Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon
series, Growing Season, where we are going back
to the farm to learn what the farm can teach
us about faith. And today we're talking about
the grossest part of the farm, the manure. But
what does manure have to do with faith? How can
God take the messy things and actually use them
for good? is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter
13, verses 6 to 9. And he told this parable.
A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard,
and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
And he said to the vinedresser, Look, for three
years now, I've come seeking fruit on this fig
tree, and I find none. Just cut it down. Why
should it use up the ground? And he answered
him, Sir, let it alone this year also, until
I dig around it and put on manure. Then, if it
should bear fruit next year, well and good. But
if not, you can cut it down. This is the word
of the Lord. Today is going to be a first. It's
definitely a first for me. It's probably a first
for you because you are going to hear a sermon
about manure or choose your favorite word, you
know, poo or cow pies or dung or meadow muffins
or whatever you call it, barnyard confetti or
whatever you call it. It's the stuff that every
farmer knows well and that every city slicker
complains about when they drive their car through
the countryside with the windows down. We're
in this teaching series that we're calling Growing
Season, and we're looking at what farming can
teach us about faith. And of course, you can't
go very far talking about farming without eventually
having to talk about manure. There's just no
way around it. And so, yes, this could be the
crappiest sermon you have ever heard. But we
need to talk about it because on a dairy farm,
it is actually just a fact of life, right? Cows
eat stuff. Cows... produce milk and they also
produce other stuff as well. And farmers know
that actually what comes out of a cow, whether
it's milk or muck. has a purpose. It has a purpose.
It all has a purpose. In fact, there is a saying
that sometimes goes around farming communities
that says the only profit is in the manure, which
is another way of saying it costs so much to
own a farm, to buy all the inputs, all the grain,
all the feed, all the labor, all the transport,
that by the time you're all done, even after
you've sold your meat or your milk, you don't
have much finances left. Except the manure. You
still have the manure, this high -grade fertilizer
that you can use the next year. And so while
we would kind of plug our nose when we smell
it and say, oh, that's gross, farmers, they smell
manure and they think money. They think something
valuable, something of worth. Nobody I know,
you know, walks into a porter potty and takes
a deep breath and says, oh, that's the smell
of money, you know, liquid gold or something
like that. But farmers actually are there to
teach us something that we have forgotten. And
that is that what smells like waste may still
have worth. That not everything that smells bad
is useless and not everything that is messy.
is meaningless that is one of the strange strange
lessons of the farm and so again while the rest
of us hold our noses and drive a little faster
farmers smell value they smell worth they smell
something that has a purpose but here's the thing
you cannot just let manure kind of just like
drop and you know in place and just leave it
there and say ah isn't that wonderful no in fact
actually one of the big problems with big commercial
feedlots and factory farming is they have so
much manure that they don't know where to put
it all becomes a real environmental hazard that's
not farming that's that's just a big big mess
but no in order for manure to be useful you've
got to Figure out what to do with it, right?
Yeah, farmer has to deal with it. The farmer
has to gather it. They have to store it. They
have to let it break down. They have to spread
it. And they can't spread it all in the same
place. They have to put it in the right places
at the right time. You can put too much manure
in the wrong place, could cause damage, right?
Fresh manure often will burn the soil. And runoff
from manure can pollute waterways and all that
stuff. So no, yes, manure is valuable. But it
has to be handled properly. It all depends on
what you do with the mess. And that is where
today's sermon really begins. Because we're not
really going to be talking about manure, of course.
This is a sermon about things in our life that
we might consider as waste, as mess. Things that
we would like to hide or ignore or avoid. Now,
Jesus today, he tells... a parable. He tells
a parable about a tree, it's about a farmer,
and it's about manure. And normally, of course,
there's nothing funnier than telling a story
about poop. But when Jesus talks about it, it
is no laughing matter today. In fact, he is deadly
serious. He's talking about something so urgent
and important. So what I've done is I have broken
this sermon down into four movements. I love
it. I love it. And I've given you some sermon
notes to kind of follow along. Let's take a look
at the first movement, which is this, which is
this point I want to make. In the parable, fruit
matters. Fruit matters. Here is how Jesus begins
the parable. He says, a man had a fig tree planted
in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit
on it and found none. Now, You or I might read
that and you might say, well, that doesn't sound
all that shocking, right? Ooh, a tree without
fruit. I mean, what's the big deal? Maybe it
had a bad year. Maybe the weather didn't work
out. But Jesus says, no, no, this has been going
on for a while. This has been going on for three
years. Three years the farmer has been coming
to look for fruit and found nothing. And now
he's very frustrated. He's like, that's it. cut
it down. I don't want this tree wasting the precious
soil in my vineyard. Now, at first, that sounds
pretty harsh. Cut it down. I mean, couldn't he
just be a bit more understanding? Couldn't he
just give this tree a bit of a break? But actually,
the farmer has a really good point. He planted
a fig tree. The purpose of a fig tree is to produce
figs and if the fig tree is not producing fig
tree doesn't he have a right to do what he wants
with it i mean is he wrong to want figs from
his fig tree this is the story that jesus is
teaching us in this parable he's teaching us
that god actually has a right to expect fruit
Now that may be a hard sentence for us to hear
because we actually like to talk about how God
is just loving and God is patient and God is
kind and all that of course is true. But Jesus
here is actually saying, let me tell you something
else about God. He can look at your life. He
can look at my life and he has the right to look
into the lives of his people, the people that
he has planted and the people that he has tended
and say, okay, Herkmans, where's the fruit? Where's
the fruit in your life? On the one hand, this
is a story that if you read it in context, it's
about Israel, right? Because when God called
Israel, he called them for a specific purpose.
He planted them for a specific purpose. They
were supposed to be a blessing to all the nations
of the world. They were supposed to be a light
to the world. And now God is coming along to
Israel and looking for fruit. Okay, Israel, where's
the fruit? Where is it? Show me. Are you producing
what I planted you to produce? But on the other
hand, this is also a story about you, and it's
a story about me. Are we producing what God planted
us to produce? You know, this is not a sweet
little gardening story. The guy has an ax in
his hand, people. This story is a warning. In
fact, just before Jesus tells this parable, if
you flip back a page in your Bible, you would
see twice Jesus says these words, unless you
repent. You will all perish. Right? So here's
the deal. Here's the deal. God is the owner.
The fig tree is you or me. And God is looking
for fruit in our lives. Is there fruit in your
life? Right? Are you growing good things? Now,
we might say, well, I got so much fruit in my
life. Goodness, I am so busy. I am busy at work.
I'm busy with the family. You should see all
the stuff I'm doing in my workplace. I'm even
busy at church. I'm volunteering all the time.
It's go, go, go for me. I'm busy at camp. I'm
busy, whatever, right? But the fruit that God
is looking for is actually not just busyness.
He's looking for faithfulness. Fruit is not just,
I have a really full calendar. Fruit is not like
I have a really impressive resume or I'm just,
I'm really, really useful. No, the fruit God
is looking for is a fruit, is the fruit of a
life that is turned toward him. The fruit he
is looking for is love and joy and peace and
patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness
and gentleness and self -control. It's the fruit
of justice. It's the fruit of mercy. It's the
fruit of humility. It's the fruit of forgiveness.
It's the fruit of a changed heart. life is looking
more and more like the life of Jesus. That's
the fruit he's looking for. Is that fruit growing
in your life? The parable should make us all
actually really uncomfortable in a good way,
in a good way, because I think in all of our
lives, we have lots going on. There are places
where there's lots of leaves, but maybe actually
not much substance, not much fruit. We're alive.
but we're not fruitful. Or here's what I was
thinking. Like, we like to talk about honesty,
but then we cheat. We like to talk about faithfulness,
but then we sleep around. We like to talk about
forgiveness, but then we are greedy or we are
vengeful or whatever, right? We're angry people.
