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These are the words of life. These are the words. These are the words. These are the words of life. Welcome back to Words of Life.
This is our fourth episode in our series on the parables of Jesus with Major Cam Henderson. Cam is a Salvation Army officer and pastor right here in Atlanta, Georgia. And throughout this series, he's helping us unpack these familiar stories to understand what Jesus was really saying to his listeners and what those words mean for us today. In this episode, we're studying one of Jesus' more challenging stories: the parable of the barren fig tree. Welcome back to the Parable Series.
Today, we're going to be talking about a fig tree. Fig leaves are famous for Adam and Eve. But fig fruit is terrific for eating, and I don't know if you ever had a fresh fig, but I have enjoyed that very, very much. We had a fig tree in our backyard when we lived in Lawrenceville, Georgia. That fig tree was amazing.
First of all, it was huge. I don't know, thirty feet by thirty feet, top to bottom and left to right. It was a big, full tree. And it produced so much fruit, so many figs. The birds would come by and eat them.
The bats would come. The bees would come. We couldn't eat it all. I would sit there and study. It was right at our deck, so I would sit there and study, and I'd reach over and grab a fig and eat it.
And they were so sweet. I had only had like fig newtons growing up.
So what did I know? And all of a sudden, I'm eating fresh figs. They're incredible, and so I understand why someone would want to have a fig tree in their yard. My daughter is a baker. She's a cook and a baker, but she's a terrific baker.
And she thought, I want to grow some of the plants that I use in my baking. And so it would be neat to have a lemon tree.
So we bought her a lemon tree, little small lemon tree, for her birthday, that she could make grow and eventually have lemons from it and use it to make lemon pie and lemon cake. And just excited about that.
Well, it died. I think the first year we saw some leaves come to it, and we saw some little flowers. The second season, little tiny things, and I thought maybe that's the bud of the lemon, but it wasn't. It was just kind of how the branches form.
So the third season, it it kept fading and then coming back a little bit. We would nurse it back to health. She would and nurse it back to health. But at one point, I think it was year four. I think Ellie just gave up and.
We just let it die. It was no good. I don't think it was the lemon tree's fault. It was probably ours. We have no idea how to raise and prune and give fertilizer to a lemon tree, but it died in our hands.
Oh well.
So we're not good gardeners; we don't have the green thumb. But in our next parable, it speaks of the owner of a vineyard who has a fig tree planted in the middle of his vineyard, and he's very excited. He wants figs, and now I understand why. First-hand knowledge—they're terrific.
So he plants this fig tree. This parable, though, is actually a terrible warning shot to God's people. If they listened, they would be saved, and they'd bring great pleasure to the Father. If they listened, would they?
Well, here's the context for what had come just before. It helps us sometimes in understanding what each passage means. When we understand what Jesus just talked about before, or what he's talking about after, it helps to understand it in a way that fits it in with the rest of the story. Jesus had just learned—I don't know if the word had gotten around, or some kind of newspaper, or some kind of little writings that that shares news—but Jesus was just informed that Pilate had murdered some of the people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the temple. And right at that time, he decides to speak on this current event to his people, and uses that as an opportunity to speak to them about life.
He says to them, "Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee? In other words, why were they chosen to die when they were worshiping God? Eighteen people had died in a tower that had fallen, and Jesus asked, 'Were they sinners?'" Were they worse than the others around them?
So why those eighteen?
Well, we know everyone will die. This flesh will die, but he's indicating to them. He says, "But you'll die unless you'll repent. Unless you repent of your sin, you'll die at spiritual death." So a warning to them, and he continues the warning with this parable. A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came out again and again to see if there were any fruit on it.
Fig trees are important, and he plants this fig tree and he couldn't wait for figs. They were important in Israel, not just for food, but they were also kind of a part of Israel. It represented Israel. Fig trees could live hundreds of years. And produce so much fruit about ten months out of the year.
It almost never stopped producing fruit. In fact, my understanding is that's one plant that they didn't have to worry about leaving some for the poor because there was always more for everyone. But also, the roots would use up a lot of nutrients in the soil, and it's worth it for all that fruit.
So this man planted a fig tree in his vineyard. He's waiting for the figs. He patiently comes looking at the fruit, and he's doing this for three years, watching this tree and looking for fruit. And will it ever come?
