Growth

[0:00] Bibles, would you turn to Galatians chapter 5, or with your phones? I spend a great deal of spiritual energy praying that batteries will run out on phones during the week.

[0:30] No, it's not, well, it is true actually. Galatians 5, as you're making your way there, can I just say that, you know, we've been looking at the unique things of Christianity over these past few weeks.

[0:43] Tonight, this is going to be one of the last ones because every year I've tried to, as we get near Easter, to concentrate on Easter meditations. You know, to concentrate on different aspects of the cross.

[0:56] Last year, it was God's activity in the nature of the cross. The year before that, it was all to do with the trial. The year before that, it was to do with the essentials of the atonement.

[1:08] And so again, as of next Sunday evening, we're going to be going back to sort of the victory of the cross. And just how central the cross is to the work of God.

[1:21] You know, as an Easter meditations, I know that we don't forget, but just to lead us back in. Galatians chapter 5, we'll read from verse 1, and then we're going to jump over a few verses.

[1:38] Down into keeping in step with the Spirit. So now hear God's word. 5 verse 1. For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

[1:53] Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

[2:06] You are severed from Christ, who would be justified. By the law you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

[2:24] For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

[2:39] Well, let's go down to verse 16. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

[2:50] For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

[3:03] But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. Now, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

[3:23] I warned you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

[3:38] Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

[3:54] Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Well, may God bless his word. Well, we come to a different aspect of the Christian life this evening than what we've been looking at.

[4:10] But I want to mention this one thing that I'm not actually going to mention in the sermon. Though, this is part of the sermon. It's something that I've mentioned before as we've looked at the fruit of the Spirit.

[4:22] And that is the only one that cannot be counterfeited. Every single one of these in the fruit of the Spirit has a counterfeit.

[4:35] Love, counterfeit. Joy, counterfeit. Peace, counterfeit. Patience, you can counterfeit. Kindness, counterfeit. Goodness, has its counterfeit.

[4:47] Faithfulness, has its counterfeit. Gentleness, has its counterfeit. Self-control. Now, there's no counterfeit.

[4:58] You can't counterfeit self-control. It's the telltale sign, the key sign of the fruit of the Spirit being evident in your life.

[5:09] Self-control. Self-control. Because it's... You know, all these others have their worldly versions.

[5:22] Not a worldly version of self-control. Not according to Scripture. That's something to bear in mind. This evening, we're going to be concentrating on something quite different.

[5:32] And the thing that's different that we're concentrating on is growth. Growing as a Christian. How is your growth going?

[5:47] That's a searching question. I don't know how you measure Christian growth. It's a little bit difficult to measure it. We'll get to that in a moment. But how are you growing as a Christian?

[5:59] How's your growth going? That's a challenging question. The reason why we're going to focus on this this evening is because, believe it or not, Christian growth has to do with whether or not you are going to cooperate with God.

[6:19] The reason for that is because your growth is as much in your hands as it is in the hands of God. Don't blame God. You know, the temptation is, as I said last week as we're looking at Romans 3, now why does God always get the blame?

[6:35] You know, if you did this for me, or if you gave me that, or if you took that away, then I'd be a better Christian. Why does God always get the blame? Galatians understands that there's a big battle between wanting to do what the world wants you to do and wanting to do what the Spirit wants you to do.

[6:53] The battle's there for a reason. It's to show you what's right from what's wrong. It shows you the difficulty of living the Christian life. But here's the other thing that it shows you. Now, Christian growth is as much in your hands as it is in the hands of God.

[7:07] So this can be laid squarely at your feet this evening. It can be laid squarely at my feet this evening. How are you growing? You know, it's not just completely down to God.

[7:21] And there's several reasons why that's true. If you read through the New Testament, especially the letters, time and time again you'll read, grow. Grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[7:32] Grow in the knowledge of God. Grow in grace. Grow in love. Grow. It's an imperative. It's a command. Grow. In other words, you go away and do it. How do you do that?

[7:45] That's the challenge thing. You know, I think most of us perhaps wait around for God to do it for us. I'm going to address the middle thing. What's the middle?

[7:57] Here's the middle. Being told what to do is one thing. Doing what you've been told to do is another thing. What about the bit in the middle?

