March 2002

Work, Work, Work

Part Thirty-three

THE HARVEST HAS BEGUN!!

[P]

“Death and Life are in the POWER of the tongue; and
they shall eat the fruit of the one they LOVE!”(Pr 18:21)

(10)

                Gen 2:9 says God set the Tree of Life- which is Christ- in the midst of the Garden of Eden (lit. “delights, pleasures”). How do we know Christ is that Tree of Life in the midst of the trees in that orchard? First of all, Deut 20:19 and Mark 8:24 liken “trees” to “men’s lives”; and secondly, Jesus says, “Where two or more (men/trees) gather in My Name, there I AM IN THE MIDST!” And as for being called a Tree of “Life”, Jesus says, “I AM the Way, the Truth and THE LIFE!” (Jn 14:6) He also says, “I AM the Resurrection and THE LIFE!!” (Jn 11:25)
                Besides being the“Tree of Life”, Jesus Christ is also identified as the “Fruit” of that Tree in Lk 1:41-42, “It came to pass when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the babe in her own womb leaped within her, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, she spoke out in a loud voice to Mary, ‘You are blessed among women, and BLESSED IS THE F-R-U-I-T OF YOUR WOMB! Now tell me why should the mother of my L-O-R-D come to me?!” Both Elizabeth [lit. “consecrated to God”] and her unborn son [the future prophet of God called John, the Baptist] discerned Christ although He was hid in the womb of Mary! That “Fruit” of Mary’s womb is the “Fruit of the Spirit” as seen in Gal 5:22-23, “Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness and Temperance!” Who would deny these attributes describe JESUS CHRIST?!
                As Fruit is from trees, and trees are from seeds, so Mt 13:38 says, “Children of God are His Good Seed [Gk 4690 sperma meaning,“sperm”!” (Mt 13:38) So if we truly believe we are Children of God, we must also believe that the Seed from which we are sown is God’s own Good [Gk 2570 “Beautiful, Virtuous, Fair, Honest and Worthy”) Sperm” that has every perfect attribute of its Sower! So it behooves us to learn what we are to become; and what is expected of our lives as the offspring of God! It goes without saying that Jesus Christ was manifested in the flesh to be the “Visible expression of the Invisible God” (Col 1:15), so if we read the accounts of His earthly life, we will see what was expected of the perfect Pattern Son, and so all divine posterity. But we would focus on Christ’s Words to learn more specifically what is our destiny. He says in Mt 5:43-45, “You have heard it said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’; but I say to you,

‘L-O-V-E YOUR ENEMIES,
B-L-E-S-S THEM THAT CURSE YOU,
P-R-A-Y F-O-R THEM
WHO DESPITEFULLY USE YOU
AND PERSECUTE YOU,
THAT YOU MAY BE THE
CHILDREN OF YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER!”

                What an eternal contrast are the children of God to the children of the devil! 1 Jn 3:8-10 says, “He that commits sin is of the devil who sins from the beginning! Therefore, the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil! Now whoever is born of God cannot commit sin because HIS SEED remains in him and he is born of God! In this are manifested children of God and children of the devil: whoever does not exhibit the Fruit of RIGHTEOUSNESS and does not LOVE HIS BROTHER is not of God!” One key point here is “Whoever sins is of the devil”, yet Ro 3:23 says, “A-L-L HAVE SINNED and have come short of the glory of God!” Ro 5:12 adds, “By one man sin entered into the world, and by that sin, death entered the world. So death passed on all men for A-L-L HAVE SINNED!” So before we are born again as CHILDREN OF GOD, we are A-L-L born first as sinners, and we A-L-L begin our life as CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL!
                 This is a hard word, but we dare not dilute the Gospel to suit the sensitivities of our flesh as do manmade “doctrines of devils” (1 Ti 4:1) for such are a stench in the nostrils of our Holy God! But know this, as God speaks of “children” He refers to WORDS! The parable of the sower says, “The Good Seed are God’s children”, (Mt 13:38) but then it says, “The Seed is God’s WORD!” (Lk 8:11) Now there are other seeds, infinitely inferior, that we call, “weeds”; which Scripture calls: “chaff, darnel and tares”; but these are only fit to be consumed by holy fire of Godly Judgment. “The enemy (carnal mind), which is the DEVIL, sowed them...while men slept” (Mt 13:25, 39) and that took place long ago when “God caused a deep sleep to fall upon man!” Ge 2:21) So we exhibit our parentage (of flesh or spirit) by our WORDS- which begin as thoughts- and produce all our works- or fruits! Have you examined your “fruits” lately?

[TO BE CONTINUED]