“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” (John 15:4)
The whole objective of our life is to bear fruit. “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.” (John 15:8) We are to bear fruit. We demonstrate that we’re disciples of Jesus if we bear fruit. And the Father is glorified when we bear fruit. But what is that fruit? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23) This is profound because this is unknown in the world. This is the proof of the miraculous transformation of man.
Let’s just explore the first fruit mentioned in that Scripture, love. The world thinks it knows love, but their love is selfish and self-serving. That’s why there’s so much heartache and divorce. The love they thought they had didn’t serve them, so they disengage and go out seeking a “love” that suits them. It’s not the God kind of love, agape. Agape love cannot and will never exist in man unless he is a born-again believer in Jesus. When one believes on Jesus and makes Him Lord, his heart is born again and is different. It is reborn of God. It has God’s nature and is no longer at the whim of satan. When the Holy Spirit comes to indwell, it fills the person with the presence of God.
But can Christians also “disengage?” Yes, just look at the statistics of divorce among Christians. Christians also fall prey to selfishness. Divorce is selfishness on both parts. The offending partner is selfishly imposing his or her selfish needs above the offended partner. And the offended partner is selfishly wanting whatever the offending partner is not providing. What is the answer? Although this lesson is not about divorce, I will briefly answer that but not expand on it. The answer is love, agape love. Unselfishly giving of self. Of course, this will not work if one is giving and the other is only taking. But we are talking about Christians, who have a relationship with the Father, and who have made Jesus Lord and master of their lives and in whom the Holy Spirit resides. The Lord WILL work in each partner’s heart and change them in the sanctification process by the Holy Spirit, if they remain in the Lord. The Lord will right their love. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5) It cannot happen without the Lord. But selfishness will have to disappear and be replaced with the God kind of love.
Only as we “abide” in Jesus and Jesus is in us can we “bring forth much fruit.” As long as we continue to love the Lord, commune with Him and worship Him, will there be fruit because He is bringing forth the fruit. Without Him we can do nothing. There will not be fruit of the Spirit without Him. It cannot be produced without the Lord. It cannot be duplicated, copied or forced. The world does not produce this fruit. “For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” (Luke 6:43-45) In clarification, an evil man is one who is in the kingdom of sin and darkness, who doesn’t believe in Jesus and is not connected to Jesus. That person is under the influence of the devil and the devil may imitate things of the Lord, but it’s not sustainable because their heart is darkened and not born of God. It’s not in their nature.
Our part is to remain connected to Jesus. We do this by daily communing with Him, with studying what He has said in the Word of God and by obeying what the Bible says to do, applying the Word of God to our lives. It’s not a miraculous thing that happens, but the development that comes from daily living in the Lord, knowing that it’s a work He is doing in us. And when we bear the fruit that comes from the Lord, it will display that we are His because the fruit we bear only comes from Him.
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