FRUIT worthy of REPENTENCE

9/16/11 - Luke Chptrs. 3 and 4 are very rich and meaty Scriptures, which give us much to chew on and digest.  But today I'd like us to taste just a tidbit of wisdom from 3:8, which tells us to "bear fruit worthy of repentence."  Repentance here means "an internal sorrow that results in turning away from bad behavior."  Godly character ("Fruit of the Spirit")  is spoken of in Galatians 5:22-23.  Before we come to know Christ, we bear some ungodly behavior, such as the 3 groups of people mentioned in Luke 3:10-14:  People, tax collectors, and soldiers.  They needed to change their life styles.  The people were too stingy, the tax collectors were too greedy, and the soldiers were too intimidating! 

Luke 3:9 tells us that if we do not bear good fruit, an ax will be laid to the root...it'll be cut down and thrown into the fire.  In other words, those who do not become branches that are attached to the Vine (come into the family of God and take on Christ's nature) will be cut down and discarded.  That's bad news!

However, in John 15:2 we are told that God (The Vinedresser) will prune some branches (parts of our nature--bad behavior) that are not bearing good fruit.  Learning to live a life in Christ is a "process"--it has seasons of growth.  Some of our old nature has to be pruned; some seasons produce more good fruit than other seasons; some seasons grow abundant amounts of fruit.

So having "fruit that is worthy of repentance" means choosing to repent from "dead works" by repenting and changing our life styles to please and glory the Lord.