The Fate of the Fruitless Fig Tree – Eternal Kindling
Matthew 7:16-19
“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
The true condition of our heart (the soil) is most evident when beliefs/desires (seed, sun, water) are sown into the soil that manifests in behavior or actions (fruit). These are all the components (commitments) necessary to produce/not produce the good/bad fruit that is referred to in the above Scripture.
For example, if we say we love someone, this profession of love is validated by a commitment to marriage. What we believe about marriage then is manifested daily by choices and/or actions toward our spouse. This lifestyle is very different from that of a single person and therefore bears different fruit. This is also true of our desires in life. Whatever our desires may be; whether it is a career, getting an education, owning our own business, having our own home, etc., there are commitments we must make that require actions and/or choices to accomplish those desires and to bear the fruit or outcome we’re seeking for.
A Divine Revelation
Yet, many believe that the intent of one’s heart to believe in Christ and the simple confession of the sinner’s prayer or a walk down an aisle is sufficient to produce enough fruit to validate one as saved and eternally secure. However, if the actions or choices (fruit) of this new convert never reflect a commitment of faith or a visible relationship with Christ. No one seems to question the lack of fruit or whether the intent or desire for a relationship with Christ was true. Why is that? Sadly, we believe this conversion to be true, and any evidence of life change is not required. MAY IT NEVER BE!
The Word of God does not say this! It does say that what one believes in the heart (soil) and confesses with the mouth (commitment) will accomplish the act of salvation. This statement of faith will always produce a transformed life (fruit). However, this transformation is both instantaneous and a lifelong process. Phil 2:12-15 says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling (reverence and awe), for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure…that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as light in the world.” Now that is some kind of fruit! However, if our actions and/or choices are not blameless, innocent, and above reproach…is our salvation secure?
A Divine Challenge
In II Cor 13:5, Paul exhorts those whose lives were worldly in appearance to “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” The exclamation point is Paul’s, and it is also God’s. Works do not save us. However, the actions and/or choices of our lives testify to the work that God is doing in and through us. Jesus is also both Savior and Lord. Those titles speak of His power to take away our sin and to transform our lives to make us into the likeness of Himself.
If our tree is not bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit nor a likeness to Christ, then it is either bearing bad fruit and the exhortation of Matthew 7:19 would apply, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.” Or our tree is bearing no fruit, and it is also not good for a fruit tree, that produces leaves only but no fruit.
Call to Action
Here is what Jesus did with the fruitless fig tree in Matthew 21:19 “And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it, and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, ‘No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.’ And at once the fig tree withered.” Ouch! When Jesus comes to examine our tree, I pray that neither one will be true of us.
Father, help us “to delight in the law of the Lord and in His law to meditate day and night. Then we will be like a tree firmly planted by rivers of water, that brings forth fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither, and whatever we do shall prosper.” Lord, if we embrace this counsel, Your Word says we can KNOW that we are saved. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen!