The Fruitful Life

 

 

Central Thought: A flourishing Christian life is dependent on abiding in Christ.

 

Hymn: “I am Thine, O Lord”

Text: John 15:1-17

 

 

Our LORD JESUS CHRIST used everyday happenings and situations to illustrate very lofty spiritual truths. The agrarian society of Jesus’ day had very good knowledge of the vine and its branches, and the farming techniques usually adopted by the vine dresser to optimize the production capability of the vine.

This illustration of the vine and the branches reveals the secret of fruitfulness in the life of a believer. It also indicates that the LORD detests unfruitfulness in the life of a believer.  It also indicates that the LORD detests unfruitfulness in the life of any believer.  Essentially our Lord makes us to realize that stagnation in any sphere or our endeavors runs contrary to His will.  It is not spirituality to remain at one level of development in our professional educational careers for many years, hiding under the cover that it is one’s cross.

This illustration also makes us to realize that we just cannot live the Christian life without a deep and vibrant relationship with Christ. It will be no different from that of a fish attempting to live outside water.  Those who once were in Christ, and thought they had matured enough to live apart from Him know better now that it is just not possible.  Fruitfulness lies in keeping the vital link with Christ, strong and unbroken.

 

 

Lesson Objectives:

1. To identify the vine, the branch, and the husbandman.
2. To explain what fruitfulness means?
3. To understand how to be fruitful.
4. To appreciate what the Husbandman does to make the branch more fruitful.
5. To know the consequences of being detached from the vine.

 

1. What is illustrated by the vine, branched and husbandman?

Jesus, being the narrator in John 15:1 affirms that He is the true (real, genuine) vine. It is significant that Jesus uses the adjective “true” to describe the kind of vine that He represents.  He knew that his audience was aware that there are wild species of vines which produce bitter grape juice.  The true vine which produces sweet and refreshing fruit is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus made it clear to His audience, comprising His disciples, that they are the branches. “I am the vine; you are the branches”, John 15:5a.  Every believer who has come into a saving relationship with Christ by faith in His finished work at Calvary is branch of the true vine.  Because no branch of a tree can exist on its own, so it is that the vital life of the believer is sustained only when he is in lively union with Christ.

The husbandman, or the vine dresser, or the gardener, is our Father in Heaven. He uses the angels to tend the branches so that they can produce optimally.  The Father does not experience any lapse from the true vine, Jesus Christ, and so His primary focus is on the branches which have to be carefully nurtured so that they do not ever get to be unfruitful.

 

2. What does it mean to be fruitful?

To be fruitful, in the biblical sense, implies being resourceful in every area of human life – the spiritual, physical or material, and the soul or emotional aspects. A fruitful individual is indicative of one who is supplied with resources from an inexhaustible source, and this manifests in the individual blossoming on the outside.  One of the phrases commonly used in association with an individual who is fruitful is BLESSED, and it suggests a state of deep-seated joy and fulfillment.  To graphically illustrate the state of the fruitful individual, the Psalmist indicates in Psalm1:3 that “He is like a tree plant4ed by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose fruit does not wither; whatsoever he does prospers” (NIV).  Being continually supplied from a source of abundance of water, the fruitful individual can be depended upon to yield its fruit in due season.

Fruitfulness must be complete, and that means that it should be evident in all areas of the life of the believer. A believer with enormous amounts of material resources (large bank account, and numerous houses and cares) but who in the last 5 years has not made an attempt to win a soul to Christ cannot be said to be fruitful.  The believer’s state is more pitiable if his enormous wealth serves just the interest of his immediate family.  Fruitfulness that is complete indicates that the believer is rich in spiritual and material things.

Fruitfulness also suggests the ability to reproduce one’s self. That encompasses being able to reproduce the indwelling life of Christ in others by witnessing and sharing of the faith with others, and also in having children from the matrimonial home.  This meaning of fruitfulness is seen in the injunction of the Lord to man at creation: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them.  God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth, and subdue it”, Genesis 1:27 NIV.

 

3. How can we be fruitful?

Fruitfulness can only be achieved when one is anchored continually to resource of life – the Lord Jesus Christ. “I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit”, John 15:5 NIV.  Thus abiding in Christ is the secret of fruitfulness.  Our concern then should be how we can abide in Christ.

Abiding in Christ is closely linked with abiding in His word. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”, John 15:7.  The Word of God reveals the mind of God for His people. When we live in obedience to the word of God, we come into an active relationship with Christ.  We are friends of Christ when we obey His commandments which are expressed in His word.

A life of sustained prayer, intimate fellowship with the Father, makes it possible for the believer to continually abide in Christ. Such a life suggests the dependence of the believer on the Lord, and an indication of total surrender to the Lord.  As we maintain a life of prayer, we are delivered from doing our will to that of doing the will of God alone.  Being in the will of God is a sure way of having a fruitful life.

Abiding in Christ involves living a life that is holy and honors the Lord. As we abide in Christ, we seek those things that He (Christ) loves, and abhor those things that He hates.  By so doing, we maintain our vital link with Him.  Jesus said, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatever I command you”, John 15:14.  There is no way we can maintain union with Christ, except there is a burning desire within us to always please Him.  When we do, our friendship with the Lord is strengthened, and we become more fruitful.

 

4. How does the husbandman make the branch more fruitful?

The Lord who is the Husbandman, seeks always that we be more fruitful, and that brings Him much joy and fulfillment. To achieve this, the Lord prunes us.  By this, the Lord takes away from the branch dead leaves and smaller branches which stand in the way of the fruitfulness of the branch.  How does the Lord achieve this?

One way by which He achieves this is by taking us through the school of discipline. “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone that He accepts as a son”, Hebrews 12:5-6 NIV.  It is the same school of discipline that Moses went through for 40 years in the wilderness of Sinai when God tamed his heart to know that his ability rests not on himself but on the Lord solely.  As e walk with the Lord, the Lord rebukes us when we sin, he smoothens our rough edges so that we can better live in harmony with others, and He tames our pride and ego.  In many cases, He used day-to-day experiences to remold our person into the form He desire.  Sometimes, He takes us to our human breaking-point so that we can spring forth to the knowledge that He is our all-in-all.

The Lord also uses trial and persecutions to make us more fruitful. Persecutions usually toughen our resolve in the Lord, and that is particularly needed to face greater challenges in life.  Trials in our finances, for instance, may cause us to know that we may need to supplement our regular income from formal employment with a small-scale business.  Persecutions have a way of making us bolder in declaring our faith in the lord.

 

5. What are the consequences of being detached from the vine and the rewards of a fruitful life?

First we must understand that a Christian does not just get detached from the vine because he fall into a sin. It is usually a gradual process; he falls into a sin and refuses to confess it, and then continues in that sin which eventually leads to other sinful acts.  In his private walk with the Lord, the joy to study the Word diminishes, his enthusiasm to pray dwindles, and he then begins to give excuses for not attending weekday Bible studies and prayer meetings.  This process developing a cold and cynical heart for God and His people may drag on for years, and may go un-noticed even by the Pastor.  The outcome is that he gets detached from the vine, the Holy Spirit departs from him because He is no longer comfortable in that vessel, and the individual loses the joy of salvation.  Continuing in that state leads to eternal damnation if such an individual fails to repent before he dies or before the rapture occurs.  One of the rewards of a fruitful life is the perpetual joy and fulfilment that such an individual has.  He has within himself a sense of accomplishment, being in the center of the will of God and doing that which is dear to heart of God.  There can be nothing as fulfilling.  It is a common experience to abandon food when a soul comes to know the Lord through one’s witness, and that is so because of the accompanying joy.  Another reward of the fruitful life is an eternal reward which the Lord bestows on all who have faithfully served Him.  It is a reward which every believer should yearn for, and which should spur us to being more yielded to the Holy Spirit.

 

 

Daily Living Application:

We all frown at stagnation and retrogression in life. It is never comforting when a child ceases to grow, or when a business does not bring returns, or when crops do not bring a good harvest.  That is how uncomfortable our God becomes when we fail to be fruitful in our Christian race.  Our God would love to see us share the word so that lost souls get saved, make progress in our professional career pursuits, grow in the knowledge of our Lord, and be fruitful materially.  To  make us more fruitful, the Lord draws us closer to Himself, and uses experiences, trials and persecutions to optimize our productivity in all our endeavors.  He does not prune everyone, but those who are dear to His heart.  As we yearn more for the Lord, the more fruitful we will become.

 

 

Memory Verse:

John 15:4 – “Abide in me and I in you, As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me”