The Condition of Fruitfulness
Representations Made by Dean E. Boelt
“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing" (Jn. 15:4-5).
The inexorable condition of fruit bearing for Christ, as He emphasizes in the above declaration, is unity with Him. If we are "united with Him" in His death and resurrection (Rom. 6:4-5, ASV; cf. Col. 2:10-14), fruitfulness will follow. But without that fellowship, "ye can do nothing" of any recognition by God, as He said.
That was the reality which the religious workers of record in Matthew 7:26-27 learned too late. They were attempting to serve God in dissociation from His beloved Son. As the Savior put it on another occasion, "Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up" (15:13). It is a lesson which religious people today who are not in vital fellowship with the exalted Lord also require to learn.
But--praise His Name!--the opposite situation is equally certain. Those who get into, and abide in Jesus, bring forth "much fruit." "So shall ye be My disciples," He continued; that is, by fruit bearing (v. 8 ).
Christ is "the true vine," and His Father is "the husbandman" that sustains the vine. Existence of the "true vine," obviously, presupposes that of false vines. And so there are, have been, and will continue to be as long as this world continues. Hence, the Lord's grave warning of the "false prophets" with which the brethren would certainly be confronted (Mt. 24:11, 24-25).
Paul, of course, followed with grave warnings of the false teachers who would subvert many (Tit. 1:10-11; cf. Acts 15:24; 20:29-30). He himself had to constantly contend with them, and it is certain that they must be confronted and dealt with today. They are "a strange vine" of the earth, as the Prophet probably would say (Jer. 2:21). That is, they are sharply distinguished from that of God's "planting" (Isa, 61:3).
It is heartening to know that personal union with the exalted Christ is ample protection against false teachers and full surety of fruitfulness to God. As Peter declared with reference to such abiding in Christ, "If these things"-the fruits of union with the Lord-"be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Pet. 1:8).
The indispensable responsibility of the individual believer, thus, is apparent. It is to abide in Christ, growing "up into Him in all things" (Eph. 4:15). The work of the church is designed to serve the need associated with that responsibility. It is, first, to bring people to the Lord by proclamation of the gospel. Then it is to build them up in the faith by continually nurturing them in Him.
As a congregation, or group of them, gives itself to that assignment, it may be certain that it has the Presence and blessing of the reigning Savior. But only so, it must be added. --From the February 1992 issue of The Banner of Truth
