Growing the Good Fruit || John 15:5-8 || Weekend Wind-Down #32

Welcome to Week 32 of our “Weekend Wind-Down” series. This series is where we take a piece of Scripture, get its background information, and dig deeper into it to see what the Bible says about it and what we need to walk away with.

Our scripture focus today is John 15:5-8, which says: 

5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 

6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 

7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 

8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to the disciples. 

We will specifically focus on verse five (hence why it’s bolded). I needed to provide verses six through eight to obtain context. 

John wrote this Gospel to prove that Jesus is God’s Son and that all believers will have eternal life. 

This passage is a part of Jesus’ “I AM” statement, where he talks about how he is the vine, and we are the branches. We pick up with Jesus about how we will produce fruit if we stay and grow in Jesus. Without Jesus, we can do nothing. Check back to last week’s Weekend Wind-Down, where I talked about the wrestling I went through to understand what it means when it says, “…we can do nothing.” 

Jesus helps explain it by comparing those who walk away from Jesus to a useless branch that withers. Those branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. These branches aren’t providing the fruit necessary to keep the tree healthy. They must be chopped off to protect the tree from being unfruitful. We try to be fruitful at all times. Jesus says living a truly good and fruitful life means staying close to him, like a fruit connected to a vine. Why?

In the same way, plants receive nutrients from their roots; we receive nutrients from the life-giving water and the bread of life from the Holy Spirit and the Bible. What are the nutrients for a believer? They are the following:

• Believe that Jesus is God’s son.
• Follow Jesus as Lord and Savior.
• Do what God says.
• Continue to believe in the Bible.
• Relate in love to the community of believers.

How do we do these things? We do them by gaining sustenance (wisdom and knowledge) through the Word of God and the energy through the Holy Spirit. This may sound impossible, but remember that Jesus says we can ask for anything we want, which will be granted. This only happens if we continue to follow Jesus and keep the teachings of the Bible in our hearts. 

Jesus closes this section by claiming that being true disciples means producing much fruit. Fruit should trigger the thinking of Galatians 5:22-23, where Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit. In this chapter, Jesus refers to three things as fruit: prayer, joy, and love. Are we producing prayer, joy, and love in our lives? How does that happen? 

Producing the fruit of prayer can show up in many different varieties. Prayer is talking with God, sharing the good and the bad, and listening to how he responds. It’s also talking with God for others. Praying for or with someone is a powerful act of love and care. For me, it shows that you care about someone so much, regardless of their belief, that you would talk to a supreme being to comfort, guide, and love this person. It might be awkward for both of you but think of the bond that would get created between the three of you (I included God) and what that could mean for that person’s future. You planted the seed for them to have a relationship with God. Someone may just want you near them as they talk to God because they might be uncomfortable in the silence as they process God’s response. Prayer is an intimate act that has the power to change everything. 

We’ve talked about the fruit of love through prayer. What does it mean to love someone? It means to healthily care for and attend to the needs of someone. It means to provide for someone when they struggle. It means listening to someone through a panic or anxiety attack. The foundation for loving one another needs to come from how Jesus loved us. Jesus loved us so much that he sacrificed himself so that we could have a relationship with God. We may not be dying for someone else, but that happens in some situations. We are probably making sacrifices for the benefit of someone else. It could be paying for someone’s meal when we want to go to the movies. It could be staying at a friend’s house because they were lonely instead of staying home playing video games all night. When we choose something, we are always sacrificing something else. When it comes to love, we often sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of others. There is a boundary for when this goes too far, though, and it’s good to recognize what that boundary is for you and acknowledge that for yourself and the other person. Remember, even Jesus had to get away and recharge. 

Producing the fruit of joy is interesting. It’s a cliche that Christians are boring people who don’t like to have any fun. That’s just not true. The Bible tells us to eat, drink, and be merry. We are called to live life and life to the fullest. We must ensure we aren’t missing out on what God has for us or exclude him altogether. What brings you joy? For me, it’s writing, listening to music, talking with friends, playing video games, watching movies, and more. These things are lovely to do. It’s when we overindulge on these things to a point where it takes us away from the purpose that God has for us. 

Matthew 3:10 has this to say about those who do not produce good fruit:

10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the tree. Yes, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire. 

God is ready to keep us accountable for being unfruitful. Notice that it doesn’t say “produce fruit” but “produce good fruit.” We can produce fruit that exactly looks like what God wants, but it could taste horrible. Our fruit of prayer could also be the fruit of attention-seeking. Our fruit of love could be the fruit of manipulation. They could look exactly the same on the outside, but the flavor is wildly different on the outside. Think of reaching for a cup of what you think is water and drinking milk. You’d think the drink is disgusting even though you always drink milk. When you know what you’re going after, the result is pleasing. When we’re going after what God wants and producing good fruit, the result is pleasing to him and a blessing to us. To produce the good fruit, we must do these four things: 

• Obey his commands
• Resist temptations
• Actively serve and help others
• Share our faith.

Let me know how you do these things and how well your fruit grows. Today, we discussed Jesus’ statement: “I am the vine, and you are the branches.” We understood how the growing process works, what fruit is cut away, and how to grow the good fruit. Let us pray. 

Father God, we thank you for being the ultimate fruit producer Thank you for creating the everlasting production of fruit that begins with your Son, Jesus, and continues through us into future generations. Help us to make sure that we are tending to the fruit properly. Make sure that we are giving the nutrients it needs to grow strong and maintain it so it is not harmed by outside sources. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.