The fruit of the vine

Contents

PAGK

I. The Life in the Vine ..... 6

II. The Life in the Branch .... 7

I

"As the branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me." " JTe that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ; for apart from Me ye can do nothing." We have seen what a branch is : an outgrowth of the vine, partaker of its life, begotten and maintained as part of itself to afford a channel through which it can bring forth its grapes. And we regard nothing as more natural, or so much a matter of course, about which there cannot be a moment's doubt, as that the branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the vine. The union with the vine must be continual and unbroken if the vine is unceasingly to maintain its suppl}' of sap for the bearing and ripening of the fruit. Abiding in the vine is the one indispensable condition of being a living, healthy, fruit-bearing branch.

Every believer is a branch, an outgrowth of the Heavenly Vine, begotten and maintained as part of itself, with the one view of having a channel through which it can bring forth its life-giving fruit for the salvation of men. It is only as this nature and character of. the branch is understood and accepted, that Christ's call to abide in Him can be apprehended. All attempts to enjoy the blessing of abiding will be futile as long as the first thought is our own happiness or holiness. Thousands may find in this truth the explanation of the failure of their many efforts and prayers to be kept abiding. A branch is only a means to an end; an instrument for the realisation of the purpose of the vine. Abiding is only a means to an end; the one only way in which the union of the vine and branch can be maintained for the realisation of their common object. Just in such measure as the believer enters into God's thought concerning himself as a branch, and heartily responds to it, will there come the insight into the possibility, the certainty, the blessedness of abiding.

It is here where our whole modern Christianity needs to be reconstructed. The Church must preach the great truth that every branch is to bear fruit because Christ needs him, and chose him for this purpose"^ and because this alone is the true life of Christ in us. Bringing forth fruit, doing work for Christ, living to save and bless men, must not be regarded as a matter of choice, or special devotion, or as the payment of a debt of gratitude: it is the one aim of redemption. It is the one proof that God is having His way with us, that the life of God is taking full possession of us, that we are, like Him, finding our joy in beneficence and love. Would God that believers would only take time to think what a branch is ! They would begin to see — I repeat of set purpose what I have said before — and be amazed that they diJ not sooner see it, that the Heavenly Vine exists as absolutely as the vine on earth only for bearing fruit, that the branch exists just as much as the vine itself only for bearing fruit, and that the believer lives as absolutely and exclusively as Christ Himself for bearing fruit, and bringing Ood^s life and salvation to men.

The power to abide depends entirely on our accepting our calling as branches. It is the branch, wholly devoted to the vine and to fruit-bearing, that is allowed, that is able, to abide. The surrender to be a branch in the fidl meaning in which Christ uses the word, will give a wonderful new light and force to the word "Abide,^^ It will then mean simply: maintain your place and position as a branch; live only and entirely to let Christ, through you, give life to the perishing. The believer who each morning says to his Lord that he comes afresh to yield himself as a branch to bear much fruit, will feel how utterly impotent he is of himself to do this — as impotent as the branch "to bear fruit of itself." How sure and abundant "the supply of the Spirit'' of the Heavenly Vine is that he may count on, and how simple it is, in view of these two truths, to continue abiding, to continue in the life of absolute surrender and unceasing, believing dependence.

Christ said: "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." Christ's abiding in God's love was through abiding in His will to save the world; our abiding in Christ's will to save men, giving ourselves up in obedience to live for them, will be our abiding in His love. We shall learn to count it our highest privilege each day to lose our life in His life, and our will in His will, and we shall, like Him, bear much fruit. "He that abideth in Me, and I in him, beareth much fruit." Abiding in Christ, going out of ourselves and everything to be entirely identified with Him in His life of saving men, losing and giving up every interest for the sake of serving Him as a branch, and of having Him abide in us, will infallibly make us fruitful branches. It will no longer be a thing of inward strain or effort, but the simplicity and ease of the fruit-bearing of the natural branch will be transfigured into the rest and joy and love through which He brings forth His fruit in us. "He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit."

II

" Herein is My Father' glorified, that ye hear much fruit. ^^ This is Christ's second thought concerning the "much fruit."

