Being Good Trees

John the Baptist uses a lot of plant language in Matthew chapter three.  He said:

Matthew 3:8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.


Matthew 3:10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.


Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.


John was trying to convey a message to the people coming out to listen to him, but he was also making a connection to the Old Testament.  The number one song on the Hebrews' playlist has some of the same imagery dealing with plants (Psalm 1 is a song, and Psalms could be considered a playlist!).

Psalm 1


 ¹ Blessed is the one 
   who does not walk in step with the wicked 
or stand in the way that sinners take 
   or sit in the company of mockers, 
² but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, 
   and who meditates on his law day and night. 
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, 
   which yields its fruit in season 
and whose leaf does not wither— 
   whatever they do prospers.

 ⁴ Not so the wicked!
   They are like chaff 
   that the wind blows away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
   nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

 ⁶ For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
   but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

             (emphasis is mine)

As soon as John shared his message, many people would have automatically made the connection to Psalm 1 and the concepts about the "righteous" and "wicked" people.

So we have two trees.  One of those trees is young and the other is mature.

What do we expect from each one?  They might both be apple trees, but we would still have different expectations for each one.  If the tree on the left was producing no apples, we would probably be concerned about its productivity.  It would probably need to be replaced.  It would be a rather lazy tree.  If the tree on the right was trying to produce apples, we would be concerned about the quality of the fruit it produces.  It would not be real fruit.

As Christians mature, there needs to be a balance.  Just like trees need to balance the 'being' a tree with 'doing' what trees do, Christians need to balance the 'being' who God wants us to be with 'doing' what God wants us to do.  If we don't, we might end up like the chaff.

How awesome is it that God puts all these great connections in His Word for us to find!