“The Fruitless Fig Tree”

Friday, June 09, 2017

This parable of Jesus is found in Luke 13:6-9. It is short, but powerful. Its lessons should serve as a warning to each of us.

The purpose of a fig tree is to bear figs. That may seem like a foolish statement, but it is important for us to realize that the Lord was not really talking about trees, but people.

The primary application of this parable was for the Jewish people of the first century. The Messiah was living in their midst and they did not accept Him. “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him (John 1:11). When Christ first delivered the parable, it was not too late for them to change. But if they did not repent, they would be “cut down.” They did not repent and the nation was destroyed in A.D. 70.

The lessons we should learn from this parable are frightening.

A fruit tree without fruit is useless. It is an anomaly, a waste of space. Jesus said, of His followers, in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” The Lord said that those who are not faithfully bearing fruit for Him are “good for nothing.” That is pretty strong language, but it was Christ who said it. We should listen to Him and change before it is too late.

We are to bear fruit for God. See John 15:5, 8. This includes three things.

1) The fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22-23. As you read those verses, do they describe you? Do they describe me?

2) Winning souls – Colossians 1:6. The gospel will bear fruit when sown into the hearts of honest men and women. Are you doing what you can to help save the lost?

3) Every good work for God – Colossians 1:10. Anything we are to do in the Lord’s service can rightly be described as bearing fruit for Him. What are you doing to serve God and others in the ways that the Bible teaches us?

Notice that the fig tree in the parable was given a second chance to bear fruit, one more year to do better. If not, it would be cut down.

Do you need to do better? How many “second chances” do you need? If you need to repent, maybe this lesson of the fruitless fig tree will help.

--Roger Hillis

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