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Why did God save us?

Part 3

102th May 2008

Here's a third purpose for which God saved us: to bear fruit:

John 15v16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Romans 7v4
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

What is this fruit?

We could say it's the praise that we were made sacred to offer:

Hebrews 13v15
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name.

We could say - more generally - that this good fruit is the words that we speak:

Luke 6v43-45
"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn-bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

The only way for us to bear this fruit, to consistently speak and act well, is for us to have the right hearts:

Matthew 12v33
"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognised by its fruit."

We could say - more generally still - that we're saved to produce the fruit of the spirit. That is, our attitudes and actions, as well as our words:

Galatians 5v22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

In this, as in all things, we're dependant on God to send His Holy Spirit to change our hearts:

James 3v17
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

This idea - that we should and can speak and act well, because were sacred, is summarised in:

Colossians 1v9-14
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.


All this is true and important (that's why I took time to say it) but I think that the idea of Christians bearing fruit is primarily something rather different. Consider:

Colossians 1v3-6
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints - the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you.
All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.

I believe that the fruit Jesus is talking about in John Chapter 15 is primarily the fruit of the gospel.

The first nine times that the word "fruitful" occurs in scripture refer to reproduction. Genesis 1v22, 1v28, 8v17, 9v1, 9v7 and 35v11 all include the phrase "Be fruitful and increase in number". Genesis 17v6 says "I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you", Genesis 17v20 says "I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers". Genesis 28v3 says "May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers". Thus, "fruit" refers primarily to reproducing after our own kind. This is, of course what fruit trees do.

We are God's sacred people, the spiritual Israel. And we should reproduce after our own kind. That is, we should produce more Christians, through the work of the gospel. It's normal for fruit trees to produce fruit, and it should be normal for Christians to produce more Christians.

How can we achieve this? By living according to all the other ways the Bible talks about bearing fruit. Reaching the lost is the result of:

But most of all, we bear fruit by remaining in the Vine (the fruit tree) Jesus Christ:

John 15v4-5
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 am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Which means, of course, that if we are to be effective in our work for our Lord Jesus Christ, we need most of all to draw close to Him in loving relationship. Without Jesus, we can achieve nothing of spiritual value.

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