"You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" (Matthew 7:16)
Beloved, Sometimes we are confronted with truths that are so simple that we wonder how we ever missed them. Matthew 7: 16 is one such truth. Jesus tells us simply that we would not expect to gather good fruit from plants that are known to produce nothing but thorns and thistles. Makes perfect sense doesn’t it? Jesus tells us this to illustrate the truth that people are the same. People are known by the kinds of fruit they bear. Some produce good fruit and some produce bad. In the same way we would not expect to find good fruit on a plant that is known to produce only thorns, we should not expect to find good fruit in the lives of those who are “thorny.” What I mean is that when we look at a thorn bush, we recognize it for what it is. It is a thorn bush and because we know what it is we don’t expect to find grapes, or pears or apples on that bush. When it comes to people the same is true. There are outward appearances that tell us what kind of person someone is. Just like a thorn bush that has sharp thorns to keep people at bay and the absence of any good fruit, people who are “sharp or pointy” in an effort to keep others at arms distance or people who have an absence of good fruit in their lives bear the tell-tale signs of who they really are. Again, this makes perfect sense doesn’t it? The confusion occurs when the thorn bush begins to tell everyone that it is really a grape vine. They want to be part of the club and they want to be accepted by the other plants around them. Perhaps they can put on the appearance of being something “good” while concealing the fact that they aren’t really producing any fruit that is normally expected for a grape vine. If the evaluation is left at the surface level where we take the thorn bush’s word, then the charade’ will go undetected but if a genuine evaluation is conducted to compare what the thorn bush actually produces with what is expected for grapes, then we will see very clearly and quickly that the thorn bush is not a grape vine or a fig tree. So, why aren’t we putting into practice something that seems so simple? Perhaps the biggest lie the devil has sold the church in recent years has been the idea that we are not to judge one another. Just last week I drove past a church whose reader board read, “Judge not lest ye be judged, (Matthew 7: 1).” So many people have taken that to mean that we should not ask questions about people’s fruit bearing and just take their word. If they say they are a Christian, we should leave it at that and trust that they are regardless of how they live their lives. In other words if the thorn bush says it’s a grape vine, just accept their profession and move on; after all the Bible says we should not judge. However, just 16 verses later Jesus gives us the simple truth about the evidence of who you are by the fruit in your life. Could it be that what Jesus meant when He said “judge not…” was that we should not use one standard of measure when we look at ourselves and then a stricter standard when we look at others? Well, yes; as a matter of fact that is exactly what Jesus says in verse two. “The standard you use will be the standard by which you are judged!” Jesus never intended for us to throw the baby out with the bathwater. He never intended for us to stop discerning the fruit in people’s lives and just trust that when they said they were a follower of Christ that they actually were despite all tangible evidence to the contrary. Jesus wanted us all to see that everyone ultimately will be judged by the same standard; His word. Jesus wanted us all to see that if we will follow what He has already told us about people and their fruit, we can see who the thorn bushes and grape vines really are and start expecting the right kind of fruit from each. How would all this change the way we share the Bible’s simple truths with people? If we understood that the reason some “professed Christians” are so anti-relational and have an obvious absence of good fruit was because they were really lost in their sinful nature and not just “carnal,” then perhaps we would pray fervently that God would transform that thorn bush into a beautiful grape vine for His glory. Amen?
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