THE KEY TO FRUIT-BEARING (Part II)

JOHN 15:15-16

FEBRUARY 25, 1996

 

The thrust of our study in John 15 reminds us that the whole of the Christian life is a work of grace from start to finish.  Grace, by its very nature, is a divine work rather than a divine-human work.  We misunderstand grace when we begin to believe that we make some contribution to it.  Grace is God at work in sinners to accomplish His pleasure in their lives.

 

This is brought out clearly in Jesus' statement to the disciples, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you."  For them to recognize that their relationship to Jesus Christ was not something they came up with nor initiated nor provided, but wholly a work of His grace had a profound affect upon them.  And it should do the same thing to us!  To realize that "By His doing are you in Christ Jesus" (I Cor. 1:30) should (1) humble us, (2) cause us to be full of gratitude, (3) motivate us to holy living, and (4) stir us to tells others about this amazing grace shown to sinners in Christ.

 

This belief in election is no new thing!  It resounds from Genesis through Revelation in the Scriptures.  It was clearly the teaching of our Lord, His apostles, and those who followed them.  It has been at the pinnacle of doctrinal teaching by the Reformers and Evangelicals through the centuries.  It is one of the key doctrines upon which our own denomination was built.  This doctrine was confirmed again in Southern Baptist's latest doctrinal statement, The 1963 Baptist Faith and Message:

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners.  It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end.  It is a glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable.  It excludes boasting and promotes humility.


Rather than being 'cold water on the fire of evangelism', this doctrine is a primary motivation for our work of evangelism and missions as is evident in our text.

 

[As observed in last week's message on this text...

I.  The foundation for disciples is found in God's grace

     1.  Christ reveals

     2.  Christ chooses]

 

3.  Christ appoints

 

There are some who misunderstand the thrust of election so that they think since they are "the elect" they can just live their lives anyway they please.  That is the view of the antinomian who does not truly understand grace, so he thinks he can cast care to the wind and sin to his great desire (cf. Romans 6:1ff).  Yet the next part of our text shows that such an attitude is foreign to the thought of our Lord.  "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you...."  The revealing, electing, justifying work of Christ leads to His appointing work as well.  Action takes place in response to receiving from God's grace.  Election never leads to passivity!  Study the passage in Romans 8:26-30 to see how the Apostle Paul works this out, showing that election or effectual calling brings about justification, which in turn brings us into the work of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  That is a constant activity of grace in our lives that has unlimited applications.  It is a process of shaping, molding, refining, and disciplining us to reflect the glorious character of our Lord.

 

Obviously, the apostles received a special work from Christ which was unlike that of other Christians in terms of scope and authority.  Yet, they were representative of all believers within the context of John 15.  What Christ spoke to them, He speaks to us.  What does He appoint us to do?

 

We must recognize that obedient action and consecrated purpose follows Christ's electing grace.  We see this illustrated in numerous places in God's Word.  For instance, Ephesians 1:4 shows that Christ's divine work of election purposes that we should be holy and blameless.  "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him."  Again, election leads to the activity of sanctification, developing deeper holiness in us.

 

Perhaps the clearest example of what our Lord is speaking in our text is found in II Corinthians 5:18-19.  "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation."  Notice how a divine appointment follows the work of reconciliation to God through Christ, so that those who are reconciled are now involved in the ministry of reconciliation.  He has made us "ambassadors for Christ" in this world so that we might be messengers of our Lord to bear the good news of Christ to sinful man (II Cor. 5:20). 

 

So, the recipients of grace are now proclaimers of grace to fellow sinners.  We must realize that to be appointed as Christ's ambassadors is itself a continuing act of divine grace and mercy.  Consider this my friend, that weak and frail as we are, as often as we fail, as feeble and faltering as we can be, our Lord has given to us the most precious work of bearing His gospel to the world.  Can we ask for a higher privilege as redeemed sinners?

 

This has been the countless privilege exercised by millions of unnamed believers through the centuries.  It is the constant, faithful witness for Christ that has pointed sinners to the saving work of Christ.  Kenneth Scott Latourette, the renowned historian, has stated that "The chief agents in the expansion of Christianity appear not to have been those who have made it a profession..., but men and women who carried on their livelihood in some purely secular manner and spoke of their faith to those they met in this natural fashion" (quoted by Will Metzger, Tell the Truth, p. 17).

