Jesus emphasizes three characteristics of the fruit associated with life in Him. One, it is authentic. It organically proceeds from union with Him. It is not of our own stark effort, yielding artificial fruit that looks real but is not. Two, it is abundant. Jesus says, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:8, ESV). Whether that fruit is a harvest of thirty fold or a hundred fold, it will not be meager. It will be much fruit. Third, the fruit of union with Christ will be enduring. It will not wither.

Jesus emphasizes three characteristics of the fruit associated with life in Him.

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:8, ESV)

In the Gospels Jesus told a parable about fruitfulness. It’s often referred to as the parable of the sower but it’s really a parable about fruitfulness and the sort of soil that produces it. He identifies four kinds of ground: a hard path, rocky soil, thorny soil, and good soil. Although there are four types of ground mentioned, there are really only two: fruit bearing and non-fruit bearing. The seed sown on the non-fruit bearing ground is either plucked away or does spring up but never results in fruit. 

Jesus explains that the seed is the gospel and the ground is the heart. A case can be made that the different soils represent different responses to receiving the gospel message. The path is the hard heart that rejects the gospel outright. The rocky soil reflects an emotional response to the gospel. People receive the good news with great joy but when they start to suffer for their faith they decide that’s not what they signed up for.

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