Dried Sticks or Flourishing Vine
By Pastor Jim May
On Thursday morning Jesus entered Jerusalem as a crowd stood beside the streets waving palm branches and throwing them down as a carpet for him to ride on. Others took off their outer coats and cast them at his feet as well. He entered Jerusalem that day as a conquering hero for all the people thought that he had come to set them free from the bonds of Rome. At last their Messiah had come and they would be a free nation once again.
Later that day, Jesus entered into the temple and cleansed it of the merchandisers who had set up shop to sell “sacrifices”.
The outer court of the temple was called the court of the Gentiles. Here there was a large bazaar, a kind of outdoor shopping mall, set under tents and under the cover of the temple court itself. It was there for the sale of sacrificial animals and birds, and also a money-exchange for changing foreign coins for the Jewish half-shekels.
Jesus did not condemn the sale of what was necessary for the sacrifices, but he condemned the place and the manner in which it was done. The shopping mall, with all its
hustle and bustle, was positioned right at the very doors of the temple. God’s House of Prayer seemed more like a sideshow than a temple.
The Court of the Gentiles was so crowded with businesses that there was no room for anyone to come and pray or worship.
The idea of these places of business was a good one, but it’s location and it’s practices of cheating the people ruined its purpose. We must never get the idea in our head that “the ends justify the means”.
We see this idea at work in the church of our day when ministers will condone all sorts of worldly activity in the church just for the sake of drawing a crowd. We open book stores almost inside the sanctuary, hoping to sell a few more things to ‘support the ministry’.
Let me tell you that if God is behind what we are doing, he will make a way for the support to come. We don’t have to come up with gimmicks or ways to get profits on our own. All that sort of thing does is cheapen the message of the gospel and put the church into the same category as big business. I’ve found that to be the case so often when people who go to churches where this kind of thing is going on, often can’t find a pastor who has the time to minister to them one-on-one.
I believe that in many of our churches, the job title of Senior Pastor should be changed to church CEO since he is often far more involved in making decisions based upon the business of the church and not upon the spiritual well-being and needs of the congregation. When a church is too big for the pastor to have time for the people, then the church is simply too big, period. Assistant Pastors often take up that role, and that’s okay, but too often, you can’t get anyone to be the minister for you that you need right now.
Some churches allow all sorts of worldly activity right on the platform and behind the pulpit with the idea in mind that whatever it takes to draw the crowd has to be of God.
If that’s true, then why not get the most popular Rock Band like AC/DC, Metallica, or the latest hit group whose name is “Puddle of Mud”. Let them wear their death clothing, with more metal pierced into their face than you have in your car; put a few references to love, a higher power, or even say God, once in a while and there you have it – a Christian Rock Band that will draw teenagers by the hundreds or even thousands. (Some churches are already doing this)
You can also make your services into a hype-filled pep rally complete with flag waving, dancers and pom poms of a cheerleading squad. (Oh wait, I can’t make fun of that one. After all we allowed some of that at our last PCG General Convention in Joplin, Missouri, and its happening in youth camps all over the country this summer. If the national office says its acceptable, then it has to be right. HUH!)
If we are looking for name recognition to draw a crowd to church, why don’t we just call Pope Benedict XVI and let him come to speak for us. After all, no one can draw a crowd like God’s spokesman to the world.
But the church, like the temple in Jerusalem of Jesus’ day, is meant to be a House of Prayer; a place where God’s people can come together to pray, to worship and to touch God and let God touch them.
The Jews had lost sight of their true purpose, just as much of the church of today has lost its purpose, and Jesus was not happy at what he saw then, neither is he happy now.
Every worshipper who came to the temple during the Feast of Passover was liable to pay a temple tax. Roman money or live-stock had to be converted into the sacred shekel or double drachma. In time the idea of helping people gave way to greed and selfish motives and the convenience became a hindrance.
The people could easily be cheated over the rate of exchange and every visitor lost money on the transaction. For a Roman coin he would only get less than half its value in return. He had to pay a high premium to get money that the temple priests would accept as payment for the tax. No Roman money could enter their temple lest it would be counted as sacrilege. Traveling Jews who had to have Roman money to pay traveling expenses, could only pay their temple tax by exchanging it at the tables of the money changers.
This, of course, was all designed by, and approved by Annas, the High Priest of Israel and the priests of the council. This is how they got rich, and its how the temple was able to maintain its regal appearance in a time when Israel was economically in trouble.
If a traveler had to pay for doves and lambs, for burnt offerings on the altar, he was charged 5 times what they are worth. The profit of that also went to Annas and his friends.
Its no surprise then to see Jesus become angry. He was a meek and lowly man most of the time because he was trying to reach out to save mankind, but when Jesus saw what was happening in the temple, anger rose up in his face and grabbed a whip, threw tables over, scattering their ill-gotten gains in the streets and ran the whole bunch from the temple.
Can we expect any less when we stand before the Lord at the Judgment? What will Jesus do to those who have turned from being a House of prayer to a den of thieves that only hold church services or buy time on radio and TV so that they can extort money from foolish people? God’s House is still to be a House of Prayer, and God’s message is still to be a message of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ.
After Jesus threw out the crooks, the people around began to shout praises to Him, calling him the Son of David – recognizing once again that he was the Messiah that they had prayer for so many times. Of course this made the High Priest and his friends mad. They were losing profits while Jesus was cleansing the temple.
If you want to make someone mad, just mess with their money. This was just one final nail in the coffin. They were more determined than ever to see Jesus dead.
Jesus now walked out of Jerusalem. The hour was growing late and night was coming on, so he led the disciples out of town toward Bethphage, only a few miles away, where they could find peace. Bethphage was very close to where Lazarus, Mary and Martha lived, but it is doubtful that Jesus went to say with them because they were all about hospitality and we see that the next morning Jesus had not eaten breakfast before taking to the road back to Jerusalem. He and the disciples had probably found a place in the open where they spent the night. Chances are that the home of Lazarus was already filled with visiting family and guests from out of town. Just as there was no room for Jesus when he came into this world, there was also no room for him on his last day on earth.
Matthew 21:18-19, "Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away."
Jesus was hungry. He was looking for fruit when he came to that fig tree, and of course, there was none.
Now some have said that it was not time for figs yet, and perhaps it wasn’t the season for figs, but this tree was created by God to bear fruit. The very Creator that gave it life and existence was coming by, and there was no excuse for fruit to not be there. Jesus would not have cursed the fig tree if it had no fruit because for reasons that were beyond its control. But it had no fruit, because it simply failed to produce. I believe that it had no fruit because Jesus was going to use that fruitless fig tree as an object lesson.
We have often used this fig tree to talk about Christians bearing fruit in their lives and how that when we fail to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, then God denies that we are his. There is a lesson to be learned about that but I believe that this fig tree was more symbolic than that.
Let’s examine what happens next and see what we can learn from this fig tree.
Jesus had come to this world, born of a virgin, in a little Jewish town by the name of Bethlehem. He had been born as a Jew, a citizen of the nation of Israel, a people that he had chosen thousands of years before to be his people, to be the very nation that would proclaim his coming into the world to save all men.
Israel is represented in that fig tree in that when Jesus came from glory, he found a people who were not bearing any fruit for the Kingdom of God. He had found a nation steeped in apostasy; a nation given over to idolatry in the form of worshipping money, wealth and power; and a nation that was self-righteous and ungodly.
They were not bearing fruit for God. They weren’t reaching out to the lost. They weren’t proclaiming the coming of the Redeemer. Very few, only those who had heard and been touched by the ministry of John the Baptist, even knew that he was coming.
They looked pretty, just like the fig tree with all its green leaves and beautiful branches, but there was no real life in them. The priests went about in their beautiful robes with their very large “phylacteries” or prayer boxes, hanging about their necks. They could really put on a show of piety in the town square, at the city gates or in the market places. To the world around them they looked holy, righteous and pure. But behind closed doors they were sinners of the highest order. Jesus called them “whited sepuchers, full of dead men’s bones”.
Because the fig tree had no fruit, Jesus cursed it so that it would bear fruit no more, and it began to whither and die immediately. On the next day, less than 24 hours later, it was a dried up branch with no life in it at all.
This is a picture of what was happening to Israel as a people from that day forward as well. Jesus came to his own people searching for the fruits of righteousness and found none. Therefore, he cursed Israel, caused it to become a barren nation and a nation that would whither away and die as a nation. Is there any doubt that this is exactly what happened to them? Less than 70 years later, Jerusalem fell to the Romans, the temple was destroyed and Israel was scattered to the winds and dispersed among the Gentile nations. Israel was a nation no more. It was dead, fruitless and barren and would not be a nation again for nearly 1900 years.
Matthew 21:20-22, "And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."
When the disciples saw the dead fig tree they were amazed at how quickly it had dried up. That was supposed to show them the power of God’s judgments upon Israel, but they didn’t get it. It was supposed to teach them that when God’s judgment falls, it is swift, destructive and deadly. Israel was going to fall and fall quickly. It was only about 35 years later that Israel died. That is but a twinkle in time for God.
I was thinking about this in regards to our modern church as a whole. Where is the fruit of righteousness? Are souls being saved, or is it just that the flesh is being satisfied? I believe that the Lord has cursed the church of today that is caught up in worldliness and apostasy. They might be around for now, but death is already on their heels. At the judgment most will see death. The majority of the church world today will never enter Heaven’s gates for they are cursed, dead, dry and fit only to be cast into the fire.
Jesus went on with his object lesson concerning the fig tree. When the disciples marveled at its death, Jesus used the opportunity to teach them about faith and life in the Spirit.
The lesson that Jesus was trying to teach was that faith works if it is used according to God’s will. Faith, without doubt, can accomplish anything. But faith cannot be placed in what we believe is right according to our own thinking.
Israel’s faith was in its relationship to Abraham and the Old Testament covenant, but that covenant was superceded by the New Testament Covenant through Jesus Christ. Israel’s faith was based upon its obedience to the Law of Moses and the Laws written by the priesthood. It’s faith was based upon it’s past relationship with God.
But past relationships are good enough. You have to have a fresh anointing, a fresh power, a very present relationship. You won’t go to Heaven based on what you did 20 years ago or 1 year ago, or one month ago. You will go to Heaven based on what you are doing right now. It’s a daily walk with the Lord and we must renew that walk every day.
The Psalms says, “Give us this day our daily bread”. One day at a time we make our home in glory. A lifetime spent in faithfulness can be lost in one moment of rejecting God and going back into sin if we willfully choose to turn our back on God.
But Jesus is trying to teach us here that if we will place our faith in Jesus Christ alone, and his shed blood, and keep our relationship with the Lord fresh all the time, then we can move mountains.
We can move mountains of difficulties. We can move mountains of fear. We can move mountains of obstacles that stand in our way. If we are walking in the will of God, going and doing what God wants us to, then all we have to do is speak the words of faith and it will be done.
As you walk through life, you can curse the circumstances that hinder you in the name of Jesus and they will begin to whither and die. You can curse sickness that plagues you in the name of Jesus and plead the blood over it, and that sickness will begin to die. Your faith in Jesus will bring about the will of God in those things for your life and you can live in victory.
You can also ask God for anything according to His will and he will bring it to pass. God’s House is a house of prayer. Your body is God’s new house now. It’s not in some temple in Jerusalem, or a church building in Prairieville – God’s temple is in you wherever you are. You are to be a house of prayer.
And when you pray, you can ask anything according to God’s will for your life, and it will be done. God will always answer the prayer of faith that asks according to his will and with faith in Jesus and the Cross of Calvary.
Does that mean that God will fill your bank account, or give you a new Mercedes Benz, or make you rich? Perhaps there are times when God knows that you will be a good steward and that you will handle those things rightly and use them for his glory. There are times when God may answer those prayers, if they are according to his will.
But God will not answer such prayers when they are prayed that we may consume the answers and just take all we can get without giving anything back. God knows your heart. He knows your capabilities in handling things. He knows the motives behind it all, and he also may have a whole different plan for your life that doesn’t include anything like wealth and riches. In those instances, the prayer is answered too, but with a great big NO!
When you have a close relationship with Jesus, and you are walking in faith in him, the desires of your heart will be for those things that are pleasing to God. Your prayers will always be for God’s will to be done in your life. You won’t pray for things that are contrary to God’s will because you already know that they are.
When you pray the prayer of faith, wanting only to be in God’s will, those prayers will be answered and your life will bear fruit for Him, that’s when you will be a flourishing vine.
Dead sticks will be cast into the fire, but flourishing vines will enter Heaven’s Gates. I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in.
