Alliance Church
Pastor David Welch
“Key to a Fruitful Life” John 15
I. Public teaching and ministry of Jesus 2-12
II. The Private teaching and ministry of Jesus 13-17
A. Forgive as Jesus forgives
B. Love as Jesus loves
C. Practice the truths that soothe the troubled soul 14:1-31
The focus of chapter 15 is fruit bearing. People expend a great deal of time and energy trying to figure out God’s will for their life. Why am I here? What does God want? Jesus unmistakably communicates God’s purpose for these and every believer.
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you. John 15:16
The whole purpose of adoption into God’s family is to bear fruit. God lovingly chooses us in order that we might bear lasting fruit. Jesus talks about branches connected to the true vine bearing lasting fruit.
Progression of fruit bearing believers
• Connected but no fruit -- the Father lifts up off the ground to stimulate FRUIT.
• Fruit – the Father prunes that it may bring about MORE FRUIT.
• More Fruit – The Father deepens connection to bring about MUCH FRUIT.
• Much Fruit – the Father answers prayer to bring about LASTING FRUIT.
D. Stay connected to the True Vine to bear lasting fruit 15: 1-11
Spiritual fruit is the result of spiritual life. Just as the blood is essential for physical life, the Holy Spirit is essential for spiritual life. So just what does this vital fruit-bearing ministry of the Holy Spirit look like? We summarized His ministry last week from creation to eternity. The Holy Spirit ministers to believers in a wide variety of ways. Sometimes He takes an amazing visible approach. Sometimes He focuses on an internal invisible ministry.
Acts 2:2-4 Acts 4:31 Acts 4:8 Acts 13:52 Galatians 3:5
Chapter 15 describes the way to experience that wonderful ministry. How can we bear the kind of lasting fruit that glorifies God and validates our heritage? In this passage Jesus draws on the principles of the actual fruit bearing process of grapes on vines to teach fruit bearing in disciples. In this context I believe that Jesus refers to the fruit that comes when one keeps connected to Him and draws their strength from the Holy Spirit. What is the fruit of the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit turns self-centered fallen people into…
People who are driven by love God and others with genuine sacrificial love.
People who express an inward triumphant joy in spite of their tragic outward circumstances.
People who know an inward contentment and peace in the midst of outward turmoil.
People who remain faithful to their commitments to God and others even when tempted to give up and quit.
People who can refrain an angry response when facing difficult people and events.
People who look for ways of showing deeds of kindness to all men.
People who continually love and pursue that which is good.
People who demonstrate gentleness in all their relationships with people including difficult ones.
The Holy Spirit enables ministry by gifting individuals to serve the body of Christ.
People able to discern and declare God’s heart.
People able to see and do what needs to be done.
People able to learn and teach truth.
People able to direct others through the crooked snares of a fallen world.
People able to not only generate but also liberally give away resources to the kingdom.
People able to diligently organize and administrate.
People able to cheerfully demonstrate mercy to hurting people.
The Holy Spirit has distributed one of these passions and abilities to EVERY believer.
Peter exhorts believers to employ these gifts for the glory of God. 1 Peter 4:8-11
Paul talks about a variety of effects that should be evident when the Holy Spirit is allowed to operate in the church in 1 Corinthians 12.
People who God grants special application of truth to a given difficult situation.
People who God grants specific insightful information regarding a person or circumstance.
People whose demonstrate an especially strong trust in God for great things.
People who see others healed through their prayers
People who see miraculous things happen through their prayers.
People who proclaim God’s truth with unmistakable power.
People able to discern demonic influence and stand against it.
People able to speak another language and interpret an unknown language.
The Spirit also gifts individuals to operate in various minstres.
Apostolic ministries for stating new works in uncharted areas.
Prophetic ministries for proclaiming truth in dark places.
Evangelistic ministries for winning people to Christ.
Pastor/Teacher ministries for discipling and training believers to do effective ministry.
Paul prayed that the inner man be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit.
Paul prayed that we would come to understand the hope of our calling, the glory of Christ’s inheritance in us and the surpassing greatness of this power that works in us.
Paul prayed that we be filled with the knowledge of his will so that we may walk in a worthy manner and please God in every respect bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in our knowledge of God being strengthened with all power for the attaining of all steadfastness and long-suffering joyously giving thanks to The Father who did it all.
In short, the Holy Spirit reflects the Character of Christ in and through us.
The fruit that pleases God and that He desires in the church is the character, words and work that we see in Jesus. Let your light shine! Matthew 5:16
Is this kind of fruit evident in your life and in our church?
