Fruit-Producing Faith

Your fruit proves you’re a disciple, and your lack of fruit also proves something (v. 8). This verse gives the world the right to inspect our fruit. Jesus essentially tells the watching world, “If someone claims to be mine, look at his or her fruit. Fruit will expose the frauds.” If you claim to be a Christian, people are always inspecting your fruit, and they have that right. Jesus gave the right to them. Why? Because his followers have nothing to hide. Our fruit testifies to the truth of the gospel. Jesus who died must have risen again because he clearly lives inside us. Because disciples are connected to Jesus like branches to the vine, they will bear fruit. A fruitless disciple is no disciple at all. It does not mean believers won’t suffer periods of drought or barren years, but over the course of life, they will see evidence of Jesus’s life at work in them.

John 15:7-17

If our connection with Jesus is like a branch’s connection to the vine, then prayer is like the nutrients flowing back and forth between the branch and the vine. It’s natural, due to the connection. We are united with Christ, and that union produces a relationship. Relationships are maintained and strengthened through communication. Jesus communicates with us primarily through his Word (“my words remain in you”), and we respond in prayer (v. 7).

The life of Jesus flows through his followers, and that life blossoms into a vibrant relationship. We receive the Word and respond in prayer. In our illustration of the vine and branches, the gardener (God) wields his word in order to prune and prepare the branches (v. 3). Clean branches sprout fruit, and one type of fruit is prayer. Where there is prayer, there will be answers. God listens to his people. Think about this circle. We receive the words of God (his words inform us, instruct us, and command us). In response to the Word, Scripture, we pray to God (our requests are guided and shaped by the truth of the Word and are therefore in line with God’s will). God hears our prayers and joyfully responds to our requests because they were offered up in obedience to his Word. As the Word shapes our desires and the Spirit forms us from the inside out, we will begin to pray for those things that God cares about. God will hear and answer those prayers (cf. 14:13-14). If you aren’t seeing answered prayer, are you praying? Is your praying shaped by Scripture, the Word of God? Is your praying a ritual or the overflow of God’s life flowing through you?

What does the latter look like? It looks like breathing. You breathe without thinking because blood is pulsing through your veins. When the Holy Spirit is pulsing through you, you pray without thinking. You just talk to God. An e-mail chimes, mention it to God. Someone steps into your office, mention it to God. You can’t find your keys, mention it to God. Prayer is as important to the soul as breathing is to the body.

God loves Jesus, and Jesus in turn loves us with the same type of love (v. 9). In response we love him and demonstrate our love through obedience (v. 10). The way we abide in Jesus is to remain in his love, and the way we remain in his love is through obedience. Jesus isn’t saying, “If you want me to love you, you have to obey.” He’s saying, “If you love me, you demonstrate it through obedience.” Obedience doesn’t earn love. Obedience is the evidence of love.

How does this text speak to the person who claims to be a Christian but is living in willful, persistent disobedience to Jesus? It says, “You don’t love Jesus. You don’t bear the fruit of love. Therefore, the life of Jesus is not in you, and you will be cast into the fire and burned.” True Christians obey Jesus. Across our country and around the world are people who claim to follow Jesus but don’t. It’s spiritual insanity to say, “I’m a follower of Jesus, but I don’t follow what Jesus says.” “I love Jesus, but I don’t listen to him.” No, you don’t. Faith without works is dead! A disciple who doesn’t obey is not a disciple; he’s a fraud. If Jesus lives in you, you cannot help but produce the fruit of loving obedience. His life in you will cause you to love what he loves, to treasure his words, and to obey, not out of duty but out of joy. You will delight in doing what Jesus wants you to do because he lives in you and is shaping your heart to be like his.

Jesus is the King, and he has the authority to demand our obedience (vv. 14-15), but he doesn’t treat us like slaves. Slaves are given commands but no explanations. Jesus invites us into his inner circle as his friends. He doesn’t just give us commands; he shares his friendship with us. His friendship makes obedience a delight.

Joy is an unmistakable mark of a genuine disciple (v. 11). Christians claim to have the spirit or essence of Jesus taking up residence inside them. Jesus created joy. If you claim the Creator of joy is inside you and you’re miserable, then something is wrong. It makes no sense. It’s completely illogical. If someone is finding joy in Jesus, then he or she is a disciple of Jesus. Every step we take to help someone find joy in Jesus is a step of obedience to his words. Joy in Jesus is inseparable from knowing and following him. You can’t know him and lack joy. You can’t follow him and lack joy. You can’t be united with him and lack joy. It’s a biblical, logical, and theological impossibility. It does not mean every day is easy and filled with laughter, but it does mean your life is ultimately marked by a confidence that Jesus is greater and more satisfying than anything this world has to offer.

Jesus promises joy will flow through him to us like sap through the branches. He says his joy will be in us (v. 11). Joy is not a transaction. Jesus doesn’t send a box of joy to be delivered to your doorstep by FedEx. Joy is a relationship. Jesus invites us to his party where we can feast and make merry with him. His joy becomes our joy. He brings us into his joy, and as a result, our joy is filled up to the brim. Jesus takes his Big Gulp of Joy and places our little Dixie Cup right inside. We are not only full of joy, but we are engulfed by joy. Joy above. Joy below. Joy around. Joy under. Joy over. Joy everywhere. Does Jesus have enough joy to weather your circumstances? His storehouse of joy is infinite. His resources are immeasurable. His joy gauge never reaches empty. So if his joy becomes your joy, then your joy can always be full.

The verse about joy (v. 11) follows the verses about obedience (vv. 9-10). We tend to think joy and obedience are mutually exclusive: we have to choose misery and obedience or freedom and joy. That’s a lie told from the beginning. Joy comes through obedience.

If the life of Jesus flows through us, then our understanding of this world and our purpose begins to change. Our affections and allegiance change. We start to desire what God made us for. We start to wish and dream for what matters. Our goals start to align with Jesus’s calling on our lives. At this point we begin to feel our weakness. Then we cry out for God to help us. As he empowers us to do what he’s called us to do, he’s empowering us to do what we’re beginning to want to do. God’s commands and our wants come into line, and for the first time what we want and what we need completely align. Wanting what we need and then accomplishing what we want brings joy. Jesus wants you to live in joy, and if he lives in you, then a steady harvest of joy will appear.

Jesus commands us to love others as he has loved us (v. 12). What an impossible standard for love! I can’t do that. How can I possibly obey? The only way I could love like Jesus is if he lived inside me and empowered me to love like that. This is the second time in two chapters Jesus has made love the defining characteristic of his followers. How is this love demonstrated? Through sacrifice (v. 13). Jesus sacrificed for us, and he says the ultimate act of friendship is laying down your life for somebody else. The greatest love is not romantic or erotic; it’s sacrificial. Are you laying down your life for others? That’s sacrifice—going without something for the good of someone else.

True disciples bear fruit. No fruit, no disciple. If Jesus has taken up residence inside you, you will be different, you will act differently, you will love differently, and you will live differently. The difference is not due to your strength, your effort, or your zeal. The difference is due to the persistent work of Jesus in you. Jesus is alive, powerful, and actively at work in his disciples. An apple tree bears apples, a peach tree bears peaches, and a follower of Jesus Christ loves, prays, and obeys Jesus.