Fruit that Remains

John 15: 16 "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain ..."

Fruit that remains. Who doesn't want that? Who doesn't want a return for their labor that endures longterm? I want that! I want to see progress for my investment. I hate the idea of laboring day after day on things that slip away immediately. In particular, I want my labor for Christ to have enduring results. I want spiritual fruit.

However, I face a big battle whenever I think about spiritual fruit. That battle centers around who gets to define what spiritual fruit really is. I have had several points in my life where I judged fruit not on how the Bible defines it but on how my culture defines success. And our culture defines success in terms of numbers and extent of influence. It's so easy to project this definition of success on the church. In this warped paradigm, a church is "fruitful" if it's growing in numbers and influence. Now, certainly there are churches growing in numbers and influence that are also fruitful. But those are not synonymous terms.

The Bible is very specific in its definition of fruit.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

This is fruit. This is the result I look for in myself and in my influence on others. This is the outcome I want to see endure. Is God moving in me and I yielding to His conviction in such a way that I am growing in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control? Do I see enduring love, peace, patience, gentleness, and so forth as the desired outcome of the investments I make in others?

And how do I go about bearing this fruit? Scripture is straight forward about this as well. In John 15, fruit that remains is the outgrowth of abiding in Christ. In Galatians 5, we are told this is fruit of the Spirit. It's not our job to focus on producing fruit. That's God's job. Our job is to be connected to Jesus and filled by the Spirit. We focus on unity with Him. We are the branches and Christ is the sustaining root and trunk of the tree. If you want an apple tree to produce apples, the branch is powerless on its own. It must have a healthy connection to the trunk. And so it goes with us. It's a perfect illustration.

I often get caught up in the lure of programs and structures thinking they will result in fruit. The vast majority of the time, I am disappointed. I may see great waves of immediate results, but it doesn't last. Instead it's the unexpected moments of ministry as I abide in Christ that have always had the greatest pay off in enduring fruit. A seed is sown and months or years later, Christ directs me across a path that reveals to me the enduring fruit He has brought about.

If you want to meditate more on the concept of fruit that remains, I recommend reading it in context of the whole of John 15.