By Their Fruit
Matthew 7:16 · Hebrews 13:15 (NIV)
In the early 2010s, retired federal investigator Dave Benscoter began looking for forgotten apples in eastern Washington. An old orchard and historical records left him with a question: what was still growing there?
That question became the Lost Apple Project. Benscoter and fellow apple hunter E.J. Brandt search for varieties thought to have disappeared. The project says North America once had more than 17,000 named apples. Only around 5,000 are known to survive.
They read old records and search forgotten orchards. Fruit goes to experts for identification. Cuttings from rediscovered trees can then be grafted onto rootstock, preserving the variety for another generation. The project’s own account lists 30 rediscovered varieties.
Thirty varieties may sound small beside thousands thought lost. But each one takes patient work. A living tree can remain long after its name has been forgotten.
One part of the work matters especially for us. A name on an old gate is not enough to identify a tree. The apple hunters examine the fruit, comparing its characteristics with historical descriptions. What grows there matters more than what someone calls it.
JESUS gives a fruit test too. Warning about false prophets in Matthew 7, HE says, "By their fruit you will recognize them." Faithful words and an impressive appearance do not settle the question. Look at what a life produces.
A new reading plan this morning asks a hard question: can a Christian be a narcissist? Paul’s warning in 2 Timothy describes people who are "lovers of themselves" while "having a form of godliness but denying its power." This is a warning about conduct, not a clinical diagnosis. The form can look right. The words can sound right. The fruit still matters.
Paul did not stop there. In the same verse he wrote, "Have nothing to do with such people." Some of you have been hurt by someone who looked faithful and bore bitter fruit. You are allowed to believe what the fruit showed you. Another plan this month put it plainly. Pay attention to fruit.
In Genesis 3, temptation comes beside fruit that is "pleasing to the eye." The serpent questions GOD’s command as though HE had forbidden every tree. GOD had given them the garden with one limit. The lie makes distrust look like an opening into life.
The fruit test cuts toward us too. Psalm 51 is the prayer of a king who had every outward sign of faith. He wrote psalms. He led worship. Then he took another man's wife and arranged that man's death. The prophet Nathan looked him in the eye and said, "You are the man!"
David did not try to polish the fruit. He asked GOD to change the root. "Create in me a pure heart, O God." That word for create also appears in Genesis 1. David is asking for renewal GOD can give, not a better appearance he can manufacture.
The orchard offers an image here. Grafting preserves a living variety by joining a cutting to rootstock. It does not bring a dead branch back to life. Our renewal is GOD’s work, deeper than a gardening technique. The image helps me remember that lasting fruit needs more than a polished surface.
So what fruit does GOD want? Psalm 50 says HE needs no bull from our stalls. Psalm 51 says, "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit." Hebrews 13:15 calls praise "the fruit of lips that openly profess his name." The next verse calls us to do good and share with others. Praise and care belong together.
Irenaeus, the second-century bishop of Lyon, reflects on Zechariah’s return to speech in today’s reading from Against Heresies. He describes renewed praise through GOD’s Spirit. David prayed for opened lips too. Repentance does not end in a better performance. It turns us toward GOD.
It does leave me thinking about how often I have worked on how my faith looks, when GOD was asking to work on the root.
Some fruit is bitter, and you have tasted it. You do not have to ignore a pattern of harm because someone speaks faithfully. Some fruit is your own, and you are not proud of it. Bring it to the One who creates clean hearts. Ask for renewal, and let it take shape in how you live.
I am not here to prove myself. I am here to make HIM visible.
🙏 To the one hurt by someone who looked faithful, you may trust what the fruit showed you.
🙏 To the one ashamed of their own fruit, ask GOD to create a clean heart, and let HIM work on the root.
🙏 To the one whose lips have been shut by grief or guilt, GOD can open them again.
🙏 To the one who feels like a forgotten variety, the GOD who gives new life has not forgotten you.
Grace and Peace.
Sources: Lost Apple Project; Apple identification reporting; Matthew 7:15–20, NIV; Hebrews 13:15–16, NIV; 2 Timothy 3:1–5, NIV; Genesis 3, NIV; Psalm 51, NIV; Irenaeus, Against Heresies III.10. Scripture quotations: New International Version (NIV).