# 33. 2017 Dev. Mt. 7:17-18. Good Fruit. Read verses 15-20. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Matthew 7:17-18
17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
We continue with the teachings of Jesus in what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus begins his teaching on the “Kingdom of God” with the introductory “Beatitudes”; Kingdom thinking and blessings as the result. In the second section are the ethical expectations of the Kingdom, ending at the end of Ch. 5. Chapter 6 begins the comparison of Jewish legalism and the ways of the world to the Kingdom that is continued to the end of Ch.7.
In our passage today Jesus warns against false prophets, comparing true prophets with false ones. Prophets are a special group of people in that they speak for God. They foretell and tell forth (interpretation). In our tradition the followers of Jesus are considered as prophets, priests and kings; the Spirit of God indwells all of us. However, there is a gift of prophecy that is a different level of understanding but the same Spirit, the same Lord and the same God give different kinds of gifts (Ro.12:4-6). I think that Jesus is talking about those people in this passage; those who claim the gift of prophecy but have not the Spirit and those who claim the gift and do have the Spirit.
How do followers of Jesus know the difference? Jesus uses the analogy of good and bad fruit and good and bad trees. Are we able to recognize the difference? For example, is gathering up a lot of goods and money in a world with so much disparity, good fruit? I think not. Do we as followers of Jesus produce good fruit? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23). Do you produce good fruit?
In this passage bad trees are and remain bad, and good trees are and remain good. Not so for people, by the miracle of God’s salvation in Christ bad will become good and good stays good by the miracle of God’s grace in our lives. Praise the Lord always!
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