Jesus gives the answer as to how to bear fruit in John 15:4.
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I have never seen a branch which was isolated from the vine, growing grapes. The only way that a branch grows and bears fruit is if they are constantly connected to the vine. Once a branch is severed from the vine, the branch dies as does any fruit that the branch was producing.
Jesus uses this principle to tell His disciples that they cannot bear fruit unless they are connected to Him. How is the this does this connection happen? Jesus gives the answer by saying, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.”
It is very interesting to note that this word, “Remain” or as the King James Version translates it, “Abide”, appears no less than 15 times in the verse 10 verses of John 15. Therefore we can conclude that this is a very important word and concept.
The beauty of this word is found in the original language. It is in the present tense which means, “Remain in me on an ongoing basis” Not just once in a while, but 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In order for us to grow the fruit of the Spirit, we must be constantly connected to Jesus, just as the fruit-bearing branch is always connected to the vine. This connection is not something that can happen for a few minutes every morning, or for a few hours Sabbath morning. This remaining, this abiding, just like the connection of the branch to the vine, must be constant and consistent.
So often we try to bear fruit on our own. We try real hard, we grit our teeth but wonder why we can’t do it ourselves. But Jesus clearly points out that there is nothing that can make a branch fruit-bearing unless it is connected to the vine. Jesus says, “You can’t bear any fruit, unless you remain in Me.”
But what exactly remaining or abiding in Jesus mean?
Here is how William Barclay, the New Testament scholar defines abiding:
“Abiding in Christ means…[constant contact]. The secret of the life of Jesus was His contact with God. Again and again He withdrew into a solitary place to meet God. Jesus was always abiding in God. It must be so with us and Jesus. We must keep contact with Him. We cannot do that unless we deliberately take steps to do it. There must be no day when we never think of Jesus and feel His presence.” (Barclay, Gospel of John, Vol 2, 205).
How do we remain in Jesus? We do it through taking time out from our busy lives and spending uninterrupted time with Him. I won’t ask for a raise of hands, but how many of us truly do that? How many of us take quality time reading God’s word and praying? Now I’m not just talking about a 2 minute devotional and a quick prayer before we run out the door. I am talking about taking uninterrupted time spending it in solitude with the Lord.
I must admit that even for me whose vocation is working for the Lord, this time is sometimes difficult to carve out. But I recognize that in order for me to continue to abide in Jesus and continue to bear fruit, there is nothing more important on my calendar than this uninterrupted quiet time with Jesus.
Maybe if we are not taking this time with Jesus daily, we make it a priority in our lives. What a difference it could make in each of our lives and in the life of the church.
So the first lesson that that we learn from the vine is that the sole purpose of the branch is to produce fruit. The second lesson is that a branch cannot produce fruit on it’s own. It must be constantly connected to the vine.
But there is a third lesson we can learn from the vine and that is that every branch must be pruned.