And how does it glorify the Father? In the same sense in which it is said, '^ The heavens declare the glory of God." They do this effectually by simply showing forth what God is doing through them, yielding themselves to His Divine Power that maintains them and gives them their beauty. God gives of His glory unto them, and by what they are and do in virtue of God's power they manifest His glory.

Even so Christ glorified the Father on earth. He not only did the Father's will. He might have done that, and men might have thought that He did it by His own power. How careful He was to say again and again that He did nothing of Himself, that His words and works were all of the Father w^ho dwelt in Him. And continually j^eople glorified God, when they saw His mighty deeds. In His great Intercessory Prayer our Lord said: "Father! glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee." It was only if and as the Father gave His glory to the Son, that the Son could glorify Him — that is, could show forth His glory.

In no other way can the Father be glorified by us. We cannot cause or create any new glory for God: as God, all glory is His. ''Thine is the glory." But we can yield ourselves to God to work in us, and let men see in us how glorious He is, and how gloriously He works. ''Herein is My Father, the Husbandman, glorified, if ye bear much fruit." The "much fruit" is the proof of how wise and successful the Husbandman is. As long as we bear little fruit, and our Christian life does not differ very greatly from others around us, men attribute our work to natural character or favourable circumstances, or the beneficent influence of our religious beliefs. But when in the heavenliness of our life, and in abounding fruitfulness, proof is given of something supernatural, men are compelled to say: This is the Lord's doing; and God is glorified.

Christ sets this before His disciples as a distinct object. That God might be glorified was His one object : He wants it to be ours. That God can only be glorified by an entire devotion, and the giving up of the whole life for Him to w^ork in, was what His life and death proved. He wants us equally to prove it. As the Vine of God's planting, He lived every moment to bear much fruit to the glory of the Father. As the Branches of God's right hand, as the Branches of Himself, the Heavenly Vine, Christ counts upon us equally to seek nothing less, to seek nothing else. The whole life of the Vine and its fruit is to the glory of the Father ; the whole life of the Branch need be, may be, nothing less.

Let us pause, and I3ray, and take it in: With God the Husbandman working in me according to the riches of glory, with Christ the Vine strengthening me according to the glory of His power, I can bring forth much fruit. Let me believe in the glory of what the God of glory will do in me, and yield myself each morning to show forth His glory in me: I shall learn to abide in Christ, and bring forth much fruit.

III

^^ Bear muchf ruit; so shall ye be My disciples.''^ Much fruit makes us disciples, true disciples such as Christ would have us.

There are many sorts of disciples — sickly, feeble, half-hearted, unfaithful disci]3les. There are disciples worthy the name — men and women such as Christ would have them be, His whole-hearted followers, such as He calls disciples. They are those who bear much fruit, to the glory of the Father, branches who bear the likeness to the Vine, and prove that they possess its very nature.

How little this is realised in the Church of Christ, that much fruit is the mark of true discipleship. We have so many excuses for our feebleness and lack of fruit, we are so accustomed to the power of sin and the world, so satisfied with the tokens of good amid the prevailing low standards, that the thought of bearing much fruit to win Christ's approval, as true disciples hardly enters the mind of many. And yet, if the parable of the Vine means anything, it means this, that every branch can and must hear much fruit. The fruit may be very different: in one patient suffering, in another active service and self-sacrifice, in some 23ersevering intercession, in others a manifest humility, and gentleness, and heavenly-mindedness; but in all much fruit — this is what abiding in Christ inevitably secures, what glorifies the Father, what gives as the assurance that we are well-pleasing to the Master. Surely the question ought to come home to each of us individually: Am I bearing much fruit? At least, am I seeking it with my whole heart?

"Much fruit." What we truly desire, what we seek with the whole lieart, we sacrifice everything for. Let us be still in the presence of our Lord, and repeat to ourselves the great thoughts His words suggest. He is the Vine of heaven, come to earth to bring the fruit, the life of heaven, to men. He has brought it to me. He has made me a branch, to impart that life through me and the fruit I bear. He has appointed me and fitted me for bearing much fruit. By the glory of the Father, by the blessedness of an unbroken abiding in Him, by the honour of being His true disciple. He pleads with me to bear much fruit. He asks nothing but that I yield myself wholly to Him, that day by day I depend on Him and the Father to do their perfect, mighty work in me. Shall not I, whatever others do — shall not I consent and say : Lord ! here I am, to be only and wholly, to be hourly and uninterruptedly, a branch in Thee, abiding in close communion, only seeking to know and do Thy will, and ever depending on Thee in the confident assurance that Thou wilt make me a Branch worthy of Thyself, bearing much fruit.

y. ABIDING FRUIT.

