WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.799 Now, before we're going to look at that passage that Sarah read, but I'm going to read two 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:10.400 short passages as well, which are linked. So today's a kind of thematic sermon, rather 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:17.400 than a tight unpacking of one passage. I'm going to read, first of all, Matthew chapter 00:00:17.400 --> 00:00:25.679 7, and a section there from verse 15 to 23. You'll get the picture that's about trees 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:32.920 and fruit and fruitfulness and stuff like that. Matthew chapter 7, it's not on the screen 00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:38.320 so you can either just follow me or fear of a Bible, it's on page 812. Beware of false 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:42.719 prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:48.280 recognise them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thorn 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:56.160 bushes? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy 00:00:56.160 --> 00:01:01.240 tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:06.480 not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognise them 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:10.599 by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, we'll enter the kingdom of 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:16.040 heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many 00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:21.360 will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and cast out demons in Your name 00:01:21.360 --> 00:01:27.080 and do many mighty works in Your name? And then I will declare to them I never knew you, 00:01:27.080 --> 00:01:32.800 depart from me you workers of lawlessness. And then one verse from John chapter 15 and 00:01:32.800 --> 00:01:37.880 verse 8. So the whole passage of the vine and the branches, which is again an illustration 00:01:37.879 --> 00:01:46.319 Jesus is using that we've been looking at in some ways. John chapter 15 and verse 8, 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:55.560 just one verse. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be 00:01:55.560 --> 00:02:03.759 my disciples. And now the passage in Galatians, which if you have a Bible with you, you can 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:09.719 keep open at that or if a Bible in your phone or whatever, if not it should be easy enough 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:14.400 to follow. If you're visiting with us today, we've been doing a series over the last number 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:20.879 of Sunday mornings about discipleship because we are introducing a new kind of framework 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:28.439 for one to one discipleship and looking after and caring for one another in the church primarily 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:33.919 through the work that we do in city groups, big church, small church. And so we've been 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:42.240 looking at the whole idea of fruitfulness as Christians. Rooted and living in Christ 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:47.360 is the card that we have connected with that. And there's four things that we've been looking 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:52.039 at and one or two others. And the last one, which is on the left hand side is bearing fruit 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:55.840 for others. And that's what we're going to be looking at today in this series. There's 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:59.000 plenty of these cards if you want to take them away, they're quite handy just to look 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:04.439 at and to remind ourselves what we're doing. So it's really about as we bear, as we are 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:11.680 rooted as our lives under what we don't see, the roots of our lives, where we're faced, 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:16.640 where we're directed, in other words to the living water to a relationship with Jesus, 00:03:16.640 --> 00:03:21.920 then it bears fruit on the outside of our lives and how we live. And that's really what we're 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:26.679 going to look at today. And there's one more sermon, a couple of weeks, Thomas is going 00:03:26.679 --> 00:03:31.679 to preach one more sermon on this series. So today, but I really need you, talking about 00:03:31.679 --> 00:03:35.799 participation, I really need you to participate today, because I'm going to be asking you 00:03:35.799 --> 00:03:42.159 to use your imagination quite a lot, based on the word, of course, but I'm going to use 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:49.799 a lot of pictures and metaphors and illustrations today, which I hope will make sense of what 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:54.920 I'm trying to say from this passage in Ephesians, which is a very famous passage which speaks 00:03:54.920 --> 00:04:03.280 about the fruit, sorry, Ephesians Galatians, which talks about the fruit of the Spirit 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:09.240 and the works of the flesh. And it's a very well known passage to many of us. So we read 00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:15.720 from chapter 5 and from verse 13, and it's about keeping in step with God's Spirit. 00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:20.319 So I'm going to use quite a lot of pictures today to get across what I'm trying to say. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:24.680 So I'll be using different pictures. What I'm going to be saying is you're not a potato, 00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:29.319 and then I'm going to be saying you're like a garden. And then I'm also going to say that 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:37.279 you're kind of like an unconscious peach, not a thistle or a thorn. Okay, so that's really 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:41.839 where we're going with the pictures today. So you're not a potato, but you are a garden 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:47.919 and you're an unconscious peach, not a thistle. Okay, and that's all grounded in the passage. 