Matthew 7:15-23 True and False Prophets

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 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. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

True and False Disciples

    ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

We know we can’t believe everybody that has an opinion. The question is, who can we believe?

-      People say 9/11 was an inside job

-      People say our president is not a citizen

-      People say Jesus isn’t God

Sometimes the rhetoric sounds reasonable. Sometimes we aren’t sure. Obviously it isn’t always of great concern but…some issues can be “life or death”. But, Jesus says the liars (false prophets) have only one motivation…to destroy us. So, why would we ever risk listening to somebody who does not have our best interests in mind?

Jesus offers some guidance:

1.   We’ll know the truth-tellers by their fruit – Galatians 5:22 says “the fruit (singular) of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”. These are not nine fruits…but one. Good fruit (singular) embodies all these qualities, not just some of them. We must be able to discern these qualities in the people we intend to trust. These are godly characteristics that reveal the source of the message.

2.   We’ll know the truth-tellers by their motivation – It’s not uncommon for me to ask people “why are you telling me this?” There should be only one answer: “because God told me to”. I generally think to ask the question when something about the conversation doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe we should ask it all the time.

If the person on the other end of our conversation can’t pass these two tests beware. It doesn’t mean that they are always wrong. It just means we can’t count on them to be right.

Live boldly out there today…