Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
August 1, 2001
:6-9 Fruitful trees
:6 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his
vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
fig tree – suke – a fig
tree
vineyard – ampelon – a
vineyard
planted – phuteuo – to
plant
The main lesson behind what Jesus is talking about, is the nation of
Israel. They are often referred to as a
“fig tree”.
In this sense, God is looking at the nation of Israel to see if it will
bear any fruit. Will it follow Jesus or
not?
In the end, the nation will not bring forth the fruit of following Jesus
and God will give them one last shot at bearing fruit, forty years from the
death of Jesus until the destruction of the city of Jerusalem.
Lesson
The goal is fruit.
The landlord was looking for fruit on the fig tree.
A fig tree is planted for its fruit, not because it looks nice.
Whether you are talking about fig trees, grape vines, or people, the point
is the fruit.
Jesus said,
(John 15:4-8 KJV) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye,
except ye abide in me. {5} I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth
in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can
do nothing. {6} If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are
burned. {7} If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye
will, and it shall be done unto you. {8} Herein is my Father glorified, that
ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
What is the “fruit” God is looking for in our lives? It’s the results of having a living
relationship with Him.
There is a sense in which “fruit” may be the lives of
those we touch, those people that God uses us to lead to Jesus.
There is a sense in which we think of the “fruit of the
Spirit” –
(Gal
5:22-23 KJV) But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, {23}
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
But the basic idea of “fruit” is that of letting God work
in your life.
Is your life any different because of your relationship
with Jesus? Has Jesus changed your
life? Has Jesus worked through you to
touch others?
God wants to see if you’re letting Him do any work in your life.
:7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years
I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why
cumbereth it the ground?
the dresser – ampelourgos –
a vinedresser
cut it down – ekkopto – to
cut out, cut off; of a tree; metaph. to cut off occasion
cumbereth – katargeo – to
render idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative; to cause a person or thing to
have no further efficiency; to deprive of force, influence, power
(Luke 13:7 NIV) So he said
to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming
to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why
should it use up the soil?'
A smart farmer isn’t going to let a fig tree take up space in his orchard
when it isn’t producing any figs. A fig farmer isn’t trying to produce fig
leaves, he’s trying to produce fruit.
The same applies to grape vines as well.
Jesus said,
(John 15:1-2 KJV) I am the
true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. {2} Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,
that it may bring forth more fruit.
A couple of years ago we planted two grape vines in our backyard. I wanted
to see how hard it was to grow grapes. One of the things we’ve learned is that
grape vines can grow like crazy. And if you don’t trim the “suckers” (the long,
quick growing shoots), then all the good sap goes into the suckers and not into
the fruit.
We’ve also had a hard time getting to taste any fruit the last two years
because every time the fruit is about ripe, the birds get it! Pick the fruit
when it’s ready!!!
The point is, if something isn’t bearing fruit, perhaps it needs to go.
:8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till
I shall dig about it, and dung it:
let it alone – aphiemi –
to send away; to bid going away or depart; to let go, let alone, let be; to let
go, give up a debt, forgive, to remit; to leave, go way from one
I shall dig – skapto – to
dig
dung – kopria – dung,
manure. Here, literally, “I shall cast dung on it”. Fertilizer.
:9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut
it down.
cut it down – ekkopto – to
cut out, cut off; of a tree; metaph. to cut off occasion
Lesson
Fruit indicates anointing.
During one period of their wanderings in the wilderness, a group of people
became disgruntled with Moses and Aaron. They felt that Moses’ family had too
much power and they thought that they were just as qualified to be priests as
Aaron and his family were. The result was known as “Korah’s Rebellion” (Num.
16). The real issue was about answering the question, “Who does God pick for
ministry?” There was a kind of showdown with each side offering incense before
God. Some of Korah’s group swallowed up in the earth, some were consumed by
fire from heaven, while Aaron’s offering was accepted.
But God wasn’t finished making His point.
