ABIDE IN ME: Every Life Produces Fruit 2-18-24

ABIDE IN ME: Every Life Produces Fruit 2-18-24 

 

Scripture: John 15:1-5; John 15:7-8; John 15:7; Matthew 7:15-18; Romans 12:3

 

Write Up: The fruit of our lives is expressed in words and actions. Everyone will produce some kind of fruit, whether it is good or bad. Abiding in Christ offers us all we need to have a harvest of good from our lives. However, living disconnected from Jesus will result in fruit that looks like the world. We will be identified by the fruit of our lives.

 

INTRODUCTION

 

What an honor it is to gather together this day in worship, Church. We deeply believe God has brought you here for a reason and that he will meet you with his love and grace. 

 

We are in the midst of a sermon series called Abide In Me. This has been such a powerful discussion about the invitation Jesus extends to us in John 15 to remain connected to him and to experience the fullness of life available to us in him. 

 

”I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.“

           John 15:1-5 NIV

 

Illustration: grape vine pic

 

The first week we learned how a branch must stay connected to the vine in order to receive all it needs for life. So, too, we too must remain unified with Jesus. Without that vital connection through prayer, scripture, fellowship, and service, we are destined to lack the power to produce good fruit in our lives.  

 

Last week we learned God is a good gardener who prunes and removes anything that gets in the way of our spiritual growth. Though it may be painful at times, the end result is a life that demonstrates the fruit of the Spirit of God. 

 

This week we are taking a look at the truth that every life will produce a crop of fruit of some kind. The question is: what kind of fruit, whether in word or deed, will it be?

 

Story: A few years ago, a family purchased a few fruit trees from an online website. They had recently purchased four acres of land, and they loved the idea of being able to walk out the back door and pick fresh fruit to eat. They had five peach trees delivered to their house. They were all young so they looked mostly like sticks. The family planted the trees and faithfully watered and took care of them. Not long after, they began to recognize one tree was not like the others. It looked slightly different and had different leaves. It was not until they saw the first fruits from the trees that it became clear: one of the trees was actually an apple tree. How did they know? The fruit gave it away. It was the proof of their true identity.

 

Every apple tree, peach tree, blueberry bush, grapevine, and strawberry plant is meant to produce a crop that is consistent with the kind of foliage it is. Fruit can be expected to grow if given proper water and sunlight. The same is true for every human being. Our lives will all produce some kind of fruit. That fruit will always be consistent with the person we are on the inside.

 

I.  YOUR WORDS AND ACTIONS ARE THE FRUIT OF YOUR LIFE

 

”If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.“

           John 15:7-8 NIV

 

           A.  Our fruit demonstrates who we are.

 

How we treat people. How we talk to our family. How we spend our time. What we value. What we invest in. All of these things are an outflow of our hearts. They are a reflection of who we are. Jesus speaks to this in John 15 as he continues His conversation about abiding in him.

 

           B.  Our fruit demonstrates whose we are.

 

Jesus says the goal of our lives ought to be bringing glory to the Father. The ways in which we choose to live should reflect the heart of God. The way we do this is by realizing that we will produce some kind of fruit with our lives, whether we like it or not. We are able to choose how we live, and those choices will reveal whether or not we abide in Christ. It is the litmus test for the disciple of Jesus. Do our actions look like love, grace, mercy, compassion, and kindness?

 

           C.  Our fruit develops by remaining in Him.

 

”If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.“

           John 15:7 NIV                                        `                                          

 

In verse seven Jesus tells us how all of this is possible: It is a result of remaining in him. With a connected relationship comes the ability to ask for what we need to live out our Christian faith. Like a well-loved child knows to ask his or her daddy for what they long for, God is faithful to hear our requests and provide the power and resources we need to live as disciples.

 

           D.  Our fruit cannot be faked.

 

This is not something we can fake. They must come from a genuine connection to Jesus.

 

Illustration: Have you ever been to a restaurant or a living room where someone has chosen to decorate using imitation fruit like a plastic bunch of grapes or a painted foam apple? Sometimes these fruits are so real looking you might be tempted to take a bite only to be left with a rubbery treat or a chunk of foam in your mouth. Though those decorations may have the aesthetics of an authentic harvest, the substance of them reveals a different story.

 

Your life will produce some kind of fruit. That fruit may come from selfishness, guilt, anger, or bitterness or it may come from the Spirit of God, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Your fruit can have a vast array of impact, whether positive or negative. No matter where the fruit originates, it will be revealed for what it is.

