“ ‘ “And If It Bears Fruit, Well. But If Not . . .” ’ ” (Luke 13:9, NKJV)
Between 1730 and 1745 the American colonies from Maine to Georgia experienced a religious revival known as the Great Awakening. Jonathan Edwards was a leader in this movement of spiritual renewal. In July of 1741 he preached a sermon entitled, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," which for some has become a symbol of the bleak, cruel, and hell-bent outlook of many Christians. However polemical, this sermon did express the truth about the awful weight of sin, the attitude of an infinitely holy God toward sin, and the surety of a day of judgment.
Read John 15:1-10. What balance does Jesus present here in the context of bearing fruit?
Notice how on one hand He said that if we would abide in Him we would bear much fruit, which is a product of beings saved by Him. That is, if we abide in Him, by faith, we are assured of salvation because of His righteousness, which is credited to us. At the same time, He warns that if we do not abide in Him we will not bear fruit, and those who do not bear fruit will wither and at last be cast into the fire to be burned (see 2 Pet. 3:9).
What is the lesson to be learned from the parable Jesus told in Luke 13:7-9?
The point here is not salvation by bearing fruit, which would be just another manifestation of salvation by works. We're not saved by bearing fruit; our fruit reveals the reality of the salvation we already have in Jesus, through faith in Him. Bearing fruit is an expression of salvation; it is not a means to attaining it. It is crucial that we understand this distinction. If not, we are sooner or later going to either become proud of what we deem our wonderful fruit, or we're going to give up in despair at what seems to be a very paltry crop.
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