20261004 메드포드한인교회 주일설교 박청수 목사 (Medford Korean Church Sunday Service Message)

종합적 노력 Comprehensive Efforts: 마태복음 Matthew 7:16-20 We may run into a situation that requires tangible evidence to prove our faith, either for ourselves or to others. Assume this: God asks us this question when we are eventually brought before Him: “How would you prove your self-claim that you have faith?” This situation is not entirely imaginary because, when He allowed faith within us, God designed it to emanate its presence outwardly, not merely to reside inwardly within us. This naturally leads all to notice and witness one’s faith once it comes to reside in that person. At one point during His ministry, Jesus refers to this innate characteristic of faith, built to radiate its presence, in saying: “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14). His point is that, if we are believers in Him, this fact can never be hidden because it naturally possesses an emanative force like light that cannot be concealed. Jesus’ ministry may provide a good example of how our boundness to God in faith is innately designed to become externalized. Multiple times during His ministry, Jesus commanded people not to announce His work, but it nevertheless spread widely and drastically across regions. His special relationship with God became evident and could never be hidden at all. Fruit as External Evidence In the following verse, Jesus uses fruit imagery to express the evidence of faith that becomes externalized once we become His believers: “Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit” (7:17-18) Here, by comparing those having faith with “good trees,” Jesus points out that the state of having faith inevitably results in bearing “good fruit” that corresponds to it. One noteworthy connotation in this analogy is the comprehensive nature implied in “fruit.” We all know the process by which a tree or a plant comes to produce fruit. First and foremost, planting a seedling or sowing a seed does not immediately produce fruit. Its production requires comprehensive efforts to grow the plant, which usually takes a substantial amount of time. The Bible sheds light on largely two aspects of the nature of these efforts. First, it relates to cultivating ourselves. This includes the words we speak, particularly propriety in the manner of our speech. Of numerous instances concerning this matter, Proverbs 10:19 provides exemplary guidance: “Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.” The cultivation also involves the way we behave. Good deeds are always encouraged across the Bible (e.g., the Good Samaritan). It extends further to include the way we think! (e.g., adultery includes our thoughts in lustful ways). The Bible’s significant attention to ourselves demonstrates that our production of good fruit requires us to make comprehensive efforts in cultivating both the internal and external realms of ourselves. Second, these comprehensive efforts require time. As a tree needs sufficient time until it grows enough to produce fruit, faith likewise requires time to mature enough to produce good fruit. We find this rule in the portrayals of biblical figures. The initial phase of their encounter with God or Jesus usually involves their feeble and fragile spiritual condition. Note that Moses refused multiple times God’s order to lead the Israelites out of Egypt during his encounter with God at the burning bush. In a similar vein, throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, His disciples did not quite reach the core of His teachings and ministry, so He repeatedly had to offer special lessons using diverse analogies. The same applies to bearing the fruit of faith. It does not produce fruit at the instant of a resolution to have faith or walk in God’s way. It does so only when it is given enough time to grow and mature. Message The idea of today’s text regarding bearing fruit as a necessary outcome of having faith brings us to a very important aspect of our spiritual journey. While it is entirely by God’s grace that faith in Jesus comes to reside within us, the cultivation of faith into bearing its corresponding fruit requires substantial efforts on our end. If there is no conspicuous change before and after faith in Christ has been sown within us due to our negligence in cultivating our faith, we cannot identify ourselves as having true faith in a complete sense. Therefore, we must remember that we are responsible for keeping our words, actions, and thoughts in the right shape. It is only when this effort builds up over time that we will finally reach a stage when our faith begins to bear good fruit. Final Words May we all grow ourselves to become good trees by living out the lives to which God calls us in our faith in Christ. Amen.