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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for September 24, 2008
“His Winnowing Fork Is In His Hand”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
(open with music to set the scene)
He turned the light side of his forearm to the sun.
His fingers slowly curled into a fist, and the veins bulged.
Then he rotated his wrist, stretched out his fingers…and took hold of the wooden handle.
The day was waning, and the hired hand had just gone home for supper. Said he was starving, and after a day of threshing, who wouldn’t be? His afternoon had been spent beating straw with sticks. It was dirty hard work, but how else can you separate the grain from the straw?
He squinted directly into the red sun. A refreshing breeze was blowing in from the sea, perfect for the task at hand.
He began tossing the grain into the air. The straw and the husks, the chaff, were carried away in the wind while the more substantial grain fell back to the ground. Over and over he stabbed the winnowing fork into the pile and tossed the grain into the air. Off went the chaff and down came the grain.
Soon the threshing floor took on a new appearance. Off to his right a pile of straw was forming, while the pile at his feet became more and more just the grains of wheat.
As the moon began to take over for the sun, he leaned on his winnowing fork and looked at a job well done. Well, not actually done. Now it was time to clear the threshing floor.
First he scooped up the wheat and stored it safely in the barn – a successful harvest. Then he walked back out to the other pile, the chaff, and he set it on fire.
(music fades out)
That is a scene that would have been well known to the audience of John the Baptist. They would have all seen farmers harvesting their crops, threshing and winnowing, gathering the grain and burning the chaff.
So when John the Baptist used this imagery to describe the coming Messiah, they got it.
Now imagine John preaching out there in the wilderness. His message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Not the most attractive message, yet it drew a crowd. And the message was working. People were confessing their sins and being baptized.
In Matthew 3:10 we have recorded for us this powerful line from the mouth of The Baptist. He said, “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.”
When John the Baptist preaches about trees, what is he really talking about? Well I think he’s talking about people. And what is expected of these people? To produce good fruit. Or be thrown into the fire. Your choice.
Jesus preached His own message along these lines in John 15, and again the imagery is used of fruitless plants being burned. The flip side of that is found in verse five where Jesus said, “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit…” And then He added this kicker, “…apart from Me you can do nothing.”
So in John the Baptist’s preaching we are expected to produce good fruit. In Jesus’ teaching we are also expected to produce good fruit…by remaining in Him and He in us, because without Him we can do nothing.
Now back to John’s sermon about the Messiah – and let’s get back to where we started, with the farmer bringing in his harvest. Remember the visual of the man separating the grain and the chaff? Now listen to the words of John about Jesus.
“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gather His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
This is what John the Baptist said Jesus was going to do. And when he talks about wheat, what is he really talking about? I think He’s talking about people. And again, what is expected of these people? To produce good fruit.
See, God wants us to produce good fruit. This is what He is looking for.
And that’s what I want to give Him. I want to be wheat, not chaff.
The Bible says, “He will clear His threshing floor.” That means there is no middle ground. No one can stick around trying to decide whether they are wheat or chaff. We are one or the other.
Jesus said that if a man does not remain in him, he will be like a branch that is picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
I don’t want to be that man. I want to be the man that remains in Him and He in me. I want to abide in Him, and let His words abide in me.
I want to bear much fruit, and I can’t do that on my own. Apart from Him I can do nothing. So this is my goal today. To be wheat and not chaff. To be a tree with good fruit, not a barren tree with the ax at the root.
And I know the Lord is watching. John did not use the present tense by accident. He said, “His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor.”
So there He stands, winnowing fork in hand. The wheat will be separated from the chaff, and my goal today is to make sure that everything I do and say smells like wheat, that I may produce good fruit for the Lord of the Harvest.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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