Living Life to the Full1. The Secret of Living is

Bearing Fruit

Suppose I could offer you a life that is guaranteed to give you...

• Joy greater than any other• Happiness to the fullest• Assurance of eternal life• Peace beyond your imagination• Would you be interested?• I can’t offer it, but Jesus can & does– John 10:10 NIV ... I have come that they may have

life, and have it to the full.

Jesus offers this “full life”

• Not only by His sacrificial death on the cross• But also by His teachings– John 15:11 NIV I have told you this so that my joy

may be in you and that your joy may be complete.• In His words, we see how to live life to the full– Many in John 15– Pictures self as vine & disciples as branches

John 15:1-5 NIV

• 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.

1st secret: The secret of living is bearing fruit

• Matthew 7:16-20 NIV By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? (17) Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

• Kind of fruit matters: Lemon tree, flower, fruit• Different kinds of fruit we bear

MAKING & MATURING DISCIPLES

Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

• Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (19) Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Romans 1:13 NIV

• I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

• A branch produces a product like itself• Disciples bear fruit by producing disciples

SHARING WITH THE LESS FORTUNATE

Romans 15:25-28 NIV

• Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there. (26) For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. (27) They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. (28) So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.

Jesus certainly did this

• 2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

If the “Vine” did this, we should expect His “branches” to do the same

• 1 John 3:16-18 NIV This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (17) If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? (18) Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

DEVELOPING CHRIST-LIKE CHARACTER

Notice that the “fruit” of the Spirit is the development of certain graces

• Galatians 5:22-23 NIV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

One who grows in such qualities grows in the “knowledge of Jesus Christ”

• 2 Peter 1:5-8 NIV For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; (6) and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; (7) and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. (8) For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is being “renewed … in the image” of his creator

• Colossians 3:9-11 NIV Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices (10) and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (11) Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

PRAISING & THANKING GOD

Hebrews 13:15 NIV

• Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name.

The “Vine” modeled this “attitude of gratitude”

• Luke 10:21 NIV At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

• John 11:41 NIV So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

Should His “branches” do any less?

• These are different kinds of “fruit” we can bear as “branches” of the “Vine”

• But how does bearing such fruit make for the “full life” Jesus promised?

• Benefits of bearing such fruit …

“JOY” FOR THOSE WHO MAKE & MATURE DISCIPLES

3 John 1:3-4 NIV

• It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. (4) I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 NIV

• For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? (20) Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

• Those involved in winning & maturing souls find joy as they see the fruit of their labor

“HAPPINESS” FOR THOSE WHO SHARE WITH THE

NEEDY

Acts 20:35 NIV

• In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

• “Blessed” can be translated “happy”, so there is greater happiness in giving than in receiving

“ASSURANCE” FOR THOSE WHO DEVELOP CHRIST-LIKE

CHARACTER

Galatians 5:23 NIV

• ... Against such things there is no law.• Romans 8:1 NIV Therefore, there is now no

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

2 Peter 1:8-11 NIV

• For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (9) But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. (10) Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, (11) and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

1 John 3:18-19 NIV

• Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (19) This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence

“PEACE” FOR THOSE GIVEN TO THANKSGIVING

Philippians 4:6-7 NIV

• Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (7) And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

• A peace that...– “Transcends all understanding”– “Will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”

LIVING THE FULL LIFE GIVES JOY, HAPPINESS, ASSURANCE

& PEACE

The Secret of Living is Bearing Fruit

• This life is available only to those who bear fruit as branches of the vine (Jesus Christ)!

• But is there a secret to bearing fruit? • There is, and our next lesson will look in John

15 to learn what that secret is• For now, if you have not yet become a

“branch” of the “true vine”, have you given serious consideration to becoming one?