THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (part 21)
Matthew 7:15-20
1) Watch out!
Matt. 7:15-20, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."
A prophet is someone who told of forthcoming events. In Jesus' day they were also considered to be teachers. Albert Barnes' commentary reads, "The word prophet originally means, one who foretells future events. As prophets, however, were commonly regarded as public instructors on the subject of religion, the word came to denote all who were religious teachers. In this sense it is probably used here. A false prophet is a teacher of incorrect doctrine or who falsely and unjustly laid claims to divine inspiration. It probably had reference to the false teachers then among the Jews."
Here in Matthew Jesus would've predominantly been referring to the scribes, Pharisees and teachers of the law. A false prophet would say, 'thus saith the Lord' when the Lord had not spoken. In the OT, false prophets would go against the prophecies brought by the true prophets of God. God's prophets were giving proclamations of warning, pleas for repentance or declarations of judgment.
Because the people didn't want to hear that, the false prophets would preach nice things so they would become popular with the people. In lieu of the preceding verses in Matthew, one could surmise that Jesus talking about the road leading to destruction is broad and the road to eternal life is narrow, would not sit well with people. Neither would it sit well with people, especially the religious leaders, that the only way to get on the narrow road is through Jesus. The false teachers would contradict this.
It's the same today. Many false teachers will preach only what people want to hear; feel good messages. They won't talk about sin, judgment or hell; some even preach there is no hell. Some teach that it doesn't matter what you do or how you live because God loves you and accepts you with no need to change. But this goes against the word of God and it gives people false hope.
There are those who prey on weak people, getting them to send money, thinking the miraculous prayer towel or holy water they will receive for their donation will heal them or bring them riches. Rom. 16:17-18, "I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people."
There are false teachers and false healers who are all about putting on a good show and padding their bank accounts rather than doing the will of God. We have to be careful not to be deceived by such people. Jesus said they are wolves who wear sheep's clothing. They present themselves as real Christians but inside they are being devious and manipulative and their goal is to take advantage of people.
Jesus said we will know them by their fruit. "Grapes from thornbushes". In Palestine, the buckle berry bushes produce fruit that look like grapes. However, if you ate one of its berries it would be very bitter. Only by close examination could you tell the difference. "Figs from thistles". The Palestinian thistle plant produces flowers that closely resemble figs. However, if you were to eat one, you would actually experience pain. Examination is a key factor in determination. And it's not always easy to tell the difference.
Acts 20:28-31, "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears."
Paul uses words like, 'keep watch' and 'be on your guard'. This tells me that we have to look out for the wolves. Not that we need to be walking around paranoid or automatically distrusting of everyone, we just need to keep our guard up and not take what everyone says at face value. A few chapters earlier in Acts 17:11, Paul commended the Bereans for going away and studying the scriptures to see if what Paul said was true.
Paul said some of the wolves will come from within. We can make the mistake to think that all the wolves are outside of the church. Some come into the church and make themselves at home. They put on a front; making themselves out to be genuine and gain people's trust. They say the right things and perhaps do some service work.
Then, they start introducing false theology and unbiblical concepts. They begin to sway some of the people into believing them and next thing you know, there's a big mess within the church. We have to be on our guard to recognize when such things are happening so we can get rid of the yeast before it works through the whole batch of dough. If I hear of anyone twisting scripture or introducing anything unbiblical I'll address it.
False teachers introduce things that are contrary to what the bible teaches. And if you aren't familiar with what the bible teaches you can be deceived. Anyone who claims that Jesus has not risen from the dead is a false teacher; regardless of what else they teach-even if it's accurate.
Anyone who teaches that Jesus is not God in the flesh is a false teacher. Anyone who teaches Jesus is a created being is teaching falsehood. Anyone who teaches there's a way to be saved other than Jesus is a false teacher. Paul had some strong language regarding this. The Galatian church was being led astray and Paul addressed that.
Gal. 1:6-10, "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
The specific people Paul was talking about were understood as Jews who taught that you needed to follow the law as well as Jesus. But there are other false gospels and twisted belief systems, some of which have elements of the real gospel but differ in a definitive way. If anyone adds to or takes away a key element of the gospel it's a perverted gospel. If a teaching introduces an idea of who Jesus is that differs from how he is portrayed in the bible then you have a false teaching.
We need to know the word so we can know when it's being incorrectly represented. Unfortunately, there are many Christians who fall short in their knowledge of the bible. Paul Carlson shares this illustration, "George Barna wrote The State of the Church in 2002. He conducted a survey of self-pronounced Christians and here’s what he found about their knowledge of the Bible.
48% could not name the four Gospels. 52% couldn't identify more than two or three of Jesus’ disciples. 60% couldn't name five of the ten Commandments. 61% thought the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham. 71% think, “God helps those who help themselves” is a Bible verse.
Barna said, “Americans revere the Bible but by and large they don’t know what it says. And because they don’t know it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.”
Carlson went on to say, "no wonder 21st century Christians are failing to finish their marathon race. No wonder Christians by the thousands are falling prey to the false teachers of our day. They are being fed junk food instead of feeding themselves on the Word of God".
False teachers come in different forms; not just religious. They can be scientists, philosophers; even everyday people. A false teacher is anyone who introduces concepts that go against biblical truth. Many of the concepts and theories seem reasonable. But, the more we know what the word says, the more easily we can discern when something we're hearing is a falsehood.
2) Good fruit, bad fruit and no fruit.
Fruit refers to what's being produced. What we say and do and the effect it has makes up the fruit; good or bad. Eph. 2:10 says that we were created in Christ Jesus to do good works. We're to be about the king's business. The good fruit is the works we do in the Spirit. There's good fruit and there's bad fruit. Both are listed in Gal. 5:19-23.
