True Living Comes from Fruit Bearing for Christ
True Living Comes from Fruit Bearing for Christ
According to Ezekiel 15, the branches of a vine are good for only two things: fruit or fuel, bearing or burning. You can’t manufacture fruit, because fruit comes from life, and fruit has in it the seeds for more fruit. As branches in the vine, we can draw upon Christ’s life and bear fruit for His glory. If we are not bearing fruit, we are not fulfilling our purpose on earth, and this means we are not really living. We are wasting our lives or just spending them, instead of investing them in things eternal. Believers have eternal life because they have trusted Jesus, but they may lack the “life to the full” that He came to give us (see John 10:10). They are spiritually alive but not healthy. Fruit bearing is the “rent” we pay for the privilege of living and serving God on this earth. It’s not only our obligation as disciples of Jesus Christ, but it’s also our opportunity as His servants to glorify Him and reach others.
As with the tree in Psalm 1:3, the branches of the vine don’t produce fruit to feed themselves but to feed others; and it is in the feeding of others that we find our joy. Jesus said, “My food … is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). Doing the will of God is not punishment; it is fulfillment and nourishment.
What is this “fruit” that Jesus expects us to bear so that we glorify Him and experience fulfilled lives? For one thing, it represents people we help lead to Christ and to maturity in the faith (Rom. 1:13). Growing in personal holiness is another fruit we harvest (6:22). In Galatians 5:22–24, Paul calls these “the fruit of the Spirit”: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Joyful and generous giving is fruit, such as the offering Paul collected from the Gentile churches to assist the believers in Jerusalem (Rom. 15:25–28). Colossians 1:10 mentions “bearing fruit in every good work” (see also Matt. 5:13–16), and Hebrews 13:15 informs us that praise and worship are the fruit of our lips that result from the seed of the Word we have planted in our hearts.
Since fruit has in it the seeds for more fruit, Jesus spoke of our bearing “fruit, more fruit, and much fruit” (see John 15:2, 5). The harvest God gives us depends on the spiritual gifts He has given us and our faithfulness in developing them and using them as the Lord opens service opportunities for us. If we are faithful in using the few gifts and opportunities we have, the Master will reward us with many more things (Matt. 25:21). This proved true with every servant in Scripture, especially Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, and Timothy.