careful inspection

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Matthew 7:18

Jesus began this section of the Sermon on the Mount with a warning against judgmentalism (see Matthew 7:1). Then he asks His followers to live by a clear criteria that cares about how others wish to be treated… the famous Golden Rule: “…whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them…” (Matthew 7:12). This is a standard by which we evaluate our actions and motives and a standard that people may use to evaluate Christians.

But Jesus does NOT teach that actions are neutral. He links what we do on the outside with who we are on the inside. He uses the analogy of fruit and tree to help us understand that nothing we do is motive-free. And the fruit shows the health of the tree. Jesus thus encourages analysis of the fruit… good fruit = good tree… bad fruit = bad tree. Discernment and judgment are to be practiced by Jesus’ guidelines. This is far different than judgmentalism where “my criteria” is the standard. In a context on this kind of careful inspection Jesus Himself called certain people “dogs” and “pigs” (Matthew 7:6) and warns that others might be false prophets (Matthew 7:15). He calls us to recognize fruit and make the determination ourselves (Matthew 7:16). Thus the command to “judge not” in Matthew 7:1 isn’t about making determinations, it is about being careful HOW we do so.

It is important to protect out hearts from the sin of judgmentalism. That means we realize that “how” we look at sin, starting first with ourselves, is key. We don’t forget our own real need to pull logs out of our own eyes first. We realize judgment begins with us and is God’s to do ultimately. We treat others with respect and love as we would want to be treated, wanting to repent of our own sin, and hoping our loving words can convince others to repent of theirs. Yet if bad fruit is clearly in evidence we have to recognize it for what it is. First in our own hearts… then in helping others get to the root of their own diseased tree and stunted fruit. It is wise to evaluate the fruit of our lives by Jesus’ standards.