John 15 - Africa Study Bible

Bear Fruit • John 15:1-17

Followers of Jesus should be bearing spiritual fruit. It is called the fruit of righteousness and is produced through selfless love and obedience. All Christians are capable of bearing this spiritual fruit when they remain connected with Christ, like a branch is connected to a tree. How do we know? We know because Christ himself showed his selfless love for all people on earth as he obeyed his Father.

A tree produces only its own type of fruit. God, the Farmer, uses pleasant and unpleasant ways to ensure that his children bear fruits of righteousness. When this happens, the Father is happy, just as the farmer is happy when his crops produce fruit. When you become Christ-like in your attitudes and actions, you begin to produce Christ-like fruit—specifically the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23). When you produce such fruit, you become a closer friend of Christ. Come to Christ. Then you will produce the fruits of righteousness.

A Mende person in Sierra Leone says, “I will not love you to the point of cooking my liver for you.” This means that love cannot make him offer his most precious asset to anyone. On the contrary, Jesus says, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Christ’s love can make us willing to give not just the liver, but the whole life.

What is the limit of love? For many of us, love has a limit. We love as long as it is convenient for us to do so, as long as our personal safety and interests are not jeopardised. Christ’s love, which he manifested, goes beyond all limits to the point of dying for those he loved. Christ’s love—and the love he wants us to manifest—is a selfless love, a love that can make one “cook his liver” for those he truly loves.