“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing… By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
John 15:5,8-9
When we walk closely with Jesus, abiding in Him, He promises that we will “bear much fruit.” We cannot produce the fruit on our own any more than a shoot on a vine can produce fruit apart from the trunk and root system of the vine. Jesus does not say “make yourself bear fruit.” He says, “You will bear much fruit,” when certain conditions are in place.
And the fruit will first be internal. We will increasingly become more like Jesus. The first thing our fruit accomplishes is to prove the reality of our connection to Christ as His genuine followers.
“If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
John 15:6-7
If you are not growing in your love for Jesus and seeing the fruit of His love growing in your heart you have to consider two possible explanations. First, it’s possible you are not yet a genuine follower of Jesus. You may be like the shallow soil in the parable of the Sower, that at some point received the Word with joy but never actually let the gospel take root in your heart. Write out your testimony and see if you can identify how and when you made a decisive commitment to Jesus as your Lord and Savior (Rom. 10:9-10). If you can’t express a clear before and after in your story, and you don’t see the fruit of internal change, the best thing would be to settle that issue right now and surrender yourself completely to Jesus as your King.
The other possibility is that you have grown distant from the Lord Jesus and have not been abiding in Him, which is keeping you from growing in His love, joy and peace. You may be like the thorny soil and “the cares of life and the deceitfulness of wealth” are choking away the fruit that might otherwise grow. Read Ephesians 5:1-14 and take steps to thoroughly repent and renounce the thorns you have allowed to grow in your life — the Bible calls them idols and we must not tolerate their presence in our hearts.
But if you are growing — if you do see the fruit of Jesus’ character growing inside of you — give all the thanks and praise to the Lord for enabling you to produce His fruit.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Galatians 5:22-24
The works we can produce on our own, in our flesh, are all sinful (Gal. 5:17-21). But the fruit the Holy Spirit grows inside of us drives out those old ways of thinking and acting and replaces them with new ways that look more and more like Jesus.
What good fruit are you seeing in your heart and words and relationships?
Which of these qualities in Galatians 5 are you not seeing very clearly or consistently?
As a church, let’s memorize John 15:5 and 9, and pray that the Lord would produce more and more of His fruit in us!
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing… As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
John 15:5,9