recognising fruit (matt7:16-20)

Matthew 7:16-20

You will recognise them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognise them by their fruits.

If the false prophets are difficult to recognise because they come dressed as sheep, then how do we know them? Jesus repeats the point a number of times - by their fruits. This might not be immediately obvious, but the inward position of a person will eventually be revealed, it will come out. The tree might not look diseased until the bad fruit appears. A teacher may look good, say the right sort of things, even use the bible, but if the fruit is bad, it shows the condition of the heart. What is the fruit we should be looking for? Not worldly standards like popularity but the sort of thing Jesus has been talking about in the sermon on the mount - humility, meekness, selflessness, repentance, truth, seeking God. This stuff will be difficult to evaluate if we are not living life with people. If we are living life alongside each other, then the fruit is seen.