Bearing Fruit

DEVOTION

 THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

BEARING FRUIT

John 15:1-4

15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

NIV

Some people might want to say Jesus used a metaphor or an analogy here but in fact it is a similitude. They had just left the room and were on their way to the place where he would be arrested, not sure exactly where he was when he begins this discourse that lasts several chapters, of course he did not chapter it, he just talked with his disciples telling them a whole lot before the end was to come and he would not be able to be with them in the manner he now was. So it is possible they were walking along the road with wild vines lining the path, and he took the occasion to use this similitude saying he was the true vine and the Father is the gardener. Of course they had just finished sharing the fruit of the vine at the meal we refer to as the last supper. So again he could be coming back to this point as they walked along the vines. The point he was making is that if we are believers we must bear fruit and there is absolutely no way we can bear fruit unless we are connected to the vine. The question is what kind of fruit are we to bear? It is the fruit of the Spirit or could it be the fruit of other souls? He will continue to speak about this subject and we will see more about this fruit and the vine, but at this point we should be quite sure that we must bear fruit. We also can be quite sure if we do not bear fruit, we will be cut off. Now that is something to ponder on, as whom of us want to be cut off. But the fact is if we are believers we must bear fruit. If it is the fruit of the Spirit Jesus is making reference to then we must have the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control hanging all over our branches so that others might come along and enjoy our fruit. What good is the fruit to the branch? It is only good when someone comes alone and picks the fruit for themselves. It is true that some non-believers can be very nice people, being kind, gentle, and exhibiting love, joy and even peace, but that is of the human kind, which we cannot be sure of its true motive. The fruit we must bear cannot be from human kind or its motive, as we must bear the fruit that is from God with the motive of showing God, sharing Jesus, being connected to the true vine, having the fruit of the vine. Our fruit is not to be praised, but our fruit it to bring praise to the vine. Human fruit cannot bring glory to the vine, but our fruit must.