Fruit of Repentance
What Does the Fruit Look Like?
What does the fruit look like?
How do you define repentance?
Strong’s Definition: “Compunction (for guilt, including reformation);
By implication reversal (of decision)”
Thayer’s Definition: “A change of mind, as it appears to one who repents,
Of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done”
The Apostle Paul gives us a great definition when he writes to the Ephesians
You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:20-24
What does the Fruit of Repentance look like?
The old self is lost in self-governing,
Being god where you decide what good and evil is
The new self is the one who turns back to the Tree of Life
There God decides what life is,
Life consisting of who we were created to be,
Like God in true righteousness and holiness
Repentance is an attitude of mind
So the question is what is in your mind as you think about the difference?
What Does the Fruit Look Like?
What does the fruit look like?
How do you define repentance?
Strong’s Definition:
“Compunction (for guilt, including reformation);
by implication reversal (of decision)”
Thayer’s Definition:
“A change of mind, as it appears to one who repents,
of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done.”
The Apostle Paul gives us a great definition
when he writes to the Ephesians…
You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.
Surely you heard of him and were taught in him
in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life,
to put off your old self,
which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
and to put on the new self,
created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:20-24
Paul writes of a “former” way of life,
or to put off your “old self”.
Paul is talking of a way of living that is in the past.
He defines this former, or old way of living, as “deceitful desires”.
Desires that “corrupted” life.
As we try to get a picture of what the old self is,
Paul helps us by giving us a picture of the change.
The change takes place in our “minds” …
It is a “new attitude”.
There is a process of “putting on” a “new self”.
The picture of the new self is to be “like God”.
Paul gives us two words to help us see what being like God is…
True Righteousness and Holiness.
To first understand this change,
we need to go back to the beginning of man.
When God made the first man and woman,
He made them in the image of God.
It has always been God’s intention
for men and women to be like God.
God had placed them in a perfect world
with the responsibility of caring for the perfect world.
Two trees were in the center of the perfect world.
These trees stood out from all the other trees.
The other trees provided leaves for shade,
some with flowers and fruit for food.
The two trees stood out because
they represented the foundation to every choice.
The one tree was called the Tree of Life.
The other tree was called
the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:9
This is God’s command concerning the two trees…
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
Genesis 2:15-17
Eve was deceived when the Devil said…
"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Genesis 3:5
Adam and Eve lived in innocents only
knowing the glory and beauty of life.
Until that moment,
the time standing at the Tree of Good and Evil,
their minds were not exposed to anything but purity of life.
The devil said to Eve…
When you eat your eyes will be open
and you will be like God.
She was already like God, made in His image.
It was true her eyes were opened
when she gave into temptation.
Innocence was lost.
Exposing her to a world other
than what God had intended,
God had to remove Adam and Eve from
the Garden of innocence, truth and purity.
We all now live in a world outside the Garden of Eden.
A world where each one of us is left with
being god and deciding what is good and evil.
Our minds are not innocent any more,
but filled with the philosophy of mankind.
Look around how is it working?
There is hope…
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life,
which is in the paradise of God.
Revelation 2:7
What does the Fruit of Repentance look like?
The old self is lost in self-governing,
being god where you decide what good and evil is.
The new self is the one who turns back to the Tree of Life
where God decides what life is,
life consisting of who we were created to be,
like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Repentance is an attitude of mind.
So the question is…
What is in your mind as you think about the difference?
Scripture Reading
Ephesians 4:20-24 NIV
20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
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