The acts of the sinful nature are the bad fruit: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery (corruption), idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions (creating conflict), factions (causing divisions), envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. Paul follows the bad fruit list with the fruit of the Spirit, consisting of: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Bearing bad fruit is destructive-both to us and others. But, when we bear good fruit, it nourishes us and others. We are nourished by being a container of these valuable characteristics and when we share them they bring spiritual health to those we give them to.
Part of our fruit comes from what comes out of our mouths. Heb. 13:15, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.” There are plenty of things that should not come out of the Christian mouth: foul language, lies, coarse joking, lewd speech, things like that.
Instead, we should be speaking words of praise and thanksgiving to God, encouragement to others, appreciation for others, wisdom and knowledge, counsel and kindness and even rebuke when it's done in love. Not that a genuine Christian won't slip up and say something foolish but it won't be their regular pattern of speech.
Jesus said that those who don't bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. That's pretty scary. John the Baptist talked about this.
Luke 3:8-14, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 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.” “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
The people were scared when John talked about being cut down and thrown into the fire so they asked what they could do to prevent that from happening. John answered by telling them they needed to change the way they did things. It may have been commonplace for people who had more than they needed to be selfish so John tells them to share with those in need.
And it was normal for tax collectors to be shady and collect more than necessary so they could take some for themselves. And the soldiers extorted money because they were discontent with their pay. John is telling the people to start doing things honestly, regardless of what everyone else is doing. We would be told the same. Good fruit is doing our work with honesty and integrity. Good fruit is loving others and treating them as we would like to be treated.
The only way we can produce good fruit and escape the risk of being cut off is to remain connected to Jesus.
John 15:1-6, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned."
We remain in Christ through faith and by faith we produce good fruit through what we do in accordance with God's will. That's why Jesus said in Mt. 7:21 that not everyone who calls him Lord will go to heaven. It's only those who do God's will. I can call Jesus my Lord but if there's no real connection to Jesus then there's nothing done in accordance with the will of God-thus-no fruit.
No real faith, no real repentance, no real working of the Holy Spirit in my life-no good fruit. And therefore-I will be cut down and thrown into the fire. This passage applies both collectively and singularly. As God will cut people off who bear no fruit, he also cuts off the branches within each of us that bear no fruit. This pruning process is necessary for growth.
A vine produces what's known as 'sucker shoots'. They start to grow when a branch joins the stem. If allowed to continue, they would dissipate the life of the vine through so many branches that the vine would produce little or no fruit. The vinedresser knows it's important to prune the sucker shoots away to ensure plentiful fruit. The Father's work in our lives is to find the branches in us that are starting to bear fruit and trim off the troublesome shoots so we can bear more fruit.
Psalm 1 starts out by describing the person who doesn't get connected to the wicked but rather delights in the word of God. The result is being like a healthy tree that bears fruit.
Psalm 1:1-3, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."
Staying connected to Jesus, the bible, the fellowship will cause me to flourish and bear the fruit of righteousness. The fruit will be determined by what I'm connected to. A farmer planted two trees on opposite sides of his property. One of the trees was planted to provide a hedge to hide the unsightly view of an old landfill; the other one was to provide shade for him to rest under. It was near a cool mountain stream which ran down beside his field.
As the two trees grew, both began to flower and bear fruit. One day the farmer decided to gather the fruit from the tree nearest his house; the one used to provide a cover from the landfill. As he brought the fruit inside he noticed that it was a little deformed but it still looked edible. Later that evening, while sitting on his porch the farmer took one of the pieces of fruit for a snack.
But as he bit into it, he found it to be extremely bitter, and completely inedible. Casting the fruit aside he looked across the field to the other tree over by the mountain stream. After walking across the field he took a piece of the fruit from the other tree and bit into it; it was sweet and delicious. He gathered several more pieces and took them into the house.
The fruit was greatly affected by the nutrition of the root. Just as the tree that grew by the landfill produced bitter fruit and the tree by the stream produced sweet fruit, so it will be for the Christian. He can put down his roots into the soil by the trash heap, or into the soil by the cool, refreshing stream of Jesus. The root system determines the fruit system.
Another thing that aides in our ability to bear good fruit is adversity. We would think adversity would do the opposite but it can actually result in bearing some good fruit. Think about it-one of the things a plant needs to grow is fertilizer. What is one of the key components of fertilizer? I'll give you a hint-if I say, 'you're full of fertilizer', then I have a feeling you could answer my question.
Even though there's filth in fertilizer, it provides a benefit that helps the plant to grow and bear fruit. Likewise, dealing with adversity in our lives helps us to grow and bear fruit. Rom. 5:3-4, "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." We may not go looking for fertilizer, but when we receive some in our lives we can use it to bring about the fruit of perseverance, character and hope.
And the ability to bear fruit does not diminish as we get older. Psalm 92:12-15, "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
As we age, we get to where we don't feel so fresh and green anymore. But in regards to righteousness, we still are. We continue to be a fruit bearer. Our experiences and what we've learned bear fruit. We share how the Lord has proven himself faithful and loving throughout all the things we've been through over the years. We can help people to trust in the Lord as their Rock.
We can help people to see that even though things happen in life that make no sense and can appear like God had done them wrong, we can proclaim that God is not wicked. Therefore, he can be trusted as one who is loving and compassionate. And he will be there to help us through every tragedy. This is the advantage that the older ones bring to the table. Some people might be older trees but they can still bear good fruit.
