Inactive and unfaithful Christians

Featured Writer-Ryan Burchett

Luke 13:6-9

This parable tells a story about inactive & unfaithful Christians.

Let’s identify the characters:

The man who owns the vineyard: God

The man who takes care of the vineyard: Jesus

The vineyard: the world

The fig tree: a Christian

Now let’s take it verse by verse:

v.6 – A man plants a fig tree in the vineyard, he goes to check on it, and finds no fruit.

(Now this man owns a vineyard and he has hired help so he’s probably very rich. The only way for a vineyard owner to make money is if fruit grows so that he can sell it and make a profit. To make his vineyard the most productive and to make sure that all of his crops can be used to take to the market to sell, he has to give all his efforts to work and he has to give all of his time. Without giving his all, the vineyard would be worthless. So, after giving all that he has to the vineyard, he plants a fig tree. He has given everything he had so that this fig tree can grow up big & strong & produce lots of fruit for him. But, when he goes out to check on his precious fig tree, he is disappointed. The fig tree that he worked so hard preparing for, has produced no fruit. As Christians, how does this apply to us? Think of it like this, God created us this wonderful world to live and to worship Him in. Once we sinned, He had to give us the ultimate sacrifice, all He had, His “only begotten Son.” Once He did that, we accepted it and became Christians, thus making us God’s ‘fig tree.’ But sometimes, when God comes out to ‘check on us’, we are fruitless. We lack spiritual maturity. This is very disappointing to God.)

v.7 – The owner tells his servant to cut the fig tree down– all it was doing was wasting soil.

(The owner is very upset when he sees that the fig tree has produced nothing after 3 years of watering it, trimming the weeds, and taking care of it. He feels like his efforts, as well as his servants’ efforts, have been wasted and he finally tells his servant to “cut the fig tree down because it is just using up soil.” The owner has been very generous here, I mean he gave the fig tree 3 whole years with the greatest of care to do something and it did nothing. Imagine trying to grow a plant yourself. You’ve worked your tail off and eventually develop a love for that plant, because you’ve worked so hard on it. You go outside day after day, week by week, month by month, year by year. Every time it’s the same, you see no change and no growth. What emotions would you feel after 3 years of that? Disappointment?.. Tiredness? Anger? Shame? Disgust? Or better yet, how do you think God feels when He’s done all He can for us and has given us chance after chance after chance through His great mercy, and we still bear Him no fruit for His efforts? Just something to think about.)

v.8 – The servant begs the owner to give him just one more year to work with it, so that just maybe it might finally grow some fruit.

(The owner is fed up and he just told the worker to cut down the fig tree. But the worker has developed a bond and a love for the plant that he’s been working on the past 3 years. He has given his life for the fig tree so that if would grow and produce fruit. All of his efforts have been given to get this thing to grow. So, the worker begs the owner to give him just one more year. He promises that he will work even harder and do even more to get the fig tree to grow and produce fruit. Now, let’s flip this back on us. God is a God of love and mercy, but at the same time He is a God of wrath. Jesus constantly works with us and when we anger God, He is right there to plead with God, on our behalf, asking Him to give us one more chance. Jesus asks God if He can have a little more time with us out of the great love that He has for us.)

v.9 – The servant tells the owner that if the fig tree still has no fruit after one more year thencut it down.

(The worker is begging for the owner to give him that extra year. But he sees that the owner is tired of having an unfruitful fig tree. So, the servant makes a deal with the owner. He tells him that if after that extra year, the fig tree still has produced no fruit and still hasn’t grown, then the owner can have it cut down.

Jesus will work with us and love us and guide us forever. But eventually, God’s patience wears thin. God only gives all of us so much time on this earth and as a Christian, if we waste that time by ruining our lives with bad choices or by breaking promises to God or by just doing nothing in your Christian walk, God will eventually call us home. This is why calling yourself a Christian and saying that you love and believe in Christ is not a joke or just something you do. God loves you more than you can imagine and He gives us more chances than we will ever know. But if you waste your Christian life, He eventually will cut you off from this earth, the vineyard, and He will bring you home. God cannot stand fruitless Christians.)