. For the gospel, what you believe is what you do in most cases. And so the idea here we we are a people who get a little nervous about the idea of works and works righteousness and the language of do and have to do that historic claim has been kind of troubling ground for us.

00:18:11:11 – 00:18:35:11
Clint Loveall
And yet I think it’s really helpful that from a discipleship perspective, Jesus says, you know, you call me Lord, but you don’t do what I tell you. You build the house, you do the work, but you don’t build it on things that can be trusted. You bear fruit, but it’s the wrong fruit. Bear good fruit. Do what I tell you and build on the right foundation.

00:18:35:11 – 00:19:07:46
Clint Loveall
And there’s so much in this active language of doing and working. And yes, it has to be kept in in context because we’re not trying to teach a work’s righteousness here from our perspective. But works matter. What we do matters. It’s the litmus test of what we believe. And I think sometimes texts like this help us sort of shake loose those cobwebs and see it is deeply important to the Scripture how we incorporate what we believe.

00:19:07:46 – 00:19:14:54
Clint Loveall
And ultimately, I think in this language of bearing fruit, how what we believe comes out into what we do and how we live.

00:19:15:18 – 00:19:38:36
Michael Gewecke
You know, anyone who’s spent time in the faith knows that the faith requires discipline. It requires a habit. It requires that we step out and that we participate in the inward working of the spirit of God that’s been gifted to us. I think the question is, do we evaluate that? Do we ever step back and ask what kind of fruit as my life had?

00:19:38:38 – 00:20:04:06
Michael Gewecke
Have I done what Jesus said or have I merely heard that? And I think that’s the clear, simple invitation that comes to us today. Not have you worked enough to work your way into God’s grace or goodness, or have you been smart enough to be able to get access to the special Divine knowledge? Just know that it’s have you as a person heard Jesus and then that’s become a part of your lived life?

00:20:04:19 – 00:20:32:58
Michael Gewecke
Have you been able to participate in the building of your life in such a way that God is been the one upon whom you’ve built your hope and your trust? And of course, we know that in a real life that ebbs and flows and that changes and different seasons bring different aspects of the faith, all of that is good and proper, but it is a mistake to go entire life of faith and never ask what kind of fruit is there, what kind of evidence of me hearing.

00:20:32:58 – 00:20:39:23
Michael Gewecke
The good news can be seen in my life, and Jesus makes it clear that that is part of what it means to follow him.

00:20:40:28 – 00:21:09:36
Clint Loveall
Yeah, you know, I’m. Be careful here, Mike. I don’t want to get too preachy or too reflective, but done to funerals in about 48 hours, have another one later in the week. And I think those are always moments that I find myself reflecting on some of those questions. You know, for each of us, there will be a day where our friends and family gather and those closest to us will remember the story of our life.

00:21:09:36 – 00:21:42:07
Clint Loveall
They’ll remember the moments that they shared with us and and more so than what we said. We believe those people will know by the nature of our life what we stood for, what we did, how we treated people. I don’t mean that we got it right all the time, But but someday people will gather to tell your story and what will the story be from those who know it best and watched it most closely?

00:21:42:07 – 00:22:07:44
Clint Loveall
Will they be able to say it’s clear to me what he believed, what she believed? I saw it, I watched it. I, I partook of the fruit of it. I, I saw the storms hit the house and the house didn’t fall. I mean, those are the markers ultimately that will one day be judged as to whether we believed or whether we truly well, whether we said we believed or whether we actually believed.

00:22:07:44 – 00:22:33:27
Clint Loveall
And I don’t want to oversimplify that because we all know faith can be a struggle. But I think I find myself thinking those thoughts whenever we gather to say goodbye to someone, because at that point, those who knew them best are considering who they really were. And, you know, we all hope that when that day comes for us, the people who know us best will be able to say, Yeah, I saw that fruit.

00:22:33:27 – 00:22:36:32
Clint Loveall
And I, I believe that that was a good foundation.

00:22:37:22 – 00:23:02:46
Michael Gewecke
Faith is a mysterious, powerful force, and we find faith in some very surprising places, which is exactly where our story tomorrow is going to take us. So don’t miss our study. Tomorrow’s we jump into a surprising person of faith. And I assure you there will be much for us to learn in that encounter. Until then, be blessed. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

00:23:02:47 – 00:23:03:28
Clint Loveall
Thanks, everybody.