Alliance Church
Pastor David Welch
“Key to a Fruitful Life” Part 2
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you. John 15:16
The whole purpose for being specially chosen and joined to God is to bear fruit for God.
One of the reasons a man and woman choose to unite with each other is to bear fruit. God promises fruit from our union with Him. God lovingly choose us in order that we might bear lasting fruit.
There is a Divine side to this union.
• God chooses individuals to join Him.
• God draws and calls us to join Him.
• God paid the entire necessary penalty for our rebellion and broken relationship.
• God grants us eternal life.
• He establishes a special union and restored relationship
• God sent His Holy Spirit that we might know Him and know all he has done.
We also have a part.
A. Stay connected to the True Vine to bear lasting fruit15: 1-11
He doesn’t command the disciples to manufacture fruit. Fruit is the natural result of being connected to the vine. Our part in the equation is “connecting”, “abiding” in the vine. Jesus instructs his disciples to be sure to continually “abide” in him. He urges them to stay connected to the source of life and fruit. We can choose to cultivate relationship with him and enjoy the fruit of that relationship or we can neglect that connection and live barren fruitless lives. What does a life of abiding look like from our side of things? This section of Scripture is all about the process of bearing fruit.
We all start out as branches disconnected from the vine spiritually and practically. We all enter this life as fruitless branches or according to Romans 7 bearing poisonous fruit; bearing fruit for death.
5For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. Romans 7:5
God joins us to Christ that we might bear fruit for the kingdom. The Father is the gardener. The Father works in the vineyard in order to produce lasting fruit on the chosen branches. Branches can only bear quality fruit through a consistent, firm connection to quality root.
There are sometimes branches in the vineyard that refuse to connect to the vine.
Matthew 7:13-27
This passage presents a whole different picture teaching the same principle of connection to Jesus. Connect to the true vine Build on the solid foundation.
The fruit that pleases God
What is this fruit that God expects and so carefully cultivates in His vineyard? It is the fruit of being connected to Jesus. Don’t make this fruit thing too complicated. The branch bears the fruit of the root. God empowers us to reflect the fruit of Jesus.
The character of Jesus
If we are connected to the Vine we will produce the character of the vine.
His love, his compassion, His Kindness, His gentleness, His integrity, His energy, His devotion, His holiness, His justice, His long-suffering, His faithfulness, His dependability, His others-centeredness, His calmness in chaos, His eternal outlook, His passion for the lost, His love for the truth.
The works of Jesus
If we are connected to the Vine we will also produce the kind of deeds inherent in the vine.
What would Jesus do? Deeds are the result of character. Jesus’ deeds were the result of who he was. Deeds of kindness, deeds of healing, touched the broken; healed the wounded, accomplished the will of God, resisted evil, sought out and saved the lost, built up those around Him, entered into fellowship with believers, interceded in much prayer for others, spent considerable time with the Father, he dedicated his life to doing the Father’s will, He demonstrate his love by obedience and learned obedience through he thing He suffered.
The Words of Jesus
If we are connected to the Vine, the words that Jesus spoke from His father will be the words we speak to one another and to the world around us.
Not only are we to consider what Jesus would do based on who Jesus was, but what would Jesus say. Are the words we speak those which draw others to the Father and build up? Do our words reflect the character and compassion of Jesus? Or do our words bring division and hurt?
The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the church directly corresponds with all of these things.
The Holy Spirit is interested in the development of character.
Before Jesus entered into official ministry at 30 years old, the Father cried out from heaven, “This is my beloved son in whom I am WELL pleased.”
The breadth of our ministry and work comes out of the depth of our personal life. Character produces effective words and deeds.
The Holy Spirit also empowers deeds.
He gifts individuals.
He empowers individuals.
He energizes the weak.
He strengthens for the work.
He brings about any number of effects in the course of our ministry.
The Holy Spirit also operates in the realm of learning, understanding, applying, remembering and communicating the truth of God.
Look on the branches of your life! We need to stop making excuses for our fruitlessness.
Two reasons for fruitlessness
1 – We are not really connected to the vine and will be hauled to the burn pile and burned.
2 – We have been lying in the dirt and mud in need of lifting and cleaning.
Well there is good news.
• Jesus claimed to be and IS the true vine, the one true source for fruit bearing.
We don’t have to produce the fruit. The fruit comes from the Vine.
• The believer must remain connected to the vine to bear fruit.
Our responsibility is to keep connected. When we are connected the Father continually works with us so that we might bear fruit.
• The Father does the work necessary to the branches to bring about much fruit
1. The father “lifts up” branches not consistently bearing fruit resulting in a consistent fruit-bearing branch.
The Father is not content with just plain old fruit bearing.
2. The father prunes (cleans) fruit bearing branches resulting in more fruit.
"… every branch that bears fruit, He prunes (cleans) it so that it may bear more fruit”.
The Father skillfully works among the branches of the vineyard to stimulate more fruit.
Fruit-bearing!
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! (Refuses to connect to anything else)
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. (Keeps connected)
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:1-3
This is in contrast to those who trust in themselves.
Thus says the LORD,
"Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD. "For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant.
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD.
"For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit. Jeremiah 17:5-8
Abide, trust, walk, believe, live, follow, connect, obey, love, be filled are all words describing relationship with Christ resulting in fruit.
The Father allows things to happen in our life that we might learn to do connitnually rely on Him and not trust ourselves.
For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 2 Cor. 1:8-9
Drawing on our own resources cannot produce spiritual fruit. Connecting to Christ results in fruit. The more we learn to trust in God and yield to His work and His plan, the sooner we will experience MORE fruit.
