Bearing Fruit & The Love of the Father

John 15:8-9 – “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit: The purpose of fruit bearing is to bring glory to God, not to the disciple. A branch that bears much fruit brings honor to one who cares for the vine, and a disciple who bears much fruit in a spiritual sense brings honor to God.

Real fruitfulness is only determined over an extended period of time. This principle is displayed in the Parable of the Soils (Matthew 13).

D.A. Carson observes, “Genuine conversion is not measured by the hasty decision but by long-range fruitfulness.”

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you: Jesus deliberately loved His disciples according to the way God the Father loved Him. We know that Jesus loved His disciples by teaching them, protecting them, guiding them, sacrificially serving them, and using His power and authority to do these things. In some way, the Father also did all those things for Jesus, and Jesus did them for the disciples after that pattern.

The love of Jesus for His people is so remarkable, that this is the analogy or illustration that He must make. He didn’t say, “I love you as a mother loves her baby” or “I love you the way a husband loves his wife” or “I love you the way the soldier loves his buddy” or even “I love you the way an addict loves his dope.” The only way He could paint the picture was to use the love of the Father for the Son.

Charles Spurgeon urges the believer, “Beloved, you do not, dare not, could not, doubt the love of the Father to His Son. It is one of those unquestionable truths about which you never dreamed of holding an argument. Our Lord would have us place His love to us in the same category with the Father’s love to Himself. We are to be as confident of the one as of the other.”

The Father loved the Son with a love:

· That has no beginning.

· That has no end.

· That is close and personal.

· That is without measure.

· That is unchanging.

This is the love we also receive through Christ!

Based on The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik.