"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples." (John 15:8)

A theme found throughout the Testaments is that of bearing fruit. The Lord wants us to be productive. He charges us to be fruitful and multiply. The ancient Israelites had to work hard for survival. Not only is farming, their primary occupation, difficult labor, but following the commandments of Jehovah often required specific sacrifices and duties. In the New Testament the Lord often linked salvation with our effort.

"For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works" (Matthew 16:27).

And not producing fruit was a curse. The barren fig tree was condemned, for it was not doing what the Lord required of it.

This theme of productiveness can also be found throughout the created universe. The Lord did not create anything that is without value or use. The fertile soil of the earth is the seed-bed from which vegetation springs. Plants serve for food, and constantly seem to be producing many more seeds than can possibly come to fruition. Animal life also strives to reproduce itself, to create more of its own. The urge to grow, to build, is universal.

We should not be surprised by this. For it is but a reflection of the Lord's nature. His love is the most productive love of all. It is always reaching out, striving to create, to produce what is good. This is why the universe was created. This is why we were born. Our existence is evidence of His love.

And to us He holds out the opportunity to join with Him in being productive. He is the vine, we can be the branches. From Him we can bear much fruit. We can be touched by His love, and share it with others. We can affect all those around us, producing in them happiness and joy.

How do we become branches of the Lord? We begin by following in His path. We cannot be offshoots of His unless what we do comes from Him. He has given us the Word (the way, the truth, and the life), that we might know what is required of us. As He said in John, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love....This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:10, 12).

Heeding His Word means walking in His ways. We cannot very well touch others with love if we ourselves are not acting the ways of love. Can we in anger, command someone to be good? Can we from contempt look down on others and say all men are brothers? This is what the Lord commanded in Ezekiel, saying:

"If [a person] has walked in My statutes and kept My judgments faithfully - he is just; he shall surely live!" (Ezekiel 18:9)

Good fruit is not produced by diseased plants or trees. To be the Lord's branches requires us to keep His commandments, so that His love might exist in us to be shared with others.

But how are we to produce the fruit of loving our neighbors? The Lord had given us the way of serving others, being useful to them. As He said, "Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant" (Matthew 20:26-27).

If we consider it, it is almost impossible to avoid being of service to others in this world. The Lord established a system that virtually demands we devote much of our lives to others. The only way to avoid serving others is to live separated from all others, not receiving anything from them, and not giving them anything in return. Such a hermit's life is almost inconceivable. Even Johnny Appleseed, who stayed as far away from civilization as possible, was of tremendous service by planting apple trees and spreading copies of Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church.

The reality for us is that we will serve others. As children and students, we are under the supervision of others who give us much to do. As young adults we seek employment to earn a living. As spouses we will care for our mates and do household duties. As parents we will take care of the many needs of our children. As friends we will lend a hand to our peers. As senior citizens we will be the anchors of family and cultural values. At whatever age, the Lord would have us be of use to others, branches of His vine, bearing much fruit.

The alternative to being useful is not very attractive. Imagine what it would be like to be deprived of the opportunity to serve others? Without work to do, would we not begin focusing more and more upon ourselves? Would not the frustration break out in anger towards others? Is this not why long hospital stays, unemployment, and retirement without other interests are so devastating? Is not part of the pain for a couple having difficulty conceiving a child, the fact that they are being denied the opportunity of serving as parents? And for the single person, the lack of being useful in a marriage relationship detracts from the service he or she might be. Although the Lord insures that any one can be useful to others, when we are denied the possibility of being useful in even one way, there is a sense of loss, of incompleteness.

There are numerous ways to be of use in this world. One way is by our occupations. Be they chairman of the board or janitor at an all night cafe, the time we spend at our jobs is a way to serve our neighbors, to love them. Another critical way to be of use is in our families. As we relate to our spouse, raise our children, and manage our homes, we are providing a tremendous benefit to our neighbors. Not only are we establishing a foundation for society in our marriages, we are preparing young people to be productive members of society and angels in heaven. These two uses, formal occupations and home life, are perhaps the most important uses we can do, for we spend the most time with them during our lives on earth. As we perform them to the best of our abilities, we are bearing the fruit which makes us the Lord's disciples.

Some of the other uses that the Lord calls upon us to do involve our responsibilities in our communities and our church. To love our neighbors requires us to take an informed interest in what is going on, in our local community and in the world community. Although only some will become directly involved, all can form opinions and participate in electing representatives.