00:04:47.919 --> 00:04:55.319 Well, maybe not the first one, but the first one by the fact that it's not in the passage. 00:04:55.319 --> 00:04:59.159 Because the point of this series that we've been looking at is the importance of other 00:04:59.159 --> 00:05:05.399 Christians in your life. That is really significant. It's not just an added extra, it's hugely 00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:11.199 significant. The work of the Holy Spirit in your heart and in mine as a Christian should 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:17.120 in a sense be like a spiritual magnet. It should attract us to others and others to 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:26.399 us in the church, in our relationships with one another. And it's loving one another, 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:29.480 which is key to what we're thinking about, loving God and loving one another, because 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:35.560 that's really the whole of, that's the whole of the law of God, loving, that's why we're 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:41.439 lost and hellbound without Christ because we can't love God perfectly and we can't love 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:46.639 one another perfectly. And we need Christ's forgiveness and Christ's grace and grace strength 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:54.240 to help us to do that. So really Christianity is God's way, becoming a Christian is God's 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:59.600 way of bringing the Kingdom of Heaven down to earth. And every one of us, every single 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:06.560 one of us are key players in that. There's no kind of hierarchy. Every one of us are 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:12.520 key players in the Kingdom of God as Christians of bringing heaven to earth. And so we're 00:06:12.520 --> 00:06:21.439 looking at how that should be significant relationally both inside the church together 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:25.680 here and outside of the church. I'll mention that as well because that's very important. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:30.280 So the first thing I want to say is that we are not potatoes. Okay, that's an important 00:06:30.280 --> 00:06:35.720 point. Now I love potatoes. Potatoes are my staple diet. I'm a potatoes and meat and 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:40.879 two veg guy. Okay, I love potatoes. But there's nothing in the Bible about potatoes. No, there's 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:46.519 no mention. It's never used as an illustration. Not because potatoes are bad or sinful, but 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:50.439 because it's the wrong kind of picture that is giving in terms of using illustrations 00:06:50.439 --> 00:06:55.439 for what our Christian life should be. See, we've talked about being rooted in Christ, 00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:59.920 what happens underground. But that rooting in Christ reveals itself in the fruit that 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:05.959 we bear as Christians. But potatoes are different and they grow underground. And they stay 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:14.079 underground till that last great day of harvest. They never see the light of day until they're 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:20.040 ready to be eaten. And I think some of us as Christians think like that, our Christian 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:27.280 lives. It's about just merely surviving underground as it were, privately and personally having 00:07:27.280 --> 00:07:32.640 a walk with God that doesn't bear any fruit outwardly in terms of our love and commitment 00:07:32.640 --> 00:07:37.240 to other people. And we just think we're to survive like that until that last great day 00:07:37.240 --> 00:07:43.160 of harvest when Jesus comes to take us home, when the role is called up yonder. Kind of 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:50.960 living in the dark, living away from other people, just living that private life of faith 00:07:50.960 --> 00:07:59.440 that we don't think has any responsibility above ground as it were with other people. 00:07:59.440 --> 00:08:04.240 And we just love Jesus. It's all about my soul and God. It's all about the privacy of 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:10.040 my own relationship with God. Yet, you come to a passage like this that we read in Galatians 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:13.439 and indeed anywhere else throughout the whole of the New Testament, and you'll find all 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:18.840 these kind of words like brothers and sisters, one another, love your neighbor, each other's 00:08:18.840 --> 00:08:25.600 mentioned four or five times, someone, someone else, share, all people, family of believers. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:32.560 And so there's this huge significant element of our faith which is personal and individual 00:08:32.560 --> 00:08:39.200 and real, which reveals itself in the love and commitment that we have to the church, 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:45.640 to other people, to other Christians. It's not an added extra. It is fundamental and 00:08:45.640 --> 00:08:53.240 crucial to our understanding, as we'll see. So we're not potatoes. Rather, I think, we're 00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:59.440 like... I'm going to broaden the picture a little bit. We're like a garden, okay? Not 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:06.120 just a fruit tree, but a garden. And I think we're... I want you to imagine that you've 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:11.399 been given a garden, okay? It's an imperfect illustration, I know. All illustrations are. 