A sign posted outside a church on Highway 110 outside of Tyler, Texas once read, “God is looking for spiritual fruit not religious nuts.” Unfortunately, religious nuts abound everywhere, but in and out of the church, but spiritual fruit is rare. The importance though of bearing spiritual fruit in your life cannot be overstated.
Jesus put it this way: “By their fruits, ye shall know them…” (Matthew 7:20). The Scripture repeatedly addresses the importance of bearing fruit. In fact the New Testament refers to bearing fruit over 50 times.
What the Scripture so clearly emphasized, Jesus illustrated in a dramatic experience during the very last week of His life. The week began with His triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem that served as a bold and deliberate announcement that He was the Messiah. The week ended with His crucifixion, but in between, Jesus took the opportunity one last time to teach His disciples the importance of bearing fruit.
These verses today stand as a word of warning from the Scripture. God is concerned with the fruit in your life. Listen to the Words of Scripture and see that God will judge those who fail to bear fruit.
Mark 11:12-14
I. The Reason for His Judgment
a. As Jesus was returning to Jerusalem from Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit.”
i. Under Mosaic Law, any Jew who was sojourning had the right to eat fruit that was growing by the road. When Jesus saw this fig tree in leaf, he decided to go and eat some of its fruit.
ii. We know from the context of Scripture that these events occurred around the Jewish Passover time. The Passover was held during the late spring. The prime fig season was not for a month or two after Passover, therefore, you might not expect for there to be fruit on the branches.
iii. However, if a fig tree was in a protective ravine, such as those around the Mount of Olives, it would be sheltered from the cold and would receive abundant moisture, and therefore would produce its fruit early. So it is altogether possible that there could have been fruit at this time.
iv. More importantly though, in Israel, the fruit on the fig tree always preceded the full development of leaves. The leaves on this tree were a signal that it was producing fruit.
b. Verse 13 says, “Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves because it was not the season for figs.”
i. Now listen, the tree had all the outward signs of life. The tree had all the outward signs of vitality. The tree had all the outward signs of fruit, after all, it was covered with leaves. But it did not have fruit.
ii. Remember, in that climate, fruit proceeds full foliage. The leaves were an advertisement of abundance.
c. Was Jesus being unreasonable to expect fruit when it was not the season for figs? Was Jesus taken by surprise?
i. Jesus, the Eternal Son of God, was not taken by surprise by the lack of fruit. Jesus Christ was the Creator and Sustainer of that tree.
ii. What Jesus was doing was acting out a parable for the benefit of His disciples. Often Jesus spoke in parables. On this occasion, He acted out a parable for the benefit of His disciples. Jesus had a spiritual truth to teach the disciples, and He wanted to put it into terms their minds could understand.
iii. And here is the truth: fruitlessness brings judgment. Fruitlessness brings judgment.
d. Verse 14 says, “Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” Some have wrongly assumed that Jesus cursed the tree out of vengeful anger. But there are no words of anger here in Mark or in the parallel account in Matthew 21. Jesus was simply judging the tree for giving the outward appearance of fruit, but not actually having any fruit.
e. The narrative seems to shift suddenly here in verse 15. (Read 15-19)
f. Far from an interruption in the narrative, Mark here provides an illustration of the danger of showing leaves without bearing fruit.
i. Notice in verse 17 that Jesus never missed a teachable moment. “As he taught them, he said, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.’ But you have made it a den of robbers.”
ii. The cleansing of the temple is a continuation of Jesus teaching on fruit bearing. “The religious system of the day had plenty of leaves but no fruit. Its surface piety was seen the tithes and prayers and fasts, in the ritual purity that kept out women, lepers, blind beggars and those possessed with demons. The foliage of the religious leaders offered much promise but no fulfillment. As the figless tree could not satisfy Jesus’ appetite, so the religious system could not satisfy the spiritual hunger of the people.” (Rodney Cooper, Holman New Testament Commentary: Mark, 187.)
1. Under the leaves of their showy religion were barren and cold hearts.
2. Under the leaves of their showy religion was hidden a hypocritical heart.
3. Under the leaves of their showy religion were hearts long on activity but short on adoration
4. Under the leaves of their showy religion were hearts that talked the talk, but did not walk the walk!
iii. In any great forest you will find many huge trees. They tower above other trees and appear to be the very picture of strength and maturity. However loggers will not bother to come some of these giant trees down even though it would appear they would have two or three times as much wood as smaller trees. Why leave them? Huge trees are often rotten on the inside. Although they appear to be strong, their hollowness makes them week. This is the essence of hypocrisy – appearing strong on the outside but being rotten and hollow on the inside.
iv. