Bearing fruit or else

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

BEARING FRUIT

Luke 13:6-9

6 Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 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?' 8 "'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'" 

NIV

This is easy enough to see the spiritual content which Jesus is illustrating. God being the man with the fig tree and vineyard. The tree is the Jewish people who he planted in Judea. He expected them to accept the way he had prepared for them but they did not for three years. This is the first three years of Jesus public ministry. So Jesus, as always is asking for another year, which is in fact the total of his time in public ministry before his crucifixion. Jesus will always make intercession for sinners. But the day is coming the axe will be at the root of the tree and it will be cut off and thrown into the fire with all other transgressors. It is also easy to see the life lesson here as this truth will also be applied today. If we consider all the rest of scripture we have to conclude all of mankind is in some sense the fig tree. Jesus has come to the earth to care for all mankind, not just a few of us. He died for all, but some of the trees, people have not produced the fruit needed for eternal life. They in fact have no fruit, but Jesus is interceding on all mankind’s behave, asking the Father to hold back the axe just a little longer. Jesus sent the Spirit to convict men of their need to repent, to accept what Jesus did for them. But time will run out and someday they will be cut down. We also could apply this to us who believe, at least in some sense. We could see that we are the trees planted by God in his kingdom through our believing in Christ. We need to bear the fruit God expects us to bear. We could use the fruit of the Spirit as that fruit we should bear, but we also could use many other aspects of Christian living. Are we doing want he expects of us? Are we sharing our faith? Are we influencing others for Jesus? Are we involved in the word, learning more about how we should live? Are we encouraging each other? Are we serving each other? There are so many aspects of Christian living that we should be growing in which could be seen as bearing fruit. Do we have our roots in the word of God, rather than in the world? We could see the parable of the seed on the four types of ground applied here as well. It all ties together. The point is God expects us to bear fruit. God expects us to be what he intended us to be. We are not our own, but belong to God, planted in his vineyard, for his purpose. The vineyard, the tree, the fruit all belong to the man, God. Everything is his. So we need to bear fruit.