July 12, 2021 BEARING FRUIT
John 15:1-5 “I am the vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
I was recently pruning grape vines, cutting off certain branches; it’s a no-brainer, but the branches I cut off, died; I have never seen one grape growing on the vines I cut off. You and I are the branches (if we know Him as Savior); branches can produce nothing if they are not abiding in the vine; it is a reality check for us to be reminded that even with our best intentions and best efforts, we simply cannot produce any-not even one-good fruit apart from abiding in Him. We are the branches that bear the fruit that comes from our Father. We should see ourselves as ‘fruit bearers,’ not fruit ‘producers.’ The key word for us is ‘abiding.’ Life flows from God; every good and perfect gift comes Him. James 1:17. To abide in Him means that we are connected to Him, that we trust Him, that we depend on Him, that we listen to Him, that we obey Him, and that our heart is to do the things that please Him. We cannot live according to our own desires and abide in Him at the same time-unless our desires have become His desires. God is the master vinedresser and He always has a bountiful crop-He never has a bad year and He is not satisfied with a small crop. If we are a branch abiding in Him, we will get pruned so that we will produce more fruit. The pruning may be painful-but necessary. The fruit that God produces is both internal and external. Galatians 5:22 list the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces internally: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Throughout the scriptures we are admonished to be about good works in an external way. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10. Abiding is much less stressful than trying to produce on our own. As we abide, we have peace, and out of abiding, we bear fruit that will bless others and glorify God. Abiding is not being idle; it is working with Him and responding to Him as He works in us.
John 15:7-8 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”
Romans 7:4 “Therefore, my brethren, you were also made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.”
Titus 3:14 “Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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