THE KEY TO FRUITFUL CHRISTIAN LIVING – 1 Corinthians 15:50-57

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 2, 2020 under 2020 |

Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; February 2, 2020 from John 15:1-8

Theme: The key to fruitful Christian living is to abide continually in loving personal fellowship with Jesus Christ.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

Click HERE for the audio version of this sermon.

The other day, I had the opportunity to catch up with a dear friend named Åke Lundberg—and I enjoyed just getting to sit with him, have some coffee, and relish in the story of his walk with Jesus.

Åke has had—at least from my perspective—a remarkably adventurous Christian life. I got to listen to him tell of how he moved to New York from Sweden when he was a very young man; and how he developed an interest in photography. He put his trust in Jesus in his early adult life through the ministry of The Salvation Army. He talked about how he met the woman who would become his wife; and of how, when they got married and started a family, he started doing more photography to make a little extra money. He talked about how—through some unexpected circumstances, just in the course of walking with Jesus—he started doing photography for a ministry connected to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Soon afterward, was asked to join the Graham team and become the staff photographer of Dr. Graham’s crusades. Then he and his wife moved to Portland; and he became the staff photographer for the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association. And then, he went on to become director of the media and journalism program at Multnomah University (called Multnomah School of the Bible at the time)—which was where I first met him. And then after that, he was asked join the pastoral staff at a large local church—ministering to seniors. And now, in his eighties, he’s still being called to serve the Lord in new and unexpected ways. It just seems like one adventure after another in his walk with Jesus.

None of these experiences were things that Åke was ever necessarily trained to do—or even expected that he would one day be involved in. He simply walked in fellowship with the Lord Jesus and did faithfully whatever the Lord placed before him to do. I told him that his story reminds me of something that I try to tell seminary students that I work with: that they shouldn’t ever try to plot out their ‘ministry career’; but just faithfully walk in love with Jesus and go through whatever doors He opens up to them in ministry—trusting the Lord to bring about from it all what He desires.

That conversation with Åke reminded me of what a uniquely wonderful thing it is to be in personal fellowship with the Lord Jesus. The adventure of walking with Jesus will look different for each one of us. Some of us will have dramatic adventures; others will be led in quiet unseen ways. Some of us will even be called upon to walk with Jesus through times of trial or illness; and it’s through our trials that we bear a powerful witness to Jesus and minister to others that no one else could bear. But whatever shape that adventure takes, it’s an adventure that comes through a relationship—a walk with a wonderful Person.

We should never think of the Christian life as a mere ‘religious system’. We should never try to ‘practice’ the Christian faith like the followers of other religious systems practice theirs. In other religions, followers practice their religion independent from that religion’s founder. A practitioner of Confucianism, for example, simply follows the teachings of Confucius. He neither has, nor needs, nor seeks, nor can ever experience a relationship with Confucius himself. Likewise, a Buddhist may practice Buddhism without being concerned in the least about having any connection with the Buddha whatsoever. A Muslim can have no personal relationship with Mohammed, and still be a faithful Muslim. But it’s entirely different with the genuine Christian faith. Our faith is a matter of having a daily walk with a divine Friend who loves us very much, redeemed us with His blood, and who leads us along the way.

Jesus—our Lord and Savior—died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended to the Father, and sent His Holy Spirit to minister His presence in us and to us. Jesus taught His disciples that they absolutely could not practice His teachings without having a relationship with Himself. Take away real, living, personally dependent relationship with the Lord Jesus, and you do not have the Christian faith as He taught it.

In fact, He taught His followers that their relationship with Him was like the relationship of a branch to a grape vine. We can no more bear fruit in the Christian life without Him than the branch can produce grapes disconnected from the vine.

Look with me at John 15. In verses 1-8, the Lord Jesus told His disciples;

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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. 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. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:1-8).

Maybe you have been feeling lately like your Christian life has grown stale. Perhaps you feel as if the passion and excitement has left you. Perhaps you feel that it your Christian life has grown ‘unfruitful’—that it is no longer making a difference in your life. If so, perhaps it’s because you have been trying to live the Christian life in the wrong way—that is, apart from a deep, personal fellowship with Jesus Himself. Perhaps you’ve been trying to live it as if it were a ‘religion’ rather than as a loving, personal relationship with a wonderful Person who loves you.

