Desire To Be Fruitful
Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes
Today we’re continuing our teaching series called Grow, it’s all about how to experience true life change, how to experience real life transformation. We’re calling 2020 A Year of Transformation, and the stuff we’re teaching in this series are the very building blocks for you to experience not an episode of transformation, but a lifetime of transformation.
Now what we’re talking about specifically today, is transforming some things I believe both Christians and non-Christians desire to grow in. For example would you like to grow in being more loving towards others and joyful in life?...Would you like to grow in being more at peace with life, being able to sleep well at night despite your situations in life?...Would you like to grow in being more patient with others, especially with those you love?...Would you like to grow into being just an overall good person?...I think your answer to that is yes. I think most people, Christian or not, would say yes, we’d love to grow in all those things, and that’s what we’re talking about today. We’re talking about how to grow in things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness...goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We’re talking about how to experience a lifetime of transformation, where we’re constantly growing in all those things, and so let’s turn to John 15:1-8 and get into it. If you open your bible to the middle, turn a few books to the right you’ll find John. It’s John 15:1-8. The title of today’s message is Desire To Be Fruitful, and here’s the big idea. The more you abide in Jesus, the more you’ll desire to be fruitful...The more you abide in Jesus, the more you’ll desire to be fruitful, instead of sinful.
Context:
Here’s your context. John, the author of this book of the bible, is recording a time when Jesus is teaching his disciples, his followers how to continue abiding in him after he dies. So this is the point in history where Jesus is about to be crucified, he’s about to suffer great pain from Roman persecution, and he knows he’s about to die. So he’s telling his disciples, his followers how they can continue abiding in him, even after his death and resurrection. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
John 15:1-8 states, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” I broke these verses down the past several weeks so I’m not gonna do it again, but I do want you to notice 3 things Jesus says. He says #1 he’s the vine, #2 we’re the branches, and #3 we need to abide in him as our vine, if we want to bear much fruit. His point is just like a branch can’t bear fruit unless it’s connected to its vine, we can’t bear eternal fruit unless we’re connected to him as our vine. The fruit he’s talking about is an eternal fruit that helps transform your character into being more like Jesus, which leads to producing joyful fruit in your life, and in the lives of others as they benefit from your Christ-like love. It’s about you becoming more like Jesus, and producing joyful fruit in your life, your relationships, our city and our world. It’s about you becoming more like Jesus, to help spread his kingdom joy throughout the world. He even says in vs. 11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
So Jesus wants his joy to be in you, he wants your joy to be completely full of him, and for you to live a joyful fruitful life. But he says that can’t happen unless you’re connected to him, unless he’s your vine. So how do we become connected to him? How does Jesus become our vine, so we can produce his joyful fruit in our lives and the lives of others? It starts by believing in the gospel, by believing Jesus is our God who came to live, die, and rise again for the forgiveness of our sins. Our sin has separated us from God, it’s made us unworthy of God’s love and the eternal joys of heaven. But Jesus came to die for our sins on the cross so we could be reconciled with God and enjoy eternal life with him in heaven. The gospel is that God’s love and acceptance isn’t achieved through our good deeds, it’s received through faith in Jesus and the great deed he did for us on the cross. In vs. 9 he tells us to abide in his love, not to earn his love, meaning his love isn’t achieved, it’s received. So what starts producing the joyful fruit of Jesus in you, is belief in what Jesus has done for you...What starts producing the joyful fruit of Jesus in you, is belief in what Jesus has done for you...He wants his joyful fruit to be in you, but he’s saying that can’t happen unless you believe in the gospel and become connected to him as your vine.
Vs. 6, “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Last week we talked about how this is the 1st of 5 things Jesus teaches us we can do to continue abiding in him as our vine, and it’s to abide in his word, to abide in the bible. But again Jesus isn’t giving us these 5 things to earn his love, it’s to grow deeper in his love. One the reasons he tells us to abide in his word, to abide in the bible is because every book in the bible points us back to him and our need for the gospel. So he’s saying if you want to get connected to him, believe in the gospel. If you want to keep growing deeper in him and his love, then abide in his word, read your bible. Read your bible because it keeps pointing us back to him, and his redeeming love for us on the cross.
