What We Can Learn from a Dead Fig Tree
(Part 1 – Being Fruitful for God)
Matthew 21:18-22
July 6, 2008
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT USED IN MY MESSAGES IS BORROWED FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Me: I gave my life to Jesus in the fall of 1982. I was a freshman at SDSU, 18 years old, and thought I was God’s gift to music and women.
As I matured a bit, I found out that I was God’s gift to music like Barry Manilow was God’s gift to heavy metal.
And I found out that I was God’s gift to women like Yugos were a gift to automotive excellence.
I was the “Yugo” of studliness in college.
I mention that because as I came to these realizations, I also started having doubts that God could really make me a good Christian or that I could be effective for Jesus.
In other words, would I amount to anything for God – would I make a difference for Him?
We: The word that I would use for my desire would be “fruitfulness.”
If you’re a follower of Jesus, then I believe God puts something in you that makes you want to be fruitful for God – maturing in your own faith and touching the lives of others for Christ.
I think that those who are serious about Jesus find that just obtaining forgiveness of sins and a home in heaven isn’t enough.
We want to be people who mature and make a difference for Jesus.
And we all struggle with that from time to time, whether you’re new to faith in Christ or if you’ve been walking with Jesus a long time.
For the new person, it’s a very natural struggle because you’re still trying to just get a handle on what it means to live for Jesus.
But for others, it can be a question on whether we’ve passed our time of fruitfulness – sort of like a professional athlete who only has so many years to play until his body says, “Retire, already, man!” And their years of “fruitfulness” on the playing field are over.
Well the good news is that you can be fruitful from day one of your life in Christ and you can be fruitful until your dying breath.
But is this fruitfulness thing really a big deal? Is fruitfulness really that important to God?
God: Our passage in Scripture would tell us that it is.
Matthew 21:18-22 (p. 698) –
18 Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.
20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked.
21 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ’Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
There are two big issues that Jesus seems to be bringing here with the tree: being fruitful for God and faith in prayer.
Today I want to discuss the first of these, and it’s what I think Jesus is addressing in verses 18-19:
18 Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.
There’s a lot of discussion among the commentators as to whether or not there should have been figs on the tree when Jesus went to it.
Some commentators say that fig trees bear fruit first and then the leaves appear, or both appear about the same time. Since the tree was in leaf, figs should have been on it. (Bible Knowledge Commentary)
Other commentaries say that in March, the fig trees had small edible buds; in April came the large green leaves. Then in May, the buds would fall off and be replaced by the normal crop of figs.
And since this incident occurred in April, the green leaves should have indicated the presence of the edible buds that Jesus expected to find on the tree. This tree, however, though full of leaves, had no buds. (Life Application New Testament Commentary)
The point is, Jesus was hoping to find something to eat off this tree and He doesn’t find anything.
And Jesus is no dummy. Obviously, Jesus knows what the scoop is for fig trees in Jerusalem. He created them, after all! It’s not like Jesus was saying, “Hmm, I wonder if this is the right time for figs?” Jesus knew that the tree should be able to offer something edible, but this tree was barren.
So he pronounces a curse on the tree:
"May you never bear fruit again!"
Was Jesus just having a bad morning and taking it out on a tree?
I can imagine certain members of our society getting upset with Jesus here:
“Hey, man! Leave that poor, innocent, defenseless tree alone! It didn’t do anything to you, you big tree-meanie!”
“Here tree, need a hug?”
Why did Jesus curse the fig tree?
Well, just as there are a number of opinions about whether there should have been figs or buds to eat on the tree, there are a number of opinions about what Jesus was trying to communicate.
A couple popular theories that I think have the most credence are that:
> It was a judgment against Israel.
Many believe that Jesus saw this fig tree as a symbol of Israel at that time. They professed to be fruitful, but a closer examination of the nation shoed that they were actually fruitless.
So by cursing that generation, Jesus was showing His rejection of them and predicting that no fruit would ever come from them.
And within a few days, this generation would reject their King and crucify Him, which ultimately led to judgment on that generation when the temple was destroyed in AD 70. (Bible Knowledge Commentary)
Another popular idea that I think is worth looking at is that…
> It’s not a specific judgment against Israel, but against those who make a show of bearing fruit but are, in reality, spiritually barren.
I’m in this camp, and so that’s where I’m going to focus my remarks this morning.
Here’s the main point of everything I’m going to say today – from the very beginning of today’s message to the end.
God expects us to be fruitful.
But fruitful in what ways?
Let me suggest what I believe to be the three main areas that God wants us to fruitful in:
1. He expects us to be fruitful in fulfilling the Greatest Commandments.
* Loving God with everything in us.
Mark 12:29-30 –
“The most important (commandment) is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”
When we do this, then we understand that everything within us, everything we own, everything we hope for and have ambition for belong to God and need to be put under His authority.
* Loving others as ourselves.
Verse 31 –
“The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
I believe that if people would simply adopt this verse as their “motto” for relating to other people, the vast majority of conflicts between people would be avoided.
