“Be fruitful and multiply…” They were the very first words that God spoke to Adam and Eve. Paul states that wisdom and spiritual understanding will enable us to walk worthy of the Lord, being fruitful in every good work. The first Psalm reminds us that a godly individual will always bring forth fruit in its season. Jesus said, “I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.”

It’s all about fruit. At the end of the journey God is going to be looking for lasting fruit from our lives. Joseph, prophetically described as “a fruitful bough”, can be a good example.

Fruitfulness comes before fruit

Joseph bore fruit wherever he was because Joseph was just a very fruitful individual. Fruitfulness comes from within – spiritual character that has been pollinated with the sovereign purposes of God. Understanding this saves us from running around to every “fruit stand” in sight hoping to acquire some fruit! Real trees grow their own.

Fruitfulness is not dependent on circumstances

Joseph bore fruit in the face of opposition, betrayal, and famine. No matter how hostile or indifferent his circumstances, he repeatedly rose to the top – not only saving himself, but his father’s family, the entire nation of Egypt, and the Messianic bloodline in the process!

Fruitfulness leads to multiplication

Fruitfulness is the ability to produce more from less, something from nothing. This requires that we not only maximize our own abilities, but that we multiply our efforts through others. Every apple can produce a tree and every tree many more apples. A fruitful leader will produce more fruitful leaders who will produce other fruitful leaders also.

Fruitfulness is lasting

In John 15:16 Jesus not only states that we are called to be fruitful, but that our fruit should remain. By it’s very nature, fruit is one of the most perishable foods there is. The only way you can be sure of having some fruit around is to own the fruit tree. Or better yet – BE the fruit tree! “Joseph is a fruitful bough…”

Anyone can be more fruitful

Jesus declared that He is the vine and we are the branches. He then listed four levels of fruitfulness and showed how to move to the next level. First are those who bear no fruit. These He cleanses, lifting them out of the mire of sin and tying them to a support structure. The key issue here: deal with sin.

Then there are those who bear some fruit. These He prunes, cutting off some good and healthy branches in order that the life force of the vine can be concentrated in the few remaining branches, thus bearing more fruit. Growth principle: priorities – simplify your life around your strengths rather then being a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none.

But the Lord’s desire for each of us is that we should bear much fruit. This comes only through abiding in the vine. Abiding can be seen here in two senses: intimacy and closeness to the Lord through prayer; and patience – exercised in strategic long-range planning. The seed that bears thirty, sixty or one hundred-fold is that which falls on good ground and “bears fruit with patience.” Much fruit comes from just doing the right things season after season after season.