[8:09] There's something in the middle that's really, really important. And it could explain why perhaps many Christians hear but don't do. And it's how.

[8:21] Walk by the Spirit. Okay. How? Keep in step with the Spirit. Right, I've got it. How? How? Growing grace. Right?

[8:33] How? Now, what if the reason that you're not growing as a Christian is not because you're not listening and it's not because you don't not want to do it but it's actually because of the middle bit.

[8:48] You don't know how. In other words, you understand the command growing grace. You understand that Christians are to both listen and do the Word.

[8:59] The trouble is, is you're getting stumped by how do I do it? You know, I used to have a boss. This was when I was still at school.

[9:11] I used to work in a printer's. He was very, very good in many ways because he would send me off and he'd show me once. He'd only show me once. Now do it.

[9:25] Yeah, he never sent me off and said, do this without any instruction. No, he understood that being told what to do and then having the expectation for you to do it by the end of the day was fine and good.

[9:38] But he had to provide something else and that was the how. You know, God has provided the how. I think many of us read over it or don't necessarily pick up on it.

[9:53] So Galatians says here, walk by the Spirit. Okay, I want to do it. I have the willingness. I have the motivation. I have the get up and go to do it. But how? Keep in step with the Spirit.

[10:06] Ready to go, Jesus. How? Or as 2 Peter puts it, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

[10:17] Okay, I really want to do it. But how? Yeah, just stop. I'm not going to give you the answer now. You ask yourself that question or take the question that's been put to you.

[10:32] Answer it yourself. It's really important. Don't, this isn't a question that you can push to the side.

[10:42] Why not? Because your growth depends on it. So let's have a look at a few reasons for why God wants us to grow. But in order to get there, I want us to clear up a few misconceptions.

[10:55] Here's the first misconception. We've mentioned it already. Your Christian growth is not determined by God alone. How many of us actually believe that our Christian growth is determined by God?

[11:12] You know, let's say it's similar to the heat that comes out of a ring on a cooker. You know, God has put some of us on two. He's put some others on four.

[11:23] Some of us are on nine. That's why some are hot and some are lukewarm. No, no it isn't. It's a misconception.

[11:35] It is a wrong idea to think that your spiritual temperature and your spiritual growth is just down to God. God gives you his spirit. Absolutely. But what do you do with that?

[11:49] Him. Do you walk with the spirit? Do you keep in step with the spirit? You know, are you blessed by... How do I get blessed by God?

[12:01] I think that's a good question to ask. Jesus answers the question in Luke. He says, you know, blessed are those... Okay, who are they? Well, blessed are those who hear the word and do it.

[12:12] Okay, okay, Jesus. What about the middle bit? How do I do it? Now, Jesus does answer that elsewhere, but it's pretty obvious to get that I have to do what Jesus says in order to grow.

[12:28] Now, most of what Jesus says, it's easy to grow. Yeah, easy to understand, rather. Jesus says, you know, he repeats some of the Old Testament commandments you know, I shall not steal.

[12:39] That's not a difficult one, is it, to understand? You know, you know, don't covet. Okay, it's not... I understand what you're saying, Jesus. That's not an easy one.

[12:50] That's not a hard one to understand. I know how to do that. Or I ought to know how to do it. But some of these other things are a bit challenging. Here's something amazing.

[13:03] In the Old Testament, right at the very beginning in the book of Genesis, I wish I could be a plant. And here's why. Plants grow because God speaks.

[13:14] You ever read that? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and all these things started growing simply because God is speaking. They just grow. All the seasons happen and continue to happen because God speaks.

[13:28] They do nothing. You ever... If you go outside, you get one of those cameras that can take a picture every single day or a slow-moving movie and just film it for a whole year, you'll get to see the growth of a plant, the flowering of a plant, and then the plant dying off and then it coming around again.

[13:47] Do you know why that happens? Well, Genesis says it's because God speaks. There's an interesting verse in Genesis, you know, that all of this will only happen while the earth remains.

[13:58] It's as if God knew right at the very beginning, you know, the earth isn't going to be around forever. You know, seed time and harvest, all the seasons will exist for how long?

[14:08] While the earth remains. It's coming to an end, and so growth, your growth, is important. The trouble is is we're more complicated than a plant. We still need God to speak to us, but we need to do what he says.

