One More Year
Luke 13:6-9 (NRSV vs. 8)
January 4th, 2003.
Do you remember where you were? What you were doing? Who you were with?
Do you remember where you were? Where you were when the count down went from 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 1? Do you remember where you were when the ball dropped? Where you were when the year 2002 passed into history and 2003 became a reality?
Do you remember where you were at that time?
Maybe you were at home celebrating with the ones you loved the most. Opening up some Welch’s, lifting your glasses and toasting the New Year. Maybe you were at church praising God and thanking Him for the gift of another year.
Maybe you were out with friends having a good time.
Maybe you were even asleep, resting comfortably in bed while the world sang Auld Lang Sine.
I don’t know where you were or what you were doing or who you were with but the fact of the matter is that we now have been blessed to see one more year.
Through all the ups and downs, mountains and valleys, joys and sorrows, victories and defeats, good days and bad days, we are able to see one more year.
That should be enough for someone to say Amen.
That should be enough for us to say thank you Jesus.
That should be reason enough for someone to let out a Hallelujah.
One more year in the land of the living.
One more year where we begin six feet above rather than six feet below.
One more year where we can come into God’s house and fellowship with God’s people and praise His name on God’s holy Sabbath day.
One more year of abiding peace and overflowing joy and abounding love and assuring hope and amazing grace.
One more year.
You see one more year brings new blessings. It brings new opportunities.
It brings new hope and a new start. But it also brings new responsibilities.
As we begin this New Year, I would like to direct our attention to a parable of Jesus that talks about the responsibilities of one more year.
It is the parable we read earlier from Luke 13.
A parable sweet in its simplicity yet powerful in its profundity.
The Bible says in verse 6 that “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard.”
Notice church that this fig tree was planted in a vineyard.
Now must of us know that vineyards are supposed to grow grapes.
Fig trees aren’t usually placed in vineyards.
They grow by the wayside.
They grow on hard ground.
They depend on the rain that falls from the sky.
But there is something special about this fig tree for it has been planted in a vineyard.
In the vineyard, the soil is fertile.
The ground has certain nutrients in it that causes the trees to flourish and be fruitful.
In the vineyard, there was someone who cared for the trees and made sure they had enough water and enough warmth.
Someone who would trim the leaves and dig up the soil and even fertilize the ground.
In short someone who provided for the trees every need.
You see you and I seated in here today are like that fig tree.
God has taken us from the wayside lives that we were in before.
He has moved us from the hard ground lives of darkness and despair and degradation and disobedience.
He has taken us from out of the wayside times of no hope, no peace and no joy and He has planted us in His vineyard.
He has placed special blessings in our lives.
I’m glad today to be a part of God’s vineyard.
To be in the place where the blessings are coming down and the praises going up.
To be in the vineyard where we are constantly fed by the word of God and watered by the Spirit of God and warmed by the grace of God.
To be in the place where we don’t have to worry about tomorrow for “my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.”
Don’t you know church it is a privilege to be a part of God’s vineyard.
We have a revelation of who God is.
We have a glimpse of His love for us.
We know that when we are burdened we can take it to God in prayer.
We know that when we are weak, He is strong.
We know where our help comes from.
It is a blessing I say today to be a part of the vineyard.
But the text tells us that one day the owner of the vineyard showed up.
He made his way past all the other plants, and headed for this fig tree.
I could imagine that on his way home he was probably getting excited over the chance to finally eat from his tree.
The Bible says, “He came and sought fruit thereon and found none.”
You must understand today church that this searching of the fig tree was no simple, ordinary search.
The word used in the Greek implies that it was a careful examination of the tree.
For you see from a distance, this fig tree looked like, looked like it should have fruit on it.
Stay with me now. As some of you may be aware, these fig trees spoken about in the Bible would bear fruit first and then later on the leaves would come upon the tree.
Now when the leaves came they were so much bigger than the fruit that they covered up the fruit. Therefore you had to lift up the leaves to get the fruit from the tree. A fig tree full of leaves would usually mean that there was some fruit on it.
But not so with this one. No when he checked all throughout this tree all He found was leaves.
And as we sit in church today, on this first Sabbath of the New Year I wonder if anyone of us is like this barren fig tree.
Promising much but delivering nothing.
You see this fig tree to an ordinary observer was doing all right.
As far as the passers-by could see it was doing well.
But when it was examined closely it was found to be fruitless.
How many of us in here are like that fig tree that looks good on the outside? Looks good to those who hardly know us?
Looks good from a far?
Looks good to those who see us once a week?
You see it is easy church, it is easy to be like that tree.
We know how to put on that look that says that everything is alright with us. We know the church smile and the holy look.
We know how to walk the right way and talk the right way.
We know how to greet everyone with a “Happy Sabbath,” and a warm hug. We know if we dress well enough and come early enough that folks will believe that we are being fruitful.
We know if we show up enough times and pay enough tithe that others will think that everything is alright with us.
If I preach and pray and do things in the church it looks like I’m bearing fruit.
