FRUIT-BEARING
D. C. Brown
During the reading we spoke about persons who were marked by what is substantial—each one of us should be characterized by something substantial. That substance is not intended to.be merely for ourselves. There should be substance that is for God and substance that is for the saints; something of what is referred to here as fruit. Now, you have come here this afternoon, and the fact that you have done so means that you have taken up a certain position, and really you are claiming to be a tree. I would say that anyone who has come here has said,
‘Look, I am someone who is taking the position of one who ought to be fruitful towards God’. I do not know whether there may be anyone here who produces no fruit to God; I hope not. I hope there is no one here who has produced nothing, but
I would lay it on everyone’s conscience that you cannot say this is for those on the front row or those on the platform. You have come here and you have taken a position, you have made a claim that you belong to the profession of Christianity, and God is entitled to expect fruit from you.
Now, the next thing I would emphasize is that there is not going to be any fruit from you apart from Christ. Nothing that you can do in the flesh, nothing that you can produce, will be of any value; only what you produce in Christ, only what the Holy Spirit works in you, only divine work in you. You are still responsible to produce fruit, but it is only in Christ that it can be produced. Throughout the past dispensation, the one immediately before ours, when Israel should have answered to God, all that there was for God was what He brought in that anticipated Christianity. One thing that God does is to anticipate things; some things that belong to a future dispensation, the millennium. He likes to see coming from you now, and I think fruitfulness may have part in that too, something that specially will mark the millennium. But God is not prepared to wait; He is going to have something from you and from me now.
So throughout all those four thousand years between Adam and the birth of Christ all that there was for God was what looked forward to Christianity. But what was the effect when Christ came on the scene? Immediately there came a word from heaven that there was something different. We see in Luke’s gospel that the angels, those who were intelligent in heavenly things, could come down and say, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”, Luke 2: 14. That was something that was secured, fruit for God, something that we have in this scripture, the olive-tree, “glory to God”, honour secured for God; “on earth peace”, millennial conditions that may be hinted at in the fig-tree; “good pleasure in men”—the vine. Think of how God was going to secure cheer from men, you and I to be brought into a position where we can cheer God. The fact that Christ has come in so that you can bear fruit to God has made all the difference.
It has been said that you could speak of the Lord Jesus as the true Olive-tree and the true Fig-tree and the true Vine. That is right; every kind of fruit we find in Him. We sang about that, ‘Every precious fruit is Thine’. It tells us at the end of Revelation that Christ is in prominence in that way as the “tree of life, producing twelve fruits, in each month yielding its fruit”, (Revelation 22: 2), and we can have our part in enjoying the fruits of Christ now. God has His delight in finding that fruit.
As I have said, you could refer to the true fig-tree or the true olive-tree, but in fact the scripture only makes reference to “the true vine”, and I would like particularly to relate the vine to Christ and to the features of Christ too, because the vine in Judges 9 is not Christ Himself, but someone who is bearing that kind of feature. It says, “Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave over the trees?” Now, where was God cheered, where did God receive delight? He received delight in Jesus. He still receives delight, of course—in the One whom He has set down at His right hand on the throne, the place that He deserved. The place that neither you nor I could give Him, God could give Him and He has given Him that place because He delights in Him. What delight there was!
Think of the pathway of Jesus, how delightful it was. Think of Him at the age of twelve. God found delight in Jesus; how He would say, I am about my Father’s business (see Luke 2: 49).
There are many years where we do not know anything in detail as to what the Lord Jesus was doing. We know that He was referred to as the Carpenter, which is a very remarkable thing.
What we do know is that after those eighteen, or thirty, hidden years, years spent when men referred to Him as the Carpenter, God could say, ‘That is the Man that delights Me. That is where there is fruit. That is the Vine; I have it before Me, it is pleasant to Me, it is delightful to Me’; “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matthew 17: 5.
Following that, of course, were the years of sorrow and suffering, the years of a faithful pathway before men, faithful in every moment, faithful in every detail, and God, in every instant of that life, finding cheer. How God was cheered by the way that Jesus went.
Not only that, but there were others who were cheered. There were those who were not cheered, who found the pathway of Jesus dismaying, but it is interesting to notice what we have here about the vine. It says, ‘Should I leave my new wine?’ Now, I think that is important, that there is something new in Christ, and it needs a new taste. In the work of God, the ways of God, during His pathway here there were those who had a new taste—there were these women, Anna for example, and the woman in Luke 7, who had a new taste. The woman in Luke 7 had had a taste for this world, had had a taste for what was contrary to God, but she got a new taste so that the new wine that was in Christ delighted her. God was glad to see that there were persons like that woman. How she was cheered! What a wonderful note of cheer there would be in her heart as she went out, “Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace”, Luke 7: 50. Well, that is an example which we have, and my exercise is not simply to present that example but to say, What about you?
Are you providing features and substance which can cheer God?. Are you providing features, too, which can cheer men?—men with a new taste, of course. Can you cheer the brethren? Do they see development; do they see fruit with you that would cheer them? That would be good.
One thing, of course, that initially causes joy to God is repentance. It has already been referred to today, joy in heaven over repenting sinners. If you have not caused joy in that way, cause joy to God today by repenting.
We referred to the fact that it says that Jesus is the true Vine, and the scripture that particularly has reference to that is John 15. It has a slightly different setting because it goes on to speak of those who belong to Him as being the branches, but the idea is the same. The first thing that I would call attention to is that in John 15 the Lord Jesus says, “He that abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing”. That is true; without Christ you can do nothing, so the question is an important one. If you are going to bear fruit that is of the character of Christ, you have to abide in Him, and He must abide in you. It is obvious that if the branch is cut off from the vine there is never going to be any more fruit from that branch. It is hopeless once it is cut off, there is nothing in it. So it is vital for you and for me to abide in Him. Now what exactly that means I would not like to say in detail, but it involves various things and one very obviously is that it involves a firm bond in affection, abiding in Him, in His love. He abides in you, He abides in your heart, in your heart’s affection. Do you have a firm bond of affection with Christ? May you have that, a firm bond of affection with Him. It means too that you draw all your resource from Him, “without me ye can do nothing”. With Christ there is no end to what you can do; with Christ there is no limit to the fruit that you can produce for God. Do you abide in Him? Are you in that settled relationship? Well, I know as I speak how testing it is for myself. That is where I ought to be and where I so very often am not, so that I try to find resource in other sources, but let us all be encouraged to find our resource there.
Now, as well as securing fruit. God desires that there should be more fruit, and we get the answer to that in John 15 as well. The Husbandman—that is the Father in that setting—
desires that there should be more fruit. I trust you are already bearing fruit. How will you bear more fruit that cheers God, more fruit in being like Jesus? Well, what is brought out here is, “and as to every one bearing fruit, he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15: 2), and that brings in suggestions of discipline and chastening. That is how the Father would operate, and He has operated with many in severe ways, many different ways, in purging, in chastening. What is the objective, what is the answer that God is seeking in any chastening there might be, in any suffering, in any sorrow? It is more fruit. Now, you could say, That is what God does, and we can leave it to Him, but that is not quite the case because it tells us in Hebrews something about this. It says, “But no chastening at the time seems to be matter of joy, but of grief”—how great the grief there has been, in this and other places. What is the answer to be?—“but afterwards yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those exercised by it”, Hebrews 12: 11. So if there is grief, if there is sorrow, if there is anything that is impinging on you in that way, be exercised by it so that there should be fruit to God, that there should be something further. Why is God operating in your life, in your soul, in that way? We can see examples of persons who have had
sorrow and suffering upon them, and we have seen the fruit. We appreciate when we see the fruit, what is different, what is further to what there was before. So may we each be helped that there may be that kind of fruit, fruit that is according to Christ.
Now the olive-tree often in Scripture has reference to the Holy Spirit. The olive-tree says,
“Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to wave over the trees?” Anything that would honour God is secured by the work of the Holy Spirit. We see that in what we have read earlier today about these wonderful persons, Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna; there was a spiritual area which they were operating in, and God was honoured. It is not only that God is honoured, but that man should be honoured. The Holy Spirit produces something that is to the honour of God, but also causes there to be honour on men. This world is full of degraded persons. The world is covered in degradation. Where is there to be honour? Where do you find people who are glorified? Scripture tells you that there are persons who are glorified; Romans 8 refers to glorified persons. How are they glorified?
Because the Holy Spirit has come upon them. He has come and He is living in them, and there is glory in these persons, glory to God, but glory in persons, and again you can see that.
There is reference to what the fruit of the Spirit is at the end of Galatians, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control”, Galatians 3: 22. I think we could assume that anyone who has come here today would love to display these features. In so far as they can be applied to a divine Person, the Holy Spirit in His own operations has displayed them. Think of the love
of the Spirit—He is acting constantly. We have spoken of these persons who were serving daily, night and day. Think of the Holy Spirit; night and day, in every soul where there is the work of God. He is working; He is operating persistently. That is because of His love, His love for the soul, His love for the Father. What joy there has been for God through the work of the Holy Spirit. We can go through each of these, but the concern would be that each one of us should be bearing that kind of fruit, the fruit of the Spirit.
