The title of my Corollaries segment on TFR: "If I say this is for evangelists, you won't read it, will you?"
Jesus hopes to find fruit in the life of his people. If he doesn't find it, judgment follows.
Then Jesus told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.
So he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, 'For three years now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue to deplete the soil?'
But the worker answered him, 'Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. Then if it bears fruit next year, very well, but if not, you can cut it down.'"
Luke 13:9-12 NET
The Lord is patient, as the parable teaches, but the main theme is imminent judgment. God is patient, but his patience has a limit. Jesus told this story against Israel, which would be rejected as God's people. The nation failed to do his work. It was being given one last chance to change. The same principle applies to the church and to Christians. If we fail to do his will on earth and to do his work, he will cut us off. Will the patience of God result in our repentance, or will we continue to be unproductive?
Some years ago I did a sermon on Adam and Eve, mentioning that some scholars suggest that God acted with mercy in their case and let them live longer, rather than killing them immediately after their sin. I said that God never changed a punishment based on a specific commandment.
That assumes that when God threatens a punishment, repentance is often, if not explicity stated, then implied, such as in the preaching of Jonah to the people of Ninevah. He preached that God would destroy the city. They repented and God relented. The condition of repentance, however, was implicit in his preaching, and the prophet halfway expected it to happen, it would seem.
Having said that, is the statement above true, that God never changed, or relented on, a punishment based on a specific commandment? Somebody may quote Cain, but does that apply?
The other day I was reading about a plant in Brazil, which forest-dwellers call the "matador," or "murderer."The matador works this way: when the matador's vine meets a vigorous tree, it clamps on and climbs up. As the plant grows larger, it shoots out tendrils that surround the tree, grow thicker, and clasp tighter.
The matador grows beautifully, but it does so at the cost of killing its host.
Then, when the matador has reached maturity, it puts forth a huge, flowery head above the strangled tree's top. Soon the murderous plant scatters its seeds on the rainforest floor and the process of death begins again.
I've seen peoples' sins and problems do the same thing.
via lhm.org
Being a Brazilian plant, it caught my eye. But the application is good, too. Read it all, always aware, of course, that it's a denominational website.