Luke 13:6-9
God Expects A Return
This parable is a Jewish parable. Jesus was giving a message to the
Jews about their limited opportunity to repent. Let me lay it the
parts.
1. The fig tree is Israel.
2. The fruit being sought was repentance \\#5\\.
3. God is the Owner.
4. The vineyard is God’s plan, kingdom.
5. The Dresser of the vineyard is Jesus.
6. The three years are the number of years that Jesus had been
ministering to the Jews.
7. The one more year is a reference to the time that remained in
Jesus’ ministry to the Jews.
If you put all of that together, you see that Jesus was telling the
Jewish people that God was watching them… that God was looking for
their repentance… that if they did not repent in a hurry, God was
going to remove them. Of course, we know how things turned out as
well. Israel did not repent and God did remove them—not forever but
they have been removed. So this was a parable to the Jews, yet it is
also a parable for us.
Once God removed the fig tree, He turned to us, the believers, the
church. In John 15, Jesus called us His branches. God will use the
fig tree again \\#Romans 11:17-26\\\, but for right now, He is
working with the grape vines. We need to learn lessons the Jews
failed to see.
I. God endows with privilege.
A. God planted the fig tree in His vineyard. The vineyard is a
privileged place. The fig tree was not growing wild. It was
in the choicest of places. It was in the Master’s vineyard.
B. What is special about being in the Owner’s vineyard?
1. For the fig tree to be there, it had to be planted. Things
don’t just happen to grow in the Master’s vineyard. They
are there by His choice, by His will, by His design.
a. The embankment behind the church has been cut back, I
believe four times now.
b. A few times ago, some of us worked very hard to get
grass to grow. I had a part in seeding it, putting
hay on it, even watering it—and we got a pretty god
batch of grass on it.
c. A few years later, I saw pine trees were starting to
grow. They were not very big and I could have easily
pulled them up, but I thought they might help the
bank not to wash so I let them grow.
d. The embankment was not a vineyard but it was being
watched and what sprouted on it was only allowed
because of a purpose.
e. This fig tree, Israel, was selected and planted in the
kingdom of God for God’s purpose. It was there by
God’s will, His design.
2. The fig tree being there was provided for. It was watered
and cared for. The dresser speaks of digging and dunging
the tree. This was not the first time he had so cared
for the fig tree, but it would be the last. The fig tree
had been cared for all the years it had been in the
vineyard.
a. God had cared for Israel.
b. He chose them when they were a single seed, a single
man.
c. He incubated them in Egypt.
d. When they were strong enough, He transplanted them
into their own land.
e. He watered them with His Word and His prophets.
f. He pruned them with discipline when they needed it.
g. He protected them from the elements, blight, droughts,
and from pests.
h. But with all of that care, the fig tree would not
bloom.
3. The fig tree would have been both pruned and picked.
Any fruit bearing plant must be cared for—even when it
produced.
a. I helped my dad gather figs once. As a youth, Dad was
invited to gather figs off a fig tree and he sent me
up it to shake the tree. The figs were big and
heavy. They fell to the ground with a thud, The
branches were weighted down with the load of the
figs and they need to be lightened less a wind come
and crack the bow.
b. God would have been there to help this fig tree, this
nation of Israel, to be the most protected and prized
trees in His vineyard, but that day never came for
they never bore fruit.
4. All of this speaks of this fig tree being the prize of the
Owner’s vineyard.
C. As Israel was God’s prized fig tree, so Christians are God’s
prized grape vine.
1. You ask, "How have I been prized and privileged?"
2. You are alive, aren’t you. You have air to breathe, lungs
to breathe with?
3. You have a family that loves you, don’t you?
4. Do you have health, mobility? You can see and hear? You
have strength to walk and to work? You have job? a
home?
5. You are saved, are you not? Have a home in heaven? A
copy of the Word of God? The ability to read and
understand it?
6. Friend, count your blessings? You are privileged! God
has endowed you with privilege.
II. God expects return.
\\#6\\ He came and sought fruit thereon….
A. God expected a return on His investment. That is not too much
to ask. This tree was taking up valuable space inside the
vineyard. If it were not going to bear fruit, it could be
removed and some other fruit-bearing plant could be placed
in its spot.
B. \\#Luke 19:11-27\\ Jesus gave the parable of the talents. A
prince goes on a long journey but before he leaves, he gives
three servants some money to invest for him while he is gone.
When he returns, two servants have invested and made a
profit. They are rewarded. One went and hid his talent in
the ground and brings the master what was given to him. He is
rebuked and cast out of the kingdom with the thought, "You
could have at least given to the bank so that it would have
made some interest." God is concerned about His return.
C. God had a lot invested in Israel and He has a lot invested in
the church, in us.