Now, as far as I can see from the scripture, the most important thing for the growth and the fruit of the olive-tree is a right environment. There was a man, king David, who had a time of great calamity. Great calamity had come in in his household, in his family, in his kingdom, in his own life. What did he do? Where did he go? He went to the mount of Olives. What did he do when he got there? He found that there was someone who was contrary to him. He did not exact judgment there, he went on, he went on upwards till he came to the summit of the mount of Olives, where he worshipped. Something was secured in that man’s soul that was of this kind of fruit, the Spirit’s fruit. He came into that environment. And you find that throughout the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus Himself in times of trial, in times of difficulty, times when He was rejected, spent the day about His Father’s business, in the temple teaching, testifying, up against what there was of the Pharisees. Where did He spend the time that you could call His free time? On the Mount of Olives, in communion with His Father.
That was the place that He reverted to.
Where are you going to find that spiritual area? Well, I would not exclude what is private. In private, get into the realm of the Spirit, but
too, remember that there is an area where there are these others, spiritual persons. Get yourself into their company as often as you can. Get yourself into their company, that area that you are linked with. Get yourself there and imbibe the spirituality of that area and you will find that there is spiritual growth with you, that there is something of the olive-tree, something of this spiritual fatness, coming out in yourself, something that is of pleasure to God, something that honours God, something that honours the brethren. You know, there is a contrast given us in Psalm 52 between the man whose delight is not in God and the man whose delight is in God. David thinks of a man, Doeg the Edomite, and the terrible thing that he had done, destroying God’s priests. What contrast does he make with himself, and can you make it about yourself?—“But as for me, I am like a green olive-tree”—freshness, fatness, fullness, all that was for God. But that is not all he says. “I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God—I will confide in the loving-kindness of God for ever and ever”. Is that where you are characteristically? We have spoken about Anna and Simeon. If you wanted to know where to find them, if you had a message to pass to Simeon or Anna, where would you find them? You would find them in the temple.
There is another scripture that refers to the temple. It does not particularly refer to the olive-tree, but it would apply; “Those that are planted in the house of Jehovah”. Planted, you cannot get them out of it, they are planted in the house of Jehovah. It goes on to say of them—that they “Shall flourish in the courts of our God—They are still vigorous in old age, they are full of sap and green; To shew that Jehovah is upright”, Psalm 92: 13–15. We have persons here today who are planted, who have been planted in the house of Jehovah and have flourished; and they are still vigorous in old age and they are full of sap and green. You can see them, they were planted; now that is not a matter of the last year, or ten years, or twenty years; it is a matter of something like seventy years, or more than that, planted in the house of Jehovah, and you can see the fruits. You do not see persons like that in this world; you do not see persons in that kind of vigour in this world; they have been planted in the wrong place; but we have these examples. But it is not only for old persons; they are flourishing because they have been planted for all these years. That is what their life has been, a worth-while life. They should be taken as your examples, flourishing, “full of sap and green”.
If we turn now to the fig-tree, God is looking for sweetness and good fruit. The Lord Jesus came to this earth; you could say He was looking for sweetness, looking for something that would satisfy Him. He came to the place where He should have found it. He came into Jerusalem, the centre of God’s earthly people. What did He find there? He found the fig-tree and it looked as if it was flourishing; it was covered in leaves (Matthew 21: 19). Think of the sorrow of the Lord Jesus when He found that there was nothing but leaves, no fruit whatsoever. He expected something of sweetness, something you could almost say of wifely features, sweetness to be found in what would have been regarded as His earthly bride; and He found none. He found complete barrenness, and He felt it. He feels all these sorrows and He feels our sorrows. Where was He going to find this fruit? Where was the Lord Jesus going to find such sweetness? Well. He has found it. He has found it now in His assembly. He has found it in His assembly which for these two thousand years, in times of difficulty and sorrow, in danger, in whatever there has been of testing, has provided Him with sweetness.
You may say, ‘Well, a thousand years ago, what darkness there was’. Still, the Lord Jesus was receiving sweetness. He was receiving sweetness from those who were faithful to Him at that time, and since that time what development there has been of sweetness for His own heart.
