"Staying Connected, Bearing Fruit"
“This is to My Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:8)
What are you doing to fulfill God’s purposes in your life? In other words, how is God bearing fruit in your life?
Most of us believe our purpose is to glorify God, but we often don’t understand that bearing fruit is one of the clearest ways we bring Him glory.
In John 15:1-8, God’s desires are laid out with instructions in at least five succinct points. They are not difficult. They just require us to allow God to be God!
First. In John 15:3, Jesus explains, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” You must be a Christian. You are not cleansed by the blood of Christ unless you have wholeheartedly committed your life to Him as your Lord and Savior, expressing your faith in him and being buried with him in baptism. Romans 6:4 explains: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
Second. Develop an intimate, passionate relationship with Jesus as He says in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” You must cultivate a growing relationship with Christ that allows Him to captivate and own your life.
Third. Allow God to continually bring ongoing convictions of who you are and what you are doing, so that you might be pruned for righteousness. Jesus, in John 15:1-2, teaches, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” A powerful way of doing this is to allow God’s word to speak at least one truth into your life each day in your daily quiet time. End your time with God each day by writing a very brief application that records what God revealed to you and what God wants from you. Remember, pruning may even be painful at times, but the result is growth!
Fourth. Pray for God to help you bear fruit through personal change or in showing Christ to the world around you. Trust God to enliven His truth in you as He uses you to reveal His Kingdom on earth. Jesus explains in John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” Do not allow God to be mere written words on a page. Pursue God through prayer, humbling asking for Him to continually work in and through your life.
Fifth. Repeat the first through fourth points every day throughout the rest of your life. In John 15:6, Jesus warns, “If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”
Failing to stay engaged with Jesus usually results in Christians lifelessly going through the motions of the Christian life. God wants you to not only experience Him, but to also live in His power.
When Jesus was asked when the Kingdom of God was coming, he said it was meant to be experienced now – not just in the future: “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because the kingdom of God is within you’” (Luke 17:20-21).
“Growing & Bearing Fruit”
“This is to My Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:8)
When we give our lives over to Christ, God works in us and through us to bear fruit. Three Spirit-led actions will pave your road to fruitfulness.
Fruitfulness in your life with Christ almost always begins with repentance. Jesus said in Matthew 3:8, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Real fruit is often born out of God’s conviction on where you currently are and where He wants to take you. When you ask new Christians whether their life has gotten easier or gotten more difficult, they almost always they say more difficult.
God has a lot of issues to work through with new believers as well as longtime followers of Christ. It is out of our repentance that God produces the change and fruitfulness for our new lives in Christ.
The second action, or posture, is obedience which naturally follows repentance. Matthew 12:33 illustrates the change that comes through obedience: "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.”
It is never enough to know where God wants to take you. You must repent and obey, so that God can produce the fruit He desires for you. Obedience is making the daily decision to live from Kingdom values rather than worldly values. It is the follow-through born out of conviction and faith.
Obedience leads to decisions that honor God, express genuine love to others, seek justice, and demonstrate the lordship of Jesus in our lives.
The final action, or posture, is being good soil. Transformation through fruitfulness is an ongoing process that will only happen if you continue to make your heart and mind fertile for God’s work. Jesus said in Matthew 13:8, “Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop — a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
God’s work in each believer is not static; it involves continually moving toward hearing Him, obeying, and becoming more Christlike.
Psalm 1:3 further illustrates becoming good soil, so that God can make you fruitful: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”
You plant your life in Christ throughout each day, establishing roots in him. You do this knowing that everything in your life will flow out of your relationship with Christ.
Your life in Christ is not frozen in time; it is growing, expanding, and maturing. Planting your life in Christ each day allows for constant feeding and refreshment from God which results in a fruitfulness that satisfies that soul.
Never remove yourself from the Source of your life, but rather continue to grow in how you dwell in Him. Fruitfulness may not always look positive, or be comfortable, or easy. But know that God is using it for His kingdom purpose!
John 15:1-4 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.”
“Loving Like Jesus”
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” (John 15:9)
Have you ever felt incapable of loving others as Jesus has commanded you to love? As we read in John 13:34, Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
These two verses provide the standard for love— Jesus loved as God loved him, and we are to love as Jesus loves us. Such perfect love is impossible for us as imperfect people, but the standard and the objective remain. We are to love each other with the same type of love God has for us.
One of the keys to loving this way is to remain in Jesus. Walking with Jesus in authentic discipleship enables you to better understand and reflect the heart of Christ. As you walk with Christ, your life takes on the Godly qualities that were so representative of his life.
Jesus was able to love in the full spectrum of life’s situations. He was able to love when impatience was expected, anger was appropriate, and during times of disgust, hurt, agony, despair, betrayal, disappointment, and the list goes on.
The incredible power of love that Jesus possessed was a byproduct of the relationship he had with his Father. Listen to Jesus’ words in John 14:11: “Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”
Jesus remained consistent and faithful in his relationship with his Father throughout His life on earth. Jesus lived in constant connection and in communion with God the Father. It was out of this enduring relationship that the love that so represented his life flowed.
You too can have this power to love. If you remain in a relationship with Jesus, walk with Jesus, and grow in discipleship, you can reflect the heart of Jesus.
The incredible power of love that flowed from Jesus’ life can be yours too by learning to follow in his footsteps.
John 14:20-21 -- “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
