30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 20 9-18 THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE 04 Luke 20 10-11 The fruit to be borne by the church
📖 Luke 20:9-18
20Feb2021 - *The fruit to be borne by the church* - _Luke 20:9-18_ - THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE 4 – Bible reading: _Luke 4:18-19_
Israel was to produce fruit as a nation.
The prophets were sent to remind and reignite the passion in the hearts of the people and her leaders to fulfil the task for which God had kept Israel as a nation.
The prophets and their message were scorned and put aside by the people and her leaders.
_Luke 20:10-11 Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. (11) Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed._
God had revealed His expectations of them so that they will execute the theocratic rule of God in their land. They knew God’s expectation of them.
_Zechariah 7:9-14 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: '*Execute true justice, Show mercy and compassion Everyone to his brother. (10) Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, The alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart Against his brother*.' (11) But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. (12) Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the LORD of hosts. (13) Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen," says the LORD of hosts. (14) "But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate."_
Israel through their life as a society and as a nation, *through their culture*, were to demonstrate to the world, the theocratic rule of God.
This is *God’s creation or cultural mandate* by which man was to bring the rule of God over all of God’s creation.
Just as Israel was to produce fruit, (which is made clear and not left in ambiguity) the church is also here to bear fruit.
_John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that *you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain*, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you._
What we have done as the church is to conveniently take the last part of this verse for ourselves as a promise of God. We are not willing to see the whole verse.
We are here to bear fruit and our fruit must remain. What this means is that the fruit-bearing of the church must not be sporadic activities of good works, which is often the case, but the sustainable and continuous engagement of the church into our society and our nation that will cause the permanent transformation to society, culture and our nations.
What is the fruit that is expected of the church?
The Lord spelt it out for us through the Nazarene manifesto.
_Luke 4:18-19 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; HE HAS SENT ME TO HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED; (19) TO PROCLAIM THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."_
The fruit-bearing of the church is to –
- *Preach the Good News of God’s kingdom to the poor* – The poor are those who have nothing else to trust, except God. The Good News is for such.
- *To heal the brokenhearted* – The brokenhearted people are all around us. Our task, our fruit-bearing is to be instruments in God’s hand to bring His healing into the lives of the brokenhearted. We are channels of His love.
- *To proclaim liberty to the captives* – People are in all kinds of captivity, all around us. If we ask the Lord to give us eyes to see, He will show us the huge harvest. Our task to set free those in all kinds of captivity.
- *To give recovery of sight to the blind* - People are living in all sorts of blindness, all around us. We are here to give sight to the blind.
- *To set at liberty those who are oppressed* - People are in all kinds of oppression around us.
Social, Political, Cultural, Religious, Economic troubles, Personal habits and addictions, these and the interworking of these pivotal issues, creates a web of oppression and people are caught in the oppression and are being strangled. The church is to set at liberty those who are oppressed.
Finally, we are here to proclaim that God is inviting us into His habitat. This is the good news of His kingdom, where He rules and we are His subjects, enjoying the Shalom of God.
*Thought to ponder*
```We ask in His name to enable us to be His fruit bearers.```