We can also be useful in the setting of our church. Here we have wide-ranging opportunities to enable people to worship their God. From serving on committees or contributing money, to just being present for Sunday morning worship, there are innumerable ways to become branches of the Lord's vine, bringing forth much fruit.

Now, it may seem that all we must do is follow the commandments and do certain good acts and we automatically become angelic. Since it is relatively easy to avoid breaking laws and perform certain actions, all should be saved, right? Well, not exactly. Being useful involves something more than mere adherence to laws and performing our duties. For a person can be very selfishly inclined and do these things. Someone could devote a great deal of energy to serving the neighbor so all will think him a "good" person.

This is of providence, for the Lord insures that all people, both those who truly care for others and those who primarily care for themselves, can serve others. As His rain falls on the just and the unjust, so this world is designed that all will be useful.

But for the fruit we bear to be nourishing, and not rotten within, our motives must stem from the Lord also. Being of use requires that the good we do for our neighbors be good in both essence and form.

How do we bear good fruit? By quietly and secretly shunning evils as sins. As we periodically look at our lives, both what we are doing with our time and our inner thoughts and feelings, we are to identify whatever seems to come from hell. If we place more importance on the things of this world, or our own self image, than on sincerely caring for others, we can see something is wrong.

Perhaps we will recognize that we are working primarily for the money or prestige we receive. Perhaps we will not take a particular job if it will not increase our income enough, or we shy away from aspects of our occupation that will not result in others praising us. What should we do? How do we shun these selfish motivations? Recognizing them as wrong and asking the Lord's help is a start. Then one way to shun these evils is to force ourselves not to think about how much we are making. Perhaps we might also seek for some mundane jobs which are not likely to bring us to the attention of our supervisor.

Whatever we do, it is important that we not give up our jobs. One reason the Lord has provided so many uses is that we continue working even if our motivations are selfish. No young person entering the job market is immune from desiring a large salary so he can spend money freely. He should not seek a low paying job to punish himself, for it is by the very means of working that the Lord can gradually purge away an orientation for self and replace it with a genuine concern for others.

In all the ways we are useful to others, from occupations to child rearing, the Lord can cause us to bear fruit as we become ever more sensitive to what is of hell within us, and attempt to change. Being useful, even if our motives are not pure at first, teaches us, trains us, to care for others. As we perform as well as we can in our roles as friends, spouses, parents, and employees, then the Lord can gradually cause us to see and appreciate the fruit that can be produced from His vine. Love for the neighbor grows as we learn to care by serving others and not just self.

It is not too surprising that most of our sense of self worth comes from our jobs and our home life: where we can be of most use. As we put away excessive concern for ourselves and the world, we grow ever stronger as branches on the Lord's vine. As this happens, our sense of joy and happiness can increase many fold. For as we are truly useful to others we are participating in the Lord's work. We are becoming angels for we are doing His will. It is His love, His happiness, that we are sharing and thereby making our own. With Him as our vine we can bear much fruit, and become His disciples indeed.

2. As for the fact that religion is about how we live and that the [religious] way to live is to do good, everyone who reads the Word sees this and acknowledges it on reading it. We find the following in the Word:

Whoever breaks the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called the least in the kingdom of the heavens, but whoever does and teaches [these commandments] will be called great in the kingdom of the heavens. I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of the heavens. (Matthew 5:19-20)

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire; therefore by their fruits you will know them. (Matthew 7:19-20)

Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of the heavens, but those who do the will of my Father who is in the heavens. (Matthew 7:21)

On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in your name and done many great things in your name?" But then I will declare to them, "I do not know you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity." (Matthew 7:22-23)

Everyone who hears my words and does them I will liken to a wise man who built his house on the rock; but everyone who hears my words and does not do them will be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. (Matthew 7:24, 26)

Jesus said, "A sower went out to sow. Some seed fell on a hard-packed path, some on stony ground, some among thorns, and some into good ground. The people who received seed in good ground are those who hear and understand the Word, and as a result bear fruit and become productive, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold." When he had said these things, Jesus cried out and said, "Those who have ears to hear must hear this." (Matthew 13:3-9, 23)

The Son of Humanity is going to come in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay all people according to their deeds. (Matthew 16:27)

The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation that bears its fruits. (Matthew 21:43)

