Matthew 7:19
"Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
Jesus is speaking about hearers of The Word, (v. 24 "everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock" ). And he's telling us that a person who is a hearer of The Word, and not a doer, has a deceived heart.
Luke 13:7
He told the vineyard worker, ‘Listen, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it even waste the soil?’
I have a fig tree. And it's very prolific. That tree produces nonstop figs throughout the growing season. Sometimes I eat them right off the tree. And other times I'll try my hand at making something else from them. I've made fig jam, fig sauce for serving on ice cream, fig newtons, and I plan on making fig wine. But to be honest, I'm not devoted to doing anything with those figs. If it pleases me, or the mood hits me, I will, but most of the time the figs become critter food, or the insects get them.
Jesus talked a lot about fig trees, and he used them to put forth illustrations and ideas known as "sayings". Here we have Jesus talking about an unfruitful fig tree. The offer of salvation is representative in the tree, but it's not producing the desired effect. It's taking up valuable resources and providing no value, and the vineyard master wants to deal with it.
John 15:2
"Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit."
And the vinedresser trains the plants to produce better results. He cultivates the earth around its roots and feeds the soil with nutrients.
Why does that work?
When we cultivate, we're turning up the hard compacted soil. We do this because clay and silt have properties that cause them to bind to rock and sand, and likewise these soil elements are chemically bound up with all the valuable minerals and nutrients that the plants need. The binding isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's like storage. But sometimes, especially in drought, it can make the soil hard and cracked, the roots get dried out and starved for nutrients. So we break it up, we free up those trapped nutrients with cultivation and while we're at it we add back the organic material that's been worn out or eroded away from the caked compacted soils. Stirring manure into the soil particles will enhance the nutrients and create areas in-between the clay, sand and silt particles where the roots can spread and absorb water and nutrients better. This activity generally improves the plants lifecycles and thereby helps them to produce more fruit.
And a little secret: If you want better fruiting, add back Phosphorus. That particular nutrient is crucial in fruiting body development. And often it is not present in sufficient quantities. If you want better flowering and fruiting, fertilizer high in Phosphorus will help. The stores will label it as "bloom booster".
So... does Jesus just drop this bomb on the followers and convict the ones there that are unfruitful, and then walk away?
Yes and no.
He does walk away, but he's walking towards a lesson about what an active fruitful faith looks like. So, he gives them an example of the kind of fruit he's looking for.
Matthew 8:1-3
"When he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. Right away a man with leprosy came up and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean.”
Jesus not only teaches with authority, he also acts with authority. And his act of mercy with this leper is a lesson about cultivating love and trust. Jesus is exampling the cost of discipleship. The leper is outside of society, he is supposed to be avoided by the travelers and definitely not touched. And Jesus comes to him, under authority he comes. Jesus rejects the societal edicts and pours out a miraculous blessing upon the man.
Jesus has power over nature, over demons and disease, and he can even forgive sins. That's his authority. And his followers have been given the power to do likewise according to the measure of the Holy Spirit. These miraculous acts demonstrate that God is doing something new in Jesus, and in his disciples. These acts kindness are foreign to the worldly people. Acts of mercy, acts of justice, acts of kindness, and walking humbly with God, all these things are not what the world typically does in these sorts of encounters. Jesus is demonstrating a new thing in the world. A new way. A more fruitful way. A better covenant.
Extra Credit:
The example of the fig tree goes deeper than just an example of discipleship. Jesus, uses a withered fig tree as an example of prophecy, he says that when people see all these signs, then the end of the church age is near.
What are all the signs?
False messiahs will come (Matthew 24:5)
There will be wars and rumors of wars (verse 6)
Nations will rise against each other (verse 7)
There will be famines and earthquakes around the world (verse 7)
Christians will face persecution and death (verse 9)
Professed believers will turn away from the faith and betray each other (verse 10)
False prophets will deceive masses of people (verses 11, 24)
Wickedness will increase (verse 12)
The love of most will grow cold (verse 12)
The gospel will be preached to the whole world (verse 14)
The abomination of desolation will stand in the holy place of the temple (verse 15; and Daniel 9:27)
There will be a time of great distress, unequaled in the history of the world (verse 21)
There will be signs in the heavens affecting the sun, moon, and stars (verse 29)
The sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven (verse 30)
According to the fig tree prophecy, “when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door” (Matthew 24:33, NLT).
These things either are already here or coming soon. And that means Jesus is coming soon. And he's going to be looking for the fruit bearers. You already have the power to produce fruit, your fig tree is growing the fruit, but you've got to do something with it. Make something form it and make something of yourself.
Just sayin'
#JustDoIt #Discipleship