Pastor’s Thoughts – 06-22-2025

Before retiring from the business world, I learned and knew firsthand that the purpose of any business is to be productive. At one time I was employed by Phillip’s Petroleum Company and always appreciated their company slogan, “It is Performance that Counts.” This is only reasonable in a world where God declared after the fall of mankind by sin, “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life” (Gen. 3:17). In modern society people that are laboring in occupations know that they must produce a product or service needed or desired by others in order to receive a physical wage. It is not easy but requires diligence. This productivity is necessary and common in the physical world. By being a follower of Christ, we must also be marked by performance. Our Lord told His disciples, “I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2). Then in verse 6 He says, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned” (John 15:6).

The prominent word in this passage is “fruit.” The theme being presented by our Lord is the necessity of “fruit-bearing.” This is repeated in verses 2; 4; 5; and 8, and with emphasis in verse 8 that, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:8).  It should be obvious that if the necessity exists for productivity in the secular world, how much more in the spiritual realm which is of utmost importance. Followers of Christ are not merely those who on occasion profess His name, but are expected to, “bear much fruit.” The word, “fruit” is karpos in Greek, and it means produce or profit and is most often translated fruit. It is translated fruit because of the analogy being made by our Lord of a tree or vine and what they produce according to their created design and purpose. “A bad tree cannot produce good fruit” (Matt. 7:18), nor then can an unsaved person produce the kind of fruit of which our Lord is addressing. The wording of John 15:6, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned,” is used by those who claim that a Christian can lose their salvation. Clarity to answer this is found in the verse before where Christ says, “He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). This verse is declaring the difference between those merely professing Christ, and those who possess Him. Those who do not have Him abiding in them do not belong to Him, and therefore neither can they abide in Christ or bear fruit for Him.

The analogy of fruit is used throughout the New Testament. The life of a Christian is a new life in Christ. God changes our heart and gives the Holy Spirit to reside in us so that we as His children produce fruit!  What is this fruit? It is the fruit of a changed life. All people are born captive to sin, but in Christ they are captive to Him. This makes all the difference in the person’s life. The Bible becomes the source of the new person’s love and way of life. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). The beatitudes of Matthew 5 address these same changes of heart. The issue of fruit encompasses our attitude and also our actions. The Lord Jesus says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). The matter of salvation is a radical change within that produces also what we do so that it is seen without.  This fruit then encompasses attitudes and actions, leading to activities and a testimony that resembles our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is imperfect, but it is by the Spirit a likeness to Him accompanied by a doing that fits the statement by Paul, “For Me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Fruit bearing is our mission, just like it is the mission of a branch on a fruit tree to produce the fruit designed by God for it to produce. It should be our prayer and our ambition to foremost please Christ (2 Cor. 5:9), and to bear fruit for His glory. It is our greatest privilege.