“Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in Me.” (John 15:4 GNB)
These words of Jesus plainly tell us the importance of living our lives in union with the Lord. The allegory Jesus uses is easy for people to understand. He is like that vine. It is vitally important for the branch to be connected to the vine in order to survive and fulfill its purpose. It gets its nourishment and life from the vine. It can only bear fruit if it’s connected to the vine. Apart from the vine, the branch will wither. What kind of fruit will the branch bear? It depends on the kind of vine. This also is an important point which we will explore later.
We have to return to the death and resurrection of Jesus to understand the significance of Jesus’ words. We learned earlier that we died with Jesus, remembering that in the spiritual where God lives, God sees the past, present and future all at the same time. So, when Jesus was crucified, all who received Him and were in the future to receive Him, were at the cross crucified with Jesus. It was that old sinful man with the sin nature that died. When Jesus resurrected, we were born again a new creation. “Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come.” (2Corinthians 5:17 GNB) At that moment, we are united to Jesus through the Holy Spirit indwelling, Who is in union with Jesus and the Father. Paul, in writing to the Galatians wrote: “so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave His life for me.” (Galatians 2:20 GNB)
Now returning to John 15:4 and Jesus’ words, we find that we must remain united to Christ. It sounds like a warning. Jesus was teaching His disciples right before His arrest and consequence death and resurrection. They had celebrated the Passover together. Jesus had washed His disciple’s feet and now He was telling them some last things. Jesus knew that at His death, they would be completely disillusioned. He knew that they had been thinking His kingdom would be an earthly kingdom, overthrowing the Romans from Jerusalem. He knew that they’d think all had been lost. So, Jesus warns them. Stay connected and in union with Me. As the Bible clearly shows us, the disciples returned to their former occupations, totally disillusioned. They had believed Jesus, but now He was dead. We have to remember that they had not received the Holy Spirit yet. The Holy Spirit came to indwell after the Ascension of Jesus back to the Father. They didn’t have the witness and help of the Holy Spirit.
We can also take John 15:4 as a warning. We will not lose the Holy Spirit unless we commit the unpardonable sin which is giving the devil credit for what the Holy Spirit is doing or by denouncing the work of Christ completely. But we can be so far out of fellowship (communion with the Lord through prayer and obedience to God’s Word) that we begin to believe and adopt the beliefs of the world. We will no longer be able to hear and feel the urgings of the Holy Spirit leading to our transformation of becoming more and more like Jesus. We will no longer bear fruit.
Now we can return to the question: What kind of fruit? The Lord’s wisdom amazes me. This allegory explains what kind of fruit. Many have said or thought that the fruit are souls we win for Christ. And there are other definitions. But let’s look at what Jesus is saying. In the natural, the branch will produce the fruit of the vine. Whatever kind that vine is, will be what the branch will produce. If we are connected to the devil and live in the kingdom of darkness, the fruit produced will be destroyed. It’s worthless, harmful and not life giving. Jesus said, “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:20 GNB) The fruit of their mouths are words that are contrary to God’s Word, are of this world, limited in knowledge and hope and deeds that are the opposite of God’s Word.
Need I outline the fruit that will be produced by being in union with Christ? I think we get the picture. Fruit in union with Christ will be words, wisdom, knowledge and understanding and deeds that are like Jesus. They will be full of peace and hope. They will be in agreement with the Word of God. Now we can see how we can judge the fruit whether it is good or bad, whether it’s connected to Jesus or not.
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