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Fruitfulness - Part 2

1st September 2012

Last week, I recalled that the top item of my personal agenda - and, I hope, yours - comes from Philippians 3:10. It's I want to know Christ, as well as I possibly can. And I said that point two on my personal agenda is: I want to be fruitful in my service to Him. And, again, I hope it's yours too.

We looked at:

John 15:1-2
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you."

And the first two keys to fruitfulness that we identified were, firstly ensure you're genuinely connected to the vine and, secondly, co-operate with God when he comes to prune you.

Here's part 3 of the answer: remain in Jesus.

John 15:4
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

The Greek word meno can mean to remain, stay, live, or continue. But it can also mean to stand fast, to endure, or to remain in place. When Jesus says, "remain in me", He means much more than "continue to think of yourself as a Christian". He means, "stay as close to Jesus as you can, as much of the time you can". Think again about the vine, or any fruit-bearing tree. The better the branch is joined to the trunk, the healthier it is. And the healthier it is, the more fruit it produces.

We can't produce any fruit without Jesus. All our efforts, all our trying to be nice, all the sermons we preach or missions we serve on, are useless if we're separated from God.

Paul says of a false teacher in Colossae:

Colossians 2:19
He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

And we can lose contact with Jesus, the head of the church. Not permanently, necessarily. But we can go hours without praying, without any consciousness of His presence, or even without remembering that He's there, and what He's done for us. We can develop lifestyles in which we go to the church meeting every Sunday, but pretty much ignore God from Monday to Saturday. We can compartmentalise our lives, allowing God into the church part but keeping him out of the family part, or the work part, or the leisure part. We lose contact with Jesus, and we are much less fruitful than we would otherwise be. In fact, with regard to sharing the gospel, maybe when we're not in church is when we can be most fruitful, and so most need to be in touch with Jesus.

Prayer - and thanksgiving - are vitally important for us through the day, every day:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Of course, we can't pray when we're asleep, and we can't pray much when we're in a meeting at work. But we can pray several times a day, even if sometimes it's only for a few moments. And we can learn to sense His presence with us through the day.

John 15:5
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Jesus repeats Himself here, so we really hear what He's saying. Apart from Him we can do NOTHING of spiritual value, nothing that glorifies God, nothing that will last. But if we remain in contact with Him, looking to live as close to him as possible, we WILL bear much fruit.

John 15:6
If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

Now Jesus repeats something else He said earlier. Someone might look like a Christian, and sound like a Christian, but not be a Christian. If he bears NO fruit, then he's not a Christian, and he's destined for destruction. But:

John 15:7-8
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

If we live in continual relationship with Jesus, then we'll be passionate about the glory of God, and will pray for fruitfulness, and He will answer us.