I cannot tell you how many sermons I have sat through where Matthew 7:18-20 was used to scare the life out of people. The message usually goes like this: “A good tree bears good fruit… so if your life doesn’t look demonstrably changed every single second, you might be a bad tree.”

Pastors use this to demand “proof” of salvation through works. Instead of providing assurance and comfort, I would walk away drowning in doubts. “How much fruit am I supposed to bear?” “If I still struggle with sin, am I a bad tree?” “Is God becoming a lumberjack, waiting to cut me down because my fruit isn’t ‘good enough’?”

The “Bait and Switch” Gospel

Unfortunately, many believers hear about God’s love at first—that eternal life is a gift. But then, the Gospel gets replaced by sermons about “doing more” and “obeying as proof.” The finished work of Christ is pushed to the background, and suddenly, the road is narrow and hard, you need to “surrender all,” and “do your part.”

This is “Do Your Part” theology, and it forces Christians to live in constant fear. We end up putting ourselves back under the Law, striving for something Christ has already accomplished. We start judging our status with God based on our performance, and inevitably, we start doing the same to others. We become like the Pharisee in the corner, judging sinners for their behaviors instead of sitting at the table and sharing a meal with them as Jesus did.

Examining the Message, Not the Behavior

But here is the irony: That cold, judgmental attitude is actually the “bad fruit” of a Law-based message.

When Jesus talks about trees and fruit in Matthew 7, He is talking about false teachers, not your surface behaviors. In verse 15, He says, “Beware of false prophets…” Jesus isn’t telling you to obsessively examine your own fruit; He is telling you to examine the teachings you are sitting under.

Ask yourself: What is the fruit of the message you are hearing?

• Does it make you look at yourself, your obedience, or an extreme focus on spiritual gifts?

• Does it take your eyes off the finished work of Christ and put the burden of salvation back on your shoulders?

• Does it produce fear, lack of assurance, and condemnation?

Or… does the message produce life, joy, rest, and peace?

Out of the Abundance of the Heart

In Matthew 12, Jesus connects trees and fruit directly to words: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” A Grace-filled heart speaks life, hope, and assurance. A Law-filled heart speaks accusation, pressure, and threat. Words expose which covenant a person is living under—the Old Covenant of demand, or the New Covenant of supply.

Rest in the Root

My friend, if you have believed the Gospel—that Christ died for you, was buried, and rose again—you are forgiven and completely saved. Period.

I had a friend ask me if he was still saved because he wasn’t “experiencing rest.” I told him: “Go back to the Root, which is Christ, and get your eyes off your fruit.”

Fruit can be subjective. It changes with the seasons of our lives. But Christ’s truth is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Whether you “feel” saved today or not, the Truth is still the Truth. Stop staring at your branches. Behold His unconditional, one-way love for you, and watch as His truth bears the fruit that only He can give.

---

A Prayer of Rest

Lord, I thank You that my security is not found in the quality of my fruit, but in the perfection of my Root—Jesus Christ. I confess that I have often tried  judging my branches and living in fear of the axe.  Today, I step out from under the heavy burden of “doing my part” and I step into the rest of Your finished work. Renew my mind with the whisper of Your Grace. Let Your love be the soil I grow in, so that any fruit in my life is simply an overflow of Your goodness and not the result of my striving. Amen.