Is there a part of your life where God is saying,
listen, I am being patient with you. It has been
three years. I've been waiting for some change.
Here is the warning. God is still looking for
the fruit. And the ax is in his hand and he is
serious about this. The barren tree has no defense.
It has no argument here. But that's just the
first movement. Because just then, someone else
shows up. And who is it? It's the gardener. The
gardener. Right? The gardener in this parable,
I want to tell you, is meant to be Jesus himself.
And it's interesting that actually on the day
that Jesus rose from the dead, the very first
people who saw him mistook him for the gardener.
Anyway, it is just as the owner is sharpening
his axe and I got to take this tree down. The
gardener speaks and says, sir, just wait, wait,
leave it alone for one more year. The owner says.
Cut it down. The gardener says, give it more
time. The owner says, why should it be wasting
the soil? The gardener says, just let me work
with it a bit. Now, it's very interesting because
the gardener does not deny that there's a problem.
He doesn't say, oh, no, no, you're overreacting,
Mr. Owner, sir. Look at all the fruit on this
tree. Actually, this tree is just fine. No, he
doesn't say that. He doesn't. Gardener actually
agrees. Something needs to change here. But he
steps in and says, let me see if I can do something.
about that so it's true that barren tree has
no defense it has no argument but it does have
an advocate And I don't know if you guys know
what an advocate is, but an advocate is someone
who speaks up on your behalf when you are not
able to. When you've run out of things to say
for yourself, when you've run out of your own
defense, the advocate steps in. And that is exactly
what happens here. The tree does not speak. The
tree cannot defend itself. So the gardener steps
in and speaks for the tree. The gardener intervenes.
Jesus himself is our gardener. Jesus is the one
who steps toward us. He sees the unfruitfulness
of our lives. Yes, he sees those wasted years.
He sees those wasted days. But he says, Father,
wait. I'm not finished with this one just yet,
right? And this is what Jesus does. He advocates
for us. He mediates for us. In Romans 8, we read,
Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was
raised to life, is at the right hand of God.
And what is he doing there? interceding for us.
Or 1 John says that if anyone sins, we have an
advocate with the Father. Who's our advocate?
Jesus Christ, the righteous. That means that
right now, is imagine this right now jesus the
risen jesus is at the right hand of god and he
is interceding for you he is mediating for you
when you don't know what to say he's speaking
for you when your prayers fall short he's like
father let me let me uh beseech you on behalf
of rob let me mediate between rob and and you
when you are in trouble Jesus is your advocate
to the Father. And Jesus knows exactly why you're
barren. He knows exactly what sins and shortcomings.
He knows exactly all of our mistakes. And he
knows where we fail to bear fruit. But he also
says, Father, this one belongs to me, right?
And he advocates for us. And he doesn't do it
just because of our goodness. No, he does it
because of his mercy. And that is why this parable
is not only a warning, it is hope. Because maybe
you've had seasons in your life and deep down
you know, oh my gosh, there is not much fruit
here. And maybe you look at your own anger, your
resentment, you've compromised in different ways,
your prayerlessness. Maybe you suffer from addiction
or you just... I don't know, broken relationships,
dishonesty, and maybe you've tried to defend
yourself, you've tried to blame other people,
you've blamed your family, you've blamed your
friends, you've blamed the church, you've blamed
God, whatever the case may be, but you've run
out of excuses, and you finally realize you've
got no defense. The good news is, you do have
a defense. You have an advocate, and his name
is Jesus, and he does not give up on a barren
tree so quickly. There is, in other words, a
second But that second chance isn't a pressure
on you to perform as if when the gardener says,
I'll give it one more year, you're like, oh,
I got one year to get my act together, or I got
one more year to prove that somehow I'm worth
something to God or worth keeping. That is not
what the gardener says, actually. The gardener
says, give it one more year and I will tend it.
