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John 15:8-11  THE JOY OF BRINGING GLORY TO GOD

Introduction:
	
	In this text we learn that there is joy in bringing
glory to God by bearing fruit for Him.

I.  The connection of this text to the previous text

	In our previous text Jesus promised His disciples that
if they would continue to abide in Him and if they allow His
words to continue in them they could ask anything they
desire and God would grant their request.
	It is important to note that Jesus did not promise that
a Christian who lives a rebellious and ungodly life could
ask whatsoever he desires and have his request granted.  A
Christian must maintain such close fellowship with Jesus
that what he will ask only that which pleases God and that
which will bring glory to His name.
	Jesus did not promise that a Christian can ask for
things which are out of the will of God and have God to
grant his request.  Jesus said that the Christian must have
the words of Jesus abiding in him.  That is, he must be
familiar with God's words and understand those words
sufficiently well to know what the will of God is in the
matter.  Then he must make his request in keeping with the
will of God.  If he asks for things out of selfishness and
greed, he is asking amiss and the Book of James says that
request will not be granted.
	Never-the-less, the promise which Jesus made is an
exceedingly great promise.  When the Christian is in close
fellowship with Jesus and is asking that which is harmony
with the teachings of Jesus he can ask what he will and his
request will be granted.  In the book of James we are told
that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails
much.  When a Christian lives a righteous life and knows the
will of God he will pray for things which are within the
will of God and his prayers will be of great benefit to
himself, to his family, to his church, to the cause of
Christ in general and to the world at large.
	In our text today, Jesus called upon the disciples, whom
He would soon leave behind to remain faithful to Him after
He is gone and to bear much fruit to the glory of God.
	The spreading of the gospel message throughout the world
would soon depend on those men.  The continuation of the
work of New Testament churches through New Testament
churches down through the coming ages would depend to a
great measure on them.  At least getting the work off to a
good start depended on them.

II.  Bringing God greater glory

	V. 8, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much
fruit..."  When an unsaved person repents of his sin and
trusts in Jesus Christ for salvation, he gets saved and is
on his way to heaven.  Spiritually he is now a branch
growing on the Spiritual Vine, Jesus Christ.  He is a
fruit-bearing branch growing on the Vine.  God gets glory
out saving his soul and God gets glory out of the fruit that
he bears after he is saved.
	Because the Christian lives still in human flesh and
does not live a perfect life he, like the branch of a grape
vine, undergoes pruning.  This pruning is done at the hand
of God.  As a result of the pruning, he produces greater
fruit for God and God gets greater glory out of his life.
God gets the glory for saving the man and God gets glory out
of the life that he lives producing fruit for God.
	If that Christian gets involved in worldly activities he
is like a good grape branch that has been broken off from
the grape vine.  He soon withers and produces less and less
fruit for God.
	On the other hand, if a Christian maintains close
fellowship with Jesus Christ and allows the word of the Lord
to fill his mind and heart so that he is guided in his
conduct and in his prayers by the word of God, his prayers
will be granted and he bears more and more fruit for God and
God is glorified more and more.

III.  Becoming better disciples

	(V. 8), "...so shall ye be my disciples."  Jesus said
that if the disciples become more fruitful, they would be
His disciples.  This is to be understood in light of the
fact that they were already His disciples.  They had been
His disciples for three and a half years.  They had walked
with Him and sat at His feet listening to His teachings for
three and a half years.  They are repeatedly referred to in
Scripture as His disciples.
	Thus, Jesus could not have meant in this verse that they
would have to become more productive in fruit bearing in
order to become disciples for the first time.  What He did
mean is that they would become better disciples.
	They were in the childhood stage of their discipleship.
If they would remain loyal to Him and be true to Him and His
word and His cause even after He is gone then they would
become fully grown up in their discipleship.  They would
become disciples indeed.

