The Lord Jesus Christ desires that His church bear fruit, so that through these fruits, the name of the Father may be glorified in the heavens.
I am the true vine, and 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. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. (John 15:1-3)
In the verses above, Jesus presents Himself as the vine and shows us God as the husbandman. God is the one who administers, who cares, who tends, and who removes imperfection so that, in this way, we can produce fruits of excellence. “Every branch that does not bear fruit is cut off.” The branch to which Jesus is referring is the one that has no capacity to produce fruit, the one that is lifeless.
When a person is no longer connected to the true vine, which is Christ Jesus, they dry up spiritually and die, just like the lifeless branches of a plant. The Christian, from the moment they accept Jesus Christ, undergoes a change in character and the desire to become increasingly like Jesus and produce fruits for the kingdom of heaven. Jesus presents two branches: the fruitful and the unfruitful. The unfruitful are cut off and thrown into the fire, but those that produce fruit are pruned to bear more fruit.
Abiding in the Vine to Bear Fruit
When we are in the presence of God, we are integrated into the true vine, which is Christ Jesus, and we produce fruit. We are pruned so that we can continue producing: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law! (Galatians 5:22-23)
All these fruits mentioned above come into existence because we are connected to the true vine. When we are in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, we produce the same fruits that He produced, we live as He lived, we speak as He spoke, and we walk according to His will and desire. When Jesus had said that Peter would deny Him three times, we can see here that the one who is connected to the true vine, which is Christ, is like Jesus.
Then after a little while those who stood by came to him and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.” (Matthew 26:73)
When we are not part of the true vine, we produce the works of the flesh, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and other similar sins. Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
The Conditions for Bearing Fruit in Christ
Jesus Christ teaches us that there are conditions for us to bear fruit. The conditions proposed by Jesus consist first in abiding in Him, and from there, He will abide in us.
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. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:4-7)
When we do not abide in Christ, that is, if we are not connected to Jesus through faith, we automatically become incapable of producing any fruit. If we are not in fellowship through faith in Jesus Christ, we will be like a branch removed from a tree. We will be like a branch that is cut off, because, not receiving the nutrients connected to the trunk, it begins to dry, its leaves lose their shine, wither, dry up, and fall, leaving only a dry branch.
When we do not have this connection with Christ, we also lose the shine of the Holy Spirit. Our soul becomes dry and we automatically die spiritually, making it impossible to produce any fruit. We understand that He, Jesus Christ, is the vine and we are merely the branches. When we are in fellowship with Christ, we produce fruit, but if we disconnect from Him, we automatically become unproductive.
Glorifying the Father Through the Fruits
Jesus declares with authority that without Him we can do nothing. When we are connected to the Lord Jesus and let His word abide in us, everything we ask of the Lord will be done. We become disciples of the Master when we begin to bear fruit, and when we bear fruit, God in heaven is glorified.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 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. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 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: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another. (John 15:8-17)
The production of fruit is extremely important in the Christian’s life, because through it the name of the Father is glorified through our lives. In the same way that Christ Jesus loved us, we must abide in the same love of Christ Jesus. The obedience we have to the word of the Lord Jesus and to His commandments makes us remain fully connected to the true vine.
It is of utmost importance that the Christian love their neighbor in the same way that Jesus Christ loved us.
We know what love is because Christ gave his life for us. We also ought to give our lives for our brothers and sisters. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. (1 John 4:16)
Jesus Christ does not place us as servants, because as servants we would not be able to know the purposes and plans of God the Father for each of us and for His church. Jesus places us as friends because everything that the Father revealed, He in the same way revealed to us, so that we have knowledge of all the Father’s plans.
Jesus’ Invitation to Bear Eternal Fruit
Understand that we did not accept Christ, much less choose Him, but it was He who accepted us, and beyond this acceptance, Jesus made us heirs of the Heavenly Kingdom. We understand that the Lord Himself chose each one of us, not only to dwell in heaven, but to produce fruits, and everything we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus will be granted to us.
Jesus is inviting us to produce fruits worthy of repentance. He is inviting us to bring more people into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Christ teaches us that when we raise our hands for Him to accept us, a burning desire to produce fruit must be generated in our hearts.
Jesus Christ desires that, through our lives, the name of the Father may be glorified, and God rejoices greatly when we produce fruits of quality. Each of us can produce fruits for the kingdom. We were set free by the power of the word, grafted into the true vine, which is Christ Jesus, and for this reason, we can produce much fruit for the kingdom of heaven.
