Do You Hate Simple Formulas, Yet Long to Be Fruitful?

In missions (and life), I’m not big on formulas. I’ve found that often A+ B just doesn’t equal C. But in John 15, Jesus gives us a simple answer for how to become more fruitful.

Spiritual Rituals Bring Life

After returning from a long trip, it is so good to get back to my normal routines. One of my favorite daily rituals is having my quiet time. I wake up, grab some coffee and go to my secret place. I plop down in my favorite spot, a comfortable couch that overlooks my garden.

Every morning, that is where I meet with God. I listen to His voice and process my life with Him. Worship, reading scripture, prayer, and then simply sitting in His Presence receiving from Him are a daily habit.

Do you have a secret place? A “spot” where you regularly meet with God?

Establishing spiritual rhythms and rituals need not be something legalistic. They can be life-giving. A spiritual habit of abiding in Jesus is crucial to living fruitful on the mission field.

Remaining in Him goes beyond just having a regular quiet time though. As John 15 tells us, abiding in Jesus also means learning to love and obey. These must also become spiritual habits in our lives.

Stress Can Bring Out A Nasty Response From Me!

Being on the move takes a lot out of me, especially in certain contexts. I recently visited a city where travel is challenging. Traffic jams, noise, pollution, and the dirt all around make it more difficult to feel connected to God’s Spirit.

The spiritual environment is difficult there too. Temples blare out chants and music that rubs against my spirit. Pushy and aggressive people around me shout and shove each other (and me), as I try to get off the vehicle I’ve boarded.

I feel myself getting angry inside. Instead of love, I start to feel something else. It is disdain. And maybe even a tiny bit of (let’s be honest and call it what it is) hate.

How natural it is in those situations for me to give in to the feelings rising inside!

It is so much easier to push back, roll my eyes and give people dirty looks than to pray for them. I often don’t “feel” loving toward those who are so rude and demanding around me.

Yet this is where my faith is tested. It is in situations like these where I find out how well I am doing at abiding in Jesus. I can choose to obey His command to love others or give in to my fleshly desire to feel justified in my frustration.

It is in those times that the reserves I have built up from regularly going to my secret place pay off. If my “love tank” is filled up because I’ve received from Jesus’ love, I easily overcome. I am kind and gracious. But when I’m empty inside, it isn’t so easy.

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” John 15:12-14 NIV.

The Fruitfulness Formula

John 15 is such a key passage of scripture when we talk about fruitfulness in our Christian lives! In this passage, the word fruit is repeated many times. Equally prominent are the words love and remain (or abide). There is another keyword there too. It is the word obey (or command). How do these things tie together?

The first part of the chapter focuses on remaining in Christ.  It describes the connection of this with fruitfulness.
– “Remain in me, as I also remain in you.”
– “Neither can you bear fruit, unless you remain in me.”
– “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.”
– “If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, it will be done for you.”

It is easy to see that remaining in Him is crucial for fruitfulness! I’m sure that isn’t a new idea for you. What does it really mean to remain in Him? To stay connected to His presence?

The next section of the chapter gives us the answer to that question we so often puzzle over.

We must love and obey. When we love and obey Jesus, we are remaining in Him. The evidence of our connection to Christ is our love for others and our obedience to Jesus’ commands.
– “Remain in my love.”
– “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love.”
– “Love each other, as I have loved you.”
– “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
– “This is my command: Love each other.”

The evidence that we are abiding in Him, remaining connected to Jesus is our love for others.

The Father loved Jesus. He loved us. Now we love others. That is the flow of the vine that will bear fruit.

Loving Well

So how are you doing at loving others? Do you struggle to love your team members well? Do you have a hard time letting go of an offense?

What about lost people? How are you doing at loving the unreached who live around you? Do they annoy and anger you? Or is your heart filled with love and compassion for them?

The answer is probably mixed. I know mine is! Some days I am overwhelmed with love for both the lost and for my brothers and sisters in Christ. Like Peter, I am ready to make bold declarations of my willingness to die for them! Other days, well, not so much.

On some days, I am even downright rude in my reactions to those who rub me wrong. The person in the vegetable stall who decides to change the rules about how he weighs the vegetables. The person who shoves me as I get off the bus or airplane. Or the co-worker who gets so distracted that they can’t complete their work. Even after many reminders!

Like you, I want my life to be fruitful in the Kingdom. I love the promises in this passage! “Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you!” That inspires my faith. But there are conditions attached to the promise. Things I must fulfill in order to ask for great things from God.

So here is the formula I find in John 15.

Remain + Love + Obey = Fruitfulness

First, I must stay in His love. I need to receive it. (Both my daily dose during quiet time and the continual flow as I stay connected to Jesus throughout the day.) Then I must release it to my friends, neighbors, co-workers and most of all to my own family members.

As I, by His grace, obey the command to love others well, my life will bear fruit. His promise is true. There will be much, much fruit in my missionary endeavors, and that fruit will last.

Let me encourage you,  go to that secret place once again. Get alone with the Master and receive His love afresh. Then get busy obeying His command to actively love those around you. Fruit is on the way!

What is the best way you have found to “abide in Jesus”? Let me know in the comments or on the Missionary Life Facebook Group.