WEBVTT 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:07.400 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:10.039 Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon 00:00:10.039 --> 00:00:12.439 series, Growing Season, where we are going back 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:15.140 to the farm to learn what the farm can teach 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:17.980 us about faith. And today we're talking about 00:00:17.980 --> 00:00:20.660 the grossest part of the farm, the manure. But 00:00:20.660 --> 00:00:24.280 what does manure have to do with faith? How can 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:27.039 God take the messy things and actually use them 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:35.700 for good? is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 00:00:35.700 --> 00:00:42.100 13, verses 6 to 9. And he told this parable. 00:00:42.859 --> 00:00:46.340 A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, 00:00:46.460 --> 00:00:50.060 and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:55.259 And he said to the vinedresser, Look, for three 00:00:55.259 --> 00:00:58.299 years now, I've come seeking fruit on this fig 00:00:58.299 --> 00:01:02.369 tree, and I find none. Just cut it down. Why 00:01:02.369 --> 00:01:05.469 should it use up the ground? And he answered 00:01:05.469 --> 00:01:10.810 him, Sir, let it alone this year also, until 00:01:10.810 --> 00:01:15.189 I dig around it and put on manure. Then, if it 00:01:15.189 --> 00:01:19.769 should bear fruit next year, well and good. But 00:01:19.769 --> 00:01:24.329 if not, you can cut it down. This is the word 00:01:24.329 --> 00:01:29.140 of the Lord. Today is going to be a first. It's 00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:31.760 definitely a first for me. It's probably a first 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.680 for you because you are going to hear a sermon 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:38.620 about manure or choose your favorite word, you 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:43.219 know, poo or cow pies or dung or meadow muffins 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:46.299 or whatever you call it, barnyard confetti or 00:01:46.299 --> 00:01:50.319 whatever you call it. It's the stuff that every 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:53.620 farmer knows well and that every city slicker 00:01:53.620 --> 00:01:55.760 complains about when they drive their car through 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:58.859 the countryside with the windows down. We're 00:01:58.859 --> 00:02:01.560 in this teaching series that we're calling Growing 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:05.480 Season, and we're looking at what farming can 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:07.640 teach us about faith. And of course, you can't 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:10.240 go very far talking about farming without eventually 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:13.319 having to talk about manure. There's just no 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.439 way around it. And so, yes, this could be the 00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:19.879 crappiest sermon you have ever heard. But we 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:22.680 need to talk about it because on a dairy farm, 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:25.620 it is actually just a fact of life, right? Cows 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:28.620 eat stuff. Cows... produce milk and they also 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:32.419 produce other stuff as well. And farmers know 00:02:32.419 --> 00:02:34.340 that actually what comes out of a cow, whether 00:02:34.340 --> 00:02:38.680 it's milk or muck. has a purpose. It has a purpose. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:41.580 It all has a purpose. In fact, there is a saying 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:43.639 that sometimes goes around farming communities 00:02:43.639 --> 00:02:47.099 that says the only profit is in the manure, which 00:02:47.099 --> 00:02:49.080 is another way of saying it costs so much to 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:52.240 own a farm, to buy all the inputs, all the grain, 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:54.719 all the feed, all the labor, all the transport, 00:02:54.939 --> 00:02:56.780 that by the time you're all done, even after 00:02:56.780 --> 00:02:59.020 you've sold your meat or your milk, you don't 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:02.830 have much finances left. Except the manure. You 00:03:02.830 --> 00:03:05.889 still have the manure, this high -grade fertilizer 00:03:05.889 --> 00:03:09.150 that you can use the next year. And so while 00:03:09.150 --> 00:03:11.650 we would kind of plug our nose when we smell 00:03:11.650 --> 00:03:15.530 it and say, oh, that's gross, farmers, they smell 00:03:15.530 --> 00:03:18.409 manure and they think money. They think something 00:03:18.409 --> 00:03:22.389 valuable, something of worth. Nobody I know, 00:03:22.490 --> 00:03:25.550 you know, walks into a porter potty and takes 00:03:25.550 --> 00:03:28.349 a deep breath and says, oh, that's the smell 00:03:28.349 --> 00:03:30.789 of money, you know, liquid gold or something 00:03:30.789 --> 00:03:33.590 like that. But farmers actually are there to 00:03:33.590 --> 00:03:36.750 teach us something that we have forgotten. And 00:03:36.750 --> 00:03:39.310 that is that what smells like waste may still 00:03:39.310 --> 00:03:42.710 have worth. That not everything that smells bad 00:03:42.710 --> 00:03:46.389 is useless and not everything that is messy. 00:03:47.099 --> 00:03:50.419 is meaningless that is one of the strange strange 00:03:50.419 --> 00:03:54.020 lessons of the farm and so again while the rest 00:03:54.020 --> 00:03:57.139 of us hold our noses and drive a little faster 00:03:57.139 --> 00:04:00.759 farmers smell value they smell worth they smell 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:03.400 something that has a purpose but here's the thing 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:06.099 you cannot just let manure kind of just like 00:04:06.099 --> 00:04:10.629 drop and you know in place and just leave it 00:04:10.629 --> 00:04:13.870 there and say ah isn't that wonderful no in fact 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:16.170 actually one of the big problems with big commercial 00:04:16.170 --> 00:04:18.810 feedlots and factory farming is they have so 00:04:18.810 --> 00:04:20.889 much manure that they don't know where to put 00:04:20.889 --> 00:04:24.129 it all becomes a real environmental hazard that's 00:04:24.129 --> 00:04:26.750 not farming that's that's just a big big mess 00:04:26.750 --> 00:04:30.069 but no in order for manure to be useful you've 00:04:30.069 --> 00:04:33.439 got to Figure out what to do with it, right? 00:04:33.620 --> 00:04:35.620 Yeah, farmer has to deal with it. The farmer 00:04:35.620 --> 00:04:37.500 has to gather it. They have to store it. They 00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:39.720 have to let it break down. They have to spread 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:41.839 it. And they can't spread it all in the same 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:43.660 place. They have to put it in the right places 00:04:43.660 --> 00:04:46.660 at the right time. You can put too much manure 00:04:46.660 --> 00:04:50.259 in the wrong place, could cause damage, right? 00:04:50.379 --> 00:04:53.639 Fresh manure often will burn the soil. And runoff 00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:57.240 from manure can pollute waterways and all that 00:04:57.240 --> 00:05:01.769 stuff. So no, yes, manure is valuable. But it 00:05:01.769 --> 00:05:05.629 has to be handled properly. It all depends on 00:05:05.629 --> 00:05:10.069 what you do with the mess. And that is where 00:05:10.069 --> 00:05:13.329 today's sermon really begins. Because we're not 00:05:13.329 --> 00:05:15.389 really going to be talking about manure, of course. 00:05:15.449 --> 00:05:19.089 This is a sermon about things in our life that 00:05:19.089 --> 00:05:23.490 we might consider as waste, as mess. Things that 00:05:23.490 --> 00:05:28.649 we would like to hide or ignore or avoid. Now, 00:05:28.649 --> 00:05:31.250 Jesus today, he tells... a parable. He tells 00:05:31.250 --> 00:05:33.670 a parable about a tree, it's about a farmer, 00:05:33.850 --> 00:05:38.050 and it's about manure. And normally, of course, 00:05:38.089 --> 00:05:40.189 there's nothing funnier than telling a story 00:05:40.189 --> 00:05:43.370 about poop. But when Jesus talks about it, it 00:05:43.370 --> 00:05:46.129 is no laughing matter today. In fact, he is deadly 00:05:46.129 --> 00:05:50.050 serious. He's talking about something so urgent 00:05:50.050 --> 00:05:53.350 and important. So what I've done is I have broken 00:05:53.350 --> 00:06:00.899 this sermon down into four movements. I love 00:06:00.899 --> 00:06:03.839 it. I love it. And I've given you some sermon 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:07.459 notes to kind of follow along. Let's take a look 00:06:07.459 --> 00:06:11.000 at the first movement, which is this, which is 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.839 this point I want to make. In the parable, fruit 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:17.420 matters. Fruit matters. Here is how Jesus begins 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:19.680 the parable. He says, a man had a fig tree planted 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:22.480 in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:27.629 on it and found none. Now, You or I might read 00:06:27.629 --> 00:06:29.290 that and you might say, well, that doesn't sound 00:06:29.290 --> 00:06:32.149 all that shocking, right? Ooh, a tree without 00:06:32.149 --> 00:06:34.569 fruit. I mean, what's the big deal? Maybe it 00:06:34.569 --> 00:06:37.250 had a bad year. Maybe the weather didn't work 00:06:37.250 --> 00:06:41.230 out. But Jesus says, no, no, this has been going 00:06:41.230 --> 00:06:44.189 on for a while. This has been going on for three 00:06:44.189 --> 00:06:47.550 years. Three years the farmer has been coming 00:06:47.550 --> 00:06:50.509 to look for fruit and found nothing. And now 00:06:50.509 --> 00:06:53.050 he's very frustrated. He's like, that's it. cut 00:06:53.050 --> 00:06:56.550 it down. I don't want this tree wasting the precious 00:06:56.550 --> 00:07:00.550 soil in my vineyard. Now, at first, that sounds 00:07:00.550 --> 00:07:03.110 pretty harsh. Cut it down. I mean, couldn't he 00:07:03.110 --> 00:07:05.930 just be a bit more understanding? Couldn't he 00:07:05.930 --> 00:07:09.389 just give this tree a bit of a break? But actually, 00:07:09.430 --> 00:07:12.569 the farmer has a really good point. He planted 00:07:12.569 --> 00:07:15.910 a fig tree. The purpose of a fig tree is to produce 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:19.339 figs and if the fig tree is not producing fig 00:07:19.339 --> 00:07:22.819 tree doesn't he have a right to do what he wants 00:07:22.819 --> 00:07:26.040 with it i mean is he wrong to want figs from 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:30.519 his fig tree this is the story that jesus is 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:33.300 teaching us in this parable he's teaching us 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:37.560 that god actually has a right to expect fruit 00:07:38.640 --> 00:07:40.680 Now that may be a hard sentence for us to hear 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:43.339 because we actually like to talk about how God 00:07:43.339 --> 00:07:45.540 is just loving and God is patient and God is 00:07:45.540 --> 00:07:48.279 kind and all that of course is true. But Jesus 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:50.339 here is actually saying, let me tell you something 00:07:50.339 --> 00:07:53.759 else about God. He can look at your life. He 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:57.019 can look at my life and he has the right to look 00:07:57.019 --> 00:07:59.120 into the lives of his people, the people that 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:00.939 he has planted and the people that he has tended 00:08:00.939 --> 00:08:05.560 and say, okay, Herkmans, where's the fruit? Where's 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:10.050 the fruit in your life? On the one hand, this 00:08:10.050 --> 00:08:12.529 is a story that if you read it in context, it's 00:08:12.529 --> 00:08:15.389 about Israel, right? Because when God called 00:08:15.389 --> 00:08:17.449 Israel, he called them for a specific purpose. 00:08:17.550 --> 00:08:19.649 He planted them for a specific purpose. They 00:08:19.649 --> 00:08:22.829 were supposed to be a blessing to all the nations 00:08:22.829 --> 00:08:24.910 of the world. They were supposed to be a light 00:08:24.910 --> 00:08:28.550 to the world. And now God is coming along to 00:08:28.550 --> 00:08:31.850 Israel and looking for fruit. Okay, Israel, where's 00:08:31.850 --> 00:08:34.450 the fruit? Where is it? Show me. Are you producing 00:08:34.450 --> 00:08:38.049 what I planted you to produce? But on the other 00:08:38.049 --> 00:08:40.389 hand, this is also a story about you, and it's 00:08:40.389 --> 00:08:45.750 a story about me. Are we producing what God planted 00:08:45.750 --> 00:08:49.409 us to produce? You know, this is not a sweet 00:08:49.409 --> 00:08:52.269 little gardening story. The guy has an ax in 00:08:52.269 --> 00:08:56.429 his hand, people. This story is a warning. In 00:08:56.429 --> 00:08:59.470 fact, just before Jesus tells this parable, if 00:08:59.470 --> 00:09:01.210 you flip back a page in your Bible, you would 00:09:01.210 --> 00:09:05.289 see twice Jesus says these words, unless you 00:09:05.289 --> 00:09:12.559 repent. You will all perish. Right? So here's 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:15.620 the deal. Here's the deal. God is the owner. 00:09:16.139 --> 00:09:20.620 The fig tree is you or me. And God is looking 00:09:20.620 --> 00:09:23.539 for fruit in our lives. Is there fruit in your 00:09:23.539 --> 00:09:27.139 life? Right? Are you growing good things? Now, 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:29.879 we might say, well, I got so much fruit in my 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:33.039 life. Goodness, I am so busy. I am busy at work. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:34.639 I'm busy with the family. You should see all 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:37.120 the stuff I'm doing in my workplace. I'm even 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:39.340 busy at church. I'm volunteering all the time. 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:42.039 It's go, go, go for me. I'm busy at camp. I'm 00:09:42.039 --> 00:09:45.340 busy, whatever, right? But the fruit that God 00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:48.360 is looking for is actually not just busyness. 