Essentials Of The Christian Life / Part 6

Series – December 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Essentials Of The Christian Life

Part 6 –Fruit Bearing

In John 15 the Lord spoke to His disciples about bearing fruit for the glory of God. He told them that He was the Vine, His Father was the Husbandman, and that they were the branches. He also said: “He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ... Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples ... Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (vv.5,8,16 KJV ).

From these words of our Lord we learn the purpose of our calling and salvation is that we should bring forth fruit to the Father’s glory. To this end we have been chosen and ordained, or appointed. Our Father is looking for fruit in His children to His delight and satisfaction, and “every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (v.2). Thus we may be sure that bearing fruit for God is a vital essential of the Christian life. The Lord has saved us for this very purpose, and every Christian ought to be exercised about this important and practical subject.

What Is Fruit Bearing?
Fruit bearing is a manifestation, or display, of life and characteristics of that life. A seed is planted which contains life and its particular characteristics. It grows into a plant which produces fruit of the same nature and character as the life in the seed that was planted. The seed of an orange tree, if planted, will produce another orange tree with its characteristic fruit. So too in the Christian life, fruit bearing is a reproduction of the life and characteristics of Christ in the believer. Fruit bearing is more what one is than what one does; it is being something for God rather than doing something for Him. Bearing fruit for God has to do with character and Christ-likeness rather than service.

The believer is to abide in Christ, the true Vine, and Christ reproduces Himself in those who dwell in communion with Him. Also, the Father – the divine Husbandman – looks for the life of Christ and His characteristics to be reproduced and manifested in His children. This is the fruit He is seeking, for His satisfaction and delight. He has predestinated us “to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29) and desires that “Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). The apostle Paul realized that the purpose of God, in all the troubles of life he and we are called to pass through, is “that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (2 Cor. 4:10). When Christ is seen in our lives, that is fruit to His and the Father’s glory.

In Galatians 5:22-23 we are told, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” All these nine-fold virtues were perfectly exemplified in the life of Christ as fruit to the Father’s glory and delight. The indwelling Spirit of God would also produce this beautiful cluster of fruit in the life of every believer who abides in Christ, the true Vine. These Christ-like virtues are not spoken of as individual fruits but as “fruit of the Spirit.” They are, as it were, all in one. It is a complete harmonious development of Christian character by the Spirit. Every part is in evident relationship with the rest. Love is the first mentioned and shines out in them all and strings them together.

The first three – love, joy, peace – are Godward and for His eye. They may be called internal fruit. The next three – longsuffering, gentleness, goodness – are of a relative character, the result of the first three filling the heart. They will be manifested toward one’s brethren, the world, and even one’s enemies. All can see these and appreciate them. The last three – faith, meekness, temperance or self-control – are personal and necessary for the soul’s sustainment in passing through the world with its trials and testings.

Requirements For Fruit Bearing
In John 15 where fruit bearing is especially discussed, the Lord gave the conditions necessary for bearing fruit. We read: “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” (vv.4-5).

Here we learn that our abiding in Christ and He in us is the prime necessity for fruit bearing. Every true believer is united with Christ and is in Him positionally as a branch is with a vine. The very life that flows through the Vine – Christ – flows through the branch – the believer. Therefore, the power to produce fruit for God is in Christ and in us, as branches in Him. We are responsible to abide in Christ practically, and this is stressed in John 15 as necessary for fruit bearing.

We cannot bring forth fruit for God of ourselves or by our efforts. It is by simply abiding in Christ, in practical and living communion with Him, that fruit to His glory is produced in the Christian. If a soul dwells in Christ, Christ dwells in that soul; and that which is in Him is communicated just as sap flows from a vine into the branches. By abiding in Christ we draw strength continually from Him, and fruit bearing follows as a result.

In the natural world there is no activity involved in fruit bearing but quiet rest, drinking in the rain and sunshine, and partaking of the life-giving sap in the vine. So too in the spiritual realm: fruit for God is produced by quiet communion and rest in Christ, by keeping in practical and constant touch with Him in the sense of our need and inability to do anything without Him. It is by occupation with Christ that fruit is borne for Him.

