The Fruits of Our Labor
This Labor Day holiday, we need to take a look at the labors of our lives and see what importance Jesus places on labor. When we think of labor we naturally think about the many hours that we put in at our place of work. The fruit of this labor sets the standards of our lifestyle. Jesus was more concern about another kind of fruit.
Jesus knew His time on earth with His disciples was short and He still had some important teachings that they needed to hear. Jesus ate the Passover meal, the Last Supper, with His disciples. He told Judas to do what he had to do and told Peter that he would deny Him three times. The disciples must have been feeling really down by this time. They were about to lose their Messiah. Jesus had one more important lesson for them and for us. He said, "Come now; let us leave." He leads them to a garden on the way to the Mount of Olives. During their walk they pass a grape vineyard and Jesus stops. The eleven disciples gather around Him and Jesus begins to speak.
John 15:1-11
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
(NIV)
(Prayer)
Are you producing fruit and if so how much? We have four baskets set on the table with fruit. Today we are going to learn how much fruit we produce and how to produce much fruit.
I don’t know how much you know about grapes vines, so let me give you a little gardening lesson. The part that is called the vine is the thick woody part that comes up from the roots. If this was a tree we would call it the trunk. The vine is the lifeblood to the grapevine. All the nourishment travels from the roots through the vine and then to the branches. The branches are the offshoots that bear the grapes. Not all branches will produce fruit. The branches will have to be pruned. The branches of a grapevine will produce an abundance of leaves. With so many leaves, sunlight cannot get to the clusters of grapes and the clusters will not mature. So the branches has to be pruned by cutting off most of the leaves allowing the grapes to grow and mature. The more you prune the branches the larger the yield of fruit.
Now that you know how to produce much grapes, what is Jesus trying to teach us?
In verse one Jesus says that He is the vine. Those who have accepted Him as their Savior and Lord are the branches. All nourishment comes through Him. There are several passages in the Bible that tells us that we can do nothing except through Jesus Christ. Without the Vine (Jesus) we cannot survive. Unless we have accepted Jesus as our Savior we are dead. Those who have not accepted Christ are not branches on the vine. Only those who have accepted Jesus Christ are branches on the true vine. Verses one and two tell us that God, our Father, is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that bears no fruit.
Let’s look into the first basket. There isn’t any fruit in it. What happened? God cut this branch off because it wasn’t producing fruit. Some scholars teach that this branch that produces no fruit refers to the unbelievers, but this cannot be so. First of all unbelievers cannot be a part of the vine. Only believers abide in Christ. Other scholars teach that these Christians that produces no fruit loses their salvation and we know this is not true because of Ephesians 2:8-9.
Eph 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
(NIV)
We all probably know Christians that do not produce fruit. So what did Jesus means by "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit?" To understand this, we must look more closely at what "cuts off" means. The Greek word for "cuts off" is "airo" (ah-ee-ro) which literally translates to "lift up." Vineyard keepers check their vineyard regularly. If they find a branch that has fallen off of the trellis, they will clean the branch, lift it up and tie it back to the trellis.
This is what God does to those of us that do not produce any fruit. We are too valuable to Him to just let us go wild in our own direction. If your life consistently bears no fruit, God will intervene to discipline you. If you are not producing fruit then there is probably sin in your life that you need to confess and get out of your life. I have had so many people tell me that God does not punish the ones that He loves. I know that He does. I have been the recipient of His loving punishment when I was younger and not walking the narrow path. Let’s look at a couple of verses to prove this.
Deut 8:5
5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
(NIV)
Heb 12:5-7
5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives."
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
(NKJ)
In Hebrew Chapter 12 we learn that there are three degrees of discipline.
Degree 1: Rebuking. In verse 5 we see that God sometimes rebukes those who are not producing fruit. A rebuke is a verbal warning. When we are doing something wrong and we hear that inner voice say, "Stop it. Don’t do that!" that is God rebuking us. My parents were good at that. If I was misbehaving as a child, all my mother had to do was to give me that look and I knew I had better stop. If I didn’t, then Dad would just call out my name and I knew if I didn’t stop what I was doing, the next step would be some type of emotional discipline. We need to learn to listen to God’s voice. It will save us a lot of grief later.
Degree 2: Chasten. In verse 5 we see that God sometimes chastise those not producing fruit. Chastening is something you feel as emotional anxiety, frustration, or distress. What use to bring you joy, now doesn’t. It could be increase pressure at work, at home, in you health or finances. In my example of misbehaving as a child the next step of discipline after rebuking would include being sent to my room, or no TV or extra chores. God will increase our hardship in our lives to get our attention. If you are experiencing unusual lost of Joy in your life, then maybe you are not producing the fruit that God wants and He is chastening you.
Degree 3: Scourge. In verse 6 we see that God sometimes scourge those not producing fruit. To scourge is to whip, to inflict punishment. It is the same word used to describe what the Romans did to Jesus just before they crucified Him. If you are experiencing this type of punishment, then you are probably living in open sin with a flagrant disregard for what you know is right. When I was a child and my parents’ rebuking and chastening didn’t work then scourging would come next. I would suffer pain. I would be spanked. This was always the last resort to get me to correct my misbehaving. God also uses scourging as an last resort to try to get us to bear fruit. Let’s read what Paul has to say.
