Cut It Down

God gives us so many blessings and some Church folks come to Church wearing God's fine clothes, wearing God's fancy shoes, money in their pocket, beautiful houses, gold and diamond rings, Mercedes-Benzes, Lexus' and BMW's. Some of them come into God's House and sit down on the pew and won't even give God praise! They won't even say Hallelujah, thank you Jesus. No fruit is given! They won't give their tithes and offering.

Jesus said, for three years in a row, "a certain man" came seeking fruit from this tree at the right time and at the right season. And I've searched every leaf and under every limb and found none. My patience has run out. "Cut it down." The question rises, why would a man fall out with a tree? Why would a man get angry, upset, frustrated and disturbed with a tree? The owner is upset with this fig tree, because the owner had great anticipation.

The owner had high hopes and great aspirations for that tree. Well, I think I ought to tell you that God has hopes and high aspirations for you and I. God has great plans for you and me. The owner was anxious to cut the tree down, because the tree had failed to live up to his expectations. The tree had let him down. For you see, there have been times in my life that I let God down. And if you're really honest about yourself, you have let God down also in life.

I don't care how long you've been in Church.

I don't care how much you've attended Church.

I don't care how much you give to the Church.

I don't care how righteous thou art or pretend to be.

There have been times when you let Jesus down. I can hear "a certain man" saying in essence, "For three years I've stopped by here and I've timed my stops. I've waited until I knew that it was fig-bearing time. I didn't stop by in the heart of the winter. I came by at the right season when I knew there would be figs on the trees.

Every year that I've stopped by, I was displeasure.

Every year that I've stopped by, I was dissatisfaction.

Every year that I've stopped by, I was displeasure.

Every year that I've stopped by, I was unhappiness.

Every year that I've stopped by, I was annoyed.

Every year that I've stopped by, I was frustration.

Every year that I've stopped by, I was angry.

Every year that I've stopped by, I was irritated.

Every year that I've stopped by I was let down.

Every year that I've stopped by I found no figs!

This tree is in my debt.

This tree owes me.

This tree owes me three years worth of figs and it hasn't paid off yet.

This tree owes me three seasons worth of figs and I have yet to recover my loss from this fig tree.

This tree owes me the pain and suffering that I had to encounter.

Oh brothers and sisters, this tree was like investing your stock in Enron, you gain a loss. I can hear the owner saying, I've invested a lot of time in this tree! I came here for three years in a row during the season for figs. I searched every limb and looked under every leaf and did not find one fig! And the hurting thing to me is, that I can go down the road and see some stray fig trees laden with figs. And the punishment to this fig tree is - Cut It Down!