In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus offers a critical warning and guide to believers:
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
As Christians, we often discuss what it means to bear good fruit. We point out that those in Christ bear “good fruit,” and can so be identified as His. We talk about what the fruits of the Spirit are, and what they might look like in our lives. Sometimes we judge people for a perceived lack of good fruit.
But we don’t often talk about rotten fruit.
When I was little, my mother—rightly—impressed upon me that discernment about someone’s spiritual condition should be exercised with great care, if at all. To tell someone who claimed to be a Christian that they were not—or to assume that someone was a Christian when I didn’t know their relationship with Jesus—was to venture a knowledge that belonged solely to God. “Only God truly knows what’s in someone’s heart,” she reminded me. “We’re just people. Not God.”
This is true. But it’s also true that Christians bear fruit that identifies them with Christ, and the world bears fruit that is not of Christ. We may not be able to discern the state of people’s souls the way God can, but we do have eyes. And it is our eyes that can teach us much about what kind of fruit we witness, and what that means about how we should act and what we should trust.
Because it is important to note the context of Christ’s teaching here. He is warning about false prophets, lying teachers: people who claim Christ but are not Christ’s. And why is it important to recognize these people? Not so we can make a definitive declaration about the state of their souls (however evident that might be), but so believers can know who to trust.
As it was then, so it is now.
So what, then, qualifies as bad fruit? Thistles and thorns, Jesus says. In practice, rotten fruit looks like the inverse of the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We might reasonably then conclude that rotten fruit includes the following: hatred or indifference, despair, dissension and discord, impetuosity, meanness and cruelty, wickedness, faithlessness, violence and harshness, and lack of restraint.
What does this look like in your church, in your state, in your nation? Where do you see this fruit? From whom does it emerge and evolve? What fruit does this tree claim to bear? What fruit does it actually bear?
In practice, discerning fruit looks a lot like one of my most shameful memories of elementary school, one that hinges on two girls: Amber and Katie.
Katie was wonderful and kind, a good person and a good friend. I liked her very much and we always had fun together. Amber was also fun, but what my mother called “a wild child.” She liked to gossip. She sometimes shared things that weren’t true. She made up stories and told so many she forgot who she told them to. She wasn’t good at keeping secrets.
Katie’s mother decided to plan a surprise party for Katie. I was the only kid in school she trusted with the information, because I was Katie’s best friend. Only the other mothers of our other friends knew. She made me promise not to share the information with a single soul except my mother. I told her I wouldn’t.
And then I went and told Amber.
To this day, I wonder why I did that. I knew it was wrong. I think I was just excited: eager to know something no one else knew, eager to feel special. Excited to be the one with information. Maybe I wanted to seem cool in front of a girl that seemed, to me, much cooler than I had ever been. At any rate, I ran to Amber and I told her I had a secret. A huge, triple-big-deal secret. And I could tell her, maybe, but she had to promise swear cross her heart and hope to die not to tell anyone else ever. Ever. This wasn’t like all the other secrets she told. This was a secret-secret.
Amber promised. I shared the secret. And then she told Katie.
I found this out because, the next day when I went to school, no one would talk to me. It took some time to figure it out, but then I discovered that being ostracized was my punishment for ruining Katie’s big surprise: it was all over school, and I was a big-mouth, and Katie was sad her surprise had been ruined.
What strikes me even now is that I immediately realized that I couldn’t blame Amber. I knew exactly who she was. I saw her fruit, knew her fruit, and trusted in her despite knowing. My consequence was ruining something special for a friend, and setting my own elementary-school social life on fire in the process.
We still do this now.
We hear people tell us earnestly they are Christians doing Christian Things. Never mind that we don’t see the fruit of the Spirit. Never mind all the rotten fruit, either. That’s excused away or justified. We’re told we didn’t have the appropriate context, or it was a momentary slip, or it’s in service of a greater good. We’re told we don’t understand. We’re told rotten fruit is not rotten.
Sometimes we let ourselves believe it, because—I think—we want to bend God to serve our needs. We want something out of a situation that we can get by pretending rotten fruit isn’t rotten.
But we know in our hearts. We always know. I frequently hear the phrase “when someone shows you who they are, believe them.” Amen. When you see the fruit someone bears, believe it. Guard your heart and your trust. Be wary of those you receive as a shepherd.
Certainly only God knows the inner condition of a person’s heart. But we can see the inner fruit, and God asks us to respond accordingly. Keep your eyes open.
Samaritan's Song 