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:15.279 And I thought it was great when I started doing it. And then as I've gone into it, I've 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:20.240 realized, oh, there's so many failings in it. But anyway, just go with me here because 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:26.159 we're in a garden. You've been given a garden, okay? You've been given the title deeds of 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.960 an absolutely beautiful garden. Can you imagine that? And that's a bit like the gift of faith 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:35.519 that you've been given. And you have everything you need for this garden to really flourish. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:39.480 You've given all the equipment. You're given books that tell you how to deal with everything 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:42.960 in the garden. You've got... It's planted with beautiful flowers. You've got fruit trees. 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:47.000 There's bulbs and seeds. You've got a bank account that you can just buy anything you 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:54.240 want that will make that garden beautiful and keep it beautiful. But that garden, which 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:59.879 you've been gifted the title deeds to, it will need tended, will it not? It will always 00:09:59.879 --> 00:10:04.360 need tended. However beautiful it is when you get it, if you ignore it, it will become 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:11.000 a wilderness very, very quickly because gardens still grow weeds and there's work to be done. 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:14.919 There's things to be nurtured and pruned and cared for and looked after. And then people 00:10:14.919 --> 00:10:20.279 will know that it's a garden that's cared for and as living as it were and as significantly 00:10:20.279 --> 00:10:24.800 looked after. I was walking, I was going to visit someone along London Road this week 00:10:24.800 --> 00:10:28.759 and I was coming towards the junction of London Road and Easter Road. And there's a beautiful 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:33.840 big church there right on the corner of Easter Road. And it doesn't seem that long ago since 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:40.519 I had a lot of work done on the outside of the building and it was really a lot of, a 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:43.960 bit like ourselves, the work that was done outside of the building. But since then the 00:10:43.960 --> 00:10:49.759 church has been closed and it's not been used. It's derelict. And there always used to be 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:56.040 lovely trees and stuff outside and garden stuff outside along with the paving stones. 00:10:56.040 --> 00:11:00.639 And now these paving stones, it was really very obvious. These paving stones are all 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:06.600 just, there's weeds just bursting through all the crevices and all the edges of the paving 00:11:06.600 --> 00:11:13.240 stones all the way around it. And the first thing you think is dereliction. It's been 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:21.000 abandoned. Nobody cares for it anymore. And that's the kind of picture that I'm trying 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:26.799 to get across here with the use of this illustration of a gardener or Christian life being like 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:32.120 a garden that needs to be tended. Even though we are gifted salvation by God, it's a free 00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:38.479 gift, we need to work our relationship with God and with one another. Because in this 00:11:38.479 --> 00:11:43.159 garden that we've been gifted with the title deeds, there's a stipulation in the title 00:11:43.159 --> 00:11:49.279 deeds, and this is what I hope relates it to the way, the title of the sermon which 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:54.599 is loving and bearing fruit for others. The stipulation in the title deeds of this garden 00:11:54.600 --> 00:12:02.920 says this is a garden that's to be opened and enjoyed by all. It's to be opened and 00:12:02.920 --> 00:12:09.639 enjoyed by all. So the flowers are to be picked, the fruit is to be eaten, the benches are 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:18.040 to be sat on in the sun and have a nice glass of Beaujolais or whatever. And kids are to 00:12:18.040 --> 00:12:22.759 be allowed to play in it. It's to be a great place, an open place. It's not to be a museum 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:27.799 garden or a display garden or the kind of gardens you see in great country houses that 00:12:27.799 --> 00:12:33.240 you're afraid to walk on. It's to be a garden. It's not to be a locked garden with a no entry 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:39.439 sign. It's to be an open garden for everyone is to enjoy and take part. And what does that 00:12:39.439 --> 00:12:44.840 mean? What does that mean in gardening terms? And I'm not a, I'm no gardener, but it means 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:49.039 that you'll need to not just work hard at the weeds, you'll need to do a lot of repair 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:56.759 work and you'll need to take the stones that the kids have taken and thrown into the flower 00:12:56.759 --> 00:13:01.079 beds. You'll need to pick them out and put them back in where they are intended to be. 00:13:01.079 --> 00:13:07.000 You'll need to maybe replant stuff that's been ripped up. You'll need to make sure that 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:14.159 the garden itself gets rest and recovery and renewal. And so there, it's a busy place. