To Bear Fruit For God

Romans 7:4 LSB

So, my brothers, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

In a very real sense, this verse is a particularly good and thorough statement of the gospel message. It is for this reason, that we have spent the last three Sundays together looking at it in detail.

We have learned of our sorry estate from our birth, of being married, as it were, to the law of God; which came in by the side of sin that the transgression would increase, that just as we were appointed sinners, made and constituted as such, placed under the rule and dominion of sin, even so we have likewise been placed under the rule and the authority of the perfect law of God, without a legal way of escape outside of the death of the law, which would be impossible since the law cannot die, or by our own death.

We have learned that Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh, in a body such as ours, who was born of a woman, born under the law, who lived a perfect life according to that law, who endured the final conclusion of that law in his death and burial. Jesus, whose very same body was raised from the dead, defeating death, sin and law and death no longer having any power of Him, for He can no longer remain under them.

We have learned that we who are in Christ, having been justified by faith like that of Abraham, but in the finished work of Christ Jesus alone, were organically united with Him in that death that He died, we were crucified and died with Him on that tree, we were buried with Him through our immersion into Him by the Holy Spirit, we were raised with Him unto new life; we were “made to die to the law through the body of Christ”. We have been released from the law concerning our first husband, the Law, in a legal and ethical manner. Far from the law being simply set aside, it has instead been honored and fulfilled.

We have learned that, on account of our being made to die to the law, we are now also in a legal and ethical manner, “joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead.” We have been married to Christ, betrothed to a new husband in a real an legal marriage, and so we receive the great benefits of joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, at whose name every knee shall bow. We belong to Him, as a wife belongs to her husband, He is our head. As such, we are the direct and particular recipients of Christ’s love and affection, we receive access to the Father of our bridegroom, and many other gifts not given to strangers, of whom He declares, “Depart from Me, I never knew you!”

But to stop our exposition here, is to miss the point entirely. And doing so has caused many grievous errors to creep into the church seemingly unnoticed, denying the clear teaching of our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

For, to stop here, leaves us in the position of simply understanding the benefits to us. And certainly, there is a far too many who call themselves “Christian” today, whose entire focus is on themselves and their wants and desires. When you ask them about the character of their lives, when you ask them about what governs their behavior, they are adept at quoting to Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” “We are new testament Christians!”, they are quick to exclaim.

But it goes further than that. “I have accepted Jesus Christ into my heart”, they say, “I am good with God. He has forgiven me of my sins, He has healed me of this disease, He will protect me from evil! He will protect me from harm all around me, just like the the Ark protected Noah”, was one I read just this past week. And when you talk with these people, they will go on and on about how God has benefited them, what God has done for them, how God has protected them.

It doesn’t stop there, but their talk of here and now is all of their experience, their feeling of joy, how they expect God to deliver from their present suffering.

And then, you hear their prayers. Their prayers reveal what they truly think of the sovereign God of the universe; He is a genie to be commanded to bless them, to vanquish their enemies, to correct their woes, to mend their bodies, to fill their bank accounts, to bless those who have blessed them and to curse those who have cursed them.

It is as if the entire point of redemptive history has been accomplished for the express purpose of putting their life at ease, that God has brought all of this to bear for them.

And, oh how easy it is to bind God to their will, they declare. Simply share this facebook meme, type “amen” to prove you aren’t denying God so that Jesus will claim you. Raise your hand, come forward at the altar call, repeat the words of the priest to accept Jesus into your heart, and then know that He is for you at all times.

No hard theology, no need to work your mind, no need to change your ways; just do these simple things and God will give you whatever you wish.

But, consider for a moment the image of a wife engaged to be married. What are the reasons she gives to her friends for agreeing to marry this man? Does she simply talk about what she will get out of their marriage? Does she go on and on about how he will pamper her, and give gifts to her, and take care of her every need? Yes, she will! But that’s not all she will speak of! She will speak of living her life with him, she will talk of loving him, she will look forward to being with him and doing things that please him just as much, if not more, than simply what she receives from him!

