If You Bear Much Fruit, You Will Be My Disciples (John 15:1-7)

In order for us to bear the real fruit of disciples that God really desires, we have to pray according to God’s Word.

Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. I hope that the blessing of God will be overflowing in all the families and individuals who are worshipping in the church, especially outside, in their homes, on the roof, and out of state. Any Sunday we give worship in the afternoon, the weather is always lovely. It’s a little warm, so somebody put up a tent in the patio outside, so it’s very nice to give worship out there.

Last week, God gave us His Word, “My Peace I Give You.” As we live our lives, this and that may happen, and that’s how we live. Things will happen in our lives, but even through all our experiences, I’ve come to the conclusion and experience that God is always with us with His love. In reality, after time passed, I realized it’s not a problem at all, but I was flustered myself; I was worried. But now that I’m within the words of Christ, Jesus Christ guards me with His peace, and as time passes, it’s not a problem at all. Don’t you think that, week after week of this, it will become our entire life?

In today’s main scripture, Jesus Christ says, “If You Bear Much Fruit, You Will Be My Disciples.” As we live our lives, we have to bear fruit, but it’s possible that the fruit we imagine and the fruit God is talking about are different. In today’s passage, the one who farms and tends to the vines and fruits is God, and Jesus Christ says He is the True Vine, that means that everything else is fake.

If you attach yourself to a fake vine, you will not bear fruit. Jesus Christ said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” People may say this or that is correct, and many people say, “If we do this, we’ll bear a lot of fruit in our lives,” but Jesus is saying, “I am the True Vine.”

That branch must remain attached to the True Vine to bear fruit. Father God is the gardener, the farmer who is doing His work, and Jesus Christ is the One who gets all the nutrients from the soil and brings it all the way up to the branches to bear fruit. Who are we? We are the branches, and what’s our characteristic? We just simply remain attached to the branch, but we make this so difficult.

Remaining attached is actually very easy, but how to unbelievers live? Unbelievers live a life in three parts: they think they are the farmer, the vine that brings the nutrients, and they are the branch as well, and they try to bear whatever fruit they want. That’s why their lives have no choice but to be difficult and hard. There is a separate Farmer, but they’re trying to be their own farmer.

These individuals don’t have the ability to bring the nutrients from the soil into themselves, but they try, and they try to bear their own fruit. That’s an unbeliever. A branch not attached to the True Vine is an unbeliever. We used to be detached from the vine, but through Jesus Christ, we have been attached to the vine. Then what happens? All you have to do is be attached, and then as time passes, you will bear fruit.

1. Branch that Bears No Fruit

Today we are talking about three different types of branches. The first branch is attached to the vine but is not bearing any fruit. They believe in Jesus Christ and became a child of God but do not have fruit in their life. If there is a branch like this, the farmer will come and cut them off.

1) True Vine – Jesus Christ

If you look at the Greek translation, it is not so much about cutting off than it is about uprooting. The Bible passage isn’t saying that if you believe in Jesus Christ and receive salvation, then our problems go away. The branch should be facing the sunlight to get nutrients, but it faces the ground and can’t bear fruit, so the farmer comes and lifts up the branch so it can bear fruit.

2) Reason for Not Bearing Fruit

Why is the branch in a state where it cannot bear fruit? You have to remain within and attached to the words of Jesus Christ, and even though they may be attached, they live by their own words instead, and because of that, they have to play the role of the farmer and the role of Jesus Christ, so imagine how much they suffer!

There is a Farmer already doing the work. There is a separate root already pulling the water and nutrients to you; all you must do is remain attached to get all these things. They may be attached to the vine, but they are stuck in their own thoughts, so even though they are attached to the vine, they cannot receive the nutrients and benefits of the vine. That is the content of this parable.

You need to change your standards, trying to live centered on yourself. If you think your thoughts are everything, you have to quickly change that. If you think your experiences are everything, you have to quickly change that because that cannot bear the fruit that God desires.

In a democratic land, you can live according to your own thoughts; however, that’s not the fruit that God the Farmer desires. If you’re centered on people or physical things, quickly throw that away. I’m not saying you don’t need people and material things, but change your ideology where you’re centered on those things.

We have to receive everything from God, but you receive things from people and from material things, so that blocks you. If you’re centered on success, trying to exalt your own name, quickly change that. Even dogs walking around will mark their territories by peeing. They pee everywhere to mark their area, “This is my territory, so none of the other dogs can come here.” That’s natural.

Humans also have this nature to say, “This is me, this is my name, this is my territory,” and even countries say, “This is the USA.” They will go around the world and say, “I am American; don’t touch me. What happens if you touch me? It’s war.” Everybody lives like that.

3) To Bear Fruit

Even though you may be attached to the vine, all the nutrients you need are actually blocked.

2. Branch that Bears Fruit

Then, what does the Farmer do? He can’t leave you alone because you’ll never bear fruit.

1) To Be Even More Fruitful

Why does the farmer farm? To bear fruit; otherwise the farmer wouldn’t farm. God saved us through Jesus Christ and desires for us to bear God’s fruit. That’s why if there is a branch like this, God will do something to make them bear fruit.

2) Discipline (Hebrews 12:8-11)

In Hebrews 12, it talks about how He disciplines us, it is talking about God’s discipline. If we do not get that discipline from God, then we are not His true children. Even a physical father will try to disciple their child for their benefit, and God is the same. Our spiritual father will disciple us so we can turn away from our me-centeredness, material-centeredness, and success-centeredness to bear much fruit. Why is that?

Hebrews 12:10 says that God disciplines us for our good, in order for us to share in His holiness. Parents discipline their children. If a parent doesn’t disciple their child, it means they don’t care about them. It might not be a physical punishment, but it could be a verbal punishment. Why? A physical parent will discipline their child so their child can get along better with society.

The Farmer farms, but will he leave us to bear no fruit? No, He will help us to bear fruit, and it is for our benefit. Parents try nagging their kids, disciplining and educating their kids for their benefit. God is continuously blocking what we want to do so we will turn away from our pride and stubbornness, and individuals say things aren’t working out, but that’s good. If you continue down that route, you won’t bear any fruit. So, God stops you momentarily so that you may bear fruit, but that is for our benefit.

This is so that we may share in His holiness, that we may be a branch attached to the vine, living with Him. God is holy, and we can only be holy by being related to God. The goal is so that we may bear the fruit of peace and righteousness. God disciplines us so we can bear the fruit of peace and righteousness, because God’s Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy, and God wants to give this to us, a thing the world cannot have. No matter how much the world tries, they cannot gain this, but God wants to give this to us.

Even now, God is doing the work of creating these fruits. Anyone within this work should be very happy. God is interceding in your life because if you keep going your way in your life, then it’s not going to work out.

The second type of branch bears fruit, but God will prune that branch so it bears more fruit. My old neighborhood had a lot of grapevines, so I know a lot about grapevines. I would go over to my friend’s house and he would open the door to his vineyard to me, and in the middle of the night, I would steal some and share them with my friends.

If you look at the grapes, there are some that are inedible. Some are so small and green. Korean grapes may not be very big, but they are very firm, and if you eat a grape like that, it’s so delicious. It’s so sweet, but if you look, there are baby grapes that you cannot even eat.

What does God do to make scrawny grapes into big grapes? God will prune the unnecessary branches so that the nutrients are diverted to the real branch. What does it mean for us? You may have fruit, but it’s not much. After you met Jesus Christ, you received grace and there’s change in your life, but not much, so God will prune off all the unnecessary branches; for us, it means He makes us change our priorities to cut off the unnecessary things in our lives and divert our nutrients into the things that bear fruit.

In Matthew 6, Jesus Christ says that all the unbelievers pray about things to eat, wear, and drink, but don’t concern yourself with those things. Seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, and everything else will follow, but because you seek those things first that you shouldn’t seek, your fruit are small and inedible, so God is pruning your life so that you change your priorities. I hope your prayers will change to ones that first seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness.

If that doesn’t take place, you’ll spend your entire life praying for unnecessary things that God has already given you, and you won’t be able to enjoy God’s Kingdom of peace and righteousness. When you look at people, don’t look at the speck in their eye, but look at the plank in your own eye. Another Bible passage says that if you criticize or judge, you’ll be criticized or judged in return.

