John 15: Bearing Fruit, Growth in Three Stages

Introduction

"Bearing fruit": that is the theme Pierre Fauchy, pastor of Église Nice Métropole, returns to as he opens the third message of the series, still based on John 15: "He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit."

The first two messages turned our eyes away from the fruit itself. The most important thing for bearing fruit is to be connected to Jesus. This Sunday, the pastor finally asks the question: "What are we talking about when we talk about fruit?"

His answer comes down to one conviction: fruit forms in us progressively. He identifies three kinds of fruit that you can spot in your own walk with God. The first shows in your life, the second in your relationships, the third in what you give.

Outline of the Message

1. Stay Attached to the Vine

• The pastor sums up the previous messages. Faced with the urge to produce fruit at all costs, God says: "Don't pick the wrong fight." Fruit matters, but what matters most is being connected to Jesus (John 15:5).
• To remain is to stay attached. The back-and-forth of "connect, disconnect" does not work in nature: if you cut off the branch you grafted, it has very little chance of bearing fruit.
• He is the vine, we are the branches. Staying connected takes perseverance, and sometimes a fight: "Remaining, staying attached to, is a battle."
• To remain in him is also to remain in his word. And the relationship goes both ways: "God doesn't want it to be one-way in our lives." Fruit comes out of this exchange, out of our questions and our prayer life.

2. Fruit That Grows in Stages

• Sometimes we would like certain fruits to appear right away. Then we realize that before we can bear certain fruits, others have to appear first.
• The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 is well known, but it is "one among many." There is a real progression, step by step.
• Pierre Fauchy suggests three types of fruit to "map out" in your life. He warns that if you don't respect this logic, "it can get complicated."

3. First Fruit: Who I Become

• The starting text is John 12:24: if the grain of wheat does not fall into the earth and die, it does not bear much fruit.
• This first fruit touches character: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The pastor smiles: "There's work to do."
• "Fruit starts with who I become." Otherwise, it will be hard to produce other fruit.
• This fruit also concerns the choices and decisions made in holiness: "Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance" (Matthew 3:8). It shows in decisions people make, not because someone asks them to, but because it has become obvious in their heart.
• A brother from the church, on the day of his baptism, shared with the pastor his desire to propose marriage. The pastor told him that this decision was his own, inspired by what God had put in his heart: "That's fruit."

4. Peace in the Middle of the Storm

• A woman from the church, the mother of a little girl, found herself without a home. The church prayed for her housing application. A few days later, the answer came: refused, she had been second on the list.
• She testifies: "I was devastated. We prayed, I fasted, I said: Lord, I don't understand." It was her younger sister, who is not a Christian, who told her over the phone: if you didn't get that apartment, it's because it wasn't the one God had reserved for you.
• She kept praying and praising the Lord. Soon after, a phone call told her that a home had been granted to her, without anyone having warned her of another review by the committee. The middle school for her daughter, which she had put in her prayers, is less than ten minutes away on foot.
• She leaned on a song, "Count Your Blessings": "I didn't know when, but I knew he was going to act, and I was sure of what he has already done for me."
• What struck the pastor was the peace in her during that period, without showing her daughter any of the stress she was going through. "That's where I see fruit." Going through the storm with all its questions is also a fruit of God's work deep in the heart.

5. Second Fruit: My Relationship With Others

• If fruit begins in us, it keeps going on its way: it is a fruit that shows in our relationships with others. Still in the text about the vine, Jesus says: "This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you" (John 15:12).
• It is not optional. And it is "not simple to love the other." Very often it takes a work that the Holy Spirit must do deep within us.
• Scripture speaks of regarding others as better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). Humility then becomes concrete fruit.
• Everyone has their own definition of love, and we often measure it by our own needs: "I don't feel loved." Loving is rather seeking the good of the other: forgiving, being patient, encouraging, carrying the other.
• The example of Jesus adds the notion of sacrifice. We would like to love "as long as I don't have to sacrifice myself." This fruit is a deeper work than a simple effort. It calls for a prayer: "Lord, help me bear this fruit you are asking me to bear."

