Audio Sermon
While apples have their white blossoms with a touch of pink, and the peaches have those intense pink blooms, apricot trees have the most beautiful blooms, with five large white cupped petals surrounding a center of red with yellow stamens standing up in the middle. But those blossoms arrive generally in early March, and that means that the blossoms or the fruit is generally destroyed in a frost before spring finally arrives for good.
We planted those apricot trees and watched their blossoms the next three years. And I’d more or less decided that we’d just have to consider the apricots to be ornamental trees, trees that would never have any fruit – nice to look at for a while, but just taking up space, never bearing any fruit. And so, I was wondering whether or not to cut them down and replace them with something that would actually bear fruit.
Isaiah 55:1-9; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9 Audio Gospel
Jesus talked about bearing fruit.
And He told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. 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?’
“But he replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 Perhaps it will bear fruit next year, but if not, you can cut it down.’”
Now let’s put this in context. At my orchard in Lowell, I was not counting on my fruit to supply me with a living – or even my own food. I’d planted the trees mainly because I realized our children were going through a 10-lb bag of apples every three days. Besides, it was fun, interesting, light exercise – and a good hobby. So nothing much mattered with my decision whether or not to cut down the ornamental apricots, or just leave them there for their March blossoms.
But in Jesus’ day, everybody was stretched thin. Production of fruit was so difficult, farms operated so close to the edge, that the land and water and fertilizer used by this particular fig tree could mean the difference between a profitable farm and a farm that operated at a loss – even the difference between a worker living well or starving. So the owner asks his worker to cut down the fig tree that isn’t productive.
And the worker, who loves the tree, begs the owner to wait another year, giving the worker a chance to loosen up the soil and fertilize the tree. If it doesn’t bear fruit next year, the worker says, the owner can cut it down.
Naturally, we are to read the parable in this way – the owner is God, the worker is Jesus. And the fig tree? The fig tree is the church – or possibly individuals? Clearly, Jesus is saying in the context of the time that if the people of Israel don’t soon bear fruit for God’s purposes, then God will cut down Israel and plant a new tree. And possibly, if we read this through today’s eyes, any church that does not bear fruit will be cut down. Isn't it clear that "fruit" equals new souls won for God? The people of Israel of the day, particularly the Pharisees, we keeping people from God by raising the barriers, and Jesus let them have it!
Jesus talked about bearing fruit.
And He told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. 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?’
“But he replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 Perhaps it will bear fruit next year, but if not, you can cut it down.’”
Now let’s put this in context. At my orchard in Lowell, I was not counting on my fruit to supply me with a living – or even my own food. I’d planted the trees mainly because I realized our children were going through a 10-lb bag of apples every three days. Besides, it was fun, interesting, light exercise – and a good hobby. So nothing much mattered with my decision whether or not to cut down the ornamental apricots, or just leave them there for their March blossoms.
But in Jesus’ day, everybody was stretched thin. Production of fruit was so difficult, farms operated so close to the edge, that the land and water and fertilizer used by this particular fig tree could mean the difference between a profitable farm and a farm that operated at a loss – even the difference between a worker living well or starving. So the owner asks his worker to cut down the fig tree that isn’t productive.
And the worker, who loves the tree, begs the owner to wait another year, giving the worker a chance to loosen up the soil and fertilize the tree. If it doesn’t bear fruit next year, the worker says, the owner can cut it down.
Naturally, we are to read the parable in this way – the owner is God, the worker is Jesus. And the fig tree? The fig tree is the church – or possibly individuals? Clearly, Jesus is saying in the context of the time that if the people of Israel don’t soon bear fruit for God’s purposes, then God will cut down Israel and plant a new tree. And possibly, if we read this through today’s eyes, any church that does not bear fruit will be cut down. Isn't it clear that "fruit" equals new souls won for God? The people of Israel of the day, particularly the Pharisees, we keeping people from God by raising the barriers, and Jesus let them have it!
So....are you an ornamental apricot, never bearing fruit? Are you a fig tree, ready to be cut down? How many people have you personally led to Christ, especially adults? How about in the last five years?
