The Fig(less) Tree

Intro

Welcome to our Summer in the Parables

We just finished a series in the book of Philemon and how the gospel changes relationships

I came across this quote that so beautiful summarizes what we learned through Philemon

"I’m convinced that once we’re in heaven, we will never regret letting go of wrongs and forgiving others in the same way our Father has forgiven us. We will only regret the bitterness we harbored and the anger we held on to while on earth." --Louie Giglio

And now we are going to look at some of the parables in the Bible

What is a parable?

A parable is simply a story with a purpose

The gospels record about 70 parables Jesus told during the course of his ministry

Last summer we looked at several of those stories but since there are 70, there are many more for us to uncover

These parables typically centered around common experiences in life with which most listeners would have some familiarity, such as farming or attending a party

Or, as in the parable we are going to look at today, a fig tree that isn’t actually producing any figs

Introducing Doctrine, Devotion and Deeds

Before we get into today’s parable in particular, I want to introduce the framework we are going to use in this series

There are two reasons we want to use this framework

The first is that it will help give each of us an orientation to the meaning and application of the parable

And second, this framework will be part of how we think about discipleship in general going forward at New Creation Church

Doctrine: Know Jesus

The first aspect is to know Jesus and his teachings

What are we to know - about God, about ourselves, about the world - from this parable we are reading

Q3 of WSC asks: “What do the Scriptures principally teach?”

“The Scriptures principally teach what man must believe about God and what God requires of man.”

In the Know Jesus section, we are asking, from this passage, what we must believe about God and about ourselves

Devotion: Reflect Jesus

In churches, we often talk about things like “spiritual formation” or “transformation”

But notice that root word: formation

All of us are being formed into the likeness of something

Thus the question is not: are we being formed?

But what is forming us?

And into what are we being formed?

As we are to be formed into the likeness of Jesus, we will reflect the character of Jesus and the heart of Jesus

In what ways is this parable molding us to be like Jesus?

How are our hearts, not just our minds, being drawn into deeper devotion to Jesus?

Deeds: Serve Jesus

This is about application, not just acquiring information

What are we to do in response after underanding the parable?

For each of the parables we study this summer, we are going to use that grid of:

Know Jesus

Reflect Jesus

Serve Jesus

That will give us the tools both to understand the parable and to apply the parable

With that, please turn in your Bibles to Luke 13 where we will see our first parable for the summer

Scripture Reading: Luke 13:6-9

Luke 13:6–9 ESV

And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

Pray

Recap Parable

This is a short but powerful story Jesus tells

A landowner planted a fig tree in his personal vineyard

After a year he came to see if it had any fruit: Nope!

And then again after year two: Still nope!

And yet again after year three: There’s still no figs

A fig tree kinda has only one job: to produce figs… and this tree was failing at that job!

Well that’s how that landowner was feeling about his fig tree

“I’ve been patient. But still no figs. Cut it down.”

His servant intercedes on behalf of the tree and asks for one more year and he will give the tree special attention

And if it finally produced fruit, then great

If not, then cut it down this time next year

Doctrine: Know Jesus

Kim and I spent a lot of time in post-Katrina New Orleans

One common response to Katrina: “Punishment for the over-the-top sin of New Orleans”

We must be careful not to jump to judgment like that

Do we believe that people in New Orleans are worse sinners than those in Sarasota, for example?

If so, God missed since French Quarter got about 1” of water even as thousands of homes could never be lived in again

Meanwhile, one Starbucks reopened about 15 minutes from the French Quarter while we were there and had different color of brick running around outside of building

Basically, I could reach up to it if I was on my toes stretching for the line

Because that is exact context of this parable

Luke 13:2 “And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?”

Luke 13:4 “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?”

The implied answer is no: Sinners are sinners - and suffering is not necessarily a punishment for a particular sin

But it is immediately on the heels of those two questions that Jesus tells this parable

So what is the meaning of the parable? What are we to learn?

How does this help us Know Jesus?