Just think about it for a moment: if before you did or said anything that involved anyone else, you took a moment and thought, “Would I want someone to do that to me?” before doing or saying it, how many times would you change what you were going to do or say?
And that’s an indication that you probably shouldn’t do or say whatever that was, right?
But this verse isn’t just about avoiding conflict. It’s really about building awesome relationships as an overflow of your love for God. In a very real sense, loving God as you should makes you able to love others as you should.
And we can all use some work on that, can’t we?
God expects us to be fruitful in fulfilling the Greatest Commands.
2. He also expects us to be fruitful in fulfilling the Great Commission.
* Making disciples – helping people find Jesus and live for Him.
Matthew 28:19-20 –
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
It’s the job of God’s people to help others become God’s people through faith in Jesus. And we need to go beyond that to helping them grow in their faith and live for Jesus.
And really the best way to help people grow in and Christ and live for Him is through one-on-one relationships or in small groups where we can develop deeper friendships, and pray for and encourage each other.
The Great Commission is also a command, folks, and we need to be intentional about it, both on an individual and a corporate level.
If you want to be a person who makes disciples but wants some help in becoming that, come see me. I’ll be glad to help.
If you’re someone who wants to grow in your faith in your relationship with Jesus and live for Him, come see me. I’ll put you in touch with someone who can help you, or I’ll help you myself.
By the way, if you’re serious about the Great Commandment, I am convinced beyond all doubt that you will be serious about the Great Commission, or you will become serious about the Great Commission.
Why? Because when we love God as we should, then we will also love what God loves.
And God loves people. He wants people to have their eternity squared away and their present to be everything He intended it to be when He created mankind in the first place.
3. The fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23 (Read aloud with me) –
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
We’re not going to spend a lot of time on this, because we could actually spend many weeks on this.
But let me just point out two facts very quickly about the fruit of the Spirit:
* The fruit is singular, not plural.
The most common teaching is that there are nine fruits of the Spirit. But that’s not the case.
It’s one “fruit,” and that fruit has these characteristics.
For instance, take an apple. It’s one apple, but it has many characteristics: red, tasty, juicy, crunchy, nutritious, thin-skinned (which could actually describe a lot of Christians…), etc.
In the same way, the fruit of the Spirit is one fruit with these nine characteristics.
So what? What’s so big about the fruit being singular and not plural?
Because of the second fact about the fruit, and this second fact is missed by so much of the Christian population that I’m really surprised it’s not talked about more:
* Everyone is expected to display all of the fruit in their lives.
This is very important. Let me explain.
The Bible is very clear that the gifts of the Spirit are parceled out as He sees fit, and that not every person will get every gift.
The fruit, on the other hand, is for everyone.
Everyone is supposed to be loving, everyone is supposed to be kind, everyone is supposed to be patient, everyone is supposed to have self-control.
There’s none of this: “Well, sorry I snapped at you. I guess patience isn’t one of the fruits that the Spirit has given me.”
Or, “Oops – I guess I shouldn’t have committed adultery, but faithfulness isn’t one of my spiritual fruits…”
Can you imagine standing before God and saying that?
Go back to my apple example for a minute. Let’s say that the apple is juicy and red, but the taste is horrible and all its nutritional value was gone.
Do you go the apple and say, “well, I guess you got part of the deal down, so I’ll eat you and hope for the best?”
I don’t think so. But we’re willing to give ourselves a pass by saying, “I’ve got the faithfulness and self-control things down. I don’t need to be kind, patient, or loving, or any of that other nonsense.”
We all need to show all the characteristics of the fruit.
Admittedly, they will show at different levels – some will be more loving and more patient or kind than others.
But each part of the fruit should be growing in each of us so we can grow in all of those areas, especially those in which we’re a bit weak.
You: So what can you do about it? What can you do to enhance your fruitfulness?
We get the answer in John 15 –
4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing...8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
It’s important to realize that on our own power and capacities, we can’t be fruitful. We’re not capable of producing fruit on our own accord.
The source of our fruitfulness is our living in Christ. As we cling to him like branches on a vine, He makes us capable of bearing fruit.
So what can we do?
Cling to Jesus:
* “Eat” His Word.
- Read, listen, meditate, study, memorize.
Don’t just slurp it down. Chew on it, think about it, ask questions.
* Pray His Word.
- Ask Jesus to make His words part of your life. If you see something in Scripture that’s missing in your life, ask Him to put that into your life.
* Apply His Word
James says that if we read God’s Word but don’t do what it says, we’re just fooling ourselves and it has no effect for us.
We’re supposed to be doers of the Word, not just hearers.
We: As we get ready for communion, I would suggest that when we come to that part of our communion service where we have that time of silent prayer, you ask God to show you which of these three areas of fruitfulness you need the most work on, and to give you the courage and wherewithal to make it happen with His help.
Because if we all get serious about this stuff, we will put ourselves as a church in a position to be used like never before to make an impact for Christ in our area.
The kingdom would be expanded, lives would be changed, and God would be honored.
And that’s what it’s all about, folks. Let it be so in this church.
Let’s pray.
Communion