It is interesting to me that Jesus told this parable in response to a question about sin. Jesus had just been talking about the up and coming end times, when some people came to tell him about an episode that had just happened between some people from Galilee and the Roman governor Pontius Pilate:
At that time, some people came and reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And He responded to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all Galileans because they suffered these things? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well! Or those 18 that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed—do you think they were more sinful than all the people who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!”
The people had heard of a disaster. The Roman governor Pontius Pilate had killed some Galileans and then mixed their blood in with their sacrifices. There was in implied question – were these men more evil than the average person, and was this why they were killed and their bodies treated in a particularly savage way?
“No,” Jesus says. “They weren’t more sinful than the average person” But then Jesus points the finger to his crowd and says, “Unless you repent, you will all perish as well.” He brings up a tower that fell in the Siloam district of Jerusalem and killed 18 people – they also weren’t any more sinful than the average person – “but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!”
Jesus was combating a common view of the world and of God from that day. Many people thought that sinful people died young because God wanted to get rid of them. We might not see their sins, but the fact they died accidentally was supposed proof that they were sinful and God wanted to get rid of them. Jesus disagreed. Jesus held that everybody sins – and thus everybody “perishes” - unless they repent first.
You know, “to perish” is a more complete end than “to die”. Jesus is implying that all people will “perish”, will come to an end. Except those who repent, who rethink their relationship with God. And being sinful not only includes the bad things we do, but the good things we don't do! Add in Jesus’ parable of the fruitless fig tree and we see that Jesus was very concerned with the fruit we bear, considering those who bear no fruit to be sinful, not following the commands of God, just as a fruitless fig tree is not living as it should. Are you a fig tree that never bears fruit? Are you an ornamental apricot – pretty to look at but never fulfilling your purpose – which is to bear fruit? Are you sinning because you never lead people to Christ?
Sin and salvation have an interesting and complex interrelationship, don’t they? The world around us thinks that we Christians believe that we are saved by being very good people. The world also thinks that Christians are hypocrites, preaching a need for excellent behavior and then not practicing what we preach. And there are some congregations where the bulk of the people believe that Christianity is all about acting in a certain way – or not acting in a different way.
But that is not what Jesus preached. In fact, that idea that following the moral law is the way to get right with God is the central idea of the Pharisees, a group of Jews who became the ancestors of many of the Jews of today. And when we read the Gospels, we see Jesus reserving some of His harshest words for the Pharisees and their insistence upon following the moral laws, their insistence upon finding and pointing out the sins of others.
You have all heard of Martin Luther King, Jr, the famous civil rights activist? He was named after his father, Martin Luther King, Sr. And Martin Luther King was named after a famous German theologian from the early 1500’s, Martin Luther.
The German Martin Luther studied the Bible intently, the words of Jesus, and the words of Paul. He came to the conclusion that the word we translate as “sin” actually had two meanings, and most people confused the two meanings.
To get into this, let me ask you – what is the worst crime in any country around the world? Here’s a clue – it is the only crime that is punishable by death, regardless of the country. It is not murder, it is not child murder – it is rebellion. If a person decides to become a rebel to their government, to their king, that person risks being shot without trial in any country.
Martin Luther wrote of the situation of being in rebellion to God, our heavenly King. Being in rebellion to God is the worst crime, for this means you will not obey any other rules that God the King has. In fact, you’d like to set yourself or another up as your king, your god. You might want to be your own king, your own god. And therefore, it is critical that the rightful King, the Living God, establish a rule that rebellion is punishable by death.
Luther called the condition of being in rebellion to God the “state of sin.” It doesn’t matter if you obey the speed limit if the only reason you obeyed the speed limit today is because you are in rebellion is because you were trying to sneak around and not get caught while you prepared your even worse deeds of rebellion. It doesn't matter if the rebel has never committed murder because eventually, the rebel will commit murder, steal, and do anything and everything wrong, because the King's laws mean nothing to a rebel.
Furthermore, Luther argued that every person is born into the rebellion. If you think a baby is an innocent creature, you’ve never had a child. For a baby is the most selfish creature imaginable – if you don’t do exactly what the baby wants – and NOW, it will cry. Loudly and constantly until you give in or the baby wears itself out. A baby does not care for anyone else, for anyone else’s comfort, for anyone’s sanity! If you try to ignore it, it will scream at you. We must train it to not be selfish. We must teach the child to “share”.
Luther said we are all born selfish and in rebellion to God. And because of this, we break God’s moral laws – we commit “acts of sin”, which is the other usage of the word sin. We steal a pencil, we yell at our brother, we do all those things we know we are not to do. Sometimes it is because we don’t know any better, we didn’t know that God didn’t want us to tattoo our bodies (see Leviticus 19) – other times it is because we knew better but didn’t care about what God or anyone else thought, like when we said those mean words to our family last week. (By the way, if you didn’t know and got a tattoo, apologize to God and go on. God will understand and forgive, just as God forgives all sins when we repent!)
Eventually, God, who loves us very much, sends people to us who gradually lead us to change our mind about God, to repent. For some people, this happens at a very young age, even at a week old when we are baptized and our parents make vows that they believe in the teachings of Christ and promise to raise us in the church. For others, this happens as a teen or even a full adult – or even as an older adult.
It is interesting to me that Jesus told this parable in response to a question about sin. Jesus had just been talking about the up and coming end times, when some people came to tell him about an episode that had just happened between some people from Galilee and the Roman governor Pontius Pilate:
At that time, some people came and reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And He responded to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all Galileans because they suffered these things? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well! Or those 18 that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed—do you think they were more sinful than all the people who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!”
The people had heard of a disaster. The Roman governor Pontius Pilate had killed some Galileans and then mixed their blood in with their sacrifices. There was in implied question – were these men more evil than the average person, and was this why they were killed and their bodies treated in a particularly savage way?
“No,” Jesus says. “They weren’t more sinful than the average person” But then Jesus points the finger to his crowd and says, “Unless you repent, you will all perish as well.” He brings up a tower that fell in the Siloam district of Jerusalem and killed 18 people – they also weren’t any more sinful than the average person – “but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!”
Jesus was combating a common view of the world and of God from that day. Many people thought that sinful people died young because God wanted to get rid of them. We might not see their sins, but the fact they died accidentally was supposed proof that they were sinful and God wanted to get rid of them. Jesus disagreed. Jesus held that everybody sins – and thus everybody “perishes” - unless they repent first.
You know, “to perish” is a more complete end than “to die”. Jesus is implying that all people will “perish”, will come to an end. Except those who repent, who rethink their relationship with God. And being sinful not only includes the bad things we do, but the good things we don't do! Add in Jesus’ parable of the fruitless fig tree and we see that Jesus was very concerned with the fruit we bear, considering those who bear no fruit to be sinful, not following the commands of God, just as a fruitless fig tree is not living as it should. Are you a fig tree that never bears fruit? Are you an ornamental apricot – pretty to look at but never fulfilling your purpose – which is to bear fruit? Are you sinning because you never lead people to Christ?
Sin and salvation have an interesting and complex interrelationship, don’t they? The world around us thinks that we Christians believe that we are saved by being very good people. The world also thinks that Christians are hypocrites, preaching a need for excellent behavior and then not practicing what we preach. And there are some congregations where the bulk of the people believe that Christianity is all about acting in a certain way – or not acting in a different way.
But that is not what Jesus preached. In fact, that idea that following the moral law is the way to get right with God is the central idea of the Pharisees, a group of Jews who became the ancestors of many of the Jews of today. And when we read the Gospels, we see Jesus reserving some of His harshest words for the Pharisees and their insistence upon following the moral laws, their insistence upon finding and pointing out the sins of others.
You have all heard of Martin Luther King, Jr, the famous civil rights activist? He was named after his father, Martin Luther King, Sr. And Martin Luther King was named after a famous German theologian from the early 1500’s, Martin Luther.
The German Martin Luther studied the Bible intently, the words of Jesus, and the words of Paul. He came to the conclusion that the word we translate as “sin” actually had two meanings, and most people confused the two meanings.