 

Let me simplify it by stating that Christ has appointed us to be His messengers to the world.  Every Christian has this appointment!  It certainly will come through varying gifts, abilities, styles, and ministries, yet it is the same appointment to be an ambassador for Christ in this world.  We face the battle of excuses in this gracious, God-given appointment.  We think of how little we  know, how we have trouble expressing ourselves to others, how we are naturally shy, how we are afraid that we will get our terms mixed up.  My brethren, if our Lord who has called us by His grace and redeemed us by His blood has in turn given to us this work of reconciliation, then let's do everything we can to be effective in this work!  Let's discipline our minds and time to learn those things about the gospel which we are afraid we will get confused.  Let's work on expressing ourselves in terms of speaking the gospel.  Let's pray for the Spirit's power to overcome our shyness and timidity in order to boldly proclaim the gospel. 

 

How well are you representing Jesus Christ before your friends and family members?  It is a gift of Christ's grace that you have had the gospel revealed to you by the Spirit, that you have been called by grace unto the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and that you now have a new job, a commission, to bear the good news of Christ to fellow sinners.

 

But we must see that this gracious appointment by our Lord has some important facets...

 

II.  The responsibility of disciples flows from God's grace

 

There are always definite consequences and responsibilities that follow the experience of God's grace.  Grace does not breed laziness but an obedient action for the glory of God.  Those who know the power of saving grace operating in their lives, will certainly sense a new responsibility to live daily in that grace.

 

Jesus tells His disciples that He has appointed them, then He describes details of this appointment.  Keep in mind that this is all in the context of their learning to live in dependence upon Christ as the Vine.  It was a continuation of walking in the daily flow of God's grace into their lives.  What does our Lord expect from the disciples and those who follow after?

 

1.  New zeal

 

He tells them that they "should go," or literally, "go forth."  This reminds us that being a Christian is not a private matter.  I often hear people saying that their religion is private, but that is not the case for Christians.  Ours is public!  We are not to remain in the 'holy huddle' while a lost world perishes all around us.  We are called to mission for Jesus' sake!  There's no such thing as a 'closet Christian'.

 

As our Lord ascended back to heaven, He left the disciples with a clear mandate:  "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."  He gave them responsibilities in concentric fashion.  They were to labor in proclaiming the gospel (1) at home, (2) in the neighborhood, (3) in those areas beyond their kind of people, (4) all the way to the ends of the earth.  That is the mandate for all of us.  That is why there should never be a question as to whether we are a missionary church!  That missionary work of carrying the gospel begins at home and continues throughout our nation and unto the world!  We are to cross barriers of culture, race, language, and geography to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ!

 

I think it is interesting that the word our Lord used for "should go," is the same word used in John 11:44 when Jesus spoke after raising Lazarus from the dead, "Unbind him and let him go."  That speaks volumes about the idea our Lord conveyed in our text!  As those who have been delivered from the power of sin, death, Satan, and hell, we have been unbound.  Now let's go forth from our burial shroud of sin and spiritual deadness, and walk as those alive from the dead with the Gospel of Christ!  Paul made it clear in Romans 6:13 that we are to live like those who have been raised from the dead.  We are never to lose sight of where we have been, the bondage in which we lived.  Have you forgotten about your enslavement to sin?  Has it been so long that you have forgotten that you were a 'son of disobedience', bound to Satan as his slave?  Have you forgotten about how death made you cower in fear?  It was Jesus Christ that delivered you from all of these things.  It was His grace alone that chose you and called you out of bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  Now He tells you to go forth as one loosed from all the chains of darkness.

 

During the 18th century there was a pervasiveness of spiritual deadness throughout the world of Christianity.  Out of this the Spirit of God moved in mighty power and raised up some mighty witnesses for Christ.  There were men like George Whitfield and John and Charles Wesley in England, Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland in Wales, Jonathan Edwards and Gilbert Tennent in the American Colonies.  The unbelieving religious world called them "enthusiasts."  This was due to their contagious zeal for our Lord Jesus Christ and their willingness to go forth bearing the gospel to fellow sinners.

 

We are probably enthusiastic about a number of things.  We may be enthusiastic about our jobs or our favorite sports team or about a hobby or about our kid's school.  But are we "guilty" of being enthusiastic about Jesus Christ and His gospel?  This, more than anything else, should be what we are known for being enthusiastic about!

 

We are to live daily with a sense of mission:  we're on business for our King.  In all that we say, live, our attitudes, our activities, we are carrying a message concerning the reality of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Are you doing it with zeal?  Are you doing it with clarity?  Or have you muddied the gospel message by the deadness of your life?  My friend, it is time to go forth for Christ, zealous for the work of His glorious kingdom!

