Bearing Spiritual Fruit

A friend and fellow-disciple shared the following verse with me today:

John 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches:  he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:  for without me ye can do nothing.

The reminder of this verse (and the passage in John 15) made me think of a couple of things today.  First of all, the last phrase of the verse is so paramount and central to our lives as believers.  We Christians are the best at looking busy and filling our schedules with activity, and yet getting a lot of nothing accomplished!  It's not just that you will be able to handle the small stuff and ask God to help you with the big stuff.  It's not that at all.  Don't kid yourself into believing that all your hard work and efforts will eventually pay off.  Do you think that God is impressed or that he will bless all of your great efforts?

The key to a fruitful Christian life does not lie in your abilities; it lies in your abideability.  The moment you disconnect yourself from that place of abiding in Christ, trusting him for everything, depending on him to come through and staying in His Word, you are on your own - and on your own all your efforts, abilities, strengths, strategies, and plans will all equal up to a big, fat ZERO.  Sadly, when we as believers get disconnected from Christ due to our sin, pridefulness or indifference, often it seems like we are still making strides and accomplishments.  It sometimes appears that we are doing fine on autopilot.  But if we believe this scripture, we have to own up to the reality of our situation apart from Christ - we are accomplishing NOTHING.  Nothing is progressing spiritually.  No fruit is being born, cultivated or produced.  None of our efforts will make an eternal impact.

The second thing that this passage reminds me of is the simplicity of our walk with Christ and the difference between my relationship with Christ and my fellowship with him.  The day I placed my faith in Jesus Christ, I began an eternal relationship with him.  God became my father and I became his son.  That relationship will never change - no matter what I do, how I live, or how I feel.  My relationship with Christ is set and I will always have that relationship. 

But my fellowship with him is another story.  I can make poor choices to involve myself in sinful behaviors and live disobediently, and even though none of this will change my relationship with him, my fellowship will be gravely affected.  This lack of fellowship happens when I am not abiding in him and this leads to periods of unfruitfulness in my life.  Christians who live their lives disconnected and not abiding in Christ are not in danger of losing their salvation, but they are certainly in danger of losing their eternal rewards and inheritance.  Another passage that talks about our spiritual fruit explains it this way:

Galatians 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Refusing to abide in Christ will produce things in your life too, but these things have no eternal value.  Believers who refuse to consistently abide in Christ will one day stand before the Lord, naked and ashamed.  Even though they have eternal life because they, at one time, placed their faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of their sins, they will have no reward or inheritance in heaven.  No crowns to cast at Jesus' feet.  No "well done thou good and faithful servant".

The Christian who finds themselves out of fellowship with the Lord (not abiding in Christ through the word of God and obedience to the word), can immediately get back into fellowship and a place of abiding. 

I John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Confessing and repenting of sin will also put the believer back in a place of abiding fellowship and fruit-bearing. 

Galatians 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  24  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

This is the fruitful Christian life and it's the only life worth living!

Who Really Has the Hard Heart?

Mark 16:14  Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.  15  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

I was at a conference recently and was struck anew by a statement that I've heard before, but needed to hear again.  "What if the lack of seeing and experiencing the outpouring of the Spirit of God in our world has less to do with the hardness of the hearts of the lost (those who don't follow Christ) and more to do with the hardness and idolatry of Christians and Christian leaders?"
 

Some believers are quick to point the finger at the lost world and to accuse them of being hardened to the gospel.  They will say that the lack of people coming to Christ around them is solely the result of the dark and sinful world we live in and that if they would just repent and listen to God, they would be saved. 

But what if the people who really need to repent are the Christians?  What if God's people were the ones on their faces before the Lord begging him to forgive them of their sin and the hardness of their hearts?  What if brokenhearted believers starting pleading with God to work in their cities, neighborhoods, workplaces and schools?  Would we see more people coming to Christ? 

Before you are too quick to conclude that the lack of spiritual fruit around you is the result of the hardness of others, take a minute to evaluate your own walk and fellowship with the Lord.  Are you walking in sweet fellowship with the Lord?  Are you broken on a regular basis over the deceitfulness of your sin nature and how prone you are to wander from the Lord?  You might come to a different conclusion about the lost world around you.  Instead of being quick to get frustrated and even angry at the darkness you see in our world, ask God to break your heart for the sin that so many are in bondage to.  Instead of posting rants on Facebook or other social media about how the world is messed up, you might consider taking the latest news headlines before the throne of God with effectual and fervent prayer and leave the social media posts to someone else.