John 15
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Jesus taught much about fruit bearing in a Christians life.
In John 15 He said that a Christian should bear fruit, and be pruned to bear more fruit and finally to bear much fruit.
This He said will be the reason His Father will be glorified and will be a clear sign that we are His disciples.
Jesus told a parable in Luke 13:6-9 about a man who had a fig tree and when he came to get fruit from it he found none for three years, he told the husbandman to cut it down. Jesus also demonstrated this parable when He came across a barren fig tree and looked for fruit on it but found none, He cursed it never to bear fruit again.
The fig tree is symbolical of peace in the Old Testament, it is mentioned in a few places that when someone had peace he would sit under his own fig tree, the fig tree being a very good shade tree.
When Jesus came to the fig tree and found no fruit on it, Mark says it was not the time of figs, but a fruitful fig tree in Palestine was known by what they called the early fruit or untimely fruit which appeared soon after the leaves. These little figs were about the size of a cherry and normally fell off when the wind blew. Some good trees would keep this early fruit until the second harvest later in the year. So Jesus did not judge the fig tree unjustly, if it was a fruitful tree it should have had this early fruit, if it did not have the early fruit it meant the tree was barren and would not bear the later crop either.
We as Christians are likened to the fig tree and Jesus wants fruit right from the start of our Christian lives, we cannot say we will one day bear fruit. He needs fruit now, and He is not unjust, He sends His workers to dig and to fertilise the trees, which is the work of the preachers and pastors. God knows how long He has been working on your life and you have not borne fruit yet, He keeps a record of how long you’ve been a fruitless Christian. If you are bearing fruit you have nothing to worry about, He will however prune you to bear more fruit, but the point here is to help the barren Christian see his danger of being cut off if the Lord comes to find fruit and finds none.
What is the fruit that we bear? The Lord Jesus does not walk this earth anymore in the flesh He now indwells people and comes to us through people, so it is what people receive from us and how they experience us that constitutes the fruit.
We can judge ourselves by our actions, how do we live, how do we treat people, do people see the fruit of repentance in our live. If you were a selfish person, do people still experience the selfishness or do they now see your love and generosity?
Jesus wants good fruit all the time from us, we were created to glorify God in our lives and only by bearing much fruit do we glorify Him, Jesus said when we love one another then the world will know the He is Lord. The Westminster Confession: “The chief purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
Only by bearing much fruit to His glory can we have confidence that our faith is real and not merely an empty profession.