The Lesson of the Fig Tree
Luke 13:6-8
Prayer
Introduction
Have you ever bought something and it did not work? You spend good, hard earned money on something and bring it home, spent the time hooking it up and it does not work. How did it make you feel? Were you angry, hurt, sad, or some other feeling? What if the store would not take it back so you could not return it?
Last year Kristen and Jonathon bought a dishwasher to go into their trailer. Kristen was all excited. She was not going to have to wash dishes anymore. Dad and I went to Yazoo that following Saturday to install it. We had to cut out part of the cabinet, remove doors, and generally remanufacture the plumbing underneath the sink. Finally after days of work we were ready to hook up the wiring and slide it in. Then we turned it on or we tried to turn it on. Nothing. Dead silence. No sound what so ever. We turned it off and turned it back on like that was going to make it work. We checked the fuse box to make sure none had been tripped. Still nothing. We checked the wiring the plug end. Nothing, there was not even a buzzing sound. No matter how hard we worked the dishwasher just would not work. Kristen was disappointed. Now she had a pile of dishes and no dishwasher. Well she did but she did not want wash them by hand. She had spent hard earned money for a new dishwasher and it would not work. What a waste.
Have you ever wondered that Jesus may feel the same way when we refuse to work for Him? In Luke 13:6-8 we find a vineyard owner who is inspecting his vineyard. He comes across a fig tree that not put forth fruit in three years and he asks why is it still taking up space if it is not producing fruit.
A farmer once planted two fruit trees on opposite sides of his property. The one he planted to provide a hedge hide the unsightly view of an old landfill; the other to provide shade to rest under near a cool mountain stream which ran down beside his fields. As the two trees grew, both produced began to flower and bear fruit. One day the farmer decided to gather the fruit from the tree nearest his house – the one used to provide a hedge from the landfill. As he brought the fruit inside the house, he noticed that it was a little deformed – the symmetry of the fruit was not very good, but still the fruit looked edible. Later that evening, while sitting on his porch the farmer took one of the pieces of fruit for a snack. Biting into the fruit, he found it to be extremely bitter, and completely inedible. Casting the fruit aside he looked across the field to the other tree over by the mountain stream. After walking across the field, the farmer took a piece of the fruit from the other tree and bit into it. Find the fruit to be sweet and delicious he gathered several more pieces of fruit and took them to the house.
The fruit was greatly affected by the nutrition of the root. Just as the tree grew by the landfill to be bitter, and the tree by the stream produced sweet fruit, so the Christian has a choice. He can either put down his roots into the soil of the landfill of fleshly pursuits, or into the cool refreshing stream of the person of Jesus Christ. We must understand that the root bears the fruit. The fruit of the Christian is the outward evidence of the inward motivation.
You see as Christians we are to produce fruit. Not just one time or a few times but all the time. To be truthful a Christian can’t help but produce fruit. There is a need a drive in us that wants to reproduce. We want to lead more people to Christ; we want to serve our master.
There are two types of Christians. Those that are producing fruit and then you have those who are not. The fig Tree is barren, it is not producing. It is just standing in the middle of the vineyard doing nothing but taking up space. It is not contributing any thing. Then comes the owner and says why is it still here? Why has it not been dug up and thrown away.
The vine-man says wait. Give me another year to work the roots and fertilize it. Let me see if I can get it to bear fruit next year. Jesus is pleading four us. He is saying let me work with them just a little more let me get them to bear fruit. Let me water them and fertilize them with the word and maybe they will put on fruit next year.
In a back yard there once lived an apple tree and a thorn bush. The apple tree produced nice juicy apples that everyone liked to eat. Kids would climb up the tree and pluck the apples. Worms would eat the ones that fell on the ground. Birds would peck away at the fruit from the top. The owner would also prune and spray the tree to make sure it produced lots of fruit for the neighborhood. In the corner, about 50 yards from the apple tree stood a thorn bush. Nobody messed with the thorn bush. One day old Jimmy Johnson ran his bike into it, but after he got all cut up, he never made the same mistake again. Nobody picked any fruit off of it, everyone left it alone. At first the apple tree liked all the attention. But after about ten years, it started becoming envious of the thorn bush. It said to the thorn bush, “You know, I’m sick of everyone always climbing on me and picking my fruit. The master is always trimming me, putting smelly manure around my trunk, and making a fuss over me. I wish they’d go somewhere else. Better yet, I wish I was a thorn bush, then everyone would leave me alone.” The thorn bush then looked at the apple tree and said, “Don’t be a fool! Bite your bark! Look at me! I don’t do anyone a bit of good. I feed nobody. I look ugly. All I do is harm. The master didn’t plant me here; I’m just a wild weed. The only good I do is to fill up some space in the yard. I would trade all the thorns in the world to have one child climb my branches - to have the Master trim my branches - and produce some fruit.”
