Fruitfulness
About this series
At the start of 2022 Russ, our Lead Elder, spoke about this being a year of ‘pruning for fruitfulness.’ The imagery comes from John 15 so we are going to preach through this chapter over seven Sundays.
The vine and branches are a wonderful and inspiring image but comes at a very intense point in Jesus’ journey to the cross.
There is also a clear Old Testament connection. In the OT “the vine” or “the vineyard” was a common picture of God’s people, and a symbol of the fruitfulness God intended for them. God had done all that was necessary for his people to be fruitful - chosen them, loved them, planted them in ‘fertile’ conditions - yet they continually turned away from him, and failed to be a prophetic witness to the nations of the one true God.
Fast-forward to John’s gospel where Jesus says, “I am the true vine” - I am the truly fruitful one sent by my Father, who himself is the gardener; stay intimately connected to me and dependent on me; your fruitfulness is directly related to that connection. It is by remaining in me that you will be enabled to be the distinct and faithful people of God and a prophetic witness of him.
We have a danger of immediately thinking of fruitfulness in terms of output, usefulness, and productivity - which is certainly part of what it means to be fruitful. But fruitfulness for God is the result of a life rooted in faithfulness to him. That is surely why God’s people produced bad fruit throughout the OT - because they had been unfaithful. Bearing good fruit is a matter of growth in godliness and character; it’s a holiness question as much as a usefulness one.
This series about abiding is not a set of seven ways to be fruitful but is a careful study in John 15. However, we hope that it is extremely practical, with the thread of abiding (as the way to be fruitful) weaving through it all. Each part of the series should help us consider how we can abide in Jesus.
For example
Through staying conscious of him at all times
Submitting our decisions to him
Keeping his glory as the goal
Connecting to fellow believers
Ensuring that we’re carving out time to be alone with him in personal devotions (prayer, Bible reading, worship, etc)
Growing in our understanding of who he is and who we are in him.
About this talk
Scripture: John 15:4-7
It will be important here to work through what Jesus means by “fruit,” as people may otherwise make various assumptions - see notes in the Introduction, above. Having spoken about who he is - the true vine - and who his Father is - the gardener - Jesus now explains the route to fruitfulness. “Remain” (NIV, used 11 times in vs 1-10) and “abide” (ESV, used 10 times in vs 1 - 10) are a translation of Gk. meno, μενω, meaning to remain in him, abide in him, stay intimately connected to him, be faithful to him.
The dynamic relationship shared by Jesus and the disciple is highlighted by the double “in” - “remain in me, as I also remain in you” (v 4, cf. 14:20). Becoming a follower of Jesus means so many things - forgiveness, reconciliation, adoption, justification, etc - and includes this dual sharing of life. The believer is like a sponge dipped in water - the sponge is in the water and the water is also in the sponge. The fruit produced by a vine comes from connection, not primarily from effort - it is a drawing on the vine’s life that then flows through the branch to produce the fruit (see Galatians 5 vs 22 - 23).
Jesus remains in us because he is faithful and has promised to never leave. But our remaining in him is something we are personally responsible for (though that needs balancing with the assurance that as much as we are to be at work keeping ourselves in him, he is at work to keep us in him - see 1 John 5:18; Jude 21 & 24).
It’s worth noting that, while modern westerners will instinctively hear Jesus’ words as having an individual application, the commands are mostly plural in the original language. While this clearly has individual implications, the thrust, as usual in the Bible, is on living the life of following Jesus together - including remaining/abiding and being fruitful.
The language Jesus uses is stark - “Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me…apart from me you can do nothing.” He does not say we will be less fruitful or not as fruitful as we could be, but that we can bear no fruit apart from remaining in him. And yet those words are a promise, too, filled with hope - “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit…If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
Verse 6 appears to elaborate on the gardener’s task in v 2, of “cut[ting] off every branch in me that bears no fruit” by stating here, “If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” These are branches that were said to be “in me,” but the language suggests the gardener is doing more than only cutting away the dead wood (see notes on v 2 in no. 3, above). Rather, it appears to be the decisive destruction of the fruitless, lifeless branch, with the mention of fire and burning leading us to think that eternal judgment is in mind. In that reading, these would be people who appeared to be disciples, but by their lack of fruit have ultimately shown that they never were connected to the vine.
Again, as in the notes on v 2, above, we should be careful not to push the metaphor to answer questions it was not intended to. In commenting on this issue in this verse, Gary Burge puts it this way: ‘The principle is simple: Jesus (and the vine) are the source of life; to fail to have him is to fail to have life. To refuse to “remain in Jesus” (15:6a) is to refuse the gift of life he offers.’
We certainly should not interpret this in a way that leads to anyone losing the assurance of salvation. The genuine believer will persevere to the end because they are righteous in Christ and will be kept by him.
We look at:
What does it look like in practice to remain/abide in Jesus? What unhelpful preconceptions might people have that need deconstructing?
Given the privilege and mystery of prayer, what are we to make of, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you”?
How does being in the community help us to remain/abide and be fruitful?
Audio only