But as the saying goes, you can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you can’t fool my God anytime.
He knows the real you.
The Bible says that man looks at the outward appearance, the lack of jewelry or the ankle length dress or the black suit and tie or the things we do when everyone is looking, but God looks at the heart.
He looks to see if the fruit of love is present when we are home with our families.
He looks to see if we treat our husbands or wives with patience and affection when no one is around.
He looks to see if we will spend time with our children and show that they are important to us.
He looks to see if we love Him enough to wake up early in the morning and spend time with Him in prayer.
He looks to see if you will love that man on the job who gets on your last nerve.
He knows if the good things we do are because we want everyone to notice us.
He looks at the heart.
You see church heart conversion should precede all the other forms of outward show to others like the fruit should precede the leaves.
But many times we put those things first and neglect to give our heart to God for Him to clean us up.
For too long many Christians have lived with a once a week religion.
We put the mask on every Sabbath.
Week after week, month after month, year after year.
Engaging in the same sinful practices knowingly.
Watching what we want, saying what we want, eating what we want.
Giving God what we feel like instead of what He asks for.
Refusing to obey Him.
Neglecting to spend time with Him daily.
Hiding our relationship with God from our friends and neighbors.
Looking good to those who see us from afar but if the truth were told we are barren spiritually.
We hardly read our Bibles, seldom have family worship, don’t allow God to be the center of our lives.
The Bible says that the owner of the vineyard came and examined some of our lives. “And he came and sought fruit on us, but found none.”
Verse 7 says, “Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?”
Church for three years the owner would go through the same routine.
He would come expecting fruit from this tree and for three years when it should be bearing fruit he found none.
And so he says cut it down. Why cumbereth it the ground?
Cumbereth, a big word. It means to render something useless.
The problem with this tree, my brother, was that it was not only fruitless but it also was making the ground useless.
It was taking out the nutrients from the soil.
It was absorbing all the precious resources from the earth and giving back nothing.
This fig tree was robbing other trees of the nutrients they would need if planted in this soil.
When others trees were planted in that same soil, it would not have any power to make them grow.
You have to understand that unfruitful Christianity robs others who have not had the opportunities that we’ve had.
When God gives us, when we hear His word each week and are touched by His Spirit, we are supposed to bear fruit in our lives.
We are supposed to tell others.
They are supposed to see changed lives and changed homes and changed employees and changed students and changed classmates and changed co-workers and changed friends.
But the problem when we profess Christianity, when we say we belong to Jesus, when others know we are born again, water baptized, Holy Ghost filled, Christians and they see no difference in us we are making the word of God powerless in their lives.
We give them a false impression of God and a false impression of His word when we live fruitless lives.
You see people judge God, people judge Christianity, people judge the Bible by the way we as God’s people, we as Christians, we as Bible believers behave.
If we say we are in touch with God and still live like everyone else and watch the same things as everyone else and curse like everyone else and act like everyone else then others assume that our God has no power.
We are simply hardening the hearts of others to the working of God by our unfruitfulness. We are cumbering the ground.
I know someone is probably thinking now, this is a lot of bad news. A bad news text, a bad news parable, a bad news sermon.
But verse 8 gives us some good news. The vinedresser speaks up and says, “Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:”
In effect he is saying to the owner, don’t look at this tree’s past.
Don’t look at the three unfruitful years.
Don’t look at the many failings and fallings.
Don’t look at those three years but look at its future.
Give it one more year.
I’m glad today that God is willing to look beyond my past mistakes, look beyond those times I rejected Him and neglected Him, look past those times when I was fruitless and faithless.
I’m glad that He is willing to give us a new start.
One more year.
You see last year you may not have been all God wanted you to be.
You may not have been all you wanted yourself to be.
There’s no use beating your self up about it.
Confess it and move on into your future.
Now the vinedresser says that He would pay this unfruitful tree special attention.
You see the way the world works is that we invest time and energy in those who are successful.
No one buys stocks in companies that they see losing money.
People don’t want to hang around losers.
People don’t pay to see losing teams.
But this worker said he would invest time and energy in this fruitless tree.
That sounds like God to me.
He doesn’t give up on us when we mess up but He comes down and works with us.
He labors long with us.
He cries with us over the pieces of our brokenness.
Jesus came down to earth to hung out with the rejects of society.
The prostitutes and the pimps.
The tax collectors and the thieves.
God invests special attention in unfruitful trees.
Now look at the text. It says that he would dig around it and put dung in it. Now back in those days, one had to take their hands and get the dung and put it into the hole made around the roots.
This vinedresser is saying I’m willing to get my hands in mess to save this tree.
You see it’s not easy work, it’s not going to be pretty but I’m willing to get involved in some mess to save this fig tree.
Church I’m happy to inform you today that God will even get Himself dirty to save us.
He will come into the mess that we create and work through it to make us what He wants us to be.
He would even use bad situations, trials and tribulations, heartaches and pain, persecution and opposition, to make us into what we ought to be.