As Christians, we are sometimes like the apple tree. It seems like we’re taken advantage of by the world. People ask us for our fruit and then walk away without saying thanks. People climb us, abuse us, and do all sorts of things to us, and expect us just to take it all the time. The Master even removes our thorns by saying, “the fruit of the Spirit is peace.” But that’s part of being a fruit tree. That’s what God planted us here for - to produce fruit! Sometimes people don’t appreciate us. Sometimes people take advantage of us. Sometimes people don’t like us. In the end, however, we have the peace of knowing that we are producing good fruit - the type that God wants out of us. He has the pleasure of knowing that God cares for us. We know that God is using us for good. So forget about what you can understand and what you can feel, and just have the peace of knowing that God loves you and He is using Him for His purpose. That is the fruit of the Spirit - the fruit of peace - that passes all understanding.
Why are we not bearing fruit? What keeps us from adding to the vineyard? We are barren of fruit in our lives because we are not serving Jesus. We have better things to do than waste our time on telling people about Jesus. My job is more important, that is how I feed, cloth, and house my family. I can’t be bothered with serving Jesus. I don’t have time to search out what Jesus wants me to do. I mean lets get real I have a life to live and I can’t be wasting it being a holy do gooder.
I mean He does not need me to serve Him. He has all those Preachers, missionaries, Sunday school teachers, and those Jesus Freaks who are so hung up on Jesus they are strange. I can’t be that way in fact I refuse to be that way. I am going to do what I want to do. That Bible stuff is out dated and out of touch with today’s reality. Whoever heard of talking to God anyway? I will come to church on Sunday morning. But I might or might not come on Sunday night or wed night. Sunday morning is all the religion I need anyway. Let the others do it if they want to but I am going to do what I want Life is too short to be serving God.
You are sitting there saying no I don’t say that. You probably don’t in those words. But in truth that is what you are saying when you choose not to come to Sunday nights or wed. Night services. These Christians don’t feel that they need to serve because they never think about serving God. When you talk to them about salvation it is not important. Other things in life over-rides it. They make excuses as to why they can’t come to services. We get angry when the preacher hits close to home and use that as an excuse for not coming to church. We think everyone is a hypocrite and use that as an excuse to not come. We have to get ready for work the next day, the kids got to get their homework done and so forth. Excuse after excuse, but the bottom line is we are not serving because we don’t want to serve.
What was the response of the owner of the vineyard? Why has this barren tree not been removed? He wanted to cut it down because it was not producing. You see Jesus bought you and me with His blood. He paid a price for us on the cross. He planted us in the garden and tends us. He watches us waiting for us to produce fruit. A Christian must have fruit.
S. D. Gordon tells of a spring storm that broke a large limb on his cherry tree. Although it hung by a very slender strand, to his surprise the blossoms came anyway. Later some fruit began to grow as it did on the other branches. He noticed, however, that only those in full contact with the tree bore "much fruit," while the partially severed branch produced only a scanty supply. As believers, we must be careful about our spiritual connections, making sure we are fully abiding in Christ. The fruit we bear, whether much or little, tells the story. If you are producing fruit you are assured of your salvation. But if you are not producing fruit are you really assured of your salvation. Do you doubt that you are saved? What you thought was a salvation experience may not have been one. Maybe Jesus is given you another opportunity to come to Him. Look past your pride are you really producing Fruit. If not you might need to examine your salvation.
A Christian has fruit. Maybe you once produced fruit but no longer are you producing fruit. Maybe the world has gotten in the way of you barring fruit. Maybe you are just tired. You feel that you have done your part. Wrong you can never retire from Jesus’ work it goes on for eternity. Maybe you have walked away from Jesus, You have quit thinking about Him during the day when once He was all that you thought about. Maybe the temptations around us may have snared us. Jesus says let me work with it and see if it will bare fruit.
He wants you to bare fruit. He wants you to grow and thrive. He wants you to work. He is waiting to give you another opportunity. He does not want to cut you down. He desires that we serve Him. Will you serve Him this morning, this week, this month, and this year for all eternity? Come come and serve Him.
