43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 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.
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.1 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Section Overview
The sermon concludes with an emphasis on obedience. If the fruit is not good, people must become new trees. For good trees produce good fruit, whereas rotten trees produce putrid fruit. To call Jesus Lord is to obey him, and those who obey him build upon a foundation that will not be shaken by the storms of life.
Section Outline
Response
If we say that we love Jesus but disobey him, we show that we do not really love him. Our practice contradicts our claim. The sign that Jesus is truly our Lord is our changed lives. I read an interview some years back with the psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple, who worked with prisoners. He observed that prisoners believed that deep inside they were good and that their behavior did not reflect who they really were.90
But the key to bearing good fruit is to be a good tree. Jesus does not call us first to do good works. He calls us first to become a good tree, to be totally changed. I grew up out in the country, and we would plant various things in our garden. When we planted corn, I was not upset that I did not get blueberries. No one plants corn and expects blueberries. If you want blueberries, you plant blueberry bushes. So Jesus tells us that if we want good fruit to be manifested in our lives, we have to change the tree. What Jesus is talking about here is conversion, letting God change our hearts. Even after we are converted, of course, the trees are not yet perfect. We await the day of redemption to be perfect trees, without any inclination at all to sin. But if the tree has been changed, our lives will be different. How we live shows whether we are a good tree. If we are good trees, we talk differently. Our speech is gracious, loving, and kind. If these things are not true of us, perhaps we are not good trees at all.