This Week's "Word and Walk"
Tuesdays and Thursdays, Pastor Scott leads a devotional featuring study of a book of the Bible and prayer. Click the button below to view the most recent devotions!
Greetings!Rev. Scott Jones has been an American Baptist minister since 1997. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, growing up in Iowa and South Dakota. He received his Bachelor of Arts in vocal music at Iowa State University in 1994 and earned a Masters in Divinity from Northern Seminary in 1997. He was ordained in 1997 in the Mid-America Baptist Churches (Iowa and Minnesota). Scott is the 21st minister of the First Baptist Church of Greensburg.
Scott first responded to Jesus in faith as a young child and was baptized at age 13. He has been blessed throughout his life with wonderful role models in his parents, ABY youth group, and ABC summer camp, where he was invited to say “yes” to the Lord’s call on his life. His ministry is about worship, preaching, teaching, evangelism, and relationships. He uses his musical background to lead people into the presence of God. He is involved in our Region as instructor of New Testament with the Academy of Christian Training and Service (ACTS), our lay-pastor training institute. He also sings with the Irwin Male Chorus. |
Pastor's Newsletter
What kind of fruits do you like? I prefer fruits that are ripe and sweet, like Honeycrisp apples (crisp, not mealy), peaches, bananas and grapes. I am ok with a little bit of tartness, like a fully-ripe orange or pineapple. I don’t like fruits that are overly sour, bitter (grapefruits), or ones with a methane aroma as you eat them (mangos). I’m all about texture, too—that’s partially why I can’t stand raw tomatoes. Even though they’re supposedly fruit, they don’t deserve the title in my view. One thing for sure: many of those reading this like very different fruits than I. We all have personal lists of good and bad fruits.
The Bible has a great many references to fruit, right back to the Garden of Eden. Even from the beginning, there was a difference between good and bad fruit. The Garden produced a superabundance of good fruits, including that of the Tree of Life. Still, there was one bad fruit, which Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat: the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was the only commandment given to them, but if they broke it their punishment would be a short, difficult, mortal life (Genesis 2:17; 3:6,17-19). Of course, they broke the commandment, and they received the curse of sin.
Among the morals we could take from that account could be: if you eat bad fruit, you will produce bad fruit in your own life. That’s why the Bible warns us not to be yoked together with unbelievers, either in marriage or other close friendships. Paul cites a proverb in 1 Corinthians 15:33 – “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’” But, to avoid bad fruit, taking in and producing only good fruit, we need to know the difference.
A relative of mine recently asked me, “When the Bible says we must bear fruit, what fruit is it that we are to bear?” I shared some of my notes on the subject, and it seemed to me that it would be a good topic for The Beacon. So let’s consider the subject of “fruits” in the Bible—not as in apples and bananas, but fruits as symbols of the characteristics God wants to see in Christians’ lives. This month, we begin with two important principles.
God expects us to bear fruit for Him. In Matthew 3, we find John the Baptist preaching at the River Jordan. He warns his audience that any “tree” (that’s us) that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. He repeats the message with the image of wheat: only the “fruit” (grain) will be kept; the chaff will be burned up (Matthew 3:10,12).
In Matthew 21 (33-35, 40-41), Jesus tells the Parable of the Tenants. In it, a landowner leases his vineyard to tenants while he’s off on business. Their lease requires them to pay with a portion of the grapes. At harvest time, they refuse to render the fruit due to the owner. They beat his servants and even kill his son. In verse 41, Jesus declares that the owner will “put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” (ESV)
God showed amazing grace, kindness and blessing to Israel. Israel’s part of the covenant was to walk strictly in His way, serve as a witness to the unbelieving nations, and glorify and worship Him alone. Jesus told the parable as a warning to Israel: render these fruits to God before it was too late. Sadly, they did not heed the warnings of John and Jesus. They hardened their hearts, rejecting the Messiah. They crucified Him instead of trusting and submitting to Him. A “burning” of unfruitful Israel did come in 70 A.D., when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Israelites were scattered over the earth.
Christians are the benefactors of a new covenant of grace; Jesus paid the debt of our sin in full. His shed blood washes away our sin, and the indwelling Spirit empowers us to live a life wherein we can bear good and pleasing fruit to our Lord. This does not make us superior to the people of the past; we are only the grateful recipients of a better covenant. To Jesus belongs all glory. Still, true Christians will bear fruits for the Lord, and next month we will discuss the varieties of spiritual fruit in the New Testament. For now, let’s close with the second principle I want you to notice.
God wants us to discern between good and bad fruits, and to bear exclusively good fruits to His glory. Our culture seeks to justify its hedonism while reminding Christians of Christ’s teaching, “judge not, lest you be judged.” That’s correct, in the sense that only God will determine a person’s eternal destiny. We’re not to try and usurp that role. On the other hand, most people miss that Jesus concludes the same sermon (the Sermon on the Mount) by urging us to judge the “fruits” of would-be teachers. We can discern the good from the bad in this way (Matthew 7:20). Christians today are supposed to judge the fruits of others before entrusting ourselves to them, even while we leave the eternal judgment to God.
