Fruits of Repentance

 Fruits of Repentance

Preacher: Alan Swartz
Date: November 2, 2025
Place: Ebenezer UMC
Scripture: Isaiah 1:11-17; Luke 19:1-10; Ephesians 2:8-10; Matthew 3:8-10; James 5:1-6; Ezekiel 16:49

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Introduction

One of the most astounding experiences of my ministry occurred when my wife Jo Anne and I lived in Oxford, North Carolina, during the 1990s. After preaching one Sunday morning, I was walking to my car when a parishioner came running up, eager to tell me how much my sermon had touched his life. As he explained what he had heard, I realized with shock that he had “heard” the exact opposite of what I had said.

Someone once observed that a sermon is not simply the words that come out of the preacher’s mouth—it is the words that go into the hearer’s ear, the words we live by. As we gather around Scripture this morning, I pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to both preacher and congregation, that we may truly hear what God is saying to us.

I. Grace and Works: The Fullness of the Gospel

When I prepared my first sermon for my License to Preach, I chose a text from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, that magnificent second chapter, verses 8 through 10:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not the result of works so that no one can boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we may walk in them.”

Too often I have heard sermons that focus brilliantly on verses 8 and 9 but skip entirely over verse 10. They proclaim the gift of God’s grace but neglect the truth that we are called to live into that gift—that the word of God creates something wonderful and magnificent in our lives. A change. A transformation so real that people will notice and ask, “What has happened in your life? Can I have what you have? Can I share in it?”

A recent survey asked churchgoers what brought them to worship. About 6% came because of a community religious event or revival. Another 6% attended because the preacher invited them. That means preachers can influence about 6% of those who come. The remaining majority—everyone else—came because a family member or friend invited them. The power of God at work in your life is a wonderful, tremendous thing. The fruit we bear for the kingdom of God is a sign of his grace actively working in our lives.

II. Bearing Fruit Worthy of Repentance

In the Gospel of Matthew [3:8-10], Jesus declares: “Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now, the axe is lying at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

John Wesley, from whom we in the Methodist tradition learn so much, wrote these words in his sermon “The Scripture Way of Salvation”: “God does undoubtedly command us both to repent and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, which if we willingly neglect, we cannot reasonably expect to be justified at all. Therefore, both repentance and the fruits meet for repentance are in some sense necessary for justification.”

Wesley is not saying we work to earn our salvation or that we can deserve it. Rather, he affirms that God’s work in our lives is so magnificent and powerful that people will see the difference. They will witness the change. They will observe the blessed presence of God’s Holy Spirit. Repentance is part of conversion, and conversion indicates change—change that others can see. Our outward behavioral transformation reveals the inner work of God’s grace.

III. Empty Ritual Without Justice

The prophet Isaiah speaks God’s sharp disappointment with the people of Israel in the first chapter [vv. 11-17]:

“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more. Bringing offerings is vain; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation—I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.”

Here is what strikes at the heart: everything the people of Israel were doing, they were doing according to the word given through Moses in the wilderness. From the outside, their religious observance appeared to conform perfectly to God’s law. But they were neglecting the fruit of that word—to love not only the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, but also to love your neighbor as yourself.

God continues: “When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean. Remove your evil deeds from my sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”

IV. The Prophetic Call to Economic Justice

In the New Testament, James echoes this prophetic tradition [5:1-6]:

“Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure during these last days. Listen, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure. You have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one who does not resist.”

It is a tragedy when people praise the Lord yet forget that the Lord calls us to live out our faith in love for our neighbor—the neighbor who may be a stranger, the neighbor who is poor, widowed, orphaned, pushed to the margins, neglected. These are the ones we are called to love.

When we think of the sin of Sodom, what comes to mind? The prophet Ezekiel provides God’s own diagnosis [16:49]: “Look, this was the iniquity of Sodom: pride, abundance of food, and prosperous ease were hers and her daughters’. She did not sustain the needy and the poor. They were proud and did detestable things before me, and I removed them.”

V. The Story of Zacchaeus: Salvation’s Fruit

Hear now these words from the Gospel according to Luke [19:1-10]. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and enters the town of Jericho. A man named Zacchaeus lived there—a chief tax collector who was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but because of the crowd he could not, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, who was going to pass that way.

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down. I must stay at your house today.” So Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed him joyfully. All who saw it began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

VI. Two Encounters, Two Responses

What I find fascinating about this story is its placement in chapter 19, immediately following another encounter in chapter 18. There, a wealthy ruler comes to Jesus wanting to know what he must do to be saved. Jesus answers, “You know the law: love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” The ruler claims to have kept all these commandments. Jesus then says, “There is one thing lacking: give away everything you have.” The man could not do it.

Yet in the very next chapter, Jesus does not tell Zacchaeus that he must give away everything. Why? Because it is evident that God has already done a wonderful work in the life and soul of Zacchaeus. Without being commanded, Zacchaeus declares, “Lord, if I have wronged anybody, I will restore to them fourfold”—far more than the law required—”and I will give half of all that I have to the poor.” What greater evidence could there be that God has worked wonders in this man’s heart?

This transformation is a gift—a gift of God offered to us every day.

Application: Accepting the Gift

I once heard about a radio station advertising a spectacular giveaway. The fiftieth caller would win an all-expenses-paid trip to the Super Bowl, including airfare, hotel, meals, and two tickets—a prize worth thousands of dollars. One man called and was indeed the fiftieth caller. The radio host congratulated him: “All you have to do is come by the station and pick up your airline tickets, room reservations, meal vouchers, and Super Bowl tickets.” The man was ecstatic. He told all his friends, “I’ve won tickets to the Super Bowl! What a wonderful prize!”

The week after the Super Bowl, his friends asked him what it was like to be at the game. He answered, “I don’t know, because I never went by to pick up the tickets. I never went by to claim the reservation.” This man was offered a tremendous gift freely, and he would not accept it.

God is offering a gift that is eternal, a gift that is life-giving, a gift so tremendous that it pours out from our lives into the lives of those around us.

Conclusion

Accept this gift. Accept it today. This gift is offered to you freely—grace that transforms, grace that produces fruit, grace that changes how we live and love, grace that makes us instruments of justice and mercy in a world desperate for both.

The gift is yours. Will you receive it?