What is God looking for in your life? If you claim to be a follower of Christ, God is looking for fruit. God not only wants us to profess faith with our lips, but he wants us to produce fruit with our lives. Now if you are a Christian, then you probably already understand the importance of fruit bearing. After all, fruit is a recurrent theme in the Bible.
In the OT God calls Israel his vine. In Psalm 80 God says that he took Israel from Egypt, and he planted her like a vine in the land of Canaan. But in Isaiah 5 God comes to Israel, and he is looking for fruit. However, he finds no fruit on his vine. So he destroys his vine.
In the NT God continues to look for fruit in the lives of his people. In Matthew 3:8 the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to John the Baptist to be baptized in the River Jordan. When they arrive, they are greeted with these words: “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” R.G. Lee, the Baptist preacher, used to say, “John the Baptist ate honey, but he did not preach honey.” In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us that we would recognize false prophets by their fruits. Matthew 7:16 says, “You will recognize them by their fruits.” In John 4:36 Jesus speaks about leading others to Christ as “gathering fruit for eternal life." Perhaps the most famous NT passage about fruit is Galatians 5:22-23, which lists the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In Colossians 1:6 Paul says that the gospel is bearing fruit in the whole world. In Philippians 1:11 Paul prays for the Philippian Christians to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” So fruit is a recurrent theme in the Bible because God is looking for fruit in the lives of his followers.
It is no surprise, then, that Jesus would instruct his followers on the subject of fruit bearing on the eve of his crucifixion. In John 15 Jesus tells his followers how to bear fruit. His lesson for his disciples is summarized in verse 5: “I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Verse 5 can be summarized in three words: “Abide in Christ.”
If we want to bear fruit, then we must abide in Christ.
I learned this lesson from my youth pastor, Richard King. John 15:5 must be one of his favorite verses because he continually quoted it. In fact, I do not remember participating in a youth retreat, a mission trip, or a service project without hearing Richard say, “Jesus said, ‘I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.’” As a youth group, we memorized this verse. We even sang this verse. No, I will not sing it for you this morning. Richard was a man who modeled for me what it means to abide in Christ and bear fruit for the glory of God.
But we need to explore abiding in Christ this morning in order to understand how to bear fruit for the glory of God. So I want to unpack the meaning of verse 5 for you. If we understand verse 5, then we understand this entire passage of Scripture. There are four components of abiding in Christ, and they are all found in verse 5 and repeated throughout verses 1 through 11.
First of all, the REALITY. “I am the vine. You are the branches.” Jesus uses the picture of the vine and the branches in order to communicate a spiritual reality. Master teachers speak in images and stories. I remember crawling into my grandfather’s lap as a young boy and listening to his stories. We called him “Poppy,” and my brother Trevor and I would crawl into his lap, and he would take out a piece of Trident gum, split it in two, and give half to my brother and the other half to me. As we sat there chewing our spearmint gum, we would listen to Poppy tell us stories with moral lessons. He told the same stories, but he told them differently each time. Well, here Jesus is teaching his followers, and he speaks to them, not with a story, but with an image, which is just as good.
Even though John 15 falls within the so-called “Upper Room Discourse,” we are confident that Jesus did not deliver his entire lesson in the upper room. In John 14:31 we can see that he and his disciples leave the upper room, and they take a journey that eventually ends up in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Scholars tell us that it would have been common in biblical days to see vines growing on trellises in the Judean countryside. Imagine Jesus walking side by side with his disciples and pointing out the grapevines, which would have grown on lattices about waist high from the ground. He looks at the vine, and he says, “I am the vine.” He then turns his eyes to Peter, James, John, Thomas, and the other disciples, and he says, “You are the branches.”
Why does Jesus speak this way? What is the meaning of this metaphor? He is talking about a spiritual reality. Even as branches are dependent on the vine for life, power, and productivity, so Jesus’ followers are dependent on him for life, power, and productivity. Here is the reality that Jesus is seeking to teach us. If you are a follower of Christ, then Jesus is your lifeline. He is your source of the life, strength, and resources that you need to live the Christian life. You are a branch, and you should remind yourself frequently of your branchlike status. Your life power is in the vine, and you only have life and power in connection with the vine.
Now some of you who claim to be followers of Christ are trying to draw life and power from another vine. It may be a job. It may be a spouse. It may be family. It may be possessions. It may be money. It may even be church activities. But even though these are good things, they are not the “true vine.” Jesus is the “true vine” (verse 1).
Let me tell you about a follower of Christ who makes a job his vine. He stops coming to church because his job is so important. He is too tired, or maybe he has to work. He stops reading his Bible and praying because it does not fit into his “work schedule.” Before you know it, this man no longer has any spiritual appetite. He is self-centered, rude, and crude. And he shakes his head wondering why his spiritual life is not flourishing.
