The Need for Fruitful Christian Living

Matt. 3:10 “Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever your roots. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

There are many who preach and teach a fruitless Christianity.  They say that how you live and what you do doesn’t really matter much if you accept Jesus as your Savior.  They say salvation without sanctification is all that you need to get into heaven.  They claim that because we have eternal life in Christ we don’t have to do much or be much in order for us to make it.

But, God’s Word speaks often of fruitful Christian living.  There is a strong message from God about living holy lives and producing much good fruit.  How we live and what we do does matter to God.  He expects His children to live like they are His children.  He holds us accountable for our sins and what we do with our salvation.  Jesus emphasized over and over again the need to show through what we do the genuiness  of our faith.  He made a bold statement in our verse for today that anyone who is His who does not produce good fruit will be cut off from Him and thrown into the fire. 

There is no such thing as a fruitless Christian and no such thing as a Christian producing bad fruit.  We need to take this seriously.  Living in Christ results in a life that pleases God.  It draws others to God through the things we say and do.  It is very dangerous thinking to say that our living doesn’t really matter once we are saved.  A child of God will live like a child of God! 

Be warned!  If you are not producing good fruit, you will be cut off and thrown into the fire.  Good fruit is godly fruit.  It is not just what we do, it’s who we are.  It should be evident that we are producing the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) in our lives.  If we are becoming a people after God’s own heart, we will back up our faith with our works.  Faith without works is dead.