To get into this, let me ask you – what is the worst crime in any country around the world? Here’s a clue – it is the only crime that is punishable by death, regardless of the country. It is not murder, it is not child murder – it is rebellion. If a person decides to become a rebel to their government, to their king, that person risks being shot without trial in any country.
Martin Luther wrote of the situation of being in rebellion to God, our heavenly King. Being in rebellion to God is the worst crime, for this means you will not obey any other rules that God the King has. In fact, you’d like to set yourself or another up as your king, your god. You might want to be your own king, your own god. And therefore, it is critical that the rightful King, the Living God, establish a rule that rebellion is punishable by death.
Luther called the condition of being in rebellion to God the “state of sin.” It doesn’t matter if you obey the speed limit if the only reason you obeyed the speed limit today is because you are in rebellion is because you were trying to sneak around and not get caught while you prepared your even worse deeds of rebellion. It doesn't matter if the rebel has never committed murder because eventually, the rebel will commit murder, steal, and do anything and everything wrong, because the King's laws mean nothing to a rebel.
Furthermore, Luther argued that every person is born into the rebellion. If you think a baby is an innocent creature, you’ve never had a child. For a baby is the most selfish creature imaginable – if you don’t do exactly what the baby wants – and NOW, it will cry. Loudly and constantly until you give in or the baby wears itself out. A baby does not care for anyone else, for anyone else’s comfort, for anyone’s sanity! If you try to ignore it, it will scream at you. We must train it to not be selfish. We must teach the child to “share”.
Luther said we are all born selfish and in rebellion to God. And because of this, we break God’s moral laws – we commit “acts of sin”, which is the other usage of the word sin. We steal a pencil, we yell at our brother, we do all those things we know we are not to do. Sometimes it is because we don’t know any better, we didn’t know that God didn’t want us to tattoo our bodies (see Leviticus 19) – other times it is because we knew better but didn’t care about what God or anyone else thought, like when we said those mean words to our family last week. (By the way, if you didn’t know and got a tattoo, apologize to God and go on. God will understand and forgive, just as God forgives all sins when we repent!)
Eventually, God, who loves us very much, sends people to us who gradually lead us to change our mind about God, to repent. For some people, this happens at a very young age, even at a week old when we are baptized and our parents make vows that they believe in the teachings of Christ and promise to raise us in the church. For others, this happens as a teen or even a full adult – or even as an older adult.
And so we declare one day that we accept that Christ is the Son of God, worthy of being followed, and we decide to follow the teachings of Christ, eventually following Christ Himself. We are no longer in rebellion to God – God and us are now "cool", we have been justified by our belief and loyalty – and God declares us not guilty of rebellion, we are no longer in the state of sin, but are in a state of grace. We have been saved from God’s wrath and anger. We are now God’s adopted child.
And then we should be baptized. For we have been saved from God’s anger, but we have not yet been saved from our own foolishness. And this is the reason we are baptized – we must take our first step on the road to personal holiness.
There are a lot of disagreements over the meaning, timing, and style of baptisms. The Baptist community maintains that baptism is simply an announcement that you’ve already become a Christian – yet they have the most stringent rules regarding when, who, and how.
The older churches, those who trace their ancestry back to the earliest Christians, agree upon a few points. All Christians are to be baptized. There is no minimum age for baptism. And it does not matter whether you are sprinkled, have water poured over you in a pitcher, or whether you are dunked in the river. For we Methodists – and many other groups – believe that God does the work of baptism, it is not something you do, or I do, but it is something God does, God never makes mistakes, and so to be baptized a second time is arrogantly telling God that God made a mistake the first time.
And the important work of baptism is this: When the water is applied, God flips a switch in your heart – or changes your heart in a special way. Before, you might do good for selfish reasons – to avoid Hell, to improve your reputation, to raise your status. But afterwards, you want to do good just to do good. Just after the water is applied, the pastor lays on hands and prays for the Holy Spirit to come upon the one being baptized. And now, it is like handing someone a cell phone with God’s direct line programmed in. Now, the new Christian can just listen carefully and be guided to do good by God. They have been baptized by water and the Spirit.
