Knowing a Tree by Its Fruit
Month 5: Kingdom Living (Part 2) · Heart Matters
Today's Scripture
Read together: Matthew 7:15-20 & Luke 6:43-45
15 Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered 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 So then, by their fruit you will recognize them. — Matthew 7:15-20
43 No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. — Luke 6:43-45
Memory Verse
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”— Matthew 7:24 (BSB)
📖 Bible-in-a-Year (optional)
Today's reading: Job 34-37
Reading the whole Bible in a year — do this when you have extra time. (Around Day 145 of 365 — Elihu reminds Job how vast and wise God is.)The Heart of It
Jesus warns about people who look like one thing but really are another. They are "ravenous wolves" who show up wearing sheep's clothing (). How can you tell what someone truly is when they're dressed up so well? Jesus gives us a simple test. Look at the fruit. "You will know them by their fruits" (). A grapevine grows grapes. A thornbush grows thorns. You don't have to argue with a tree about what kind it is. You just wait and watch what grows on it. A good tree cannot help but grow good fruit. And a bad tree cannot fake it forever.
Then Jesus turns the test inward, and that is the real heart matter for us. In Luke He says, "Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" (). Your words and actions are the fruit. Your heart is the tree. Whatever is stored up inside you will come out in the end. A kind heart gives kind words. A sour heart gives sour, cutting words. This is honest, and a little scary. We can dress up our outsides. But when we get squeezed, what's really inside leaks out. So the question isn't mainly "how do I act nicer?" The real question is "what is filling my heart?" Good fruit doesn't come from gritting your teeth on the outside. It comes from a heart that Jesus is filling with Himself. Tend the tree, and the fruit takes care of itself.
Around the Table
Apple trees make apples. Thorny bushes make thorns! Jesus says what is inside our hearts comes out in what we say and do.
Let's do it: Pretend to squeeze an orange. Orange juice comes out! What comes out of you when you get squeezed, like when you're tired or upset? Let's ask Jesus to fill our hearts with good.
You can tell what kind of tree something is by its fruit. And you can tell what's in a heart by what comes out, especially when things get hard.
Let's talk: When you get squeezed, like when someone takes your stuff, what comes out? What would you want to come out?
Jesus moves from spotting false teachers to looking at our own hearts. The mouth shows what's in the heart. You can't fake fruit you don't have, not for long.
Let's go deeper: If your words this week were the "fruit," what would they say is growing in your heart? What needs to change at the root?
💬 Conversation Starter
If you squeezed your heart like a lemon when you're really tired, what flavor would come out?
🛡️ Defending the Faith
People sometimes say Christians are hypocrites. Sadly, some are. But Jesus is the one who taught the fruit test. He exposed fakes long before any critic did. So when some of His followers fail, it doesn't disprove the Vine. It actually proves He told the truth ().
For Dad · Go Deeper
This passage refuses to let us settle for behavior management. We can train outward manners into our children. We teach them to say please and to stop yelling, and we produce polished fruit hanging on a tree we never really tended. But Jesus says the issue is the heart, the "abundance" stored within, and that under stress the real harvest comes out. The same is true of us as fathers. Our children most often see our true fruit not in our planned lessons but in our unguarded moments. They see it when we're stuck in traffic, woken at 2 a.m., or let down by a broken promise. As Jonathan Edwards put it, true religion consists "in great part" in holy affections. It is what the heart actually loves and treasures, not merely what the hands perform. So lead your home toward the root, not just the branches. Less "behave," and more "let's bring our hearts to Jesus to be filled." Tend the tree at home, on your knees, and the fruit will follow.
Draws on: Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections.
Let's Pray Together
"Father, You see our hearts, not just our outsides. Fill us so full of Your love that good fruit comes out, even when life squeezes us. Make our family a good tree. Keep us rooted in Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen."
What's in the heart comes out in the fruit. So let Jesus fill the root.