2020.07.10 Hopewell @Home ▫ Luke 6:39–45

Read Luke 6:39–45

Questions from the Scripture text: What did Jesus speak to them (Luke 6:39)? About what hypothetical situation does He ask in His first two questions? What are their obvious answers? What is a disciple not above (Luke 6:40)? What will he be like? What is the guy looking at in Luke 6:41? Why is that a problem? What is he doing with the speck in Luke 6:42? Why is that a problem? What does he need to do first? Why? What does not bear bad fruit (Luke 6:43)? What doesn’t bear good fruit? How is a tree known (Luke 6:44)? From what does a good man bring forth good (Luke 6:45)? From what does an evil man bring forth evil? What does a man do out of the abundance of His heart?

In the preceding passages, the Lord Jesus has been teaching us to see with eyes of faith. To see genuine, eternal blessedness even in the midst of any trials that might be bringing it about (Luke 6:20-26). And to see true, heart-righteousness as the real evidence of having been forgiven and adopted as God’s children in the earth (Luke 6:27-38).

So, the Lord Jesus’s disciples were not to follow the Pharisees, with whom they would just fall into spiritual disaster (Luke 6:39) and end up just like them (Luke 6:40). But, we are also not to attempt to help one another unless we ourselves are repentantly and humbly following Christ (Luke 6:41). The fruit of this will be an active repentance in which we are mortifying our own sin; only when we are such followers of Christ are we useful to our brothers in helping them follow Christ too (Luke 6:42).

The reason for this is pretty simple. The Lord Jesus isn’t just producing different behaviors on the outside; He’s making an entirely different kind of person (tree, Luke 6:43-44). Though the fruit look ever-so-similar, the Lord Jesus only assesses it as “good” if it has grown out of one of those blessed ones who find Him Himself to be all of their blessedness (Luke 6:20-36).  This is the only kind of “good man” that there is, so if we want to be useful to our brothers, we need to be remade from the heart by the Lord Jesus Himself (Luke 6:45).

This means that there is not a competition between private piety and public action, but a might cooperation. If we think that we have private piety, but the overflow through our mouths is not building up our brethren in faith in Christ, then we are deceived about what was in the heart. If we think that we are building others up by what comes from our mouths, but we are not cultivating a heart of delighted faith and love and hope in Christ, then we are deceived about what is coming out of our mouths.

But, if we are genuinely clinging to Christ, then we will both be cultivating the heart and edifying the brethren. For, this is the kind of tree that He makes out of those whom He saves.

What heart cultivation is happening in your own private/family/public worship? Whom are you edifying?

Suggested songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH174 “The Ten Commandments”