 

II.  WE ARE RECOGNIZED BY OUR FRUIT

 

The reason this family knew they had four peach trees and one apple tree is because of the fruit those trees produced. Jesus speaks to this truth in another Gospel in the New Testament as he addresses what he calls “false prophets.” Those false prophets were individuals who claimed to be disciples but whose lives did not match that assertion. Jesus gives us handles for how to make sense of the fruit in our lives and others.

 

”Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.“

        Matthew 7:15-18 NIV

 

          A.  Fake prophets produce fake fruit.

 

This discussion about fruit is very common within the New Testament. It is a way of talking about the kinds of attitudes and actions that someone produces from their lives. The fruit of someone’s life is an indication of their true identity. In verse fifteen, Jesus tells his listeners to “beware or watch out” for false prophets. The Greek word for beware is prosecho, which means “pay full attention to.” Jesus warns us that we must pay close attention to be able to distinguish truth from falsehood, true fruit from false fruit.

 

           B.  Fruit is produced according to its kind.

 

The author then uses the fruit image to make the point that we can learn a lot from what our life produces. You would not expect to get grapes from a thorn bush or figs from a thistle plant. That would not be consistent with the true nature of the plant. The same is true for us. If we want to know who we really are, we must prosecho – pay attention to what we say, what we do, how we treat people, what we value, how we make others feel, the kinds of environments we create, what we do with our power. This is a very clear indication of the kind of tree our heart is, and it produces good fruit or bad fruit.

 

Story: I grew up the grandson of a pig farmer, and for most of my formative years we had fresh pork in the freezer.  We ate pork chops, pork steaks, pork roast, and fresh sausage.  Every time I turned around it was pork this and pork that.  Given a choice today of what I want to eat I will usually pick pig.  After I grew up, I would eat sausage from the store or sausage from a restaurant, and I could not believe what they called sausage.  I could hardly eat it.  Sometimes it was sweet.  Sometimes it tasted like ham.  Sometimes mystery meat.  It was nothing like fresh sausage: straight from the butcher.  I had eaten enough good sausage that I could recognize bad sausage in a heartbeat.

 

You see, false prophets don’t produce joy, love, kindness, peace, patience. Pay attention to the fruit. It will more closely resemble pride, indifference, manipulation, shame, guilt, fear, greed. The fruit will give them away every time. We are recognized by what our lives produce.

 

III.  WE CAN CHANGE OUR FRUIT

 

           A.  We can change our fruit.

 

Maybe you would like to see the fruit of your life change. By abiding in Christ, we can produce better fruit. Like plowing a field and replanting for a different harvest, God graciously offers us the ability to lean into his love and grace and live a different life. If we focus on our private lives with Jesus, it will have an impact on our public lives. This change takes a level of humility and self-assessment that many of us struggle to demonstrate, but this introspection is key to change.

 

Paul writes about this to the early church in Rome as he encourages them to live with sober judgment in faith.

 

”For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.“

          Romans 12:3 NIV

 

          B.  With God, we can change our fruit.

 

It is easy to think more of ourselves than we should. Many of us struggle to be honest about the fruit of our lives because our ego won’t allow it. However, the grace of God offers us insight into who we actually are and where we fall short. It is a sober judgment that enables us to recognize whether our words and actions are good or bad fruit.

 

        C.  When we abide in Christ, our fruit will reflect that of Christ.

 

When we abide in Christ, we make space for the Spirit of God to speak to us about the areas of our lives that don’t look like Jesus. In order to grow, we must take intentional time to remain, abide, and wait on God. 

 

        D.  Three practical ways to see the fruit of your life change.

 

1.  Search through the scriptures and identify the kinds of attitudes and actions you want to possess. Write them down and pray for God to manifest them within you by the power of the Holy Spirit. Consciously pay attention to when they are evident, and thank God for his faithful work in changing your fruit.

2. Spend time in prayer and ask God to reveal the areas of your life that need some attention. Remain humble and wait on God to convict your heart. Repent of what God exposes and commit to embrace new ways of living that honor him.

3. Identify some trusted individuals who are disciples of Jesus themselves. Invite them to give you feedback from what they see in your life. Ask them to be honest and gracious in order to gain an objective view about what you need to ask God to prune and what you need to receive from the vine.

 

Your life will produce one kind of fruit or another. Whether it is good or bad, you need to expect it. By abiding in Christ, we can become more like him in all we do.

 

CONCLUSION

 

Your words and actions are your fruit.  You are recognized by your fruit.  You can change your fruit.

 

Let me offer 3 things to consider when contemplating your fruit.

 

Think: My life will have some kind of impact on the world around me. It can be positive or negative.

 

Feel: I want to be easily identified as a follower of Jesus by the kind of fruit my life produces.

 

Do: Take an account of what my words and actions are like. Do they look like Jesus?

 

INVITATION

 

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.