Fruit...

Image courtesy of Ambro

"So then, you will know them by their fruits."--Matthew 7:20.  Jesus, describing those who appear to be righteous but as stated in Matthew 7:15 "inwardly are ravenous wolves."  Jesus goes on to say that we can recognize these ravenous wolves by their fruit and that only a good tree can bear good fruit and only a bad tree bears bad fruit.    

Fruit.  Consider the image above.  A basket full of delicious looking fruit.  We all know that not all fruit looks that good all the time.  Even when we are shopping for said fruit, we look to see if it is good or not for eating.  Many times good and bad fruit will have a distinctive appearance or distinctive marks on it that are a good indicator of whether or not they are bad.  When we look at the context of Matthew 7:15-23, we see that the fruit of those who claim to be followers of Christ are also good indicators of whether or not they really are.  

Fruit.  Earlier in Matthew 7 Jesus was talking about watching how we judge.  One way to make good judgment calls on people is looking at the fruit they bear.  As Christians, we need to be reminded that Christianity is a growing process.  In the same way a tree starts out with a small little seed and grows into something beautiful and bears fruit, so must Christians do the same.  Our walk with God begins with the seed of  the gospel message and then should go on to grow into something beautiful but the question is how can that seed grow into something beautiful and bear fruit?

Fruit.  In Matthew 5:17, Jesus describes the good tree and the bad tree.  A seed, in order for it to grow into what it was intended to grow into must receive proper nourishment such as sunlight, water, and plant food.  So, as Christians we too must receive the proper nourishment if we expect to grow and bear good fruit.  This nourishment is received by studying (not just reading, there is a difference) God's Word, being willing to ask questions about what has been studying and most importantly being diligent (2 Peter 1:5-9) to apply what has been studied in our own lives.  It honestly pains me to see people who have been Christians for years and who are still not much beyond the seed stage in their walk with God.  But the fact is some who claim to be Christians are either going to bear bad fruit or good fruit.  

Fruit.  Whether or not Christians bear good fruit is dependent ultimately on their heart.  Bearing fruit is a heart issue.  Something we can do for ourselves is to make an assessment.  Where are we in our walk with God?  Are we more mature in our walk with Him than we were six months ago? A year ago?  Bearing fruit is not restricted to soul winning as some might claim.  Bearing fruit is building on the foundation and being diligent to employ the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 and also the Christian virtues found in 2 Peter 1:5-9 in our own lives.  Employing these simple qualities in our walk with God can make a world of difference among our brethren and can even help bring lost souls to an obedience of the gospel.  But again, this is dependent on the heart.  Jesus said we will know them by their fruit. 

Fruit.  So just like we examine fruit in the grocery store, if someone claims to be a Christian, their fruit is a good indicator if they are truly desiring to follow Christ.  Again, a tree does not bear fruit overnight so this is why we must be patient with people.  We have a responsibility to give people, especially new Christians the proper nourishment they need so that they will bear good fruit for the kingdom of God down the road. 

So my encouragement to you is this.  In what's left of this week, make it a point to to go out of your way to encourage someone in their walk with God by maybe studying a passage of Scripture, such as this one, with them.  May we all be diligent to bear good fruit.  In closing I leave you with the sobering fact that Jesus closes this discussion with in Matthew 7:21 -- "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter." (NASB)

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!