How Is Your Fruit Production?

As Jesus is spending the last hours on earth instructing His disciples and encouraging them, He offers them a very practical, understandable gardening lesson.  However, it is to teach a spiritual lesson, not to cause them to go into horticulture.

Though Jesus is not going to remain on earth or abide with the disciples in a physical manner for much longer, He wants them to understand the importance of spiritually remaining connected and leaning fully on Him.  He is reminding them once again that He will never leave them nor forsake them.  Even as He promised the Holy Spirit to come and guide, teach, and comfort, it is dependent upon them abiding in Him.  

Let’s read through this passage.  John 15:1–11:

“I am the true 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 so 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. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”

We give glory to God when we abide in Christ and bear much fruit.

The Source and Specialist for Abiding - 15:1, 2b, 3

Here is the last of the seven I am descriptions of Himself which Jesus shares.  Again, He is reminding them that He is God.  He is the true God, not a god.  Jesus lays the foundation to this section by reminding them that He, alone, is the true vine.  There are many out there that would like to convince others that they are the source of life.  They would like for people to think that their strength comes from within, or from channeling a life energy, or giving so much money to certain causes, or by saying the right words; you get the idea.  In this context, if one wishes to make a difference for the Kingdom of God, then we need to understand that the source of all that we are is Jesus, the true vine.  

We also see that Jesus reminds the disciples that His Father is the vinedresser.  Some other translations use the word gardener.  He is the One who takes care of the garden and vines.  A gardener is going to want maximum production. There is the understanding that the Father wants the very best for His children.  Otherwise, He would be an absentee gardener which would cause chaos in the vineyard.  That helps us to understand a bit more as we look at the last part of verse 2.  

. . . and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.  Immediately, we must understand that in order for a branch to bear fruit, it must be connected or grafted into a source.  Here the source is Jesus Christ.  The Christian is grafted into Christ.  Every Christian will bear fruit.  As many have stated, there is no such thing as a fruitless Christian.  And we must understand that a person cannot bear spiritual fruit on our own efforts.

However, sometimes we do not bear as much fruit as we could or should.  We can’t increase our production by our own efforts or by figuratively grunting harder.  That would be putting out energy that takes away from real fruit production.  Thus, the specialist, Who is the Heavenly Father, knows what is best and will gain more production.  So, he prunes us as we need so that we can bear more fruit.  

Colin Kruse explains that pruning was … an essential part of first-century viticultural practice, as it is today. The first pruning occurred in spring when vines were in flowering stage. This involved four operations: (1) the removal of the growing tips of vigorous shoots so that they would not grow too rapidly; (2) cutting off one or two feet from the end of growing shoots to prevent entire shoots being snapped off by the wind; (3) the removal of some flower or grape clusters so that those left could produce more and better-quality fruit; and (4) the removal of suckers that arose from below the ground or from the trunk and main branches so that the strength of the vine was not tapped by the suckers.

It is important to understand that this is not something which is going to be pleasant.  If we are to be pruned, then that stands to reason that something or someone attached to us that is keeping us from having better production.  It may even be something that we’re completely unaware of in our lives.   It may be something which hasn’t become part of our lives yet.  Yet, our Heavenly Father, the specialist in fruit production, causing that which brings glory to His Name, knows exactly what is needed.  The purpose of pruning, though it may be incredibly painful and nearly unbearable is that we may bear more fruit.

We should rightly ask ourselves if we understand what is meant by fruit?  Most would immediately think of the fruit of the Spirit as found in Galatians 5:22-23: 

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  

Then Hebrews 13:15 reminds of that praise is also fruit: 

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.  

Helping others when they are in need is a fruit.  Paul describes this in Romans 15:28, as he is thanking the church for helping meet the needs of the struggling church in Jerusalem: 

Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain.  

We also see fruit as being observed by others when they see us living holy, righteous lives which honor God in a variety of passages, including Philippians 1:11:

having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.  

The fruit which most Christians think of first of all, is others who come to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior from our testimony and life.  There are multiple New Testament passages which describe new Christians as fruit from the ministry of someone.

Then, verse 3 reminds the disciples that they do belong to Jesus because His Word was spoken to [them], having success.  We know this because He stated that they are already clean.  This is what Jesus told them when He washed their feet earlier, as He commented that one individua there was not clean.

The only way to bear fruit is to belong to Jesus Christ.  The only way to bear more fruit is to experience pruning at the hands of the Heavenly Father.  And regardless of what may come our way, no matter how painful or unbearable it may seem, we will belong to Him always because of His effectual call on our lives with the Word of God.

The Separation of Not Abiding - 15:2a, 6

There are some who would suggest that the first part of verse 2 is dealing with someone losing their salvation.  However, it seems obvious that Jesus is talking about someone who appears to be connected to Him when He states Every branch in me.  