Let me tell you about the man who makes his family his vine. Family is good, but it is not the vine. A man loves his family and supports his family. He is a true family guy, but before long he is missing church to take his children to extracurricular activities. Before long his children make getting ready for church so difficult that he no longer wants to come. He begins to make excuses about not coming to church, not reading his Bible, and not praying. And after some time, he wonders why his life is stagnant.
Here is the reality. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. He is the source of life and power, and we will not bear fruit until we come to terms with this in our experience. You may say, “Logan, I know all that.” Yes, you probably do know all that, but do you experience all that?
Let me make an application to camp staff and counselors. The purpose of camp is to make campers fully devoted followers of Christ. But, camp staff and counselors, guess what? You cannot give what you do not have. If Jesus is not your lifeline, then you have absolutely nothing to give these campers. This is a reality, and if we want to flourish as fruitful Christians, then we must understand. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches.
So Jesus is talking about a reality. Ok, number two: RESPONSIBILITY. “Whoever abides in me and I in him…” Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. It is our responsibility to abide in Christ. Let me provide you a definition and a description of abiding in Christ.
Definition. The word “abide” or your translation may say “remain” is the Greek word meno, and it means “to abide, to remain, to dwell, to continue, to stay.” It is not a religious word. It simply means to stay. When it is used of the branches, it means to stay connected. So here is my definition of abiding in Christ. Abiding in Christ means "maintaining a close, constant, and continual connection to Christ." I like the way the ESV Study Bible defines abiding: “to continue in a daily, personal relationship with Jesus, characterized by trust, prayer, obedience, and joy.” That’s it. So here we have a definition; what about a description?
Description. Scripture interprets Scripture. In order to understand a biblical phrase we must not only define our terms, but we must also seek to understand how the phrase is used in context. As we look in John 15 we can see that when Jesus speaks of abiding in him, he is talking about abiding in his word and his love.
Abiding in Christ is informed by his word. Look in verse 7. “If you abide in me and my words abide in you…” In other words, abiding in Christ includes abiding in his word (cf. John 8:31-32). More specifically, his words must abide in us. In the words of Colossians 3:16 the word of Christ must dwell in us richly. Jesus said that the word of God is our food. Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. When we eat the word of God, we take it in. We read it, but it is not merely head knowledge. We must seek to understand it and obey it. This requires more than reading. It requires prayerful study and meditation. You cannot abide in Christ, if you neglect the word of God. Yes, we have a personal relationship with Christ, but that personal relationship is by means of the written word of God.
Abiding in Christ is inspired by his love. Look in verse 9. “As the Father has loved me, I have loved you. Abide in my love.” Now what on earth does that mean? How could we not abide in God’s love? God always loves us. Well, yes, God does always love us, but we may refuse to expose ourselves to the warmth of his love for us in Christ. The sun of God’s love is always shining, but our sin and shame may cloud and shade us from the warmth of his love. When Jesus says, “Abide in my love,” he is saying, “Stay in the sunshine of God’s love in Christ.” In the words of Jude 21, “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” We must remember moment by moment that we loved by Christ perfectly. O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
So then, abiding in Christ means that we maintain a close, constant, and continual connection with him. It is abiding in his word and love. Our relationship with Christ must be informed by the word of Christ and inspired by the love of Christ.
There is a reality, a responsibility, and, number three, there is a RESULT. Believe it or not, there is a result for abiding in Christ, and there is a result for not abiding in Christ. Essentially, it is fire or fruit.
Fire. If we do not abide in Christ, the result is fire. Look in verse 6: “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown in the fire, and burned.” If we do not abide in Christ, then we demonstrate that our faith is false. If our faith is false, then the vinedresser will take us away from the vine (verse 2). Branches that do not bear fruit are not true disciples. If they were true disciples, then they would abide in Jesus’ word and bear fruit (John 8:31-32). When Jesus speaks of casting fruitless branches in the fire, he is referring to the fires of hell. He is not talking about the loss of heavenly rewards. He is talking about the loss of heaven. Such branches only had superficial and artificial contact with Jesus, but they did not abide in Jesus. They did not bear fruit. As such, they are thrown into the fire.
Natalie and I have a peach tree in our backyard, and my aunt is able to make delicious peach pie from those peaches. So those peaches are extremely important to me. When I mow the lawn, I often find a few branches that have fallen away from the tree. The branches need to be moved, but it has never occurred to me to save them or try to reunite them with the tree. Instead, I take the branches, and I throw them in the lawn waste trashcan. Branches that do not bear fruit are good for nothing. So I dispose of them. So the vinedresser will do to any professing follower of Christ who does not produce fruit.