Our life after baptism is a life filled with second chances. As my wife has said, every day is an opportunity for us to start again with God, starting with a blank slate, another chance to do things right in our life. Each day, we can start over and do better. Even on those days that we stumble, God is there, looking over our shoulder like the best parent, the most wonderful coach, the greatest teacher – "Pick yourself up – here, take My hand – let’s try it again – I know you can do it if you’ll just listen to My advice!" And each day, we get stronger, better, more holy as we follow Christ’s example on the Way of Holiness.
And now it is a matter of avoiding the sloth of spiritual laziness, for now it is a matter of listening to the Holy Spirit, reading the Holy Word of God, and exercising those new spiritual connections with God so that day by day, month by month, year by year we learn how to walk like Christ, talk like Christ, and follow Christ down the path of holiness toward sanctification – what some call “saintliness”. It is what gives us a full, abundant life. It is what makes us more than a declared Christian and turns us into a full disciple of Christ. It is what ultimately leads us to be the person whom younger people point to when they say, “I want to be like him” or “I want to be like her”. You’ve known these people – many have passed on. It is only the act of sin called spiritual sloth, spiritual laziness that keeps you from becoming like those great saints that led you to God - that and your attachment to the things of the world rather than the things of God.
Consider the years that you’ve sat in the pew, listening to different pastors and speakers. Isn’t sitting a mark of laziness in the ordinary world? Perhaps it is time for you to look around you, looking for someone for you to lead to Christ, someone to hold out your hand to, someone who can benefit from what you’ve learned about life over the years!
And then we should be baptized. For we have been saved from God’s anger, but we have not yet been saved from our own foolishness. And this is the reason we are baptized – we must take our first step on the road to personal holiness.
There are a lot of disagreements over the meaning, timing, and style of baptisms. The Baptist community maintains that baptism is simply an announcement that you’ve already become a Christian – yet they have the most stringent rules regarding when, who, and how.
The older churches, those who trace their ancestry back to the earliest Christians, agree upon a few points. All Christians are to be baptized. There is no minimum age for baptism. And it does not matter whether you are sprinkled, have water poured over you in a pitcher, or whether you are dunked in the river. For we Methodists – and many other groups – believe that God does the work of baptism, it is not something you do, or I do, but it is something God does, God never makes mistakes, and so to be baptized a second time is arrogantly telling God that God made a mistake the first time.
And the important work of baptism is this: When the water is applied, God flips a switch in your heart – or changes your heart in a special way. Before, you might do good for selfish reasons – to avoid Hell, to improve your reputation, to raise your status. But afterwards, you want to do good just to do good. Just after the water is applied, the pastor lays on hands and prays for the Holy Spirit to come upon the one being baptized. And now, it is like handing someone a cell phone with God’s direct line programmed in. Now, the new Christian can just listen carefully and be guided to do good by God. They have been baptized by water and the Spirit.
Our life after baptism is a life filled with second chances. As my wife has said, every day is an opportunity for us to start again with God, starting with a blank slate, another chance to do things right in our life. Each day, we can start over and do better. Even on those days that we stumble, God is there, looking over our shoulder like the best parent, the most wonderful coach, the greatest teacher – "Pick yourself up – here, take My hand – let’s try it again – I know you can do it if you’ll just listen to My advice!" And each day, we get stronger, better, more holy as we follow Christ’s example on the Way of Holiness.
And now it is a matter of avoiding the sloth of spiritual laziness, for now it is a matter of listening to the Holy Spirit, reading the Holy Word of God, and exercising those new spiritual connections with God so that day by day, month by month, year by year we learn how to walk like Christ, talk like Christ, and follow Christ down the path of holiness toward sanctification – what some call “saintliness”. It is what gives us a full, abundant life. It is what makes us more than a declared Christian and turns us into a full disciple of Christ. It is what ultimately leads us to be the person whom younger people point to when they say, “I want to be like him” or “I want to be like her”. You’ve known these people – many have passed on. It is only the act of sin called spiritual sloth, spiritual laziness that keeps you from becoming like those great saints that led you to God - that and your attachment to the things of the world rather than the things of God.
