You Shall Know Them By Their Fruit

You will know them by their fruit; The words of Jesus in Matthew 7:16, are often quoted in isolation, and many times in a judgmental way when looking at the deeds and works of others… “Haven’t you seen everything that this guy is doing? Jesus said you will know them by their fruit!” is what is commonly said, when being critical of others.

This kind of judgmental examining of people’s performance is not what Jesus had in mind when he said these words, however. And as we examine the additional things He said along with verse 16, we can see this clearly.

So what I want to share with you today, is what the often misunderstood verse of scripture truly means, and by seeing it, we will see another amazing aspect of Jesus Christ.

What Message Are You Listening To?

I’m going to describe a scenario for you… this is a scenario that is played out literally millions of times every week. A person goes to a church building, faithfully, each week; sometimes even twice or three times per week, and dutifully listens to a message, from someone whom they have venerated, and allowed to speak into their mind… someone whom they have allowed to shape the most important part of themselves; the most important part of their lives, because it will affect their eternal destiny.

And since this is so important, you would think that precisely what message is being taught, would be of utmost importance… but for many people; the message is secondary, or even tertiary to other aspects of the “church” (and yes I’m using air-quotes here).

The people I have talked to, have told me that many enjoy going to a church building, for the social aspect of it; they get to see their friends, and participate in activities, and have food… the message isn’t even foremost on their minds – to them, it’s just another part of the social club experience – and my friend, that is dangerous.

It is dangerous because these precious people, are allowing their very beliefs to be shaped by a message each week, that they aren’t even examining against scripture… they let it slide, just because they like the people, they like the atmosphere, they enjoy the social club, and they feel like they “belong” and so they don’t give much thought to what they are actually feeding their soul – or just let it slide because to them, it just isn’t important enough.

So today, what I want to share with you, is what the scriptures say about the true Gospel message, and to show you the genuine article, so that you can know without any doubt, what the true message is.