Church of the Holy City

Yielding Fruit in Season

Yielding Fruit in Season
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
September 25, 2011

Numbers 13:17-27 Luke 6:43-49 Psalm 1

In honor of Johnny Appleseed Day I thought I would talk about fruit, bearing fruit, and multiplying fruit, or fructification. It would be nice if I could find Bible passages that talked only about apples. But there are only 10 passages in the whole Bible about apples. Four are references to “the apple of his eye.” One is a metaphor in which a fair ruling in court is compared to an apple of gold. Four are romantic verses from the Song of Solomon. And one is about fruits like the apple tree withering. None of these references seemed fitting to use as a text for a sermon. But when we consider fruit in general, we find many fruitful passages.
Our reading from Psalm 1 talks about a person whose delight is in the law of the Lord. Such a person is compared to a tree that yields its fruit in season; its leaf does not wither; and whatever such a person does prospers. We will talk about this comparison of a person to a fruit tree a little later. Our reading from Numbers is about the spies’ report concerning the Holy Land. They bring back fruit from it: a cluster of grapes, some pomegranates, and some figs. The fruit from the Holy Land was evidence of its richness. Jesus uses the metaphor of fruit to talk about His true followers. He says, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.” He explains the metaphor by saying that, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart.” What Jesus means is that just as a tree bears fruit, so a good man brings forth good things from his good heart. The lesson is to bring forth good fruit. And if this weren’t clear enough, Jesus says outright, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say?” This verse clearly teaches that to be a true follower of Jesus, we need to put into practice the things that He says. Bearing fruit means doing the good things that Jesus teaches. We need to do good.
Some protestant churches are uncomfortable when we talk about doing good. They are uncomfortable for two reasons. First, they think that Paul says that we are saved by faith, not good works. One classic passage they are fond of quoting is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, 2:15-16. There, Paul says,
a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Christ Jesus. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. . . .
From this passage they find the doctrine that we are saved by faith. They interpret the law as meaning all the good deeds mentioned in the Old Testament. So they come up with the doctrine that we are saved by faith, not good works. The second reason why they are uncomfortable when we talk about doing good is their revolt against Catholicism. They think that Catholics claim that by doing good deeds we can earn heaven. So they think that Catholics claim that by giving to charities, going to mass, and saying prayers, for example, we earn the grace we need for salvation. Protestants call this putting merit in good works, or in other words, taking credit for doing good.
But we all know intuitively that we need to do good to be heavenly. Jesus’ words could hardly be clearer, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart.” When Paul says that we are not saved by works of the law, he is not referring to all good deeds. Actually he is referring to the purity rituals of the Jews of his time, such as circumcision, kosher diet, and the many rules of behavior compiled by the rabbis of his time. In fact, in the same letter to the Galatians, Paul says,
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22, 23).
So it is clear that we need to be good to come into heaven. It is also true that putting merit in good works, or claiming that we deserve heaven because we have done good deeds, is harmful. How, then, are we to do good so that it is heavenly good and not meritorious good?
The answer is that we are to do good that comes from a heart of love. As Paul says,
Serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:13, 14).
When our good will comes forth in good actions, then we are doing good in a heavenly way. Then our good deeds are like a tree bearing fruit.
Swedenborg says that, “By fruits are signified the goods of love and charity” (AR 933). He explains this idea in greater depth in the Heavenly Secrets. There, he makes clear that the fruits of faith are good deeds that come from good will, or a good heart. Then he goes into even more depth. He says that love to the neighbor comes from a love for God. And then ultimately, the fruits of faith are God Himself.
Good works are the fruit of faith in the external sense or that of the letter, but those good works have no life unless they proceed from charity; and thus the fruit of faith in the next interior sense is charity. But as charity or love toward the neighbor ought to proceed from love to the Lord, this love is the fruit of faith in the internal sense; and as all love is from the Lord, it is the Lord Himself. For thus in the good work is charity; in charity is love to the Lord; and in love to the Lord is the Lord Himself (AC 1873).
This passage tells us that love to the Lord is the source of our good works. Only when we are filled with love are our good works heavenly.