If you look over these words from our Lord carefully, you’ll see that one of its great themes is ‘fruitfulness’. Jesus wants us to bear His fruit in our lives. He describes how He is able to bring a follower of His from a condition of bearing no fruit into bearing fruit for Him; and then from bearing fruit to bearing more fruit; and then from bearing more fruit to bearing much fruit. Look at what He said at the end of this passage—in verse 8; “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples”. That’s His will for you and me—that we bear ‘much’ fruit. He wants for His life and His character and His qualities to be lived out in you and me in this world; and for it to happen abundantly.

But notice how this happens. We see it in the other great theme of this passage. It comes only from ‘abiding’ in Him. The word “abide” shows up seven times. Abiding in Jesus—dwelling in and remaining in deep, personal, ongoingly-dependent communion with Jesus Himself—is the key to fruitful Christian living. It cannot be lived fruitfully in any other way.

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Now; let me tell you why I’m sharing with you this morning from this passage.

About a month ago, I urged you to join me in committing to some New Year’s resolutions. I called them ‘resolves for personal revival in 2020′. There were seven of them:

1. to grow in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ;

2. to grow in repentance from sin.

3. to grow in reliance upon the Holy Spirit.

4. to grow in the daily reading of God’s word.

5. to grow in regular attendance at church.

6. to grow in the restoration of relationships; and

7. to grow in a readiness to share our faith.

These seven resolves are what we need to be pursuing in our personal lives—and all so that we will grow to be the kind of people we need to be. If God permits me, I will be preaching on one of these resolves every other month—all through this coming year. And the first of these seven is to grown in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

What an important resolve it is! It’s the foundation for all the others. And I can think of no better passage of scripture to look to than John 15:1-8. So; let’s look at this passage together. Let’s be reminded from it that the key to fruitful Christian living is to abide continually in loving personal fellowship with Jesus Christ.

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Now; this passage is a part of the larger talk our Lord had with His disciples during His last supper with them. It was the night before He would be crucified.

In John 14:31, He told His disciples, “Arise, let us go from here.” They arose from the supper and were on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane—where He would wait, and be betrayed, and be arrested, and then be taken away to be crucified. And while on their way—as they traveled from Jerusalem through the Kidron Valley over to the garden—they perhaps came upon a vineyard. And as the Lord Jesus stopped and drew His disciples attention to a grapevine, He then used it as an illustration of the principles of having a fruitful relationship with Himself.

Look at verses 1-3; and notice …

1. THE PROVISIONS FOR OUR FRUITFULNESS.

Notice in verse 1 that we are provided with the very best source for life—the very best vine to grow on and to draw from. He said, “I am the true vine …” In the original language, we’re told that He said it this way: “I—I myself am the vine, the true one.” He said it with emphasis.

There are, perhaps, lots of various ‘vines’ we could attach ourselves to. There might be lots of people, or ideas, or philosophies, or causes that we can try to draw our life from in order to make ourselves meaningful and fruitful. But none of them are the right one—the true one. There is only one “true” vine for us to be attached to; and that is to the Lord Jesus Himself. To attach ourselves to anything else will not result in fruit. Only when we have placed our faith in Him and are attached to Him will we be fruitful. In Jesus, we have ‘the true vine’.

And then, notice that we also have the best vinedresser. Jesus went on to say, “and My Father is the vinedresser.” In a vineyard, the vinedresser watches over the growth of the branches on the vine. He ‘dresses’ them; cutting away anything that doesn’t belong, tenderly caring for branches that are weak and frail, and keeping them clean of anything that impedes growth and fruitfulness. You’ll notice in the last verse that it brings the Father glory when we produce much fruit in our relationship with Jesus. The Father Himself loves us and desires our fruitfulness in Jesus. So; as long as we are attached to our Lord Jesus, we can be sure that the Father will tend to our care.

Look at how the Father does this. Jesus said, in verse 2, that “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away …” That’s not really the best translation; because it gives the impression that, if there is a branch attached to the vine that isn’t producing fruit, the Father just snips it off and throws it away. A good and wise vinedresser would never cut off a branch that has potential to produce. Instead, he carefully ‘raises it up’—and that is actually how this should be translated from the original language. He lifts it from drooping down in the dirt, and sets it up carefully on the trellis, and allows the sun to shine on it so that it will produce fruit.

