What Is Your Fruit?

Matthew 7:20

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Jesus warned the disciples about false prophets by saying you will know them by their fruit. Fruit is the result of the tree that it grows on. Therefore, you can define the kind of tree it is by the fruit that grows on it. I don't see oranges on a tree and say that it is an apple tree. The fruit defines the tree. You may not know immediately what the tree is, but you will know when fruit grows on it. Jesus recommended not listening to false prophets because by listening to them, you will become like them because you are consuming their fruit.

Now, you are producing fruit in your life. You cannot live life and not have fruit. Defining the fruit of someone may not always be easy, but everyone has fruit. This truth reminds us that there are many types of fruit. Let me share some observations about the several different types of fruit.

First, there is fruit of false doctrine. Jesus was primarily warning the disciples not to listen or partake of the teaching of false prophets. Jesus said that their fruit tells on them. You can easily see the fruit of false prophets by the doctrine they teach and preach. When someone teaches and preaches false doctrine, you can be assured they are false prophets. Beware of consuming the fruit of false prophets, for you cannot consume their fruit and not become like them.

Second, there is the fruit of compromise and change. Sometimes, when looking at someone, you cannot define their positional stances. The reason you can't define them is because their stance is change. When a person’s positional stance is change, their fruit will always be compromise. You cannot continue to change and not compromise. You must beware of people who don't want to tell you what they believe. Sometimes, people cannot tell you what they believe because they don't believe anything, which always leads to the fruit of compromise. The believer is not to change; the believer is to be transformed into the image of Christ. Therefore, beware that you don't consume the fruit of those who change because your fruit eventually becomes compromise.

Third, there is the fruit of no fruit. This is a dangerous fruit because its destination is death. There are many believers who produce no fruit, and their testimony for Christ is dead. You are producing fruit, but the fruit of some is no fruit, and this always leads to worldliness, sin, and death.

Fourth, there is the fruit of the righteous, which is winning souls; this is the fruit that God desires. You may not be doing everything right, but you can produce souls that you led to Christ. The one fruit that always outlives bad fruit that is produced is the fruit of winning souls. You will find that if you win souls, you will become a tree that leaves behind good for many people.

My friend, what type of fruit are you producing? You are producing fruit, and you ought to be a tree that produces souls being saved. My warning to you is that you will only produce fruit from which you consume. If you consume fruit from a bad tree, you will eventually produce fruit that is bad. However, if you consume fruit from the tree that wins souls and lives right, your fruit will be that of winning souls and doing right. Your fruit always becomes what you consume, so consume fruit from a good tree, and you will produce good fruit for others to consume.