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:19.240 It's a lively place. It's an active place. It's a place that others benefit from, a place 00:13:19.240 --> 00:13:24.079 of blessing and happiness and goodness. And that is the picture of our relationship with 00:13:24.079 --> 00:13:29.719 Jesus Christ. If you take the idea of our lives as a garden, I'm going to make two applications 00:13:29.719 --> 00:13:39.079 from that, which, so what I've done is I've looked broadly at this passage. I'm not going 00:13:39.079 --> 00:13:43.279 to take one verse out of this passage, but we will be looking at verses in it. But it 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:49.319 means, in terms of being disciples, that picture for us means that our Christian life, if we 00:13:49.319 --> 00:13:54.079 are going to be Christians who are bearing fruit for others, if we're going to love God 00:13:54.079 --> 00:14:02.839 and if we're going to love one another, it requires work from us as Christians. The passage 00:14:02.839 --> 00:14:10.120 that we read together says that we need to walk by the Spirit. Verse 16 of chapter 5, 00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:22.720 and then chapter 6, elsewhere it says, keep in step with the Spirit, and we need to recognise 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:28.919 and do both these things. We need to keep in step with the Spirit, and we need to recognise 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:34.799 the importance of our relationship with God. If we live by the Spirit, verse 25, let us 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:40.240 also keep in step with the Spirit. Let's not come be conceited, provoking one another, 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:47.000 envying one another. So you've got this reality in our lives, that eternal life is a gift, 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:50.839 just like a garden, title deeds was given to us as a gift, through the penance and faith 00:14:50.839 --> 00:14:56.279 in Jesus Christ. You can't earn your salvation. This is not, I'm not saying if you do these 00:14:56.279 --> 00:15:01.399 things, God will be happy with you and you'll get to heaven. That's not the story at all. 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:07.840 The story is Jesus has done everything, and we accept that we can never make our way up 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:13.319 to God, but God has made his way into our lives through Jesus Christ, and we accept 00:15:13.319 --> 00:15:18.879 that through repentance and faith that we are sinners who need saved by grace. And we 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:23.319 realise and we know and we recognise no one can pluck that salvation from our hands, but 00:15:23.319 --> 00:15:29.759 we need to tend our spiritual lives. That's what's important here, is that we don't take 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:36.399 this gift and then live as if it doesn't matter how we live, and it doesn't matter what 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:44.240 he's given to us, because he has made us a new creation, and we recognise that what 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:48.200 matters in the whole picture that we've been looking at is where the roots of our lives 00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:54.120 are going, where our strength comes from, where our life is being renewed by, and it 00:15:54.120 --> 00:16:01.080 is through an ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ. The fruit of the Spirit that you know 00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:04.720 so well that we've read about here, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:12.560 everything is exactly that. It's the fruit of the Spirit of God. It comes from communion 00:16:12.560 --> 00:16:21.159 with God. We don't work it up. It's not something that we can just try and do ourselves. It 00:16:21.159 --> 00:16:26.679 comes from relationship with Him as we learn about Him, as we pray to Him, as we understand 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:33.279 the nature of grace, and as we have received that fruit ourselves. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:39.199 So Galatians chapter 5, which is a very famous passage, verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit 00:16:39.199 --> 00:16:44.719 is and all these different characteristics. That's what Jesus looked like when he lived 00:16:44.719 --> 00:16:50.000 on the earth, because he was the perfect human being as well as being the Son of God. He 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.840 lived like that because we couldn't live like that. And that's the kind of characteristics 00:16:54.840 --> 00:17:00.840 that he shows to us in our salvation. He treats us with love and with joy and with peace and 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:04.440 with patience and kindness and gentleness and goodness and faithfulness and self-control. 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:12.720 He does these things for us, and he treats us as saved sinners with that great love. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:19.359 And so the work of being a Christian is being in daily communion with this living God, renewing 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:27.079 our minds and our hearts and our thinking, being conscious about learning about Jesus, 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:31.599 about praying to Him, bringing our battles and struggles to Him, so that we can begin 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:38.799 to love one another and love God His way. So it requires work. We've said that a lot. 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:42.679 You know that. We know that, and we know it's not a work that will earn us favor with God. 00:17:42.679 --> 00:17:48.119 It's just, it's a work of gratitude. It's like having that beautiful garden. It's keeping 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:55.000 it tended because the weeds grow. And that leads to the second application, which is 00:17:55.000 --> 00:18:01.239 being a disciple requires work, but it also, it leads to conflict. There's a great deal 00:18:01.239 --> 00:18:08.359 of conflict in our lives because we are Christians. And I think that's a very important thing 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:13.119 to say today, verse 17, for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:17.359 desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for they are opposed to each other, speaking 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:22.639 to Christians here, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. If you're led 00:18:22.639 --> 00:18:28.319 by the Spirit, you're not under the law. Walk by the Spirit because there's a conflict 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:34.399 