Benefits Of Bearing Fruit

Are you bearing fruit?

We need to be bearing fruit. It is a calling of God for His children. He states it very clearly in John 15:16. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

PRAY

Father we ask for Your anointing on us today. Place Your anointing on me as Your messenger today. You have called us to bear much fruit, but the sad truth is that many Christians are not bearing any fruit. Teach us today that we are your friends and as your friends we need to be bearing fruit. Show us through Your Word how to accomplish this.

Open our eyes so that we may see Your Word. Open our ears so that we may hear Your Word. Open our minds so that we may understand Your Word. Open our hearts so that we may receive Your Word today.

AMEN

READ John 15:1-17

The vine is an Old Testament figure that was used to represent the people of Israel. In this Scripture Jesus is telling those who would listen that He is the True Vine, the man of God’s right hand.

Jesus is now using this illustration to show that everyone who accepts God through Him becomes a part of the vine.

Isn’t that some awesome news? When we accept Jesus as our personal Savior and begin a personal relationship with God through Jesus we become a part of the True Vine.

The basic truth of this chapter is that a Christian cannot bear fruit unless they have an abiding relationship with the True Vine, which is Jesus Christ.

That makes a relationship with Christ very important and the key word hear is abiding. To abide in something means to stand fast or to remain or to stay.

We need to be in a continuous relationship with God through Christ. We can’t go out and live like the world 6 days a week and give God one day and continue to expect to be abiding in the vine. If we are living that way then we are not abiding in the vine, we are abiding in the world.

The writer of Hebrews stated, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” Hebrews 10:26-27

There are many benefits to abiding in the vine; having our prayers answered, bearing much fruit, and eternal life with Christ in heaven.

So we need to figure what it means to abide in the vine so that we can be assured that we are not in spiritual fatigue so that we can be assured that we are bearing fruit, having our prayers answered, and have a place in heaven.

What does it mean to abide in the vine?

A vine branch is lifeless and useless unless it remains attached to the vine. Inside the vine is living sap that flows throughout the vine into each of the branches enabling each branch to produce fruit.

For us to abide in the vine means that we are going to be people who are depending upon Christ and who are allowing the power and the Spirit of Christ to flow through us and in us.

Abiding in the vine means that we are living our lives with the presence of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in us. It is His presence in our lives that drives our desire to be more like Christ and the more we are like Christ the more fruit we are going to bear and the more prayers we are going to see answered.

Abiding in the vine means that we have an ongoing relationship with God through Jesus and that relationship is the most important thing in our lives. God first, everything else follows.

What does it mean to bear fruit?

The fruit that is mentioned here is the result of love in the life of the believer.

God loved us and the fruit of His love was Jesus coming to the earth and dying on the cross and then being raised from the grave so that we could have everlasting life.

Because God loved us so much we love Him.

When we love God the Bible clearly teaches that we should love others. So our love brings forth actions. We do good things for others, we help them, we support them, we build them up, and we share the love of God with them so that they too will become children of God.

The final result of this kind of love is changed lives. We are changing because we are becoming more like Christ.