00:09:49.259 --> 00:09:52.490 He's looking for faithfulness. Fruit is not just, 00:09:52.529 --> 00:09:55.740 I have a really full calendar. Fruit is not like 00:09:55.740 --> 00:09:57.899 I have a really impressive resume or I'm just, 00:09:57.940 --> 00:10:00.600 I'm really, really useful. No, the fruit God 00:10:00.600 --> 00:10:03.440 is looking for is a fruit, is the fruit of a 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:06.980 life that is turned toward him. The fruit he 00:10:06.980 --> 00:10:10.019 is looking for is love and joy and peace and 00:10:10.019 --> 00:10:12.600 patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness 00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:15.580 and gentleness and self -control. It's the fruit 00:10:15.580 --> 00:10:17.799 of justice. It's the fruit of mercy. It's the 00:10:17.799 --> 00:10:20.279 fruit of humility. It's the fruit of forgiveness. 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:24.980 It's the fruit of a changed heart. life is looking 00:10:24.980 --> 00:10:29.039 more and more like the life of Jesus. That's 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:31.039 the fruit he's looking for. Is that fruit growing 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:35.039 in your life? The parable should make us all 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:37.899 actually really uncomfortable in a good way, 00:10:38.019 --> 00:10:41.799 in a good way, because I think in all of our 00:10:41.799 --> 00:10:44.179 lives, we have lots going on. There are places 00:10:44.179 --> 00:10:47.679 where there's lots of leaves, but maybe actually 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:49.919 not much substance, not much fruit. We're alive. 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:52.799 but we're not fruitful. Or here's what I was 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:55.519 thinking. Like, we like to talk about honesty, 00:10:55.799 --> 00:11:00.320 but then we cheat. We like to talk about faithfulness, 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:03.759 but then we sleep around. We like to talk about 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.860 forgiveness, but then we are greedy or we are 00:11:07.860 --> 00:11:10.700 vengeful or whatever, right? We're angry people. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:14.820 Is there a part of your life where God is saying, 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:16.659 listen, I am being patient with you. It has been 00:11:16.659 --> 00:11:19.220 three years. I've been waiting for some change. 00:11:19.399 --> 00:11:23.080 Here is the warning. God is still looking for 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:26.820 the fruit. And the ax is in his hand and he is 00:11:26.820 --> 00:11:31.080 serious about this. The barren tree has no defense. 00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:36.899 It has no argument here. But that's just the 00:11:36.899 --> 00:11:39.799 first movement. Because just then, someone else 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:44.240 shows up. And who is it? It's the gardener. The 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:47.080 gardener. Right? The gardener in this parable, 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:49.779 I want to tell you, is meant to be Jesus himself. 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:52.220 And it's interesting that actually on the day 00:11:52.220 --> 00:11:53.840 that Jesus rose from the dead, the very first 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:57.580 people who saw him mistook him for the gardener. 00:11:57.620 --> 00:12:01.360 Anyway, it is just as the owner is sharpening 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:04.779 his axe and I got to take this tree down. The 00:12:04.779 --> 00:12:06.980 gardener speaks and says, sir, just wait, wait, 00:12:07.059 --> 00:12:13.200 leave it alone for one more year. The owner says. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:15.679 Cut it down. The gardener says, give it more 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:18.000 time. The owner says, why should it be wasting 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.539 the soil? The gardener says, just let me work 00:12:20.539 --> 00:12:23.759 with it a bit. Now, it's very interesting because 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:25.600 the gardener does not deny that there's a problem. 00:12:25.799 --> 00:12:28.059 He doesn't say, oh, no, no, you're overreacting, 00:12:28.139 --> 00:12:31.000 Mr. Owner, sir. Look at all the fruit on this 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:33.779 tree. Actually, this tree is just fine. No, he 00:12:33.779 --> 00:12:36.899 doesn't say that. He doesn't. Gardener actually 00:12:36.899 --> 00:12:40.539 agrees. Something needs to change here. But he 00:12:40.539 --> 00:12:43.299 steps in and says, let me see if I can do something. 