in your heart and in your life and in obeying the living God. Don't, can I say to you, don't 00:18:34.399 --> 00:18:39.559 listen to anyone from the pulpit or anywhere else who tells you that to be a Christian 00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:46.000 is easy and it's a life of victory and it's fun. And if there's any problems, the problems 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:51.000 are elsewhere with other people, I'm telling you they're false prophets. They shouldn't 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:58.359 be in the pulpit and it's tough. And you should find that good to hear today that every one 00:18:58.359 --> 00:19:02.519 of us come here because we're struggling to be Christians and because it's a battle and 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:06.920 because there's conflict. And you should hear that from your elders and you should hear 00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:10.400 it from me and you should hear it from the leaders of the church and you should hear 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:15.680 it from one another as we disciple one another. That's one of the great things about discipleship 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:20.680 because you don't come alongside someone who says, hoo-hoo, everything's great and easy. 00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:25.600 You come alongside people who recognize and who will say that the battle is there and 00:19:25.600 --> 00:19:29.560 there in the midst of battle as well. That's why it's so difficult to be a Christian on 00:19:29.560 --> 00:19:34.519 your own because you think you're the only one that's struggling. Whereas discipleship 00:19:34.519 --> 00:19:40.160 and caring for and loving one another and bearing fruit for one another changes that. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:46.180 It's about conflict. There's great conflict in being a Christian and that should be comforting 00:19:46.180 --> 00:19:53.360 today because there's weeds that grow up in our own hearts, sins and desires and longings 00:19:53.360 --> 00:20:02.519 that are against Christ and this, it's basically selfishness against Christ-likeness in our 00:20:02.519 --> 00:20:07.600 heart. So we find that conflict in our own hearts, don't we? I find that conflict, my 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:14.159 own selfishness or pride or unbelief or lust that comes up in my heart and we don't do, 00:20:14.159 --> 00:20:18.879 we don't want to do sometimes what God wants for us. We're lazy. We would love God, we 00:20:18.879 --> 00:20:23.639 would love Jesus just to be a genie in a lamp. We would love Him to be like that who just 00:20:23.639 --> 00:20:29.959 gives us everything we wanted whenever we wanted to make life easy. 00:20:29.959 --> 00:20:35.240 But we know that the gospel is not like that and that the Christian walk is not like that 00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:40.279 for us. It's a battle, it's a struggle. We feel like giving up within the, we would 00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:46.519 rather relax and forget the fact that God is true because sometimes it's so hard to 00:20:46.519 --> 00:20:51.920 work through that. So we battle and there's conflict in our own hearts but there's also 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:58.200 conflict in community. Let's be honest about that, isn't there? Great conflict in the Christian 00:20:58.200 --> 00:21:03.400 community as well. You know, love one another, we read in John as I have loved you. That's 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:08.400 the hardest thing in the universe to do. In fact, it's impossible. That's why we need 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:12.440 to go back to the living God. Love one another as I have loved you. It's not only tough, 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:19.280 it's absolutely impossible. Some people we see or we think or we perceive are so unlovable, 00:21:19.280 --> 00:21:24.480 so selfish, so hurtful, they don't understand, they're demanding. If only everyone was like 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:32.480 me, it'd be so much easier in the Christian life. So hard to give, so hard to be vulnerable. 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:36.759 We find that our love is unreciprocated from others and we're taken advantage of, we're 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:42.000 tired. It's a struggle both in the church and maybe sometimes in the workplace we find 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:52.960 that as well. But yet, within that, that relationship with others, what does it do? It drives us 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:59.960 to where our roots are, to get the life-giving love and resources we need because Christ 00:21:59.960 --> 00:22:06.039 has won the victory. He is the one who went all the way to the cross for all those miserable 00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:14.079 enemies of Him who didn't know what they were doing and He went to the cross for them. He 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:22.400 paid the ultimate price. He resisted the conflict. He overcame temptation and He prayed for those 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:30.440 who crucified Him and was victorious and rose from the dead. And that power of Christ as 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:36.759 we are rooted in Him is available to us to keep on loving one another because we're loving 00:22:36.759 --> 00:22:44.600 God and that's usually significant. So the application of that picture of the garden 00:22:44.600 --> 00:22:49.400 is it requires work and that there's conflict. And then the third thing I'm going to say 00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:57.280 is, I'll do this more briefly, we are unconsciously peaches, not thistles. Okay? And that comes 00:22:57.280 --> 00:23:01.800 from the theme that we read in Matthew 7 where Jesus is talking about the same thing again. 