Luke 13:1-9
Bearing Fruit in the Next Year: One More Year
I. Introduction
-Procrastination
1. Many things can be put off.
2. Someone once said: "Why do today, what you could do tomorrow?"
3. That just makes sense!
-The value of procrastination:
1. "The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
2. College papers (Bible & Theology papers) receive Holy Spirit inspiration when done moments before they are due.
3. If you do something early, you have nothing more to look forward to!
4. There is a thrill associated with accomplishing something at the last second... you never know what might pop up!
-Gloria Pitzer wrote this:
"Procrastination is my sin,
It brings me naught but sorrow
I know that I should stop it,
In fact, I will–tomorrow!"
-One wife said: "When a man needs to do a household job, he goes through three periods: contemplating how it will be done, contemplating when it will be done, & contemplating."
-But Spiritual Procrastination is one of the most dangerous things imaginable.
1. It is not a joking matter.
2. It is a serious problem... even among Christians.
II. Scripture
III. Focus on vv. 1-5
-Here we are in a vineyard this evening.
-In vv. 3 & 5 it says: "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
-I want to focus quickly on four words: All, likewise, perish, & repent
-#1- "All"
1. The story of the Galileans whose blood was mixed w/ the sacrifices was told to Jesus.
2. Implied is that the Galileans had, in some way, done something more evil.
3. Idea, even in Job, that suffering & tragedy in your life had to be a result of the judgement of God for your sin.
4. Rich = Good Christian.
5. Trials & suffering= sinful person.
6. What does your theology of suffering and sin call for in the face of this kind of tragedy?
7. Their sin wasn’t extraordinarily horrible, it was ordinarily horrible!
8. It was just as bad as our sin.
9. Jesus says that we are all just as deserving of the fate of the Galileans and those in Jerusalem who had a tower fall on them.
10. Example: Hurrican Katrina & Twin Towers in NY
11. Jesus is saying that all/ everyone is extremely sinful in God’s eyes.
12. Rom. 3:23 "All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God."
13. Rom. 3:10 "There is none righteous, no not one."
14. Point: What should amaze us in our sin is not that some are taken in calamity, but that we are all spared and given another day to repent.
15. The really amazing thing is not that sinners perish (that is a given); but that God is slow to anger and has mercifully allowed us one more opportunity to repent.
-#2- "Likewise"
1. "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
2. "Likewise perish" can't just mean die, since that's going to happen even to those who repent.
3. So what does Jesus mean when he says that all unrepentant people will likewise perish?
4. The end those ppl came to was unexpected (they knew they would die; just that it wouldn’t end like that).
5. Unless we repent, that is the way it will be for us... a shock/surprise in the end.
6. Some casual Christians will be surprised on judgement day.
7. Some half-hearted disciples will be shocked at the Great White Throne.
8. In that sense you will likewise perish.
9. Luke 17:27-30 "They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. [28] Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, [29] but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— [30] so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
10. Only repentance can make you ready to meet God.
-#3- "Perish"
1. "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
2. "Perish" must mean more than physical death.
3. Even repentant ppl die.
4. Perish has to do with what happens beyond the physical grave.
5. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
6. Matthew 25:46 about the separation of sheep from the goats, says: "The one will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
7. Perishing is eternal spiritual death; it is torment in the lake of fire. It is an abode in hell for eternity.
8. That’s how serious sin is!
9. Ill. All you can lose is your earthly life w/ disease, murder, violence, etc.
10. Luke 12:4-5 "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. [5] But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!"
11. If our world is willing to pour millions into heart disease & AIDS research why are we who know the most important cure so unwilling to do whatever it cost to awaken our world to the real danger of sin?
-#4- "Repent"
1. "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
2. Repentance involves believing God over the lies of Satan.
3. It is being convinced that the path I pave leads to destruction.
4. It is an acknowledgment that only Christ can deal with my sinfulness.
5. It is an acceptance of Christ’s Will in my life.
6. It includes sorrow & grief over past sins.
7. It includes a hatred for present evil tendencies in my life.
8. And it involves turning from evil ways.
VI. Now to vv. 6-9
-Now to illustrate this Jesus tells a short story/parable.