[14:25] You know, plants do it automatically because that's the way God created the world, but Luke, Jesus says in Luke, blessed are those who hear, hear me speaking, God speaks, that's the seed of growth, and then growth happens by us doing what Jesus says.

[14:46] It's not just knowing more. This is a real spiritual growth. What about the second misconception? Misconception. Well, the second misconception is that many people misunderstand the work or the difference between the work of Jesus and the work of the Spirit.

[15:04] The work of Jesus is what we call vicarious. It's where you get the word vicar from. You ever wanted to know why vicars were called vicars? Well, it comes from the word vicarious.

[15:17] It's the wrong type of word to be using for a man, or at least normal men. It's not wrong to use for Jesus. Here's why.

[15:28] When we say that the work of Jesus is vicarious, what we mean is is he did it all for us. We contributed nothing. The work of salvation is a vicarious work, which means that Jesus did it from beginning to end.

[15:41] When he said it was finished, it was accomplished, Jesus did it all. The work of the Spirit is not vicarious. In other words, the Spirit doesn't do it for us.

[15:54] The Spirit walks, and we're to walk with the Spirit. The Spirit keeps a step, and we're to keep in step with the Spirit. We are to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit in order that we would live.

[16:07] You see, our relationship or our life with the Spirit of God is one of cooperation. It's one of keeping in step with. It's one of walking with. Jesus, when it comes to salvation, does it all.

[16:21] We're saved, not because we've done anything, but because Jesus has done it all. However, growing up in our salvation, 1 Peter, we are told to grow up in our salvation.

[16:37] That's not vicarious. That's actually down to you. That's down to you keeping in step with the Spirit and walking with the Spirit. We're to contribute.

[16:49] We are to cooperate. We are actually to do something. It doesn't mean that you're saved by your works. No, Jesus has saved you completely. You, however, are to grow up in that salvation, and you do that by cooperating with the Spirit of God.

[17:05] God. Let's move on then to what actually growth, what actually is growth. I get this, this is another misconception.

[17:16] I'm going to try and clear it up if I can. Before we get on to the directions for growth, how to do it, let me explain to you what growth is. Growth in Galatians 5 is basically comes out of a battle.

[17:32] And the battle is between fleshly desires and the desires of the Spirit. Growth is when the desires of the Spirit have more influence in your life than the desires of the flesh.

[17:44] That's the battle. Why do the desires of the Spirit fight against the desires of the flesh? Well, they do so to stop you from doing the things that you're not meant to do. What does that mean? That means that the Christian life is a battleground.

[17:55] It's difficult. It's not easy to live the Christian life. It is hard work to obey. It is hard work to keep in step with the Spirit. It is hard work to walk by the Spirit. But that's what we've been called to do by God.

[18:09] It is an absolute battleground. But growth is measured in a very particular way. It's measured in a similar way that gold is measured.

[18:23] It's measured in a very particular way to get into it. Listen to Zechariah. He says this, that God will refine his people like gold. That's growth.

[18:36] How's that growth? Think about it for a moment. The flesh wages war against the Spirit. The Spirit wages war against the flesh. What kind of growth is that?

[18:48] Well, that's the growth of one desire having a stronger influence in your life than the other desire. What does that mean? Well, think about it in terms of refining. That means the desires of the Spirit are to refine you in such a way where the desires of the flesh are no longer present.

[19:04] You know, to get them out of your system. Are they going to go completely? Not at all. But God's plan in your life is to refine you like gold. That's how you measure your Christian growth.

[19:18] In other words, you can't stand next to a door frame and put a pencil mark over your head. And then come back a year later and put another pencil mark over your head and see how much you've grown in between the time period.

[19:30] You can't do that. You do it with children and, you know, they're eight and you're this high and, you know, and then you start making, look how much you've grown over this. That's great. The trouble is with Christian growth, you can't do that because Christian growth is not measured in intellect.

[19:46] It's not measured in knowledge. Well, it is measured in knowledge to a certain extent because we're told to grow in the knowledge of God. So it is measured in that way. But it's not measured in these normal types of way.

[19:57] It's measured in purity. It's measured in the same way gold is measured. And how is gold measured? Think about that for a moment. You know, gold is valuable for two reasons or it's more valuable for two reasons.

[20:12] Number one, it's weight. You know, God wants you to be a heavy Christian. And number two, gold gets its value from its purity.

[20:25] So the heavier the metal and the purer that metal is, the more valuable that gold is. That's how it's measured. It's measured by its weight and by its purity.

[20:39] That's, so when God says in Zechariah, I'm going to refine you like gold, in other words, I'm going to get rid of all the impurities. What is he talking about? He's saying, I want you to have a spiritual weight to you.

[20:52] But a spiritual weight that is void of impurities. I want to refine you like gold. That's how you become, well, you are valuable to God, but that's the value of you.

[21:04] To be refined like God. Is it a difficult process? Yeah, of course it's difficult. Why? Because it's not like growing through just a period of time. No, God is going to do a work on you in the same way he refines gold.

[21:19] And that means impurities have to be removed. And that's difficult. Why? Because not only can impurities be removed, they can always make their way back in.

[21:34] You know, have you ever, I know, perhaps did a cake mix, you know, or you put coffee when you're supposed to be making tea and you have to throw it away.

[21:46] You know, you get these things mixed up and suddenly it's just no good. You have to start all over again. You know, or you're mixing your paint pot that's white and out of nowhere this drop of red paint falls into it.

[21:59] You think pink? Well, I could get away with it, but no, it just ruins it. You know, so impurities can make their way back in. The flesh wants to make the refining process difficult.

[22:12] You know, it just wants to keep these fleshly desires in the system so as to make it, you know, so that you can be a bit of a mix. God wants the very opposite. He wants to refine you like gold so that you can have that spiritual weight and that spiritual purity.

[22:31] That's Christian growth. So don't think of growth as in getting taller or getting smarter. Or getting even better at serving God.

[22:42] Yeah, that's not Christian growth. You know, Christian growth is certainly seen in serving God. It's one of the key issues. But even before that, the real issue here is one of weight and purity.

[22:56] Just like gold. Just like gold. That's how you measure Christian growth. There's another issue here I think we need to take consider of regarding the desires of the flesh and the desires of the spirit.

[23:12] I've read time and time again Matthew 13. It's one of my favorite chapters in the whole of the book of Matthew. Probably, in fact, the whole Bible. I love Matthew 13.

[23:23] About the kingdom of God, about the gospel seed, about God removing the impurities from the world in the end and allowing us to enjoy everything that he's created. It's just a fantastic chapter.

[23:35] The sower and the four types of soil. I've been reading that for a bit and something I've discovered, I probably noticed it before and then forgotten it. The fourth soil we know produces fruit, produces huge amount of growth from a little seed, but it's the same seed that falls across all the ground.

[23:53] What about the third one? Now, go away from here this evening and have a look at the third occasion where the seed falls on the ground. It receives it with joy and you have initial growth.

[24:08] And the parable you'll remember has to be explained. Matthew 17 verse 7 and then Matthew 13 verse 22. We see growth. Other seed fell among the thorns and the thorns grew up.

[24:21] Notice the thorns grew up and then choked them. Choked what? Well, choked what the seed, the word of God, had produced. So the word of God in the third occasion did produce growth, hence why these thorns and that can choke it out.

[24:40] If nothing was produced, nothing could be choked out. But here we have something being choked out. The explanation is this, Matthew 13 verse 22. As for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word.

[24:59] In other words, the word's there, it's growing, but it's now being choked out and it proves unfaithful, Jesus says. I think there's a spiritual insight here and this is what I think it is.

[25:17] You can have Christians in the church who spend their whole life choked. In other words, they've received the word, there's initial growth, and they prove to be unfaithful in the end.

[25:34] But over time, there's this choking, in other words, it's not dead. Notice very carefully, it's not dead, but it's being choked out. In other words, this is a person who hears the word of God, receives the word of God, and then because of their cares for the world, choke out the very means of growth in their life.

[25:57] You know, as I look out into the church and I look at my own life, how many Christians are strangled? How many Christians are not growing because they're choking out the very thing that can actually cause them to grow?

[26:15] I think the answer is probably quite a lot. you know, go away from here this evening and make sure you don't choke out the word of God that you've received this evening. It's easily done.