D. There are two kinds of returns that God is looking for.
1. God is looking for return of QUALITY.
a. Many plants are prized and valuable even though they
never produce tangible fruit. They are prized
because of their beauty and strength. A rose serves
no other purpose than to be beautiful and to perhaps
give off a light aroma; yet, if they have good
character, they are prized and very valuable.
b. This is the return of QUALITY.
c. God wants the branches to have QUALITY.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is
no law.
d. This is the return, the nature, that God expects from
every one of His branches. In fact, God exerts
unseen forces upon each branch to shape it into the
kind of branch that He desires.
e. How?
(1) He shows you things in the Word and in the
preaching.
(2) He gave the Holy Ghost to guide and convict.
(3) He places people in your life to model and show
you what He desires.
(4) He even brings problems into your life to force
you to grow in these areas.
2. But God is also looking for the return of QUANTITY.
a. As fruit-bearing plant is supposed to reproduce
itself, so a Christian is supposed to reproduce
itself.
Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
b. If fig trees stop bearing figs, the fig tree will
become extinct and if the vines stop reproducing
vines the vines will soon become extinct as well.
c. God wants every believe to have a part in pointing
others to Jesus, in producing the fruit of another
Christian.
E. Yes, friend, God expects fruit.
III. God examines progress.
A. If you do not think God is watching you, read this parable and
think again! He was watching to see what fruit Israel
brought forth and He is watching to see what fruit you bring
forth too!
B. Someone says, "Well, God has never done anything to me because
I didn’t bear fruit?"
1. That is a supposition. You don’t know what blessings God
has withholden from you because you would not grow and
serve Him. Like the blind and deaf person, you don’t
know what you are missing because you are not capable to
knowing. That doesn’t mean God has not been pruning you.
2. Do you really want God to move against you in such a way
that you do notice it?
3. God is going to. That is what this parable is all about.
IV. God extends opportunity.
A. Here is where the ministry of the Dresser comes in.
Luke 13:8 And he answering said unto him, Lord,
let it alone this year also, till I shall dig
about it, and dung it:
9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then
after that thou shalt cut it down.
B. The Dresser, Jesus, interceded for the fig tree. His work
allowed the fig tree additional opportunities.
C. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus intercedes for the
believers.
Hebrews 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them.
D. What does the Intercessor do?
1. Jesus intercedes to keep us saved when we sin.
a. I mention the eternal salvation that Jesus has given
to us often, not to encourage the saved to live
wickedly but to give peace of mind to the frail
believers.
b. We are all weak, sinful, frail, and filled with
failure. If it were not for God’s eternal salvation,
we would all be in a loony bin.
c. But how does God keep us when we sin? Jesus steps up
for us just like the dresser stepped up for the fig
tree.
d. Our High Priest pleads for mercy, having paid for our
sins, Jesus asks the Father to lay it all upon Him!
(1) And so far the Father has done that 100% of the
time.
(2) In fact, God always will because He put 100% of
our sin upon Jesus when He died on the cross.
e. Then our High Priest promises to keep working on us.
(1) Friend, He has been digging and dunging around
me for more than 40 years.
(2) I thank God for it!
2. Jesus intercedes to keep us alive until we will do right.
a. God was ready to remove the fig tree and eventually
did. That doesn’t mean that He has cast Israel off
forever for He has not \\#Romans 11:17-26\\.
However, God has set Israel aside for 2,000 years.
b. And God will allow bad things to happen to Christians
who will not produce fruit and that includes taking
you home to heaven.
1Co 11:30 For this cause many are weak and
sickly among you, and many sleep.
1Jo 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin
which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he
shall give him life for them that sin not unto
death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say
that he shall pray for it.
3. Jesus also wants to intercede for your needs and desires.
a. God wants you not only to have life but to have it
more abundantly \\#John 10:10\\.
b. It is ashamed that some have kept Jesus so busy
interceding for their sins, their life, and their
fruit, that He has little time left to intercede for
the things you need and desire.
V. God executes judgment.
A. That event is not documented in this parable but it is
described.
1. God said He would cut down the fig tree if it did not bear
fruit and He did.
2. Wait a minute. Jesus is the Dresser and He was going to
try to get the fig tree to produce fruit.
3. Do you realize that you can resist God so that even Jesus’
ministry of intercession cannot protect you?
a. I do not mean to diminish Jesus’ power or person.
b. However, because we have a free will, God has limited
Himself in dealing with us.
c. A rebellious Christian can out-stubborn God, but I
don’t recommend it.
B. I am not trying to frighten you. I am trying to warn you.
God expects a return in both the QUALITY and QUANTITY
of our lives. How much fruit have you borne?
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