I have recently been mediating on the concept of bearing fruit in our lives. Jesus warns us in John 15:2, 4-5 that “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
So, we’re left with this command to bear fruit, but what exactly does that mean? What does fruit look like? We might look at our lives and be discouraged by what little fruit we see. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because it should encourage us to seek the Lord more and cultivate our relationship with Him more diligently.
But sometimes, it gets exhausting living day by day, dedicating large amounts of time, effort and energy to serving the Lord in ministry for what appears to be little reward. It’s discouraging to go week after week evangelizing and sharing the gospel with the lost and not seeing a single life dedicated to Christ. We think, “Where’s the fruit? How can I be more successful?”
You hear of stories around the world of lives being transformed with Paul-like testimonies of murderer to martyr. You hear of primitive jungle tribes converting to Christ or the fruitful ministries of people like Billy Graham. In the book of Acts, 3,000 people were saved in one day after hearing the apostles preach.
But then there are people like the prophet Jeremiah. He dedicated his entire life to the ministry and didn’t see one iota of fruit. In fact, even his own family wanted to kill him. He was rejected and utterly alone. Was he a failure?
Recently, the Lord gave us the opportunity to participate in AMOR Divino in Uruapan, the second largest city in Michoacan. We had a team of about 120 people, knocking door-to-door passing out tracts and gospels of John. In the evenings, we did gospel presentations in the city plaza.
Normally, there’s very little response or interest despite all the hard work that goes into the week. Sometimes, a few Bible studies result, but they often dwindle out after a time. Last year, we spent a whole week in Zitacuaro, passing out thousands of tracts and gospels, and not a single study resulted.
However, Uruapan was different. It was the most fruitful AMOR Divino we’ve ever had, and there were so many people interested that our friends Nathan and Keyla had to stay a few days after everyone else to follow through with the studies. A week later, God already provided a house for them to rent, and they are now in the process of moving to Uruapan to hopefully start a church there.
So, what was the difference?
To tell you the truth, we really didn’t change our evangelism strategy. We basically did the same thing in Zitacuaro as we did in Uruapan. And I believe that Jeremiah preached to the Israelites with just as much zeal, passion and love as the apostles in Acts did. The explanation for these two drastically different results can be found in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7.
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”
And that reinstates what Jesus said in John. Only He, the true vine, can produce fruit in our lives. It’s impossible to produce fruit with our own efforts. So, if we aren’t seeing the success of thousands of converted souls but have a more Jeremiah-like ministry, it doesn’t mean we’ve failed and it doesn’t mean God’s not working. He simply has a different plan that goes beyond our understanding. We shouldn’t give up, but like Jeremiah, we should remain faithful, leaving the results in God’s hands even if we never see them.
If we never see fruit, how can we fulfill the command to bear fruit? That’s where the title of this post comes in. We may not be able to produce fruit, but we can certainly bear fruit. This is not the fruit of successful ministry, nor the fruit of many souls saved. This the fruit of the Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is something that we can cultivate in our lives, independent of outside factors.
How? By our obedience and surrender to Christ. The more we submit ourselves to Christ and His pruning, the more fruit we will bear. That is to say, the more Christ-like we will become. Despite his “failure” of a ministry, Jeremiah bore much fruit in his personal life with the Lord because he grew in his faith, trust and relationship with God. He may not have produced any fruit, but he bore much fruit.
And that’s exactly what evangelism does—or any calling God gives us for that matter. It cultivates the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, even when there’s no visible fruit. And here’s a brief explanation of how that works.
Love-the motivation for sharing the gospel should always stem from our love for God and other people. If love is not at the center of everything we do, we are a “resounding gong” or a “clanging symbol,” as described in 1 Corinthians 13. Obedience without love means absolutely nothing. Furthermore, the more we share the gospel, the more we’ll understand God’s love for us. And the more we understand His love, the more love we’ll have in our hearts to show others.
Joy-the gospel is our very source of joy. It is impossible to have true joy apart from Christ, but with Christ, we can have joy in all circumstances. And telling others the good news of the gospel fills us with one of the deepest forms of joy. During the AMOR Divino in Uruapan, a man in the plaza commented on the joy that all the young people had who were sharing. He noticed they were speaking with joy, not out of obligation. This opened up an opportunity to “give an answer for the hope that we have” (1 Peter 3:15).
Peace-the gospel gives us peace because it offers a reconciled relationship between us and God. Many are searching for peace in their lives, and when we evangelize, we are offering the “peace that surpasses understanding” that only Christ can give.
Patience-evangelism without doubt cultivates patience because some people are rude and unfriendly when they hear the gospel, but we are still called to be loving and gentle towards them. We also have to wait patiently on the Lord to fulfill His promise to us of eternal life, having the attitude of 2 Peter 3:8-9.
Kindness-we must treat people with kindness when evangelizing, and this goes beyond simply being “nice.” It’s a deep, loving concern for their soul, a genuine interest in them as a person.
Goodness-it’s vital to have the right motivation. Sharing the gospel is one of the highest forms of good, but it’s possible to share the gospel with false motives (see Philippians 1). We must examine ourselves and ask God to give us a pure heart full of goodness.
Faithfulness-evangelizing requires a lot of dedication and diligence. We must persevere in faithfulness even when we don’t see the results we want.
Gentleness-winning the debate does not win the heart of the person. People don’t care what you know unless they know that you care, which is done through a spirit of gentleness. 1 Peter 3 explains that it’s possible for wives to win their husbands to Christ without words through a quiet and gentle spirit. It’s true for co-workers, family and strangers in the park as well.
Self-control-the act of going out and intentionally talking to people about Christ requires self-control over our fears, exhaustion and emotions that discourage us from evangelizing. Often we’ll feel too tired, scared or “not in the mood,” but self-control pushes past those feelings and obeys the Lord anyway.
To sum up, none of this is possible if we aren’t connected to the vine, that is, Christ. But when we are abiding in Him, whether He produces a lot of fruit or not, we are guaranteed to bear the fruit of the Spirit. It CAN and WILL grow if we commit it to the Lord and allow Him to cultivate Christ-likeness in us. Don’t focus on producing fruit, ask yourself, “Am I bearing fruit?”
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58
“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” Galatians 6:9
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