March 17, 2018 IF WE ARE TO BEAR FRUIT
John 15:4-5,8: “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. By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”
I was recently pruning grape vines, cutting off the excess branches in order to have a good harvest of grapes. Not to anyone’s surprise, the branches I cut off soon died. Just as Jesus said, a branch that is not connected, or not abiding in the vine, cannot produce fruit. The plain, simple, yet profound truth is that just as the branches of my grape vines cannot bear fruit it they are not connected to the vine, neither can we bear fruit if we are not connected to, or abiding in Jesus-the vine. It is the role of the vine to supply nutrients to the branches so that fruit can be produced on the branches. Actually, the branches do not produce the fruit, they bear the fruit. Jesus is the vine and we are the braches-receiving life from the vine and in turn, bearing fruit. So, the obvious point that Jesus is driving home is that if are to bear fruit, we must abide in Him. The branches simply have to abide-to receive the nutrients that flow from the vine. To abide in Jesus is a matter of knowing that life flows from Him, not from ourselves. As the verse points out, apart from Him, we can do nothing. The blessing is that God wants us to bear much fruit-to have a bumper crop! Abiding has the idea of not striving, but resting in and receiving what God supplies. The branches do not argue with or resist what comes through the vine-the branches receive. When we abide in Him, we receive the life that comes from Him, and His life produces good fruit. To abide in Him means that we realize that we are dependent on Him for the life that only He can provide. It’s not enough to say that we abide in Him; abiding involves learning from Him, studying, reflecting on, and applying the truths that we discover in His word. Abiding is to respond to the promptings and leading of the Holy Spirit within us. The fruit that the vine produces in us is always good fruit because it comes from God-and what He does is good and perfect. A list of some of the fruit that God desires to produce in us is found in Galatians 5:22-23, and includes love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. God also desires to give us other fruit-such as wisdom and understanding. Just as He is the potter and we are the clay, He is the vine, and we are the branches. Let us take to heart the words of Jesus; let us have the wisdom to abide in Him, not in word only, but as a way of life. And, as we abide in Him, let us enjoy the fruit that He produces in us-God never has a ‘bad year’ in fruit producing.
Philippians 1:11 “having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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