[26:27] You know, you've got what's on TV? What am I going to do tomorrow? The cares of the world begin to take over. But they don't just take over, they choke out the very word of God that you received.

[26:37] That's Matthew 13, verse 7. Choke it out, and then eventually it proves to be unfaithful in the end. It's a devastating end, isn't it? You know, only the fourth one actually produces fruit.

[26:52] The third one never gets around to it. It has the word of God, it has that initial growth, but never gets it, proves unfaithful in the end. Why? Cares of the world. You know, this is not a small thing.

[27:08] Growth. It's about purity, it's about weight, it's about getting rid of the impurities, being refined like gold. Here's the directions for growth then.

[27:19] The clearest direction for growing as a Christian is found in Peter. He says, like newborn babies, crave spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation.

[27:33] There it is. How do I grow? Crave the word of God. Just like a newborn baby would milk. Crave it, cry out for it. Don't be content with anything else.

[27:44] You know, notice with children, they go through this phase where you give them juice once and then you put water in their bottle.

[27:56] They're not content. You just ruined it. It's a bit like those parents, you know, we take our children along and you see these things in the supermarket, you're supposed to put 10p in so that they move, like these airplanes and these cars and you know, everything was fine until one day because I never put the 50p in.

[28:16] I just let my children sit in it. And then some other parent come along and ruins it because they go in the one next door and pop a 50p in and suddenly my child goes, oh, it moves.

[28:27] You know, crave the spiritual milk. It's easy to have a taste for other things.

[28:41] You know, it's easy to taste something else for the very first time and for it to take you away from the real nutrients. You know, juice does taste better than milk, but it's not better for you.

[28:56] Crave the spiritual milk. That's the direction for growth this evening. How do I do it? This is what to do, okay? This is what you're meant to do. How do I do it?

[29:07] You crave it. You crave the spiritual milk. That's how you keep in step with the spirit. That's how you will walk by the spirit. That's how you will begin to cooperate with God rather than the desires of the flesh.

[29:19] Is it difficult? Yeah, because it means that you may be craving after something that you don't necessarily like the taste of. You know, why? Because we have to live with the desires of the flesh.

[29:32] That means we're going to have to make decisions we don't necessarily want to make. You know, living the Christian life doesn't mean that we have a whole new set of desires that don't come under the attack of their flesh.

[29:43] No, living the Christian life means that you're really going to have to go after that nutrients. You know, you're really going to have to eat your vegetables.

[29:54] You know, I don't like vegetables, but I know that that's where the goodness is found. In other words, I have to get over my desire of dislike in order to go after the thing that's going to do me the most good.

[30:12] You know, where do desires come from? Well, they either come from the flesh or they come from the spirit. Crave God. Crave God and you'll get the right type of, those desires will come, but they don't come first.

[30:25] Crave God, make the right decisions and those desires will come. This is where I think love for God comes in. You know, it's, I said when I got here, I don't know if you ever remember this, it takes a long time to love a person.

[30:43] Seven years. Seven years, I think, within a church. You know, people say, say, you're joking, now I think it's seven years to be able to love someone else in the church like Christ wants you to love them.

[30:57] I mean, it takes a long time to be able to do it. But love is the only thing that's actually going to make you do the things you don't want to do. Think about it for a moment. Think of someone you love.

[31:09] Have you ever done something for them that you're too tired to do, but you do it anyway? You know, you just don't want to face that right now? You get the phone call at three o'clock in the morning, my car is broken down, can you come out and get me?

[31:24] No. But because of your love for them, you do it. You see, I may not have any desire to crave the spiritual milk all on my own.

[31:38] That's why loving God is so essential. Why? I'm going to do what he wants. You see, loving God must come first.

[31:50] you know yourself that you have gone out of your way for someone that you love even when you don't necessarily want to do it yourself. You're too tired, perhaps you're too fed up, perhaps you're whatever it may be, but you do it anyway.

[32:05] And the one reason you do it is because you love them. You know, Christians are the best people at not making the right decisions for themselves.

[32:17] We're absolutely masters at it. And here's the only way that we can make good decisions when it comes to our own spiritual well-being. Don't do it because you love yourself. You're never going to make the right decisions.

