WE ALL know what fruit is.  The produce of the branch, by which men are refreshed and nourished.  The fruit is not for the branch, but for those who come to carry it away.  As soon as the fruit is ripe, the branch gives it off, to commence afresh its work of beneficence, and anew prepare its fruit for another season.  A fruitbearing tree lives not for itself, but wholly for those to whom its fruit brings refreshment and life.  And so the branch exists only and entirely for the sake of the fruit.  To make glad the heart of the husbandman is its object, its safety, and its glory.

     Beautiful image of the believer, abiding in Christ!  He not only grows in strength, the union with the Vine becoming ever surer and firmer, he also bears fruit, yea, much fruit.  He has the power to offer that to others of which they can eat and live.  Amid all who surround him he becomes like a tree of life, of which they can taste and be refreshed.  He is in his circle a centre of life and of blessing, and that simply because he abides in Christ, and receives from Him the Spirit and the life of which he can impart to others.  Learn thus, if you would bless others, to abide in Christ, and that if you do abide, you shall surely bless.  As surely as the branch abiding in a fruitful vine bears fruit, so surely, yea, much more surely, will a soul abiding in Christ with His fulness of blessing be made a blessing.

     The reason of this is easily understood.  If Christ, the heavenly Vine, has taken the believer as a branch, then He has pledged Himself, in the very nature of things, to supply the sap and spirit and nourishment to make it bring forth fruit.  "From ME is thy fruit found" ( Hosea 14:8 ):  these words derive new meaning from our parable.  The soul need but have one care - to abide closely, fully, wholly.  He will give the fruit.  He works all that is needed to make the believer a blessing.

     Abiding in Him, you receive of Him His Spirit of love and compassion towards sinners, making you desirous to seek their good.  By nature the heart is full of selfishness.  Even in the believer, his own salvation and happiness are often too much his only object.  But abiding in Jesus, you come into contact with His infinite love; its fire begins to burn within your heart; you see the beauty of love; you learn to look upon loving and serving and saving your fellowmen as the highest privilege a disciple of Jesus can have.  Abiding in Christ, your heart learns to feel the wretchedness of the sinner still in darkness, and the fearfulness of the dishonor done to your God.  With Christ you begin to bear the burden of souls, the burden of sins not your own.  As you are more closely united to Him, somewhat of that passion for souls which urged Him to Calvary begins to breathe within you, and you are ready to follow His footsteps, to forsake the heaven of your own happiness, and devote your life to win the souls Christ has taught you to love.  The very spirit of the Vine is love; the spirit of love streams into the branch that abides in Him.

     The desire to be a blessing is but the beginning.  As you undertake to work, you speedily become conscious of your own weakness and the difficulties in your way.  Souls are not saved at your bidding.  You are ready to be discouraged, and to relax your effort.  But abiding in Christ, you receive new courage and strength for the work.  Believing what Christ teaches, that it is HE who through you will give His blessing to the world, you understand that you are but the feeble instrument through which the hidden power of Christ does its work, that His strength may be perfected and made glorious in your weakness.  It is a great step when the believer fully consents to his own weakness, and the abiding consciousness of it, and so works faithfully on, fully assured that his Lord is working through him.  He rejoices that the excellence of the power is of God, and not of us.  Realizing his oneness with his Lord, he considers no longer his own weakness, but counts on the power of Him of whose hidden working within he is assured.  It is this secret assurance that gives a brightness to his look, and a gentle firmness to his tone, and a perseverance to all his efforts, which of themselves are great means of influencing those he is seeking to win.  He goes forth in the spirit of one to whom victory is assured; for this is the victory that overcometh, even our faith.  He no longer counts it humility to say that God cannot bless his unworthy efforts.  He claims and expects a blessing, because it is not he, but Christ in him, that worketh.  The great secret of abiding in Christ is the deep conviction that we are nothing, and He is everything.  As this is learnt, it no longer seems strange to believe that our weakness need be no hindrance to His saving power.  The believer who yields himself wholly up to Christ for service in the spirit of a simple, childlike trust, will assuredly bring forth much fruit.  He will not fear even to claim his share in the wonderful promise:  "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to the Father." ( John 14:12 )  He no longer thinks that He cannot have a blessing, and must be kept unfruitful, that he may be kept humble.  He sees that the most heavily laden branches bow the lowest down.  Abiding in Christ, he has yielded assent to the blessed agreement between the Vine and the branches, that of the fruit all the glory shall be to the Husbandman, the blessed Father.

     Let us learn two lessons.  If we are abiding in Jesus, let us begin to work.  Let us first seek to influence those around us in daily life.  Let us accept distinctly and joyfully our holy calling, that we are even now to live as the servants of the love of Jesus to our fellowmen.  Our daily life must have for its object the making of an impression favorable to Jesus.  When you look at the branch, you see at once the likeness to the Vine.  We must live so that somewhat of the holiness and the gentleness of Jesus may shine out in us.  We must live to represent Him.  As was the case with Him when on earth, the life must prepare the way for the teaching.  What the Church and the world both need is this:  men and women full of the Holy Ghost and of love, who, as the living embodiments of the grace and power of Christ, witness for Him, and for His power on behalf of those who believe in Him.  Living so, with our hearts longing to have Jesus glorified in the souls He is seeking after, let us offer ourselves to Him for direct work.  There is work in our own home.  There is work among the sick, the poor, and the outcast.  There is work in a hundred different paths which the Spirit of Christ opens up through those who allow themselves to be led by Him.  There is work perhaps for us in ways that have not yet been opened up by others.  Abiding in Christ, let us work.  Let us work, not like those who are content if they now follow the fashion, and take some share in religious work.  No; let us work as those who are growing more like Christ, because they are abiding in Him, and who, like Him, count the work of winning souls to the Father the very joy and glory of heaven begun on earth.

     And the second lesson is:  If you work, abide in Christ.  This is one of the blessings of work if done in the right spirit - it will deepen your union with your blessed Lord.  It will discover your weakness, and throw you back on His strength.  It will stir you to much prayer; and in prayer for others is the time when the soul, forgetful of itself, unconsciously grows deeper into Christ.  It will make clearer to you the true nature of branch-life; its absolute dependence, and at the same time its glorious sufficiency independent of all else, because dependent on Jesus.  If you work, abide in Christ.  There are temptations and dangers.  Work for Christ has sometimes drawn away from Christ, and taken the place of fellowship with Him.  Work can sometimes give a form of godliness without the power.  As you work, abide in Christ.  Let a living faith in Christ working in you be the secret spring of all your work; this will inspire at once humility and courage.  Let the Holy Spirit of Jesus dwell in you as the Spirit of His tender compassion and His divine power.  Abide in Christ, and offer every faculty of your nature freely and unreservedly to Him, to sanctify it for Himself.  If Jesus Christ is really to work through us, it needs an entire consecration of ourselves to Him, daily renewed.  But we understand now, just this is abiding in Christ; just this it is that constitutes our highest privilege and happiness.  To be a branch bearing much fruit - nothing less, nothing more - be this our only joy.