6. Third Fruit: What I Make Available

• To illustrate, the pastor brought a basket of fruit and vegetables bought at the supermarket, for lack of an orchard. This fruit represents the talents, the time, the abilities that God has placed in us.
• "It's not a fruit yet. It's potentially a fruit." These talents become spiritual fruit in our lives only if they are given.
• The text is 1 Peter 4:10: as good stewards of the various gifts of God's grace, each one should use the gift they have received to serve others. In every gift, God expects something from us: that we make it bear fruit.
• The parable of the talents reminds us of this (Matthew 25:14-30): one makes what he received bear fruit, another buries it. And from everyone who has been given much, much will be required (Luke 12:48).
• Hence the importance of the order of the stages. Why do I serve? Am I looking for recognition, for everyone to say: "The fruit you bear is magnificent"?
• The pastor holds out a turnip to the congregation. Nobody wants it. The person who grew it could be offended: they turned the soil, they put their whole heart into it. Without the first fruit, God's work in the heart, "the turnip can become a stumbling block."

7. Sowing Without Always Seeing the Harvest

• Once you have put your fruit at God's disposal, you don't know what path it will take. This is often a source of frustration in serving: we don't always see the reach of what we do.
• The pastor tells how a young woman welcomed in his former congregation wrote to him recently, seven years later. Her letter described the whole spiritual journey she had made, thanks to the welcome she received and the sermons sown in her heart: "I'm telling you this to encourage your ministry."
• If the grain of wheat does not die, it cannot bear fruit. What we place in the Lord's hands has to be taken up by someone who will be fed by it and live something with God.
• In practical terms, the church had prepared six stands presenting its ministries: logistics, building stewardship, children, worship, spiritual dynamics, training. The goal was not to say "we need help," but to make the life of the church known and to let the Holy Spirit touch hearts.
• Even a discreet service bears fruit. The previous Sunday, a brother could not find a place to park and went back home: without a teammate in the parking lot, someone can be kept from coming to the service. The pastor encourages the parking team, because stewardship becomes a blessing for your brother and your sister.
• He concludes with a prayer: "On the cross, you died and the fruit is simply glorious. We are the fruit of your death, Jesus."

Key Takeaways

• The most important thing for bearing fruit is to stay attached to Jesus, with perseverance and in his word.
• Fruit grows in stages: first in me, then in my relationships, finally in what I give.
• The first fruit is who I become: a transformed character and decisions made in holiness.
• Loving others as Jesus loved us is a commandment, not an option. This fruit takes a deep work of the Holy Spirit.
• A talent is only fruit in the making. It becomes fruit when it is put at the service of others, even if you don't see the harvest right away.

Personal Application

1. In what area of your life do you tend to "disconnect" from the vine, then reconnect?
2. Among love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, which fruit does God want to grow in you right now?
3. Are you going through a storm? Which of God's blessings can you count today?
4. Who do you find hard to love? What would it mean for you to forgive, encourage or carry that person?
5. What talent, what time, what ability are you keeping in your basket instead of putting it at the service of others? And why do you serve: to be seen, or for the Kingdom to advance?

Verses Cited

• John 15
• John 15:5
• John 15:12
• John 12:24
• Galatians 5:22-23
• Matthew 3:8
• Philippians 2:3
• 1 Peter 4:10
• Matthew 25:14-30
• Luke 12:48

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the three stages of fruit according to Pierre Fauchy?

Fruit first appears in my life, in my character and my decisions. It then shows in my relationships with others, through the love Jesus commands. Finally it becomes fruit to give, when I put at the service of others what God has entrusted to me. For the preacher, this order matters: you cannot skip a stage.

Why does fruit begin with who I become?

Pierre Fauchy draws on John 12:24: if the grain of wheat does not die, it does not bear much fruit. The first fruit touches character (love, joy, peace, patience and the other qualities of Galatians 5:22-23) and decisions made in holiness. Without that fruit, it will be hard to produce any other.

Is a talent already fruit?

No. For the preacher, the talents, the time and the abilities God has placed in us are not yet fruit, but fruit in the making. They become spiritual fruit only when they are given, as 1 Peter 4:10 says: each one should use the gift they have received to serve others.