-#1- The owner of the tree made a reasonable request!
1. It was his tree. He planted it.
2. He planted a fig tree... to produce figs!
3. He cultivated it, cared for it, watched over it, and, in the end expected it to produce fruit.
4. It was in a vineyard (where trees and vines are cared for).
5. There is no excuse for you not to bear fruit if you are apart of this church.
6. The tree was specifically planted in a suitable place. (It was not a ‘volunteer’ on a rocky ledge.)
7. The owner wanted fruit.
8. Is that unreasonable? Is that unjust? Is that unfair?
9. God expects to find some fruit hanging on your tree!
10. "You can’t pink slip God & expect a bonus check of His bountiful blessings."
11. But every time the owner came, the tree had no fruit.
12. For three years it gave no fruit. (Fig trees produce annually.)
13. He gave it time to grow & mature.
14. He didn’t have unfair expectations that it would produce more figs than any other tree.
15. But it didn’t even produce one fig.
-#2- Fruitlessness requires eradication.
1. "Cut is down!"
2. I planted it, I protected it and I cared for it, yet it has produced no fruit; Cut it down!"
3. "Why should it use up the ground?"
4. John 15:2 "Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit."
5. John 15:4-6 "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. [5] I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. [6] If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch & withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned."
-I’d rather be watered & fertilized than cut down.
-I’m glad that the vinedresser asked to spare the tree another year!
VII. Self-Centered Christianity
-People today view Christianity as something you take on as you journey through life.
-We market it that way.
1. We make God’s blessings material things.
2. We make His blessings happy "feel good" emotions.
3. Warm fuzzies, etc.
4. "God’s going to bless you in the new year."
-Point: God is not concerned about the new year; God is concerned about the new you!
-Too many Christians are the same old fruitless tree they always were with a new sign that says: fig tree.
1. You never see any figs.
2. In fact, we don’t expect figs anymore.
-We have become fruitless trees in the vineyard.
-Take, take, take... give me, give me, give me!
1. How selfish & self-centered!
2. To be given so much by God, to be provided for and nurtured by Him and to be fruitless.
3. Unacceptable!
-All we do is just keep expecting more from God.
1. A demanding, fruitless ppl.
2. Serve me! Amuse me! Entertain me! Educate me! Provide for my children!
3. Accept me w/out changing me! Don’t correct me! Don’t challenge me!
-But we’re not getting any better.
1. Year after year we are fruitless!
2. That’s why our churches are closing/ being cut down!
3. That’s why "Christians" are unfaithful, uncommitted, & uncaring about Kingdom things!
-We have wasted God’s grace & have become useless... just using up the ground.
1. We waste God’s grace by taking advantage of God’s undeserved, unmerited, loving action toward us.
2. We cheapen His grace by our unwillingness to forfeit our way, our will, our plans and accept His.
3. We remain fruitless b/c we remain unwilling to pay the price for true spiritual victory.
4. No fruit is produced b/c we refuse to take up our cross & follow Him.
VIII. Conclusion
-So if we have been barren and unproductive, the reasonable response to the Lord is that of committing ourselves to bearing fruit this next year.
-Luke 3:8a "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance."
-What is this fruit?
-Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
-Query: "Why do today, what you could do tomorrow?"
1. B/c tomorrow is not guaranteed.
2. B/c it is a reasonable request of God for us to produce fruit.
-Now is the time to repent and live lives of fruitfulness.
-And the next time that the owner of the vineyard comes with His reasonable request for fruit (that could be any day now), with joy, you can give Him all that He desires.
-How can I repay the Lord for all he has done for me?
1. You can’t.
2. But you can allow him to nurture the fruit of His Spirit in you!
Response
