I hope you’ve enjoyed our study through Matthew 7 as much as I have. Today, we’ll be reading the section of the chapter that talks about our fruits. If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry. We’ll get into all of it as we go along.
Let’s start in verse 15 and break this passage down piece by piece.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.“ —Matthew 7:15
When I read this verse, it gets me thinking about my position as a pastor. How am I caring for the people God has trusted me to lead, or better yet, serve?
Pastors are leaders, but we’re also servants. You’re a servant, too.
All believers are called to serve other people, whether it be our family members, our coworkers, or others. Jesus came to serve, and we’re supposed to follow His example.
Really, this verse is a good check for all of us: How are we doing serving others?
When I was a child, we hosted an evangelist at the church I was attending. The people who went to church there weren’t rich; honestly, they didn’t have a lot of money. But after the evangelist spoke, everyone passed around the offering plate and gave what they could to support this preacher.
Once the offering was counted, the evangelist got upset. He said there wasn’t enough money, and he threw the offering down. Then he tried to convince the church to pass the plate around again and give him more.
I don’t believe God had a hand in that situation. I think the guy just wanted more money from us. And that’s exactly the type of thing this verse is warning us about.
We have to really pay attention to who we follow. Once we start following someone, there’s an attachment that happens. People become connected. It’s natural.
And it’s easy to be sucked in and bond with someone who isn’t grounded in God’s word. We might overlook some ungodly things they do because we have a connection with them. This can lead us into some bad situations.
When we’re looking for someone to follow, we shouldn’t look at how they appear on the outside. How are they on the inside? Do they really love God?
We can’t always know what’s in a person’s heart, but we can see hints of it, as we’ll read further on.
“You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?“ —Matthew 7:16
Jesus isn’t talking about literal fruits here that come off trees that grow in the ground. He’s using a metaphor, and in His metaphor, we are the tress that produce the fruits. Our fruits are our actions and impacts out in the world, and they reflect what’s in our hearts.
So let me ask you: What do the fruits of your life really look like? Are they good fruits or bad fruits?
Imagine you have a fruit tree, maybe an apple tree or an orange tree, and you go out to collect the fruit. You want it to be good, right? If the tree isn’t producing good fruit, then you’re going to investigate and figure out what you have to do to get the tree to produce something that’s quality. Maybe it needs better soil, more water, or some pruning. Whatever it is, you’ll do it, because you want good fruits.
It’s the same way with us. We need to be looking at the fruits of our own lives and asking ourselves what we can do to produce better ones.
Why is it important that we produce good fruits? Because they reflect who we are. And because we’re leading and serving others. They’re watching us, and we’re setting an example for them.
Some people aren’t ever going to open up God’s word and read it. We’re their Bible. And they’re picking up on who God is based on the way we act, because we claim to represent Him. We ought to attempt to live the best we can so that we can represent God well to those who are watching us.
I was at the Dallas airport last Friday night waiting to get on my flight home, which had been delayed. A man came running down the terminal to a nearby gate, where the plane doors had just been closed. He had missed his flight.
The man went belligerent. He started to rant, rave, and cuss at the airline workers, who just had to stand there and take it. He was so upset about missing his flight that he completely lost his temper.
His fruits didn’t look too good that night. And I’ve seen people who claim to be Christians act the same way in different situations. Something’s wrong there.
Our fruits reflect what’s in our hearts, so we need to make sure that they’re good.
“So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” —Matthew 7:17
The way we grow a good tree and a good life is simply by staying connected to God. That’s how we keep our spiritual lives healthy.
When I’m not staying connected with God, I don’t have good fruits. I don’t act the way I should towards others. That’s not how it’s supposed to be.
Sometimes I have to take inventory and ask myself, “How well am I staying connected with God? Are my fruits a sign of someone who’s close with Him?” We all need to ask ourselves these questions from time to time, because they’re important.
Staying connected with God isn’t complicated. It’s through ways we’ve talked about before, like practicing gratitude, spending time in His word, and keeping up a healthy prayer life. This is how we stay spiritually fit and produce good fruits.
This world needs God, and it needs godly people to tell others about Him. It starts with us.
”A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” Matthew 7:18
Jesus says that a good tree doesn’t bear bad fruit. What He means is that people who follow Him shouldn’t be exhibiting bad fruit and ungodly behaviors. It’s not supposed to happen.
That doesn’t mean we won’t ever fail. We are human, after all, and it happens to all of us. But if we’re staying connected with God and allowing Him to form and prune us, we’re going to become more and more like Him.
We’re going to produce good fruits. This is a part of spiritual growth, and it’s something we should all strive towards.
“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” —Matthew 7:19
I know it’s not a pleasant subject, but this verse makes me think of the reality of hell.
One day, God’s going to judge each and everyone one of us, and we’re going to go to one of two places: heaven or hell. That’s where we’ll spend eternity.
Good works won’t get us to heaven; only accepting salvation from Jesus can do that. But like we talked about last week, once we’re on His path, we should be exhibiting the good fruits that come along with it. We want to be good trees that bear good fruit.
“Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” —Matthew 7:20
People can tell what kind of people we are by our fruits. The ways we treat others and impact the world reflect who we are. Do we love God and serve other people? Or do we live for ourselves and treat others poorly? Our fruits show the state of our hearts.
Have you ever ridden in an Uber car? I take them all the time to and from work sites when I’m traveling. And every time I finish a ride, I have to rate the driver on a scale from one to five. Did they do a good job or a bad job?
I recently learned from an Uber driver that the rating system goes the other way, too. Drivers actually rate the people who ride around in their cars! I was amazed when the driver told me about this. And of course, I had to ask him what my rating was.
I was hoping for a perfect five-star rating, but it turns out I got a 4.7. “4.7? What did I do wrong? Why don’t I have a five?” I asked the driver. I wanted a perfect score and couldn’t think of anything I’d done to deserve a lower rating.
He said not to worry about it. I probably just had a driver at some point who was having a bad day and gave me a one-star rating based on nothing I’d done. He told me that no rider has a perfect score, so it really wasn’t a big deal.
But I did worry about it. I felt like I had been unfairly rated. And no one likes being treated unfairly, even though it happens to all of us sometimes. It felt like I had been ripped off. My perfect score had been taken from me!
But then I thought, “Could it have been me?” Maybe I was having an off day and didn’t treat a driver the way I should have. Could that have caused them to give me a bad rating? It’s possible.
Learning that I was being rated by the drivers caused me to be more conscious. I tried to be nicer to the drivers and make sure I got a good rating from them the next time.
The point of my story is this: We are being rated based on our fruits. We can’t check an app to see what our score is, but we can do a heart check. We can look back on the way we’ve been acting and ask ourselves some simple questions:
What kind of fruits have I been producing lately? What kind of rating would God give me based on them? And what can I do to start producing better fruits going forward?
That’s what I’ve got for this week. Thanks for reading! I hope we’ll all get out there and try to produce good fruits for the Lord. I know I feel inspired to after reading Jesus’s words here in Matthew 7. Maybe you will be, too.
To your fitness!