00:23:01.800 --> 00:23:05.680 There's lots of this right through the Bible when Jesus says, you know, you will know the 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:12.040 fruit of someone. You will know that the kind of person someone is by the fruit they bear. 00:23:12.040 --> 00:23:17.640 So you don't get grapes from a thorn tree. You don't get figs from thistles. So He's 00:23:17.640 --> 00:23:22.360 saying where your roots are, the kind of tree you are, and where you're rooted, it's the 00:23:22.360 --> 00:23:27.560 same kind of picture, it will be reflected in the fruit that you bear. In other words, 00:23:27.560 --> 00:23:33.040 a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit. Now that's not saying being 00:23:33.040 --> 00:23:39.200 good in and of ourselves, it's saying as Christians we are rooted in Christ who is our goodness? 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:44.560 Okay? And if we're rooted in Christ then we bear the fruit of Christ as Christians. In 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:48.839 other words, Jesus is saying the reality of our faith in Jesus Christ and our dependence 00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:55.159 on Christ will become clear for other people to see when we live like Him. So we live like 00:23:55.159 --> 00:24:02.799 peaches and not like thistles because we bear the fruit that makes us like Jesus Christ, 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:10.359 something that's beautiful and edible and smells great as opposed to a thistle or a thorn. 00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:17.719 So the way we love one another as Christians is a window into our soul. And so with Jesus 00:24:17.719 --> 00:24:22.959 saying it does matter how you live as a Christian, it matters how I live, it does. The whole 00:24:22.959 --> 00:24:29.319 book of James is about that. It's all about faith without works, it's dead. And the reality 00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:34.719 is this, so, so, the Sermon, I'm not asking you to look at the fruit of the Spirit in 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:41.240 Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22 and look at it from the love, joy, peace, patience, 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:46.039 and take them off and sort of say, I must try harder in these areas. I need to love 00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:52.079 better. I need to be more patient. You know, that's a council of absolute despair. It'll 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:58.559 just leave you absolutely guilt ridden. What I want you to say, I want you to say, I need 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:03.960 to be closer to Jesus Christ. And my roots need to be in Him because when my roots are 00:25:03.960 --> 00:25:11.440 within Him, I'll begin to bear that fruit. I can't do it away from Him, it's impossible. 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:17.400 And so there's an almost, you're almost an unconscious peach because you're not working 00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:23.559 to bear that fruit as an end in itself. You're simply wanting to be in relationship with Christ 00:25:23.559 --> 00:25:29.360 as you're rooted in Him and you will bear that fruit almost unconsciously because you're 00:25:29.360 --> 00:25:33.920 learning and growing in Him. So there's an element of self-forgetfulness in it. So the 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:40.600 good fruit, what does it look like as we rely on Christ? We've read in the passages and 00:25:40.600 --> 00:25:44.560 I haven't spent any time looking at that. Serving one another, loving your neighbour 00:25:44.560 --> 00:25:49.840 as yourself, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, 00:25:49.840 --> 00:25:53.840 loving towards others, restoring others who have sinned, carrying each other's burdens, 00:25:53.840 --> 00:25:58.920 not comparing ourselves with others, sharing good spiritual experiences, doing good. In 00:25:58.920 --> 00:26:04.080 other words, it's recognisable. If you're a Christian, if your roots are in Christ, if 00:26:04.080 --> 00:26:08.160 you're in relationship with Christ, the fruit you will bear is recognisable, you can see 00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:14.519 it. We can see it in ourselves, we should be able to and see it in others. Because the 00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:21.120 bad roots, or the bad fruit, or the thorns, or the thistles, they're also evident and 00:26:21.120 --> 00:26:26.120 it reveals where our heart is or where our heart isn't, isn't it? Because they're the 00:26:26.119 --> 00:26:32.039 same. You know, thorns and thistles are stabby, defensive, sharp and hurtful and damaging. 00:26:32.039 --> 00:26:36.159 And the passage speaks about it here. If you're biting and devouring each other, you're being 00:26:36.159 --> 00:26:41.719 sexually immoral, impure, debauched, idolatrous, dabbling in the occult, hating, divisive, jealous, 00:26:41.719 --> 00:26:46.879 wild-tempered, selfish, argumentative, cliquish, envious, drunken, conceited, provocative, proud. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:56.320 You know, you look at that and say, well, not all at once. That's a demon. Yeah, okay. 00:26:56.320 --> 00:27:01.760 But it's the fruit, isn't it? It's the direction of our lives. Is it selfish and self-centred, 00:27:01.760 --> 00:27:08.280 which all these thorns and thistles reflect? Or is it Christ-centered, which the good fruit 00:27:08.280 --> 00:27:13.760 reflects? And that is how we are to look at our lives. Because Matthew 7 that we read, 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:19.599 Jesus says, you know, when people ask, well, when did we see you like that? When was there 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:24.119 someone naked? When was there someone in prison? And Jesus says, when you care for the least 00:27:24.119 --> 00:27:30.480 of my family in love, it's just like you're loving Jesus himself, because it's the evidence 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:36.200 of a changed heart. And that passage in Matthew, Jesus is saying, you can say, oh, you're like, 00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:41.519 oh, I love Jesus. Oh, Jesus is great. I love him. And I'll sing about him all day. And I 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:48.920 love the songs and everything about Jesus. I love him. Nah. Christian love is much, much 00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:55.119 grittier than that. It's much grittier than just saying, Lord, Lord, which is what Jesus 00:27:55.119 --> 00:28:01.000 exposes in that passage in Matthew. It's much more visible. It's much tougher and grittier 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:07.680 and stronger than that. And there's evidence of it, because we are not potatoes. Because 00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:13.360 if we are potatoes on the judgment day, the Lord Jesus might well say to us, look, I never 00:28:13.360 --> 00:28:21.720 knew you. Depart from me. You wicked workers of unrighteousness. 