THE WAYS OF THE KINGDOM

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WE HAVE been in the first half of John chapter 15 now twice before. We first considered the meaning of verse 2, and then we looked at the meaning of 'abiding' or 'remaining'. In this sermon we are going to see if we can discover what the fruit is that Jesus says we will bear.

I have asked myself why Jesus has not told us more directly what the fruit we bear may be. It would have made things in one way simpler, but I have come to realise we would have lost something of the depth of life and understanding which is in this fruit bearing. The way Jesus has spoken here leads us into the heart of the life of God into which he has brought us. The nature of the fruit we bear is not so obscure once the meaning of 'abiding' is clear, and we have a right and better understanding of verse 2.

What we must do is to get away from the idea that 'abiding' is our holding on to Jesus by our spiritual activity and moral excellence, and that when we fail morally or spiritually we are ceasing to abide in Jesus. When we do this we are turning our religion into one of works, so that by our works and efforts we maintain ourselves in the favour of God and in the life of God. This is not Christian or saving religion, but natural religion which is dead.

Simply put, the Vine produces grapes as it is created to do. In the same way Jesus produces in his branches, the Christians who are united to him, spiritual and divine life, as he has been appointed to do. This is the overall view of what fruit bearing is all about. This is the fruit that is produced in us, and from which all else flows. When we see this we find that the rest of the passage up to verse 17 speaks of the result or the fruit of this spiritual and divine life within us.

Let us commence with our text. We need to remind ourselves that Jesus, when he says here "If a man remain in me and I in him", is not speaking of our holding on to him by religious effort and moral practice, and so receiving power. If Jesus had meant this he would simply have said "If a man remain in me". No! Jesus in fact says "If a man remain in me and I in him". He is speaking of union with himself so that we are one with him. Just as the Vine and the branches are one tree, so Christ and the believers united to him are one body. When Jesus speaks of remaining in him, he is speaking of our union with him by faith. It is the saving faith that justifies and accounts us righteous that Jesus is speaking about, and which brings us into fellowship with God, in the Family of God, and into the spiritual realm of God. He is speaking of our being united to him so that we are made alive with him, and made to sit in heavenly places with him (Ephesians 2:6). 'Abiding' or 'remaining' in Jesus is none other than the place we took when we realised our helplessness to save ourselves and rested our soul's salvation alone on Jesus. We must remain in this place and in this faith and in this frame of mind and heart all our lives. This is remaining in Jesus and Jesus remaining in us.

The meaning of 'abiding' must mean this because unless we are united by faith to Jesus we have no life. This is what Jesus is saying in the negative and opposite way in the next verse of John 15. Without faith and union with Jesus, being grafted into him the true Vine, we are lifeless and fruitless. We may outwardly look like a branch of Jesus, the Vine, by our religious activity and profession, but we are not, and therefore still without hope, without God, in the world.

Now we can proceed through the rest of this section of John 15 up to verse 17, and discover the fruit we are brought to bear. We commence in verse 7. Superficially this verse suggests that the fruit we bear firstly is success in prayer. It is this, of course, but if this is all we see we have failed to get at the root of what Jesus is so wonderfully declaring to us. It is what is implied in this promise that holds the secret of the meaning of the fruit borne by us. When Jesus prayed to the Father during his earthly life, and as he intercedes for the saints in glory now, he had the fulness of this experience declared in this verse before us. No one else has had this experience in pray in perfection. Why did Jesus and does Jesus succeed so completely in his praying. The reason is simple. It is because he is totally one with the Father in mind and purpose. He has one purpose in life and that is to fulfil the will of the Father, because this is his life and purpose and joy. As we understand this in Jesus, we are able to see that Jesus, in this promise concerning prayer is declaring a fruit of remaining in him which is totally exalting and wonderful. If we are abiding in Jesus in the way we have come to understand, then we are so brought into union with Jesus that his life, thought, will, and purpose becomes ours. It is this union of life and purpose that brings about such success in prayer, because we shall only ask what is the mind of Jesus. The fruit, therefore, of remaining in Jesus - resting in his atoning work for us - is communion with him and God, and by this communion finding ourselves more and more in tune with him. This blessed fruit will only increase in us as we rest in his work for us, and have no confidence in the flesh. If we start depending on our own efforts, etc. we shall soon find that it is our wishes that dominate in us and not the wishes of the Lord.

