Bearing Fruit, Revised and Updated

What Happens When God's People Grow

Robby Gallaty

• Publisher: B&H Books
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781087768267
• eBook ISBN: 9781087768274
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Why are so many Christians stagnant in their faith? Why do we often live as though the gospel stops at the moment of conversion?

The good news of Jesus doesn't stop the moment we get saved. In fact, salvation is only the beginning of God's work in our lives. The gospel of Jesus doesn't only justify us; it sanctifies us. When we receive the Holy Spirit at salvation, an incredible work begins to happen in us: we begin to bear fruit. When we are firmly planted in the gospel and committed to growing in Christ, He produces in us the fruits of the Spirit, the marks of a true Christian.

In Bearing Fruit, Robby Gallaty, pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church and founder and president of Replicate Ministries, walks us through the life of the Christian. Biblical, intentional, and practical, Bearing Fruit is the perfect conclusion to Gallaty's discipleship trilogy, following Growing Up and Firmly Planted. This book points our hearts to the gracious God who called us, justified us, and is now sanctifying us by the work of His Holy Spirit.

Chapter 1

HOW FRUIT GROWS

The Absolute Necessity of Abiding in Christ

A friend of mine builds effects pedals for electric guitar players. Using these pedals, with the click of a button or the turn of a knob, a guitarist can alter the sound coming from his instrument. He can cause it to chop like a helicopter, distort like a speaker turned up too loud, or echo like a sound resonating through an expansive cave.

The principle behind effects pedals is incredibly simple. Using what are called pickups, the sound from a guitar is turned into an electrical signal, then carried to an amplifier, which converts the electrical signal into an audible sound. The effects pedals sit between the pickup and the amplifier, altering the electrical signal that is eventually heard.

He told me about a time when he was building a pedal for a friend and, for some reason, it just wasn’t working. He had connected all of the different capacitors, transistors, and resistors in the order they were presented on his schematic, secured the input and output jacks on the side of the pedal casing, and ensured that both the guitar and amplifier worked—but when he turned on the pedal to test it out, nothing happened.

He retested all of the connections, traced the path of the signal to make sure there weren’t any problems in the wiring, and tested each element individually to ensure there were no faults in the circuit. Everything was perfect, except for one thing. He had forgotten to connect the power adapter to the wall. As soon as he did, the pedal sprang to life and functioned exactly as he’d designed it.

Sadly, many believers attempt to live the Christian life in a similar way: unplugged from the power of the Holy Spirit. One of the most overlooked aspects of the Christian life is the absolute necessity of abiding in Jesus in order to bear his fruit.

Abiding in Christ

In his Gospel, John records seven statements of Jesus in which he declared himself to be certain things. These are often referred to as the seven “I Am” statements:

•“I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again” (6:35).

•“I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life” (8:12).

•“Truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. . . . If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture” (10:7, 9).

•“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (10:11).

•“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live” (11:25).

•“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (14:6).

•“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” (15:1 esv).

Notice what the seventh (and final) “I Am” statement says. Jesus calls himself a vine. The reasoning behind this will likely astound even the most seasoned believers. Let us explore it for a moment.

Christ as Our Source: The True Vine

Throughout the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was frequently likened to a vine. One of the most splendid examples of this is found in Isaiah 5, appropriately titled “The Song of the Vineyard.” Isaiah begins the passage as the narrator, saying that he is singing about “my beloved” and his “vineyard on a very fertile hill” (v. 1 esv). He describes the intentionality with which a vinedresser cultivates the finest crop: “He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines” (v. 2 esv). Anyone who has planted a garden understands both the care that goes into this process and the effort that is required. One does not accidentally grow a garden.

Beginning with verse 3, however, the speaker shifts from Isaiah to the Vinedresser (God). He states, “Judge between me and my vineyard” (esv). The tone of the song likewise shifts. “And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste” (vv. 5–6 esv).

Okay, but this is all poetry, right? It’s just metaphor for thoughts and feelings and emotions, isn’t it? No. Here is the kicker: the Lord proclaims, “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting” (v. 7 esv). Isaiah then brings the passage out of the realm of metaphor and into the realm of historical fact, “Therefore my people go into exile” (v. 13 esv). Look at what has happened. God planted his people, his vine. The vine started bearing bad fruit (“wild grapes,” according to verse 4). No matter how many times Israel was brought back into God’s graces, they always found ways to mess it up.