00:28:21.720 --> 00:28:25.519 So it's a very solemn, it's a very real thing. It's about our eternal destination. It's not 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:29.640 just about a lifestyle choice. It's not just about, this is the kind of Christians we want 00:28:29.640 --> 00:28:33.320 in St. Columba's, you can have different kind of Christians anywhere else. This is about 00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:40.439 how Jesus, the gospel of Jesus and the truth of Jesus transforms us into being new creations. 00:28:40.439 --> 00:28:47.159 And we can't just sit as if he's some kind of genie in a lamp. He is empowered us by 00:28:47.159 --> 00:28:51.079 His Holy Spirit in our hearts through grace to be renewed and to be changed and to be 00:28:51.079 --> 00:28:56.720 transformed so that we don't bear thorns and thistles with other people. And when we do, 00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:04.079 we seek forgiveness from them and from God. Two final questions. I realise that I haven't 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:08.839 really dealt with this passage in great detail. You could preach 40 sermons from this passage. 00:29:08.839 --> 00:29:12.799 So I've kind of tried to give an overview. And I've thought there's at least two questions 00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:18.279 that I thought I hadn't even begun to dealt with in this passage. 00:29:18.279 --> 00:29:23.200 First is, what about my needs? You know, you're talking all about giving and serving and loving 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:28.759 others and loving God and sending your roots out. But what about me? What about my own 00:29:28.759 --> 00:29:33.440 needs? You're always so demanding from the pulpit, Derek. The Word of God's always so 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:38.279 demanding. That's why I want to give up, because it seems so demanding and so tough and so 00:29:38.279 --> 00:29:47.720 difficult. What about my needs? Well, I think as we understand grace and we understand 00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:56.400 God, we recognise what God has done for us. And also we recognise that this is not a one-way 00:29:56.400 --> 00:30:06.279 traffic. We are to one another, each other. It's about receiving as well as giving. It's 00:30:06.279 --> 00:30:13.279 not just about always giving and loving. It's about being loved. There will be times when 00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:20.480 the garden needs to be shut, just to be refreshed and renewed. There's times we need to receive. 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:24.220 There's times when there's a garden owner, you're going to go to someone else's garden 00:30:24.220 --> 00:30:31.480 and sit in the sun and have a bojalee. Because you need refreshment and renewal and you'll 00:30:31.480 --> 00:30:36.200 get that in relationship with others. You know, there's times when we'll take a break. 00:30:36.200 --> 00:30:40.200 When you will lean on other people rather than being leaned on. When you will be cared 00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:45.920 for and loved rather than caring and loving. When you'll be helped and spoiled. St. Columbus 00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:51.319 free church should be a place where you're spoiled as a Christian. That you come to and 00:30:51.319 --> 00:30:57.640 you don't feel guilty and constantly always having to give and give and give. But we'll 00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:07.200 receive the fruit of other people's Christianity. We'll eat from their riches and their spirituality. 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:12.200 We will be loved and we will be protected and forgiven. And we will be, you know, there's 00:31:12.200 --> 00:31:18.759 times in your life when you can't pray and you're embarrassed by that. You can't pray. 00:31:18.759 --> 00:31:25.240 That's fine. Let someone else pray for you in these times. But that obviously requires 00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:30.759 the relationship and the loving one another which allows for vulnerability and allows 00:31:30.759 --> 00:31:36.039 for people to understand the battles and the struggles and the difficulties that you have. 00:31:36.039 --> 00:31:40.319 We are all root to be rooted in Christ and there's times when our roots will feel just 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:45.680 rubbishy and far away and we will lean on and repent and help and the grace and the 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:51.920 love and the belonging of another Christian beside us. That's why it's so important. 00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:58.920 We don't only seek to give out grace, we seek to receive grace and the generosity of others. 00:31:58.920 --> 00:32:03.079 You know, there's nothing nicer than being generous, is there? It's a great thing to 00:32:03.079 --> 00:32:09.480 do and if we can, it's a marvelous thing. How difficult do we find it to receive generosity 00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:14.119 from others? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, please, no, I couldn't possibly. I'm independent 00:32:14.119 --> 00:32:20.639 and I'll do my own thing. I'm struck. That's a mark of grace is to be able to receive the 00:32:20.639 --> 00:32:26.879 humble help and support and prayers and love of others and the generosity of Spirit towards 00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:35.440 us as well as giving that out. It's false humility and it's pride to not do that. It's 00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:41.320 a misunderstanding of grace. So what about my needs? And then lastly, very briefly, Brian, 00:32:41.320 --> 00:32:47.520 I'll be glad to know it's very briefly, what about unbelievers? What about unbelievers? 00:32:47.519 --> 00:33:00.839 So I saw, you know, is this not all about self-centered and kind of gazing inwardly towards ourselves, 00:33:00.839 --> 00:33:05.920 navel gazing, what I was looking for? Is it not all about Christians pampering each other 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:12.200 with love and grace and there's a lost world outside and we don't really care about that? 00:33:12.200 --> 00:33:24.200 Absolutely not. Absolutely not. First of all, because it's important simply because God 00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:28.200 teaches it so powerfully in His Word throughout the Bible, it's His way. And if you ignore 00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:34.200 that way of living, then you may well reap destruction. It's the true grit of grace. 00:33:34.200 --> 00:33:42.039 There's nothing gooey about it. There's nothing insignificant or self-indulgent about it in 00:33:42.039 --> 00:33:48.640 this slightest. It's God's way. It's His only way. But it's only, it's also the way we 00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:54.559 love everybody. So as we love one another with the love of Christ and being rooted in Christ, 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:58.799 that will spill over into the way we love every single person that we know. Chapter 00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:05.919 6 and verse 10 says, So then, as you have the opportunity, let us do good. Who to? To 00:34:05.919 --> 00:34:13.199 everyone. To everyone. And especially to those who are of the household of faith. To everyone. 00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:19.719 So our grace-filled roots as they're in Christ will be reflected in the way we love people 00:34:19.719 --> 00:34:25.360 who are not Christians and that will be the start of them coming to know Jesus Christ. 00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:32.840 That's how we will display Christ likeness to a lost world. Our lives will be a window 00:34:32.840 --> 00:34:39.079 through which they will look and see Jesus when we are loving one another and learning 00:34:39.079 --> 00:34:45.440 as we are rooted in Christ to live that way. It's absolutely and entirely missional to 00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:50.880 use a buzzword for ourselves today, okay? Because Jesus said in John chapter 13 verse 00:34:50.880 --> 00:34:56.800 25, This is how all people will know that you're my disciples if you love one another. 00:34:56.800 --> 00:35:01.480 That's the most missional statement in the whole Bible. And that's how people will know. 00:35:01.480 --> 00:35:06.240 It presumes, Jesus presumes we will be seen and we will be known by other people by the 00:35:06.240 --> 00:35:11.119 love we have for one another. That means it presumes that other people who are not Christians 00:35:11.119 --> 00:35:15.360 are aware of your Christian community and that you interact in your Christian community 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:21.280 with one another with people who are not Christians. That's hugely significant living out that 00:35:21.280 --> 00:35:25.320 life. You know we pray and we pray for our friends, we pray for our three friends, we 00:35:25.320 --> 00:35:28.200 do it for years and years praying for our three friends, praying that they'll come to 00:35:28.200 --> 00:35:34.480 Christ, praying that they'll know them. That's how they will come. That's at least one way 00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:38.840 that they will come. It's when they meet our Christian community and see how we love one 00:35:38.840 --> 00:35:46.680 another and see how we love them within that. That's hugely significant. You know it's 00:35:46.680 --> 00:35:51.200 rational isn't it? Jesus wouldn't really send lots of unbelievers to a church that is full 00:35:51.200 --> 00:35:57.880 of thorns and thistles. Bitter and angry and divisive and stabby and oversensitive. 00:35:57.880 --> 00:36:03.120 Why is it not going to take many people in there is he? Because they're not going to 00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:09.960 last very long because they're going to be judged and thrown out. It's a loving, redemptive, 00:36:09.960 --> 00:36:18.199 tough, gritty grace that God wants us to live out together so that people who don't know 00:36:18.199 --> 00:36:27.159 Jesus will find that magnetically powerful and God we pray will work in their hearts. 00:36:27.159 --> 00:36:35.839 So may we be rooted in Christ so that we are then living for Christ. Let's pray. Father 00:36:35.839 --> 00:36:42.639 God help us to live your way. The Bible is so full of that picture. We sung it in Psalm 00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:50.399 1 and in Psalm 92 and we read about it in Matthew and in John and then in Galatians and 00:36:50.399 --> 00:36:57.119 there are many other places where this illustration is used of fruitful living. And we know that 00:36:57.119 --> 00:37:02.679 we're not saved by works. We know we're saved by grace, by faith in Jesus alone. But we 00:37:02.679 --> 00:37:09.639 know that faith is never without works that are as new creations we are different and 00:37:09.639 --> 00:37:14.639 we change and we start to want to love God and love one another because it's life and 00:37:14.639 --> 00:37:21.480 we're created to live that way. Lord we pray that you would break down the deception of 00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:30.199 the evil one and the lies that he sometimes sows deeply into our heart about how we can 00:37:30.199 --> 00:37:35.960 just live any way we want or we can just live thinking about ourselves and help us to receive 00:37:35.960 --> 00:37:42.400 grace from Jesus but from one another and recognize and know that there are times when 00:37:42.400 --> 00:37:50.119 we simply must receive and it's all that there is for us to do and may we be discerning enough 00:37:50.119 --> 00:37:55.239 as Christians to know when that is both for ourselves and for others. So bless us and 00:37:55.239 --> 00:37:59.920 help us to sing our hearts out as we close our worship and praise to you for who you 00:37:59.920 --> 00:38:21.400 are and for what you've given to us. Amen.