Fig Trees & Firewood Part 2
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Last week we began our new series, fig trees and firewood and we learned that No matter where we are in our relationship with Christ, we just might be more like him than we think because like you, Jesus doesn’t like being lied to. Just like you, Jesus doesn’t like being deceived or betrayed. Just like you, Jesus is not interested in fruitless relationships.
And the reason we don’t like fruitless relationships is because we know that life is too short to invest in journeys that lead to nowhere. When you start realizing how short life actually is, you understand how precious time is.
And when time is precious, you don’t waste it. When time is precious you want relationships that produce. And the last time I checked, only living things reproduce. In fact, you could argue that in most cases,
the only things that don’t reproduce are either dead, dying, or immature.
So as we evaluate our spiritual walk we have to ask ourselves, which one am I? If I’m immature, that’s not so bad if you’re a new believer, spiritual immaturity is expected but at some point you’ve got to grow up. As you study and learn from our more mature brothers and sisters in Christ, you should be learning to be more like Jesus. You just need a little time and nurture. You’ll be alright.
But if you’re not in the new believers category and you’re not producing then it’s possible that you are dying spiritually. And if you are dying spiritually, then you need something more than time and nurture. You’re in need of intensive care.
A lot of it is manufactured, but some church hurt is real. Maybe you’re suffering and bleeding out. You’re in a lot of pain from some things that people or maybe organizations have put you through. You’re not dead yet, but maybe you’re close. Preachers and pastors go through it too. There’s been times when I knew I was only hanging on by a thread and I needed God to step in now or else I would’ve died spiritually.
I’ve learned that if we’re dying, it’s because we have reached our limits of self-preservation. Which means our human ability has been exhausted and if that’s the case, then you’re in need of a miracle. Like Peter, sinking in water, you need Jesus to reach out and save you now! or else you’ll die.
And if you die, then who will care for your wife? If you die, who will raise your children. If I die, who will do what God has called me to do. There are things I have yet to see, places I have yet to go, things I have yet to do. Surely, God is not done with me. If you’re under the sound of my voice, that means God is not done with you either! And if God is not done with us then we can’t die.
Yet, we serve a God with resurrection power. So even if I am dead, I know God can do something about that. So God, we need you to intervene. some of us are beyond the need for healing. We need revival!
But here is where we wrestle with God because we know what His word says. We know Jesus curses trees that don’t produce. And if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve missed a few seasons of production in our lives. When was the last time you led someone to Christ? When did you last bring a friend to church with you?
What are your coworkers hearing you say at work? How does your family see you acting at home? Are you producing good fruit that honors God?
Or have you become a fruitless tree that Jesus can’t use? I mean, we want to do right. Don’t we? We want to be right. At least I think we do. Am I fooling myself, or have I already reached the point where God can’t use me?
And I’m told we’re not supposed to compare ourselves to others but we see them on t.v. embarrassing God. We read the news reports about the preachers who stole money from the church. We saw the worship leader in the same-sex relationship. We know folks first hand with unrepentant sin in their lives and it looks like God is still blessing and using them.
They are popular and their churches are growing so surely God is blessing. They drive nice cars and live in big houses and they have more followers than Jesus so they must be doing something right. Right?!
It’s thoughts like these that causes Jesus to say things like this:
Matthew 7:15
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
Okay Jesus. You can’t say things like that and not expect me to compare myself to others. I need to know if I’m included in the number of false prophets. I need to know if I’m a ferocious wolf in sheep’s clothing. So please, explain to me how to do that without comparison. To which, Jesus would reply.
Matthew 7:16
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Listen, I love grapes but if I have to bleed in order to get them, I’ll pass on the grapes. To be honest, I don’t eat pomegranate because it’s too much work so I’m definitely not about to fight through a thorn bush for a berry. Can we just agree that some things are just not worth the trouble?
Technically, if it’s a blessing from the Lord, it’s supposed to come without sorrow according to Proverbs 10:22 so what are you doing in thornbushes? Tell somebody next to you, “Come out of the thornbushes. Come out from the thistles. You were made for better. Stop picking up things that hurt you.”
Oh, you know what I’m talking about. Don’t make me come down your street. Talking about, you thought you could change him or fix him. You thought she was harmless but she wore you out emotionally and mentally and now you’re looking like Samson. Hairless and weak.
You know sheep don’t growl. Stop working so hard for happiness and just relax. Stop changing in hopes that people will accept you. Stop begging folks to recognize you. Just relax. Grab your blanket, your lunch basket, and a good book. Get under that big shade tree and just relax. But make sure your under the right kind of tree.
Here’s a hint. If it’s bringing you pain, you’re under the wrong tree.
If it’s the right tree, the fruit will bless you and not hurt you. It will add value to your life instead of sorrow. The right tree will bear fruit that will refresh you and rejuvenate your soul. Come out from the thornbushes and remove yourself from the thistle and find yourself under a good tree.
Good trees provide shade from the scorching sun and shelter from the storm. Good trees foster atmospheres that help things around it grow. Good trees release nutrients into the environment and everything around it benefits. Good trees produce good things. I wish I had somebody in here who knew what it’s like to sit under a good tree. Because Jesus says in verse 17 that every good tree bears good fruit.
Matthew 7:17-18
17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
So what do we do when we encounter a tree that bears bad fruit? Well, according to Jesus we either curse it, like he did last week or we do what he tells us to do in the next verse.
Matthew 7:19
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
At this, his hearers would understand what I need you to understand today so I’ll yield momentarily to the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary to help me explain the importance of the wood being thrown into the fire. It reads,
The preponderance of biblical references to fire, however, express its power as a symbol of divine presence, divine protection, and divine judgment1
1 Kevin J. Youngblood, “Fire,” ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 576.
So what Jesus is telling us is that
any tree that does not bear good fruit is useless and serves no other function than to warm a fire for those things which are.
The burning bush served no purpose beyond getting Moses’s attention. A fire burned to warm a shipwrecked Paul’s hands on the beach and in the end of days an unquenchable fire will burn for eternity, those who have rejected the Messiah.
But in the meantime, concerning the wolves in sheep’s clothing, the trees that bear bad fruit, concerning the false prophets,
Matthew 7:20
20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
And so, over the next few weeks we will begin examining fruit. But I think it’s important that we start with our own trees. Before we start judging the fruit of others, we need to make sure that we, ourselves are not bad apples. We need to make sure that we are not a bunch of sour grapes. We need to ensure that what we are reproducing would be considered by God to be worth keeping.
And this is not a mystery, ladies and gentlemen. Jesus tells us plainly how to ensure we reproduce good fruit. It’s not something that has to be figured out or manipulated into reality.
John 15:1-8
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
And so, this is the time when you decide what to do about your fruit. Will you live a life connected to the source in order to bear much fruit, or will you continue to do things your way until you rot away?