Bearing fruit means doing good works by obeying the word of God. Reading the Bible, it does not take much effort to learn that God expects all who call on the name of Jesus to bear fruit. When Jesus discussed fruit-bearing in the Parable of the Sower, he mentioned that the good soil bore plenty of fruits – thirtyfold, hundredfold, etc. In the same way, as a fruitful Christian, do not stop at abstaining from sexual immorality, but proceed to bear other fruits such as patience, faithfulness, love, peace, forgiveness, and so on. All these fruits come with benefits that can be experienced both physically and spiritually in this time and the times to come. The benefits of bearing fruits are as follows:
Your prayers are answered if you bear fruit
Bearing fruit makes you qualify for an answered prayer. Indeed, we serve a prayer answering God; every Christian’s burning desire is to receive what he prayed for. However, we learn that ‘answered prayer’ is a luxury that can be enjoyed only by a certain category of people. In Jesus’ teachings, a few conditions must be met before one’s prayer can be answered. One of these conditions is that you are supposed to pray in Jesus’ name, according to John 16:23.
Secondly, according to John 15:16, a Christian must bear fruit before God will grant him what he prayed for in Jesus’ name. Jesus said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you (John 15:16).” God answers the prayer of every fruit-bearing Christian at the appointed time.
You identify as a Christian if you bear fruit
It is easy to perceive that a man wearing a turban is an Indian or a Muslim. This is because it has been their way from of old. Often, outward appearance easily predicts a person’s morality, ethnicity, religion, etc. Jesus Christ taught His followers something similar. Sometimes, we should let our deeds speak for us, instead of our mouths.
Jesus told His disciples, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (John 15:8 NIV).” The world will know you by your fruit. Honesty, truthfulness, love, kindness, forgiveness, peace, etc. – if a Christian is bearing such fruits, he shall be like a city on a hill, he cannot hide, for his neighbors and community will easily identify him as a Christian and a true follower of Jesus Christ.
Fruit bearing is your spiritual security in Christ
The Psalmist David says the Lord is his light and his salvation (Ps 27:1) and it is rightly so. However, while God is saving some people into His kingdom, He is also removing some people from His kingdom. In John 15:1-3, Jesus identifies Himself as the true vine, and the Father as the gardener, and we, His followers, are the branches. As part of His role, the gardener removes any branch of the vine that does not bear fruit.
As it stands now, God is executing plans to save more unbelievers. He is also helping Christians who are making an effort to bear fruit. At the same time, He is erasing the names of unfruitful Christians from the Book of Life and removing them from the church. The unfruitful Christian is the Christian who is living a sinful life. To learn more about how God removes unfruitful Christians from the church, read ‘What is bearing fruit in the Bible?’
You inherit the kingdom of heaven if you bear fruit
In God’s perfect will, He expects to see every Christian bear fruit. That is why He feels glorified when we do so. Hence, a Christian who is bearing fruit is doing the perfect will of God and will go to heaven – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father .. (Mt 7:21). According to Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus identified a certain category of believers whose mouths are full of praises and good testimonies: they call Jesus their Lord and boldly profess to be Christians. Yet they do evil and their lifestyle is inconsistent with God’s will.
In His teachings, Jesus affirmed that such unfruitful Christians would face rejection and would be denied eternal life. Jesus described the anguish of the unfruitful Christians on the Judgment day for they will say “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” And Jesus will tell them, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! (Matthew 7:21-23)” No fruit-bearing Christian shall face such a rejection because God’s will is fulfilled in him and he will inherit eternal life.
You do yourself a favor if you bear fruit
The opposite of bearing fruit is leaving a sinful life. Sin has consequences – be it fornication, adultery, lust, lies, fraud, corruption, bribery, etc. The consequences range from disgrace, imprisonment, diseases, and self-destruction to burning in hell. Therefore the Christian who chooses to bear fruit makes a wise choice and saves himself a ton of problems that come with wandering in sin. Moreover, God has promised that, if His people keep His word, He will not bring on them the diseases He unleashes upon the Egyptians (Genesis 15:26).
A Christian friend committed fornication. Unknown to him, his lady partner had an STD, and he contracted it too. According to him, he went through terrible discomfort and pain, leading him to blow a large sum of money on expensive medication to rid himself of the disease. The Bible says, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body (1 Corinthians 6:18 NIV).” Had my friend obeyed the word of God, he would have avoided this pain and financial loss.
Conclusion
Fruit-bearing comes with benefits or blessings and it is far better than not bearing fruit. The fact that Jesus spent much of His time teaching about bearing fruit makes bearing fruits an essential practice in Christianity. Your faith in Christ is meaningless and unreal if you are not bearing fruit as a Christian. Moreover, Christ would not be profitable to you and you will eventually part with Him if you are not bearing fruit.