God Gives Us The Fertilizer To Bear Fruit

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

March 20, 2022

in Spritual Growth

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3rd Sunday of Lent
Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines
March 20, 2022

Readings: Exodus 3:1-15
1 Corinthians 10:1-3
Luke 13:1-9

Christ reveals His heart to us during Lent and He Himself speaks directly to us. His heart pours out to us, His love reaches out to us. God’s love was so great that He would send His only Son to redeem us. There should be such a praise and thanksgiving from us because God will not allow the enemy to overcome us.

In today’s gospel, He shares to us the Parable of the Fig tree which is really about the church. He uses the fig tree as a symbol because it has the most nutritious fruit of all and it is powerful. God created man in His Image and Likeness. He empowered us to be overcomers. The fig tree does not need deep soil and can even grow on shallow ground. In the Parable we see this fig tree planted in the vineyard. It was expected to bear fruit. God had intended the fruit of the fig tree to bring forth life and power. When the master came to check the fig tree, he was disappointed that it was not producing fruit, and he instructed the caretaker to cut it down. But the caretaker said he would take care of the tree for another year by putting fertilizer on it, that if it doesn’t bear fruit again after a year, that would only be the time to cut it down. Doesn’t this remind us of the children of Israel who were given everything by God and yet were not producing fruit? Isaiah 5: 1-4 “I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then He looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.” God gave the children of Israel the choice to be the witnesses. In likewise manner, Christ is speaking to us to be the good witnesses. He is giving humanity a chance.

The fertilizer is Christ. We were given grace in abundance. We were given everything pertaining to life and godliness. Precious and magnificent promises were poured out to us. God has so ordained this. He has given to us hope in this generation. We are partakers of the divine nature. We are being made to understand that Christ is in us, the hope of glory. We are not weak. Psalm 103:3 “He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases.” He redeems our life from the pit. He crowns our life with satisfaction. There is an old saying by a saint that goes: “We have the powers of God and yet we use it like irresponsible school boys.” Do we see ourselves with great potential and ability? The reason why we go to church is not to be blessed per se but to bring worship and thanksgiving unto God. When we come before the Throne room, we come with thanksgiving to Him. Lent should be a reminder of God’s great love. He has given us the fertilizer to grow so that we may bring forth good fruit. It is for our healing because it causes us to have strong bones. It is filled with all the vitamins to give us all the nutrition we need. We should be able to bring forth the fruit to change the world. The symbol of the fig tree is us. God is wanting us to evaluate ourselves during this season of Lent. Matthew 16 says we have been given the keys of the kingdom. We should be grateful that God would trust us this much to entrust us with the keys. Therefore we must be worthy of His trust, and diligently strive to be like Him.