More importantly, Jesus taught that each of us must decide what kind of tree we will be. Trees can’t be a little bit good and a little bit bad, in a spiritual sense. We will be bad trees that bear bad fruit, or good trees that bear good fruit (Matt. 7:17-18). Thus, discerning our own fruit is even more important than discerning that of others. If we are bearing no fruit, or bad fruit, we have this short time, this age of grace, to appeal to Christ to make us into wholly good trees that produce wholly good fruit for Him. This can happen only by the blood of Christ and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.
This month, we’ve discovered that God expects us to bear fruit for Him, and good fruit at that. But what are the fruits pleasing to Him? What kinds of fruit does God like? We’ll discuss those good fruits next month.
Your Brother and Servant--
Pastor Scott.
The Bible has a great many references to fruit, right back to the Garden of Eden. Even from the beginning, there was a difference between good and bad fruit. The Garden produced a superabundance of good fruits, including that of the Tree of Life. Still, there was one bad fruit, which Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat: the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was the only commandment given to them, but if they broke it their punishment would be a short, difficult, mortal life (Genesis 2:17; 3:6,17-19). Of course, they broke the commandment, and they received the curse of sin.
Among the morals we could take from that account could be: if you eat bad fruit, you will produce bad fruit in your own life. That’s why the Bible warns us not to be yoked together with unbelievers, either in marriage or other close friendships. Paul cites a proverb in 1 Corinthians 15:33 – “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’” But, to avoid bad fruit, taking in and producing only good fruit, we need to know the difference.
A relative of mine recently asked me, “When the Bible says we must bear fruit, what fruit is it that we are to bear?” I shared some of my notes on the subject, and it seemed to me that it would be a good topic for The Beacon. So let’s consider the subject of “fruits” in the Bible—not as in apples and bananas, but fruits as symbols of the characteristics God wants to see in Christians’ lives. This month, we begin with two important principles.
God expects us to bear fruit for Him. In Matthew 3, we find John the Baptist preaching at the River Jordan. He warns his audience that any “tree” (that’s us) that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. He repeats the message with the image of wheat: only the “fruit” (grain) will be kept; the chaff will be burned up (Matthew 3:10,12).
In Matthew 21 (33-35, 40-41), Jesus tells the Parable of the Tenants. In it, a landowner leases his vineyard to tenants while he’s off on business. Their lease requires them to pay with a portion of the grapes. At harvest time, they refuse to render the fruit due to the owner. They beat his servants and even kill his son. In verse 41, Jesus declares that the owner will “put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” (ESV)
God showed amazing grace, kindness and blessing to Israel. Israel’s part of the covenant was to walk strictly in His way, serve as a witness to the unbelieving nations, and glorify and worship Him alone. Jesus told the parable as a warning to Israel: render these fruits to God before it was too late. Sadly, they did not heed the warnings of John and Jesus. They hardened their hearts, rejecting the Messiah. They crucified Him instead of trusting and submitting to Him. A “burning” of unfruitful Israel did come in 70 A.D., when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Israelites were scattered over the earth.
Christians are the benefactors of a new covenant of grace; Jesus paid the debt of our sin in full. His shed blood washes away our sin, and the indwelling Spirit empowers us to live a life wherein we can bear good and pleasing fruit to our Lord. This does not make us superior to the people of the past; we are only the grateful recipients of a better covenant. To Jesus belongs all glory. Still, true Christians will bear fruits for the Lord, and next month we will discuss the varieties of spiritual fruit in the New Testament. For now, let’s close with the second principle I want you to notice.
God wants us to discern between good and bad fruits, and to bear exclusively good fruits to His glory. Our culture seeks to justify its hedonism while reminding Christians of Christ’s teaching, “judge not, lest you be judged.” That’s correct, in the sense that only God will determine a person’s eternal destiny. We’re not to try and usurp that role. On the other hand, most people miss that Jesus concludes the same sermon (the Sermon on the Mount) by urging us to judge the “fruits” of would-be teachers. We can discern the good from the bad in this way (Matthew 7:20). Christians today are supposed to judge the fruits of others before entrusting ourselves to them, even while we leave the eternal judgment to God.
More importantly, Jesus taught that each of us must decide what kind of tree we will be. Trees can’t be a little bit good and a little bit bad, in a spiritual sense. We will be bad trees that bear bad fruit, or good trees that bear good fruit (Matt. 7:17-18). Thus, discerning our own fruit is even more important than discerning that of others. If we are bearing no fruit, or bad fruit, we have this short time, this age of grace, to appeal to Christ to make us into wholly good trees that produce wholly good fruit for Him. This can happen only by the blood of Christ and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.
This month, we’ve discovered that God expects us to bear fruit for Him, and good fruit at that. But what are the fruits pleasing to Him? What kinds of fruit does God like? We’ll discuss those good fruits next month.
Your Brother and Servant--
Pastor Scott.