This brings us to the next verse in natural progression to see how the fruit blossoms. In verse 8 we read Jesus saying "This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing you are my disciples". Do you see what Jesus is saying. As we remain in Him, we come more and more into his mind and purpose. The image of God is formed more perfectly in us and is revealed in the way we think and act and relate to other people. We begin to live more as Jesus lived and deal with people as Jesus dealt with them. Our lives will be so fruitful in communion with Jesus, that his undeniable stamp of character and life will be upon us, and people will see Jesus in us. In this way God will be glorified by our Christlike living. People may not say of us that we are followers of Jesus, simply because they do not know about Jesus or what he is like; but they will say that there is something lovely about us that stands out, and so be drawn to that divine life revealed in us.

The next two verses - verses 9 and 10 - again follow naturally, and stand together. The fruit we bear is dwelling in the love of God. This is fruit indeed. There is no greater blessing than this that can be conceived in all the world. Jesus loved us when he came and gave his life for us. We enter and remain in the experience of this love when we abide in him, that is remain at that place of trusting in him, and his work for us alone, that takes away our sin and makes us children of God.

When Jesus says in verse 10 "if you obey" the word obey has more the emphasis of preserve and hold on to. When Jesus uses the word commandment, it has more of the meaning of charge or instruction. The second part of this verse holds for us the understanding of what Jesus is saying in this verse. Jesus says the obeying we must do is the same as the obeying he did. Jesus did not have to obey the moral commandments of God, the Father. He did this by his very existence. There was no sin in him. His obeying was the ready and complete way he fell in with the will of the Father to save sinners, and his willing and complete accomplishing of that will. He remained in the love of the Father because he loved to do this will of the Father. The Father loved the Son because of this obedience.

We can now see that what Jesus is saying here is that we must take hold of his charge to us to believe in him and rest in him by faith for Salvation and show that salvation in our lives. In obeying this charge we remain in his love as he remains in the Father's love. This is the fruit, the glorious fruit, of abiding.

From verse 12 to 17 Jesus inter-twines two thoughts, both of which are the continuation of this fruit which we bear. The first is we bear the fruit of love for others, specially other believers. The accomplishment of the charge in verse 12, and again in verse 17, depends totally in our abiding in Jesus in the way we have come to understand. The only way we shall love others is when we are feeling and appreciating God's great love for us in Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus is implying when he says, "love each other as I have loved you". As we abide in Him, we shall feel that great love he had for us in saving us at the cost of his total humiliation in life and in death. We shall understand more of what such loving is and what it means. Our experience and understanding will create love in us. It is in this abiding, therefore, that we will find ourselves able and desiring to love others. This is very precious fruit indeed, and is the evangelistic power of Christ's body.

The other fruit Jesus speaks of in these last verses is that of the wonderful privileged relationship that Jesus brings us into as we abide in him. When we believe unto salvation, we are blessed with no less than becoming sons and daughters in God's family. We are co-heirs with Christ of all the glory of heaven, and the riches of the love of the Father for his children. Notice how Jesus speaks, which reinforces our understanding of what it means to abide. We did not choose Jesus. He chose us to be saved. It was not our choice or efforts which brought us into this saving relationship, but the grace of God. We continue in it not by our effort, but by continued faith and trust in the Saviour who has loved us and drawn us to himself. His choice was not simply to deliver us from punishment and condemnation, but to be loved by him as family. We are not slaves or servants, but by the loving grace of God we are made his special friends.

What glorious fruit comes from abiding in Jesus, which is resting in his atoning work for us. It brings us into a relationship with God unsurpassed in glorious privilege and in blessed experience. It produces in us a change of heart and life so that we shine forth the image of Jesus, love people as he loved us, and live as he lived, so bringing glory to God. So we have the fruit of joy (verse 11), which rests deep within us, and remains even when we are unhappy or depressed, for it is a joy that none, and nothing, can take away.