Vs. 8, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” Okay this is the 2nd of the 5 things Jesus teaches us about abiding in him, and it’s to “bear much fruit,” for the glory of God. He says it’s proof, it’s evidence we’re truly his disciples, because a true follower of Jesus wants their life to bear much fruit for the glory of God. So this is really about our obedience. It’s about us wanting to obey God not to earn his love, but out of a genuine love for God and a desire to see God glorified. So part of what it means to abide in Jesus is to abide in his word, but it’s also to bear much fruit for the glory of God by obeying his word. It’s about desiring to live out the joyful fruit of Jesus, instead of the sinful cravings in our heart. In fact the Apostle Paul’s one of the strongest Christian leaders in history, and he talks about this in Galatians 5, so let’s turn there. You’ll find Galatians several books to the right of John, and we’ll be in Galatians 5:16-25. The Christians living in Galatia keep walking like they’re enslaved to their sinful desires of the flesh, and so Paul’s reminding them that Jesus set them free from the enslavement of sin. He’s reminding them to walk in that freedom, to walk in the joyful fruit of Jesus.
Galatians 5:16-25 states, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Notice Paul doesn’t say you won’t have desires of the flesh, instead he says you won’t gratify the desires of the flesh. In other words if your life’s rooted in Jesus, you’ll still wrestle with the sinful desires of the flesh; you just won’t gratify them, you won’t keep feeding on them. He says the reason you’ll wrestle is because the sinful desires of the flesh are opposed to the fruitful desires of the Spirit. But he also says to “walk by the Spirit,” because Jesus promised to give us the Holy Spirit to help us. Jesus said in John 16:13-14, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth...14 He will glorify me...” So the Spirit’s job is to glorify Jesus, and one of the ways the Spirit does this is by guiding us away from sin, by guiding us to dwell on Jesus more than our sin. If we ignore the Spirit and sin, the Spirit guides us back to dwelling on Jesus and the gospel for the forgiveness of our sin. Either way the Spirit’s guiding us to dwell on Jesus more than our sin.
There’s 2 theological terms that’re used to explain how all this works, it’s justification and sanctification. Justification is “to declare holy,” and it’s what Jesus does for us on the cross. He dies for our sins on the cross, allows his righteous life to cover our unrighteous life, and then declares us as holy before God. So justification is to declare holy, but sanctification is “to make holy.” It’s where the Spirit starts pruning our lives to make us more holy, to help make us more like Jesus. Sanctification can sometimes be a painful process as the Spirit uproots things in our lives we’ve trusted in over God, but it’s always fruitful. It’s a pruning process that won’t last forever, because eventually we’ll be perfected in heaven, and the war between flesh and Spirit will end. But for now we’re a work in progress, and it’s our justification that feeds our sanctification. As the great Martin Luther once said, “To progress, is always to begin again.” It’s to begin again, go back to our justification in the gospel again. It’s because the more you dwell on what Jesus has done for you (justification), the more you’ll want the joyful fruit of Jesus to grow in you (sanctification). As the love of Jesus starts to attract you more, your sin will start to attract you less...As the love of Jesus starts to attract you more, your sin will start to attract you less.
Vs. 19, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Okay so what Paul’s doing in vs. 19-23 is he’s giving us a description of 2 different plants that produce 2 different fruits. The 1st plant is the works of the flesh, and it produces bad fruits, sinful fruits like he just listed. It’s easy to see how these are bad fruits that’re damaging to our lives. I mean jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries won’t ever help your relationships, they’ll only damage your relationships. Drinking alcohol isn’t a bad thing, but overconsuming it can turn into a bad thing like an addiction. In fact the word orgies isn’t talking about sex, it’s talking about feasting excessively on things to the point of substance abuse. Paul says these things have no place in the kingdom of God, which we should be thankful for. I mean you don’t want heaven to full of these things, because they’re bad fruit. They’re bad fruit, they’re damaging to our lives, relationships, city and world. But Paul’s point isn’t to look at this list to see how we’re doing on the holiness meter. His point’s that our hearts will naturally seek to gratify these sinful desires of the flesh, if we’re not connected to Jesus as our vine!
