Fruitfulness. John 15:1-5

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper. ² Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me."

John 15:1-5 (HCSB)

It is likely that you have heard some time in your life that true believers will bear fruit as evidence of their salvation. Even Jesus proclaimed this in the Sermon on the Mount that every good tree bears good fruit and that the fruit a person bears is one distinguishing mark of judging whether a person was a false or true prophet (Matthew 7:15-20). No matter who we are, we bear some sort of fruit and it is either good or bad. In Galatians 5, we read of the contrary lifestyles and fruit born by those who are in the flesh, slaves to sin, and those who are slaves to Christ, born of the Spirit.

But where does the fruit spring from? And what is the consequence of not bearing fruit? In John 15, we see that these questions and more are answered. While God is abundant in patience and mercy, we know that he is as well just and that He himself will bring all things to judgment. And so, those branches which do not produce fruit he describes as removing. While bearing fruit does not result in salvation, it is an outworking from it. This verse ought to bring every person into an examination of their hearts and lives in order to see if they are bearing fruit in keeping with repentance otherwise they may have deceived themselves (Matt 3:8, John 15:8).

But for believers, there is a joy knowing that this is not something that they do on their own. They cannot in fact. But we abide in Christ and, in so doing, we bear much fruit. But we also must notice that every branch that bears fruit is pruned so that it produces more fruit.

I pray that God will manifest a work in your life so that you may continually bear fruit and even more fruit. That as you go through the pruning process that you give praise and consider pure joy knowing that you are being conformed into the image of God. That you will not run from it, but you will understand that God is working in you in order to bring Him glory and for you benefit.