(Num 17:1-8 KJV) And
the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, {2} Speak unto the children of Israel, and
take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all
their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou
every man's name upon his rod. {3} And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the
rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers.
{4} And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the
testimony, where I will meet with you. {5} And it shall come to pass, that the
man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me
the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you. {6}
And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes
gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses,
even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. {7} And Moses laid
up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness. {8} And it came to
pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and,
behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth
buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.
God was trying to make a point as to whom it was the He chose for the
priesthood. God made His point by having Aaron’s rod bud, blossom, and have
ripe almonds in one night. You might think the almonds are just “nuts”, but in
a sense they are the “fruit” of the almond tree.
I think that one of the lessons here is that the person that God chooses
will be a person who “bears fruit”.
There is a sense that if God has called you to a
particular ministry, you will have some measure of effectiveness in that
ministry.
If you feel that God has called you to be an evangelist,
yet you never lead anybody to the Lord, it’s possible that you’ve missed your
calling.
If you feel that God has called you to a ministry of
helping hurting marriages, yet everybody you counsel ends up divorced, there
could be something wrong.
Sometimes the fruit isn’t what you might expect.
Jeremiah.
He had a ministry that lasted through the reigns of King
Josiah, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, some forty years in length. He had
some hard things to say to the nation. Did the nation pay attention to him? It
doesn’t seem so. Did he have lots of converts? We don’t know of any. Was he
called of God. Absolutely.
Ezekiel had the same type of ministry.
(Ezek
2:1-8 KJV) And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will
speak unto thee. {2} And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and
set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. {3} And he said unto
me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation
that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against
me, even unto this very day. {4} For they are impudent children and
stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus
saith the Lord GOD. {5} And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will
forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been
a prophet among them. {6} And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither
be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost
dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their
looks, though they be a rebellious house. {7} And thou shalt speak my words
unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are
most rebellious. {8} But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not
thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give
thee.
God called Ezekiel to preach to a rebellious people who
would not pay attention to him. He was supposed to be faithful and deliver the
messages that God gave him whether or not the people paid attention to him.
Yet even for Jeremiah and Ezekiel, just because they did
not have “converts” doesn’t mean that they didn’t “bear fruit”. They had
another kind of fruit that proved their ministry. They prophesied and the
things they prophesied about came true. Every time.
Concerning men who feel called to be pastors, Charles Spurgeon wrote,
“…there must be aptness to teach and some measure of the
other qualities needful for the office of a public instructor. A man to prove
his call must make a successful trial of these. I do not claim that the first
time a man rises to speak he must preach as well as Robert Hall did in his
later days. If he preaches no worse than that great man did at the first, he
must not he condemned. You are aware that Robert Hall broke down altogether
three times, and cried, “If this does not humble me, nothing will.” Some of the
noblest speakers were not in their early days the most fluent. Even Cicero at
first suffered from a weak voice and a difficulty of utterance. Still, a man
must not consider that he is called to preach until he has proved that he can
speak. God certainly has not created behemoth to fly; and should leviathan have
a strong desire to ascend with the lark, it would evidently be an unwise
aspiration, since he is not furnished with wings. If a man be called to preach,
he will be endowed with a degree of speaking ability, which he will cultivate
and increase. If the gift of utterance be not there in a measure at the first,
it is not likely that it will ever be developed.”
(Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, pg.25)
If God has called you to do something, there ought to be some kind of
fruit.
Lesson
Sometimes you have to stop.
For some of the things that we become involved in, if these things don’t
bear fruit, perhaps it’s time to let it go.
Often in churches, a particular program gets started, and long after the
program ceases to be effective, the leadership is still trying to keep things
going, mostly for the sake of sentimentality.
Illustration
This is one of the things I appreciate about Pastor Chuck.
Years ago, during the Jesus People movement, one of the big “things” in
Southern California Christianity was the Saturday night Maranatha Concerts at
Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. Thousands of people came to the Lord through
these concerts. But after about ten years, the concerts didn’t seem as
effective. I don’t know all that went on behind the scenes, but at one point
Pastor Chuck called a halt to it.
