Joh 15:10-11 | KingComments | STEP | After the Lord’s deeply serious words for one who only pretends to have a connection with Him, He presents to His disciples the way of full blessing and abundant fruit. All who abide in Him, that is, those who are in a life connection with Him, will automatically bring forth fruit. That fruit is the effect of their abiding in Him as well as the abiding of His words in them. His disciples have heard His words, not as forgetful hearers (cf. ). They also accepted those words, so that they now abide in them and give direction to all their thoughts and actions. The Lord then directly encourages them to ask whatever they wish giving assurances that the sources of Divine power will work what they ask for. When our hearts are thus connected with Him, we will ask that which He loves to hear because it is completely according to His will ( ). He does not think of Himself, but is focused on the glorification of the Father. The more we pray according to His will, the more fruit we bear and the more the Father is glorified. Everything we ask, also with regard to our worries, will be fruit that glorifies the Father. This fruit also shows that we are disciples of the Lord Jesus. This is the second name the Lord uses to describe the believers in this chapter. He has already called them ‘branches’ and now He calls them ‘disciples’. He will also call them ‘friends’, ‘slaves’ and ‘witnesses’. Disciples are followers, students. He can call us His disciples when we have learned from Him, as true followers, that our life, just as His, is all about bearing fruit for the Father. Bearing fruit is not an easy thing. It can only happen in the way of following the Lord Jesus. Bearing fruit is a process we have to learn; we have to grow in it. Bearing fruit is a spiritual process of gaining insight into God’s thoughts of how we can be pleasing to the Lord ( ). That is why we are in the training school of God as students. In that training school we have a Teacher Who not only tells us how to do it, but also through His fellowship with the Father shows us how to do it. This brings us to the importance of the awareness of the love of the Lord Jesus. This awareness is an element of priceless value for the path the disciple has to take in order to bear much fruit. Therefore, it is the disciple’s responsibility to remain in the love of the Lord Jesus. His love is an infallible source of comfort in the sometimes painful and disappointing course of earthly circumstances that are so contrary to Him. To abide in His love means to be constantly aware of that love, whatever the circumstances may be. Perhaps it may seem that He does not love us, but we must hold on to the fact that He loves us with the same love with which the Father has loved Him in His life as Man on earth. It is about that love and not about the love of the eternal Father for the eternal Son. He is always aware of that love, even if it is not apparent from the situation in which He finds himself. It is not our human judgment that is the standard to define love, but the knowledge that He loves us. For continuous awareness of His love it is necessary to keep His commandments. We can abide in His love if we are willing to do what He asks of us. When we look at the fruits it brings, keeping His commandments can’t be difficult. Just as the Lord Jesus is the perfect example of love, so is He in keeping the commandments. He abides in the love of the Father by keeping His commandments. He knows the Father’s love of eternity, but now He knows that love in a new way by keeping the commandments of the Father as obedient Son. The commandments of the Father are not the commandments of Sinai. The Lord Jesus is not just a Jew Who faithfully obeys the law. He is the Son Who fulfills the commandments of the Father. We have seen an example of these commandments in John 10 ( ). There He speaks of the commandment He received from His Father to lay down His life and take it again. Such a commandment is nowhere to be found in the law of the Old Testament. Nowhere does the law ask a righteous man to lay down his life. Only Someone Who is also God can lay down His life and take it again. Every wish of the Father is to Him a commandment. How does He know those wishes? Because he walks in fellowship with the Father. The same applies to us if we want to abide in His love. True discipleship is that we abide in the enjoyment of the love of Christ.

‏ John 15:10-11

Bearing Much Fruit

After the Lord’s deeply serious words for one who only pretends to have a connection with Him, He presents to His disciples the way of full blessing and abundant fruit. All who abide in Him, that is, those who are in a life connection with Him, will automatically bring forth fruit. That fruit is the effect of their abiding in Him as well as the abiding of His words in them.

His disciples have heard His words, not as forgetful hearers (cf. Jam 1:25). They also accepted those words, so that they now abide in them and give direction to all their thoughts and actions. The Lord then directly encourages them to ask whatever they wish giving assurances that the sources of Divine power will work what they ask for. When our hearts are thus connected with Him, we will ask that which He loves to hear because it is completely according to His will (Jn 14:13). He does not think of Himself, but is focused on the glorification of the Father.

