FRUIT – MARK OF DISCIPLESHIP

If you remain [continue] in Me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourself to be My disciples – John 15: 7-8 (NIV)

This passage reveals the upward view of discipleship. A fruitless disciple of Christ is a contradiction in terms. If there is no real fruit in our lives, we cannot claim to be true disciples. What constitutes the “fruit” of which the Lord spoke? Primarily the fruit is for God and His glory, and only secondarily for man. It is manifested in two areas.

FRUIT in CHARACTER – in the inward life: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). The fruit of the Spirit’s working in our lives is expressed in nine winsome graces. A tree is known by its fruit. The disciple is recognized by his likeness to Christ in inward character. It was to this end that Paul toiled: “I seek the fruit that increases to your credit” (Philippians 4:17 RSV).

FRUIT in SERVICE – in outward ministry: “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may be glad together” (John 4:35-36). Fruit is seen when souls are won for Christ, discipled by concerned disciples, and led on to spiritual maturity.

The fruit-bearing that is an authentic mark of discipleship is not automatic but conditional. Jesus made this clear when He said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). He thus links fruit-bearing with the cross. And did He not exemplify this principle in His own death? A single kernel of wheat fell into the ground at Calvary and died, but on the day of Pentecost it produced three thousand kernels, and fruitage has resulted ever since.

The operative words in the statement in John 12 are “unless” and “if.” The glorious possibility of “much fruit” lies in our own hands. “It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master” (Mathew 10:25). It is as we apply the cross to our lives and die to the self-dominated life that the Spirit can make our lives fruitful.