Appointed To Bear Fruit: A 90 Day JourneyНамуна

Quality Fruit

Abide. Abide. Abide. Jesus repeatedly draws our attention to this principle in our spiritual lives. The purpose of our lives is to glorify God by bearing fruit as we do the works that Jesus did. And Jesus desires that every disciple bears fruit. God is glorified when we live holy lives, obey His commands and give witness to the resurrection of Christ. It’s only possible to accomplish this goal through abiding in Christ. Only then does the power and life of Christ flow through us producing the kind of fruit that makes a lasting difference. A branch cannot produce fruit by itself. Without the life of the vine within it, the branch will just shrivel up and die.

If you aren’t bearing fruit, you are not fulfilling God’s purpose for your life. On one occasion when Jesus was going to the Temple, He passed by a fig tree with many leaves. Jesus was hungry and wanted to eat the fruit from that tree, but there was none. There were only leaves, so He cursed the tree. The disciples were taken aback. This healthy, lush tree withered and died because of that curse. This event highlights the relevant principle for us—Jesus desires that we bear fruit. If we are not producing fruit, then we are in danger of being cut off and thrown away. That fig tree was symbolic of the nation of Israel. They were full of beautiful leaves such as the Temple, the Law of Moses, and the history of God’s miraculous work on their behalf, but they didn’t abide in God, so they produced no fruit. They should have embraced Jesus as the promised Messiah, but instead they crucified Him. 

We face a similar danger. If we say that we believe in Christ, but we are not producing fruit from that relationship, we are only deceiving ourselves. Many people serving God seem so spiritual but, in reality, they are not producing fruit. Jesus desires the fruit that only comes from a relationship with Him; not the fruit of people who are spiritual showoffs. Some churches rent nice places so many people will attend their services. They believe if a lot of people come, certainly that indicates that God is there. They appear prosperous and beautiful from the outside, but if you look behind the leaves on these churches, there is no certainty that you would find fruit that lasts. Oftentimes, churches are afraid of proclaiming the whole message of the Bible, because if the rich people in attendance are put off, they will take their offering and move to another church. Branches don’t bear fruit because they are supported by the offering of wealthy people. Branches bear fruit because they are abiding in Christ alone.

Don’t be discouraged if there are not a lot of people following your ministry. God only asks you to keep serving faithfully, proclaiming the whole message of the Bible. Remember, Jesus’ ministry went from 5,000 followers in John 6 down to 12 disciples, and one of them betrayed Him. If this happened in our churches today, we would accuse the leadership of not praying enough or living in sin. But Jesus was not interested in a ministry full of leaves. The Lord said that fruit is more important than leaves. So often, because we want to be seen as successful, we try to get as many followers as possible. Somehow, we think that others will notice how awesome we are.

But Jesus’ standard of success is not the quantity of leaves, but quality fruit. The leaves of success and external religiosity can encumber you from abiding in Christ. They need to be pruned away. We must be willing to leave the external standards of success, because they can hinder the producing of fruit. God intentionally prunes away these things from our lives, so that we no longer pursue the acknowledgement of others, but produce the fruit that He desires instead. God doesn’t want leaves, He wants fruit.

Application: How are you defining success?