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:49.019 about that so it's true that barren tree has 00:12:49.019 --> 00:12:51.480 no defense it has no argument but it does have 00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:54.289 an advocate And I don't know if you guys know 00:12:54.289 --> 00:12:56.690 what an advocate is, but an advocate is someone 00:12:56.690 --> 00:13:00.110 who speaks up on your behalf when you are not 00:13:00.110 --> 00:13:04.330 able to. When you've run out of things to say 00:13:04.330 --> 00:13:05.990 for yourself, when you've run out of your own 00:13:05.990 --> 00:13:09.029 defense, the advocate steps in. And that is exactly 00:13:09.029 --> 00:13:12.049 what happens here. The tree does not speak. The 00:13:12.049 --> 00:13:15.750 tree cannot defend itself. So the gardener steps 00:13:15.750 --> 00:13:20.549 in and speaks for the tree. The gardener intervenes. 00:13:22.730 --> 00:13:25.789 Jesus himself is our gardener. Jesus is the one 00:13:25.789 --> 00:13:29.169 who steps toward us. He sees the unfruitfulness 00:13:29.169 --> 00:13:31.789 of our lives. Yes, he sees those wasted years. 00:13:31.950 --> 00:13:34.850 He sees those wasted days. But he says, Father, 00:13:34.950 --> 00:13:38.250 wait. I'm not finished with this one just yet, 00:13:38.389 --> 00:13:41.169 right? And this is what Jesus does. He advocates 00:13:41.169 --> 00:13:44.669 for us. He mediates for us. In Romans 8, we read, 00:13:44.710 --> 00:13:46.730 Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was 00:13:46.730 --> 00:13:48.549 raised to life, is at the right hand of God. 00:13:48.610 --> 00:13:52.620 And what is he doing there? interceding for us. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:56.980 Or 1 John says that if anyone sins, we have an 00:13:56.980 --> 00:14:00.100 advocate with the Father. Who's our advocate? 00:14:00.740 --> 00:14:04.240 Jesus Christ, the righteous. That means that 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:08.029 right now, is imagine this right now jesus the 00:14:08.029 --> 00:14:12.129 risen jesus is at the right hand of god and he 00:14:12.129 --> 00:14:15.190 is interceding for you he is mediating for you 00:14:15.190 --> 00:14:16.990 when you don't know what to say he's speaking 00:14:16.990 --> 00:14:19.490 for you when your prayers fall short he's like 00:14:19.490 --> 00:14:23.309 father let me let me uh beseech you on behalf 00:14:23.309 --> 00:14:27.529 of rob let me mediate between rob and and you 00:14:27.529 --> 00:14:32.779 when you are in trouble Jesus is your advocate 00:14:32.779 --> 00:14:36.340 to the Father. And Jesus knows exactly why you're 00:14:36.340 --> 00:14:39.539 barren. He knows exactly what sins and shortcomings. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:42.320 He knows exactly all of our mistakes. And he 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:44.399 knows where we fail to bear fruit. But he also 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:48.519 says, Father, this one belongs to me, right? 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:52.679 And he advocates for us. And he doesn't do it 00:14:52.679 --> 00:14:56.700 just because of our goodness. No, he does it 00:14:56.700 --> 00:15:01.940 because of his mercy. And that is why this parable 00:15:01.940 --> 00:15:06.100 is not only a warning, it is hope. Because maybe 00:15:06.100 --> 00:15:08.559 you've had seasons in your life and deep down 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:11.179 you know, oh my gosh, there is not much fruit 00:15:11.179 --> 00:15:13.440 here. And maybe you look at your own anger, your 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:15.759 resentment, you've compromised in different ways, 00:15:15.899 --> 00:15:19.779 your prayerlessness. Maybe you suffer from addiction 00:15:19.779 --> 00:15:22.190 or you just... I don't know, broken relationships, 00:15:22.309 --> 00:15:24.269 dishonesty, and maybe you've tried to defend 00:15:24.269 --> 00:15:26.450 yourself, you've tried to blame other people, 00:15:26.529 --> 00:15:27.950 you've blamed your family, you've blamed your 00:15:27.950 --> 00:15:29.629 friends, you've blamed the church, you've blamed 00:15:29.629 --> 00:15:31.330 God, whatever the case may be, but you've run 00:15:31.330 --> 00:15:34.289 out of excuses, and you finally realize you've 00:15:34.289 --> 00:15:36.190 got no defense. The good news is, you do have 00:15:36.190 --> 00:15:39.809 a defense. You have an advocate, and his name 00:15:39.809 --> 00:15:43.429 is Jesus, and he does not give up on a barren 00:15:43.429 --> 00:15:49.210 tree so quickly. There is, in other words, a 00:15:49.210 --> 00:15:54.370 second But that second chance isn't a pressure 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:57.649 on you to perform as if when the gardener says, 00:15:57.730 --> 00:15:59.350 I'll give it one more year, you're like, oh, 00:15:59.429 --> 00:16:02.070 I got one year to get my act together, or I got 00:16:02.070 --> 00:16:04.330 one more year to prove that somehow I'm worth 00:16:04.330 --> 00:16:07.429 something to God or worth keeping. That is not 00:16:07.429 --> 00:16:09.169 what the gardener says, actually. The gardener 00:16:09.169 --> 00:16:12.129 says, give it one more year and I will tend it. 00:16:12.750 --> 00:16:16.509 Give it one more year and I will work with it. 00:16:16.570 --> 00:16:20.759 And that is what repentance is. Repentance is 00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:23.360 not just me trying harder. Repentance is not 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:25.740 me just trying to be a better person. It's turning 00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:30.440 toward the gardener and letting Jesus tend the 00:16:30.440 --> 00:16:36.019 places that we cannot heal ourselves. So the 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:41.139 act is real. The warning is real. The call to 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:46.039 repent is real, but so is the advocate. So is 00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:49.279 the mercy of Jesus. The gardener. has asked for 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:53.200 more time. That's good news. But what is the 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:56.120 gardener going to do with that extra time? Well, 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:59.799 that brings us to the third movement. Jesus, 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:02.039 the gardener, actually tells us exactly what 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:05.220 his plan is. It's twofold. I will dig around 00:17:05.220 --> 00:17:09.960 it and put manure. Now, that's not so glamorous. 00:17:10.200 --> 00:17:12.720 It doesn't sound all that exciting. Maybe if 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:15.079 I were writing this parable, I would say, oh, 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:17.220 give it one more year, and I will water it with 00:17:17.220 --> 00:17:20.579 fresh spring water, and I will plant daisies 00:17:20.579 --> 00:17:24.700 around it, and I will play soft music near the 00:17:24.700 --> 00:17:27.900 branches, and I will whisper daily affirmations 00:17:27.900 --> 00:17:31.819 over top of it. But Jesus says, no, I'll dig 00:17:31.819 --> 00:17:36.180 around it and put rotted crap on it. In other 00:17:36.180 --> 00:17:40.799 words, The work that Jesus is going to do in 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:43.200 that one more year in this tree's life is going 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:46.460 to be uncomfortable. It is going to get underneath 00:17:46.460 --> 00:17:50.160 the surface, and it's going to involve some things 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:53.099 that maybe we would rather keep out of sight. 00:17:54.980 --> 00:17:58.019 Two parts to the gardener's method. The first 00:17:58.019 --> 00:18:03.150 is he digs, right? If a tree is going to be unfruitful, 00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:05.490 the work is going to be fruitful. The work's 00:18:05.490 --> 00:18:08.150 got to go all the way down to the roots. And 00:18:08.150 --> 00:18:10.450 again, we might prefer some version of repentance 00:18:10.450 --> 00:18:12.650 that somehow stays above the surface, that is, 00:18:12.690 --> 00:18:15.589 you know, quick and private and easy and painless. 00:18:15.690 --> 00:18:19.930 But the gardener digs, and digging is disruptive. 00:18:20.349 --> 00:18:24.269 It loosens what's become hard. It exposes what's 00:18:24.269 --> 00:18:27.529 been buried. You know, sometimes Jesus does that 00:18:27.529 --> 00:18:30.740 in our lives. He convicts us. He convicts us. 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:32.900 And not just generally, Jesus doesn't come and 00:18:32.900 --> 00:18:35.259 say, Rob, you need to be a better person. No, 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:37.319 specifically, he says, Rob, you've got to be 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:39.400 more truthful. You've got to tell the truth more. 00:18:39.480 --> 00:18:42.440 Or Rob, you've got to stop making excuses. Or 00:18:42.440 --> 00:18:45.000 Rob, you need to ask for help. Or Rob, you need 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:47.579 to deal with this pattern, deal with this problem, 00:18:47.740 --> 00:18:52.559 right? You need to let God do the disrupting 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:56.740 to unearth those things that we are keeping buried. 00:18:57.690 --> 00:19:00.289 And sometimes that disruption comes through reading 00:19:00.289 --> 00:19:02.410 the scripture. Maybe it's hearing a sermon. Maybe 00:19:02.410 --> 00:19:04.630 it's even like hearing a sermon like you're hearing 00:19:04.630 --> 00:19:06.930 right now or a friend or a spouse or a parent 00:19:06.930 --> 00:19:11.130 or some consequence happens in your life as a 00:19:11.130 --> 00:19:14.289 result of the mess. And when that happens, we're 00:19:14.289 --> 00:19:16.829 real, everything's disrupted and we might want 00:19:16.829 --> 00:19:21.269 to resist it. But remember that digging isn't 00:19:21.269 --> 00:19:24.309 necessarily cruelty. It's actually God's mercy. 