FRUITFULNESS IS THE TEST

Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful for those for whom it is farmed, receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case – the things that have to do with salvation. God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help Him (Heb. 6: 7-10).

To the Hebrew people, intellectual assent to a doctrine was of no value if it did not issue in action. If one’s beliefs did not produce the fruit of faith. Faith was as barren as a piece of land that bore thorns and thistles instead of a crop that was valuable to the farmer. Rain falling on unproductive land was a waste and the land deserved the curse of God on it.

People who once trusted Jesus for salvation and then turned their back on Him, going back to their unrighteous ways, was as useless as a field of weeds. Like the weeds, they were destined for the fire.

What is the writer saying? A person who does not produce the fruit of salvation is like a piece of land that receives the blessing of God’s rain and then grows only thorns and thistles. What is the fruit of salvation? A life given to God to serve Him by loving and serving His people. Just as the fruit on a tree reveals the nature of the tree, so the fruit of a life reveals the nature of that life.

The writer has warned his readers that it is dangerous to go back to the old way because it would lead them to sterility and death. On the other hand, however, the fruit that they bore showed him that they had not abandoned their faith. They were showing their love to God by supporting and helping God’s people. This was surely the evidence that they were still rooted in Jesus and had not gone back in the old life of selfish pursuits.

‘Keep going,’ he urged them. ‘Don’t give up on your faith. God will not forget the way you have lovingly served Him by your kindness to His people. This is the fruit of your faith in Jesus, showing that you have His nature in you.’

We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realised. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised (Heb. 6: 11-12).

These readers has made a good start, indicating by their fruitful lives, that they were on the way of the Lord. ‘But,’ said the writer, ‘it’s not only about a good start. It’s about a good finish.’ The secret of the way of the Lord is to keep going until you reach your destination. When they turned from their own way and returned to the Lord, they began a journey that would take them to God. He had promised them an inheritance as His sons and daughters – His very own nature which He had given to Adam before he fell into sin. Trouble and persecution should never cause them to want to go back, as the Israelites had done.

God’s salvation plan was to restore His nature in man so that His human family would once again enjoy oneness with Him. The journey back to Him demands both faith and patience because we have an enemy without and an enemy within. How do we overcome so that we can be replicas of Jesus, God’s Son who is the model of perfect sonship?

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises so that, through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires (2 Peter 1: 3-4).

God has promised us His power to overcome our enemies, the devil who deceives us and our old nature that pulls us towards selfishness and greed. He enables us to submit to Him as our Lord. As we yield our lives to Him, His Spirit gives us the power to say no to ourselves and yes to God.

How do we know that we are being transformed into the image of Jesus? Not that we have an elaborated superstructure of right doctrines but that we are kind to those in need. When we are rooted into Jesus, His life in us through our union with Him will produce the fruit of right living to His glory.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.