As we continue in John 15, learning about Jesus telling His disciples how to be fruitful in the Kingdom of God, we find in John 15:8 that the goal of our remaining in Jesus isn’t about bringing glory to ourselves. Although there is great blessing in following Jesus, our purpose isn’t to make ourselves “look good”. Instead, the result of producing good fruit is bringing glory to God, just as Jesus did, as He brought glory to His Father.
So, in the illustration that Jesus has been using in John 15, what is the fruit? Interpretations vary, like the following, but I think that the specific possibilities tend to overlap:
- The Fruit of the Spirit [see Galatians 5:22-23]
- Making disciples [as described in the “Great Commission”, Matthew 28:18-20]
- Righteous actions [per Bryant & Krause, p.316]
I’m confident that the Holy Spirit leads us to righteous actions, and the role of the church includes making disciples, so maybe it doesn’t matter exactly which words in English we choose to define this fruit, as long as we understand that it is the product of lives that truly follow Jesus.
Note also how these are the kinds of things that bring us to Jesus Christ in the first place. If another Christian’s actions weren’t Christ-like, we may never have stopped long enough to hear about Him. If Christ hadn’t modeled righteous behavior in the first place, we wouldn’t understand what God was like (and a lot of other things would have gone wrong, too).
If I were to ask you what makes for a good relationship, what would you say? Perhaps you would suggest attributes like trust, compatibility, empathy, or communication. Regardless of what your list looks like, in light of 1 Corinthians 13 and elsewhere in the Bible, I suspect that many of these things probably fall under the umbrella of love.
With that in mind, lets see how Jesus continues His teaching in John 15.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
John 15:9 NIV
Jesus loved His disciples like His Father loved Him. They were to remain in His love (and, I believe, we should do the same), and not go outside of that love. What does it mean to remain in Jesus’ love, though? Let’s read the next verse.
If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
John 15:10 NIV
Now, the relationship between grace and works is a complicated one in theological circles, but Jesus seems to be pretty clear, here. To me, as a computer programmer, this looks like a classic “if / then” statement:
- If we follow Jesus’ commands,
- Then we will remain in His love.
And, Jesus isn’t asking us to do anything that He wasn’t willing to do, after all. He also kept His Father’s commands, and remained in God the Father’s love.
So, while salvation is a gift that we can accept without having to earn it (which is good, since we’ve each failed at earning our own salvation), if we want to be a fruitful branch, obedience to Jesus is really, really important. Obeying Jesus isn’t just a “nice to have” part of the Christian walk – it is mandatory if we expect to be anything except a freeloader in the church. Commentators Bryant & Krause [p.317] describe this latter group as those who, “take his forgiveness for granted”.
Now, this doesn’t mean that we must check a lot of boxes or meet some human-defined standard. I’m not here to give you a checklist of the things that you have to do in the church, for instance, or to define your personal recommended giving amount. Instead, when each of us commits 100% to obeying Jesus’ teachings, we learn what our various callings are (individually and collectively), as well as how we should use those inside and outside of the church.
In summary, I like how Mark Scott described this in the Lookout (a study guide cited below), “…love is both the fruit of obedience and the reason for obedience”. Are your love for Jesus and your obedience to Jesus in sync?
From Sunday School lesson prepared for January 28, 2024
References:
- The Lookout, January 28, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – John, by Beauford H. Bryant and Mark S. Krause. © 1998 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 