Bearing Fruit Introduction

 Preface

To understand the study more deeply and to be able to apply the

precepts more personally to your own lives, it is important for me to

define some key concepts and terms. First of all, you are already

saints (1 Peter 2:9), heirs to eternal life (Galatians 3:29; Ephesians

3:6), chosen (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5a). This means that we are

talking about your sanctification as you grow more and more like

Christ, rather than your justification in which you placed your faith

in Christ as the means of your salvation. At no time in this study will

we imply that your justification can be taken from you (John 10:28).

In the last study we learned so many things about the Holy Spirit and

how He works within us and the depth of His love for us. This study

goes one step further—it takes us into a specific metaphor of vines,

trees, and gardening.

The purpose of this study is to aid in your growth in Christian

maturity. When we were new Christians, we were like babies who

were fed milk—a very basic diet, but babies grow, so as we grow, we

start eating more solid foods. As the food we eat nourishes our

bodies and strengthens us for the daily tasks we must accomplish,

spiritual food nourishes our souls and strengthens our walk with

Christ.

Bearing Fruit

Quite a number of years ago, I heard Chuck Swindoll on the radio preaching about

the Fruit of the Spirit. He said there was so much more to bearing fruit than what

is described in Galatians 5. If I am remembering correctly, he called that particular

fruit the fruit of our character.

In Philippians, there is the fruit of our contribution and the fruit of waiting. In

Ephesians we have the fruit of the light within us. The fruit of righteousness is

described in many places in the Bible. Second Corinthians delineates the fruit of

our actions, and Romans has the fruit of our faith as well as the fruit of the law.

Hebrews shows us the fruit of our lips. Colossians has the fruit of forgiveness, and

I am sure I have not exhausted the various kinds of fruit listed in the Bible.

According to my Bible Study App, the word “fruit” is mentioned 211 times in the

English Standard Version. Not every mention is related to the fruit of the Spirit,

but there are enough references that the reader gets the idea this is important to

God.

John 10 demonstrates the only way we are able to bear fruit. That is where this

study will begin exploring what it means to bear fruit and how we live it out. It is

my hope that this study will free the readers from the belief that they must

PRODUCE fruit. That is work done by the Holy Spirit through us as believers.

In studying the Scripture about bearing fruit, it is important to see what it says,

understand what it means, and then apply it to your life on a day to day basis.

Start with the Vine

As we look at the passages of Scripture, there are three things you need to do:  

1. Write down what it says
2. Write down what it means
3. Write down how you will apply it to your life personally.  

Genesis 1:11-12 

God created the vines and trees that will bear fruit.  Each plant bears fruit that will reproduce itself, i.e. tomato vines do not bear squash and apple trees do not bear cherries. 

In biblical or spiritual terms, it is not the branch that produces the fruit, it is the working of the roots, which ground the plants, and the sap that carries the nourishment through the vine to the branches that produces the fruit.  The branch is only the avenue from which the fruit grows and ripens. It all works together to bring glory to God.  That is the whole purpose of bearing fruit.  Andrew Murray said to think of the Vine first.  The branch has only one objective or one purpose--to bear the fruit the Vine wishes to bring forth. 

John 15

This passage will play heavily into the whole study and parts of it will come up periodically as we go through learning about bearing fruit. 

Christ is the original Vine--He's not a copy.  Our union with Christ is a 

• living union--so we can bear fruit
• a loving union--so we can enjoy Him
• a lasting union--so we never have to be afraid of our eternity

Our fruit is a witness of Christ--we cannot bear fruit unless we are abiding in Him. 

Jesus wants intimate, living fellowship with us.  It's not our heritage but faith in Him alone that is the only way to God.  Young branches grow quickly and need pruning to grow strong.  The secret of abiding in Christ is that Christ is abiding in God.  Jesus went to solitary places to seek one-on-one fellowship with God.  We have to make deliberate contact with God.  Christ calls us to be His friends which gives us intimate connection to God.  

