When God created the earth and everything in it, he made everything fruitful.  In Gen 1:11, 22, 28, he made the trees and grass fruitful, the fish and fowl fruitful, and us to be fruitful.  In Gen 9:1, after the flood, he told Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply.  Therefore, as God’s new creatures in Christ, we should be fruitful. 

In Rom 7:4, now that we have trusted in Christ, “we should bring forth fruit unto God”.  Eph 2:10 says that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works”.  And according to Paul’s prayer in Col 1:10 we should be “fruitful in every good work”.  We should bear fruit after our kind. That is, we should be able to lead others to the Lord.

We see in Lk 8:15 that when the seed falls into good ground it brings forth fruit.  If you have a good heart, the seed of the word of God is going to be fruitful.  There is nothing wrong with the seed.  If we aren’t fruitful, there is something wrong with us. For more on this see The Parable of the Sower.

We should be fruitful.  If you’re not fruitful it’s because:

You are choked – Lk 8:14.  The cares, riches, and pleasures of this life choke the word so that it cannot bring forth fruit unto perfection.  Mk 4:19 calls these thorns “the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in”.  Thorns are a fruit killers.  Often your attention to your career, education, family, ambitions, and so forth become preeminent in your life.  And you are no longer concerned about bearing fruit.

You are not reaping – Jn 4:35-38.  “He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal”.  Right where you are, if you will lift up your eyes, there are opportunities to sow and reap.  You can sow and reap among the people who are around you at work, and in your neighborhood, and in your family.  But if you don’t see these opportunities and do this work, you won’t be fruitful.

You can’t stand the purging and dunging – Jn 15:2.  You can tell from this verse and from Lk 13:6-9 that the Lord is very interested in fruit.  When a branch bears fruit in the vine, he purges it to bring forth more fruit.  When the fig tree doesn’t bear fruit he dungs it and then cuts it down if it still isn’t fruitful.  There’s nothing wrong with the husbandman or the vine, only the branches.  They need purging and the tree needs dunging.   

For some of us, this purging and dunging process is more than we are willing to bear.  After you first trusted Christ, you probably told several people about your salvation, hoping they would believe, as well.  When the Lord began to purge things out of your life that inhibit your ability to bear fruit for him, you balked.  It was too painful.

But notice in Jn 15:8, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit”.  The reason that the Lord goes to work on our lives to make them more fruitful is for his Father’s glory.  We aren’t bearing fruit for our sakes, but for his.  We are to “bring forth fruit unto God”, Rom 7:4.

You won’t go – Jn 15:16.  “I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit”.  If you don’t go when the Lord sends you, you won’t bring forth fruit.  We have seen people saved through knocking on doors in the neighborhoods near the church.  Robert was able to lead Gracie and Norbert to the Lord because he would go every Saturday for months.  Luanne was able to lead Anna to the Lord because she went to see her regularly for five months.  If you don’t go, you won’t be fruitful. 

Conclusion: we should be fruitful.  If, for some reason, you’re not fruitful, perhaps it is for one of these reasons we’ve discussed tonight.  Correct this now and let the Lord bring forth fruit in your life.