Leave It Alone This Year Also [New Year Service]

This passage contains the conversation between an owner and a vine dresser about a fig tree that bears no fruit. The owner orders that the tree, which only takes up ground without bearing fruit, be cut down, but the vine dresser pleads that if it is given just one more year, he will dig around it and fertilize it so that it bears fruit. This scene shows that even though God's judgment is near, Jesus is acting as a mediator who asks for patience and another chance for believers.

The sermon applies this spiritual reality to believers' lives, emphasizing that the present is the last chance God has given. It warns that a fig tree with plenty of leaves but no actual fruit may end up as firewood and be thrown away, and points out that believers have a responsibility to bear the fruit of repentance, devotion, and love. It also explains that rather than dwelling on past failures or regrets, the wise attitude is to live the present faithfully and bear the fruit of salvation.

Believers must reflect on how they are using the grace and gifts they have received to give glory to God. The sermon asks believers to examine the state of their faith, to guard against becoming people of faith with nothing but leaves, and to consider what decision they must make to fill the year given to them with meaning.