Abiding with Christ and Spiritual Fruit

November 13, 2024 / by Dr. Jeff VanGoethem

One of God’s great longings for us, through our union with Christ, is spiritual fruit. We see this in the picture of the vineyard in John 15.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit . . . I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit…” (John 15:2-5).

What is this fruit? Well, if we study the New Testament carefully we see several key ideas:

• It is progressive sanctification, growing in holiness (Rom 6:22)
• It is the development of Christian character (Gal.5:22-23)
• It is godliness and righteousness in our ways (Eph. 5:9, Phil. 1:11)
• It is inward and outward Christlikeness (James 3:17)

Our spiritual union with Christ is designed to produce this quality of life. Not in one day. Not overnight. Not as the result of one mountain top experience. But as the result of diligent efforts to “abide in Christ.” Which simply means to cultivate a constant sense of His presence, doing whatever we have to do to remain in or remain with Christ in daily living.

This is meant to be a simple idea. After all, it is taught to us through the use of a simple agricultural metaphor. Let’s not over complicate it. Just stay with Christ in each day and through each day. Early morning prayer and Bible Study, walking with God throughout the day, bringing all challenges, problems and failures to Him quickly, keeping short accounts with sin: over time these simple disciplines will produce much wonderful spiritual fruit.

This is the result of our union with Christ. Christ is with us. We are in Him. In any discussion of spiritual fruit and sanctification we see that God has a part and we have a part. If we do our part, surely He will do His part!

We do not strain and work to squeeze out the fruit. We simply live in Christ through ordinary, daily disciplines, staying with it day by day, and then, often to our own surprise, before long we begin to see the signs of progressive sanctification or beautiful spiritual fruit. Never perfectly, never all at once, but nonetheless it is very encouraging and satisfying to see such fruit emerging in our lives as the result of abiding in Christ and our union with Him.

Pastor Jeff VanGoethem has been in pastoral ministry for 40 years, including nearly twenty as Senior Pastor of East White Oak. He has returned to East White Oak after pastoring for some years in Dallas,Texas to serve as Associate Pastor of Spiritual Development and Missions. He is married to Karen. They have four daughters and five grandchildren.