Good Fruits
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 12850 |
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December 09, 2007 |
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 "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:12).
Just as a farmer cultivates the soil to reap his wheat, God has created mankind in order to gain true children who will have taken after His heart – good fruits – and has been cultivating them to this day. What steps must we take in order to come before God as good fruits?
1.The Wheat and the Chaff
Matthew 3:12 reads, "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." This Verse has likened God's judgment of mankind that is to take place according to His Word to the farmers' cultivating their soil. What, then, do "the wheat" and "the chaff" represent?
On the one hand, "the wheat" refers to God's sons and daughters living by His Word and in love with Him. The term also refers to the children of the light whose hearts have taken after the heart of the Lord by recovering the lost image of God. On the other hand, "the chaff" refers to all those refusing to live by the Word; those who pursue evil that is in violation of the truth; those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and believed in God's Word; and those who profess their faith in God but do not live by His Word.
At the harvest, the farmer will gather his wheat into the barn but because the chaff is not edible, it will be thrown out. Among the wheat, grades will differ according to their quality. There will be some wheat that is not liking to the farmer but nevertheless left in the barn because the farmer deems it valuable enough. There will be other wheat about which the farmer feels, 'It is good enough,' and there will be still other wheat that is good for food and a delight to the eyes so that the farmer can receive a good price for it. When he comes across the best of all the crops, the farmer may set it aside to give to his loved ones as a gift.
All of God's children who have received salvation will enter heaven but depending on how good they are, the degrees of God's delight in them and the heavenly dwelling places for each of them will be different. Therefore, each of us must become the best possible good fruit with which God will be most satisfied and thus deem most precious, and enter New Jerusalem in which God's throne is seated.
2.Becoming Good Fruit
1) Thanksgiving must never cease.
There are many processes grains and fruit must undergo in order to become good fruit. They can bear much fruit with an adequate amount of rain and sunlight, reduced damages by blight and harmful insects, and when the supply of pollen and water is assured. If the plants stay in shades because they do not enjoy being under the sun, they will not be able to grow well, much less bear fruit.
By the same token, God takes us through fiery trials so that we will become good fruit. By allowing us to experience the gusts of sufferings, He enables us to rid ourselves of sinful attributes so that we can transform our hearts clean and pure and mold our harsh traits and characteristics. Furthermore, God nurtures us into children of faith who will trust Him all the more.
Therefore, no matter what kind of trials and difficulties we face, we must be grateful in everything by faith, declaring to ourselves, "I can come forth as good fruit, too!" Only when we undergo trials in gratitude can we receive strength from above and pass the trials with ease and in gladness. God deems our unceasing gratitude amidst trials as a sign of true faith and will pour upon us His grace, love, and strength by which we can overcome trials with speed.
Even when the going gets tough at work or business, instead of giving us visible and short-term financial blessings or success, God will persevere and never cease to enlighten us so that we will become fit to receive true blessings. Thus, even if you do not see the fruit of your work now, do not be dismayed or quick to give up but, by trusting in God who works for the good of those who love Him, may each of you never cease to give thanks to Him.
Doing God's work will also bear good fruit when the worker carries out his or her duty in gratitude. When God's salvation alone is a reason to be grateful, how much more grateful should we be if we have been given God-given duties (1 Timothy 1:12)? No matter how small or trivial a task it may appear, we must give thanks to God as it is He who has given us that very task.
Those who have been given the duty to evangelize others will bear the fruit of finding the lost souls in abundance when they carry out their duties in gratitude. Those who have been given the duty to serve others will please their brothers and sisters in Christ when they carry out their duties in gratitude.
Therefore, by carrying out our God-given duties only in gratitude, we must make certain to have borne much fruit when God counts and judges each of our deeds.
2) Our heart must be obedient.
People often say, "The nature is honest." This is because, after seeds are planted and provided with an adequate amount of water, sunlight, and air, they will bud, grow, and bear fruit. Likewise, when God's children strive to become obedient to His Word, they will prosper and be in good health, just as their spirits prosper.
To this day, God has allowed us to possess more solid faith and become filled with the Holy Spirit by manifesting countless signs and wonders in order to lead us into spirit and whole spirit. He has revealed to us with the greatest details on becoming sanctified so that the process of sanctification of which God spoke and commanded us would not remain a vague concept for us.
Furthermore, He is leading us even at this moment by walking with us by the aid of the Holy Spirit. Thus, anyone who resolves to be obedient will nurture his faith and bear fruit as much and often as he drinks and basks in God's Word that is the water and sunlight in spiritual terms. If he earnestly desires to enter spirit and become good fruit before God, he will strive to hear and take to heart every message of God's Word.
For instance, it has been said many a time that God delights in the nightly "Daniel Prayer Meeting" taking place at Manmin. If an individual feels God's love, he will not come late to the church but arrive 5 to 10 minutes early to begin praying in preparation. When people begin heeding and putting to practice in obedience even the minutest detail of God's Word such as this, they will bear fruit accordingly and the nine fruit of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the light, and the Beatitudes will only strengthen.
3) You must never forget the grace of the shepherd with whom God walks.
Plants can grow with water, sunlight, and air, but the success of a harvest will depend on the toiling hands of the farmer. By the same token, a flock of sheep can be protected from evil beasts, led to greener pastures and cleaner waters, and become plump sheep.
Depending on the kind of shepherd believers meet, they can either become wheat or chaff. When they meet a good shepherd as described in John 10, one who can lead his flock in love and risk his life to protect them, they must realize how tremendous a blessing it is for them and must always be grateful for the grace of their shepherd.
They must also keep in mind the fact that on account of having met a good shepherd, they were able to know what "spirit" was, enter spirit, and receive blessings they were not able to receive on their own merit.
However, when one begins to forget and forsake the grace of his shepherd with whom God walks and think that all of God's blessings and protection were the result of his own doing, God will not find him proper in His sight.
The first half of Hebrews 13:17 tells us, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account." A true shepherd desires his flock to enter sheep and bear abundant fruit both in flesh and in spirit, more so than the flock itself.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, may each of you become wheat by taking to heart the message today so that you will become good fruit with which God is exceedingly pleased and recognizes as His own, and magnify Him without restraint, in the name of Our Lord I bless!
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