Well, three years is plenty of time in that land for figs to begin producing. And so he's wondering, will this ever happen? Will it ever produce? And he never finds any. It goes on to say he's returning to them for three years, and he's disappointed.
It says, always disappointed in verse six.
So finally, he says to his gardener, "I've waited three years, and there hasn't been a single fig. Cut it down. It's just taking up space in the garden. Its roots are using up the soil," is what it's saying there. Fig trees were never cut down because they were typically so productive.
But if not, you couldn't let it waste all the soil's nutrients. It was hurting the rest of the garden, so it had to be cut down, and that was kind of a tragedy for that. Have you ever had the thought of being replaced because you were unproductive at work? Maybe that's a disturbing thought and maybe disappointing.
Well, the human race faced this before, with Noah in Genesis six. God repented that he had made man and was going to start over with Noah, and the Jewish people had faced this before too, when they continued to sin and rebel against God in the days of Moses. In Exodus 32:10, God said, "I'm going to start again Abraham's family over with you, Moses," but Moses interceded and convinced him not to do this. But this is not God's desire. It's not His nature to just get rid of something and start all over.
Second Chronicles sixteen verse nine lets us know that the eyes of the Lord are searching all over the earth, looking for someone He can bless, looking for someone who's completely committed to Him. And in that verse, we see that what prompted Him to say that is His people were not being faithful, and yet He was still looking.
So his nature is to keep looking and hoping. One of us, or some of us, are going to be faithful, or that what he created is going to be faithful.
Well, in our story, back to our parable here, the vineyard keeper intercedes urgently in verse eight. The gardener answered, "Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it for another year, and I'll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer." And if we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you cut it down. Don't cut it down," he said.
"Give me one more year to work on it," he said. "I'll prune it. I'll dig around the roots. I'll fertilize it." He says, "In my study, I found out this is a real procedure that they use. I don't know if it's for all plants and all trees, but they certainly use it for fig trees.
They dig around the roots, dig it deep, and they put fertilizer in there, and hope that it produces fruit the next year." So that's what he's saying. Let's try it. And if we get figs next year, fine. If not, cut it down.
Well, they're hoping for the result. They're hoping for the fruit to let the master enjoy it. But if not, the answer is clear: cut it down. It's intentionally left open in this parable. We don't know what was the result of this fig tree.
Just kind of hanging there. In truth, the people he was talking to still had time to react. And respond, because this was about them. Will they produce fruit? One of my favorite books of the Bible is Titus.
I have many favorite books of the Bible, and you probably do too. But Titus is a very interesting one. It's a very simple book, very clear cut. A leader speaking to a young pastor: This is what I want you to do, and don't forget the point of what we are doing. And he speaks about things that are useless and things that are useful.
In Titus chapter one verse fifteen, he says that everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure, but nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted. Such people claim they know God, but they deny Him by the way they live. They're detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good. Wow. Denying him by the way they live means they are also detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.
That's dangerous. But we can be useful by God's grace, and in chapter two, we know that the grace of God, verse eleven, the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And it goes on to explain that. I hate to skip over it, but it goes on to say in verse fourteen, He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us. And make us His very own people.
Listen to this: totally committed to doing good deeds, totally committed to doing good work. Titus is very, very clear. This is what we are all after. In fact, if we get to chapter three, it's almost all about that—that we should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. In verse eight.
It's a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on it. Teach your people so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. It's good and beneficial for everyone, he says. And then, in the last spot in three verse fourteen, he says this: Our people must learn to do good by meeting the urgent needs of others, and then they will not be unproductive. Boy, the last thing I would want to hear the Lord say.
Is you are unproductive. In fact, we often quote, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." We want to be productive, don't we? And in the Book of John, chapter fifteen, we know the wonderful passage that Jesus would speak of. I'm the vine; you're the branches. Remain in me, and I'll remain in you, and you will produce much fruit.
Apart from me, you can't do anything. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted. And when you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples, and it brings great glory to my Father.
So don't take up soil. You're receiving the grace of God. In fact, you're receiving all of God Himself. Let Him produce in you the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit that blesses others, the fruit that invites others to eat from the kingdom and find life, just like you have. Holy Spirit, you've given yourself to us.
Let us produce fruit. Help us to please the Father. We love you, Lord, in Jesus' name. The Salvation Army's mission, doing the most good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army.
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