Sometimes God uses us to do this in the lives of one another. Sometimes, we see a fellow Christian drooping, or fallen, or somehow weak and frail in their faith. We see that there’s no fruit in their lives. Often, we feel the impulse from the Father to come along side them and lift them up with our prayers and with words of encouragement—and help to get them back into an intimate relationship with Jesus, so that they can grow again and begin to produce fruit.

And for those of us who are attached to the Lord Jesus, and who are producing fruit, the Father ministers to us even further. He provides pruning. Jesus said in verse 2, “and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” The Father is so concerned that our lives produce the fruit of the Lord Jesus that He will remove from us anything that draws us from our faithful devotion to Him and that inhibits the growth of His fruit. Perhaps there are things that we are watching that we shouldn’t be watching, or places we go that we shouldn’t be going, or relationships we are keeping that we shouldn’t be in, or attitudes of heart and habits of life that we are harboring that we shouldn’t be holding on to. The Father lovingly and wisely comes along and snips away those things that sap us of our growth—and all so that we will be more fruitful in our relationship with Jesus.

The Bible tells us that the Father allows trials in our lives in order to perfect our faith. That’s one way that He prunes us. And I’ll tell you something I am doing more and more. When a trial comes into my life—if I’m thinking rightly about it—I’m finding myself praying, “Lord, what is it that you are trying to get rid of in my life?” I can be confident that if there is something that needs to go, He’ll show me.

And then, look at another provision that we have for growth. It’s our cleansing. Jesus said, in verse 3, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” When a vinedresser came along and inspected the branches, he would bring a container of water. He would gently pour the water over the branches to wash off any dirt and dust, or to cleanse away any tiny parasites and bugs that would cause harm. Jesus was telling His disciples that they were already clean—already washed—because of the word that He had spoken to them. Later on, He prayed for them in John 17:17; and said to the Father, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”

One of the provisions that is made for our fruitfulness is the Scriptures—the word of God. Are you reading the Bible daily? Are you letting the Holy Spirit teach you and instruct you from it? Are you letting it teach you God’s will for your life? Are you letting it warn you of the things to avoid? Psalm 119:9 says, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.” Don’t neglect your Bible. It’s one of the great provisions we have been given for our fruitfulness in Christ.

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So; those are the provisions that have been made for our fruitfulness. We have Jesus as the one true vine, and the Father as the vinedresser. He lifts us up when we’re fallen, and prunes us of things that need to go, and washes us with the cleansing of the word.

But it’s still not up to us to produce the fruit. That’s the work of our Lord Jesus. Our job is to stay attached to Him, and draw our life from Him. And so, as we read on, we see …

2. THE KEY TO OUR FRUITFULNESS.

Jesus says , in verse 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.”

For a branch to “abide” on a vine simply means that it remains vitally attached to it. It’s so connected to the vine that it draws its life from it. The sap of the vine runs through and gives life to the branch. And for us to “abide” in Jesus simply means that we have entered into a relationship with Him by faith—that we have placed our faith in His cross, and have been redeemed by His blood; and that we now draw our daily nourishment and life from a personal relationship with Him in love. We ‘remain’ in Him—that is, we keep a constant, conscious communion with Him by faith.

How do we do this? How do we “abide” in Jesus as our ‘true vine’? It means that we constantly turn to Him in prayer; and ask for His help and guidance—and just express to Him our love. It means that we constantly repent of sin when He reveals it to us; and continually obey His commandments and follow His instructions as we read them in the Bible. He said, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (v. 10). It means that we regularly meditate on His word to us. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” Paul said in Colossians 3:16. It means that we constantly exercise ongoing faith in Him—trusting Him to lead us and guide us and empower us for the things He gives us to do. It means constantly thanking Him—and acknowledging His goodness and His presence in our daily life.

We are not commanded to produce fruit. Instead, we are commanded to abide in Him; and He will produce His fruit in us. And along with it, we are commanded to let Him abide in us! We never turn away from Him. We never ignore Him. We never shut Him out. Instead, we welcome His life flowing through ours. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides on the vine, neither can we produce any of the fruit of our Lord unless we remain continually and vitally attached to Him. That is the absolutely essential key to our fruitfulness in the Christian life. We must constantly ‘abide’.

