City Life Starter

I. The Word: Matthew 12:33-37

33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:33-37

By Ji Yun

Jesus preached the gospel, healed the sick, comforted those who were broken-hearted, cast out demons from the demon-possessed, and even raised the dead. You know what he did not do was to calmly reason with religious folks, especially the scribes and Pharisees who were recognized for their expertise in the Word. He would go right into their fallacy by exposing their hypocrisy and rebuked them as a result.

In today’s passage, Jesus was confronting the Pharisees who accused Him of a mere miracle worker who possessed power from “Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.” (Matthew 12:24) First, Jesus proves that He does not get the power to cast demons out with Beelzebub but through the Spirit of God. Next, Jesus addresses blaspheming against the Spirit and the seriousness of the offense that can be for those who reject the Spirit of God. What Jesus is doing here is quite brilliant, in that Jesus points the power to God, and the Spirit of God is the One who cast the demon out.  Finally, the Spirit must not be blasphemed.

He uses metaphors to describe the good tree producing good fruit, while bad trees produce bad fruits. Here is what Jesus is leading his listeners to, that the byproduct of the Spirit of God will produce good fruits, which the Pharisees did not. He tells them, “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Ultimately, their own words betrayed them and what they stood for, by calling Jesus evil and that Him receiving His power from Beelzebub, means their words are not from the Spirit of God, “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:37)

Application

This week, we emphasized how destructive gossip is in life, especially in the life of believers. As Jesus said, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” I believe gossiping begins in our hearts, in that whatever we harbor, meditate, and dwell upon in our hearts, ultimately will lead to gossip. Our contributors made some great suggestions to combat gossip by meditating in God’s Word, taking time to pray, and finally, my favorite, forgiving those who have done you wrong or offended you. If you are a habitual gossiper, I pray that you take this matter seriously and do not play with this destructive force that can lead to spiritual death.

JY