The Best Way To Live
Luke 6v43-45
INTRODUCTION
Most people want to live a good life. This is why we were made. This is why God sent Jesus into the world. Jesus then sent his Spirit to help us do this. In Luke 6:43-45, this is seen as producing good fruit rather than bad fruit. This is the best way to live. To understand and apply this, let us first look at…
THE WRONG WAY TO LIVE
Good or bad fruit
Jesus said in Luke 6:43: “A good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.” The point he makes here is straightforward: Good trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit. Jesus then applies this to how we live.
A description of fruit
The word bad in v43 means rotten and is often used to describe bad fruit. Using the same word, Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any rotten speech or foul language come out of your mouth.” In Luke 6:45, Jesus also connects bad fruit to speech when he says, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Galatians 5:19-21 gives some examples of bad fruit. There are sexual sins like immorality, impurity, and debauchery. There are religious sins like idolatry and witchcraft. There are social sins like hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissension, faction, and envy. There are sins of intemperance like drunkenness, orgies, and the like. This is bad fruit, and it comes from a bad tree. In contrast, Galatians 5:22-23 says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This comes from a good tree or a person filled with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus applies this to us
In Luke 6:44, Jesus uses a slightly different illustration. He says, “Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. We don’t pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers.” Jesus applies this in v45. He says good people bring good things out of the good stored up in their heart, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart.” In other words, what is on the inside will show on the outside.
When we see bad fruit in our lives, we could try to replace it, but this is like tying good fruit to a bad tree. If we see bad fruit in our lives, we should look at the tree. We should look at the inside. We should then ask God to create in us a pure heart, and to renew a steadfast spirit within us (Psalm 51:10). This should then lead to…
THE RIGHT WAY TO LIVE
Real fruit is not ornamental
Some people use artificial fruit to decorate their home. Real fruit, however, is not ornamental. Luke 6:45 says, “Good people bring good things out of the good stored up in their heart.” If a tree is healthy, we can expect a rich harvest of fruit.
Fruit stored in the heart
The word translated stored up in v45 is thesaurus. This is often translated treasure. The spiritual treasure stored up in a person’s heart should produce a good life. In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus uses the idea of good and bad fruit to describe false teachers. He says true spirituality is not seen in prophesying, casting out demons, or performing miracles. Jesus did not say, “By their gifts you will know them, but by their fruit.” He did not say, “By their profession of faith you will know them, but by their fruit.” We don’t recommend a greengrocer because they have a nice smile. We don’t recommend a greengrocer because they know about fruit. We recommend a greengrocer because their fruit is good—by their fruit, you will know them.
Expressing a fruitful life
According to Luke 6:45, the good that is stored up in the heart is expressed in the way we speak. Jesus said, “Good people bring good things out of the good stored up in their heart, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Speech is a gift from God and reflects our likeness to God. Today we hear so much poor speech, so much bad language, and so many harmful words. In contrast, we should not let any foul speech come out of our mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up (Ephesians 4:29). Too often, we destroy people with our words. Proverbs 12:18 says, “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” This is the right way to live, and if it is the right way to live, it is…
THE BEST WAY TO LIVE
Choosing fruit
When we buy fruit, we don’t just grab it and throw it into a bag—we look for good fruit? This is true in life. We want good fruit rather than bad fruit. We want the best way to live…
Choosing the best way
Most of us want to be good rather than bad. We want to produce good fruit rather than bad fruit. Something deep inside wants what is best. A prayer in Philippians 1:9–10 is that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that we may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.
Living in the Spirit
Being a Christian does not lead to automatic holiness. If holiness were automatic, most of the New Testament would be redundant. Instead, the New Testament encourages us to walk, to run, to press-on, to fight, and to work. We do this because God is at work in us. Philippians 2:12-13 says we should work out our salvation in fear and trembling because God is at work in us to will and to do for his good pleasure.
As we seek to live a good life in a fallen world, there is a constant battle between the flesh and the spirit. In this context, Galatians 5:16 says we should walk in the Spirit, and we will not gratify or bring to fruition the desires of the flesh.
Conclusion
A group of children was once asked the differsence between fruit and vegetables. There were many responses, but the best answer was simple and to the point: “Fruit tastes nice!” Fruit tastes nice, and this is why most people want to live a good life. This is why God made us. This is why God sent Jesus. This is why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help us live a good life. This is the best way to live…
Bernard Cartledge