Along with this, we need to remember our identity in relationship to Him. Jesus went on to say in verse 5, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” He says this to help us remember our role and His role in the whole matter of fruit-bearing. And along with this, we can expect that if we are abiding in Him, He will produce His fruit through us. He said, “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

It’s hard for us to grasp at times, but it’s not our Lord’s will that we focus on producing fruit. Certainly that’s God’s goal for us … that we, in fact, produce much fruit. But it doesn’t come about by our efforts to go out and produce fruit for our Lord on His behalf. If we were to go out, on our own volition, and produce ‘fruit’ for Him, we would forget who we are in relationship to who He is. And what’s more, the fruit we produce will not be His. There may be times when we have thought, “But I have gone out—in my own power—and done lots of things for the Lord Jesus.” And that may be true that we have. But Jesus has a name for those things that we have done. He calls them “nothing”. They do not amount to anything in His kingdom.

Our Lord must produce His fruit through us—as a result of our being vitally connected to Him and faithfully abiding in Him. Otherwise, no fruit of His will be produced; and whatever we may produce will amount to nothing. So; we need to constantly remember who we are in relationship to Him. He is the vine—and we are the branches. As His branches, we are utterly dependent upon our Lord; and can only produce His fruit if we are abiding in Him.

And we must never cease preserving our connection to Him. Jesus went on to say, in verse 6, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” I don’t believe that our Lord is saying—in this—that any of His people can lose their salvation and be severed from Him. But there are, no doubt, many who have ‘wrapped themselves around Him’ in a disconnected way; and who have claimed an association with Him that they don’t truly have. They may make a profession to be His; but they have never really entered into a personal relationship with Him by faith. They are not ‘attached’ to Him and do not ‘abide’ in Him. They do not draw their life from Him.

Those who are ‘pretend branches’—and not really attached, and not really abiding—are cast away. They will never produce His fruit. They are like the ones that Jesus spoke of in His Sermon on the Mount:

“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:22-23).

Unless they repent and become attached to the Lord in a saving way, they are destined for the lake of fire. But for us who are true branches, this is a warning—don’t cease preserving that connection. Remain always in communion with Jesus in a deep, personal, life-giving way.

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So, there’s no other way for us to produce His fruit than by constantly abiding in Him. And finally, notice what our Lord goes on to say about …

3. THE QUALITIES OF OUR FRUITFULNESS.

In verse 7, Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” What an amazing way to express ‘fruitful Christian living’! We will ask in prayer whatever we desire, and it shall be done for us! And do you know why? It’s because if we are whole-heartedly abiding in Him—if we are allowing our roots to go down deep into Him, and we are drawing our life from Him, and He is living His life in and through us—then we would end up desiring the things that He wants! 1 John 5:14-15 tells us that “if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petition that we have asked of Him.”

Another quality of our fruitfulness will be that we will live to the glory of the Father. The Father is the divine vinedresser. He has a deep desire for our fruitfulness in Jesus. It brings Him glory to see the life of His Son lived out in and through His people. And so, Jesus tells us in verse 8, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit …” We would be like what Paul wrote about in Philippians 1:11; “being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

And one more very wonderful quality of our fruitfulness is that it also proves that we truly belong to Jesus. If you see grapes, then you know—obviously—that they are growing on a grapevine. And when people see the life of Jesus lived out in us—when they see the fruit that the apostle Paul spoke of in Galatians 5:22-23 … “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control …”—then they know that they are seeing someone who is abiding in Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, “so you will be My disciples.”

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Dear brother or sister; the Lord Jesus loves you very much; and He desires your fellowship. He doesn’t want you to make up your own list of proposals on your own volition, and go out and do a bunch of good works that you choose to do, and produce your own version of ‘Christian fruitfulness’ to somehow impress Him with your devotion. He welcomes your service, of course; but He isn’t in any way dependent upon it at all. He doesn’t need your service. What He wants most of all is you. He wants your love and your fellowship and your communion with Him. He wants you to abide in Him, and for Him to abide in you. That was what He died on the cross to bring about.

And when He has us in His love—closely attached to Him; drawing our strength from Him; yielding ourselves to Him—then He will produce the fruit He wants to see from us.

So then, let’s resolve this coming year to grow in our personal relationship with Jesus. Let’s grow—increasingly and ongoingly—to abide in Him.

That’s the key to fruitful Christian living.

Click HERE for the audio version of this sermon.

EA