West Side Church of Christ, Searcy, Arkansas
The Source of Our Strength
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. When I was a boy, growing up in Memphis, my dad planted several fruit trees in our yard. We had
an apple tree, a pear tree, a peach tree, a crab apple tree and grape vines. You might say that our
family was “kinda fruity!” I remember my mother making homemade jelly from that fruit. Though I
was a small child I still recall several principles I learned from the fruit trees.
1. We did not make the fruit. You can’t make fruit. You may work at a factory that makes clothing
or a factory that makes frozen dinners but there is not an apple factory that makes apples.
You cannot go and watch a banana being made or the peel being put on an orange. Fruit grows
naturally on trees and vines.
2. The trees and vines have to be maintained. They have to be cut back at the proper time of year.
Dead branches have to be removed. Herbicides and insecticides have to be applied to fight off
blight or insects.
3. Fruit reproduces itself. The apple tree always bears apples. The pear tree always
bears pears. The grape vines produce grapes. I have never seen a grape vine bear peaches or
a crab apple tree bear grapes.
4. The fruit has to be picked at the right time. Too soon and it will be green and sour. Too late
and it will fall to the ground and become soft and wormy.
5. All of these principles have a spiritual application as we think about the Fruit of the Spirit.
a. It cannot be manufactured through human effort. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are not the result of our work.
b. The soul has to be properly maintained by the Holy Spirit for the fruit of the Spirit to be
produced.
c. Whatever we plant is what we are going to harvest.
B. Throughout the Bible the idea of fruit is frequently used to describe people’s actions and lifestyle.
1.Psalm 1:1-3 - Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wickedor stand in the way
that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of
water,which yields its fruit in seasonand whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do
prospers.”
2. Hosea 10:1 – “Israel was a spreading vine;he brought forth fruit for himself.” Hosea’s words
describe Israel’s wealth that was used for selfish purposes.
3. Matthew 7:16-18 - “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn
bushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears
bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”
4. Mt. 12:33 - “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 recognized by its fruit.”
5. Mark 4:26-29 - He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on
the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though
he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then
the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the
harvest has come.”
C. As Jesus was in the final hours of teaching His disciples He spoke to them at some length about
bearing fruit. The truths He shared with them are just as applicable to us as we consider the fruit
of The Spirit.
1. John 15:1-8 – “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in
me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even
more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me,
as I also 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.5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me
and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If you do not remain in
me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown
into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you
wish, and it will be done for you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing
yourselves to be my disciples.”
2. What is Jesus saying to us through this text?
I. JESUS IS THE VINE – THE SOURCE OF LIFE – vss. 1, 7.
A. Jesus says, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” All of us understand that there is no life in
a branch if it is not connected to the vine. It cannot live, grow or bear fruit. In verse 7 Jesus says,
"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done
for you." Jesus is describing a life giving relationship that produces fruit.
1. At Hampton Court palace in Great Britain there is a Grape Vine that was planted in 1769. The
Guinness book of World Records states that it is the largest grape vine in the world. Each year
it produces 600 to 850 pounds of grapes. Every grape and every branch receives life from that
245 year old vine.
2. A tomato will not grow if it is not attached to the vine. A watermelon or cantaloupe cannot grow
if it is not attached to the vine.
3. In the same way you cannot bear spiritual fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control if you are not attached to the vine.
B. Jesus speaks very plainly in vss. 4 -5 - 4Remain in me, as I also 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.5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much
fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
1. As hard as we try we cannot manufacture the fruit of the Spirit through human effort.
a. As much as I might want love I cannot create love.
b. As much as I might want joy I cannot obtain joy through my own effort.
c. As much as I want to have peace of mind and live at peace with others I find it to be elusive
when left to my own strength.
d. This is true of each of the qualities that make up the fruit of the spirit. We cannot create
them ourselves just as we cannot create an apple, orange or banana ourselves. They must
be grown.
e. Eight times in John 15, Jesus says, "Abide in Me." To abide means to continue, dwell, or
remain in close relationship with Christ.so that the power of the HolySpirit flows through our
lives just as sap flows from the vine through the branches to bring nourishment and produce
fruit. Elsewhere in this final discourse with His disciples Jesus talked about the importance
of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
1.) John 14:16-18 - the Spirit would be in them.
2.) John 15:26 - “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the
Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
3.) John 16:12-15 - the Spirit would come alongside them to lead them into truth.
