DINING WITH SINNERS
WITH (prep) function word to indicate manner of action
Bearing Fruit?
“Bearing fruit.” That is some Christianese if I have ever heard it.
However, as we dove into John 15 Sunday, we find that believers are pruned to bear more fruit; that we are like a fruit bearing branch branch attached to the vine Jesus; apart from this we can do nothing; and evidenced of our life in Christ is fruit.
The logical question is, “What is fruit?”
Some suggest Jesus is referring to the fruit that comes from bearing witness to Jesus, that is, converts, the fruit of evangelism.
Others interpret this fruit as being the ethical virtues characteristic of the Christian life.
But something more basic, something that underlies both missionary work and ethical virtues, seems to be intended.
The development of this image suggests that bearing fruit refers to the possession of the divine life itself and especially the chief characteristics of that life – knowledge of God and love.
Jesus says when we bear much fruit we will demonstrate that they are his disciples (John 15:8), and love is the evidence that one is a disciple and is in union with God and one another.
Thus, the image of fruit symbolizes that which is at the heart of both Christian witness and ethics—union with God, abiding in Jesus and Jesus in us through his word.
Michael Carpenter
Michael is an urban church planter in the Argenta Arts District of North Little Rock. He and his wife Amanda have been married since 2003 and have two children – Austin and Max. Michael is an entrepreneur, missiologist, and chef.
May I?
Yep.