So that it may bear more fruit.

John 15 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² 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. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ 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. ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. ⁹ Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

¹² “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. ¹⁷ This I command you, that you love one another.

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹ But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ He who hates Me hates My Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. ²⁵ But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

²⁶ “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, ²⁷ and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

When I was a young boy I enjoyed gardening and working with plants and trees. My grandfather gave me an apricot tree from his farm to plant at my house. I remember the first time he came and pruned that tree. I felt like he was hurting the tree and cutting away so much that it surely would not be productive for a long time. When the next spring came the tree was full of blossoms and later it yielded a good harvest of fruit. In today’s text Jesus says:  “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.”   The process of God’s pruning may seem like it will be painful. It may seem as though there will be nothing left to produce anything. But the Lord, like the arborist, carefully removes what is necessary, what is unproductive. Through the pruning process God removes what is of the natural carnal nature so that what is spiritual, what is like Jesus can become more prominent. Jesus says:  “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.”      So bearing fruit is necessary to prove we are disciples of Christ.

We need to understand what fruit is and what its purpose is so that we can bear the fruit of discipleship. Fruit, while it is pleasing to the eye and good for nutrition, has its true purpose in reproducing after its kind. As disciples of Christ, the fruit of our lives should be reproducing other disciples of Christ. That’s why it is necessary that what is of our carnal nature be pruned away, so that those we reproduce resemble Christ not ourselves. Jesus says that apart from Him we can do nothing. That may not be totally true, surely we can do lots of things on our own, but we can do no good thing, we cannot bear fruit for the kingdom of heaven apart from Him.  In Matthew 7:16-19 Jesus says:   ^“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

It is important that we understand that it is fruit of discipleship that we are to bear. The fruit of discipleship will not necessarily be pleasing to the world. Jesus says:  “This I command you, that you love one another.”   Then follows it by saying:   “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”      The world says that we should show our love by being like them, by allowing what is natural and carnal to be prominent in our lives. In that way we would reproduce fruit for the world not fruit of discipleship, for the kingdom. Jesus says He chose us out of the world, to abide in Him. Because of that the world will hate us, not for the evil we do, but for being in Christ and being like Him. Today’s text ends with Jesus saying:   “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”     The Holy Spirit is our Helper, helping us to testify of Jesus and to bear the fruit of discipleship. Again the world would prefer that we looked and acted like them, doing the things they do. While that is what they want, it is not what they need. Galatians 5:16-25 describes the life and fruit of the Spirit compared to the carnal life of the world.     But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.    Remembering that the fruit of discipleship is to reproduce for the kingdom of God, this then is contrary to what we should do, even though it is what the world would have us do.     But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.     The fruit of the Spirit being evident in our lives is not itself the fruit we are to bear. But, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are what will attract the world to the Christ in us. Jesus says:  “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)    As we abide in Christ, as we allow the Lord to remove what is carnal from our lives, as we walk in the Spirit, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, others will see the good, the Christ in us and we will bear fruit for the kingdom as they glorify God in heaven. 

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. It is not Your desire that I be thrown out as worthless. Instead You carefully and lovingly work in my life to remove what is unproductive or what would produce bad fruit. Thank You for choosing me out of the world that I might live with You and for You. Holy Spirit reveal Your fruit in and through me, that others would see and also become fruit for the kingdom of heaven.   Amen.