Things changed. Times changed. What was effective once was
no longer effective. Does this mean that Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa stopped
all evangelism? Not at all. Later God put it on Chuck’s heart to start the
Harvest Crusades. Do you think that’s been effective? Absolutely.
For those of us involved in various ministries, it doesn’t
hurt from time to time to step back from your ministry, look things over and
ask God, “Do you still want me doing this?”
For some people, the real question is, “Was I supposed to be doing this in
the first place?”
Sometimes we can talk ourselves into thinking that God is calling us to a
particular ministry when He isn’t. I believe that from time to time people get
involved in certain ministries that shouldn’t be there.
In regards to men who want to be in the ministry, Charles Spurgeon writes,
“One brother I have encountered—one did I say? I have met
ten, twenty, a hundred brethren, who have pleaded that they were sure, quite
sure that they were called to the ministry—they were quite certain of it,
because they had failed in everything else. This is a sort of model story
:—“Sir, I was put into a lawyer’s office, but I never could bear the
confinement, and I could not feel at home in studying law; Providence clearly
stopped up my road, for I lost my situation.” “And what did you do then?” “Why
sir, I was induced to open a grocer’s shop.” “And did you prosper?” “Well, I do
not think, Sir, I was ever meant for trade, and the Lord seemed quite to shut
my way up there, for I failed and was in great difficulties. Since then I have
done a little in life assurance agency, and tried to get up a school, besides
selling tea; but my path is hedged up, and something within me makes me feel
that I ought to be a minister.” My answer generally is, “Yes, I see; you have
failed in everything else, and therefore you think the Lord has especially
endowed you for his service; but I fear you have forgotten that the ministry
needs the very best of men, and not those who cannot do anything else.” A man
who would succeed as a preacher would probably do right well either as a
grocer, or a lawyer, or anything else. A really valuable minister would have
excelled at anything. There is scarcely anything impossible to a man who can
keep a congregation together for years, and be the means of edifying them for
hundreds of consecutive Sabbaths; he must be possessed of some abilities, and
be by no means a fool or ne’er-do-well. Jesus Christ deserves the best men to
preach his cross, and not the empty-headed and the shiftless.”
(Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students,
pg.35-36)
Lesson
Limits to quitting
Don’t take this parable as a reason for quitting your marriage.
Don’t take this as an excuse for quitting life.
Even if God is calling you to “quit” on something, keep in mind that it
isn’t necessarily forever.
In the main lesson of this parable, Israel is the fig tree. Even though God allowed the nation of Israel
to be “cut down”, it wouldn’t be forever.
God would one day restore the nation.
Lesson
Don’t quit too quickly
Before you let some things go, it’s proper to give them “one last chance”.
Throw a little “fertilizer” around and see what happens.
Illustration
Fertilizer and strawberries
A farmer was driving along the road with a load of fertilizer.
A child playing in front of his house saw him and called, “What are you
hauling?” “Fertilizer,” the farmer replied. “What are you going to do with it?”
asked the child. “Put it on strawberries,” answered the farmer. “You ought to
live here,” the child advised him. “We put sugar and cream on ours!”
I’ve heard a common story among Calvary pastors who planted new churches.
After a year or two with a small, struggling church, the pastor reaches a point
where he wants to quit. I’ve heard Skip Heitzig tell of getting discouraged and
calling up Pastor Chuck and telling him that he thought he would call it quits.
Chuck’s response has been pretty standard over the years. “Perhaps you ought to
just give it six more months” he’ll say.
Sometimes we reach a place in our lives or our ministry where we want to
call it quits. And perhaps that is exactly what we ought to do. But sometimes
what we need to do is to just give it a little more time. Give it one more try.
In the parable, the farmer told the landlord to give it one more year.
The effort wasn’t open ended. There
would be an end to it. But there was
one last chance given.