Pastoral Message

[Walking In Fruitfulness]

In Luke 13:6-8, our Lord told the Parable of the Fruitless Fig Tree. The Master told the servant, “For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this tree and found none. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?” (v.7). The moral of the story is: Unfruitful believers are not pleasing to the Lord.

In John 15:2 our Lord said, “He (the Father) cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit”. The lesson: He deals drastically with every believer who does not bear fruit. These are sobering thoughts and we must take heed before it is too late.

Christ tells us in no uncertain terms what He wants: “This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples” (John 15:8). Bearing much fruit in our life shows two important things: it glorifies the Father and shows that we are truly disciples, not just believers.

What is this “fruit” Christ is referring to?

1. It refers to the Fruit of Christian character—Christ-likeness. The Christian is called to become like Jesus (1 John 2:6). Peter tells his readers to “make every effort to add to your faith” other virtues in their lives. The reason he gives, “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5,8).

2. It refers to the Fruit of the Spirit—transformation power in our life (Gal.5:16). Are we truly “born again of the Spirit”? Then we need to exhibit His divine presence in our life. One cannot have God living in him and not portray that “God-power” at work in life (1 John 3:7-9).

3. It refers to the Fruit of our Witness—influencing others for Christ (John 15:16). Christ has “ordained” or “appointed” us to be fruitful in terms of winning others to Him by our witness—by life and word. A good tree brings forth good fruits. A healthy Papaya Tree produces papayas that will in turn produce many seeds and subsequently more trees. Thus the multiplication process goes on and on.

Fruitfulness is the hallmark of Discipleship. It pleases the Father and glorifies Him. It is the expectation of Christ to prove that we are truly committed followers of His. But it is proof that we really have divine life because our faith is genuine and sincere. It is impossible to say one is a Christian and not be fruitful spiritually.