 

2.  Fruitful labor

 

We don't just go to be going.  We go to bear fruit for the sake of Christ's kingdom.  In this verse (v. 16) it seems that the type of fruit we are to bear is "others" for the kingdom of God.  It is so important that we have a burning desire to see others come to Christ in a saving way and become part of His kingdom.  The gospel is not just for us, it is also for others.  Who are those others?  They may be other family members, they may belong to our circle of friends, they may be acquaintances at school or school-related organizations, they may be contacts we make in the community or on the job, they may be some unknown face on any part of the globe.  Christ has sent us forth to bear the good news to others.

 

I remind you that we are to bear fruit not make fruit.  We bear fruit only because of the life of the Vine, Jesus Christ, within.  It is His power to save through His righteous, sacrificial work.  We cannot manipulate true disciples of Christ.  But we can go forth bearing the seeds of the gospel message, cultivating what we plant, and expecting God to bring forth the harvest.  This is really a call for all of us...yes, all of us, to develop a lifestyle of seeking to bring others into the Kingdom.  This is why it is true that every Christian is a missionary wherever God places him.

 

We all have different gifts, backgrounds, personalities, and sets of relationships which Christ can use for His sake in bearing the gospel to a lost world.  Let's just keep our priorities the same in this work, which is outlined in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20.  Ernie Reisinger simplifies our priority in biblical evangelism by pointing out what we are to do.

1.  Make disciples--seeking to bring them into a right relationship to the Son of God.

2.  Baptize them (a church ordinance)--seeking to bring them into a right relationship to the church of God.

3.  Teach them--seeking to bring them into a right relationship to the Word of God (Today's Evangelism, p.12).


(1) If we are to do what Christ has commanded, then we must avail ourselves of every opportunity to prepare and better our minds and hearts for such holy activity.  We must  seek to thoroughly understand the gospel if we are going to effectively explain to sinners how to have a right relationship to the Son of God.  Let's not be lazy in our learning the saving truths of the gospel!  It is true that a sinner can come to Christ with the barest understanding of the essentials of the gospel, that is, if the Spirit is working effectually.  But it is also true that our being able to explain the gospel with clarity and passion can help a sinner who comes to Christ get anchored in his assurance.  Many false professions are made because Christian witnesses have failed to clearly communicate the whole gospel.  I think Will Metzger is right when he states that telling the truth in evangelism is "the whole gospel to the whole person by whole people."

 

(2) If we are to do what Christ has commanded, then we must show professing converts that they are not 'Lone Rangers'.  We must teach them about the new relationship they have with the body of Christ and how that relationship is affirmed through baptism.  Too much of the man-centered evangelism of our day focuses on getting a decision from a sinner, but not folding that tender convert into the church.  We are not saved in isolation, nor do we grow in isolation.  We have a continuing relationship with others in Christ's body.

 

(3) If we are to do what Christ has commanded, then we must seek to teach the whole counsel of God to the believer.  We must not be satisfied with giving a person crumbs when the main course is on the table!  Let's be faithful to learn the Word ourselves and pass it along to those we have the privilege of leading to the Lord Jesus Christ!

 

3.  Lasting fruit

 

"And that your fruit should remain," our Lord tells us concerning our fruit bearing.  We are not to be out for "spiritual scalps" so that we can brag on how many people we have "won to Christ" or "how many baptisms" we have had.  Most evangelistic report is unfortunately presumptuous!  We are to seek to be biblical in our evangelizing as those who are living in dependence upon the grace of God and not our own power.

 

I remind you that lasting fruit comes only when Jesus Christ does a work in a person's life.  We can talk people into praying a prayer or saying they are a Christian or making a profession of faith, but only Christ can save.  This brings us back to the foundation for disciples being found in God's grace.  We are to preach, teach, witness, testify, present the gospel in whatever ways we can, but to do so in dependence upon our Lord to reveal the truth of the gospel to a sin-darkened heart, calling sinners unto Himself.  We cannot talk a lost sinner into anything of eternal value!  But we can present the clear precepts of the Gospel of Christ to a lost person and trust that the Holy Spirit will drive that truth home to that sinner's heart so that the truth comes alive in him, bringing him to repentance.

 

When fruit lasts, then it remains for eternity.  Yet that seems to be the least concern in much of today's evangelism.  Ernie Reisinger, in his book Today's Evangelism, tells of an incident in his own ministry that illustrates the lack of biblical emphasis on evangelism.

