Luke 6:43-46

"For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Why then do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and not do what I tell you?"

Our class name is going to be True Vine.

Are we bearing fruit as a class, and more importantly, are we bearing fruit in our everyday lives for Jesus?

Millions of people will attend church on Easter Sunday, confident that because they said a two minute prayer when they were 5, and they haven't missed more than 3 Easter services since then, Jesus counts them as one of his flock.

This is a tragedy.

Jesus never said "say a prayer like this, and I will save you." He said to repent, or turn away from the sin we were commiting, and follow him. He was very clear that the only people who he counted as his own were those who did what he told them.

In his sermon on the plain in Luke chapter 6, Jesus outlines what it means to be a follower of his. He tells us that we are to love our enemies (verses 27-36), and to judge ourselves before we judge others around us (verses 37-42). He closes out his sermon with the passage above about bearing good fruit. Why?

He is reinforcing the truth that the people who love him and truly follow him will LIVE as he lived, and not merely talk as he talk.

He expects us to "bear fruits in keeping with repentance." (Luke 3:8) If you are wondering what you are to look for in your life as evidence that you are saved, look for the fruit of the Spirit in your life, that is "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23)

Don't rest on a prayer found nowhere in the Bible for your comfort. Don't think that since Jesus died for your sins, how you live now doesn't matter. Don't use the standards that the church uses to gauge spiritual maturity, i.e. age or the regularity of your tithe or the number of committees you've chaired or the number of solos you've sang in choir.

Instead, let us look to the Master for our confirmation. Do we look like Christ? Do we feel pain when we fail him? Do we want to become more like him?

I pray our class truly bears fruit worthy of the True Vine.

-Brett