Vs. 22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” There’s the 2nd plant which produces a different kind of fruit. It produces a good fruit, it’s the “fruit of the Spirit,” and notice he calls it fruit not fruits. Some people call it fruits of the Spirit, I might accidentally do it in this sermon. But it’s fruit not fruits, it’s singular not plural, meaning they’re all connected as one singular fruit. I mean think about how foolish it’d be for me to say “I’m growing in love, but not in patience. I’m like a volcano ready to irrupt.” You can’t say that, because part of what it means to be loving is to be patient...The same is true with joy and peace...I can’t say I’m growing in joy if I’m not growing in peace, because I’ll lack joy in areas I’m not at peace with in life. You seeing how this works? The reason fruit is singular is because when the gospel takes root in your life all these things start growing. The gospel doesn’t transform part of your heart, it transforms your entire heart! As the Spirit guides us to dwell more on Jesus we’ll dig deeper roots in the gospel, causing the entire fruit of the Spirit to grow plump in our hearts throughout our lifetime. Again this isn’t an episode of transformation, it’s a lifetime of transformation. Just like fruit on a tree grows in time as its grows deeper roots, the fruit of the Spirit grows in time as we grow deeper roots in Jesus. So let me read you a quick summary of what each part of the fruit means, and as I read it ask yourself if you want these things growing in your life?...The fruit of the Spirit is...
Love = It’s the type of love where you love others just as Jesus loved you. You don’t love them to get something from them, you love them regardless of what you get from them...just like Jesus loved you, even though you had nothing to give to him.
Joy = This is where you have so much joy in Jesus, that regardless of the situation you’re facing in life, you’re still able to rejoice. You don’t ignore the pains of your situation, it’s just those pains can’t rob you of joy. Your joy doesn’t fluctuate in situational storms.
Peace = You have so much security in your relationship with God, because you know you’ve been forgiven of all your sins through Jesus. It’s also where you have so much trust in God, that you’re able to sleep well at night knowing He’s in control of your life.
Patience = You’re able to face situations and hardships without going into despair, or blowing up in anger. It’s because you trust God has a purpose and plan for everything you’re going through in life...So instead of freaking out, you patiently trust He’s knitting that purpose and plan together, in ways that’ll always turn out for your good.
Kindness = You’re so moved by the needs of others, that you serve them in ways that show generosity and sympathy towards them, just as Jesus showed toward you.
Goodness = You have integrity and honesty in everything you do. You’re always willing to do what’s right, even if it’s inconvenient or unpopular. Goodness easily flows from you.
Faithfulness = You’re consistently reliable and dependable. People know they can trust you and depend on you, because you always do what you say you’ll do.
Gentleness = You have a gentle and merciful heart towards others, just as Jesus had a gentle and merciful heart towards us. It’s not weakness, it’s like Jesus having the power to crush us for sinning, but instead he showed gentleness and mercy by dying for our sins.
Self-Control = You have the self-control and discipline to resist the sinful desires of the flesh, instead of being impulsive and easily giving into the sinful desires of the flesh.
Isn’t this what you want?...Isn’t this the type of person you want to be?..Don’t you want
to grow not in the desires of the flesh, but in the fruit of the Spirit?..,I mean Paul said against such things there’s no law, meaning God’s not throwing anybody in jail for the fruit of the Spirit, and neither is society. Nobody’s in jail for being too kind...Nobody’s in jail for being too patient... But there’s plenty of people sitting in jail for being unkind or losing patience in fits of anger... You and I both want to grow in the fruit of the Spirit, not the sinful desires of the flesh, and Paul once again reminds us how, by pointing us back to the gospel and walking with the Spirit.