Jesus also reiterates His command to love one another:

• it's more practical than emotional
• it's to be the pattern of our entire lives
• by honoring His teachings we are demonstrating our friendship with God. 

Our abiding makes us fruitful, brings glory to God, allows us to be advertisements to those who are not believers, makes us members of God's family

1. we can pray
1. in faith
2. in His name
3. for His will
4. and is never selfish.  

The world won't like our fruit.  They can't see their own fetters of sin nor the freedom we have in abiding in the Vine.  

Abiding in Him subjects us to pruning and improves the quality of our fruit, removes some of the smaller fruit so that what's left is of greater quality, and encourages us to bear more fruit for His glory.  New branches have to be trained--sometimes for two or three years. 

Christ is the Vine.  God is the caretaker. He cultivates the vine, prunes the branches for greater yield, and removes dead weight. 

All my life when I was growing up, my dad grew a garden.  He was careful to remove the sucker roots from the branches of the tomatoes because they would weaken the whole vine.  The fruit would be smaller and less appetizing otherwise.  This isn't what God wants from us or for us.  We can't send out sucker roots into the world and still remain in Him.  It weakens our branch, and makes our fruit unpalatable. We have to draw our nourishment from God alone. 

By abiding in the Vine, we bear more and tastier fruit.  We abound and God is glorified. Anything that weakens our hold in the Vine (listening to the world's ideology, neglecting our connection to other believers, neglecting our prayer life and study of His Word) causes our holy affections to decline, corruptions to revive, and the nourishment from the Vine to diminish.  It interrupts our faith.  We should seek to live more simply in the fullness of Christ, grow more fruitful, and experience fullness and the joy of our salvation.  

In his ministry to the Gentiles, Paul explains how to become part of the Vine--we have to be cut off from our old roots and grafted into the Vine that is Jesus Christ.  Our old roots were wild and weak, but we are grafted into Christ who provides our daily strength to live the Christian life and bear spiritual fruit. 

When I was in school, my class took a field trip to a tree farm where the process of grafting was explained.  A branch was cut off a weaker root and slipped into a prepared site on the stronger root.  The stronger root had to be wounded to accept the new branch.  It was then covered with a damp medium like peat moss until the graft had taken hold and the wound in the stronger root had healed.  

Too many people look at "bearing fruit" and "producing fruit" and believe they are interchangeable, but they are not.  To produce is to cause to come into existence.  This is something I cannot do with one exception.  

What I can do is bear fruit.  I can carry the weight or support the fruit that is produced in me.

Clearly, God is the one who produces the fruit in us. 

Spiritual growth comes from the root which grows deeper into the soil to make a stronger vine.  With a stronger vine, the sanctifying fruit appears in our lives. 

When we yield control, the Holy Spirit produces the fruit in us.  These are the conditions that must be met to bear fruit:

1. Believers have been removed from their old root--we have died to sin (Romans 6:11) and have become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)
2. We have been grafted into Jesus, the True Vine and abide in Him (Colossians 1:27)
3. He abides in us
4. Abiding in Christ allows us to bear the fruit He wants to produce within us (John 15:4)
5. It is more than just Christ living in us, allowing Him to make His home in our hearts (Ephesians 3:16-17 NLT)

Bearing fruit is all about relinquishing control of our lives to God--regardless of our circumstances.  

Branches by themselves are weak--they cannot produce life on their own. We have to be grafted into Christ through the Spirit and that makes it possible to bear fruit. 

The sooner we realize we are just branches, the better we relate to God.  We know our own weakness and confess our need for His strength. 

Abiding or keeping fellowship with Christ is evidenced by 

• bearing fruit
• answered prayers
• deeper love for Christ and others
• experiencing joy

Abiding demands: 

• worship
• prayer
• meditation on His word
• sacrifice and service
• desire to leave the shallow life of carelessness behind