Unconfessed sin and the fruitless leader

Dann Spader April 12, 2019

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According to Jesus, the Father’s ultimate goal for every one of us is to move us to the “much fruit” level, so that we can prove we are His disciples and thus bring Him glory. “By this my Father is glorified,” Jesus claims, “that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:8 ESV). 

However, not every believer ultimately bears much fruit. There is a definite progression of fruit-bearing with some definite barriers between each level. Fortunately, Jesus also exposes barriers that keep us from getting to the next level and gives His Father’s remedy.

One of these barriers I see is the barrier of sin. Jesus states, “He [my Father] cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit” (John 15:2). The word translated “cuts off” is the Greek word airo, and it is used over a hundred times in the New Testament. 

But only here is it translated “cuts off.” The word literally means to “lift up” or “move to a different location.” In Matthew 9:6, for example, after Jesus heals the paralyzed man, He tells him to airo his mat and go home—to lift it up and take it someplace else.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit a vineyard, you will find the vines carefully lifted up and placed on wire trellises. If a gardener sees a vine that has fallen from the trellises, he will lift it up (airo) out of the dirt, clean it off if necessary and place it back in the sunlight so that it can eventually bear fruit. If it is left in the mud, it will become like a branch that withers and will be thrown in the fire to burn (John 15:6).

The barrier between no fruit and fruit is simply the barrier of sin. Sin causes us to fall out of the sunlight (Son) and into the dirt. If we are left in the dirt, we will shrivel up and become unproductive. But if we are lifted up (airo), cleaned off if necessary (Jesus said, “you are already clean”), and placed back into the Son light, then we can move from no fruit to fruit. Jesus makes it clear: we cannot bear fruit apart from Him (John 15:5). And in the same way, we cannot bear fruit if sin is controlling our lives. We must deal with known sin, and then the Lord will cleanse us from “all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Sin is the barrier that keeps us from bearing fruit. Every day spent in sin is a day we fail to bear fruit.

Because of this, it is critical that we teach our disciples how to immediately and completely repent of any known sin. Granted, we all need to repent initially of our sinfulness. But I love what the Christians in Romania call each other—Repenters! For them, the Christian life is a life of repenting. Confessing known sin, by faith claiming Christ’s cleansing, and then moving forward in the power of the Spirit. This is a Repenters’ lifestyle.

This passage raises the question, If someone produces no fruit, are they even a Christian? Some would like to argue that if there is no fruit there must not be any real life. And while there is some truth in this statement, let’s be careful about making quick assessments. In this passage, we are told the Gardener cuts off every person (branch) “in me” that bears no fruit. Up to this point in the gospel of John, whenever anyone is referred to being “in me,” that person is a Christian. You cannot be in Christ without having Christ in you.

We have to ask ourselves, Has there ever been an hour we have lived in sin and failed to bear fruit? Has there been a day? Or a week? Or a few years? All of us would have to answer yes. You can be in Christ but still have unconfessed sin in your life. It doesn’t change our status as a Christian, but it does affect our ability to bear fruit.

The real question, I think, is, Can you be in Christ for a long time and still bear no fruit? To this question, I would have to answer no. Because God’s clear agenda is to get all of us to the place where we bear fruit, more fruit and much fruit. And He will do whatever that takes to make this happen. He is jealous for His glory.

Hebrews 12 tells us that as a loving Father, God will take us through a process of discipline in our lives if we fail to deal with sin over the long haul. God’s process of correction is gentle. It begins with a rebuke and is followed by discipline (Hebrews 12:5–6). If we still fail to respond to His loving discipline, He will punish us (12:6). Be assured, God will not tolerate sin in His child’s life for long. God’s agenda for us is holiness, which leads to fruitfulness, and sin keeps us from that. If we never experience the discipline of God, then we are probably not sons of God but sons of this world.

No matter how you interpret the text, sin is a barrier to bearing fruit. For the non-Christian, it is a life of sin. For a Christian, it is a persistent lifestyle of unconfessed sin that the Father will address.

This post is excerpted from 4 Chair Discipling © 2019 by Dann Spader. Used by permission from Moody Publishers.

Photo source: istock 

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Dann Spader has dedicated his life to disciple-making and teaching others how to take someone from a seeker to a reproducing disciple themselves, all by following the pattern Jesus laid out for us in scripture. More than 750,000 people in 90 plus countries have been trained to make disciples emulating the life of Christ through organizations and initiatives he has led. He is the Founder of Sonlife Ministries and currently serves as Founder and President of Global Youth Initiative (an alliance of organizations in 95 countries committed to "equipping leaders for movements of multiplication”). Learn More »

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