Our Fruit Displays Our Condition

Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43

He was a deacon, a public school teacher, and a faithful husband and father. Throughout his life he had performed many good deeds. In fact, over the past eleven years of his life he would spend three hours every week at the homeless shelter serving meals to the homeless and handing out soap and towels for showers. He even had given over $5,000 to this ministry over the same period of time. He had spent numerous, uncountable hours after school tutoring many students. Many of which went from a C average or below to well above a B average. Many of these students who had no hope of college were now attending universities throughout the US on their way to promising careers. He had spent many hours serving his church through work days for church building maintenance. He had spent a day or two every summer helping decorate and set-up for VBS. His good deeds were numerous and had made a mighty impact on so many people, but one day, he began to think about all that he had done. How many homeless families did he help to have a home and regular job? None. He had served them meals, but nothing to provide a lasting impact on their dire needs. Sure his financial contributions helped provide for the times they stayed at the shelter but nothing of sacrifice of his time and comfort. How many of his students now had successful careers? Many. How many of his students now had an eternity with Christ? He didn’t know. How many students did he attempt to lead to Christ when they asked? None. His extra time of tutoring made an impact but nothing of significance beyond the material world. How many times at his church did he take the time to use his gift of teaching? None. He had the ability to teach well but he never took the time to use it to better others in a spiritual way. He looked like a great believer, but in reality, he recognized that all of those years were spent doing things for Christ but never doing things with Christ or because of Christ. He had spent so much time being good that he had missed the one who caused him to be good.

Do we truly seek Christ and allow him to make us new? Is his righteousness what we seek or do we just seek to do what looks right?

In our passage today we see that our fruit displays our condition. What we do merely displays the condition of our soul. We may have the right actions but do we display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control? We may display loving actions, but do we love? Do we display joy? Do we display gentleness? Do we display the fruits of the spirit? We will see three truths concerning the display of fruits.

First we see that the righteous are grown by the Lord. As we look at this passage both the parable and the explanation we see that the wheat is the result of good seed being sown. Verse 24 says, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” Later, we see that the tares are not the good desired from the seed, but that the wheat is what is desired. When the seed was planted, the desire was to grow wheat, but one night someone came into the field and sowed the seed for the tares to grow. The servants come to the landowner and asks, “Sir did you not sow good seed? How then do you have tares?” The owner did not want the slaves to remove the tares. In the explanation of this parable Jesus tells the disciples that the good seed are the sons of the kingdom. The tares are the evil ones. But before he tells them that, he explains that the sower of the seed is the Son of Man. One of Jesus’ favorite titles for himself. He wants them to understand that he is the one who will return and claim his people at the end of the age. The desire of our Lord is to sow good seed that leads to righteousness. We cannot take parables literal and explanatory in every aspect so I would say that in this parable there is any teaching on election, but simply, our Lord sows good seed. The fruit that he desires from us is good fruit. We who are the Lord’s are to develop fruit that is consistent with his character. We are to demonstrate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.

A family was in desperate need of a new car, so they began to pray for this new vehicle. After some time of saving and praying, they began to look. As they looked for this new vehicle, they had a list of what they wanted in it. They looked at the cars that had wheels. Then they looked at the ones that had a steering wheel. Then they began to look at the cars that had a speedometer so they could drive this vehicle responsibly. Then they looked at the cars that had a gas tank. Over time the narrowed their search down to about 500,000 options within the city they lived. Then they began to narrow the search down to the vehicles they could afford and then they had to choose a color. But their search began with insuring that what they were looking for would produce the desired results. The ability to be driven.

When the Lord draws us into salvation his places within us a seed that will produce the desired results of holiness and righteousness and this is called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works within us so that we might be a pure example of Christ’s holiness and righteousness. Notice that after the growth of the seeds and when the fruit is displayed then it is known which is good and which is not.

The second truth we see this morning is that the unrighteous are grown by the devil. Now this may sound terrible as of saying those who are apart from Christ are of the devil. Jesus said those who are not with me are against me. Also, if you are not of Christ then you are not where God would desire you to be which is with him and so you are of the devil. This is not to say that those who are unbelievers are evil and wicked, but that they are not of God and his kingdom. But in the eyes of the Father those who are not with him are against him. In verse 27, the servants come to the master and say, “did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?” Verse 28, “An enemy has done this!” Someone who is opposed to the landowner has snuck in and sown poor seed among the good seed. The one who sowed this seed desired to destroy and disrupt the work that was being done for good in the field. Jesus goes on to further explain the parable. He says, “the tares are the sons of the evil one and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.” Now how many of us would honestly say that the work of the devil is good? In our world, there are very few who would say that the work of the devil is good. What he sows is not meant for edification but for destruction. Jesus tells us in verse 38 that the field is the world. Very important as we continue to look at this more deeply. Then in verse 39, the harvest is the end of the age. So what we are looking at here is who is going to enter the eternal kingdom. How will Christ, the Judge of the end times, know who is to enter who is not to enter? Those who enter are of Christ. Those who do not enter are of the devil. Those who enter will display the fruit of the good seed, the Holy Spirit, God’s Word. Those who do not enter will display the fruit of the seed sown by the devil. That would be simply, a life separated from Christ. We are told that the tares are gathered up and burned. Verse 41, the angels sent by the Son of Man will remove from His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness. Those who do not live according to the will of the Father commit lawlessness because they live by their own laws. Verse 42, they will be thrown into the furnace and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is not coincidental language. This is intentional imagery of hell. Those whose lives are of the devil. Those whose lives are not possessing the good seed of the Son of Man will be separated from God the Father for eternity in the lake of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Some people will tell you that the evil will be consumed by the fire, but the Word of God does not teach that. This is eternal torment created and reserved for the devil and his traitorous demons.

This is a clear warning. Jesus told this parable to the Jews. They were receiving a warning concerning their own destination. To receive the inheritance of eternal life in the presence of the Redeemer you must be born of the good seed.

The third truth we see this morning is the righteous will be radiant like the Son. This is the good news. Remember this is the end of the age. The angels who were sent by the Son of Man has removed the tares from the wheat and now the wheat are remaining and will be with the Son. Verse 43 says, “Then the righteous will shine forth as the SUN.” The imagery is perfect. Our radiance like Christ’s radiance will be brilliant, but think about it with this change, then the righteous will shine forth as the S-O-N. The Son of God. It is his righteousness that lives within those who are believers. In short, when we step into eternity belonging to the Son of God, the Son of Man, then our sanctification, the process of becoming holy, will be completed. Our justification will be known to all. The fact that we are saved will be made known to all by the fact that we enter the presence of our heavenly father. Does the radiance of the Son live in you? Do you possess the glorious brilliant beauty of Christ’s holiness? When the world sees who is saved and who is not are you the one that will enter eternal glory with the Son or are you still condemned to eternal torment?

What fruit is your life producing? Do you want to know if you have salvation, then look, are you producing the fruit of the Spirit or are you still producing the fruits of unrighteousness? Have you turned your life over to Christ seeking his forgiveness? What fruit are you demonstrating?

Do you display the fruit of the Lord?
Do you abhor the fruits of the devil?
Will you be radiant in the Lord’s holiness?