 

A few years ago I was asked by a pastor friend to join in with his church for a campaign with one of those "bell-ringing, horn-tooting" evangelists who conducts a kind of religious circus.  But, because of some biblical and theological views, I could not compromise my convictions.  My pastor friend went on with this campaign (or whatever it was).  It lasted eight days, and there were 68 supposed conversions.  The pastor later told me that he understood why I could not participate because in less than one month, he could not find one of the "converts."  This kind of result puzzles the church leaders, or at least it should.  It also puts many questions into the minds of non-Christians, such as, Is there anything to conversion? (p. xvi)


We are a rather impatient people who like to have instant results and instant success.  The problem comes when we bring this over into the realm of our evangelism.  We forget that salvation is wholly a work of God and His grace.  We want the Spirit of God to work on our timetable and according to our methodologies.  But He does not!  Yes, we can drum up lots of decisions, but you and I are totally incapable of converting even one person.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit alone.

 

Have you not wondered why church rolls are bloated with inactive members in our day?  Why are there millions of people who claim to know Christ and have united with one of His churches, yet they never attend, never show any real spiritual interest, never give concern for the things of God, never pursue personal holiness?  The answer is quite simple:  we have padded our church rolls with unregenerate people.  And who is at fault in this?  Is it the Lord for not saving or is it the supposed convert for 'not sticking' or is it the impatient church that is more satisfied with quick decisions than lasting fruit?  We are enamored with our success at getting converts as evangelicals, while we ought to hang our heads in sham at the lack of lasting fruit.

 

I do not speak to you as one who has never been guilty of this sin!  How I grieve in my heart at the times that I ran past the God-centered means of presenting the gospel to add another number to the list of unconverted church members!  Will you join me in repentance for such shameful actions and seek to follow the biblical means of telling others about Christ?

 

4.  Prayerful work

 

This is why our work must be a prayerful work.  We must keep ever before us that bearing lasting fruit requires power and wisdom that is beyond our feeble abilities.  We must go forth in the power of God's Spirit. The living God Himself must work if sinners are to be converted.  Since we are living in dependence upon the grace of God both for our salvation and our continuing walk, we are called to constantly come before the throne of grace.  When it comes to our mission in this world of proclaiming the gospel, we cannot suddenly take over.  We must continue depending upon the rich flow of grace from our Lord.  I believe this is why verse 16 closes with these words, "That whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you."   This was not a general word on prayer but a specific word related to our fruit-bearing.

 

The work we are doing in missions and evangelism is so important, so eternal, so essential, that we dare not try to do it without God's power, nor without His hand at work in those to whom we are ministering.  It is only the Spirit of God that can open the blinded eyes of a sinner or soften his hardened heart to receive the message of the gospel we proclaim.  It is not our great techniques or smooth words that brings a man to Christ.  The more we think that our abilities are primary in bringing souls to Christ, the more we will multiply the masses of unconverted church members.

 

I have had an increasing burden in recent weeks to pray for some particular people and particular pockets of people in our community that need Christ.  The Lord seems to be constantly reminding me that conversion is His work, while presenting the gospel is a work he has entrusted to you and me.  God has so designed the economy of His work that He has chosen to use us as His message-bearers while depending upon Him to give fruit for our labors.  Just to be able to rightly speak the divine message of the gospel requires us to be people of prayer!  And to see the Spirit of God work mightily to bring a spiritually dead person to life ought to drive us constantly to the place of prayer.  Biblical evangelism is a prayerful-work!

 

Maybe we can put it like this:  the work of one who has been chosen and redeemed by Christ is both a public and private work.  It is public in that the believer has a continuing witness concerning the gospel of Christ to unbelievers.  He actively pursue opportunities to speak the gospel to others.  But it is also private in that the believer seeks the Lord, appealing at the throne of mercy on behalf of lost sinners.  My friend, how can we really labor for Christ properly without much prayer? 

 

Conclusion

 

This text really gives a sweeping look at the whole of the Christian life.  We become true believers only through the grace of God manifest to us in Christ and His gospel.  We dare not think that we can come to God apart from His gracious intervention on our behalf in His choosing us!  My friend, if you have not known God's saving grace in your life, then I appeal to you to cry out to God for His mercy.  Seek Him as your only God and Savior.  Turn away from your vain idols and trust in His Son who bore your sins in his own body on the cross.

 

But we also see that we are to live in daily dependence of God's grace flowing to us freely and fully through Christ, our Vine.  We have been appointed as ambassadors for Jesus Christ.  Imagine that!  You and me, as poor and inadequate as we may be, appointed as Christ's ambassadors for the gospel's sake!  Will you carry out this glorious labor in dependence upon Christ and His grace?  Will you give yourself to go with the gospel, while also quietly withdrawing to the throne of grace that God might empower your labors?

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