If you don’t know already one day Jesus came down from glory.
Took off the pure spotless robe of divinity.
Put on the stain colored garment of humanity.
Lived in our messed up world, became involved with messed up people, handled messed up situations, took all the mess of our sin to the cross to save us.
I’m glad today that God is still willing to get down and dirty to save unfruitful trees like you and me.
Now I want you to see something about this vinedresser.
It makes me want to shout when I think about this vinedresser.
It was the practice in those days for the dresser of the vineyard to be paid from the fruits that the vine produced.
When the harvest came in, a portion of it went to the vinedresser as his salary for tending the land.
So His livelihood depended on the fruitfulness of the trees.
Notice he begs the owner to give this unfruitful tree another chance.
By doing this he is in effect linking his future, his salary, his livelihood with the fruitfulness of this tree.
He was taking a risk on this tree.
You see he could have cut it down and planted something guaranteed to bear fruit.
If you looked at this tree’s past there was nothing but failure.
But he cares for this tree so much that he is willing to risk his future for it.
Are you with me yet? Are you ready to shout?
God could have banished man into utter darkness and despair when sin came.
He could have closed the book on this miserable planet a long time ago. When you look at our history, nothing but failure.
Even the good ones are bad.
Noah – a drunkard. Abraham – a liar. Jacob – a deceiver. David – an adulterer and a murderer. Samson – a fornicator. Peter – a deserter.
When you look at our history nothing but failures.
But let me get closer to home.
When you look into our own individual histories, nothing but failures, nothing but unfruitfulness.
Broken lives, broken homes, broken marriages, broken promises.
Liars, cheaters, thieves, adulterers, back-stabbers, deceivers, gossipers.
God could have given up on us a long time ago.
But my Jesus came down to earth.
Linked His future with our future.
Linked Himself with fallen humanity.
Made himself one of us.
Pitched His tent in the midst of our tents.
Took a risk on humanity.
Took on risk on you with all your faults.
Took a risk on me with all my failings.
Took a risk on us and declared, “Give them one more year.”
I’ll stand the cost. I’ll pay the price. “Give them one more year.”
One more year.
You see God’s mercy is going to suffer long with us.
It says I will send them more sermons of love and grace and peace.
I’ll remind them how I found them and how I rescued them and how I redeemed them and how I restored them.
Mercy says I’ll send them lesson studies and magazines.
I’ll send them special songs to tell them of my love.
I’ll send them prayer meetings and Bible studies.
I’ll get their friends to tell them about how good God has been and what He wants them to do.
God’s mercy will continue to work with us through our barrenness and brokenness.
Now I must come to a close. Y’all know I don’t preach long.
Verse 9 says, “And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”
He says, give it another chance to bear fruit and if it doesn’t this time go ahead and remove it.
You see even though we love to talk about God’s mercy, God is also a God of justice.
One day everyone will be called to give an answer for his or her deeds.
God is going to call us to give account.
I know it’s not what we like to talk about but it’s the truth.
We can’t continue to go on and play around with God and believe that He will never judge us.
For 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
Payday is coming. You see brothers and sisters I don’t want to frighten anyone today. I just have to tell the truth as it is in the Bible.
The Bible says that if there is no change that one day mercy will have to agree with justice that enough is enough.
It’s a frightening thought that one day God will have to say enough is enough for some people.
The scripture reading tells us in Isaiah 5:4 that one day God will ask the question “What could have been done more in my vineyard that I haven’t done to it?”
I’ve sent hard sermons to wake you up.
I’ve sent sermons telling you about how much I loved you.
I sent lessons telling you to get right.
Week of prayers to lift you to a higher relationship.
I sent blessing your way so you could praise me.
I even sent hardships to put you on your back to look up at me.
I even sent my Son to die for you. To take your place.
I sent my Spirit to talk to you and plead with you and agonize with you and suffer long with you.
What more could I have done to make you be fruitful?
Notice the parable is unfinished.
We don’t know from the text what happened after that one more year.
Did the tree flourish and become fruitful?
Was the owner satisfied?
Did the tree reward the vinedresser’s investment in it?
Or was it still barren.
Was it still fruitless and ordered to be removed?
Did the vinedresser waste his time and his energy in vain?
The answer to that question is you decide.
You can decide from this moment on that you don’t want to live a wishy washy Christian life again.
You want a real relationship with Jesus.
No more of that pretending, acting stuff. Real Christianity.
No more once a week, put on a show, wear the mask Christianity.
One that your family can see a change in you.
One where those you work with can see a difference.
One where Jesus lives on the inside and shines on the outside.
One where the fruit of the Spirit is present in your life.
You’ve got love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
One where you just have to tell somebody about what He’s done for you.
You decide the ending. From this moment on you can decide to put away all the things that have been holding you back and start a fresh this New Year with Jesus.
The past is gone.
Your future lies ahead of you. What are you going to decide?
Appeal Song.
“The Savior is waiting to enter your heart”