When the Son of Humanity comes in his glory, then he will sit on the throne of his glory and will say to the sheep on his right, "Come, you who are blessed, and possess as your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you since the founding of the world; because I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me." Then the righteous will answer him, "When did we see you like this?" But the king will answer and say, "I tell you truly, as much as you did this to one of the least of my people, you did it to me." And the king will say similar things to the goats on the left, but since they had not done things like these, he will say, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels." (Matthew 25:31-46)

Bear fruit that is consistent with repentance. The axe is already lying against the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Luke 3:8-9)

Jesus said, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord, ' and not do what I say? Everyone who comes to me and hears what I am saying and does it is like someone building a house who laid its foundation on the rock; but anyone who hears and does nothing is like someone building a house on the ground without a foundation." (Luke 6:46-49)

Jesus said, "My mother and my brothers are these who hear the Word of God and do it." (Luke 8:21)

Then you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, "Lord, open the door for us!" But he will say in reply, "I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity." (Luke 13:25-27)

This is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, but people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. All who do evil hate the light, because their deeds would be exposed; but those who do the truth come to the light so that their deeds may be clearly seen, because their deeds were done in God. (John 3:19-21)

Those who have done what is good will go forth into [the resurrection of life, but those who have done what is evil will go forth into] the resurrection of condemnation. (John 5:29)

We know that God does not hear sinners; but he does hear people who worship God and do his will. (John 9:31)

If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. (John 13:17)

The people who love me are those who have my commandments and do them; and I will love them and will manifest myself to them. I will come to them and make a home with them. Those who do not love me do not keep my words. (John 14:15, 21-24)

Jesus said, "I am the vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit he prunes, so that it will bear more fruit." (John 15:1-2)

My Father is glorified by your bearing much fruit and becoming my disciples. (John 15:8)

You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. I have chosen you so that you will bear fruit and your fruit will remain. (John 15:14, 16)

The Lord said to John, "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, 'I know your works. I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Repent and do the first works, or else I will remove your lampstand from its place.'" (Revelation 2:1-2, 4-5)

To the angel of the church in Smyrna write, "I know your works." (Revelation 2:8-9)

To the angel of the church in Pergamum write, "I know your works. Repent!" (Revelation 2:12-13, 16)

To the angel of the church in Thyatira write, "I know your works and your love; your last works are more than the first." (Revelation 2:18-19)

To the angel of the church in Sardis write, "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. I have not found your works perfect before God. Repent!" (Revelation 3:1-3)

To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, "I know your works." (Revelation 3:7-8)

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write, "I know your works. Repent!" (Revelation 3:14-15, 19)

I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'" "[Yes,]" says the spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them." (Revelation 14:13)

A book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by the things that were written in the book; all were judged according to their works. (Revelation 20:12-13)

Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to all according to what they have done. (Revelation 22:12)

In the Old Testament, too:

Repay them according to their work and according to the deeds of their hands. (Jeremiah 25:14)

Jehovah, whose eyes are open to all the ways of humankind, to give to all according to their ways and according to the fruit of their deeds ... (Jeremiah 32:19)

I will punish them according to their ways and repay them according to their deeds. (Hosea 4:9)

Jehovah deals with us according to our ways and according to our deeds. (Zechariah 1:6)

There are also many passages where it says that we are to do the statutes, commandments, and laws, such as the following:

Keep my statutes and my judgments. Anyone who does so will live by means of them. (Leviticus 18:5)

You shall observe all my statutes and my judgments by doing them. (Leviticus 19:37; 20:8; 22:31)

The children of Israel were promised blessings if they did the precepts and curses if they did not do them (Leviticus 26:3-46). They were commanded to make for themselves a fringe on the hems of their garments to remind them of all the precepts of Jehovah so that they would do them (Numbers 15:38-39)-and there are thousands more passages.

Then too, the Lord teaches in parables that works are what make us part of the church and that our salvation depends on them. Many of his parables are about those who do good being accepted and those who do evil being rejected. See, for example, the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 21:33-44), the parable of the fig tree that bore no fruit (Luke 13:6 and following), the parable of the talents and the minas which those [in the parable] were to use in business (Matthew 25:14-31; Luke 19:12-25), the parable of the Samaritan who bound up the wounds of the man beaten by robbers (Luke 10:30-37), the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), and the parable of the ten young women (Matthew 25:1-12).