The Abundance of the Heart
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Introduction
Introduction
Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.” Whether or not he said it is debatable, but it still seems like a good definition. Of course, perhaps it is not so much that insanity leads us to do the same thing over and over again expecting different results, but the fact that when we do the same thing over and over again expecting different results, we go insane! Perhaps it’s the chicken or the egg conundrum.
Either way, people do this with their physical, as well as, their spiritual lives. This is what Jesus was pointing out at this point in the Sermon on the Plain. So as we dive into the text, let’s keep that definition of insanity in mind. Because what Jesus is pointing out is something we ought to all understand by way of experience and yet for some reason can’t get through to ourselves—about ourselves (and others). In our pursuit of sanity, we need to see three ways we can act insane. Grant it, two of these three ways, we probably don’t actually do because we know better. But that’s the point.
The first way we can act insane is to expect a better product. The second way we can act insane is to expect a different product. Lastly, we expect a better and/or different person.
Expect a Better Product
Expect a Different Product
Expect a Better/Different Person
“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.
Expect a Better Product
Expect a Better Product
The first way we can act insane is to expect a better product from an inferior tree. In essence, there are two types of trees: good ones and bad ones.
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,
But let’s define those words because these words may mean different things to different people. The word that Luke wrote and Jesus used for good is kalos. It means good, but with idea of beautiful, fair, well. The word “calligraphy” comes from this word and another word to mean “beautiful writing.” In this case, we have the idea is that of being healthy. Thus when Jesus used the word for the tree and its fruit—its product, he used it in the sense of its being healthy. A healthy tree produces healthy fruit.
You can probably guess what “bad” means in this context. The word that is used here is not the normal word in Greek for “bad.” That word would be “kakos,” where we get our word “cacophony” —bad sound. That’s not the word used here. Instead this word means spoiled or rotten, even harmful. So a “bad” tree is a spoiled, rotten, or harmful tree which can only produce spoiled, rotten, harmful fruit.
This seems to be a no-brainer, which is often the case with Jesus’s parables. He would often use the no-brainer experiences and knowledge that people have to bring a new revelation to them. In this case, its trees and fruit. One does not need to be an orchard farmer to get this idea. If you were to go to an orchard to pick some apples and you see two apple trees near each other; one that had nice green leaves with no spots or scab and one that had spots and scab on it with wilting yellowed leaves, which tree are you going to pick apples from? It’s really a no brainer—the healthy tree. Why? Because healthy trees produce healthy fruit.
But let’s say that your young child goes to pick fruit and picks from the sickly tree. You try and warn that child not to choose that tree, but they do it anyway. Looks like they’re going to have to learn for themselves. He/She picks an apple and takes a bite and spits it out. It’s sour. It’s bitter. It’s spoiled. The look of bad fruit is all over their face. That was gross! Clearly, he has learned his lesson. But no! He just picks another piece of fruit. You can’t help but think, “What’s wrong with him? Didn’t he learn his lesson the first time?” He bites it and sure enough, out comes the apple and the same look of nastiness written all over the youngster’s face. Surely, he’ll choose the healthy tree this time. But no! He keeps expecting better fruit from a spoiled, rotten tree. He expects it to produce a better product it is incapable of producing because there’s something wrong with the tree itself! And you would say, “What do you expect from a sickly tree, except sickly fruit?”
But let’s put it in a different light. Let’s update the language. You go out and buy a television. You take it home and out of the box, the screen doesn’t turn on. It’s just black. You return the television and exchange it for another one—the same brand. You get it home and it doesn’t turn on. So you take it back. Do you exchange it for the same brand? Probably not. That’s insane! In fact, you probably tell others not to buy that brand. The factory that television is produced by is a bad factory and thus produces a bad product. The thing about it is that you couldn’t see and tour the factory before you bought the television. But the television tells you about the factory.
Luke 6:44 (ESV)
for each tree is known by its own fruit.
A good, healthy tree will be known by its good, healthy fruit. A bad, spoiled tree will be known because it produces bad, spoiled fruit.
Expecting a Different Product
Expecting a Different Product
But insanity doesn’t just keep going back to a spoiled, rotten tree looking for healthy fruit or buying a television from a company that can’t seem to figure out how to make a working television. It will also look for a product different from the producer.
Luke 6:44 (ESV)
For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
This too ought to be a no-brainer. Fig trees have big, broad leaves. They would certainly not be mistaken for a thorn bush. Grapes grow on vines, and while some bramble bushes can resemble grapevines from a distance, a person can quickly tell before getting to them that there are no grapes on them. Only thorns.
No one tells his wife that he’s going to get some figs and takes off heading in the direction of the briar patch in their back yard. That would be insane. Thorn bushes have never and will never produce figs. Yet if we go to thorn bushes looking for anything other than what it can give, then there is something wrong with our thinking. We need to rethink things.
One ought not go to a Mexican restaurant looking for French cuisine. You don’t go to a sports stadium to watch a chess match. One doesn’t go to Auto Zone to do her grocery shopping. You probably shouldn’t get sushi from a gas station. And we all know that.
Yet, we do this all the time in other ways. We seek a different product than that which something is capable of giving. And when we fall into this trap in this way, we have our own saying similar to Jesus’s: “You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.” A turnip doesn’t produce blood. And squeeze as you might, you will never get blood from it. You can go to the thorn bush and look under ever thorn and you’ll never find any figs growing there. You can go to any bramble bush anywhere and make careful search for grapes, but you’ll never find a single one. Why? Because they are incapable of producing such a product. Yet we still want a different product! And we still look for a different product!
Expecting a Better and Different Person
Expecting a Better and Different Person
And as Jesus is talking, you can almost hear the disciples’s thoughts: “We’re not just getting a lesson in pomology are we? You’re not just talking about trees and fruit anymore are we?” It’s never been about trees and fruit. It’s always been about people. It’s been about how we so easily look for better and different fruit from a person.
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.
We talked about “good” when it came to a tree and its fruit. It was “kalos” meaning beautiful, fair, healthy. This is a different word. This is the word “agathos.” Agathos has more of the meaning of moral goodness rather than beauty or health. Thus a morally good person produces morally good product from the morally good treasury of his own heart. The same is said about the evil person. That word evil just means evil—morally evil. And an evil person will produce evil works because there is evil stored up in his own heart.
Now here is the problem: most people keep expecting to find a better and/or different person than the one we know.
Let’s take the goodness and evilness out of the equation for a moment. Let’s switch it for something not so serious. Let’s talk about a child who is rambunctious and one who is subdued. That’s their natural tendencies. If you’re a babysitter who has a child that is rambunctious and expect them to be subdued, you’re going to go insane! You know why I don’t teach children (or middle schoolers for that matter)? Because I expect them to be little adults. I know in my heart that they aren’t, but my brain just won’t listen. I was a youth pastor for a little while and every week I would come home frustrated and frazzled and feel like I was about to go out of my mind! I was expecting something from these kids that they could not produce.
At the same time, if you’re expecting your subdued child to be more raucous, you’re going to be disappointed and frustrated.
The good person has a treasury of good riches. When she is asked to bring out one of the products—compassion for instance—behold, compassion is brought forth in all its splendor! But if you go to the evil person and ask for the same product, he won’t be able to find it anywhere. Maybe he can find a cheap imitation that he could sell out of his trunk, but certainly not the real thing. Why? Because the treasury he has in his heart is filled with evil things—not the morally good things.
By now light bulbs might be going off in your head. So that’s why so and so always acts the way that he/she does. But before you go to far, let me give three important points.
The first is that not everything is a matter of moral goodness and evil. Many people are the way that they are because that’s how they grew up and that’s what they’ve always known. They’ve never known differently and now it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. So be careful about equating goodness and evil onto people’s actions and/or hearts.
Second; some people act the way they act because of trauma. Fight, flight, or freeze. A button gets pushed from their past and they respond as if they were reliving that event. If you’ve ever seen The Bourne Identity, you’ll remember Jason Bourne has amnesia but still produces all these fighting skills whenever he is in certain situations.
But thirdly, and maybe even more importantly as it really covers the first two points. Keep in mind that this text falls on the heels of the previous one we saw last week—self-examination. Pulling the log out of your own eye before pulling the splinter out of someone else’s. This metaphor of trees and fruit is more about the self-examination of our own hearts than it is about pointing out someone else’s heart and fruit.
In other words, this helps us to see why we are the way we are, not so much why others are the way they are. You see, we even expect a better and/or different person than we are. But if we’re serious about that—about being someone better or different than we are at this moment, we first need to examine the treasury of our hearts. What’s there deep inside? Is our treasury full of good riches or evil riches?
We kick ourselves for always falling and failing in the same areas. For some it is a spirit of criticism or cynicism. Other’s have an issue with lust and pornography. Some might be fighting anger issues. A few might even be dealing with habitual lying, stealing, gossip, slander. And we can probably all name people we know who have these issues, but Jesus isn’t telling us this so that we can condemn and judge others. But rather so we can examine ourselves.
