Fruit inspectors? It looks like Jesus was mixing metaphors in this passage. In verse 15 He talks about being alert to false prophets who come costumed as sheep, but are really ferocious wolves. Then in verses 16-20 Jesus explains how to discern what our prophets and leaders and really like, by the fruit they bear. Taking them together, however, I think we can some valuable lessons.

First, that it is possible for our religious teachers and preachers and leaders to appear like one of us, yet be dangerous underneath. We are gullible if we accept everything we hear at face value. But then how are we to tell which ones are deceiving us?

Maybe we do need to learn to be fruit inspectors.

Jesus says the Fruit Inspector's test is easy. You look at their lives to see what kind of fruit they are bearing. Just as you cannot pick grapes from a thorn bush, or figs from thistles, there will be evidence of what is inside a person in the results, fruit - if you will, shown in their lives.

Just as a good fruit tree produces good fruit of it's own kind, and a bad tree bears bad fruit of it's own kind, so leaders, in fact, all of us do too. A good Christian will show signs of the fruit of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. If the opposite traits and behaviours are evident, - that's bad fruit.

This is not a call to gossip about people, but to watch their behaviour and attitudes, and look at what becomes of the people they have already influenced. How do they conduct themselves with their family and neighbours? Are they in bondage to sin?

We are all people watchers to one degree or another. Now learn to watch with discernment for the fruit that shows this person is truly filled with the Spirit of God, and doing the bidding of God. That's is what will make us fruit inspectors.