[32:32] Do it because you love God. Then you'll make the decisions to do what God wants you to do, even when you have no desire to do it. You're tired, you're fed up, you don't feel like it, you don't have an appetite for growth, you don't have an appetite for spiritual endeavours, but you do it anyway.

[32:49] Why? Because you do it out of love for God. That's crucial. And here's the best thing about it, God puts that love for him in your life.

[33:01] God gives you the love for him, so it's already there. Nurture it. Don't run away from it, don't go and gratify the desires of the flesh, concentrate on your love for God, then you'll do the things that will produce spiritual well-being, even when you don't feel like it.

[33:19] It's hard to pray, but I can, Sangster said this, I never forget this, I wasn't around when he said it, but I read it in one of his books, or it was a book about Sangster. No, it was actually his book.

[33:32] And he said, you know, he would come home having seen people through the Second World War, you know, prayed with them in bombed out rooms, in what have you, and at the end of the day, he was tired.

[33:44] He preached and everything, and he didn't want to pray. And then he makes this comment, he says that the most blessed times of prayer in his life was not when he had the strength to do it, or even the desire to do it, but when he did it anyway, because he loved God.

[34:03] God blessed him massively in those moments. Yeah, love God is absolutely the center. Here's the exhortation then as we close. Number one, growing is really important.

[34:22] Really important. And remember what Jesus said, you can't serve two masters. Don't let the cares of the world take you away from the thing that's most important.

[34:36] You know, and Jesus said you can't serve two masters in the light of legitimate concerns, food, water, clothing. You know, Jesus is saying that, you know, don't be preoccupied with the wrong things.

[34:51] Don't put those things which are legitimate concerns and even real needs before me. Now, seek first the kingdom. He didn't say, you know, don't be concerned about bread and water and food and all of those things and clothing.

[35:06] No, he said, seek me first. In other words, avoid a preoccupation of the wrong things. You know, focus on God. It's the only thing that's going to keep us on the straight and narrow.

[35:21] You know, put God first. You know, remember as you go away from here this evening that your Christian growth is a cooperative act. It's not just down to God, it's down to you.

[35:33] And so the reason why some of us have grown more than others, yeah, it's actually because of you as an individual. Some of us have tried harder than others. Now, this is why we sing songs like, renew us, Lord, put your spirit within us, Lord, give us a fire in our belly, Lord, or something like that.

[35:50] Why? Because we understand that we're lagging and we all need a spiritual kick to get us moving. Christians grow at different speeds, partly because Christians try harder than other Christians.

[36:04] Christians. Because some Christians put Christ first and other Christians don't. Yeah, that's why there's such a difference in the church. Easily explained.

[36:17] You know, don't choke out the word of God tonight. Easily done, I know. Done it myself. But don't do it. Don't choke out the one thing that can actually cause you to grow. Listen to it.

[36:28] Take it in. Let God do a work within your life. Here's a final thought. One I think that's necessary for us to hear. Jesus is really patient.

[36:42] Really, you know, thank God that God is patient. This is explained in the parable of the barren fig tree. The owner, you'll remember, wants the fig tree cut down.

[36:57] And the gardener says to the owner, no, don't cut it down. Just give it one more year. And the owner says, well, hang on a minute. I've come here for three years and it's produced nothing. And it's using up valuable ground.

[37:09] It's using up valuable soil. You know, it's using up everything. It's producing nothing. Cut it down. And the vineyard says, the vineyard dresser, the gardener says, no, please just give it one more year.

[37:22] And then if it doesn't produce any fruit, cut it down. And the parable ends, but it ends with the fact that one more year is given. You know, the fig tree is actually an illustration for the people of God.

[37:38] It's an illustration for the people of God. That's why the parable was told. You know, Israel understood that, you know, yeah, you know what, God is patient, but the clock is ticking. That's the point.

[37:50] You know, the tree must bear fruit to avoid the axe. Christians must grow to avoid the axe.

[38:04] That's a sobering message. But here's the thing, God is patient. One more year. That one more year may be a literal year. It may be several years. The point is, is that time is given so that we may grow.

[38:21] So go away from here this evening and take your Christian growth seriously. Really seriously. And understand that it's not just in the hands of God, but it is in your hands just as much.

[38:35] Amen.