^' Ye did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide." — John xv. 16.

^' Fruit," "More Fruit," "Much Fruit," Abiding Fruit! How the heart of Christ is set upon fruit! And it is not only quantity that He seeks, but quality too; not only much fruit, but fruit that may abide. And He speaks these words that by the Holy Spirit His mind may enter into us, and fruit take the same place in our heart that it has in His.

" That your fruit should abide,^^ The word warns against a possible, an imminent danger. When trees are not perfectly healthy, or are suffering from drought, they sometimes drop their fruit. The trees may bear much fruit, but are not able to ripen it: the fruit does not abide. Or there may be fruit that, when once ripe, will not keep: it does not abide. It must be used at once, while other sorts will keep, and can bear being carried far, or can be stored for use in winter. Or, again, there are trees that bear fruit only for a few years, and then fail, while others continue fruit-bearing till old age : then fruit abides as long as they live.

These failures in Nature have their counterpart in the Kingdom of Grace. Both in individuals and in Churches fruit may often be found that does not abide. You see Christians who begin well and are very zealous in their work for God, but it does not last: they do not bring

36 THE FBUIT OF THE VIXE,

their fruit to perfection. As the years go on there is no maturity or mellowness about it. The influence they exert is not permanent, the result of their work is a transient impression, nothing abiding. In course of time they grow weary and faint; they do not "bring forth fruit in old age."

What is seen in individuals is often the mark of whole churches and their services. In the impressions made by the preaching, in the influence exerted by the Sunday school, even in the results of special missions or revival services, little abiding fruit is seen. Christ meant that the branch that abides in Him should bear fruit that abides, should have permanent results for time and eternity. Where the connection between Christ and the believer is close and the communication unceasing, the power and reality of the Divine life in the Vine, flowing through the branch, is to be seen in the fruit; that work in its permanence is to bear the stamp of eternity.

*^The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God,'' and what he doeth, "abideth for ever." There is a religion that is in harmony with the spirit and the wisdom of the world, and makes a fair show in the flesh, but speedily fades and fails. There is a religion which has its root in God and Christ, which can resist temptation and overcome the world, because it is of the faith which does not " stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Let us listen to what our Lord has to teach us about the fruit that abides, and learn from Him how we can bear it.

'' I appointed you that ye should go, and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide,'' Here Christ speaks of our

I fruit abiding as the result of our being appointed by Him to bear fruit. We speak of a man who has received an appointment to an important spot here on earth, lirst accepting it, then taking it up, and then giving his time and his life to the fulfilment of its duties. On his faithfulness depends his influence and his promotion. One great secret of our fruit abiding is, that we know that Christ has appointed us to bear fruit, and that with our whole heart we accept and take up the appointment. It is the Christian who indeed lives as one " appointed to bear fruit,'' whose fruit will abide.

But is not this what every earnest minister and worker believes, and proves that he believes by the very fact of his taking up Christian work? I fear not. Let us remember what has been spoken of in a previous chapter, that there are two different points of view from which the bearing of fruit may be regarded.

Some realise, or seek to realise, that their appointment of Christ to bear fruit is just as clear and simple and absolute as that of the man whom the Queen appoints to be a governor, or an officer in the army : it implies his giving his whole time and attention to this one thing; he lives for it.

Others think that such an entire devotion to fruit-bearing is only expected of those who are set apart for the ministry, or who choose thus to live. They have never seen that the relation between the branch and the fruit is universal and unchangeable.

It is easy to understand what the different effect will be of these two modes of looking at fruit-bearing. In the one case a man's care and unceasing prayer will be to bear fruit, more fruit, much fruit, abiding fruit. Everything will be subordinated to this : for this alone

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he lives. In the other he lives for himself in the first place. Whether in the pursuit of earthly or heavenly things, self-interest is his chief aim and motive, and fruit takes the second place, a part of what he chooses to seek. The former view leads a man to a life of absolute consecration and unceasing dependence. The latter leaves abundant room for self and its activity.

