Upside Down - Real Faith Produces Real Fruit
We had two apple trees that grew close together, and a massive grapevine that grew like a canopy over the two trees. Growing up, my brothers, sister, and I called it the “Apple Tree and Grape Tree.”
We would spend hours climbing those trees and getting lost in the thick branches and grapevines. The vines were so thick that we could crawl across the top from one tree to the other. In the fall, we would eat deep purple grapes that grew in dense clusters, and those sweet apples. We still call it the “Apple Tree and Grape Tree” today. We knew the grapes did not grow on the apple trees, but they were so intertwined, it looked like they did.
We live in an age that seems to value platform over integrity, of popularity over character. And some of the most dangerous people to the Church today aren’t atheists; they’re gifted people with no fruit.
Matthew 7:15-20 (NLT2)
Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
The Jewish people had a little more insight into why Jesus connected False Prophets with buckthorns and thistles.
In the days of Jesus, there was a plant called the buckthorn. It grew small, round, black berries that looked like grapes. But – they weren’t grapes. They were bitter, and if you ate enough of them, they could be toxic. A thistle could grow tall and produce round seed pods that might appear to be a fig tree from a distance. And people would see them from a distance, think it was a fig tree, but their eyes deceived them. The Jewish people understood that there can be a resemblance between what is true and what is false. Things can look similar, but are different. And the same could be said about false teachers, and God-called Pastors.
In this passage, Jesus gives us three layers to think about: Perceived Image, Internal Motivation, and Accurate judgment of the actions.
IMAGE CAN FOOL PEOPLE, FRUIT NEVER DOES
Image can fool people, but fruit never does. We have all heard the headlines about False Prophets. The headline typically begins with, “Pastor arrested for…” Sometimes they are arrested for embezzling money from the church. Sometimes they are arrested for abusing children, domestic violence, or for murder. But I have never read a headline, “Pastor Arrested for being a False Prophet.”
There ARE false prophets and false teachers in the church today. They smile. They serve. They use the right words. They do the right things. On the outside, they look like you and me. We trust them. They talk about love, grace, and truth. They share Bible verses. They say, “God told me,” or “the Lord put this on my heart.” They use just enough TRUTH to convince people they can be trusted. They speak with just enough PASSION to stir the room. They sound believable.
But, when a false teacher teaches about Jesus, to them, Jesus is simply a prop to fill their pocket with money, gratify sexual desires, and inflate their ego. Like a wolf preys on sheep to stay alive, false prophets prey on followers of Jesus.
Jesus never wanted you to get hurt. So, He warns us and He tells us that we can identify false prophets by their fruit. But – identifying the fruit of false prophets and teachers is hard, because the actions of a God Called Pastor and a False Teacher overlap…
For example:
A God called Pastor wants to write a book to reach millions of people with the message of Jesus. But a false teacher may want to write a book to reach millions of people with the message of Jesus to make millions of dollars.
Do you see the difference? They both want to write a book, but their motives are different.
Or…a God called Pastor wants to see his church filled with people surrendering to the Lord and following Jesus, but a false teacher wants to see his church filled with people surrendering to the Lord to feel good about himself…
They both want their church filled with people surrendering to the Lord, but their motives are different. For the False Prophet, everything that looks good and correct from a distance is actually rooted in SELFISHNESS.
Just like the thistle pods looked like figs from a distance and people were fooled until they got up close, so it is with false teachers and God-called leadership within the church. Yet, many followers of Jesus would confess they often feel fake. They serve because they feel obligated to, rather than because they want to. They sing worship songs, but their heart isn’t really in it. They give financially, but they give reluctantly, not joyfully.
So, how can followers of Jesus distinguish themselves from a false teacher? If the motives of a false prophet and a follower of Jesus are wrong, are we all going to be gathered up and pitched into the fire?
WHAT GROWS IN YOUR LIFE REVEALS WHAT RULES YOUR HEART
Matthew 7:17-18 (NLT2)
A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.
If a false teacher can be identified by the fruit of SELFISHNESS, then the fruit of a true follower of Jesus must be TRANSFORMATION.
God is always producing CHANGE in the hearts and minds of followers of Jesus. You may struggle with selfishness for a day, for a moment, for a few hours, or even for a season, but if you are truly a follower of Jesus, you will be CHANGING. The Bible calls that slowly DYING to SELF.
Luke 9:23 (NLT2)
Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.
A follower of Jesus daily grows more compassionate, more generous, and more kind every single day. They are not perfect. But they DEMONSTRATE CHANGE on a DAILY basis. CHANGE that occurs when nobody is watching. And if you DIE to SELFISH ways every day, you REVEAL that you have the Spirit of God living in you. If CHANGE and TRANSFORMATION are growing in your life, that reveals that Jesus RULES your life because you are CHANGING daily and BECOMING more like Him.
So, don’t beat yourself up if you have ever felt like you are faking a smile, or serving others inside the church, because you feel obligated to. Just grow more determined to keep CHANGING and DYING to yourself. Let the spirit of God continue to produce change in you, and you will prove what rules your heart.
Jesus ends this passage with a rather sobering thought - a tree that doesn't produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. He said fruitless trees get cut down and burned.
If you are a follower of Jesus, you do not have to worry about getting cut down and burned. If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, you will not experience eternal hell. But there is a judgment that all followers of Jesus will experience.
The Judgment is not about salvation. We are already saved. We are already in the Father’s hand. We are already secure in heaven. For instance, those who trusted in Jesus as their Savior last weekend have been saved from the eternal fire of hell, and they will be in Heaven. They will not be cast into an eternal fire.
But, there is another fire that all followers of Jesus will pass through. Listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote about that fire:
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (NLT2)
But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.
There’s a day coming when Jesus is going to JUDGE the GOOD and EVIL I did with what he GAVE me. There will be a FIRE that all my WORKS will pass through. And, I will only be REWARDED for the WORK that SURVIVES the FLAMES. So, if I did something GOOD but DID it for RECOGNITION, that WORK will not survive the flame. IF I traveled to Chan-Chen and installed stoves for the Mayan people because I loved God and wanted to serve selflessly, that work will make it through the fire and I will be rewarded.
Paul talks about that day like a construction site inspection. We are all building something with our lives. Some of it’s fireproof and some of it’s fake. How do I know what good works will last? When Paul described what really matters, he said in 1 Cor. 13:3
1 Corinthians 13:3 (NLT2)
If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
That means, if we want to ensure that we are rewarded for the good works we do on this earth, do good rooted in real love because…
LOVE IS FIREPROOF
When the fire hits, whatever I built, whatever I did, if it was done in LOVE, it will still be standing. Whatever I faked gets burned to the ground. I won’t get to decide what makes it through that fire...He does.
I could preach a thousand sermons and still walk away empty-handed if I built it all for applause. I could lead a church and still miss the reward if I cared more about the room being full than loving people and leading them to Jesus.
Paul goes on to describe what things will last forever…
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NLT2)
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
So don’t waste what you’ve been given. Don’t live for the image. Don’t settle for easy. Don’t waste your time with false teachers. Don’t let them lead you astray.
Keep changing. Keep growing. Keep dying to self. Keep serving. Keep giving. Make sure it is rooted in faith, hope, and love. And you will help turn this world Upside Down for Jesus.