Yet, there does seem to be someone which doesn’t match with what a branch grafted into Christ ought to be doing.  Jesus is referring here to the pseudo-Christian who does not bear fruit.  Remember that if one is grafted into Jesus Christ, then one will bear fruit of some sort.  Those who suggest that this would be just non-productive Christians, do not fully grasp Jesus promise to not cast out those the Father gave to Him.  By trying to act as if they are connected to the true Vine, they are actually a detriment to the body of Christ and bring shame and disgrace to Christ, the True vine.  As a result, the Father will remove that person.  They are not serving Christ nor are they giving glory to God.  In fact, if the truth be told, their lives are actually a discredit and disservice to God even though they may be sincere in their wanting to appear religious.

Verse 6 is even clearer.  These individuals do not abide or live in Christ.  The word for abide carries the idea of remaining or continuing.  So those who are not abiding in [Jesus] are not connected.  They may try to look like they’re connected.  They may hang around the vineyard or the garden pretending to be part of it.  However, because they have chosen to not abide in Christ, they are not in Christ.  If they are not in Christ, they are not grafted in and do not belong.  These individuals are then destined and doomed for destruction.  

Sadly, there will always be those who try to connect on their terms with Christ, but do not really belong to Christ.  Jesus spoke of them in the parable of the wheat and the tares.  He describes them in His illustration with the foolish virgins who missed the wedding feast.  The writer of Hebrews discusses them in a couple of places, one of which describes them as having received the word of truth, yet willfully continuing to sin.  Jesus even talks about them as those thinking they are on the way to heaven, yet they are only on a broad path that leads to destruction.  Probably the most obvious example had been right in their midst with Judas Iscariot.  You may recall how none of the disciples had a clue that Judas was not a true follower of Jesus Christ. 

The Superabundance from Abiding - 15:4-5, 7-8

There appears to be even more involved with the word abide.  There seems to be an understanding that there is a direct connection between abiding and bearing fruit; in particular, bearing much fruit.  Obviously, since we see the word abide or some form of the word sprinkled throughout this section, it would be helpful to understand what that means.  Weirsbe gives a wonderful definition: 

It means to live in His Word and pray (v. 7), obey His commandments (v. 10), and keep our lives clean through His Word (vv. 3–4).

Verse 4 lets it be known that it is impossible to bear any fruit unless we are tied in with Christ.  The very simple illustration of a branch needing to be connected to the vine in order to be fruit is used by Jesus.  

Verse 5 makes it even more specific with the reminder that He is the source of all that we do.  Without connection to the source, Jesus Christ, we can do nothing.  However, if we are truly connected to Christ, allowing Him Lordship in our lives, not only can we bear fruit, Jesus states that we will bear(s) much fruit.  

Verse 7 is one of those verses that when taken out of context of the totality of the Scriptures has been wrongly interpreted to mean that whatever it is we want, we just name it and God makes it happen.  Yet, like so many other passages of Scripture teach, we must remember that we ask according to God’s will and not our desires or will.  This is in the context of a deep, abiding relationship, plus allowing the words of Jesus to abide and be a part of us.  Just recently, a brother in Christ reminded me of the power of Bible memorization and its ability to keep us from sin.  Indeed, God’s Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Him.    

The result of this is seen in verse 8 as glory is brought to the Father.  As we bear much fruit God is glorified.  As we bear much fruit, we provide further evidence to all around that we belong to God.  In this context, it will show that the remaining eleven will make it obvious that they are followers of Jesus Christ.

Significance of Abiding - 15:9-11

Abiding is so import in so many aspects.  Here, Jesus encourages the disciples that His love for them is as the Father’s love for Him.  So, they just needed to abide in that love.  

If they do what God wants them to do, this will be evidence of them abiding in Christ’s love.  It would be no different than Jesus keeping His Father’s commandments.

Why is it that Jesus spent so much time talking about fruit production and abiding?  Verse 11 seems to give us that answer. 

These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. 

This is a picture of what the Christian is like.  If we’re in close relationship with Jesus, His joy permeates who we are.  As a result of that, our joy is made full.

Summary

This whole section is dealing with our relationship with Christ and the need to allow Him to enable us to bear much fruit.  I recognize there is a reminder that there will be those, not unlike Judas, who will look and try to act like Christians.  God has that covered and will remove them as they don’t belong to Him begin with.  We don’t have to concern ourselves over that.

I want us to focus on the application to us.  The more we surrender our lives to the Lordship of Christ and abide in Him, the greater the opportunity to bear much fruit, whatever that may mean in our situations at the time.  This means spending time studying the Bible, praying, worshiping corporately, and encouraging others in their walk, while seeking God’s wisdom and guidance at all times.  

We also can see that sometimes in order to make us more productive in God’s eyes, there needs to be some pruning in our lives.  Sometimes, it involves taking out diseased parts that hinder fruit production.  Sometimes, it means removing some really good things so that the best things come forth.  Ultimately, it will mean that God gets all the glory.

We give glory to God when we abide in Christ and bear much fruit.