Fruit Inspector

“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” – Matthew 7:15-20 (NLT)

Did you notice that just before Jesus begins explaining about fruit identification, He warned His listeners about false prophets? False prophets were as big a problem back then as they are today. Some of the Temple hierarchy were not who they presented themselves to be, and Jesus wanted to make sure that they could be spotted. And today, some false prophets have so honed their craft that they cannot be easily recognized even by their actions and that is why it is so important for us to become fruit inspectors, not to condemn but to warn and be warned.

But how can we identify the fruit in others when we are not sure of the fruit we’re bearing? First of all we have to properly learn about the fruit we are expected to bring forth and bear it ourselves. We are to inspect others' fruit as well as our own. 

From Jesus’ words, it is clear that we are to bear good fruit, not bad, unless you want to be “chopped down and thrown into the fire”. This good fruit has to do with the Christ-like characteristics, we as His followers must display. The problem is, we live in a society consumed by greed, selfishness, pride, envy, malice, jealousy and hate, where everyone is trying to outdo the other but if we are sincere about our desire to be like Jesus, bearing the fruit of which He speaks, then we need to set aside self-interests. 

The truth is, good fruit does not originate with us but comes from Christ’s own Spirit. It is the fruit of the Spirit, a gift from God which manifests when we abide in Jesus Christ, and it is made up of nine elements,

“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” – Galatians 5:22,23 (NLT)

One fruit with nine parts and every one of them must be cultivated in us if we are to reflect Jesus’ character. We cannot do anything on our own to manifest this fruit, the fruit of the Spirit can only be developed in us through His working within us. It’s a necessary on-going transformation process that can be very painful at times.

These elements were lost to us when Adam abdicated his position that day in the Garden. And in his attempts to compensate for his loss of fruit and hide from the presence of God, he covered himself with leaves. Just like the fig tree that Jesus cursed was full of leaves but no fruit…so were Adam and Eve, immediately after eating the forbidden fruit and so it is with the religious false prophets, they are full of leaves but no fruit.

Like Jesus we must be able to see through the leaves, which represent a false piety – a religious covering, a hiding from the presence of God, but God will always expose leaf wearers…He sees through everything, there’s no hiding from Him. God wants us to see past the leaves, observe the fruit of others, and inspect it carefully and if there’s anything that does not appear as it should, we need to “Beware”.

Amen†

Fruit Inspector

Shelley Johnson July 6, 2017