00:19:24.549 --> 00:19:28.359 He's working on you. Because grace has got to 00:19:28.359 --> 00:19:30.960 get underneath the surface and go to the roots 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:36.339 of your life. And then secondly, the gardener 00:19:36.339 --> 00:19:39.819 needs to put manure on it, right? Now, again, 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:41.819 what is manure? Manure is the stuff we like to 00:19:41.819 --> 00:19:44.720 keep hidden. Yet in the hands of the farmer Jesus, 00:19:44.920 --> 00:19:47.700 manure can become fertilizer because he knows 00:19:47.700 --> 00:19:52.490 how to use it. I don't know. What is the manure? 00:19:52.630 --> 00:19:54.730 Is it the mess you've made of your life? Is it 00:19:54.730 --> 00:19:56.829 the sin we've excused? Is it the shame that we've 00:19:56.829 --> 00:19:58.650 buried? Is it the regret that we actually just 00:19:58.650 --> 00:20:02.430 don't know what to do with? The gardener doesn't 00:20:02.430 --> 00:20:04.950 call all that muck good. Like, oh, this is all 00:20:04.950 --> 00:20:08.109 good stuff. No, it is not good stuff. But the 00:20:08.109 --> 00:20:12.890 muck of our lives is never wasted in his hands. 00:20:14.109 --> 00:20:18.329 The thing you're hiding may stink, but change 00:20:18.329 --> 00:20:22.730 happens. When we stop hiding it and let the gardener 00:20:22.730 --> 00:20:24.869 use it. It's like I said earlier, hidden manure, 00:20:24.990 --> 00:20:28.210 manure left in a barn to pile up doesn't make 00:20:28.210 --> 00:20:31.309 the field fruitful. It just gets toxic. And eventually 00:20:31.309 --> 00:20:34.230 it starts leaking everywhere. And some of us 00:20:34.230 --> 00:20:37.089 know exactly what that is. You've got some stuff 00:20:37.089 --> 00:20:38.829 in your life that you should have dealt with. 00:20:38.890 --> 00:20:40.890 And now it's leaking in your marriage. It's leaking 00:20:40.890 --> 00:20:43.069 into your family life. It's leaking into your 00:20:43.069 --> 00:20:44.869 workplace. It's leaking into your mental health. 00:20:44.970 --> 00:20:49.920 And Jesus says, let me work with that. Let me 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:52.359 handle what you don't know how to handle. Let 00:20:52.359 --> 00:20:54.279 me begin to turn even this into something that 00:20:54.279 --> 00:20:57.700 can produce life in you. That's what repentance 00:20:57.700 --> 00:21:02.359 is. Repentance is not just, oh, I feel bad. Repentance 00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:06.420 is not, I got caught. It's not promising I'll 00:21:06.420 --> 00:21:08.460 never do it again, but repentance is bringing 00:21:08.460 --> 00:21:10.700 the truth of our lives into the hands of Jesus, 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:13.259 and it's letting the gardener deal with the roots 00:21:13.259 --> 00:21:19.039 and letting him handle the mess. If we let him, 00:21:19.779 --> 00:21:22.079 you know, Jesus can take even the ugliest and 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:24.559 the smelliest and the most embarrassing parts 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:27.480 of our lives and begin to turn them into soil 00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:32.460 where something new can grow. And that brings 00:21:32.460 --> 00:21:35.119 us to the fourth movement. One more movement. 00:21:35.420 --> 00:21:40.579 And that is that grace gives time to change. 00:21:41.460 --> 00:21:44.799 Listen to the gardener's final words. If it bears 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:49.230 fruit next year, well and good. But if not, you 00:21:49.230 --> 00:21:53.549 can cut it down. What is that extra year all 00:21:53.549 --> 00:21:56.990 about? The extra year is not him saying to the 00:21:56.990 --> 00:21:58.890 tree, hey, listen, don't worry about that owner. 00:21:59.029 --> 00:22:01.769 He's always overreacting, right? You can stay 00:22:01.769 --> 00:22:06.230 exactly how you are forever. No, this extra year 00:22:06.230 --> 00:22:11.029 is grace, but it is grace with a purpose. In 00:22:11.029 --> 00:22:14.470 Romans 2, 4, we read that God's kindness is meant 00:22:14.470 --> 00:22:18.349 to lead you to repentance. Sometimes we misunderstand 00:22:18.349 --> 00:22:21.529 the kindness of God. We think, oh, well, if God's 00:22:21.529 --> 00:22:23.369 been patient with me this long, why not another 00:22:23.369 --> 00:22:25.650 day? Why not another week? Why not another year? 00:22:25.809 --> 00:22:28.150 He hasn't dealt with my mess yet. Maybe he's 00:22:28.150 --> 00:22:32.289 okay with my mess. I can just carry on the way 00:22:32.289 --> 00:22:35.990 that I am. Paul says, don't misunderstand the 00:22:35.990 --> 00:22:38.869 kindness of God. God's kindness is meant to lead 00:22:38.869 --> 00:22:42.190 you to repentance. God gives time so you can 00:22:42.190 --> 00:22:45.109 turn. God gives a chance so you can change. God 00:22:45.109 --> 00:22:48.250 gives patience so that fruit can grow in your 00:22:48.250 --> 00:22:52.670 life. So God, yes, gives us time, but we do not 00:22:52.670 --> 00:22:57.470 have time to waste. That is the warning of this 00:22:57.470 --> 00:23:00.130 parable. It's actually also the hope of this 00:23:00.130 --> 00:23:03.309 parable. The owner says, cut it down, and that's 00:23:03.309 --> 00:23:06.750 his right. The gardener says, not yet, and that 00:23:06.750 --> 00:23:10.670 is grace. But that grace does not keep giving 00:23:10.670 --> 00:23:13.730 us time to make excuses. It gives us time to 00:23:13.730 --> 00:23:16.750 turn, time to be honest, time to let the gardener 00:23:16.750 --> 00:23:19.609 do his thing and dig, and time to become fruitful. 