1 Cor 11:25-32
25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
(NIV)
God wants us to bear fruit. He wants to see us leading people to Christ. He wants to see us helping people. He wants to see us by our actions showing the light of Christ to others. If we are not doing this; if we are not producing fruit, God will get our attention and the methods will increase in severity until we begin to produce fruit.
Is your basket empty?
Let’s look in the second basket that we have here. Hey, there is one cluster of grapes in it. In verse 2 Jesus tells us that that every branch that bears fruit God prunes so that it will bear even more fruit. Many of us produce some fruit, but that isn’t the priority in our lives. We produce a lot of leaves, but very little fruit. An abundant growth of leaves represents all those preoccupations and priorities in our lives that, which not wrong, are keeping us from more significant ministry for God. Sometimes we get our priorities out of order. We spend too much energy at work trying to provide a better life for our families. We look forward to our leisure time after a hard day at work. We can’t wait to get home and turn the TV on. We will occasionally skip church to go out and play a round of golf or go fishing or hunting. Putting these before God is not producing much fruit. We are always to put God’s will for our lives first. If we are spending more time on our selfish desire, than with God, then we will produce very little fruit.
First we saw God’s discipline of those who produced no fruit. Now we see God pruning those who produce little fruit, so that they will produce more fruit. If disciplining is about sin, pruning is about self. In pruning God ask you to let go of things that keeps you from His kingdom purposes and your ultimate good. To produce more fruit and to avoid God’s pruning, which is also painful, we need to quit living for ourselves and start living for God. If we don’t start putting God first in our lives, then God will prune away the things in our lives that are keeping Him from being first. If we care more about making more money than obeying God, then God may prune away our job and give us a lesser paying job. Be aware of God’s pruning and put God above all else in your life and you will see your fruit increase.
Now let’s look in the third basket. It is half full. We must be doing something right, but we are still lacking something. We are producing more fruit, but there are others things in our lives keeping us from producing much fruit. Mature pruning is God’s way of helping us to put into practice His command to "seek first the kingdom of God." This is why God will always prune those things that we slavishly seek first, love most, and begrudge giving up. We are told not to have any other gods in our lives. If there is anything in our procession that we are not willing to give up for God, then it is an idol in our lives. We must love God more than any procession that we may own and love God more than any person in our lives. God may be asking you to give up the most important things in your life so that you will be more fruitful in His ministry.
When I finally accepted God’s call to the ministry, I didn’t know what I would be losing until later. When I told my sister of my decision, she stopped talking to me. Two of my daughters now has very little to do with me. Is it worth losing the relationship with my sister and daughters so to produce more fruit for God’s ministry? Yes! God has to be first in our lives. We must love God more that anything else in our lives. I have given my sister and daughters over to God and I have taken on God’s will for my life. I know I have done the right thing because God’s pruning is less painful now. God sacrificed His Son on the cross for us because He loves us. Do we love God enough to make sacrifices in our lives? If you do you will bear more fruit.
Now let’s look in the fourth basket. We see that the basket is overflowing with fruit. To produce much fruit we must abide in Christ. In the first three baskets, we saw that God was proactive in making us produce fruit. To produce much fruit we must be the one to act. To abide in Christ means that we must live a life where we are constantly in contact with God. We must allow Christ to live in us and to control our lives 100% of the time. This means that we are in constant communication with our Father. Abiding is constantly drawing spiritual nourishment from God. With this endless flow of spiritual nourishment, we will produce an abundant overflowing of fruit, with less effort.
How do we learn to abide in our Father? First, seek His face. Get up early every day and read your Bible. Listen to what God’s Holy Word is saying to you. Keep a daily spiritual journal of you talk with God. Learn to pray as if you were talking to your very best friend. Abiding doesn’t measure how much you know about the Bible or your faith. In abiding you seek, long for, thirst, love, hear, and respond to God. Abiding in God means that there isn’t anything else that you would rather be doing than having a close relationship with God. Abiding in God means that you extend your morning devotional to having an-all day attentiveness to His presence. To abide in God means that there is not a moment that you are not aware that you are in the presence of God. When you learn to abide in God, you will see your fruit increase without any effort on your part. God wants to be able to work His ministry through you without any effort on your part. If you are abiding in Him, then He is able to lead you into many new avenues of ministries that will result in producing much fruit for His Kingdom.
When you produce much fruit, you will find that your life is full of peace, contentment and joy. Abide in God and let Him show you the best of everything that you can experience.
I now ask you to look into your fruit basket. Is it empty? Is there a little? Is there more fruit? Or is there much fruit? We should be striving to lead many to Christ and to do God’s will in our lives. If God is disciplining you, then get the sin out of your life. If God is pruning you then put God first in your life.
For those of you here today that are not a part of the true vine, Jesus Christ, and you are feeling that God is calling you to Him, don’t hesitate. Come now and accept Jesus has your Savior and then let Him be the Lord of your life. You too can learn to abide in God and experience the joy and peace that you have been searching for, but have been unable to find until now. Come now and give your life to Jesus and start producing fruit.
If you are a Christian here today and your fruit basket is empty, pray to your Father and ask that He would forgive the sins in your life and then you turn away from those sins.
If your basket is only half-full or less, pray that your Father will prune you and show you what is hindering your fruitfulness.
If your basket is full, but you don’t have the joy, peace and contentment in your life that you should, pray and abide in God, your Father.
