Bearing Fruit for the Lord

 January 21, 2024

Sunday

John 15:4 (NASB 2020)4 Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.

The concept of a man in Christ is foreign to many. They cannot understand what it means. Yet, we find these words or those like it many times in the Apostle Paul’s writings. It was that important even if Paul didn’t define it. The reality is that it isn’t definable. It must be experienced.

Being in Christ is a lot like being in love. Love changes people. People in love do not need another reason to act if love is their reason. When the person is also loved, the love becomes more than reasonable. The love becomes a force that will not stop even if danger presents itself. The father or mother of a child will enter a burning building to retrieve their child. Two people in live will willingly sacrifice themselves for each other.

The person is Christ is profoundly affected by Christ’s presence with him/her. The demeanor changes. The faith of the person changes. The boldness of Christ becomes the boldness of the person in Christ. The necessity of sacrifice is realized without regret. The presence of Christ cannot be denied by those who observe and also are in Christ. There is a deeper fellowship. There is a much deeper commitment to see others come to know Christ as His followers.

The impotence of Christians can be seen in those who are not in Christ. They lack the production of personal fruit. They lack the production of other believers. They are like farmers who try to grow their crops in the Sahara Desert. The sand is not good for the crop. There is no water. Yet, they keep planting without the manifest presence of Christ in their lives.

It doesn’t need to be that way. It doesn’t mean that today anyone who knows the Lord can’t become one in Christ. Today, those who truly seek Him with their whole hearts and do not hold back on anything He has told them to do will find themselves as those in Christ.

Only then will there be fruit. Only then will there be true strength. Only then.