December 10
December 10
Nothing can produce beautiful fruit in your life like the gospel of Jesus Christ can.
I once knew a man who, no matter what the situation or location, always seemed to be ready for a theological fight. He seemed to love debating more than he loved the person he was debating. He seemed to love controversy more than he loved the piece of truth he was defending. He was proud and condescending. When trying to “help” me, he said more disrespectful things to me than any other person in my ministry. He made fun of people whom he thought were his theological inferiors. Because he had a disruptive presence, he was the kind of person you dreaded encountering. His love for truth had not borne good fruit in his life. His gospel expertise had not produced a heart of love. His confident gospel assertions did not help others or praise the Christ of the gospel; they were a means of drawing the light of attention on himself.
At the beginning of his first letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul is very clear about the kind of fruit the gospel of Jesus Christ will and will not produce in a person’s life:
As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (1 Tim. 1:3–7)
The gospel will not produce vain discussions. It will not produce the pride of being a self-appointed teacher. It will not produce confident assertions about things you don’t really understand. It will not produce a lifestyle of endless theological speculation. All of these things are about self-focus, self-elevation, and the pride of knowledge. They are theological forms of attention-getting and glory-seeking. They all masquerade as a love for the truth, but they are propelled by a love for self. Such character qualities and actions are the opposite of what the gospel—and a heart captured by the gospel—will produce.
What is the sure and lasting fruit of a heart and life that are shaped by the transforming grace of the gospel? This question can be answered in one word: love. The story of God’s redeeming love in Christ Jesus will produce love in those whose hearts have been captured by it. That love is the result of the power of transforming grace. This grace produces a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. These are the soil in which the beautiful fruit of love grows. Humble, self-sacrificing, and servant love is not natural for us. This kind of love is only ever produced by the grace of the gospel. May God help us to see that theology without love ceases to be true gospel theology.