But instead, if we listen to her and realize she only talks about what she will receive from the marriage, that she will no longer have to work, she will no longer have to worry about her future, that she will be taken care of both now and in old age, we will take a very dim view of her; in fact, truth be told, we would outright despise such a person and their mercenary view of marriage, for her entire reason for marrying is what she will get out of the marriage. She’s not marrying for love, not for togetherness, not for their mutual benefit of life together, not in this view of love and respect Paul speaks of in Ephesians, rather her focus is solely upon herself and her own comfort. Not only do we take a dim view of such a bride, but she is truly despised by all who see her.

Quite the same way, those who stop only at what they receive from our marriage with Christ Jesus, are similarly to be despised.

For even our marriage to the Lord Jesus Christ, as great and monumental a thing as it is, is not an end in itself! Is it grand? Yes! Is it glorious? Yes! Is it worth learning about, worth discovering the implications of it? A thousand times, yes!

But it, too, has a purpose, which we see here in Romans 7:4, “So, my brothers, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”

The message of the gospel is not full and complete, without our understanding the purpose for which we are saved!

Paul has taken great effort in demonstrating that we cannot be saved by works, that was the entire point of Romans 1:16 all the way through to the end of chapter 4. The Jew cannot work himself into acceptance by God. The Gentile, likewise, is unable to do so. Even we who are saved could not do so, for we, too, are included in the “all” who “have come short of the glory of God.”

But we have been saved – united with Christ Jesus in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection; we died to the law through that union with Him, no longer under the rule and authority of the law on account of that death which occurred in His body; we were joined to Christ Jesus as a wife to a husband, separable only by a death of one or the other, which can now never occur, this marriage will stand for all eternity – all of this has been done for the singular purpose that we might bear fruit for God! Even before the cross, John the baptist understood that “He must increase, but I must decrease.” all the way back in John 3:30!

You see, we are not the point. God is. A gospel message whose point and whose focus is simply me, is what Paul calls in Galatians “a different gospel”, a “distortion of the gospel of Christ.” And he pronounces righteous judgement on any such thing in Galatians 1:8, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed!” A gospel which focuses only on myself is as abhorrent as a mercenary bride, it is a disgrace and is completely rejected by God, along with all who proclaim it. And we, likewise, who understand truth are to similarly despise such a thing.

We were saved, “in order that we might bear fruit for God.” And just like everything else in this verse, this is past-tense. It is true of us, it was true of us from the very moment we were justified by faith – all of these things took place. It is a mystery to me who such things can occur at once, yet still have order, but with God all things are possible, even this which seems impossible to me.

The wording here is rather peculiar to us, the reason that people often misconstrue what Paul is getting at here, is because we read the word, “might”, or some translations may also use “should” or “may”. These words can give us the impression that this is only a possibility – it “might” happen, or it “might not” happen. However, that’s not the case here, here Paul is talking about purpose, similar to if I were to say “Teach me, so that I might become wiser”, or to keep an example in a similarly past tense, “Ἀβροκόμας had burnt the boats, so that Cyrus might not cross.” It is describing the reason for an event in the past that is certain. Abrocomas’ burning of the boats prevented Cyrus from crossing the Euphrates, forcing Cyrus to seek an alternate route.

This fruit which we bear is then something that occurs on account of our being united to Christ in marriage. It’s not a work which we do, then, but a change which occurs on account of that union.

So, we should view this as Paul is saying, “look, all this happened to you in order for you to be fruit for God – you have already born fruit for Him on account of this happening, and you will continue to bear fruit on account of this happening.”

In other words, it is vital that we realize this is not a command that we are to fulfill, we are not to set about with the intent of producing this fruit.

It is our union with Christ, our being joined under Him as our head and husband which accomplishes this!

And so, with such a statement, it is only natural for us to wonder what this fruit is which we bear for God. And although I think we could come up with a good answer by just asking the question, I think that once again Paul’s exposition on marriage in Ephesians 5, in which he holds up the marriage of Christ the bridegroom’s relationship to the church His bride as the ultimate and purest example of how husbands ought to love their wives, and in that picture that we see in scriptural terms what Paul is talking about when he says that this union is what causes us to bear fruit for God. So let’s turn there to see how that informs our understanding here in Romans:

Ephesians 5:25–27 LSB

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless.

