Well hello and welcome back my beautiful family! As always, it is an absolute pleasure to have you here with me today. Not too long ago I found myself reading over Matthew 7 and as I read verses 15 through 20 something clicked on me like it hadn't clicked before. I was simply reading these verses and all of a sudden I felt as if I was reading them and understanding them for the very first time, have you had this happen to you? Well, it happened to me and, of course, here I am sharing it with you. After all, isn't it awesome when we learn new things about the Bible and go share with our brothers and sisters in Christ?
As it is our tradition, below is this post's video which is but a summary of what we will be discussing in more detail throughout the post. If you're more of a reading person then no worries, skip the video and keep reading. Whether the video, the lecture, or both... let's study!
Did you watch the video? What are your thoughts? When you studied these verses before, did you read them as I got to read them recently? Feel free to share your thoughts by contacting us or in our open Forum. Ok, enough talking. Let's get to it!
But first... the Bible
So I mentioned I was reading Matthew 7, specifically verses 15-20, just so we're on the same page, let's read these verses together:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
You have likely heard and/or read these verses before, no? The portion of the chapter we just read is but a small piece of Jesus' masterpiece speech: the "Sermon of the Mount". If you have not read these verses before, you are missing out (and you need to read Matthew 5-7)!! Now, just by reading these verses it is very clear that Jesus is using an analogy, a metaphor, to convey a message. Nothing extraordinary here, Jesus loved using stories and analogies to help convey the message more clearly. In this particular verse, it is quite obvious that the trees represent us, humans, and the fruits represent our characters, our thoughts, our "outputs". You're with me, no?
Now, because we're not just merely reading but actually digging Bible truth we know we can't just stop at this conclusion, right? Here's where it gets interesting... the next best question we can ask if we want to honestly know what Jesus is saying here is: "So, what are 'good fruits'?", right? If he's telling us that is not the inside what defines us humans but what's inside and that what is inside is the 'fruit'... how do good fruits, and even bad fruits, look like? As I've said repeatedly over many different posts and videos, the Bible is self-explanatory... meaning, we only need the Bible to explain the Bible. Think about it, it just has to be. So, if we find here Jesus speaking about the fruits of the inner character, then the question must be asked, where in the Bible are these fruits (good and/or both good and bad) defined? As expected, God has left an answer for us right there in the Bible.
The Fruits...
In the book of Galatians we find the following verse:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..." - Galatians 5:22-23
Are the good fruits clear now? God's law is all about love, God's himself is love and he asks from us to love one another and to love him... no surprise that the good fruits Jesus is talking about are all centered in love for God, love for others, and love to ourselves. In James 1:17 we read that God doesn't change, there's no variation in Him; these verses confirm yet, once again, that statement. God's ultimate goal is for us to love as He loves so that we can all share together that love. That is why the fruits of those who have His spirit are love-centered and good.
What about the bad fruits? Well, right before the good fruits are defined in Galatians 5 we read the following:
"Now the works of the flesh [bad fruits] are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." - Galatians 5:19-21
** "bad fruits" added for clarification.
Is the list not also centered in character traits?
Good fruits = good character traits (love-centered)
Bad fruits = bad character traits (self-centered)
Bets are that the majority of the world's population believe that the antonym of 'love' is...? Did you said "hate"? If you did, no worries, many of us (myself included) thought that too at some point. That answer, however, is wrong. The antonym of 'love' is not 'hate', is 'selfishness' or 'self-centeredness'. Love gives and seeks out the good for others, self-centeredness wants and seeks out the good one oneself. Simple as that.
Now that we have defined what good and bad fruits are, now I can finally share the connection that I read while studying the verses in Matthew 7 that I hadn't done before. Ready?
The link...
If you read the Bible from some of the most commonly read translations like the New King James Version (NKJV), New International Version (NIV), or the New Living Translation (NLT), verses 15-20 are in their own little sub-section and separate from the following verses 21-23. In my case I've always read from either the NIV or the NKJV. So, quite literally for as long as I can remember, I've been treating in my mind verses 15-20 as a complete separate statement from verses 21-23... and then, it finally hit me a few days ago.
Let's take a look at the verses as a whole as opposed to have them be separate sub-sections (which are man-made divisions to help clarify and organize sub-topics):
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" - Matthew 7:15-23
I have marked in red the beautiful link between both passages. Do you see it? A while back I wrote about Matthew 7:21-23 [read it here] and I myself hadn't seen the link between these "sub-sections" before... even though I even wrote about it indirectly. I wrote about the danger of self-deception which is the thought that one is "good-to-go" with God but in reality, one is not. I hadn't defined how does being "good" with God looks like... and now we have. The link, the connection between these two "sub-sections" (verses 15-20 and 21-23) is that those deceiving themselves are people who come to church, preach, feed some homeless people, carry a Bible... but their fruits are fruits of self-centeredness. The fruits that each of us bear and carry are what determines whether we have been deceiving ourselves or not. It's that simple. Jesus didn't split the topic of fruits and the topic of self-deceit... it was all along one continuum statement. The pharisees at the time checked all the right boxes outwardly for the Jews and everyone thought they were the example to follow if one was to enter heaven with God... but what was going on inside? They were jealous of Jesus, they nurtured hate and resentment, and, among other bad fruits, they plotted to murder Jesus. That's is the link my friend.
Jesus has already given us the recipe for us looking ourselves in the mirror and see if we're deceiving ourselves or not. Where are our priorities? In ourselves or in mirroring to the extent possible Jesus? God has no interest in the image we reflect, but in the thoughts and inner actions that nobody but He can see.
"But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'" - 1 Samuel 16:7
Do we understand each other?
I highly recommend you take a look at the post we did titled "The Christian Danger Zone" which dealt with Matthew 7:20-23.
Closing... but first
What fruits are you growing inside you my dear friend? Good fruits or bad fruits? Jesus was clear in that dressing appropriately to church, singing in church, preaching, feeding the homeless, giving tithes and offerings... all these thing do nothing for our salvation unless what flows from our hearts is love and not self-centeredness. Here's something you probably don't hear everyday: Right now, odds are that your fruits are bad fruits. No, I'm not judging, I'll be the first one to admit that mine are bad too. We are all humans and we are all born in sin which is a disease of self-centeredness; it simply is our nature. But no worries, here comes God to the rescue...
Read Galatians 5:22-23 again. Note that the verse states: "the fruit OF THE SPIRIT is...". You see? The 'good fruits' are not our fruits, but fruits of the Spirit. This means that the only way for you and me to have good fruits come out of ourselves is to connect with He who can put these good fruits in our hearts... God... Jesus. We NEED Him if we are to enter the path of letting go of our self-centeredness and learn to love as He did. That's the only way. Any self-attempt to bear good fruits without God in the heart will always lead, one way or the other, to make things about ourselves. Think about it. If we want to enter the Kingdom of God, we need not to concern ourselves with the outer image we project, but with what is going on inside of us... and only God can help us truly change the latter.
So there you go :) Had you read these verses like I just realized they connect? Study, read, ask, seek... because not understanding the importance of bearing good fruits has eternal consequences.
Until next one my friend!
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