Give it one more year and I will work with it.
And that is what repentance is. Repentance is
not just me trying harder. Repentance is not
me just trying to be a better person. It's turning
toward the gardener and letting Jesus tend the
places that we cannot heal ourselves. So the
act is real. The warning is real. The call to
repent is real, but so is the advocate. So is
the mercy of Jesus. The gardener. has asked for
more time. That's good news. But what is the
gardener going to do with that extra time? Well,
that brings us to the third movement. Jesus,
the gardener, actually tells us exactly what
his plan is. It's twofold. I will dig around
it and put manure. Now, that's not so glamorous.
It doesn't sound all that exciting. Maybe if
I were writing this parable, I would say, oh,
give it one more year, and I will water it with
fresh spring water, and I will plant daisies
around it, and I will play soft music near the
branches, and I will whisper daily affirmations
over top of it. But Jesus says, no, I'll dig
around it and put rotted crap on it. In other
words, The work that Jesus is going to do in
that one more year in this tree's life is going
to be uncomfortable. It is going to get underneath
the surface, and it's going to involve some things
that maybe we would rather keep out of sight.
Two parts to the gardener's method. The first
is he digs, right? If a tree is going to be unfruitful,
the work is going to be fruitful. The work's
got to go all the way down to the roots. And
again, we might prefer some version of repentance
that somehow stays above the surface, that is,
you know, quick and private and easy and painless.
But the gardener digs, and digging is disruptive.
It loosens what's become hard. It exposes what's
been buried. You know, sometimes Jesus does that
in our lives. He convicts us. He convicts us.
And not just generally, Jesus doesn't come and
say, Rob, you need to be a better person. No,
specifically, he says, Rob, you've got to be
more truthful. You've got to tell the truth more.
Or Rob, you've got to stop making excuses. Or
Rob, you need to ask for help. Or Rob, you need
to deal with this pattern, deal with this problem,
right? You need to let God do the disrupting
to unearth those things that we are keeping buried.
And sometimes that disruption comes through reading
the scripture. Maybe it's hearing a sermon. Maybe
it's even like hearing a sermon like you're hearing
right now or a friend or a spouse or a parent
or some consequence happens in your life as a
result of the mess. And when that happens, we're
real, everything's disrupted and we might want
to resist it. But remember that digging isn't
necessarily cruelty. It's actually God's mercy.
He's working on you. Because grace has got to
get underneath the surface and go to the roots
of your life. And then secondly, the gardener
needs to put manure on it, right? Now, again,
what is manure? Manure is the stuff we like to
keep hidden. Yet in the hands of the farmer Jesus,
manure can become fertilizer because he knows
how to use it. I don't know. What is the manure?
Is it the mess you've made of your life? Is it
the sin we've excused? Is it the shame that we've
buried? Is it the regret that we actually just
don't know what to do with? The gardener doesn't
call all that muck good. Like, oh, this is all
good stuff. No, it is not good stuff. But the
muck of our lives is never wasted in his hands.
The thing you're hiding may stink, but change
happens. When we stop hiding it and let the gardener
use it. It's like I said earlier, hidden manure,
manure left in a barn to pile up doesn't make
the field fruitful. It just gets toxic. And eventually
it starts leaking everywhere. And some of us
know exactly what that is. You've got some stuff
in your life that you should have dealt with.
And now it's leaking in your marriage. It's leaking
into your family life. It's leaking into your
workplace. It's leaking into your mental health.
And Jesus says, let me work with that. Let me
handle what you don't know how to handle. Let
me begin to turn even this into something that
can produce life in you. That's what repentance
is. Repentance is not just, oh, I feel bad. Repentance
is not, I got caught. It's not promising I'll
never do it again, but repentance is bringing
the truth of our lives into the hands of Jesus,
and it's letting the gardener deal with the roots
and letting him handle the mess. If we let him,
you know, Jesus can take even the ugliest and
the smelliest and the most embarrassing parts
of our lives and begin to turn them into soil
where something new can grow. And that brings
us to the fourth movement. One more movement.