But the question is whether you are one of those who are providing that kind of fruit, assembly fruit. You ought to be. You have been brought into an environment where there is the most wonderful light of the assembly, and it is your responsibility to be producing assembly fruit. Are you doing so? Are you producing that kind of fruit for God, something that is sweet to the Lord Jesus, something that delights Him, something that is so different from this world? How do we find that kind of fruit developed? We find another reference perhaps to Israel where there is one who comes looking for fruit. In Luke’s gospel He comes looking for fruit, looking for this kind of fruit. I think we could say that there are those, and have always been those, who produce fruit somewhat after the nature of Christ and somewhat in the power of the Spirit in what could be called evangelical circumstances, but there is to be something special, something that is distinct, in the fig-tree and it is to be different.
You find, “A certain man had a fig-tree ... and he came seeking fruit upon it and did not find any”, Luke 13: 6. What was the answer to that? The suggestion first is that it should be cut down and, of course, if we regard this as Israel, it has been cut down, but in the ways of God it will flourish again, there will be sweetness even in Israel. But there is the one who cares for it; “But he answering says to him, Sir, let it alone for this year also, until I shall dig about it and put dung, and if it shall bear fruit”—‘ and if it shall bear
fruit’. That is the question to you, if you will bear fruit of this kind. You see the patience that would be exercised; patience in leaving it another year. You have known that too, that God has been very patient with you, and now He is seeking that kind of fruit.
What is He going to do to secure that kind of fruit? Well, the one who cares, the vinedresser as he is referred to, would have reference to Christ, and he says, “I shall dig about it and put dung”. Let me ask you whether you are sufficiently loosened from this earth and all that relates to it? Do you know where you belong? You belong to heaven; that is where you belong, that is your home. You have been told often enough in Kirkcaldy, I am sure, that the assembly is an exotic. The assembly does not belong here. If you are a believer having the Spirit, you do not belong here. Where are your roots? Are your roots stuck in the earth that you do not belong to? Are you trying to draw from there? because it is going to hinder the work that is to go on. Are the water and all the nutrients that can come through to you going to be hindered because you are clinging too deeply to this earth?—not just the world, but this earth and all that belongs to it; thinking of your prospects here, thinking of what is going to happen to this earth. Well, let yourself be loosened a bit, turn yourself from what is earthly and have your link with what relates to that other scene that you belong to, ‘Yon heaven is our home’. You are going there—be ready for it. Be ready for that time when you are not going to have any more links with this earth.
But it also says, “and put dung”, which you would say is unpleasant and, you know, Christianity involves some unpleasant experiences, necessary but unpleasant experiences, if there is to be fruit to
God. I think this would have some reference to the kind of exercises that we find in Romans, especially Romans 7. The objective in Romans 7 is set out at the beginning, and it is what we have been speaking about, “So that, my brethren, ye also have been made dead to the law by the body of the Christ, to be to another, who has been raised, up from among the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God” (Romans 7: 4). Now as to these exercises that we find in Romans—I do not know if I can say too much about them—Paul finds in that chapter that there is what he wants to do. He wants, indeed, to bear fruit to God, and he finds the impossibility of it. Now I have already told you that it is impossible, but it is not good enough just to hear, and even to accept, that—you have to find that in your experience. You try to do what is pleasing to God, to do something that is suitable to Him, to do something that would please Him, but you find it impossible. You find that some bitterness has to come in until you find the answer, and the answer in this, as in everything, is in Christ; “without me ye can do nothing” (John 15: 5), whether it is to be delivered from these things that attach to you, this body of death that you cannot get away from, or sin, or the world. But you find in yourself something that the Holy Spirit has activated, and that is how you are going to bear fruit, and especially how you are going to bear wifely, assembly fruit, because Romans 7 has the objective that we should be attached to the new Husband and really provide Him with some fresh fruit that is according to His heart.
So God’s desire, as we have said, is that you should bear fruit. You have come here and you have claimed something. Now what is the answer going to be? Are you going to show more of the features of Christ, something that is new, the new wine that cheers God, cheers the brethren, those with a new taste? Are you going to show features worked out in you by the Holy Spirit so that you honour God, you honour the brethren? It is very important that you should honour the brethren. Do you honour them? Is that your attitude to them, honouring them in the power of the Spirit? That is one thing that Romans goes on to, “as to honour, each taking the lead in paying it to the other”, Romans 12: 10. And, lastly, there is to be sweetness that is distinct from anything else, anything of this world, as freed from the entanglements of this world. May it be that you and I are helped to produce such fruit, for His name’s sake.
Address in Kirkcaldy
10 December 1988