Fruit Production

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.” (John 15:5 CSB)

Jesus used a grape vine to illustrate what He wants to happen and what should happen in the lives of His disciples. The outcome of what He wants to happen is for our lives to produce much fruit, which will prove that we are His disciples. He does not specify exactly what that fruit is. Some who mean well take the metaphor to what they feel are logical extremes and say that the “fruit” is other believers, the idea being that what we are expected to produce is new Christians. Hopefully, we all engage in personal witnessing, but that specific fruit is not indicted in the text or in the larger context of this passage. In the surrounding texts, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit, about the gift of peace, about Christ-like love, and about persecutions. Very likely, Jesus did not specify fruit here because He had a broad meaning in mind.

The nature of the fruit is not the point, and while fruit production is the intended outcome of what the Lord wants, that is not the point either. The point Jesus is making to us is that He wants us to “remain” or “abide” in Him. The reason for that is because without Him, without remaining in Him, there can be no fruit production. Without Him, there is nothing. Only as we abide in the Lord will there be the production of the fruit He desires. The point Jesus makes is that He will Himself produce the fruit so long as we abide in Him. So, the whole idea here is for us to remain totally true and faithful in our personal relationship of faith in Jesus, and to the degree that we do so, He will produce fruit in and through us.

Lord, Today may each of us “abide” in You, so that Your Spirit in us may produce much fruit that brings You honor and glory. Amen.