Why do people criticize you? Because you criticize others. Of course we are lacking, but if you criticize someone, you’ll be criticized all your life, and those people will criticize me. If you spend your entire life like that, will you bear any fruit? If you look at this other person’s weakness, that is an opportunity to look at yourself. People have weaknesses, but if you spend all your time looking at those flaws and talking about that, you’re wasting your time, and that’s why you’re not bearing fruit.

While looking at their flaws, change the attention to look at yourself instead, then you’ll pray for the other person, and you’ll be saved and the other person will be saved and you’ll bear fruit. The Bible is a recording of all the ways we can bear fruit.

Seeing another person’s flaws is God’s method to show you your own flaws, and the pruning God does is to help you to realize that if you see someone else’s flaws, it’s an opportunity for you to pray for that person and for you to look for your own flaws.

3) Guidance of the Holy Spirit

If you want to bear much fruit, you must also be led by the Holy Spirit to gain the nine fruits of the Spirit. The Bible tells us that the opposite of being led by the Spirit is to follow the greed of your flesh. Anytime you live by the desires and greed of your own flesh, it blocks you from receiving the nutrients and the help of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that if we’re being led by the Holy Spirit, we will not follow the desires of our flesh.

If you follow the desires of your flesh, what fruits will arise from that? We will have sexual immorality, impurity, the fruits of idolatry and making enemies. “I hate this person; they’re my enemy.” Why is that? It’s because you’re working according to your greed; even among parents and children, they become enemies, how? Both individuals act based on their own greed, and there will be discord and jealousy, why? Because this should be mine, and that person has it, so I’m jealous. These are the fruits that will come into your life.

Fits of rage. I used to have this a lot. I see it in my daughter as well; she should have a righteous rage, but instead, she has my rage. There are some people who look around for reasons to get mad, why? Because things aren’t working out according to the reasons of your greed, so even though somebody tells them to not be mad, they can’t control it because of their greed. Because of their selfish ambitions, they create dissention, factions, groups, and divisions. They do things like gamble and play because of their greed; they want to make money.

Drunkenness. Why do people get drunk? They want to get rid of their pain and suffering, so you have to keep on drinking because only when you drink, those thoughts go away. The Bible tells us that if you get drunk on alcohol, even if you get beaten up, you won’t feel it. The Bible is so funny, it says that when you drink alcohol, you’ll walk sideways, so something is actually seizing you and controlling you. Why? It’s all because of your greed. Orgies and the like.

Why do they have this kind of life? If you have the guidance of the Holy Spirit, all these things will disappear. How do you have the guidance of the Holy Spirit? Just do what the Holy Spirit tells you. If we remain attached to the vine of Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit helps us to become like this, to understand God’s Word and reminds us of His Word. He guides us with peace. That is the helper, the Holy Spirit, our Advocate.

You will never be able to get rid of your greed by just saying, “I want to get rid of my greed,” but by following the Holy Spirit, all those things will naturally disappear. Why is our society so advanced with our material wealth, sciences, and comfort, but their peace is disappearing? Because there is no way to satiate our greed, so even if you get something, you’re still lacking. Because of that greed, the physical developments continue to come, but there is no happiness.

Greed cannot be satiated no matter how much you get; that is what Satan desires. Why do people serve idols? The Bible says that we must not make idols for ourselves. Everything begins from our own greed and ambition. Buddhism says to get rid of our greed, but we cannot; we have to fill it with something else.

Americans do a lot of transcendental meditation which is about emptying ourselves from ourselves and our thoughts, but just because you empty yourself doesn’t mean it’ll go away. It may disappear momentarily, but you need to fill it with the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. The worldly meditation cannot give fundamental healing.

The Word meditation of Christians will fill you with the words of Jesus Christ to fill you with the Spirit, so now we are not under the law. We cannot be saved by the law; if you’re under the law, then all that is revealed is your sin, and that’s why curses continue to happen, but Jesus fulfilled the law. Now, if we remain within Jesus Christ, we are led by the Holy Spirit to fulfill that law.

There are nine fruits of the Spirit, and these will come to me individually, and they will be enjoyed by other people; they are fruits of God within the guidance of the Holy Spirit. How can you be guided by the Holy Spirit? You receive it through the Word.

3. Those Who Bear Much Fruit

The third type of branch is one that bears much fruit; it is the path to become Jesus’ Disciple. What must you do to do this?

