John 15:4-5 (NKJV) 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
This week we have been looking at fruitfulness in the Kingdom of God. It is the will of God that we bear much fruit. Yesterday we looked at a related idea, that of building on the rock of the Word of God. Matthew 7 tells us of two men who each built a house. One took the easy way and simply built on the surface sand. The other took the time and did the work necessary to dig down to the bedrock and built his house with a stable foundation.
Both houses looked the same. Both did the job of protecting their inhabitants in good weather. However, when the weather turned bad the true character of each house was revealed. The house built on the sand fell while the house with the right foundation stood. We must learn to take the time to build on the rock. There are no shortcuts. If we build on the rock, our house will be a place for people to run to when other things fail under pressure.
Today I want to look at the most important key to fruitfulness in the Kingdom of God. Jesus gave us this key in today’s scripture. If we want to bear kingdom fruit, we must abide in Jesus himself.
We have already pointed out the fact that we cannot bear fruit in our own strength. When we try, we fail. A tree bears fruit because of the source life within it. The tree is only a channel for that life to be expressed. The life in the tree comes from God. When the tree simply allows that life to flow through its branches fruit will result. The only thing that will stop this process is interference from the outside. Things like drought or insects can hinder the life of the tree from producing fruit. Neglect or improper cultivation can keep the fruit immature. However, if the tree is healthy, it will produce fruit.
How can we be sure that the life of Jesus is flowing through us in a way that will produce the fruit of disciples? We must abide in him. Jesus makes it clear that any branch who does not abide in him cannot produce fruit. No matter how hard we try, we will be fruitless if we do not abide in the source of our life, Jesus Christ. We can do the works that may be necessary for fruit, but there will be no fruit. We can look like we are productive but in the end any fruit we produce will not remain. If the source life is not flowing through us, we can produce no fruit.
How do I make sure I have this life? I must abide in Jesus. How do I abide in Jesus? There are a number of things we need to understand from this verse. The first is what the word “abide” means.
Abide means to make a home in a particular place. The place we abide is the place we live. We may visit other places, but we come home to where we abide. I was recently in Kenya for three weeks. The conditions there are quite different from where I live. I have no problem dealing with the differences for 3 weeks because I know I will go home at the end of this time. It would be different if I were to abide there.
I have a friend who has lived in Kenya for 15 years. His whole lifestyle is shaped by the fact that he abides in Kenya. There are things that I may do as a visitor that he will not do because he lives there. There are attitudes and practices that are simply a part of who he is because of where he lives. I do not think the same way about Kenya because I abide in the U.S.
The same is true for him when he visits the country that was his home. We had a good laugh about the trauma he feels when he goes into a Wal-Mart. The variety is overwhelming for him. I told him that I liked a particular kind of cereal that, when we were young, was just one cereal. Now this cereal is a brand that contains many variations of cereals and snack foods. He could hardly believe it. He abides in Africa and his thinking has been conditioned by where he abides.
If we are to abide in Jesus, we must continue in our relationship with him. Sometimes we separate our spiritual and secular lives. To bear fruit in the Kingdom of God there can be no separation. We really have no secular life. Paul said it this way.
Colossians 3:2-3 (NKJV) 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
To abide in Christ means that we must set our minds on the things that relate to him and not be consumed by what concerns the earth. This does not mean that we neglect our homes, families or work. It means that we view all of those things through the lens of eternity. Our life has been hidden with Christ in God. The picture here is that our daily life is so intermingled with the life of Christ that we can no longer tell them apart. When this is the case, we will naturally produce fruit for the Kingdom of God.
We see that the converse is also true. If we are not abiding we cannot produce fruit. It does not matter how hard we work or how “good” we may be. Fruit is a product of the Life of Christ within us. There may be a branch on an apple tree that is very productive. It may have leaves, blossoms and eventually ripe apples. If that branch is cut off from the source life in the tree, it will begin to die.
The leaves will stay for a while, but they will eventually fall off. If there are blossoms or apples on the branch when it is cut off the tree, they will be the last ones the branch will ever produce. It cannot produce life if it is not abiding in the tree. It may look like it can for a while but in time the lack of abiding will take its toll and the branch will become unproductive.
If we do not abide in Jesus, we cannot produce fruit. You may be born again and you may go to heaven but if you do not abide continually in him, you cannot bear fruit. You may look good outwardly but the lack of inward life will eventually take its toll and it will be evident that you are no longer abiding in the vine of Jesus’ life. We must realize that abiding in the vine is not a nice thing to do. We must understand that it is not something for the clergy alone. Abiding in the life of Jesus is the only way to be the productive person God wants you to be.
Tomorrow we will look at how we abide in him.
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