3. The father encourages deeper connection that results in much fruit.
"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.
The deeper our relationship the more we demonstrate the character of the one we love.
Jesus reminds them again that only connection with Him produces lasting fruit. It is that intimate connection and understanding of the love of Christ for us and through us that leads to the divine fullness Paul prayed for in Ephesians 3. It begins with a strengthening by the Holy Spirit in the inner man so that we can be intimately connect with Christ and may then come to fully understand the full dimensions of His love that fills us with His fullness, which is love itself. It is this same unity and connection that Jesus prayed for in his prayer in John 17. We become like the people with whom we associate. Hang around the people and things of God we will move toward godliness. If we hang around people and things of the world we will become more godless.
John soberly adds a warning to those who refuse to trust Jesus. They will be hauled out of the vineyard and burned.
If you are without fruit…
If you have no heart for deeper relationship with Christ…
If your life does not demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit…
If you have never made a commitment to submit to Christ and cleave to him…
You would do well to question whether your connection to the vine.
They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. 1 John 2:19
Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:7-8
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:10
He who has the Son (by reason of abiding in Him) has life. He who has not the Son does not have life but the wrath of God abides on Him.
If you are not connected to the vine and draw your life from Him, there is no life. Your future is the burn pile. Eternally disconnected from all that is life. Jesus most likely adds this warning in reference to the Judas who spent a great deal of time in the vineyard but never really connected to the vine.
Conclusion
So what about those who have connected to Christ.
Stay connected! You can tell the health of your connection by the quantity of your fruit.
Inspect your branch – fruit? You say you abide in Jesus You say you are connected to Jesus – do you walk like Jesus?
Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. 1 John 2:23-25
No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 1 John 4:12-17
Fruit only comes from continual connection to the Vine.
Practically, how does this work? Think way back to our series on CPR.
All of the elements necessary to stay connected were taught then.
Continually Cultivate relationship with Jesus
Persistently Pursue meaningful connection with people
Resolutely restore righteousness and Resist Evil
All three of these values must be present in your life. They balance one another and support one another.
• You will not properly cultivate you relationship with Jesus if you are not consciously resisting evil in your life.
• You can’t effectively resist evil unless you are confident in your relationship with Christ.
• You will continually struggle in your relationships with people as long as your relationship with God is out of sync.
• Quality relationships with people inspire our relationship with God.
• Healthy friendships empower godly living.
Cultivate your relationship by daily…
Submission to His rule in our life
Dedication of our members to His purposes
Renewal of our minds through exposure to the truth
Drawing Near through prayer and intentional seeking of his presence.
Walk by the power of the Holy Spirit
Pursue meaningful connection by continual…
Prayer for one another
Preservation of unity through love, acceptance, forgiveness, kindness, goodness
Building of the body through encouragement, use of gifts, service, speak truth
Restoration of the fallen
Support of the weak
Resist the evil of the world the flesh and the devil by humble…
Purification of the heart
Renunciation of the world
Denial of the flesh
Resistance of the devil
Requests for help
So often our passion for God becomes defused and necessitates the example and inspiration of others.
“Encourage one another DAILY lest our hearts become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
Heb 3:13
“Come together in order to simulate one another to love and godly living.” Heb 10
This is a life style. These are habits woven into the daily fabric of our life. Take a look at your branches. Do people recognize the character, works and words of Jesus on those branches? When people observe your life are they amazed and conclude that it is because you have been with Jesus? That you are connected to Jesus
The American church is so much like the church at Laodicea. Here is what Jesus had to say to them.
"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
What made them lukewarm? It was their lack of passion to become more like Jesus. It was their apathy related to bearing much fruit. Because they were not anxious to bear much lasting fruit, they actually came to the point where they were not bearing any fruit. In fact, they came to the point where they thought they were all right. Fruitless living became the norm. They thought they had it all together. They began to measure themselves with themselves instead of with Jesus.
'Because you say,( not because it was true ) "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,
Jesus urged them to improve their connection in order to bear His eternal fruit.
I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
The Father disciplines branches that don’t bear fruit or little fruit.
'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.
But we have a part in that discipline. The first step to renewed fruit bearing is a recognition that we have failed to bear the fruit of Jesus. Upon that recognition we are then to turn around, repent. We must again die to running our own life. We must forgo following our own self-centered agendas. We are much more self-centered than any of us dare to admit. We cling to the self-focused life with every ounce of human energy often ignoring the urging o the Holy Spirit to let go and die and deny ourselves.
Our schedules revolve around us.
Our finances go to the things that please, protect and promote our scarred souls.
We spend our energy on the things that we think will bring happiness not holiness.
Our thoughts spin around how WE are doing or feeling.
As we saw last week, the genuine follower of Jesus must surrender to Jesus.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. Matthew 16:24
Jesus longs for us to enter into this deeper connection that we may bear much fruit.
'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 'He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' " Rev. 3:14-22
I ask you to do four things this morning.
1 – Submit to his rule
2 -- Offer your life a living sacrifice.
3 – Commit to renew your mind daily by listening to the Word in some way.
4 – Enlist the help of another person to encourage you in your commitment to Him.
Does your life seem like a bush in the desert? You are not trusting Christ
Do you want to bear fruit? You must deepen your connection with Christ.
What will you do?
When will you start?
You were specially chosen by God to bear MUCH fruit.
It is your reason for being.
You were called to become conformed to the image of Christ.
