2. The Secret of Bearing Fruit is Remaining

Last week we saw that “The Secret Of Living Is Bearing Fruit”

• Disciples of Jesus are like branches to the vine

• Bearing fruit is our primary job as branches

• In bearing fruit, we find the “full life” Jesus offers:

– Joy for those who win souls to Christ

– Happiness for those who share with the less fortunate

– Assurance for those developing Christ-like qualities

– Peace for those offering the fruit of prayer and praise

In contrast, “branches” that do not bear fruit are in danger of being cut off

• John 15:1-2 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.

• How can we be sure to be fruitful branches?

– If the secret to life is bearing fruit

– What is the secret of bearing fruit?

John 15:4-10 NIV

• 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.

John 15:4-10 NIV

• (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.

“Remain” is an important word to Jesus

• 40 times in the Gospel of John

• 11 times this chapter

• 10 times in the first ten verses

• A branch does not bear fruit by fighting the vine, but by clinging to it

– Connection as branches draw life from the vine

– In Christ, we have “union” then “communion”

Paul describes this union as taking place in baptism

Galatians 3:26-27 NIV

• You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, (27) for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Romans 6:3-5 NIV

• Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (4) We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (5) If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

Our union with Him is like that of a branch to a vine

• John 15:5 NIV "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.

“Communion” (two-way connection) with the vine lets branches bear fruit!

• Branch receives from the vine the strength necessary to bear fruit

• So the Christian receives from Christ strength to do what he could not do on his own

– John 15:4-5 NIV 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.

Paul wrote of the strength or power available to those in Christ

• Philippians 4:13 NIV I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

• Philippians 4:19 NIV And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

• Colossians 1:29 NIV To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

• Wanted us to know the power available to us

Ephesians 1:18-20 NIV

• I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, (19) and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, (20) which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV

• Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, (21) to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

He gave examples of how this power could transform people

• 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NIV Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders (10) nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (11) And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

• The power even transformed Paul, himself

1 Timothy 1:12-16 NIV

• I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. (13) Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. (14) The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 1:12-16 NIV

• (15) Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. (16) But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

1 Corinthians 15:9-10 NIV

• For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (10) But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

The secret of bearing fruit is remaining in connection to Christ

• Christ's strength enables us to bear fruit & in turn experience the “full life”

• Are we remaining in Christ, and He in us?

• How can we know?

• What are evidences of remaining in Christ?

John 15:5 NIV … If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much

fruit …

The most obvious sign

• Consistently bearing fruit described last weekis evidence of a close relationship with Christ!

• Lack of fruit indicates one of three things

– There never was a “union” to begin with

– There was a union, but “communion” is not taking place, leaving one in jeopardy of being “cut off”

– There was a union but the branch has already been cut off!

John 15:2 NIV … every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it

will be even more fruitful …

We should expect to see evidence of the Father’s work in our lives, when

• Things that hinder us are being “cut away”

• We are being groomed to be more “fruitful”

• The Father does this in part through the Word

• “Clean” (katharos) is closely related to “prune” (kathairo)

– John 15:3 NIV You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

The Word of God is a powerful instrument in the hands of the Lord

• Hebrews 4:12 NIV For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

It can expose us for what we really are, and help us make great changes

• James 1:22-25 NIV Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (23) Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror (24) and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. (25) But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.

• If the word isn’t shaping us, we aren’t abiding in Christ

John 15:5 NIV … apart from me you can do nothing.

The source of our strength is union with Christ!

• 2 Corinthians 3:5 NIV Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

• Galatians 2:20 NIV I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

John 15:7 NIV If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you

wish, and it will be given you.

Caveat: Answers depend on several things

That we keep His commandments and do the things that please Him

• 1 John 3:21-22 NIV Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God (22) and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

That our requests be according to God's will

• 1 John 5:14 NIV This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

That our requests not be for selfish gain

• James 4:3 NIV When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

• But one who remains in Christ should be able to look back & see evidence of answered prayers (though not always the answer we wanted or expected)

John 15:9-12 NIV "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my

love. … (12) My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Since God is love

• 1 John 4:8 NIV Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

• And Christ is God– John 1:1 NIV In the beginning was the Word, and the

Word was with God, and the Word was God.

• Those who abide in Christ will abide in love– 1 John 4:7-8 NIV Dear friends, let us love one another,

for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (8) Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Christ commands us to love one another

• John 15:7 NIV If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

And those who do not love God’s children do not love God

• 1 John 3:14 NIV We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

• 1 John 4:20-21 NIV If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (21) And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

John 15:11 NIV I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that

your joy may be complete.

Not the absence of trouble, but a joy borne of assurance

• John 16:33 NIV "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

• Philippians 4:4 NIV Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

One of the first signs of disconnection from Christ is joylessness!

• Psalms 32:3 NIV When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

• Psalms 51:12 NIV Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

• Bearing fruit

• The Father’s pruning

• Growing sense of dependence

• Our prayers being answered

• Love for Christ & His people

• Inner joy

• These will be present, to some degree, in every believer who is connected to Christ

And they should always be INCREASING!

• John 15:2 NIV 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.

• 2 Peter 1:8 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.

We should examine ourselves regularly to see if we are remaining in Christ

• 2 Corinthians 13:5 NIV Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?

The secret of the full life is bearing fruit

• And the secret of bearing fruit is remaining in Christ

• So if we are not remaining in Christ, we cannot enjoy the full life Jesus promised!

• But what's the secret of remaining in Christ?

• Next week, we’ll examine THAT secret...