1) Remain in Jesus (John 15:7)

You must remain within Jesus, in John 15:6. What does it mean to remain within Jesus? When Jesus died on the cross, I died with Him. Then, the Lord resurrected and lives within me as my Lord, and I remain within that. It is the same “me,” but the “me” of the past and the “me” of the present are different. In the past, I tried to live as my own god, and all the curses and disasters of sin, Satan, and being dragged into hell are being crucified on the cross, and now Christ is the Master.

That is the new “me.” In the past, I lived as a sinner, separated from God. I tried to be three-in-one: the farmer, the vine, and the branch. But now, through God’s grace and Jesus Christ, I’ve become a child of God. Now, it is no longer me living, but Christ lives in me. That is the Christ you must remain within.

The evidence that I am remaining within Christ is that His Word remains in me; His Words will remain in us, then ask whatever we wish, and it will be done to us. We must know prayer properly. We should take our problems to God in prayer; how do you pray? Take whatever is in your life and go before God. Later on, you’ll realize that those aren’t actual problems.

What’s the next level of prayer? It is to pray with the Word of God. There are many people who don’t understand what this means, but we call this a covenantal prayer. The reason is because we live our lives looking for something special without realizing that the answers are within the normal things in our everyday lives.

You must take the Word of God and turn it into prayer. That is prayer. Then Jesus Christ promises to answer you, whatever you pray for, and you will bear much fruit. Do you understand what I’m saying? Should I give you an example? You read John 15:1, correct? You just take that word and pray about it, “Lord, You are the True Vine. Father God, You are the Gardener. God, I pray that You will allow my life to remain attached to You and bear much fruit.”

Verse 4, “I desire that You remain in me and I remain within Your Word.” This is a prayer from the Word. People misunderstand prayer so much that they’re not able to pray. Do you know how Jesus Christ prayed when He came to earth? Jesus never prayed to fulfill His own goals, but the reason why you can’t pray is because you pray for your own greed and ambition. That is the path to death; don’t’ do that, otherwise, you’ll bear a different fruit and your life will go a different path. The only fruit you will bear is wrath, division, and drunkenness.

Even Jesus Christ Himself never spoke His own words; He only spoke the Word that the Father God gave Him. Before Jesus Christ died on the cross, He prayed to God the Father, “Take this cup from me,” and even those words weren’t His own. He was talking about a Psalm in the Old Testament and used that to pray. So, pray with the Word and it will be fulfilled.

The Word will always be fulfilled, and my life must be related to this, so I must pray, holding onto the Word. That’s how the answers of the Word will be the fruit of my life. It’s simple, right? You’ve just lived a complicated life until now. Because you’ve lived your life for so long with greed and ambition for physical fruit, the word seems so simple, but it doesn’t seem right to you.

There is another type of fruit that God desires. You want to bear the fruits of success, don’t you? Success is great, but if you’re centered on success, then the fruit will come from your greed, and God will block that, so you must bear the fruit of the Word, and the success that comes from the Word, “And whatever you ask, I will do for you.”

Do you have a problem? You must first take those problems and pray to God about them. At least, pray about your problems, and as your level increases, you pray with the Word God gives you, then you’ll see the answers of God’s Word being fulfilled in your life. This is the path of Jesus Christ’s disciple, do you understand?

People who are beginners at prayer, take all your weaknesses and lacking and problems and thoughts to prayer before God. Just take anything to God. The next level of prayer, when you become a little better, is to pray with the Word of God. So, take the Word you’ve received from the pulpit message as it is, and take it into prayer for the rest of the week, then God will fulfill that Word as answers to prayer for you.

2) Evangelism – Occupation (Academics, Business)

Then, your fruits will spread to others, and that is evangelism. Many people misunderstand evangelism. God wants to use your job to bear the fruits of evangelism, but because you use your job as an instrument for the greed of your flesh, you can’t get much fruit. Your job is a tool to get finances, and that finance should be used for the work of God, but that’s not all. God wants to use your job as an instrument for evangelism so you can give the answer to the many people you work with.

For this to take place, you need to have strength; that’s why Jesus promised, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” in Acts 1:8, so you hold onto that promise and pray about it. “May the Holy Spirit of God completely take control of my heart, my thoughts, my spirit, and my body.” That is the prayer I pray every day because if I don’t, then I can’t live with my own standards. For God to be established in me, He completely fills my heart, my thoughts, and my spirit.

