BEARING MUCH FRUIT FOR GOD

God once told a Christian, “I designed your life that you would bear fruit for Me... I come to My fruit trees looking for fruit. But the fruit that you were beginning to bear was out of reach and it wasn’t the kind of fruit that I was looking for” (Eskelund).

When this Christian heard this gentle rebuke from God, he knew God spoke to him not out of anger, but out of love. God loved him so much that He didn’t want this Christian to stay fruitless forever and miss out on all that God had in store for him.

This raises the question then: if God would look at our lives today, will He see any fruit?

Some people might realize that they have no fruit yet - no souls won for God, no fruits of the Holy Spirit developed. While others may admit to having just some fruit, and already be satisfied with it.

But God is not looking for just “some fruit” - He is looking for “much fruit.” John 15:8 says that God is glorified when we bear “much fruit.”

How then do we bear much fruit for God?

1. We need to obey.

The first key lies in John 15:5. It is by abiding in God and Him abiding in us. To abide means to keep God’s commandments (1 John 3:24). Thus, the first key to bearing much fruit is simply to obey God.

Interestingly, the key to fruitfulness is not found in devising human strategies or in striving by our own human efforts. When the Israelites conquered Jericho, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down not because of a formidable man-made battle plan. God’s strategy was very simple. It was for them to just walk around the city for seven days, blow the trumpets, and shout (Joshua 6:1-5).

Because of their humble obedience to God’s instructions, God was able to work a great miracle before their very eyes and give them complete victory over something that was practically impossible.

However, it is not always easy to obey God even if it’s just a simple act of praying for a friend, sharing a Bible verse, or giving out a tract. What’s stopping us is unbelief. If we do not believe that obeying God’s instructions will bring forth fruitfulness, we can resort to just partially obeying, delaying to obey, or not obeying at all.

But we must realize that how quick we obey God and how full our obedience is will determine how fruitful we are going to be.

2. We need to understand how to obey.

The second key to fruitfulness is understanding (Matthew 13:23). Without understanding the heart of God, we may know His instructions but we would not know how they must be fulfilled.

In 1978, a team from Youth With A Mission (YWAM) went to a city to preach the gospel. However, at the start, they were not getting anywhere. None of the people in the city was coming to Christ (Dawson 2).

So they cried out to God for understanding on how to effectively reach out to this people. As they prayed and fasted, God revealed His strategy to them.

The people of the city were proud and beautiful. They placed much importance to position, possessions, and appearance. God’s plan was to overcome this spirit of pride by Jesus’ humility (Dawson 3).

As the YWAM missionaries gained this understanding from God, they knew they had to exhibit an act of personal humility. The next day, they went to the downtown area, set aside their dignity, knelt down in the midst of the crowds, and prayed for the city.

Suddenly, breakthrough came. Large crowds gathered around them out of curiosity and the YWAM team took that chance to preach the gospel. The people of the city were so receptive to their message and they began to give their lives to God in public.

This is why understanding is so important. We cannot make strategies on our own and expect it to work. God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

We need understanding to comprehend the ways of the Lord and we can only gain it by intimacy with God.

It is in spending time with God in prayer and seeking to hear His voice that we get to understand the very heart of God.

In earthly marriages, a wife cannot effectively help her husband unless she understands him. And it is the same with us. We need to grow in our intimacy with God to really comprehend His vision, purposes, and desires.

3. We need to die to ourselves.

In order to fully obey God and bear fruit for Him, we will need to die to ourselves daily (John 12:24-26). Dying to ourselves means being servants of all. However, this is not always easy. Do we get offended when our bosses give us so much work? Do we get offended when we feel like our salaries do not compensate for all our efforts?

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus makes an invitation for everyone who labors and is heavy laden to come to Him that He may give them true rest. He says the way to come to Him is to take His yoke.

This is offered to all. Yet, why do some refuse Jesus’ invitation to come? They do not find rest in God because they refuse to be an ox (a servant) and have a yoke upon them. Having a yoke means one cannot go his own way. He needs to follow the direction that he is being led to.

Conclusion

Through all of these keys, may we remember that fruitfulness comes from the Lord. Let us hold on to the promise that if we obey God daily, He will bring forth much fruit in our lives. We can put our trust in Him because He is the Lord of the harvest (Matthew 9:38).

Back to our story of the Christian rebuked by God for his lack of good fruit: in humility, he responded to God, “Be it unto me according to my faith...I give you permission to cut me down to size and make me into a fruitful tree that will bring pleasure to You” (Eskelund).

So if we are not yet bearing much fruit today, let us invite God to cut us down to size, to die to ourselves, so that we may grow to bear the very fruit He designed us to produce.


Works Cited:
Dawson, John. Taking Our Cities For God. Charisma House, 2001, pp. 2-4.
Eskelund, Erik. “Worship in Adversity.” YouTube, uploaded by Bob Sorge, 1 February 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6p2Ozq_9tk.