00:23:21.089 --> 00:23:23.349 Going back to the original context, remember 00:23:23.349 --> 00:23:26.369 that, you know, God had given Israel time. God 00:23:26.369 --> 00:23:28.950 had sent prophets and he had sent promises and 00:23:28.950 --> 00:23:31.950 he had sent warnings for years and generations 00:23:31.950 --> 00:23:34.710 and generations and generations. And Jesus was 00:23:34.710 --> 00:23:36.369 kind of showing up on the scene and saying, okay, 00:23:36.430 --> 00:23:40.509 listen, time is short, guys. One more year. It's 00:23:40.509 --> 00:23:43.569 time to become who you were meant to be. Don't 00:23:43.569 --> 00:23:46.690 waste the grace of God. And friends, I think 00:23:46.690 --> 00:23:50.589 that is definitely the word for us. as well the 00:23:50.589 --> 00:23:53.630 most dangerous thing we can do with this sermon 00:23:53.630 --> 00:23:57.049 is say oh yeah i'll get around to doing what 00:23:57.049 --> 00:23:59.950 rob was saying or i'll get around to what the 00:23:59.950 --> 00:24:02.349 scriptures were saying or actually maybe one 00:24:02.349 --> 00:24:03.809 of the most dangerous things we can do with a 00:24:03.809 --> 00:24:05.529 sermon like this is assume it's talking about 00:24:05.529 --> 00:24:08.509 someone else you know i really hope so and so 00:24:08.509 --> 00:24:11.849 was listening oh it's too bad my spouse wasn't 00:24:11.849 --> 00:24:13.650 here they could really have used a message like 00:24:13.650 --> 00:24:16.410 this or i hope my teenager is paying attention 00:24:18.349 --> 00:24:22.529 But no, this parable comes for you first. It 00:24:22.529 --> 00:24:26.170 comes for me first. Where is Jesus calling you 00:24:26.170 --> 00:24:30.609 to turn? Where is he looking for fruit? Where 00:24:30.609 --> 00:24:34.690 has he been patient? Where does he need to do 00:24:34.690 --> 00:24:39.910 that work in you? Let me close with this last 00:24:39.910 --> 00:24:45.049 idea. In this story, Jesus is more than just 00:24:45.049 --> 00:24:51.200 the gardener. Jesus is also the tree. Because 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:53.019 you see, the Bible tells us that ultimately, 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:58.839 Jesus is the one who got cut down. Jesus was 00:24:58.839 --> 00:25:02.259 arrested, taken outside the city, forced to climb 00:25:02.259 --> 00:25:06.680 up a hill, lifted up on a tree or a cross, but 00:25:06.680 --> 00:25:11.039 the Bible sometimes uses the word tree, and the 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:14.079 axe that should have fallen on us fell on him. 00:25:16.269 --> 00:25:20.609 And all the waste of the world, all the garbage, 00:25:20.710 --> 00:25:24.029 all the refuse, all the violence and shame and 00:25:24.029 --> 00:25:26.750 sin of the world was taken by Jesus. And you 00:25:26.750 --> 00:25:29.910 want to talk about waste. What a waste, a wasted 00:25:29.910 --> 00:25:36.430 Messiah, a wasted life, a wasted hope. But then 00:25:36.430 --> 00:25:40.029 on Easter, on Easter morning, the one who was 00:25:40.029 --> 00:25:44.069 cut down was raised up. Oh, look, it's the gardener, 00:25:44.089 --> 00:25:49.700 Mary said. The place that looked like total waste 00:25:49.700 --> 00:25:53.700 became the place where new creation began. That 00:25:53.700 --> 00:25:57.299 is why we can bring him the mess. That is why 00:25:57.299 --> 00:26:00.380 we can stop hiding because he knows all about 00:26:00.380 --> 00:26:02.980 it and he knows just what to do with sin and 00:26:02.980 --> 00:26:09.200 shame. Remember, manure does not become fruitful. 00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:12.000 Just by staying hidden in the barn. It's got 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:13.799 to be brought out. It's got to be handled by 00:26:13.799 --> 00:26:16.920 someone who knows what to do with it. So bring 00:26:16.920 --> 00:26:19.819 him the mess. Bring him the sin. Bring him the 00:26:19.819 --> 00:26:23.099 shame. Bring him the regret. The gardener is 00:26:23.099 --> 00:26:26.940 here. The judgment is real. The acts is real. 00:26:27.420 --> 00:26:32.079 But the mercy is real too. Grace gives us time. 00:26:32.859 --> 00:26:36.089 But not time to waste. So turn to Jesus. And 00:26:36.089 --> 00:26:39.609 let him dig and let him tend and let him handle 00:26:39.609 --> 00:26:45.130 the muck. And what looks like waste will bear 00:26:45.130 --> 00:26:50.589 fruit once again. Thanks be to God. Amen. Amen. 00:26:51.470 --> 00:26:54.410 Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of 00:26:54.410 --> 00:26:56.750 Trinity Sermons. This sermon was recorded at 00:26:56.750 --> 00:26:59.250 Trinity Church Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario 00:26:59.250 --> 00:27:01.930 on July 5th, 2026.