The Two Fruit Trees Facts for 3-8 Year Olds

Categories: Sermon on the Mount

• The end of the Sermon is coming near.
• So Jesus is showing his disciples the choices they have to make.
• Remember, he just talked about the wide and narrow gates. Most people have chosen to go through the big entrance; the people he’s talking to now found and entered the narrow gate.
• First, Jesus warns, “Watch out for false prophets.”
• It means, “Keep holding your mind from” false prophets.
• True prophets speak for God; they are God’s messengers to His people.
• False prophets appear to be something that they are not. They speak for themselves, and they often tell other people just what they want to hear, not the truth from God.
• Jesus continues, “They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”
• Notice the phrasing of “they come to you.” They have not been sent by God.
• “Sheep” often means discipleship or believers.
• Shepherds watching their flocks dress in “sheep’s clothing.” Based on that, people could tell who the shepherds were.
• Over time, the sheep’s clothing was worn by prophets, and so people could tell who the prophets were by the sheep’s mantle.
• But Jesus warns that not everyone dressed to look like a prophet is a real prophet. Some may be like wolves, who are a natural enemy of sheep.
• The danger comes because the false prophets are playing a role. If the false prophets looked like wolves, there would be no problem. People could just keep away.
• Jesus tells his disciples how to tell the difference between a true and a false prophet. He says, “By their fruits you will recognize them.”
• Jesus tells his disciples that they can figure out whether or not someone is a true or a false prophet by watching what the person produces.
• Jesus tries to make this clearer by using fruit trees as an example.
• The trees stand for the small community that found and entered through the narrow gate.
• Some people may look good on the outside, but will have a wrong message for others. They’re just pretenders, which can hurt others.
• Jesus asks, “Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?”
• Now, there was an ancient bush that produced small black berries that looked like grapes, but no one could eat them.
• Likewise, a particular thistle plant would produce a flower that resembled a fig, but no one could eat that either.
• So, from a distance, people might mistake these items for the real thing, but upon looking more closely, they will discover the truth: the bush and the thistle were “pretenders” in a sense. They didn’t produce fruit you could eat.
• The same is true with false prophets.
• A prophet, typically, gives up everything to preach the word of God.
• But false prophets may cheat people out of money, or make themselves feel important, or are just lazy. They talk to make their own lives better.
• Jesus tells his disciples, “Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”
• If the fruit is good, the tree that produced it is healthy and good.
• But if the fruit is bad, the tree is decayed and worthless.
• Jesus repeats his point: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”
• This is true in nature and also in people.
• Here, “bad fruit” refers to bad deeds; “good fruit” refers to good deeds.
• “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
• Jesus is not telling us to hurt false prophets; he is warning people to ignore what they say.
• He ends by repeating his earlier statement, “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” You can tell if they’re real or fake by how they act.
• This phrase starts and stops this section.
• Scholars believe “fruit” in this section could refer to both the message (what the person says) and the life of the messenger (the person who talked or gave the message).
• The good are good; the bad will eventually reveal themselves.
• Character matters.
• The test is not how they they look, but how they are.
• Does their teaching help a community?
• Do they encourage the narrow way (the God way) or do they say that people can do anything (which isn’t good)?
• Do they teach the love of God, or do they say, “God loves me and I can do whatever I want?”
• Basically, the difference in this group is between the people who have a good message and those who have a bad message. But they are all part of the group that chose the narrow gate.
• Just because they went through the right gate doesn’t mean they get to do whatever they want and make bad choices; they still need to make good, right, moral choices.