Do we love like Jesus? Do we serve like Jesus? Do we live like Jesus? Do we speak like Jesus? Do we treat one another like Jesus treated those He loved? Do we obey the Father like Jesus? Do we invest our time and resources like Jesus? Are we focused on the eternal like Jesus? The early disciples gained recognition by their connection with Jesus.
Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. Acts 4:13
Do people recognize you as having been with Jesus? It is not what school you went to or the size of your bank account or the beauty of your house or the cut of your clothes…it is the time you spend with Jesus that will amaze the world. You can’t live like Jesus unless you hang out with Jesus. You can’t know and do what Jesus would do until you actually know what Jesus did.
And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his commandments. If someone says, "I belong to God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth. But those who obey God's word really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him. Those who say they live (abide) in God should live their lives as Christ did.(Walk as He walked) 1 John 2:3-6 NLT
What happens if we don’t bear fruit?
How does God get us from no fruit to much lasting fruit?
• Jesus claimed to be the true vine, the one true source for fruit bearing.
"I am the true vine vs 1
The branch has no life in itself. It must be connected to a source. Apart from Him we can do nothing. Jesus cannot get any clearer than this. He claims here to be the only source of spiritual fruit. This is no different than He has claimed before. You have no life in yourselves apart from Me. I am the way the truth the life. I am the light of the world. I am the bread of life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the water of life. The disciples recognized that he alone had the words of eternal life. Make no mistake; there is no spiritual life apart from Jesus.
• The believer must remain connected to the vine to bear fruit.
"As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 4-5
The word used here is “abide”. To hold; to continue; to abide; to remain; to keep on obeying. It means to dwell, continue, stay, sojourn, rest in or upon; to live; to rest; to nest.
Our part in this process is to stay vitally connected to the source of life. We bear the “fruit” of the one to whom we are connected. If we are connected to Christ, we demonstrate His character. If we are connected to the world, the flesh or the devil, we bear their fruit.
James 3:13-18
Jesus said, “By their fruit you will recognize them.” God freed us from connection to the devil and joined us to Christ that we bear fruit for him. Romans 7:4-6
We now have a choice as to where we will draw life. Paul told the Galatians, if we sow to the Spirit we will reap eternal life, but if we sow to flesh we will reap corruption. When we are connected to the Infinitely Righteous One we bear the fruit of righteousness.
Think about connecting a VCR to the Television. The connector does not produce the signal. The VCR produces the signal and the connector transmits the signal to the TV. Apart from the VCR, there is no signal. Apart from connection to Jesus, there is no genuine spiritual fruit. We cannot produce fruit unless we are connected to Jesus. When we are properly connected to Jesus there will be fruit like we already talked about earlier.
The rest of this passage talks about how we go from no fruit to much fruit.
• The Father does the work necessary to the branches to bring about much fruit
1. The father “lifts up” branches not consistently bearing fruit resulting in a consistent fruit-bearing branch.
"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away
This is a very controversial and much debated part of the passage. The Greek word “airo” used here and many other places in the New Testament is translated differently according to its different contexts. It can mean “to lift up from the ground”, “lift up in order to carry”, “to take or carry away”.
It was used in a quotation of the Old Testament passage concerning the angels given charge to “bear” up Jesus lest he dash his foot against a stone.
It was used in the passage about taking up the cross.
It was used in the instruction to “take” his yoke upon us.
It was used in picking up the remaining fragments of the feeding of the five thousand.
It was used of the men who “carried” the paralytic to Jesus.
It can also be understood to indicate the action of taking something away, like the parable of the talents, the body of Jesus, the seed in the parable of the sower, the sins of the world.
It is context and usage that ultimately determines which interpretation to embrace. I lean toward the idea of “bearing up” or “lifting up” for the following reasons.
First, Jesus indicates that of this group of non-fruit bearing branches are IN HIM.
Second, like the word for “bearing fruit” the verb is in the present tense form that indicates a continuous action. If He meant to “take away”, it seems more logical to me that a “point in time” action tense would have been used indicating a once for all action on the part of the gardener such as is used later referring to a group of branches who refuse to connect to the vine at all. He refers later to the branch that does not abide rather than as here the branch In Him (abiding).
Third, it is more consistent with the character of the father to continue the work started in all those placed “in Christ” from the foundation of the world.
Those not consistently bearing fruit are lovingly but firmly lifted up out of the dirt and damp ground that hinders healthy consistent bearing of fruit so that they may be exposed to the air and sun vital to a healthy fruit-bearing branch. The Father is not content with just plain old fruit bearing.
2. The father prunes consistent fruit bearing branches resulting in more fruit.
"… every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit”.