2. John further describes the life giving relationship we have in Christ in 1 John 5:11-12 - “And
this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who has the
Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
II. WE ARE THE BRANCHES – WHERE THE FRUIT IS PRODUCED?
A. Jesus specifically mentions three types of branches in this text. All of us are one of these
branches.
1. The branch that produces no fruit.
a. Vs. 2 – “He (The Father) cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.”
b. Vs. 6 – “If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers;
such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”
c. I mentioned that in our yard when I was growing up there were several fruit trees. Each year
we received apples from the apple tree, pears from the pear tree, crab apples from the crab
apple tree and grapes from the grape vine. To my knowledge we never did receive any
peaches from the peach tree. It would get a sticky, waxy substance on the limbs but never
did produce any peaches. My Dad eventually cut it down. It was taking up space and not
producing anything. It was not fulfilling its purpose.
d. The words of Jesus should be a wakeup call for all of us. He expects us to live in
relationship with Him. He expects us to draw life-giving strength from the vine. He expects
our lives to be filled with the Spirit so that we might bear fruit. The fruit of the Spirit, the fruit
of a transformed life and the reproduction of faith in the lives of others.
2. The branch that produces some fruit.
a. Vs. 2 – “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
b. When a grape vine puts out new sprouts they tend to grow along the ground unless they are
lifted up. They will not bear fruit growing along the ground. They have to be lifted up to
receive air and sunlight.
c. The Greek word “airei” translated “cuts off” or “takes away” also means “LIFT UP.” That’s
what a gardener does for the new branches. He cuts away the old growth and lifts us the
new branches giving them the support and training that they need in order to produce fruit.
d. In order to bear fruit we all need occasional pruning to rid us of our selfishness our self will
and self-reliance.
e. Jesus says, “Every branch in me that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more
fruitful.”What is God doing when He prunes us? He is causing us to stop depending upon
self so we might rely fully on Christ and bear more fruit.This pruning involves the
removal of anything holding us back from spiritual maturity. It is the Father’s desire to bring
us to a place where we trust less in ourselves, and more in Him, where Christ is the center
of our lives and everything else revolves around Him.
f. Pruning is painful but it is also productive. ILL. When we lived in Newport, Arkansas, we had
two Silver Maple trees in our front yard. One of those trees was damaged in a storm. I called
a man in our congregation who worked on trees, He came out and cut both of them. When I
came home in the afternoon they were cut almost back to the stump. I thought he had killed
them. However, over the next few months they put out new shoots, grew new branches and
leaves and ultimately came back stronger and healthier than they had been.
g. You may be dealing with a time of crisis in your life and wondering if there is any purpose.
Why is God allowing this period of trial in your life? Perhaps it is His way of allowing the
pruning process to take place. Perhaps He is allowing this experience to help you rely less
on yourself and more on Him thus making you more fruitful in the future.
3. The productive fruit bearing branch. Characterized by:
a. Remaining in Christ and bearing much fruit – vs. 5.
b. Remaining in His Word – vs. 7. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask
whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
c. Asking whatever you will of God – vs. 7.
d. Bringing glory to God through the fruit you are producing – vs. 8.
B. The important question for all of us is “what type of branch are we?”
CONCLUSION:
A. Two concluding observations:
1. My mother kept a bowl of fruit on the dining room table. It never spoiled. It never went bad. It
also had no taste and no nourishment. It was made of wax. It was fake.
2. Too many of us go through life with fake fruit. We smile and appear happy to others but inside
there is no real love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness or self-
control.
B. God wants spiritual fruit that is genuine so that it might touch the lives of others. He wants love, joy
and peace to overflow to the people around you. The only way that is possible is when we have the
life giving relationship with Christ.
C. Do you have that relationship today? Are you connected to the Lord? Have you become His
disciple? Are you abiding in Him and trusting in Him to provide you with strength for your life? If we
can help you bear spiritual fruit today please come as we stand and sing.
Questions for Discussion and Reflection
1. What are some ways in which the metaphor of “fruit” has been used throughout the Bible?
2. Why is Jesus the source of life? What substitutes do people sometimes turn to in an attempt to fill
their lives with meaning and purpose?
3. Why is it essential for us to remain, “in the vine” in order to produce the fruit of the Spirit?
4. What are the three types of branches Jesus mentions in Jn. 15:1-8?
5. What are the characteristics of the branch that produces “much fruit?”