Morning By Morning #318

No branch can bear fruit by itself.

John 15:4

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

When and how did you begin to bear fruit? It was when you came to Jesus and cast yourself on His great atonement and then rested on His finished righteousness. Oh, what fruit you had then! Do you remember those early days when “the vines had budded [and] the pomegranates were in bloom” (Song 6:11), the “tender grapes” (Song 2:15 KJV) appeared, and “the beds of spices” (Song 6:2) sent forth their lovely fragrance? Has your fruit declined since then? If so, remember “your first love”—“Repent and do the things you did at first” (Rev. 2:4 – 5). Focus on the things in your past experience that have proven to draw you closer to Christ because it is from Him all of your fruit will come, and any holy exercise that takes you closer to Him will help you bear more fruit. The sun no doubt works great wonders of fruit creation among the trees of the orchard, and Jesus the Son does even more among the trees of His garden of grace.

So when have you been the most fruitless? Hasn’t it been when you lived the furthest from the Lord Jesus Christ, when you neglected prayer, when you departed from the simplicity of your faith, when you were engrossed with your own strength and gifts rather than focusing your attention on your Lord? Hasn’t this been when your fruit production ceased?

We must ultimately understand we can produce nothing apart from Christ, which requires severe humility of heart before the Lord. Once we realize the utter barrenness and death that come from our own power, we will cry in anguish, “All my fruit must come from Christ, for no fruit can ever come from me.” Our past experience should teach us that the more simply we depend upon the grace of God in Christ and wait upon the Holy Spirit, the more fruit for God we will produce.

Oh, may we fully trust Jesus for fruit as well as for life!

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

The context of our verse today teaches another principle regarding the production of fruit. Not only do we learn from John 15 that “no branch can bear fruit by itself” but we also learn the importance of God’s pruning, for “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2). Yet pruning involves cutting, and spiritual pruning involves spiritual cutting—something unpleasant, but necessary.

The beautiful thing about it, however, is that our “Father is the gardener” (John 15:1). And as our omniscient heavenly Gardener, He knows who will bear fruit and who won’t, and He desires that those who do “bear fruit…will be even more fruitful.” The lesson is similar to that of the parable of the talents in that the Lord invests more in His children who walk with Him in a way that produces a great amount of fruit. In the parable, the master calls the unproductive servant, “You wicked, lazy servant!” (Matt. 25:26), and goes on to say, “Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents” (Matt. 25:28).

Father, may each of us “bear fruit—fruit that will last” (John 15:16) and may we remember: “The righteous…will still bear fruit in old age” (Ps. 92:12, 14).