You will notice, I trust, the similarities between these verses and Romans 7:4; the bodily death of Christ providing entirely for our salvation, not out of duty but out of love, that we have made anew and afresh, our profane and common lives under sin and law forever ended, being sanctified and joined to Him. But even more, we see the great purpose for which our Lord and Savior has done so! “in order that we might bear fruit for God” in Romans, in Ephesians “that”, in order that, “she would be holy and blameless.”

Jesus Christ acted as He did, to sanctify His bride. He has cleansed her, having removed the corruption of the profane, the mundane, the ordinary after the manner of men. It’s not simply that the guilt of sin has been forgiven, but the very pollution of sin has been removed, Our Lord taught in Matthew 15:19-20 that “... out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man”!

If Christ has cleansed us, then, it is no mere external or temporary cleansing He has in mind, but a cleansing of the pollution of our hearts by sin; that which causes us to be defiled, that which renders us impure, deeply stained and disfigured under the power of sin, that which results in our utter condemnation.

And how He does this is not in some one-off revelation or secret message, nor is it done as some sort of magical experience. No, it is through His Word, the totality of Scripture. Most of us know well the 17th verse of John 17, but what He prayed there went on:

John 17:17-19 “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. “As You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world. “For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”

Again, it’s the same thing. Jesus Christ our bridegroom sanctifies us, setting us apart as holy and dedicated to God, by removing not only the guilt of sin, but its power and its pollution of our hearts in this grand operation He accomplished for us on the cross. We are no longer what we were, but we are now, being united to Christ Jesus in our marriage to Him, made holy.

This is no mere feeling, this is no paltry emotion which can come and go like the tides; no, no – holiness is a life lived to the glory of God! It is a life dedicated to worshipping Him in spirit and in truth! It is a life lived in such a way that the fruit of the Holy Spirit – that marvelous thing which exudes love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control all at once and in great and unnatural measure – is the natural way for our lives to be described by those around us, not on account of one thing, but on account of the pattern of our lives!

Under the law, those animals with spots or blemishes were unacceptable to God, they were rejected by Him. In the same manner, man, who is marred and stained with sin, is completely unacceptable to God, we are unable to be used for His purposes the way we were.

And in a sense, this focus our world presently has on clearly showing our identity, in light of scripture ought to demonstrate for us even further our unacceptable nature before God, our inability to be used by Him for His purposes.

And we can’t make ourselves acceptable to Him, no matter how hard we try, no matter how hard we scrub, because even our attempts to make ourselves acceptable to Him, only serve to worsen and deepen our unacceptable-ness to Him.

But, our Lord Jesus Christ the Righteous, can and does cleanse those who turn to Him in faith like that of Abraham, confessing Him as Lord and believing in their heart that God raised Him from the dead.

He immediately sanctifies those who are justified in Him through faith alone, setting them apart and declaring them to be holy, cleansing us through His word so that the stains and blemishes are removed.

And so, we are holy. we are blameless, we bear fruit for God.

Romans 7:4 LSB

So, my brothers, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

What about you? Is your mind so filled with the benefits of being a part of the bride of Christ, that those benefits are all you talk about? Does your prayer life revolve around you, around your wants, your desires, your enjoyment of having died to sin and to law?

We who are in Christ Jesus don’t live for ourselves and our own pleasure, but for Christ Jesus and His glory.

And so this is the culmination of the gospel message! It’s not only a message of man’s desperate need on account of being appointed a sinner, married to a law which can only condemn. It’s not only a message of Christ’s great love for us, that He died so that we, being joined to Him through faith may be separated and removed from under the authority of the law, our first husband. It’s not only that we have been joined to Christ Jesus, and will experience eternity with Him, sharing in His rights and His privileges.

It is all of these things, yes! But it is more than just this, it is that, being united to Him, being married to Him and under His headship, we might now bear fruit for God. We have a distinct and holy purpose!

May we never forget that we shall be holy, for God is holy!

May we never adopt a mercenary view of our marriage to Jesus Christ our Lord!

Let us Pray!