Here are some key thoughts for us:

First, the fig tree could take years to bear fruit

This is not a speed thing - the owner was patient

It’s not like he planted the tree and was calling for it to be cut down a week later

No, it had been three years and there was till no fruit

Second, the servant does not argue that the tree is fruitless thus deserving to be cut down

Notice this: The owner said the tree deserved to be cut down

And the servant does not disagree with that statement!

It was, in fact, even worse than not bearing any fruit

It was using up the minerals in the soil other healthy trees could have used

So yes, it deserved to be cut down - the owner knew it and the servant knew it!

Third, the clock is ticking

The servant is going to give it special nutrients, surround it with manure to help it grow

If the tree remains fruitless even after a season of patient care and intentional cultivating, it will be cut down

So the clock is ticking

And what does all of this mean?

God is the landowner and we are the tree

God is patient, but he also expects that we will bear fruit in our lives (we’ll get to what the fruit is in a couple of minutes)

And herein lies the connection to what came before

Do we believe that we are sinners in need of repenting and turning back to God?

Because in this parable, the servant is Jesus, the Son of God

He does not deny that we are deserving of being cut down

Instead, he intercedes for us not with stinky manure around the base of a tree, but by the spilling of his own precious blood as he hung on the tree

Devotion: Reflect Jesus

The second area we want to discuss is devotion: How does this passage form us to be like Jesus? How is our heart being molded that we may love God and love what God loves?

And here I am drawn to how personal the work of Jesus is for us

In a vineyard full of trees, the servant gave special attention to this one tree, caring for it and nurturing it

We are, left to our own, fig(less) trees - no spiritual vitality, no fruit

In a poem about this parable, Ralph Knevet wrote: But I that wretched tree am, which The hunger of my Christ deceives, He fruit expects, but I am rich In nothing but vain spreading leaves… Yeah, I am that same fig tree vain Which in Christ’s vineyard planted was, Dressed many years with care, and pain, Yet only serve to fill a place: I therefore fear the axes wound, Because I cumber but the ground

That the servant, Jesus, should come to us and attend to us should amaze us

It should draw our hearts to repent of our fruitlessness and to rejoice in the tender work of the Gardener to nourish us that we might live

True heart transformation begins when we recognize that we are the fruitless tree deserving judgment, yet rejoice that through Christ’s gracious work we have been given mercy and new life to bear fruit for God’s glory

Deeds: Serve Jesus

And finally, our deeds: The fruit we bear in service to Jesus

What is the fruit? It’s singular here - faith in Jesus

The only fruit by which God will evaluate us is the fruit of faith

But two important thoughts here:

First, those that do not bear the fruit of faith will be cut down

The Master is patient, but the clock is ticking for us to bear the fruit of faith

And second, the fruit of faith overflows into how we live

Colossians 1:10 “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

As the fruit of faith flourishes in us, our deeds will overflow with the character of God being formed in us so that we reflect Jesus

As my one commentary incisively asks:

“How fruitful are you? Are you bearing the good fruit of spiritual growth, faithful service, and influential discipleship? Are you as fruitful as you ought to be, or are you spiritually scrawny? Are you producing Golden Delicious, or is it only crabapple?” — Phil Ryken

Conclusion

In the past I’ve shared about the tangerine/lime hybrid tree we planted in our front yard at the beginning of COVID

For a couple of years, there was nothing, but now?

Even at this moment the tree is bursting with fruit (that we still have no idea how to tell when it is ripe!)

But right next to it is a cherry tree that we bought and planted at the same time as the tangerine/lime hybrid tree

And so far, 6 years after planting it, we have seen exactly one cherry!

It may seem like a healthy tree: the base is thick, the leaves are bright

But it is not doing the thing we want it to do: produce cherries!

And now I am left wondering if it is taking nutrients away from the tangerine/lime tree

So it is with us: We are being given the task to bear the fruit of faith and repentance in our lives

We have received the special care of the death of the Servant for us

And we will, as the ticking clock expires, stand before the landowner - God himself - to give account for the fruit we have… or have not… borne

Pray