September 19, 2007 - God's gift of "Mulligans" - Hayward Fong

Luke 13:6-9

In the course of civilization, the fig tree has been one of the most valuable trees. It is naturally productive, bearing three crops a year. April and May are normally the only months that the tree does not bear. In the Middle East, because of its consistent productivity, fig trees were planted among the vineyards as standby should the vines fail. Normally the fig tree does not bear fruit for the first three years. The point of this parable we just read is the master had waited the requisite three years waiting for the tree to bear fruit. Since the tree did not bear fruit, the master wanted the tree cut down. But the vinedresser pleads for another chance that would be the last chance.

To the crowd that Jesus told this parable, it undoubtedly had an immediate effect. The people of Israel had heard the voice of God in the Law with Moses; it had come through a long line of prophets; it had been pounded in the preaching of John the Baptist; and now it is coming with the Son of God. Just as the fig tree was to receive one last chance, Israel was to receive one last chance to take God’s way. The coming of Jesus was a last chance for the simple reason that God could do no more. God could not make a more urgent or moving appeal than the very sending of His Son. To reject Him was finally to reject God.

This parable teaches many lessons. Because the fig tree was useless it was threatened with destruction. It teaches us that uselessness invites disaster. The ultimate test of any man is, “Of what use is he to the world and God?” Being useful does not mean doing “big” things. It is possible to be of greatest use to God by doing what looks like little things.

Alexander Whyte of St. George’s Church in Edinburgh tells a favorite story. A salesman named Rigby use to travel regularly to Edinburgh. Rigby was not a preacher; as a matter of fact, he found it hard to talk about religion. But he always attended St. George’s on Sunday and before he left the hotel he always invited someone to come to church with him. As usual, on Sunday, he invited a man and the man angrily refused. But Rigby persisted and finally the man went. He was so impressed with Whyte’s preaching that the man invited Rigby to go with him for the evening services. Something happened to this man at the evening service; he determined to become a Christian.

The next morning business took Rigby past Whyte’s house. He had nover met Whyte, but on the impulse of the moment he knocked and asked to see him. He told Whyte what happened the day before. Whyte said, “God bless you for telling me. I thought Sunday night’s sermon fell flat and I was depressed about it.” And then Whyte went on, “I didn’t catch your name. What is it?” “Rigby,” said the visitor. “Man,” said Whyte, “I’ve been looking for you for years.” Whyte went to his study and came back with a bundle of letters. He read one. It began, “I was spending a weekend in Edinburgh and a fellow salesman called Rigby invited me to come with him to St. George’s; and the service has changed my life.” Every letter in the bundle carried the same message. Whyte went on to say, “Out of that bundle, twelve came from young men and of those twelve four have already entered the ministry.” It does not seem a great deal to invite a man to come to church and yet of what infinite use to God were the invitations of that salesman named Rigby.

Abraham Lincoln said, “God must love the common man because he created so many of them.” When God wants somehting done or someone helped, He has to find a hand to supply that help. By doing the simple things we are of use. By being of service in the ordinary everyday things, in the end, we serve God.

A second point of the parable is the barren fig tree risked destruction because it was taking up space and nourishment without giving anything in return. One of the most fundamental teachings of Jesus about life is that goodness is a positive thing, not merely the absence of doing harm. Jesus doesn’t ask, “Have you done no harm?” He demands our answer to “What good have you done?” Even if we are debtors for life, it is a sin not to try to repay a debt we owe for kindness and goodness heaped upon us along the road of life.

The Christian test is, “What did I put into life?” George Bernard Shaw put it this way, “I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community. And as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.”

We live in a world where the tendency is to try to extract more and more reward for less and less work; this is not so much an economic problem as a moral and religious one. Nearly all the world’s problems would be solved if men and women everywhere attempted the Christian duty of putting more into life than they take out.

As the fig tree had a champion in the person of the vinedresser, we have an advocate in Jesus Christ. He had tremendous belief in us. He believes us capable of the highest goodness and of the greatest heroism. And He believes that, even when we have let Him down.

The great example is Peter. No one can ever have hurt Jesus so much as Peter did and yet when He rose from the dead Jesus sent a special message to Peter to tell him that He still believed in him (Mark 16:7).

There remains one final thing, and it is a stern warning. There is a limit! After one year more the limit for the fig tree came, so we too have a limit. As the fig tree had a final chance, we also have a final chance. We are governed by the laws of life. If we fail to use a faculty, we will lose it. If we live long enough in the dark, we will become blind. If we fail to use our arms and legs, the muscles will atrophy and the limbs will become paralized. If a man consistently refuses the invitaion and challenge of Christ, he can in the end make himself incapable of accepting it. It is not God who has condemned him, he has condemned himself.

So, in the end, this parable tells us that so long as we keep trying to follow Christ, however inadequately, we are never shut out, but when we refuse to make the effort, we can shut ourselves out.

In a friendly game of golf, if one’s opponent messes up a shot, his friend will say, “take a ‘mulligan’,” that is to say,”take another shot and the first shot will not be counted.” God gives us an endless number of ‘mulligans,’ so long as we make an effort to play His game of life.