“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit,
showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
(John 15:8)
One summer, I worked at an apple orchard. I loved it, but after a month, I was offered a job that paid three times more money and required three times less exertion. And so I moved on, even though, at my new job, I couldn’t eat any of my work. For years, that’s all I knew about bearing fruit. But if we want to be disciples of Jesus, bearing fruit must become our priority and our passion.
Right in the middle of the Farewell Discourse in John 15, Jesus begins to talk about fruit. Specifically, he talks about bearing fruit. And he hits it hard. He says that if we don’t bear fruit, we will be “cut off” (verse 2a). And even if we are bearing fruit, but not nearly enough, we could be “pruned” so that we will become even more fruitful (verse 2b). But the worst warning of the chapter comes in verse 6 where Jesus says, “If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” In other words, in a discourse that is all about how Jesus’ disciples are to live without him being physically present with them, investing in bearing fruit is critical. We can say it this way: Disciples aren’t designed to sit and soak, nor are they to see themselves as spectators in the grandstands. No, disciples are to be out and about planting seeds, watering seeds and bearing fruit. And not just fruit, but much fruit; not just fruit, but fruit that will last (verse 16). And perhaps most importantly, it is as we bear this type of fruit that we demonstrate, no doubt to ourselves and to the world, that we are truly Jesus’ disciples. But I also wonder if Jesus is saying more than that. If we aren’t bearing fruit, we are proving to our own hearts that we are self-deceived, that we are not disciples of Jesus, because fruit bearing and glorifying God go hand-in-hand. If we are not glorifying the Father and enjoying him, we are rejecting our chief purpose in life. All that to say, bearing fruit is serious business.
Now, I can’t even grow a tomato; and so when Jesus calls me to bear much fruit, I begin to break out in sweat. Fruit bearing sounds hard. But Jesus tells us everything we need to know to produce fruit that will last; and in so doing, he describes what the life of a disciple ought to look like. To bear much fruit, we simply need to commit ourselves to these 8 things.
- We need to remain in Jesus. In other words, we need to stay connected to the vine.
- We need to reject any sense that we can do the spiritual life on our own. Apart from remaining in Jesus, we can do nothing. We need to remain in Jesus.
- We need to invest in prayer. Verse 7 says it this way: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” The request here is not carte blanche, but is limited to prayers that demonstrate we are remaining in Jesus, committed to glorifying God and driven by a desire to bear fruit. Besides, prayer is more about our relationship with God than with the granting of our requests.
- We need to focus on obedience. Bearing fruit is not some mysterious, ambiguous task. It is simply following Jesus and obeying his commands. Bearing fruit is following Jesus and doing what he said.
- We need to remain in God’s love. Bearing fruit is not a matter of mechanical rule-keeping or legalistic compliance. It is a matter of living in God’s love and responding to him with gratitude and joy and desire.
- We need to seek to glorify God in everything we do. That also sounds hard, but it is easier than it looks. Again and again, in the Old Testament we read these words from Deuteronomy 6:12 (or something similar): “Be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Not forgetting that God is with us and for us, enables us to see every turn in the road as an opportunity to serve God in that moment. Remembering that God is with us and loves us in every situation is at the core of what it means to glorify God.
- We need to seek joy. Being a disciple means that we can have hope in every situation because we know that, no matter how bad things get, it is not the end of the story. Eternity awaits, and the currency of eternity is joy. And God’s presence with us enables us to spend that capital even now.
- We need to live a life overflowing with love. If being a disciple means following Jesus, then love must be our constant response to the people around us. We need to be marked by love.
I know when we want to make something grow, we always prepare the soil, add nutrients as needed, plant the seed and then make sure the seed has everything it needs to flourish. It is the same here. There is inward fruit (Galatians 5:22-23 has a great list of these spiritual qualities that Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”). And there is external fruit (good deeds, advancing God’s Kingdom, pursuing justice, serving others and encouraging others). But it doesn’t really matter. All fruit (internal and external) grows the same way. We need to remain in Jesus. These eight steps prepare the soil. And the more the soil is prepared, the more likely there will be much fruit. And discipleship is all about cultivating a life that produces much fruit.
Scot McKnight tells the story of when he spent a day translating the Great Commission. When his wife came home, he could not wait to tell her that after hours of study, he felt confident that the participle in Matthew 28 is best translated as, “Go make disciples!” and not “As you are going, make disciples.” His wife responded to this insight with a smile and a question: “Well, did you?” At first, Scot wasn’t sure what she was asking. And so, his wife rephrased the question: “Did you go and make any disciples today?” In one quick question, she recast the whole conversation. So maybe, I need to ask: “After all this, what spiritual fruit are you cultivating today?”
