An Abiding that Produces Fruit

By: Hamilton George

Scripture: John 15:1-17

Some analysis reports that up to 90% of people in the U.S. believe in some version of God. However, far fewer would say they feel a close abiding connection to him, even fewer know how he impacts their daily lives. And for those that do believe in God, I find they often think primarily about guilt they occasionally might feel for not being as good as they know they should be. So, though they believe in God, they still remain far from him. 

But for those of us that follow Jesus, we should ask, “Isn’t the gospel news better than this? Isn’t it the best news ever?” The answer is, “Yes! It is!” and that should be our motivation for a life devoted to God in service to others.  

In John 15, we read the words of Jesus that instruct us in how God produces something in us that is not natural to our flesh, glorifying God through obedience to him by loving others more than we love ourselves. Here Jesus uses a vine and branch analogy to help us understand. If you have not already, take some time right now and read John 15:1-17 before you continue. 

Now that you have read the passage, notice with me some important points. First, notice the centrality of God’s glory (John 15:1-2,8). As the gardener, God is at the center of the story, not us. Next, because of God’s centrality, notice our position of dependency as the branch (John 15:3-7). Having established this, we are given the divine process to participate in fruitfulness, where the love of the Father for the Son leads to the Son’s love for us (John 15:9). Notice how love originates with the Father and flows downstream to us. Lastly, after receiving God’s love in Christ, we are fruitful through obedience to God as seen through our love of others (John 15:10-17). 

Therefore, God has chosen to use our loving acts of generosity towards others to communicate his central message. That central message is that no work of ours warrants God’s love for us, but that prior to our obedience, while we were still disobedient, God loved us in a very specific way. He sent his Son, Jesus, to die in our place, bearing the burden of our disobedience. And that is the love that we discover and our obedience flows from that. Thus making our lives of generosity the primary means of evangelism that God uses to draw men and women to himself (John 13:34-35). 

If we find ourselves unmotivated to love and serve others, or unwilling to love God, consider for a moment that perhaps we may not truly be abiding in the love of God. Notice our important progression for growth - If we grow in our understanding of who God is, then we will see our sin for what it is, then we will understand the quality of gift being offered in his salvation, and we will be transformed by that into people who lovingly obey such a good God by loving others more than we love ourselves.  

Pray with me today that we can abide and grow in our understanding of God’s goodness to us, that we might be good to those he brings into our paths because he has been so very good to us. Now may we go by the Spirit and power of the living God and serve him forever.

Tip for Today: Pray that God will help you understand more and more of his goodness to you. Then, do 1 good thing for one of your “4” people/families as a demonstration of God’s goodness to you and the goodness He wants others to see and experience.

Hamilton George is the Young Adult & Family Pastor at Treasure Lake Church in DuBois, PA. He graduated from Denver Seminary with a Masters of Divinity in 2016. He is married to Kristin and together they have 3 children: Regan, Hayden, & Carolyn.