Call to Fruitfulness: Devotion for Sunday September 23, 2012

CALL TO FRUITFULNESS

Text: John 15: 2 – He cuts off every branch that does not produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more (New Living Translation). 

Every call of God in the Bible is a call to bear fruits. This is not the call into the ordained ministry, rather it is the call made to whosoever believes in Him (John 1: 12 & John 3:16). For any tree planted to bear fruit as expected, it must meet certain conditions. No man who plants a tree will be happy when the tree is not productive.

Jesus used this story in John.15: 1ff to illustrate the need to depend on God who has the power to make us bear fruits. In John 15: 4 – 10, we have the things that can make us bear fruits? What are they? Peoples’ New Testament Commentary states that “As the husbandman cuts off the unfruitful branches of the vine, so the Father severs the unfruitful branches from his Son.” Again as he “prunes and dresses the branches in order that they may be more healthy and fruitful. The Father cleanses, purifies, frees from sin, all who become branches of the True Vine.”

In our text, we have two kinds of pruning; one for bearing more fruits and for not bearing fruit. Why do you think God will cut off the unfruitful branches? They may affect the good ones that bear fruit. Are you bearing the expected fruit of your call as a child of God (Ephesians 4: 1 & 1 Thessalonians 4: 1)? Do you belong to the people mentioned in Matthew 13: 23 or Isaiah 5: 1 – 6? My dear, begin to bear fruits worthy of your call for the fruit you bear will not only live after you but also make way for you before God and man.

Food for Thought: Are you a fruitful or unfruitful vine?

Prayer Points:

1. Pray for more grace to bear fruits.

2. Pray, you will bear fruit that will abide