Back in the 1960s, it was popular to
enter someone's home and see a bowl of
fruit sitting out on a dining room or
kitchen table.
The fruit was colorful and appealing to the
eye, but once you picked it up, once
you picked up that colorful orange or apple,
it was as light as a feather because
it was made of plastic which only had
air inside.
They were decorative fruit bowls which had no
substance or nourishment.
These pieces of fruit looked good on the
outside, but they were empty on the inside.
Besides, plastic fruit tastes bad.
In John chapter 15 and verse 5 we
read, 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.
Here, Jesus illustrates the parable of the vine
and the branches.
As in nature, no branch can produce fruit
on its own unless it is connected to
the life source of the vine.
So too, no believer can produce spiritual fruit
through their own efforts.
As we serve God, whenever self-effort and
self-promotion get in the way, God leaves
us to ourselves.
The key to understanding the difference between fruit
production and fruit bearing is the answer here.
Does a branch produce the fruit or bear
it?
All a branch can do is stay connected
to the vine, which is the sap source,
and be a bearer.
The church today faces evil powers too great
for us in a society that has rejected
the God of the Bible.
If we attempt to serve God merely in
our own strength, we will fail to produce
spiritual fruit that endures for eternity.
When I was a little boy in the
1950s, the church operated on prayer and Holy
Ghost power, and the church still had a
voice of authority in the land.
But when the church got away from God
and let the world into the church, we
did away with the weekly prayer meeting and
replaced it with social gatherings.
The branch was no longer connected to the
vine, and plastic fruit was the result of
a disconnected prayer life.
Prayer is the mainspring of the Christian life,
and our source of strength against the enemy
has to flow from the Spirit of God
in prayer.
Our service to God must be energized by
prayer, empowered by prayer, and carried out in
a vital union to a living Lord.
The sap of Jesus Christ must flow through
us in the power of His Holy Spirit
if we desire to produce much fruit that
remains for the good of God's kingdom and
for His glory.
We must remind ourselves that the difference between
plastic fruit and real spiritual fruit is that
we must stay connected to Jesus in a
vital prayer life with Him and be fruit
bearers as His transforming power flows through us
as a means of blessings to others.
Like Jesus said, for without me ye can
do nothing, but let us pray.