The Call to Fruitful Faith

©Wendell Griffen, 2011

Matthew 13:23

²³But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

          Jesus declared in the Parable of the Sower that God's grace and truth are extravagantly sowed in all kinds of people.  However, divine grace and truth is fruitful only when planted, properly rooted, and adequately cultivated.  Jesus also said that people in whom divine grace and truth has been planted, properly rooted, adequately cultivated, and matured are people of love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, fairness, truth, and hope.  Today we will look at what Jesus taught about a three-year old barren fig tree and his teaching about abiding in the vine to gain more insights concerning fruitful faith. 

          The parable of the three-year-old barren fig tree found at Luke 13:6-9 exposes us to God's judgment on fruitless religion on one hand and God's grace concerning fruitless people on the other.  The owner of a barren fig tree that was planted in a vineyard complained about it.  This was no wild fig tree.  It had been planted in a vineyard.  It existed in good soil and had been attended by a gardener.  But it remained barren even after three years.  So the owner ordered, "Cut it down!  Why should it be wasting the soil?"

          Divine judgment is an unpleasant subject in religion, but it shouldn't be avoided for several reasons.  In the first place, God has expectations of us that we shouldn't dismiss.  Like the owner expected figs from a tree that had been planted in good soil and nurtured by attentive care, God expects love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, fairness, truth, and hope from people in whom divine grace and truth have been invested.  Dr. Gardner Taylor was right.  The divine agronomy has no room for fruitlessness and the divine economy has no room for uselessness. 

          At some point, God has the right to expect a divine product from people in whom grace and truth have been invested.  At some point, God deserves fruitful living.  At some point, God has a right to find love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, fairness, truth, and hope when people have "grown up in the church."  And it's disappointing to God when we don't produce it. 

          Jesus makes a point in the parable of the barren fig tree and in what he said about the vine and the branches that religious people must not overlook, ignore, or forget.  God judges!  In the parable of the barren fig tree the owner represents divine judgment on fruitless living by the words, "Cut it down!  Why should it be wasting the soil?"  At John 15:1-2, Jesus points to divine judgment in these words:  "I am the true vine, and my Father is the winegrower.  He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit."  God judges.

          God has the right to expect love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, fairness, truth, and hope from people who've been planted, rooted, cultivated, and groomed in religion.  And God has every right to be disappointed.

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people put more value in war-making than in peace-making.

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people complain about paying taxes so poor people can survive. 

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people prefer discrimination over fairness.

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people pollute God's world and make it unsafe to live.

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people oppress weak, poor, disadvantaged, immigrants, elderly, and other vulnerable people.

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people don't produce what God has every right to expect!

          And notice that Jesus, the best evidence we have of God's grace and truth, does not dilute the message about God's judgment on fruitless religion.  [My Father] removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.  We can be in God's glorious plans and purposes and be fruitless. 

          That's the tragic object lesson the Old Testament gives us concerning the religious tradition that began with Abraham.  That tradition had Abraham, Moses, and David.  The people of that tradition had great preachers like Samuel, Elijah, Amos, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah.  They had the Psalms.  Despite all that religious nurture, the people of that tradition disappointed God.

          We should not ignore the lessons about divine judgment from their experience.  God will not forever tolerate fruitlessness.  God will not always withhold judgment on it.  God will not accept religious gyrations as a substitute for the righteousness that only comes from love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, truth, fairness, and hope. 

God knows the difference between what we produce and what God deserves.

          Why don't we produce what God deserves?  Jesus explained it clearly in the lesson from John 15.  "Abide in me as I abide in you.  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.  Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" [verses 4-5].  Whenever we substitute anything else for righteousness, we separate ourselves from the force that makes for fruitfulness.

·        When we put more stock on human tradition than divine truth, we can't bear divine fruit.

·        When we put more value in possession than people, we can't bear divine fruit.

·        When we exalt patriotism, nationalism, racism, sexism, ethnocentricism, chauvinism, homophobia, xenophobia, and our other pet ills over divine love, truth, and justice, we can't bear divine fruit.

·        When we confuse wealth with wellness, we won't bear divine fruit.

·        Whenever we live by anything other than God's love and truth, we won't bear fruit.

          The judgment for barren fig tree and fruitless branch religion is unmistakable.  God has no use for fruitless religion.  "Cut it down!  Why should it be wasting the soil?"  "[My Father] removes every branch in me that bears no fruit."  Fruitless religion is dead religion.  Fruitless religion is also doomed religion.

          But there's good news.  The barren fig tree has a Savior.  The gardener's reply is good news for barren fig tree people and religion.  "Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.  If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down."  [Luke 13:8-9]  Divine judgment on fruitless faith is joined by divine hopefulness that we will respond favorably to God's cultivating influences of grace. 

          At Calvary Jesus personified the gardener's plea for people of fruitless faith in a prayer.  Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.  [Luke 23:34]   His prayer is our proof of divine grace for fruitless faith.  His prayer is the reason people who are like barren fig trees and fruitless branches can hope.  There's hope for the barren fig tree. There's hope for the fruitless branch.

          But let's not fool ourselves.  God's grace is no excuse for the fig tree to brag about being fruitless.  Grace is no excuse for the fruitless branch to brag about being on the vine. 

·        Grace means God is giving us time to change.

·        Grace means God is allowing the Holy Spirit time to dig around us and fertilize us. 

·        Grace means God is keeping us in the garden for the time being, hoping, expecting, and waiting on us to present fruitful lives of love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, truth, fairness, and hope. 

          Grace means God is giving us time and resources to become fruitful.  It doesn't mean we have bragging rights about being fruitless.  Let us be wise stewards of God's grace so we can become fruitful for God's glory. 

          God of grace and truth, we often seem to be like barren fig trees and fruitless branches.  We have been nurtured in your love.  We have been planted and rooted in your truth.  We know your way of love and peace is right. 

          But we've often substituted our notions of religion for your demands for love, justice, and truth.  We often preach, sing, and pray about grace, while continuing in barren and unfruitful faith.  Our fruitlessness is our condemnation. 

          So work on us, Holy Spirit.  We desire to become fruitful for God.  Work on us!  Break us free from everything that makes us unfruitful.  Teach us to become people of love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, truth, fairness, and hope.  Help us live in obedience to the life and example of Jesus Christ so that we will be agents of grace and truth in a barren world.  Amen.