Vs. 24, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” Paul says you’re gonna wrestle with the sinful desires of the flesh, but you need to keep crucifying those desires by following the Spirit’s guidance away from sin, and dwelling on Jesus more than your sin. City Awakening you need to preach the gospel daily to the unsanctified areas of your heart. You need to preach the gospel to your identity and insecurities when you’re feeling unloved and unwanted. Preach the gospel to your impatient heart when you’re about to explode. Preach the gospel to your shattered dreams, your unmet expectations in life, marriage, and family. You need to preach the gospel to all these areas reminding yourself of how loved you are by Jesus, how patient he’s been with you, and how he has greater plans than your shattered dreams and expectations. You need to preach the gospel to all the unsanctified areas of your heart, because the gospel’s fertilizer to your soul. The gospel’s the fertilizer that’ll continue to grow, the fruit of the Spirit in your heart.
The Big Idea:
So here’s the big idea. The more you abide in Jesus, the more you’ll desire to be fruitful instead of sinful...It’s a daily desire, a daily fight to be fruitful instead of sinful...Everyday we’re faced with things tugging at our hearts, wanting us to put our roots either deeper into sin or deeper into Jesus. The question you need to ask is where do you want your roots growing?...Where do you want your roots growing?...Do you want them growing in the bitter works of the flesh, or in the sweet fruit of the Spirit?...If you root your life in the bitter desires of the flesh, it’ll produce the bitter works of the flesh. But if you root your life in Jesus, it’ll produce the sweet fruit of the Spirit. So if you’re not a Christian, root your life in Jesus today...Root your life in Jesus today, by believing in the gospel, by believing Jesus died for your sins on the cross...
If you’re already a Christian, keep digging your roots deeper into Jesus...Keep digging your roots deeper into Jesus by abiding in his word, and by obeying his word by dwelling on the gospel daily. Don’t get discouraged if you stumble, instead preach the gospel to your heart again, and trust the fruit of the Spirit’s still growing in you despite your stumbling pursuit of holiness. He already declared you as holy, but now he’s making you holy, and it’s a lifetime of transformation, a lifetime of growing in the sweet fruit of the Spirit. So let’s let’s stand and worship Jesus for allowing his joyful fruit, to be our joyful fruit...then let’s go spread that joyful fruit in our city.
Vs. 11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
John 16:13-14, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth...14 He will glorify me...”
Love = It’s the type of love where you love others just as Jesus loved you. You don’t love them to get something from them, you love them regardless of what you get from them...just like Jesus loved you, even though you had nothing to give to him.
Joy = This is where you have so much joy in Jesus, that regardless of the situation you’re facing in life, you’re still able to rejoice. You don’t ignore the pains of your situation, it’s just those pains can’t rob you of joy. Your joy doesn’t fluctuate in situational storms.
Peace = You have so much security in your relationship with God, because you know
you’ve been forgiven of all your sins through Jesus. It’s also where you have so much trust in God, that you’re able to sleep well at night knowing He’s in control of your life.
Patience = You’re able to face situations and hardships without going into despair, or blowing up in anger. It’s because you trust God has a purpose and plan for everything you’re going through in life...So instead of freaking out, you patiently trust He’s knitting that purpose and plan together, in ways that’ll always turn out for your good.
Kindness = You’re so moved by the needs of others, that you serve them in ways that show generosity and sympathy towards them, just as Jesus showed toward you.
Goodness = You have integrity and honesty in everything you do. You’re always willing to do what’s right, even if it’s inconvenient or unpopular. Goodness easily flows from you.
Faithfulness = You’re consistently reliable and dependable. People know they can trust you and depend on you, because you always do what you say you’ll do.
Gentleness = You have a gentle and merciful heart towards others, just as Jesus had a gentle and merciful heart towards us. It’s not weakness, it’s like Jesus having the power to crush us for sinning, but instead he showed gentleness and mercy by dying for our sins.
Self-Control = You have the self-control and discipline to resist the sinful desires of the flesh, instead of being impulsive and easily giving into the sinful desires of the flesh.