A spirit of complete dependence on Christ is necessary for abiding in Him and fruit bearing. “Without Me ye can do nothing,” the Lord would remind us. It is only as we realize our nothingness, make Christ our sole resource and confidence, and lean upon Him in constant dependence that we will abide in Him and bear fruit.

Another point is mentioned in verse 7: “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” It is necessary that Christ’s words abide in us and control our thoughts and desires if we are to have confidence to ask what we will and receive power for fruit bearing. When we truly abide in Him and His words abide in us, our mind, will and thoughts are formed by Christ’s words, and we get guidance of heart and have confidence to ask of the Father in prayer. Thus we get the power of abiding and fruit bearing by His Word abiding in us.

In verse 3 the Lord said, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” The Word of God has a purging and cleansing power on our souls, and the Christian must have daily access to it if he would abide in Christ and bear fruit. To abide in communion with the Lord there must be the constant cleansing action of the Word of God in our hearts, which are so easily defiled by the activity of the evil nature within us and the evil about us. We cannot abide in Christ if sin is allowed in our hearts. Therefore, we ever need the sanctifying and cleansing power of the Word of God on our souls to keep us from sinning and defilement. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee” (Ps. 119:11).

Another point follows in John 15:10: “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” Here we have obedience to the Lord’s commandments as a condition necessary to abide in His love. We are not only to have His Word abiding in us, but we are to walk in obedience to it even as Christ obeyed His Father’s commandments and enjoyed its fruit of abiding in His love. Thus a spirit of simple obedience to the will of God as revealed in His Word is required for abiding in Christ and fruit bearing.

Then follows the blessed result of having Christ’s joy remaining or abiding in us and our joy made full, as verse 11 indicates. The Lord had perfect joy in the Father. His joy was in bringing forth fruit to the Father’s glory, and He is here showing us how in fruit bearing we can have joy and blessedness down here.

Summing up, we learn that the divine requirements for fruit bearing are:

• Abiding in Christ in living communion,
• A spirit of complete dependence on Him,
• His Word abiding in us as a cleansing and formative power begetting confidence to ask in prayer, and
• Walking in obedience to His commandments which results in abiding in His love and having His joy remaining in us.

The Care Of The Husbandman
Another important item in the subject of fruit bearing is the care of the divine Husbandman for the branches and His work of purging them so fruit and more fruit might be borne to His glory. The Lord said, “My Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (vv.1-2).

It is the Father who is the Husbandman. As such, He looks after the branches in tender love and watchful care. He combines perfect wisdom and love in His treatment of the branches and knows how to cause them to bear fruit. The fruitless professor He removes, and the fruitful one He purges and cleanses so more fruit may be borne. He cuts away out of our lives everything that hinders our being like Christ and bringing forth fruit to His delight. He may use the pruning knife to cut away needless things in our lives so more and better fruit may be produced in us. He chastens us and may put us through fires of affliction that the dross may be removed from us so “we might be partakers of His holiness” (Heb. 12:10). The process may be painful and grievous, “nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (v.11).

When trials come – perhaps of sickness and suffering, stress of circumstances, or bereavement – we may be sure it is the Father’s loving care for us as a fruit branch and His purging process to make us more fruitful for Himself. Sometimes He has to say as in Song of Solomon 4:16, “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.” The chilly north winds of adversity and the south winds of grace and love are combined to blow upon the Father’s vineyard that the fragrance of fruit sweet to His taste may flow out. Then follows the pleasing words, “Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits,” and “at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved” (Song 4:16, 7:13).

May we be enabled by grace to say these blessed words to our beloved Savior and loving Father who are looking for fruit, more fruit and much fruit from our lives. May we give more thought to this vital essential of the Christian life – fruit-bearing – and know more of abiding in Christ as the only way in which fruit can be produced in our lives to the Father’s glory.

By Raymond K. Campbell

Look for Part 7 of this Series next month.