Sermon Notes: Spiritual Fruit
In the continuing study of John 15, we came to verse 2 today.
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
Among the points, noting that God the Father does make the tough calls and cuts off those branches not producing and pruning those that do, is the question of what is spiritual fruit?
First, fruit is Christ-like character, and here we see a parallel with Paul’s list of the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians. And later on in John 15, Jesus talks about how one of these fruits comes about.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
Our joy is complete when we follow Jesus’ example of following his commands.
Secondly, fruit is answers to prayer. Again, John 15 points to this.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Thirdly, fruit is soul-winning. Earlier in John, chapter 4, Jesus describes what doing his Father’s work entails; bring other to know Him.
"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
We don’t all perform the same task each time; sometimes planting the seed, sometimes watering it, sometimes reaping the harvest. But we should be laborers with Christ as part of the fruit He wants to see in us.
The gardener’s cutting and pruning are done because he wants a return on his investment, and because he wants the branches to flourish. That is what God the Father wants from us; flourishing. His correction is meant to bring that about.
[tags]sermon notes,Gospel of John,Christianity,fruit of the Spirit[/tags]
Filed under: Christianity • Doug • Religion
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
They were the fruits of men who found a rich source for theological speculation in the puzzling grammatical construction of the biblical text. Jesus Christ
Thanks, Jesus.
There you have it straight from the horse’s mouth…
My thought would be that I’m cautious about your third interpretation of “fruit.” Only God “wins souls,” not people. We are to live lives full of the fruit of the Spirit, to share the Good News of God’s love, but we do not win souls and I don’t think there’s biblical justification for suggesting that in “winning souls” we are collecting fruit.
Perhaps a minor semantic point, but I’m not a believer that the bible anywhere talks about us “winning souls” or that this is evidence of having borne fruit.
You are correct, of course, that it is God who, at the root of it all, draws people to Him. And my pastor would agree.
However, “soul-winning” is a handy term for “sharing the good news with others and discipling those that answer the calling”, much like “farming” is a handy term for “planting, cultivating, and harvesting that which grows due to those actions”. Just as the farmer does not cause the crops to go — he/she merely sets the wheels in motion and keeps the conditions optimal — so does the soul-winner not cause the unbeliever to come to Christ, but he/she can expose them to the truth and bring them along in it once they have accepted.
So yeah, I agree it’s a semantic point. We could say say “evangelism” instead, or perhaps “witnessing” and mean the same thing.
But participating in that — the planting and reaping of evangelism — is something we’re clearly called to do, even in the quoted passage. “I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” God has sent some to plant and some to reap, but we’ve all been sent to participate in the harvest, just as Jesus said He was to do.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
Proverbs 11:30
The majority of Christians were saved after having been given a testimony a believer. The Holy Spirit uses the testimony to win souls. Proverbs is still part of the Bible.
Interesting verse. Since this is an OT passage, pre-evangelism days, I wonder what “win souls” meant in that context?
Eze 3:18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Eze 3:19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
This sounds to me like evangelism.
In the New Testament we are to warn the wicked of the consequences of their actions.