By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them

The Bible clearly tells us: "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7:20).   

Further, we read:

Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.  (Matthew 12:33)  

Jesus, here, tells us that we are to know people by their fruit, and that we can tell if a person is good or bad by what they do.  Their fruit defines them.  We then should be able to determine if a person is a "bad apple" or not by how they act and what they do. 

With this in mind, let's look at the fruits of the Spirit, or that fruit which a Christian is supposed to bear:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  (Galatians 5:22)  

Here we find nine different fruits that should be demonstrated by Christians.  But in these last days in which we live, there are very few Christians who demonstrate these fruits.  Instead, most Christians are prideful, haughty, critical, quick to judge, carnal, and oftentimes spiteful. 

My question, then, is "WHY ARE THERE SO MANY WHO CLAIM TO BE CHRISTIANS WHO DON'T MANIFEST THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT?"

This is a hard question to answer.  For if we state dogmatically, "It's because they aren't true Christians, as they aren't even born again.  They are just religious by not regenerated," then others will attack us and label us as those who are trying to make others "doubt their salvation." 

But if we choose the other side of the argument, that Christians aren't perfect and are just as carnal and sinful as the world, then we will be attacked by others who claim that Christians are to be sinless and above reproach.  They further will dogmatically admonish us that we do not have the right to stand in judgment of others.   

So, then, we can't win for losing.  This is why many preachers choose to simply overlook this topic, and not dwell upon, or preach on the fruits of the Spirit.  And, it's why they choose to overlook the lack of spiritual fruit in others.  Instead, they choose to pretend things aren't as bad as they really are, and they overlook the sins of their congregations.

As a Missionary Evangelist, I've traveled and preached in many churches, and I've talked to many pastors.  And, I've seen a lot of sin in Christian Churches.  Fornication, adultery, gossip, child abuse, domestic violence and more are common in Christian circles, and pastors often are those who often have to deal with the effects of these sins.  These are not the "fruits" of the Spirit of God!  Rather the works of the Flesh!

The Bible very clearly lists the works of the flesh: 

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,   Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

Now, not all Christians are guilty of the things on this list.  But it's amazing at just how many of these sins we do find in modern Christian churches today! 

You have to have your head in the sand to believe that there are no problems in our Christian churches today.  Our churches are full of carnal people who choose sin over following God.  And, not only do they give Christianity a bad name, but their fruit makes even the lost think of them as hypocrites, as they name the name of Christ, but then partake of the very same sins that the lost do.

With this in mind, we need to go back to looking at people's fruit!  We need to quit worrying about what others think about us, and we need to go to the root of the problem and find out why the fruit of most Christians is corrupt rather than clean.  Below I give three possiblities.

1.  THEIR FRUIT STINKS BECAUSE THEY ARE LOST

Although many Pastors don't want to think it could be so, the reason there is so much sin in Christianity today is because not everyone who says he is a Christian really is.  It's obvious that a person can claim to be saved, but not really be so.  Some peope think they are Christians because their parents are, others think they are so because they go to church.  While others, think they are followers of Christ because they do good works.  But none of those things are what saves a man and makes him a true Christian.  A man is only born again when he trusts the blood atonement of Jesus Christ as sufficient to wash his sins away and give him eternal life.  It then could very well be the reason there is so much sin in Christian Churches is because they are full of LOST people!

2.  THEIR FRUIT SMELLS BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T GROWN AS CHRISTIANS

But let's give them the benefit of the doubt.  Let's say, even though it's probably not the case, that everyone who says they are a Christian really is.  We still then have a problem.  There is too much sin in Christian circles!  Someone is in the flesh, and not walking in the Spirit.  Thus, very little "fruit" is seen.  Why is this?

It could be because these people are true Christians who haven't grown in the Lord.  They are recently saved, and are still learning and growing, and little by little they are getting closer to the Lord and cleaning up their lives.

This is a definite possibility.  But if this is the case, why don't we see Christians as a whole getting more holy, rather than less holy?

It appears the biggest problem is that Preachers are preaching hard enough against sin!  Nor are they discipling their new converts enough.  And they are not preaching against sin as hard as they should.  This "lax" attitude towards sin, leads people to not think their is a problem with their partaking in it.  Thus, they don't grow like they should.   

3.  THEIR FRUIT IS STAGNANT BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T FORSAKEN THE WORLD

But then again, it could be that if they are saved, and they just haven't grown, it is not the preacher's fault.  Maybe it's there own fault, as they choose sin over the things of God.
When Jesus came, he commanded his disciples to be in the world, but not of the world.  In other words, he did not want them to be worldly.  He wanted them to be different, and to show the world they were so. 

Modern Christians are not like this.  They go to church on Sunday, and sometimes even Wednesday, but the rest of the week, they are in the world, they love the world, and they gladly partake of the things of the world.

Instead of being holy as a testimony for Christ, they are doing the same things as the world, and there is little discernable difference between them and lost people.

Their worldliness, therefore, keeps them from witnessing for Jesus.  But that's not the worst part.  Their worldiness leads them to eventually adopting the teachings of the world over the teachings of the Bible.
In short, they are "worldly" rather than "godly."

IN SUMMARY

Jesus said, "...By their fruits, ye shall know them!"  We then should be fruit inspectors.  But as we inspect today, we find a lot of good looking fruit on the outside, but on the inside it's as rotten as can be.  Why is this?  It's because very few Christians really try to practice the fruits of the Spirit.  Some, because they aren't saved.  Others, because they are just as carnal as can be.  And even others, because they love the world more than God.  

How about you?  Why not focus on your life and try to bring forth some good fruit?