In John 15:1, Jesus’s words, in light of this passage, have particular weight. Saying “I am the true vine” (emphasis mine) brings all of this discussion of Israel-as-vine into sharp relief. Where Israel proved herself unfaithful, Jesus proved himself to be her unblemished fulfillment as the true Israel. He is the perfect bridge between imperfect man and holy God.

Surely the disciples recognized this, right? Consider where they were moments before he spoke this: they were reclining at the Last Supper over wine. Luke 22 reveals that just before Judas went out to betray Jesus, he offered a physical analogy: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (v. 20). Jesus showed them that his very blood was the new wine, his very body the true vine. They had walked with him for almost three years and witnessed that every word he ever spoke came true, and now he was making a blatant reference to a well-established analogy. Surely they understood the symbolism.

Yet this would not be the first time they missed what was right in front of their eyes. After Jesus fed the five thousand and then the four thousand, for example, the following took place:

They were discussing among themselves that they did not have any bread. Aware of this, he said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact you have no bread? Don’t you understand or comprehend? Do you have hardened hearts? Do you have eyes and not see; do you have ears and not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of leftovers did you collect?” “Twelve,” they told him. “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you collect?” “Seven,” they said. And he said to them, “Don’t you understand yet?” (Mark 8:16–21, emphasis mine)

Historically, seeing and hearing the truth of God had not been enough to convince Jesus’s disciples, but he was not about to let them miss it again. On the way to the garden of Gethsemane to pray for the final time before his death, Jesus taught one final, absolutely crucial lesson: he was the True Vine. But that was only part of the final truth he desired to communicate.

God as the Caretaker: The Gardener

“I am the true vine,” Jesus said, “and my Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1 esv). The vinedresser—or gardener—has the job of caring for the vines and tending to the branches of his garden. Unless you are acquainted with grapes, however, much of the process may be a mystery to you, as it was to me. The Old Farmer’s Almanac gives some insight as to just how arduous (and rewarding) the task of vinekeeping can be.

Planting Vines

First, one must construct a trellis. The Almanac states, “Grape vines will need to be trained to some sort of support to grow upward.”2 This structure and protection cuts the risk of obtaining diseases spread by ground-dwelling critters. The vines are to be planted six to ten feet apart so their roots and branches have room to spread; the hole should be twelve inches deep and twelve inches wide. The vinedresser is to periodically trim the top two or three buds while steadily watering the plants.

Second, for the first couple of years, the gardener’s job is to keep the vines from producing fruit—that is, until the vines have been sufficiently established. For the first few years, the roots are not strong enough to support a fruit-bearing vine. They are to be pruned in March or April, before the buds swell and after the harsh winters. The Almanac continues, “Not only would vines run rampant without control, but canes will only produce fruit once.”3 Surprisingly, in order to ensure a high-quality product, as much as 90 percent of the previous season’s growth should be pruned.

Here’s the key: the more one prunes, the more grapes one will produce. In the first year, “cut back all buds except for 2 or 3. . . . Select a couple of strong canes and cut back the rest.”4 In the second year, you are to prune back all of the canes. “Leave a couple of buds on each of the arms. Remove flower clusters as they form.”5

I think the point is clear. Planting a vineyard requires great care and attention, with special emphasis on frequent, dramatic pruning. So what do we learn from Jesus calling his Father the vinedresser?

Tending the Vines

After he has planted the vineyard, we see that God prunes his branches, which are his followers, in two ways. First, he cuts off the dead wood. If small branches grow among the living ones, diseases and insects can kill the plant. He breaks these dead branches off because he doesn’t want anything to hinder the production of fruit. Consider the following biblical texts:

Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline; for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights. (Prov. 3:11–12)

Endure suffering as discipline: God is d...

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: How Fruit Grows: The Absolute Necessity of Abiding in Christ
• Chapter 2: The Fruit of Repentance: Preparing a Path for God
• Chapter 3: The Fruit of Ministry: A Ministry with No Regrets
• Chapter 4: The Fruit of Sanctification: God’s Work in Our Lives
• Chapter 5: The Fruit of Righteousness: You Only Grow in What You Know
• Chapter 6: The Fruit of Good Works: Your Work Done God’s Way for His Glory
• Chapter 7: The Fruit of the Spirit: The Flavor of the Fruit
• Chapter 8: The Fruit of Praise: Unending Worship
• Appendix: Foundations 260 (F260)
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• About the Author