God’s Vineyard
Luke 13.1-9
Jesus knows our hearts. He knows that all of us at some time or another in our lives, believe that someone else is a bigger sinner than we are.
He looks at two incidents that happened to two separate groups of people. First the Galileans in verses 1-2, and then the folks that were killed by the tower in Siloam.
In both incidents, He knows that the people believer these people lost their lives because they were great sinners.
He tells NO! He goes further to tell them that unless they repent themselves they will likewise perish.
They are in just as much danger of dying tragically as the folks they were pointing fingers at because of unconfessed sin in their lives.
Jesus goes on to give an illustration using the fig tree to talk about the fruit of the Christian.
1. The Requirements of the Owner (v. 6)
A) Fruit bearing for the Christian is of an absolute necessity!
John 15:1-8 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (3) Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. (4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (6) If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (7) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (8) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
If you don’t bear fruit for the Lord, He will prune you from the vine. Jesus Christ expects you to do something as a Christian. He doesn’t want you to be a pew warmer.
B) Fruit bearing only comes by growth
2 Peter 1:3-8 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: (4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (5) And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; (6) And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; (7) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. (8) For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In order to bear fruit for Christ, you must grow in your faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The Christian can bear two types of fruit. There is the fruit of the Spirit:
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Then there is the fruit of life-giving:
Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
Did you hear that? “He that winneth souls is wise!” Are you full of wisdom?
John 4:36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
2. The Reasonableness of the Owner (v. 7)
We see that He owned the fig tree (v. 6).
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (20) For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
He had a right to expect to see fruit.
Isaiah 5:1-7 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: (2) And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. (3) And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. (4) What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? (5) And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: (6) And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. (7) For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
There are consequences for not bearing fruit for the Lord.
He had waited for three years to see fruit. (v. 7).
James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Jesus is patiently waiting. He will wait for you to produce, but He will not wait till He returns for the church.
Folks, He expects you to bear fruit at some point in time. IF you don’t bear fruit then you need to expect to get pruned!
A farmer will plow a field under when he sees there is not going to be a harvest.
3. The reluctance of the dresser (vv. 8-9)
(8) And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: (9) And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
The dresser pleads for its survival. Who does the dresser represent? I believe it represents a pastor.
A pastor pleads with God for the survival of his flock. He pleads for those in the flock that continue to live in sin.
He pleads for the spiritual well-being of his flock. He even pleads for those who are against him.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
He promises to dig away the weeds. He does this by preaching the word in season and out of season.
He points out the sin in the midst of the camp. He stands boldly in the face of evil opposition.
He protects his flock against the attacks of the devil.
This is how he weeds in the Lord’s vineyard.
Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
He promises to nourish it.
He preaches God’s Word and none other. He preaches the Word as it is and doesn’t embellish it or take away from it.
1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
He feeds the flock what thus saith the Lord!
But in the end, no matter what the dresser of God’s vineyard does, it is up to the individual to produce the fruit.
It is up to the individual to soak up the nourishment of God’s Word. It is up to the individual to be rooted firmly in the soil that the dresser weeds.
It is up to the individual to decide whether or not he will be fruitful for the Lord.
Sometimes, no matter what a farmer does for his crops, it just won’t produce. It is not his fault. He does all he can do, but the tree just won’t do anything.
It is at this point that the tree is cut down. It is pruned from the orchard.
