“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15:1–17 NLT)
What are some reasonable descriptions of Kingdom fruit? Certainly, unity is one. Kingdom unity involves honoring one another in the household of faith, listening to one another in the context of being siblings of the King.
I felt this kind of honor at the 2015 Triennial in Sacramento, California. I brought my wife and two sons, and we had a good time interacting with current and new NAB friends. At that time, I had been pastoring Renewal Church outside of Detroit, Michigan, for three years.
This was my first encounter with Dan Hamil, the former executive director of the NAB, and it led to the role I serve in the conference now.
I noticed the theme of the Triennial was “Sent.” I also noticed there was very little ethnic diversity in the large gatherings during the plenary sessions.
I approached Dan, along with my regional minister, Terry Holley, and I said, “We should look more like the people we are being sent to.”
Dan listened, then came out to Detroit for a couple of roundtable discussions with local pastors and some other members of the NAB about ethnic diversity in the church and its role.
I see the unity of brothers and sisters in Christ who look different, and who sometimes worship differently and bear many marks of cultural difference, as a fruit of the power of the Gospel to break down barriers between people and erect oneness in the God–man Jesus Christ and his work. This power to overcome difference is more pronounced when the differences are real. And I know we all believe in this.
Kingdom fruit is evidence of the movement of the Spirit, and God is calling us to bear fruit. An aspect of fruit is relational unity in a diverse church, not just tolerance of each other. Jesus never told the church to tolerate one another; his command was to love one another. All the loves God commands us to – love of God, of Christian siblings, of neighbor, and of enemy – are not drifted into. They are not given a head nod without looking up. They must be attended to and fostered. They are commands of Jesus, and thus are the purpose of his body, the Church.
If the greatest commandment is to love God, and the second one like it is to love our neighbor as ourselves, then the unity of loving community is a reasonable aspect of Kingdom fruit. May we bear this fruit happily and increasingly naturally.
Wayne Stapleton is the VP of Cross-Cultural Engagement and Emerging Leader Engagement for the North American Baptist Conference.
