The Doctrine of Blackberries
Matthew
5:3-6
If
there is nothing more traditionally American than apple pie, there is nothing
more traditionally Southern than blackberry cobbler. Summer is at its peek when
the blackberries are ripe and ready to pick. As my wife and I picked a few
berries from our patch early one morning back in July, I was reminded of a
lesson. – The ripest fruit always hangs
lowest.
In
the kingdom of God, those who have grown the most in the grace and knowledge of
Christ know themselves to be the least. – Those who are the strongest know
themselves to be very weak. – Those who are the most knowledgeable know that
they know nothing. – Those who walk in nearest communion with heaven feel
themselves to be farthest away. -- The
ripest fruit always hangs lowest.
Those
who are richest in grace are “poor in
spirit.” They know themselves to be poor. Those who have greatest cause for
joy are “they that mourn.” They mourn
because they are keenly aware of their depravity, sin, and unbelief. Those who
are nearest what they should be are “the
meek.” They know that they are indescribably less than they should be.
Those who are the fullest are “they which
do hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Knowing that they are robed with
the perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to them, being born of his Spirit,
they hunger and thirst (in the depths of their souls, they hunger and thirst)
after Christ – To be like him in the totality of their beings! -- The ripest fruit always hangs lowest.
The more a believer grows in Christ, the
nearer he approaches heaven, the more unfit for heaven he knows he is in
himself. To be sure, he knows that in Christ he is “meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light.” He
does not question the efficacy of Christ’s blood, the perfection of his
righteousness, the fulness of God’s forgiveness, or the completeness of his
acceptance with God in Christ. Regarding those things, he may indeed have the “full assurance of faith.” Yet, he knows
that in himself he is most unworthy of and unfit for everlasting acceptance
with the holy Lord God. Grace teaches those who experience it by degrees that
we are the least among God’s servants, then less than the least of all saints,
and finally that we are the very chief of sinners. These things we learn early
in our heads; but they are truly learned only by experience. Truly, as they
ripen for heaven, God’s saints are a people who are learning that – The ripest fruit always hangs lowest.
When I was just a nineteen year old boy, as
my wife and I started to leave his home after a night of blessed, edifying
fellowship with Pastor Harry Graham and his wife, Nola, Harry made a statement
to me that I have never forgotten, but am just beginning to learn. He said,
“Don, it’s impossible to distinguish tares from wheat until harvest time; but
at harvest time, the tares stand tall and the wheat bows its head.” – The ripest fruit always hangs lowest.
Grace Baptist Church of Danville - Grace For
Today Radio Message #727
2734 Old Stanford Road -
Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor -Telephone 606-236-8235 - Email grace@mis.net