"By this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."

If you have spent a fair amount of time in a church that worships Jesus, you may have heard a lot of references to being fruitful and "bearing fruit". My memories of this actually are somewhat negative as the way I learned about what fruit was focused solely on the salvation of souls, and how we were responsible for this to happen. The takeaway therefore was along the lines of "you better get busy, follower of Christ, or you won't have any fruit to show"! The effect of that emphasis produced in me stressors and undue pressure to get people saved. Then, if someone I witnessed to didn't respond, I felt I was failing the King of Heaven!

Having a desire for people's salvation is of course a desired outcome of all our ministry efforts, but those misplaced pressures on us to effect such a salvation is incorrect. We are powerless to give life to anything when we think about it, why would we ever assume we can give eternal life? As his name implies ("YWHW saves"), Jesus alone has the power to save us from our sins. It is his work (2 Tim 1:9) and he is faithful to complete it (Phil 1:6).

Join us on Sunday as we study John 15:1-17, the familiar account of Jesus identifying himself as the vine, and us as the branches. The Father addresses our fruitfulness as he tends the vine, as only he can. Let us together discover that fruit has a variety of applications but the key to growing it and sustaining it is abiding in Christ. Then we really just need to trust Christ to grow this in us all.

Lord willing, I look forward to seeing you this Sunday!

To the praise of his glory, in gratitude for our joy,

Pastor Ron

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Discussion & Response Questions for John 15:1–17How does Jesus' declaration of being the "true vine" tie him back to historical Israel?

Who is the audience for this section of the discourse? How does this help us understand verses like verse 6?

What are the scriptural references to fruit? What can we learn from these examples?

Notice the recurring themes in these verses: what does "remaining in me" imply?

How are the spiritual disciplines of prayer, immersion in scripture, and fellowship illustrated in this text?

What does Jesus promise if we keep his commands? Compare with earlier promises from 13:15-16, & 23.

What is significant about how Jesus moves from calling his disciples branches to his friends?