A Life That Bears Good Fruit
A Life That Bears Good Fruit
I have been pondering the relationship between true faith in God and the bearing of good fruit. Many professing Christians believe that they can call on the name of Christ and then carry on as before. They tip their hats to God on Sunday mornings and live the rest of the week as they have a mind. It is tragic, in the deepest sense, that many do not realize that “being saved” is not an isolated event. The work of Christ is transformative; the old has passed away, the new has come. Many of us simply don’t like the idea that we actually have to change the way we function, learn a whole new way of living and thinking.
The Gospel tells us that, if we are indeed living in Christ, the Life will be evident in our hearts and in our deeds. As Christians, we are to bear good fruit. The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians is not a pretty little list of inspiring abstracts; it is to be concrete evidence of Christ’s working in your heart. Is your life bearing fruit?
“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth goo fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down , and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 7:16-21.
Yet, if one suggests that Christianity is more than sitting in a pew once a week, that it actually requires something from you, that it demands that you harness your every thought and deed, your very being to God’s will—one is likely to hear the fiery accusation: “Legalism! Christianity is about grace. Faith alone! Salvation is not about works!”
We have also met people who turn “the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and deny the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” Jude 1:4. They reason that Jesus has set us free from all law, that we are free to do as we please. Christ will forgive all. The Book of Romans (indeed, all of the Gospel) is a brilliant and perfect explanation of the relationship of the Law and grace in the Christian’s life. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” Romans 6:1-2.
I agree wholeheartedly that our salvation is not dependent on what we do, but on what God has done. If our salvation were dependent the least bit on us, we would be damned to eternal hellfire. Legalism, the idea that we can build a ladder to heaven by our own good deeds, is one of most dangerous scourges of the Church. Flee from the Pharisee!
Let me clarify then, between legalism and the Gospel. Legalism is the inversion of the Gospel; it says “Do this (or don’t do this), and thou shalt live.” The Gospel says, “If ye live, this will ye do.” Just as uncurling leaves, plump buds, tender green branches, and good fruit are evidence of a tree’s life and health and viability, so are good deeds evidence of Christ’s working in the Christian’s life. The good fruit does not cause the tree to live, but the tree’s life will bring forth good fruit.
Are we doing our good deeds with the parsimonious face of the legalist who knows that it is “the thing to do”? If you are a Christian, if the Holy Spirit dwells within you, it will be your joy and pleasure and desire to obey God. As the psalmist sings so many times, Jehovah’s precepts will be your song of rejoicing, your delight, your privilege.
When we were in bondage to sin, we were unwilling and even unable to do good. God’s Law was a burden, an anathema. Now we are free in Christ, free to do God’s Will, free to forsake self and love others, free to live and bear good fruit—not because God threatens us and prods us, but because we love Him so much that his slightest wish is our delight to fulfill. Obedience is not something we do gritting our teeth; it is something we seek, something we in which we take our purest pleasure.
I am not suggesting that we compile an extra-biblical list of “rules to follow for a holy life.” Christianity is not about externals, about “do this” and “don’t do that.” Man looks on the outside, but God is an examiner of the heart. That is why being a self-righteous Pharisee is not an effective approach. Yet it is folly to doubt that what is in the heart of man will be evidenced in the way he dresses, speaks, and acts.
It may seem like an oxymoron, but the Gospel tells us of a “perfect law of liberty.” When we walk in the ways of God, we will find true and eternal freedom.
“And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.” Psalm 119:45.
“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own souls. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of a man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” James 1:21-25
“What [doth it] profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of say unto them, Depart in peace, be[ye] warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are enedful to the body, what [doth it] profit? Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by works. Thou believest there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed in God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man s justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she, having received the messengers, and had sent [them] out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” James 2:14-26.
Please read my article The Christian and the Law.
Photograph: Grapes. © Canada-Photos.com.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008