If you receive that strength, you can see the answer in all your problems. When you’re really hungry, it’s hard, and everything becomes annoying. Then, if you just eat three bowls of ramen, you’ll completely change. Everything in life that seemed so difficult will no longer be hard; that’s what happens when you receive spiritual strength as well.

But because you are spiritually starving, everything is so difficult. You look at everything based on your physical standards, you hate people and the pandemic seems like a curse, but if you have spiritual strength, then problems are no longer problems; you see the answer. This must take place in your business.

There are answers in your job as well, and those answers are connected to missions and evangelism. But if you lose hold of that spiritual strength, you’ll only be able to work according to your level. For those who have this spiritual strength, they will receive the answer of evangelism from God in everything they touch. You’ll have blessings of meeting, God will send people to you.

That’s Acts 2, God moves centered on people who have spiritual strength. “I will live my life as a student or businessperson with spiritual strength.” That’s the only way to give the answer to other people, then you’ll become a witness who can change the culture.

3) Mission

What is mission? You go into another culture and proclaim the gospel there. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says to go and make disciples of all nations, so you need to go inside of this prayer. “God, I pray that everything I do and all my work will be used to make disciples of all nations. I pray that You will use everything to make disciples of all nations.” Then of course you will receive answers; that’s today’s message. But instead of praying about that, you pray about useless things. Why are you praying for physical fruits that will destroy your life?

In Mark 16, Jesus Christ tells us to heal all people. Look at this, Jesus Christ said this 2000 years ago, but today, we have so many mental illnesses. “God, I pray that You will use my business to heal people.” That’s what you should pray for with the Word God has given you. You need to pray with the fruit and direction of missions. “God, may You use the finances I make from my job for temple construction and for the work of missions and saving lives,” and you just simply follow God’s time schedule.

In John 21, Jesus Christ says, “Feed my sheep,” so “I pray that You will use my business to save the future generation, so give me the filling of the Holy Spirit so that I can do this and be the witness of Jesus Christ until the ends of the earth.” Then you can see the future, too, can’t you? You can see what kinds of things will happen in your future; you can see what kinds of fruit you will bear.

God is pruning you and disciplining you now so you can bear the correct fruit. God wants to carry world evangelization and missions throughout the world just like the Antioch Church. We are in the Temple Construction Movement to do that work. It’s not just a building, but it is the temple construction to save people from all nations, the temple construction to heal all people. It is the temple construction to save the next generation. It is the temple construction to teach people about the filling of the Holy Spirit and about prayer, because they do not know.

Temple construction where you hold onto the Word of God and pray, so that God has no choice but to fulfill this answer for you, then these things would happen, wouldn’t they? Then you can predict the future as well. If you see the future and you see someone, you can look at that person and see their future. But if you keep living at the level of the earth, with your physical standards and greed, you’ll fight wherever you go.

It’s normal for you not to drink, but you keep drinking, and you form cliques with people who are similar to you and you’ll form pacts. These are the fruit that will come into your life. That’s what unbelievers do. Look at the politicians, they fight because they are self-centered and look only to their benefit. Let’s conclude the Word.

Conclusion

1. Prayer with the Word in Christ

If we are in a state in our lives where we cannot bear fruit, then God is giving us the Word now to discipline us and get rid of our self-centeredness to return to Jesus.

2. My Fruits

If you have fruit but they’re inedible, God is changing our priorities to bear better fruit. In order for us to bear the real fruit of disciples that God really desires, we have to pray according to God’s Word.

3. Fruits of Evangelism, Missions

God wants everything that we are working on, all of our jobs, to be used for missions and evangelism and to save lives. I hope that your prayer topics will go into making disciples of all nations. I hope that your prayer topics will be for healing and saving the next generation. May you, as individuals and businesspeople, be the ones to save the world through missions. The Farmer is still working now, and so we can bear fruit, He is pruning us.

Prayer

Throughout the week, I hope you will be a disciple to bear many fruits and answers. Let us pray together holding onto the Word that God has given us today. Now you understand what it means to hold onto the Word and pray, right? Let us pray.