Lord Jesus teaches specifically in Matthew 7:15-20 about false prophets and teachers, however, we can take the teaching principle about character and bearing fruit to apply to our relationships today. Let’s take a look at Matthew 7:15-18
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
“Beware” is a warning from the Lord. He is telling the disciples there are those among you who are false, (leading you to believe they are one thing when they are another). So beware, be forewarned, pay attention, and be sober!
Also, notice the analogy Lord Jesus uses in the description is not a superfluous one. He compares these false people to ravenous wolves! (Coming to greedily feed on you).
The good news is the Lord gives us help by teaching us this principle of discernment and character (fruit). I heard a pastor say once that we need to use our sanctified imagination when we are reading the Bible. Can you imagine the disciples as they listen to Jesus with wide open mouths and fear in their eyes, “Wow Lord, did you say ravenous wolves? How will we know the wolves? How can we tell who they are?” Lord Jesus teaches us the principle on how to discern or spot them: v. 16
You will know them by their fruits.
He goes on to simplify for the disciples. He says:
Do men gather grapes from thorn-bushes or figs from thistles?
Wow! LOL. In other words, are we going to a thorn bush thinking we aren’t going to get pricked by its thorns?! Another way we can say this is, are we assuming that we are going to get something soft and cuddly from a person who is more like a porcupine? I find this analogy personally kind of funny and it always makes me laugh when I read it. I can imagine the Lord possibly joking about this as He is teaching because it should be so obvious…LOL. I believe Jesus had a sense of humor when He taught.
To bring it closer to home for us, we could say today for example, do we go to a tax accountant and assume he will give our car a tune-up? The answer would be of course not. If he is a tax accountant then we go to him for tax advice not help on our car. However back to Jesus’ point, let’s keep it real, isn’t it amazing sometimes to what, or who we go to for certain things? Are we looking to a certain kind of person to fulfill something that his or her tree does not produce?
If the fruit is not on their tree then no matter how much we want it to be there, it will not be magically produced for us. We either need to wait for the seed to be produced in God’s timing or realize the fruits we are looking for may not have been seeded in the first place and keep moving. Can someone say Amen?
I pray you are being encouraged and learning by the Holy Spirit! Are you being blessed? Would love to hear your comments below.
Leave a Reply