Two Trees, Two Claims, Two Houses

Read Matthew 7:15-29

      On the road that runs between Springfield, Missouri and Kansas City there is a little township called Bethlehem.  That’s not the Bethlehem Jesus was born in, but here at the close of the Sermon on the Mount, he sure teaches like someone from the “Show Me” state. 

       Religious pretenders talk a good game.  Show me the fruit, Jesus says.  Every good tree produces good fruit, but if the fruit is bad or missing altogether, the tree is no good.  How people behave will reveal the truth about who they are, no matter what they say. 

      A veneer of religious words and activities is a poor (and doomed) cover for an unchanged heart that continues to persist in lawlessness.  Show me the fruit of genuine relationship with me, Jesus says. 

      And it isn’t just hearing the words of Jesus, he says, it’s acting upon them that counts.  Here Jesus doesn’t say “show me,” because the “houses” that are our lives can look very similar until the life-storms come.  The hard knocks of life will show whether or not we have built our life on the rock of obedience to Jesus.

      Good trees, real Christians, and life-houses built on obedience to Jesus don’t give out and give up when hard times come.  They show themselves to be genuine.