A Tree And It's Fruit

A tree and its fruit

Matthew 7:15-20

Introduction-

Both writers Luke and Matthew talk about judging others and bearing fruit for the kingdom of God.

They both thought it important to show how it would affect believers. It seems that we are not to judge others. That it is impossible to be fruit inspectors for other people’s lives.

Truth is- we are expected to do both and do it correctly. The Lord gives us guidelines on how that is to be done and what motives we should be doing it.

2 part message this morning and we will look at them individually.

I. God tells us not to judge others.

He tells us not to judge others by our standards, and by our ways.

He tells us if we get this wrong that we will be judged, condemned, by the same measure that we dish it out to others.

II. He tells us as Christians, we should bear fruit (All of us)

He tells us that trees should bear fruit, that as Christians we should bear good fruit.

He tells us that “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only who does the will of the Father who is in heaven.” (Mt. 7:21)

That is some deep stuff right off the bat this morning! Let’s try to look at that a piece at a time.

The Unitarian Church believes that everyone goes to heaven. No matter what you believe or how you act that all will end up in heaven. They are called Universalist.

Jesus says “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.”

All roads do not lead to God.

All roads do not lead to heaven!

According to Jesus there is a right way and a wrong way in your spiritual life.

Your way will lead to destruction

Jesus way leads to eternal life.

That is not popular today. But it is the truth of God from His Word.

Heaven was not designed for everyone. (Let me explain)

It is only for those that accept Jesus Christ as Lord.

Only for those that love Jesus.

You don’t love Jesus here; you will not be serving Him in heaven.

You cannot stand corporate worship (church) what makes you think that you will fit into heaven where the worship will be for eternity.

You cannot get along with the body of Christ once a week, what makes you think you can do it forever!

God Word tells us not to judge each other by our standards, but God word also tells us that we should not be taken in by false prophets and wolves wearing sheep’s clothing that will deceive us and cause us to stumble.

The only way that we can do that is by looking at their lives and making sure they line up with God’s word or we don’t follow them.

I. How do we/ or don’t we judge others

We have all heard of someone saying- Don’t judge me! You don’t know me! You have not been where I’ve been!

Heard that from many from this community!

The Lord tells us to love people the opposite way the world loves.

We have to have different habits than others that don’t know Christ.

Show kindness to people who hate us.

How do we do that?

That if we are looking at our own lives, we won’t be judging others.

That if we get the plank out of our eye, we can help someone else get the speck out of theirs.

Illustration-

A small town prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand in a trial. Elderly women. He approached her and asked. Mrs. Jones, do you know me? She responded, why yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a young boy. And frankly, you’ve been a disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you’re a rising big shot when you haven’t the brains to realize you will never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you. The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, Mrs. Williams, do you know the defense attorney? She replied, yes, I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. I used to baby sit him for his parents. And, he too, has been a real disappointment to me. He’s lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. The man can’t build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the shoddiest in the entire state. Yes, I know him. At this point, the judge rapped the courtroom to silence and called both counselors to the bench. In a very quiet voice, he said , if either of you asks her if she knows me, you’ll be jailed for contempt!