It is not through hard work that we “produce fruit,” instead, it is through our connection with Jesus, through our remaining in Jesus that fruit naturally comes.
And so it is essential to realize that our role as “branches” is to remain in the “Vine”; that is, to continue to receive fresh grace from Jesus. Since this grace flows from the fountain of Calvary, our primary responsibility as Christians is to go daily and often to the cross. Receive again the love that Jesus died to pour on you. Wash at the cross.
This is our daily goal and responsibility, as believing “branches.” And if we remain in Jesus, if we often come to the cross, the Holy Spirit works in a new way, a freeing way; cleansing us, pruning us and bearing fruit through us.
John 15:5 NIV “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.”
This passage teaches us that our primary need in life, as believer-branches, is to remain in Christ. To put ourselves in the posture of receiving from Him. To kneel at the cross and experience fresh grace, new mercy, and ongoing love.
This is the secret to the Christian life! It is how we overcome impurity and immorality; it is how we crucify our lusts and escape thought-strongholds; it is how we bear the fruit of the Spirit. “Apart from Me, you can do nothing!”
John 15:6-7 NIV If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (7) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
In John 15:6-7, Jesus contrasts those who remain in Him with those who do not. Those who do not stay in Him are disconnected from their Life-Source and so, like a branch separated from the vine, they wither and die. There is a warning here: if you disconnect from the Life-Source, then you will wither and die spiritually. This looks like someone who lives in the lusts of the flesh.
Whereas if we remain in Jesus, we become fruitful. And verse 7 helps us understand what it is to stay in Jesus: “…if my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish.” So to remain in Jesus means to keep in His word and prayer. This is how we produce fruit! If we are in His Word (studying our Bibles, hearing sermons, exercising faith to believe, etc.) then that Word becomes part of us, we can pray it back to God, God honors His Word and answers our prayer, and we become “fruitful.”
John 15:8 NIV This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Question 6. According to John 15:8, how do believers reveal to others that they are disciples of Christ?