And that is that grace gives time to change.
Listen to the gardener's final words. If it bears
fruit next year, well and good. But if not, you
can cut it down. What is that extra year all
about? The extra year is not him saying to the
tree, hey, listen, don't worry about that owner.
He's always overreacting, right? You can stay
exactly how you are forever. No, this extra year
is grace, but it is grace with a purpose. In
Romans 2, 4, we read that God's kindness is meant
to lead you to repentance. Sometimes we misunderstand
the kindness of God. We think, oh, well, if God's
been patient with me this long, why not another
day? Why not another week? Why not another year?
He hasn't dealt with my mess yet. Maybe he's
okay with my mess. I can just carry on the way
that I am. Paul says, don't misunderstand the
kindness of God. God's kindness is meant to lead
you to repentance. God gives time so you can
turn. God gives a chance so you can change. God
gives patience so that fruit can grow in your
life. So God, yes, gives us time, but we do not
have time to waste. That is the warning of this
parable. It's actually also the hope of this
parable. The owner says, cut it down, and that's
his right. The gardener says, not yet, and that
is grace. But that grace does not keep giving
us time to make excuses. It gives us time to
turn, time to be honest, time to let the gardener
do his thing and dig, and time to become fruitful.
Going back to the original context, remember
that, you know, God had given Israel time. God
had sent prophets and he had sent promises and
he had sent warnings for years and generations
and generations and generations. And Jesus was
kind of showing up on the scene and saying, okay,
listen, time is short, guys. One more year. It's
time to become who you were meant to be. Don't
waste the grace of God. And friends, I think
that is definitely the word for us. as well the
most dangerous thing we can do with this sermon
is say oh yeah i'll get around to doing what
rob was saying or i'll get around to what the
scriptures were saying or actually maybe one
of the most dangerous things we can do with a
sermon like this is assume it's talking about
someone else you know i really hope so and so
was listening oh it's too bad my spouse wasn't
here they could really have used a message like
this or i hope my teenager is paying attention
But no, this parable comes for you first. It
comes for me first. Where is Jesus calling you
to turn? Where is he looking for fruit? Where
has he been patient? Where does he need to do
that work in you? Let me close with this last
idea. In this story, Jesus is more than just
the gardener. Jesus is also the tree. Because
you see, the Bible tells us that ultimately,
Jesus is the one who got cut down. Jesus was
arrested, taken outside the city, forced to climb
up a hill, lifted up on a tree or a cross, but
the Bible sometimes uses the word tree, and the
axe that should have fallen on us fell on him.
And all the waste of the world, all the garbage,
all the refuse, all the violence and shame and
sin of the world was taken by Jesus. And you
want to talk about waste. What a waste, a wasted
Messiah, a wasted life, a wasted hope. But then
on Easter, on Easter morning, the one who was
cut down was raised up. Oh, look, it's the gardener,
Mary said. The place that looked like total waste
became the place where new creation began. That
is why we can bring him the mess. That is why
we can stop hiding because he knows all about
it and he knows just what to do with sin and
shame. Remember, manure does not become fruitful.
Just by staying hidden in the barn. It's got
to be brought out. It's got to be handled by
someone who knows what to do with it. So bring
him the mess. Bring him the sin. Bring him the
shame. Bring him the regret. The gardener is
here. The judgment is real. The acts is real.
But the mercy is real too. Grace gives us time.
But not time to waste. So turn to Jesus. And
let him dig and let him tend and let him handle
the muck. And what looks like waste will bear
fruit once again. Thanks be to God. Amen. Amen.
Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of
Trinity Sermons. This sermon was recorded at
Trinity Church Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario
on July 5th, 2026.