BEARING FRUIT

John 15:1-8; Romans 7:5,6; Galatians 5:22-26

We have been reading the gospel of Matthew, as the brethren know, and I have been impressed regarding the Lord as the Sower in chapter 13, and the various types of ground in which the seed fell. Some fell on the good ground and went on to bear fruit. Later in the chapter it speaks about the one who sowed good seed, and it shot up, but also there was one who sowed darnel, and it sprang up also, but what really bore fruit for the divine pleasure was the good seed (Matt.13:24-28). So these scriptures speak about the bearing of fruit. The requirements for fruit bearing in a natural way – and the Lord often uses natural examples – are good ground, good conditions, sunshine, rain, all of which contribute to bearing fruit in a natural way. I think that in a spiritual way there is a very strong similarity.

The Lord presents Himself in John15 as the true vine, and His Father as the husbandman. Israel is spoken of as an unpruned vine but unfruitful towards God (Hos.10:1); it is also spoken of as a fig tree on which there was no fruit (Matt.21:19) The Lord had a great desire, as coming to His own, that He might receive from His own, but His own received Him not, and Israel bore no fruit and consequently was set aside. Then from that time, the Lord has gathered in the Gentiles, the plants whom the heavenly Father has planted and these have fructified, grown up, and bear fruit to the glory of God. That is what Christ is looking for.

According to this passage in John, “every branch in me not bearing fruit, the Father takes it away; and as to every one bearing fruit, he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit”. We understand that the wood of the vine is not of any great value – it is very gnarled and twisted – but the fruit is of great value, and the more the vine is pruned, the more it produces fruit. This type is presented here by the Lord.

We might ask, How do we start to bear fruit? Abiding is what the Lord speaks of here, “Abide in me”. What does abiding mean? The very first essential for fruit bearing is coming under the influence of the sun. The Lord is the sun, and as in the astronomical system, the Lord in heaven sheds influence as the sun sheds its influence upon the whole world. The seeds fall into the good ground and grow up and they bear fruit naturally. Living under the influence of the Lord Jesus is what “abiding in me” really means. So if we do abide in Him, we will prosper and grow, and if we do not abide in Him, it means that we will come under the stifling influences of this world, or worst of all under the influence of Satan himself. Those who are abiding come under the beneficent influence of the sun, and then receive the rain coming upon them, which moistens the ground. These thoughts go back to Genesis. The earth is able to bear fruit. The earth is the place where the seed fructifies, and sprouts, and grows, and then that gentle moistening influence of the rain causes fruit to grow and develop. We know from natural things that this is the way things happen. How essential the rain is: if you see a land where there is no rain, it just turns into a barren desert. So we might say that our coming under the influence of the Holy Spirit, spoken of by the rain coming down, results in fruit. The Lord said to the disciples, “I am the vine, and ye are the branches. He that abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.” I just desire to encourage us to be under the influence and control of the sun, the Lord Himself. Abiding in Him is the way to fruit bearing, then we do not become dried up, because that would render the ground useless. They gather the dried up branches and cast them into the fire, and they are burned, there is no value in them.

So verse 7 says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you …”. That is very important because, if we come under the influence of the Lord, we will hear His words, and we will hear His commandments, and these things need to enter into our minds and sink down into us and form us in our affections and in our hearts. Then we see how “In this is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, and ye shall become disciples of mine”. We can see that there is a process needed, a purging that is needed, and all to the end that there might be a greater yield, a greater result from divine operations.

In Romans 7 there is a fruit that is brought about from our natural members; they bring forth fruit but the result is death. Paul says, “the passions of sins, … wrought in our members to bring forth fruit to death”. Let that be a thing of the past. But he says, “but now we are clear from the law, having died in that in which we were held, so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter”. That really speaks of bringing forth fruit as a result of not being under bondage to the law and not being under the control of sin, or giving way to the passions of the flesh. Then we become subject, and we come under the influence of the One who in this chapter speaks of Christ. The “married woman is bound by law to her husband … but … 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” (vv.2,4). So when the flesh is displaced the result is that we are in a proper state and condition that we might go on to bear fruit.

We might say, what is the fruit? What is the Lord really looking for? In Galatians, Paul says, the fruit of the Spirit is love. There is nothing more perfect than love. 1 Corinthians 13 – which describes love and what love is, what it does, the way it acts – is a great study on its own. The description of the fruit of the Spirit begins with love and joy. There is nothing to bring more joy into the heart than to be set free from the bondage of the flesh and of the power of sin. Then think of peace; do we have peace? Peace is desired in the world everywhere. Men desire that we should live in peace, but there is no peace apart from coming under the divine influence. The Lord said to the disciples, “I give my peace to you”, John 14:27. Then consider these other qualities: long suffering – we do not naturally tend to be long suffering, but it is the product of the influence of the Holy Spirit – kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control: what a list of qualities. These are the evidence that we are bearing fruit, and against such things there is no law. Those who are of the Christ have crucified what belongs to the flesh, so we live by the Spirit and walk by the Spirit and then these fruits will be manifest.

I commend these thoughts to us, for our help and encouragement, for His name’s sake.

Given in a meeting for ministry, Grangemouth

6 October 2021

Archie D Melville