6 Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. ⁷ So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ ⁸ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. ⁹ If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ "

There are a couple of things that we need to talk about today. Here’s part one.

This past Wednesday night I was able to preach over at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Tivoli for the mid-week Lenten service. The way that I select passages for the Wednesday night that I preach is I go over to the Presbyterian website and see what passages they have listed for their daily scripture readings. When I saw what they had listed I have to admit the first thing that crossed my mind was, "argh". Each of the readings spoke of the sinfulness of humanity and how messed up and separated from the will of God we truly are. On one level it is extremely difficult to hear that sort of message, especially when it comes at you in three different passages. Mentally it reminded me of when I was a little kid and would go to the shore. I’d run out into the water and if the first wave didn’t knock me down, then the next one was certain to, which meant that the third wave was just going to swamp me.

At the same time, it reminded all of us in attendance that the reality of sin is something that all of us deal with, which also means that all of us are equally in need of the forgiveness of God. There isn’t one of us who are any better than another. All of us need to come before the Almighty and acknowledge our dependence on God’s grace. Using the shore illustration, leaning upon the grace of God is like that moment when you’ve been bowled over by the waves, are under water and have no idea which end is up, its at that moment that your parent (who was actually right there all along) reaches down and pulls us back up, bursting through the foamy water to feel the air on our skin and refilling our lungs. We needed that help.

This morning’s reading calls us to a similar recognition. Jesus’ comment of, "unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did" is trying to tell all those who will listen that there isn’t a hierarchy of sin. It’s not a matter of you did this so you get that level of punishment, or you did something worse so you’re really going to get. In a lot of ways, this sort of delineation only became calcified with books like Dante’s ‘Inferno’ where he described the different levels of Hell. We’ve bought into that understanding.

But what Jesus is saying is that, "no, that’s not how it works. We are all equally guilty, and each of us needs to repent in order to receive the forgiveness that we need." Each of us has another chance in God to be washed clean of the sin that we have brought upon ourselves. Each of us needs to, again as was said this past Wednesday, to take that step out in faith and lean solely upon the grace of God Almighty. It’s time to do that. In this season of Lent we need to hear that message of sinfulness, but more importantly repentance, and take that trusting step.

To a great extent, this is what the parable that we heard speaks about. A tree has been planted but is bearing no fruit. The owner of the field says, "cut it down". But along comes the gardener and says, "give me another year; give me another chance because I believe this tree can bear good fruit." This chance is what we have in regards to God’s forgiveness of our sins. As we talked about this earlier, this is the portion of the passage that we can deal with, and it leads us directly into the second thing that we need to talk about.

The portion of the parable that most preachers like to conveniently avoid is the fact that the gardener, the one who asked for the second chance in the first place, is the same person who says that if the tree doesn’t take advantage of that opportunity, that the owner of the field should, "cut it down". That’s not easy to hear and we in the church certainly don’t like dealing with that message. However, it’s expressly because of that hesitation that I think we need to talk about it and begin to apply it to several areas of our life.

To start with, what is the stereotypical comment about churches when it comes to change? "Change? We don’t need to change! We’ve always done it that way." It’s become a punch line! Change and the church are things that, generally speaking, go together like oil and water.

And yet what does our passage say? If it doesn’t bear fruit then cut it down. As the church we need to look at the ways we operate and make the honest assessment, is what we are doing bearing good fruit? If it is then, then we’re doing okay at following the call of the Holy Spirit. If its not, then we need to stop what we’re doing, because just because you can keep a program going doesn’t mean that we should, stop what we’re doing and begin to change gears and really work at trying to get that program to produce good fruit. If you put a good effort in but that program is not producing the fruit that is of God, then it needs to be cut down. That particular incarnation needs to die.

One of the church’s that John has worked with across the river, and I believe actually spoken about here a time or two, is a small congregation: really small. They average 8 people per service. Amazingly enough, that number is even deceptively large because they only worship every other week.

Over the years they have commented on how if they don’t grow in size, they will be in trouble (there’s an understatement). However, every time a plan has been offered up to open their doors every Sunday and maybe even have a Bible Study during the week, they have balked proclaiming that they "like the way it is and don’t want to change." As a community of faith they are no longer bearing good fruit and unless they actually go through the hard work that is necessary to have a shot at bearing that good fruit, they will be cut down, not because the classis has closed their doors, but because there will none of them let to open them. We must bear the good fruit that is of God.

This understanding should also be applied to our relationships, and that can your job or a person. In either case, if the relationship is producing good fruit that is uplifting and of God, then keep doing what you’re doing. But if that relationship has become something that is, for all intensive purposes, dead, then you need to make a change. Put in the effort and try and get that relationship, try and get that job going in a positive direction, but if it isn’t working, because remember a relationship is a two way street where each party needs to be committed to the other and one person shouldn’t carry a relationship alone, if it isn’t working, if it isn’t producing the fruit that is of God, then it needs to be cut down. It needs to be ended. Our relationships, or jobs need to be places where we can behold the good fruit that is of God.

In regards to our own personal lives, how many of us complain that we are not happy enough, not healthy enough, not passionate enough about life? Here’s the thing though, how many of us make this sort of comment but then do nothing to allow the situation to be bettered? Instead, we just keep doing the same things that have led us to the point where we feel disgruntled in the first place.

If we are not bearing the good fruit of God in our lives, then we need to make some changes, we need to cut down those habits that have done us no good, and begin to fertilize our lives in some new ways so that the good fruit that God longs for us to develop will become apparent. Our lives need to be places where the good fruit of God can be seen.

Much like our sinfulness, when it comes to the fruit that we are bearing in our lives, we are all in the same boat. We can either take advantage of the second chance that God is offering to us, or we can wallow in the fruitless existence that we have placed ourselves in. What are we going to chose? When it comes to sin we are willing to receive that opportunity and turn away from the sin that has separated us from God. We need to take similar steps of faith in regards to how we live the rest of our lives.

Here’s a slightly different way to think of this. As medical science has developed over the years, we have found more and more ways to keep the body alive. However, as all of us know, just because you can keep the body alive doesn’t mean that you should. Many of you have already drafted living wills that express your desires as to which medical measures you are okay receiving, and those that you are not. We can recognize when we have come to the end, and when enough is enough.

If we can do that when it comes to our physical death, shouldn’t we do it all the more in regards to our daily lives? We need to look out at our lives and determine the things that are not bearing the good fruit of God, and then begin to make some changes so that the state of our existence is a state that offers to everyone we meet the fruit that is of the Living God.

In our passage this morning we are reminded that in Christ, in God, we are given another chance, both in regards to our sinfulness and how we are to live. Let’s take advantage of that second chance, step out in faith, and make the changes that are necessary to allow the good fruit that is of God to become evident in our lives. It’s time to put away all the excuses, and really live as God is calling us to live. It’s time. Take that step out in faith.