KNOWN BY THEIR FRUITS
Study Text: Mattew 7: 15 – 20
Introduction:
- Jesus Christ in speaking of trees said, "By their fruits you shall know them" (Matthew 7:20). You can know by the fruit whether a tree is good or bad.
- This illustrates lives. By observing the outward actions of an individual you can know the condition of the heart.
- He also talked about the need for them to recognize the type of people they were dealing with by evaluating the type of fruit those people bear.
- He simplified the concept by explaining: “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:17-18).
- He went on to explain that not bearing any fruit is not an option: “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 7:19).
- We shall consider the topic under three sub-headings:
1. Responsibility to Decide
2. Responsibility to Discern
3. Responsibility to Desist
1. Responsibility to Decide
- Jesus talked to the disciples about the way for them to continue bearing good fruit. John 15:1-5:
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
- Jesus explained how He would make it possible for them to abide in Him and bear the same fruit. He would send the Holy Spirit after His death to abide in them and guide them. John 16: 5-7.
- The Holy Spirit, working in our minds, produces the fruit of righteousness in terms of the character we have and the way we live our lives.
- The apostle Paul listed some of these characteristics in his letter to the Galatians: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).
- To truly abide in the vine that is Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit should help us in bringing our mind into accord with His by “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
- In contrast to the fruit of the Spirit, the apostle Paul listed the opposite kind of fruit that people can produce, calling these actions and attitudes the “works of the flesh.”
- Those works include “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like” (Galatians 5:19-21).
- A Christian has personal responsibility to decide to produce the fruit of the Spirit, rather than the works of the flesh.
- Are you producing fruit? Or is the opposite true? Instead of love, is there hatred, bitterness, or even prejudice in your life?
- Instead of joy, is there constant gloom? Instead of peace, is there turmoil? Instead of gentleness, is there a short temper? Instead of faith, is there endless worry? Instead of meekness, is there pride and arrogance? Instead of self-control, are you a victim of your own passions?
- If so, then either you don't know God at all or a recommitment to Christ would be in order.
- If you are a Christian, then people should be able to look for and find fruit in your life.
- Why? Because a disciple of Jesus Christ will produce spiritual fruit. Jesus said, " 'My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father'" (John 15:8).
2. Responsibility to Discern
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:15-16). After telling them that good trees can bear only good fruit and bad trees can bear only bad, Jesus summed it up in verse 20: “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
- In the Matthew passage, Jesus is warning those on the mountainside to beware of false prophets.
- But since he says false prophets often come disguised as true prophets, he goes on to give advice about how to sort out the false from the true. How do we do it? By their fruit, he says.
- It is helpful to re-examine Jesus’ instructions to His disciples in Matthew 7. His words concerning good trees bearing good fruit and bad trees bearing bad fruit were sandwiched in between warnings about those who would try to deceive.
- He also told the disciples how to avoid that deception. God has the ability to discern the heart and mind of a person and to know what someone’s intentions are.
- As humans, we are not given that power on our own, and we can often be wrong when we assume the intentions of another.
- So how are we to avoid judging another wrongly while still not being led astray by someone who intends to deceive us?
- Jesus Christ gives us the answer: We can evaluate the consistent actions and results—the fruit of someone’s behavior.
3. Responsibility to Desist
- How can a Christian bear good fruit, while also not being deceived by those who may appear to be godly, but are not?
- The apostle Paul gives us the answer to both questions in his letter to the Colossians.
- Consider that a good tree results from a tree being firmly grounded in good soil and properly cared for.
- With that in mind, notice Paul’s words in Colossians 2:6-10:
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
- We have it in our power to make the choice to be grounded in the Word of God and in the example of Jesus Christ.
- Doing so will not only allow us to bear godly fruit, but to recognize the same when we see it!
- By receiving the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, we are given the responsibility of recognizing and producing godly fruit in our lives.
- The author of the book of Hebrews expands on this concept when he talks about our need to have an ingrained habit of making decisions based on God’s Word and based on the ability to know good fruit from bad.
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14).
- Someone who is grounded in the Word of God will be able to distinguish good from evil. We must be able to discern good fruit from the works of the flesh.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
- We must strife to walk in righteousness at all times and to desist from actions and attitudes that can grieve the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion:
- Just as it is important to discern others by their fruits, it is equally important to take that same discernment and use it to examine our own lives.
- What are the patterns of your own life? If someone else was giving you points for every attribute, would you end up with more points in the works of the flesh or more with the works of the Spirit?
- Really look at yourself and ask what fruit is evident in your life. If the measure you use to judge others was used on you, how would it turn out?