The Father skillfully works among the branches of the vineyard to stimulate more fruit. The Father cleans the branches and cuts away disease and any unnecessary parts of the branch that diverts energy from the task at hand – fruit-bearing. The Father works in us in order to keep the connections clear and the distractions eliminated so that the character of His perfect Son will broadcast to the world around us. How does He do that? There is a strong clue right here in this passage.
"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. John 15:3
It is the word of God that cleanses and sanctifies. Jesus purifies the bride by the washing of the water with the Word. This is a work done by the Father in the vineyard.
Hebrews 12:10-11 Speaks of a loving Father’s discipline
It is also an essential element in keeping significantly connected to the vine.
The continual intake of the Word on a daily basis is indispensable in the process of fruit bearing. The Word is the lifting agent. The Word is the pruning agent. The Word is the energizing agent that stimulates more fruit.
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim. 3:16-17
Fruit-bearing!
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! (refuses to connect to anything else)
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. (keeps connected)
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:1-3
How are you responding to the work of the Father in His vineyard? Resent his discipline?
Resent the trials that come for your maturity? Do you resent that person, that circumstance, that illness, that setback, that dark cloud, that failure to get ahead? Only when we learn to respond and draw closer to the vine during those times will we gain the strength to bear all that heavy fruit without breaking.
Over and over again we God urges us, even commands us to respond to trials with joy realizing it is a sign that the Father is lovingly pruning and preparing us to bear more fruit.
In everything give thanks.
3. The father encourages deeper connection that results in much fruit.
"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.
The deeper our relationship the more we demonstrate the character of the one we love.
Jesus reminds them again that only connection with Him produces lasting fruit. It is that intimate connection and understanding of the love of Christ for us and through us that leads to the divine fullness Paul prayed for such an understanding in Ephesians 3. It is this same unity and connection that Jesus prayed about in his prayer in John 17. It is this same unity and connection that Jesus longed to restore for the Laodocians when his stood at the door and knocked.
If you are not fellowship with God everyday, there can be little fruit. It is that fellowship that produces much fruit.
• The ultimate purpose of our life is to produce lasting fruit.
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you. John 15:16
Much lasting fruit actually accomplishes three things.
1. It glorifies the Father (Great gardener).
"My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. John 15:8
2. It verifies the believer (they are really connected to the vine)
Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31-32
3. It gratifies the believer (vs 11)
"These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 15:11
Let’s review the process again.
Connected but no fruit -- the Father lifts up off the ground to stimulate FRUIT.
Fruit – the Father prunes that it may bring about MORE FRUIT.
More Fruit – The Father deepens connection to bring about MUCH FRUIT.
Much Fruit – the Father answers prayer to bring about LASTING FRUIT.
Lets review the principles again.
• ‘Jesus claimed to be the true vine, the one true source for fruit bearing.
• The believer must remain connected to the vine in order to bear fruit.
• The Father does the work necessary to the branches to bring about much fruit
• The ultimate purpose of our life is to produce lasting fruit.
There is one more principle in this passage that must not be overlooked.
The father deals with unproductive branches in the vine.
The Father also deals with unproductive branches in the vineyard that refuse to connect to the vine.
• Failure to abide (be connected to the vine) results in purging from the vineyard as a dried up worthless branch that refuses to be connected to the vine.
"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 1 John 5:12
This is a sobering part of the passage.
I am here to tell you today that Jesus is the only way to life.
Without connection to Jesus you will be hauled from the vineyard and burned.
If you are without fruit…
If you have no heart for deeper relationship with Christ…
If your life does not demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit…
If you have never made a commitment to submit to Christ and cleave to him…
You better question whether you are even connected to the vine.
They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. 1 John 2:19
Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:7-8
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:10
He who has the Son (by reason of abiding in Him) has life.
He who has not the Son does not have life but the wrath of God abides on Him.
If you are not connected to the vine and draw your life from Him, there is no life.
Your future is the burn pile.
Jesus most likely addresses the fate of Judas who spent a great deal of time in the vineyard but never connected to the vine.
Conclusion
Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.
This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. 1 John 2:23-25
No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 1 John 4:12-17
Fruit comes from connection to the Vine.
We must disconnect from all other false signals in order to connect to the Vine.
The World.
The Flesh and self.
The Devil.
slide
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. Matthew 16:24
God does not allow a split connection.
Only one signal at a time takes place.
What will it be?
The more connection, the more fruit.
The more we surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit in our life the more fruit becomes evident.
We can go from no fruit to much lasting fruit as we yield more and more of our life to Him. That is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