The more we pray according to His will, the more fruit we bear and the more the Father is glorified. Everything we ask, also with regard to our worries, will be fruit that glorifies the Father. This fruit also shows that we are disciples of the Lord Jesus. This is the second name the Lord uses to describe the believers in this chapter. He has already called them ‘branches’ and now He calls them ‘disciples’. He will also call them ‘friends’, ‘slaves’ and ‘witnesses’.

Disciples are followers, students. He can call us His disciples when we have learned from Him, as true followers, that our life, just as His, is all about bearing fruit for the Father. Bearing fruit is not an easy thing. It can only happen in the way of following the Lord Jesus.

Bearing fruit is a process we have to learn; we have to grow in it. Bearing fruit is a spiritual process of gaining insight into God’s thoughts of how we can be pleasing to the Lord (2Pet 1:5-8). That is why we are in the training school of God as students. In that training school we have a Teacher Who not only tells us how to do it, but also through His fellowship with the Father shows us how to do it.

This brings us to the importance of the awareness of the love of the Lord Jesus. This awareness is an element of priceless value for the path the disciple has to take in order to bear much fruit. Therefore, it is the disciple’s responsibility to remain in the love of the Lord Jesus. His love is an infallible source of comfort in the sometimes painful and disappointing course of earthly circumstances that are so contrary to Him. To abide in His love means to be constantly aware of that love, whatever the circumstances may be.

Perhaps it may seem that He does not love us, but we must hold on to the fact that He loves us with the same love with which the Father has loved Him in His life as Man on earth. It is about that love and not about the love of the eternal Father for the eternal Son. He is always aware of that love, even if it is not apparent from the situation in which He finds himself. It is not our human judgment that is the standard to define love, but the knowledge that He loves us.

For continuous awareness of His love it is necessary to keep His commandments. We can abide in His love if we are willing to do what He asks of us. When we look at the fruits it brings, keeping His commandments can’t be difficult. Just as the Lord Jesus is the perfect example of love, so is He in keeping the commandments. He abides in the love of the Father by keeping His commandments. He knows the Father’s love of eternity, but now He knows that love in a new way by keeping the commandments of the Father as obedient Son.

The commandments of the Father are not the commandments of Sinai. The Lord Jesus is not just a Jew Who faithfully obeys the law. He is the Son Who fulfills the commandments of the Father. We have seen an example of these commandments in John 10 (Jn 10:17-18). There He speaks of the commandment He received from His Father to lay down His life and take it again. Such a commandment is nowhere to be found in the law of the Old Testament. Nowhere does the law ask a righteous man to lay down his life.

Only Someone Who is also God can lay down His life and take it again. Every wish of the Father is to Him a commandment. How does He know those wishes? Because he walks in fellowship with the Father. The same applies to us if we want to abide in His love. True discipleship is that we abide in the enjoyment of the love of Christ.

Joy

If the words of this chapter are read in a lawful way, there will only be sadness and we may even become depressed. If bearing fruit is understood as an achievement to be made, we feel how much we fall short. This leads us to the sighing of wanting, but not being able, as we see with the man described in Romans 7 (Rom 7:15-19).

When we understand the words of Christ as He meant them, we realize that they are expressly meant to give us His joy and make our joy full. The joy He has is the motive for us to walk as disciples in a life of fruitfulness. Bearing fruit is for the Father, but the joy of the Lord Jesus will be our part.

This is one of the glorious things He means when He speaks to Peter about having part with Him (Jn 13:8). Having part with Him here is “My joy”, just as the Lord also spoke about the having part in “My peace” (Jn 14:27) and “My love” (Jn 15:9) and as He will speak about “My glory” (Jn 17:24). He wants us to have part in His joy and that this joy will become complete (1Jn 1:4), i.e. come to adulthood. His joy is to be in the things of the Father. We are invited to grow toward that, that we too have nothing more than that. The joy of Him is to be in us. The perfect joy is when our joy merges with His joy.