08/04/2026
CHURCH OF CHRIST, NIGERIA
OBIO IBIONO, IBIONO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, AKWA IBOM STATE
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON BY BRO. SUNDAY DANINEL UMOH ON SUNDAY, 5TH APRIL, 2026
THEME: SPIRITUAL STERILITY
TEXT: LUKE 13: 6-8
TOPIC: THEME ANALYSIS
(A) Definition of words in the theme
Spiritual: According to the New Lexicon Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language, spiritual is defined as relating to or concerned with the soul or spirit. It further defined the term as relating to religious or sacred matters. It is therefore connected with the human spirit rather than the body or physical things.
Sterility: The same dictionary defined sterility as the state or quality of lacking the ability to produce offspring or bear fruit, spores, etc.
By harmonising the meanings of the two words in the theme, we can say that spiritual sterility refers to those Christians that lack the ability to produce spiritual fruit or offspring. This includes all those that reject or are opposing to the teachings of Jesus Christ.
(B) Aim of the Lesson
To enable us to repent of our sins and bear spiritual fruits as contained in Galatians 5:22-23.
(C) Introduction
Jesus' time on earth was running out as He resolutely set out to Jerusalem on His way to die (Luke 9:51). Only a few weeks remained for Him to train His disciples who would be left behind to carry His name "Christians". Jesus used the time as a crash training course for His followers.
As Jesus was teaching His disciples, gawking crowds shoved in from all sides, sometimes even trampling each other. Jesus' messages to the crowd had been that of salvation of their souls as they were always advised to repent of their sins, otherwise they will perished. These people then attempted to divert Jesus' discourse from being directed towards them by pointing a finger to the seditious temperament of the Galileans (Luke 13:1), which led to their killing by Pilate during his reign (Acts 5:37).
But unexpectedly, Jesus did not condemn either the Galileans or Pilate, but returned to those in the crowd with the warning that they were to suffer like punishment as did the Galileans if they did not repent. The people were in the process of rejecting the teachings of Jesus Christ.
While Israel and the Jewish hierarchy were in mind here, the lesson is directed towards all mankind. Jesus is trying to warn these people that, regardless of the cause of the slaying of the Galileans, they were to suffer the same fate if they did not repent. Jesus then likened this situation to those who died during the fall of the tower of Siloam in Jerusalem (Luke 13:4-5). Israelite's unrepentant attitude made Jesus teach them the parable of a barren fig tree, among other parables.
(D) The Text of the Theme (Luke 13:6-8)
The Parable of a Barren Fig Tree
Jesus then told the crowd this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'
'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'" (NIV)
The interpretations of the Parable are as follows;
i. Owner of the vineyard — God
ii. The man who takes care of the vineyard — Jesus Christ
iii. The vineyard — the then known world up to the present Christian dispensation
iv. The fig tree — the Jewish nation then but now the new Israel (Christian community)
v. Three years — the first three years of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ
vi. Fruitlessness — Israel's rejection both of the herald, John the Baptist, and also Jesus Christ but now Christian disobedience to Christ's gospel
vii. Next year — the last year of the ministry of Jesus
viii. Cut it down — the final judgment against the impenitent
(E) Conclusion
Israel and indeed the Jewish hierarchy was in the midst of rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, consistent with the fruitless fig tree as being representative of this situation. While this is addressed to the Jewish nation, it is also applicable to all who remain impenitent.
Jesus tries to show that with additional care and nurturing, the people of Israel might finally realise the state they were in (and had been for ages and ages) and turn to repentance. This was not to be, God had waited patiently with great forbearance during the hardening of Israel, but He would not accept the rejection of His Son and of the gospel of the dispensation.
The false and deceptive appearances of the Jewish hierarchy in receiving/accepting the teachings of Jesus was manifested in a series of their open confrontations of Jesus.
Just as the Jewish hierarchy of that time, some of the modern Christians do not bear spiritual fruit but are Christianised in name only. Spiritually, their appearances are false and their characters deceptive.
Spiritually, some Christians will be cut off just like the fig tree in their families, villages, and even in the church because there are no fruits of repentance in them.
But Jesus, being the Lord of mercy, provides us with an opportunity to repent of our sins for salvation our soul now, and so we should not procrastinate.