As Jesus says, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart.” This teaching tells us is that in order to bring forth good things, we need a good heart. Our good heart is the love we have in our souls. The good things that we bring forth are the deeds that we do from our loving hearts. This can be thought of as inner and outer. Or in Swedenborg’s language, internal and external. Our loving hearts are internal and our good deeds are external. So we read,
Charity and good works are distinct from each other like intention and action, and like the mind’s affection and the body’s operation; consequently, also, like the internal person and the external . . . therefore charity, because it is of the internal person, is to intend well; and the works, because they are of the external person, are to do well from intending well (TCR 374).
This is how we are like fruit trees. Our good intentions are like seeds. When we use our wisdom to bring these good intentions into act, we are like the tree that prepares the way for flowers and fruit. Then when our good intentions flow through our minds into deeds, we produce fruit. Then our whole person is involved in the good deed. It may be easy to see that good intentions and good deeds are connected. But the place of wisdom in this process may be a little harder to see. When we want to do something good, we need to find the right occasion, and we need to know how to do good so that the result will also be good. Giving money to a beggar may not always be a good deed. He may use the money to fuel an addiction. Or he may beg to avoid taking responsibility for his own life. We may feel compassion for a homeless person and from love we may want to help him. Perhaps giving him some food would be a more appropriate way to show love than tossing him some money and walking away. I use this example to show why we need to use wisdom when we intend to do something good. As Swedenborg says, our mind shows us, “when and how” we are to act in order to bring about good deeds. This whole process–the good intention working through our understanding, or our mind, to bring about good acts–is like a tree bearing fruit.
The intention searches the understanding for the means and modes of arriving at its ends which are effects; and in the understanding it places itself in the light, that it may see not only the reasons but also the occasions, when and how it is to determine itself into acts, and thus produce its effects which are works . . . This may be illustrated by comparison with a tree. The person himself, in all that belongs to him, is like a tree. In the seed of the tree are concealed . . . the end, intention, and purpose of producing fruits; in these the seed corresponds to the intention with a person . . . Then the seed from its interiors shoots up from the earth, clothes itself with branches, twigs, and leaves, and so prepares for itself means to the ends which are fruits; in these the tree corresponds to the understanding in a person. And finally, when the time comes, and there is opportunity for reaching the use, it bears blossoms, and yields fruits; in these the tree corresponds to good works with a person (TCR 374).
Like trees, we can be fruitful and multiply. We learn more truths. We feel a greater variety of heavenly affections. And our life becomes more and more perfected in heavenly uses and loving acts of charity. Swedenborg says that,
he who is being regenerated, after he has imbued the truths of doctrine, regards the goods of life in the first place, and in proportion as he does this, he ripens like fruit; and in proportion as he ripens, the seed in him becomes prolific (AR 84).
As trees produce seeds and multiply, so all the goods of a heavenly life will grow more abundant in us.
There is one final point I need to make about this fruitful way of life. I have said that good deeds that are truly good must come from a loving heart. But where does our loving heart come from? As you may guess, it is God Himself who gives us the heart that loves. Our love is actually God’s love in us. This is Swedenborg’s crucial and theologically brilliant term, “as if of self.” We do good as if it is ourselves that are doing the good. This means that to all appearances, it looks like we are the ones doing the good. But it is only as if. It is actually God in us that is doing the good. While it looks like we are doing the good, God is doing the good. This doctrine is as brilliant as it is necessary. It is brilliant because it makes us responsible for doing good, since we are the ones who appear to do it. But it also takes away any claim of merit or credit for the good we do. We can’t take credit for the good we do because it is actually God who is doing the good. The Lord lives in the love we feel, in the truths we love, and in the good deeds we do. Swedenborg sums up this complex doctrine in a simple phrase,
By fruits are signified the goods of love and charity, which are called good works . . . in the inmosts of the truths of doctrine and of life in the church is the Lord in His Divine Love, from whom all the goods which a person does apparently of himself (AR 933).
So we can with all eagerness bear fruit as the Bible instructs us to do. We can be like that fruit tree in Psalm 1 that bears fruit in season. We can be the grapes, pomegranates, and figs in the Promised Land. We can be the good tree that bears good fruit that Jesus speaks of. We can be the doer of good deeds without any of the nervousness that some churches worry about. We can be all these things because when we are a true fruit tree, it is God, the gardener, the source of all nature and life that is doing the good in us.