^'I appointed you that ye should go, and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide.'' Shall we not ask that this word '^ appointed to bear fruit " may be as a sharp two-edged sword, cleaving us as branches from all that is of self? We have more than once said, the branch of the Heavenly Vine exists as exclusively and absolutely for the bearing of fruit as does the natural vine-branch, or as does the Heavenly Vine Himself It is only the Holy Spirit that can make the thought a living truth within us, so that we truly feel as closely united to Christ, as entirely devoted to Him, as a branch on earth is to its vine. Let us wait in earnest prayer for the Holy Spirit to work this in us ; let us day by day yield ourselves to the Living Christ as "appointed to bear fruit." He will give us the living spiritual consciousness of our calling, and the power to fulfil it. That abiding conviction will be the first step towards abiding fruit.

II.

" Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit." Here is a second thought.

The knowledge that we have been "appointed" to bear fruit is a mighty power; but there is something deeper. Christ points to the Divine origin of our call-

I ing to bear fruit. It might have been that we had chosen Him as Lord, and offered ourselves for His service. The appointment would then have had its rise in our will. But no — " Ye did not choose Me, but I chose you.'' As little as a branch chooses the vine on which it grows, did we first seek or choose Christ. As each vine brings forth and sets the branch in the place it chooses, so each branch in Christ has become such in virtue of His election. To believe this with our whole heart, to allow the Holy Spirit to work this faith into our inmost being, is of more practical consequence for the Christian life than we think. It will show us how our being "appointed to bear fruit " has its root in the eternal purpose of God, and how in that we have the security for our being able to fulfil its requirement.

Christ chose us "according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." The God who has purposed is the God who also performs. He carries out His purpose Himself by working all that He has willed. He has given man, redeemed man especially, the wonderful power of willing, and so within certain limits hindering or serving Him. Whenever we enter into His will and give ourselves up to it, then we can count upon it that He will Himself, through Christ, work in us all that is well pleasing in His sight, all that He would really have each of us be.

In this light the doctrine of election becomes one of the utmost practical importance and of deep spiritual quickening and fruitfulness. As in adoring faith I see my personal life embraced in God's eternal purpose in Christ, as the heavenly truth possesses me that I have been appointed to bear fruit, not in virtue of my fitness or my having offered myself for it, but because God and

Christ saw fit to choose me for it, the call to give myself up to live alone for this comes with irresistible urgency, and the confidence is begotten that I can bear just as much fruit as God would have me do. His election does no violence to my liberty or my will; its Divine glory enlightens and draws and strengthens my will to yield itself wholly to the mighty power of the good and perfect Will. I am a branch chosen and apppointed by the Vine to bear fruit. I can count on Him to work all in me that He wishes me to be.

III.

" That your fruit may abide.'^ The word abide suggests a third lesson. Christ has used it ten times in the parable already of our abiding in Him and His love, and of Himself and His joy abiding in us. Here He uses it of our fruit abiding. The connection is evident. The fruit of a tree depends upon its life. As our life abides in Him, our fruit will abide. The more entirel}^ it is Christ's own fruit, His working in us, the more the power of His unchangeable life will be manifest in it. Fruit that abides comes from a branch that abides.

This brings us back to the great lesson of the parable — "Abide in me, and I in you.'' It is the Christian worker, who intensely and entirely abides in Christ, who turns away from everything to take up his election and appointment to go and bear fruit, and makes it the first, the one, the only thing he lives for, to whom the secret of abiding fruit will be imparted. There may be others with greater gifts to whom apparently more visible fruit is given : the abiding fruit, as it will be seen in the light of eternity, will be according to the abiding life of the Vine in which it abides.

What a solemn, blessed call to all who would be true branches of the True Vine, as true as the Vine is true, true disciples, bearing much abiding fruit. Our whole life must be abiding in Christ, as simply, as naturally, as exclusively as yonder branch abides in its vine. I trust we begin to see more what abiding means. It means making Christ everything for every moment, hating and losing our life, forsaking all to follow Him, to be with Him, near Him, in Him, perfectly like Him.