Consider the years that you’ve sat in the pew, listening to different pastors and speakers. Isn’t sitting a mark of laziness in the ordinary world? Perhaps it is time for you to look around you, looking for someone for you to lead to Christ, someone to hold out your hand to, someone who can benefit from what you’ve learned about life over the years!
Jesus showed us the way to change the world – now, like children with messy rooms, it is time for us to clean up the areas around us, picking up the discarded, dirty clothing of anger, putting away the piled papers of past problems, making a neat life for ourselves and others by tossing away the clutter of unimportant idols, vain pursuits, and useless desires. We shall allow what we know of Christ to change ourselves and we shall encourage others to see the Holy Spirit that is within us to lift them out of dark despair, and our room, our community, our world, will become just a bit better!
I decided to leave my apricot trees to grow for another year. And it was that spring that the frost held off, the trees put out their blossoms yet again, and the blossoms grew into ripe apricots. Folks, you have never tasted anything as wonderful as a fresh apricot just off the tree in June, for the apricots we find in the stores were picked early so they would keep for several weeks, and thus they don’t have the sugar or the juice that a fresh apricot from the tree has. They are picked two weeks before they are ripe, so they never got the sugar, and each day after they are picked, the sugar declines and the apricot dries out. But if you leave it on the tree it gains sugar and juice for two more weeks, and mmm!...pure nectar.
I decided to leave my apricot trees to grow for another year. And it was that spring that the frost held off, the trees put out their blossoms yet again, and the blossoms grew into ripe apricots. Folks, you have never tasted anything as wonderful as a fresh apricot just off the tree in June, for the apricots we find in the stores were picked early so they would keep for several weeks, and thus they don’t have the sugar or the juice that a fresh apricot from the tree has. They are picked two weeks before they are ripe, so they never got the sugar, and each day after they are picked, the sugar declines and the apricot dries out. But if you leave it on the tree it gains sugar and juice for two more weeks, and mmm!...pure nectar.
And so, it is the same with our Christian life – there is nothing like the joy that comes from personally being part of leading a friend, a neighbor, or a family member to the Lord and hearing them declare that they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God – and watching them be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit.
And for those who were baptized at a young age – it doesn’t matter what word is used, as long as water was applied and the vows are made – some call it christening, some call it dedication – at a point in their teen or adult years, a person should make their own public profession of faith, a formal beginning for themselves with Christ, what we call confirmation, and begin the journey down the path of holiness for themselves.
And so, we will have a confirmation service here in a few weeks. Four young people are meeting every week to understand the faith more and more. And soon, they will take upon themselves that faith that was held in waiting for them by their parents and grandparents, and they will become full members of this church.
Perhaps you have never officially joined the church. Perhaps you have never been baptized. Let me know – and we’ll help you officially join, that you may be able to proudly proclaim to the world that you are a follower of Jesus Christ, that Christ has done much for you, and then ask your listener – would you like to hear more about what Jesus has done?
And for those who were baptized at a young age – it doesn’t matter what word is used, as long as water was applied and the vows are made – some call it christening, some call it dedication – at a point in their teen or adult years, a person should make their own public profession of faith, a formal beginning for themselves with Christ, what we call confirmation, and begin the journey down the path of holiness for themselves.
And so, we will have a confirmation service here in a few weeks. Four young people are meeting every week to understand the faith more and more. And soon, they will take upon themselves that faith that was held in waiting for them by their parents and grandparents, and they will become full members of this church.
Perhaps you have never officially joined the church. Perhaps you have never been baptized. Let me know – and we’ll help you officially join, that you may be able to proudly proclaim to the world that you are a follower of Jesus Christ, that Christ has done much for you, and then ask your listener – would you like to hear more about what Jesus has done?
And so, consider one more time...are you a fruitless fig tree? Are you an ornamental apricot? Or are you ready to bear fruit for your Maker's glory?