IV.  Getting greater love from God

	V. 9, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved
you..."  There was no doubt in the minds of those disciples
that God the Father loves Jesus.  No human being could do
the kind of miracles that they had seen Jesus do, unless God
loved Him and was pouring out His blessing on Him.
	Jesus said, "Just as God the Father has loved me, even
so I love you."  He is about to show beyond any reasonable
doubt how much He loves them.  He is about to give His life
for them.  He is about to die on the cross of Calvary for
them.  They could not realize just what that means at this
time.  But later they would realize that it is an evidence
of the great love which Jesus has for them and for all
mankind.
	Jesus continued to urge them to be faithful even after
He goes away.  (V. 9), "...continue ye in my love."  "Do not
give up the ship.  Do not scatter and fall by the wayside.
Continue to walk in my love.  Continue to be faithful to the
church that I have founded.  Continue to preach my word.
Continue to spread the gospel to those who are lost.
Continue to teach others the things which I have taught to
you.  As you are aware that I have loved you, you can
continue to know that I love you."
	His love for them would be especially strong in view of
what He had just said to them.  If they would continue their
closeness to Him --- if they would continue to allow His
word to abide in them --- if they would continue to bear
fruit for God --- if they would mature in their discipleship
so as to bear more and more fruit, then His love for them
would remain as strong as ever.  He could have said, "I will
love you more and more.  My love for you will be stronger
and stronger."
	V. 10. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my
love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and
abide in his love."  There is a sense in which Jesus loves
all men.  He loves even the most ungodly.  In fact He loved
us when we were ungodly and sent someone to us to present
the gospel message to us that we might be saved.  He loves
lost souls so much that He died on Calvary that they might
be saved.  That is a love that is beyond our understanding.
	But the love that Jesus has for the unsaved is not
nearly as great as the love that He has for those who have
brought glory to the Father by trusting His Son for
salvation.  Jesus loves the saved far greater than He does
the unsaved.
	What is more, He loves the saved who are obedient to His
word far greater than He does wayward Christians.  Jesus has
a special love for those who saved people who seek to live
their lives in obedience to the instructions He has given.
Jesus not only wants people to get saved, but He wants them
to be obedient to His word after they are saved.  Later He
would give the Great Commission to His church.  In that
commission He will instruct the church to teach those who
are saved to be obedient to "whatsoever I have commanded
you."  Even an earthly parent has a greater appreciation for
the child who is obedient than for the child who is
constantly disobeying.  He loves all of his children, but he
has a greater love for the ones who obey.  So it is with the
Lord.  Jesus loves all who are children of God, but He has a
greater love for those who are obedient to His word.

V.  Getting greater joy

	V. 11, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy
might remain in you..."  Jesus not only loved those
disciples, but He took pride in them.  He received a great
deal of satisfaction and joy out of their lives.  This was
true of them and it is true with you.  That is, it is true
with you if you are saved.  The Lord's love for you is so
great that He is exceedingly joyous that you have been
saved.
	When a Christian lives close to Jesus and bears fruit
for Jesus, God the Father in heaven is glorified and Jesus
Himself rejoices.  Jesus gets an astounding amount of joy
when He sees a Christian bearing fruit for God.  The more
fruit for God that a Christian bears, the more exceedingly
Jesus rejoices.  He gets just plain exhilarated when a
Christian is doing that which pleases God.
	It is when a Christian gets out of the will of God that
Jesus becomes unhappy with that Christian.  Jesus said, "I
have spoken these things to you because I want you do what
makes me happy with you.  I am telling you these things
because I do not want you to be doing those things which
will make me unhappy with you.
	(V. 11), "...and that your joy might be full." Jesus is
saying, "You make me happy with you and I will make you
happy."  Listen, when a Christian is living the kind of life
that Jesus wants him to live not only is Jesus happy with
that Christian, but the Christian himself is happy.  His
heart is filled with joy in the Lord.  Circumstances here on
earth may not be very pleasant, but his heart is happy in
the Lord.  He is living for Jesus and he is happy in Jesus.
	But when a Christian gets out of the will of God, not
only is the Lord Jesus Christ unhappy with him, but the
Christian himself is unhappy.  He is unhappy with himself.
He is unhappy with other people around him for another.  He
is just plain downright unhappy.  It seems that everything
is going wrong.  Even the things that are going right seem
to him that they are going wrong.  Nothing seems to satisfy.
As far as this life is concerned, the Christian's joy is at
it peak when he is living in the will of God, doing the work
of God and bearing fruit for God.  When Paul and Silas were
in jail at Philippi they both got so happy that they broke
out in song at midnight.  They had no earthly reason to be
happy, but they were happy in the Lord.
	The Christian's greatest joys, of course, will not come
until he reaches heaven, but there is a lot of joy to be had
right here in this world doing the work and the will of God.
	The closer one draws to Jesus Christ the Son of God, the
more fruit he will bear for God.  The more fruit he bears
for God the more glory he brings to God.  The more glory the
Christian brings to God, the more joy he brings to Jesus
Christ.  The more joy he brings to Jesus Christ, the more
joy he will have in his own heart and soul.