And can we thus abide? Eather, how can w^e not, if we believe in and yield to the Blessed Holy Spirit, who has been given us to make Christ all to us and in us that the Father meant Him to be. As the branch is still and waits and receives what the vine gives, let us be still in the faith that the Holy Spirit is in us. In ever drawing nigh to Christ, and in all our desire after Him, let us count upon the Holy Spirit to enable us to believe and abide as we should. Let us cry mightily to God ^'to srengthen us with might by His Spirit in the inner man," to "fill us with the Spirit." Let us take time each day to believe that as we yield ourselves to abide, Christ does abide in us ; that He dwells in our heart by faith. We shall become increasingly sure that our fruit is from Him, that He Himself is working in us, and that our fruit will abide. The more of the abiding life, the unchangeable eternal life, the more of abiding fruit, with the power of eternity in it.

'' That your fruit may abide.^^ In view of so much work of which the fruit is so short-lived, in view of so many backsliders, of Christians who " go backward and not forward," because "they have lost their first love," is not the great need of the Church in its members and converts, in Christian and heathen lands, the one word,

42 THE FRUIT OF THE VIJVE,

"tliat your fruit may abide ^^? Let each of us pray for it and live for it. As we hear of souls willing, sometimes hungering, to know of Christ and His full salvation, let us pray that we may not only give them words and thoughts that are true, but may impart to them the very thing they seek — may give them the heavenly fruit of the heavenly Vine. This can be as day by day, it is our first care to be full of Christ, to let Him live and work in us. The branch that abides in Him, truly, closely, fully, wholly, will bear fruit that abides, because the very life of Christ brings it forth.

VI. FKUIT AND PRAYER.

"Ye did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide : that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name, He may give it you." — John xv. 16.

In these the closing words of the parable, Christ speaks of two things to which He has chosen and appointed His disciples. The one is that they should bear fruit that abides ; the other, that they should pray prayer that prevails. Fruit on earth that carries in it real power to prevail with men, prayer in heaven that carries in it power to prevail with God — such is the aim and purpose, such will be the outcome to those who in simple faith make their election and appointment sure.

Abiding fruit for men, prevailing prayer with God — it is not difficult to see the connection. Christ is not speaking here of the prayer that is needed for and before fruit -bearing. As an exercise of the spiritual life, as a means of obtaining grace for the abiding and the fruitfulness, such prayer is unspeakably needed and blessed. I^evertheless it is not the highest form of prayer, and, if we confine ourselves to it, the result will be a failure in the higher regions of spiritual activity, and in the power to grasp fully the higher prayer promises. Read the text carefully, and you see at once Christ speaks of a power of prevailing prayer that comes with and after fruit, and is in part a reward for it. It is in intercessory prayer that the Christian life reaches its full maturity

THE FRUIT OF THE VINE.

and exercises its highest power. It is the believer who has given himself wholly to the life of abiding and fruit-bearing, and who bears fruit that abides, to whom the power will come fully to take in and avail himself of the promise: "I have appointed you that ye should bear fruit, and that your fruit may abide : that ivhatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.''-

This is the second time Christ speaks of prayer in the parable. He said, ^^He that abideth in Me, the same bringeth forth much fruit.'' '^If ye abide in Me, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." The abiding was to bring the double blessing — power to bear much fruit, power to prevail in prayer. The close union to Christ manifests itself in two ways — on earth in the outflow of His life and strength as fruit for men; in heaven as power in His name to obtain for men from God what we will. The same spirit of devotion to the glory of God and the welfare of men that manifests itself in seeking to be a branch, entirely given up to Christ, through which He can bear fruit, feels constrained and has confidence to enter boldly and ask great things of God. Not every minister or worker who labours diligently and earnestly, but every one who works in the true branch-like dependence on Christ and direct obedience to His will, will find the liberty for the ministry of intercession. This is the deep and full meaning of the words so often connected — Working and Praying.

It is of consequence that we realise the connection between the two. Look at our Lord Jesus. His work of redemption on earth is the basis and the strength of His w^ork of intercession in heaven. In giving Himself up to God for men, He proves Himself worthy of having the power of unlimited intercession put into His hands.