WHERE'S THE FRUIT?
John 15:5
"I am the vine, you are the branches, He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."
I have always enjoyed eating a variety of fruit. As youngsters we had access to peaches, pears, plums, figs, blackberries, in and around our neighborhood. In addition, the grocery store provided us with apples, oranges, grapes, tangerines, and a variety of other fruit. Peach cobbler is still near the top of my dietary preferences list.
The Bible has a lot to say about fruit, fruit trees and fruitfulness in a spiritual context. In Genesis, God instructs both animals and human beings to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:22,28). This is a reference to their physical reproduction and spread throughout the earth. Beyond the concept of physical fruitfulness is the more important concept of spiritual fruitfulness.
In Matthew 7, Jesus talks about false teachers and the fruit they bring forth. He says, "every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, not can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them." The principle applies to all who speak or teach in the name of God. People are known by their doctrine as well as their deeds.
Further in Matthew, Jesus confronts the Pharisees with their blaspheme, telling them that they are evil, and being evil, cannot speak good things. It is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. Each of us will have to answer for every idle word that we speak. Both the bad fruit (works of the flesh) and the good fruit (fruit of the Spirit) are identified in Galatians. We are to avoid the works of the flesh, and instead, to bear love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I don’t know about you, but I am still under construction in this regard.
The only way that we can bring forth good fruit is by our abiding in the Lord. We aren’t to be the producers, but to be the bearers of the fruit. God works in us through the Holy Spirit to do the producing. We abide, reside, hang in there, keep on walking in the Light, ever moving closer and closer to bringing forth the good fruit He demands from us. When we bear much fruit, God is glorified.
Scriptural References: Matthew 7: 15-20; 23: 31-37; Galatians 5:19-26; John 15:5-8
