You will know them by their fruits

In Matthew 7, Jesus talks about fruit and trees.  He says you will know the tree by its fruit. So what’s the focus here? The fruit? No, it says you will know the TREE by its fruit. The fruit is there only to tell you what kind of tree you are dealing with. The focus is on the tree.
Jesus said:

You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Matthew 7:16-20

We tend to focus on the fruit. If I can just produce an apple, I’ll be an apple tree. If I can just produce righteousness, I’ll be righteous. But that’s not what it is saying. The fruit doesn’t make the tree; it’s the tree that makes the fruit. The secret of producing fruit is to be a tree. Forget about producing the apple for a moment; learn to simply be what God meant for you to be.
Here’s the point. Good works don’t produce good people. Good people produce good works. Christian works don’t produce Christians. Christians produce Christian works. Learn to be in Messiah. Become what He intended for you to be. And if you have the heart of Messiah, the heart of love, the Spirit of God, your life will be filled abundantly and will overflow with the fruit of the Spirit.
Based on Message #639,
via http://www.hopeoftheworld.org/Sapphires/.