The biblical example of a fruitless branch that only had superficial and artificial contact with Jesus is Judas. Even though Judas spent a good deal of time with Jesus, he did not have faith in Jesus. He had contact with Jesus, but he was not connected to Jesus. That is the problem with many church people. They have contact with Jesus. They come to church. They hear sermons. They know the Bible. They may even pray on occasion. But they are not connected to Jesus, and hell, not heaven, awaits them. We should beware the failure to bear fruit! If we do not abide in Christ, the result is fire.
Fruit. If we abide in Christ, then the result is fruit. “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” Fruit is the inevitable result of abiding in Christ. Also, if we bear fruit, then the vinedresser will prune us (verse 2), and we will bear more fruit. Pruning occurs when the Father takes his shears and cuts the shoots of sin and selfishness that inhibit us from bearing abundant fruit. Note well: if you are a fruit bearing Christian, then the Father will come to you with his shears, and he will cut you. When he cuts, he cleans (verse 3). But he does not cut you to inflict pain. He cuts you to make you a more productive, fruit bearing branch.
Ok, so there is fruit, but what does this “fruit” include? We cannot spend a great deal of time on this, but we can comment that this fruit bearing includes: prayer answered (verse 7), God glorified (verse 8), faith proven (verse 8), love demonstrated (verse 9-10), and joy fulfilled (verse 11). When we abide in Christ, the result is fruit. An abiding faith produces abundant fruit.
So we have a reality, a responsibility, a result, and, finally, we have, number four, a REASON. “For apart from me you can do nothing.” Notice that Jesus says, “nothing,” not something. But what does this mean? This means that we can do nothing of eternal significance apart from Christ.
John Piper says, “Without [Christ] you can do nothing truly good, truly God-honoring and Christ-exalting and self-abasing and eternally helpful for others” (What Jesus Demands from the World, 63).
Maybe you have heard the poem, which says, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ shall last.” Well, I want to rephrase one preposition in that poem, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done in Christ shall last.”
I do not care how talented and gifted you are. If you do not abide in Christ, then nothing you accomplish in this life matters. It will all burn in eternity, unless it is accomplished in, through, and for Jesus Christ. One Christmas my brother and I had asked for a Playstation (1, this way before 2, or 3) for Christmas. On Christmas morning, we opened our presents, and we received a Playstation with several games. Of course, we immediately began to set up the Playstation to our television. There was only one problem. We had an older television, and we needed an A/C adaptor in order to connect the system to our television. Think about this. We had a wonderful Playstation, and we had wonderful games, but since we were not able to connect the Playstation and television together, we were not able to play. In the same way, if you are not able to connect to Jesus Christ, you will not be able to accomplish anything for eternity.
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What fruit are you bearing? God wants us to produce fruit that abides (cf. verse 16). What will be the impact of your life, your marriage, your employment, and your ministry on eternity? It will be significant only if it is done in Christ.
"Preach the Word" (2 Timothy 4:2). No imperative is more important for the minister of the gospel. No command is more grave. No exhortation is more sobering. At the end of his life, Paul writes to Timothy from a Roman prison. As the Apostle dictates his letter to an amanuensis, he contemplates his inevitible execution, pauses, collects his thoughts, and relates them through the scribe for young Timothy, who will receive the words in Ephesus: "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come" (2 Timothy 4:6). Paul is aware that he is about to die. He is conscious about the fact that he is about to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one God has appointed to judge the living and the dead. And what does Paul say to Timothy, this young pastor, as Paul awaits his sure and certain death and considers his life in light of eternity? Paul simply says, "Timothy, preach the Word." Remarkable. It is beyond an indictment of the modern church growth strategies and the postmodern assault on the proclamation of the Word. It is a bell that rings from Mt. Zion and echoes throughout the history of the church: Preach the Word. Some pastors have heard the bell, and so they preach. But many have become dull to the Word of God and its commandment to proclaim the truth of God. Some pastors have hardened their hearts to Paul's clarion call to preach the Word. If we study 2 Timothy 4:1-5, we will discovery the importance of this solemn imperative of preaching. Although a pastor-teacher has many responsibilities, this is paramount. This sacred command must never be overlooked or underappreciated by the servant of God. It must continually ring into the minds and hearts of those who have been duly called of God to stand in the pulpit and proclaim the Word of God, which is able to make sinners wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is for these reasons--and there are many more reasons--that we enter into a humble exposition of this passage of Holy Scripture. We should pray for the illumination of the Spirit as we seek to understand the Scripture he inspired. So then, having provided these words of introduction, let us enter our subject with reverence. 