Why is it that we can producing such evil product? Because their is evil treasure in the heart. What else should we expect? Why should we expect to speak words of blessing upon those who curse us? Why should we expect to rejoice and leap for joy in our sufferings? Why should we expect to feel blessed in our hunger, poverty, and mournful state if we have not stored up good treasures in our hearts? There’s nothing good in there to speak! There is only evil. And so what comes out? Cursing for cursing. Reviling for revilement. Grumbling, complaining, slander. Those are the natural treasures of the heart that we’re all born with. And if we have never replaced them with the treasures of heaven, then we cannot expect to be any different than we are. In essence, the treasure of our hearts show that we have not ever trusted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
As Sproul would say
A Walk with God: Luke A Tree is Known by Its Fruit (Luke 6:43–45)
if we are seeking reformation in our lives, we can’t approach it as if it were simply a superficial thing, an external matter, for it is our hearts that need attention. We need to get down to the very deepest level of our being, and consider the disposition of our hearts. Are our hearts disposed towards God, or are our hearts set against him? Do you rejoice when God is honoured? Do you enjoy the worship of God? Does your spirit thrill in a posture of adoration and reverence? Or are you indifferent to the things of God? Is the character of God something about which you have no interest whatsoever? Perhaps not only indifferent, but maybe even hostile towards the character of God? If you feel that way sometimes, just how deep are those feelings? Do they come from the surface, or are they coming out of the very depths of your being? If they come out of the depths of your heart, then I urge you to seek the presence of Christ. To seek him with all your heart, because you do not have the ability within yourself to change your nature; only God can do that.
Some of us may be a bit different. It seems like we’re fine for the most part, but on occasion, this former self comes out of no where. If we find that we are responding in ways that are sinful, then it is only because that sin is still residing within our hearts. When I was growing up, my dad and I would watch the same video of Abbot and Costello and laugh until we cried. There’s this one skit I remember when Bud Abbot asked Lou Costello if he wanted to place a bet and Lou said he would. So he asked if he had any money and Lou pulled out a wad of cash. And starts counting. Hundred, another hundred, another hundred, another hundred. And then tosses a bill away. Bud asked “what was that.” And Lou responded, “Somebody but a dollar in there.”
The product we reveal is like that dollar. It comes out of no where and doesn’t belong with all the rest. There is still a remnant of such a sin within and when it has a chance to display itself, it takes it. This is why James would tell us
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
I love what Kurt Richardson says here
Arrestingly, believing sinners are double-minded believers. No matter what particular sins believers are struggling with, they must find repentance in order to root out so much that actually resists God in their lives. Double-mindedness is sin and produces a life that cannot do the work of God (cf. 1:20). Attacking that which pollutes the heart will remove that which divides the mind.
When we see the product of our hearts come out in our words (or actions), we must immediately confess and repent of it. Like that dollar that Lou Costello threw away, we must throw that evil treasure in our hearts away. We confess it and repent of it. Which means that we’re probably going to look foolish—and you guessed it—double-minded! If I’m speaking in anger and it dawns on me that I’m not being compassionate, I need to stop myself short and admit to whoever I’m speaking to that I’m not being compassionate, and in repentance start showing the compassion that God has shown to me. You see, one of the good riches in the heart’s treasury is repentance.
As John the Baptist said earlier in Luke 3:8, we are to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. A repentant heart speaks repentant words and produces repentant fruit. And just as the pharisees had no right to say, we need not repentant since we are children of Abraham, we have no right to say we need not repent because we are brothers or sisters of Christ Jesus. It is all the more reason we are to repent.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish this section this morning, we have seen the heart of the matter that Jesus has come to: we ought to expect our mouths, hands, and feet to produce what we’ve treasured in our hearts. We were born with natural riches buried deep within us and so we ought not be surprised when those natural tendencies rear their ugly heads. It’s a warning to us to do something about it. But here’s the crux of the matter: we cannot do anything about it. If we hope for new treasure, new fruit, then we must not look to ourselves or self-helps, or anything of the kind. It must be the Spirit who produces the fruit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
But he does not produce that fruit within us until we have surrendered ourselves to Jesus Christ.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
When we come to faith in Christ, God begins a good work in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, and he is faithful to complete that work. Whether its pruning the dead limbs, fertilizing the nutrient-deprived soil, watering the parched ground, or whatever else it takes. He will not cease the work. And the fruit will come. But what he does in us, we must do on the outside: what John Piper calls “acting the miracle.”
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
So do not expect yourself to change without the Spirit in you. Do not expect the Spirit to be in you until you have surrendered to Christ Jesus. So if you have yet to do so, come to Jesus, turn from your sins, and receive his forgiveness and his power in your life.