Pastoral Letter 108
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
This is the third Sunday of the Lent Season, almost halfway. We’re preparing to celebrate Palm Sunday, followed by the Passion week and then the glorious Easter Sunday. We are glad and grateful to God that we are almost out of the dark tunnel of the pandemic, accepting that the COVID is here to stay, and it will be part of our daily life. All we have to do is be careful and cautious and take the necessary precautions and safety measures not to be infected.
We have resumed our midweek programs since the beginning of March, with the exception of the Bible Study. Time4U on Wednesdays and Movie/Pizza Night once a month on the first Tuesday of each month. We are grateful that we’ve been able to safely worship together and hope not to have another wave of Covid spread in a new variant. Masks are not mandatory, but please feel free to wear one if you would prefer. We hope and pray that we will keep on worshiping together for the rest of the year.
If you will not be able to join us on Sundays, you can worship with us at home.
Be safe and well, continue to pray, remembering those who need care, support and love and let us know if any member of the congregation that you know of needs our help and prayers.
Here are some more prayer points for this week:
- Pray for all those who are still suffering in the aftermath of the devastating floods.
- Pray for those who have lost loved ones, homes and property.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.
- Pray for the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and those who are suffering, hoping that the situation will deescalate soon.
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Best Regards,
Krikor
MESSAGE
One More Year! If It Bears Fruit! Fine
Luke 13:1-9
Let us imagine that we are like trees in the Garden of God. We are planted by the Blood of the Lamb, cultivated by the Holy Spirit, and fertilized by the Word of God to bring forth fruits in season. Each believer in Christ is represented in the parable we read in one way or another. God’s greatest desire is that each of them makes the decision to become a fig tree in His garden that will bear fruit. And if they bear fruit then it will be fine.
Let’s look at the parable to see where we are right now. Jesus says that the owner of the vineyard was passing by this fig tree for the third time. Each time he came by, he had hoped to find some ripened fruit that would show that this fig tree was productive but each time he came there was no fruit. It is known that if a tree is planted usually the tree does not bear fruit for three years. Then, the fruits ripened in the next three years are considered unclean according to Jewish tradition and not good for eating. So, when Jesus says the owner came for the third time, it was actually when the tree was nine years old. And the caretaker of the vineyard begged Him to give it another chance. Just requesting one more year. He said: “Sir, leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilise it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.” (Vr. 8-9)
The point that Jesus is making here with this parable, is that He is passing by each believer one more time. He has passed by most of them a number of times, seeking for the fruit of love, justice and righteousness that they are to bear for the Kingdom of God.
Perhaps on one of those occasions, Jesus may have found that they were thirsty and dry so He watered them with the Word of God that they might obtain the water of life freely from its life-giving flow. He has given them His own precious blood to wash them, cleanse them and give them life eternal, but now there must come the works of faith as fruit that they bear.
Sometimes a few of the fig trees respond and there breaks forth some green leaves of good works upon their branches. The fruit begins to form but before it can ripen, the Word that we received slips away through neglect of prayer, study and meditation upon it, then, the fruit that once held great promise, the green leaves and the life that the water of the Word gave to them are cut off and the fig tree begins to wither and die as it lapses back into its dry and thirsty condition once more.
There have been times when Jesus would pass by, and the Word of God would go forth and many of the fig trees in the garden would never receive. People are too caught up in their own circumstances. Their roots are all pulled up around them tightly so that no water can come in. Their focus is not on God or upon His Word, it is on the cares of this life. So, Jesus passes by once again to see if they have fruits.
Perhaps Jesus came by once again and saw that the water of the Word had begun to flow into their life and that their tree of spirituality was putting forth the green leaves. They were showing signs of the springtime of their life when the blooms were bursting forth. The joy of the Lord has come upon them, and they seem to be prospering. Then, Jesus notices that they’re not producing as expected.
This happens because even though they hear the Word and meditate upon it, they must allow the Holy Spirit to change them into the fig tree of God and obey its teaching. The Holy Spirit is a perfect gentleman. He will never push the Word onto them. They must accept it freely. They must seek it out with a hungry heart.
Jesus made a point of this in the portion of scripture known as the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:6 when He said: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they will be filled.”
A fig tree in God’s Garden that isn’t thirsty for the Word of God or hungry for the fertilizing power of the Holy Spirit won’t benefit at all from their provision.
Time after time, service after service, continually, Jesus is passing by to inspect the fig trees in His garden, looking for that ripened fruit of the Spirit. He searches for the fruits of righteousness, good works that we have done or a change in our nature and character for the better.
I wonder how many times He has passed by the believer’s fig tree and saw no fruit? I wonder how many times He has passed by each believer and was grieved because there was no fruit, and they were still dead in their sin?
Any tree to give fruits must first give leaves, but that does not guarantee the giving of fruits.
In our backyard we have a few trees which bloom every year and give plenty of leaves but not a single fruit. We read in Mark 11 and Mathew 21 that Jesus saw a fig tree and He found nothing but leaves. He cursed the tree.
Having green leaves is not enough, it is necessary to bear fruits to serve the purpose.
In the parable the owner of the vineyard said to his gardener: “It’s time to cut that tree down and get another one planted for this one refuses to yield and bear fruit. We can’t allow it to remain and take space that can be used by another tree to bring forth fruit.”
Paul says that even he was afraid that somehow, he would miss the glories of eternal life because of his own failures, even though he had led so many to Christ. If the Apostle Paul felt that he could miss God because his tree wasn’t bearing right, where does that leave us?
Matthew 3:10: “The axe is laid at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
We cannot be unfruitful trees in the Kingdom of God. There will come a time when the Father will say to us: “That’s enough, cut it down and throw it into the fire.”
Those are not the words we want to hear! We want to hear our Father say: “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”
There is coming a day when every unproductive fig tree will stand before God’s great judgment throne.
Every tree that doesn’t produce fruit will be cut down permanently. There will be no more room for repentance then. There will be no more opportunities to hear the Word of God as He attempts to water us. There will be no more fertilizing power of the Holy Spirit! The axe will fall, and the tree will be cut down.
In John 15:5-7 Jesus said: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”
Jesus is passing by this morning. He is coming to see if the churches have given any fruit for His Kingdom. He is coming to see if they are dry, thirsty or hungry. He is still coming to help them to be productive.
The question is: What kind of fruits are expected from the church?
Paul gives the answer in Galatians. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22).
Are the churches productive?
Are they willing to hear the Word of God?
Will their water bring them life, or will they turn it away?
Will they allow the Holy Spirit to change them into the image of Christ or will they refuse to allow Him to change them?
The choice is theirs. They can either become bearers of much fruit or they can be cut down and cast into the fire.
Which will it be for their tree?
And how about us?
How about the Uniting Church?
If they and we bear fruit, then it is fine.
Amen!