Jesus said, “You
will recognize [false prophets] by the fruit they bear. Surely people don’t
pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles, do they?”
—
Matthew 7:16 (USC)
Previously we have covered the idea that any of us can become one given
to propagating Satan’s work — most often vicariously! This is the reason we
have to remain vigilant and accountable to wise advisors who have such an
accountable reasonableness about them. Heaven help us!
This verse carries
on the theme: there are those bad shepherds about who have no concern at all
for the sheep of God’s pasture.
The sheep (the Body
of Christ — his magnificent Church) are his. They are the Pastor’s sheep — not
the pastor’s. This is no subtle difference. There are those who would wantonly
carry unknown persons or an entire congregation over the precipice into an idolatrous
abyss. And this is how we shall know them...
We will know them by
their fruit.
What they bear as
their vintage will be the knowing of them. No good shepherd tends their flock
for many years, caring for all his or her relations with them, and is not known
for his or her care. Their care is their fruit. No good shepherd is unknown.
They are being made known by the Lord, and, one day, he will say to them, “Well
done, good and faithful servant.” This is a good shepherd’s only delight.
Likewise, no bad
shepherd is unknown, either. He or she are well known — to those they hurt. And
they are being made known by the
Lord. God will make them known by the odious fruit they produce — works of
disguise, deceit, and delinquency. They only get away with their wrongdoing for
so long. God is soon bringing their case before the court of human judgment.
Their demise is a fait accompli.
***
What about us? Where
do we stand? Again, heaven help us if we are one their number; a bad shepherd.
Our goal is to be an eternal enquirer of ourselves — to have God search us to
know our innermost persuasions to temptation and wrongdoing (Psalm 139:23-24).
***
The tasting of the vintage is coming soon everywhere,
The ripening of the fruit — the works of all laid bare,
Good shepherd or bad — time’s coming when all will see,
The good test of
time is the only test there’ll be.
***
QUESTIONS in REVIEW:
1. Many of us have experienced both
good shepherds and bad. What is it about both, for you, that sets them apart so
far as their fruit is concerned?
2. Do you have an issue with a bad
shepherd of your past — a ‘false prophet’? How successfully have you been able
to lay that at your Saviour’s feet?
© 2015 S. J. Wickham.
Note: USC version is Under the Southern Cross, The New Testament in Australian English
(2014). This translation was painstakingly developed by Dr Richard Moore, a NT
Greek scholar, over nearly thirty years.
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