Is belief in God the Father and Jesus Christ enough to be counted as a Christian? Is accepting Christ in our lives and praying the sinner’s prayer sufficient for us to be saved? Are good works still necessary for us to be counted worthy to be called sons and daughters of God?

We need to ponder and answer these questions with all honesty. Most importantly, we must dig into the Bible to know the answer according to God and not just according to any man. Here are some of the important reasons we need to bear fruit.

Here are some of the important reasons we need to bear fruit.

Faith is not enough.

James clearly tells us, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?… Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2;14, 16, 18).

Faith is tremendously important to please God (Hebrews 11:6). However, it must be a LIVING faith – a faith that positively changes who we are. Faith is more than just a belief. It is the substance that motivates and inspires us to live our lives according to the will of God. If our faith stops in just being a belief, we are no better than demons who also believe and tremble. Thus, faith must be accompanied by faith (James 3:17).

Christ commanded that we must bear much fruit.

In John 15:2, 8, 16 Jesus said, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit HE TAKES AWAY; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit… By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples… you did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit…”

God desires that we must be fruitful – to produce not just some but a lot of fruits.

Bearing fruits glorifies God.

We already read in John 15:8 that God is well pleased when we bear fruits. In fact, it glorifies Him. Part of worshiping and honoring God is to bear much fruit. If we keep on sinning, we are putting shame in God’s name. However, if we strive to show fruits, people will see our works and the positive impact we have in our community that they will begin to understand that God is our primary motivation behind our actions. As a result, people will then glorify God because of our good works (Matthew 5:16).

Bearing fruits makes us a disciple of Jesus Christ.

We are Christians because we are followers of Christ. In John 15:8, we read: “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

You see, when we bear fruits, God is not just glorified, but we also prove to God that we are truly Christ’s disciples. It is so easy to profess to be a Christian. What’s difficult is to prove to be one. To achieve this, we must bear fruit so we can be worthy to be called real and genuine Christians.

God rewards us according to our fruits.

In this point in time, let me make myself clear: we cannot earn our salvation. No amount of good works can buy us the reward of God. Salvation is and will always be a free gift from God.

On the other hand, it is equally true that God will not give salvation to those people who are stubborn and will not change their ways. We are to produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit for God to see us as worthy to be part of His Kingdom.

Having said this, there are many passages in the Bible that tell us that we will be rewarded according to our works. These verses include Romans 2:6, Colossians 3:23-24, Galatians 6:9, Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:11-27, and Revelation 22:12, just to name a few.

Final Words

Bearing fruits helps us to grow spiritually. In a parable in Luke 13:6-9, we read that a tree that does not bear fruit should be cut down. A healthy tree bears many fruits. In the same way, a healthy Christian also bears a lot of good fruits. If we are just contented in having spiritually weak muscles, we will soon become lethargic, sluggish, lazy, sick, and eventually, die.

God expects us to be fruitful not just for His own pleasure, but He wants us to be fruitful because it is good for us. God loves us and He knows that bearing much fruit helps us to have a more fulfilling, happier, and blessed life.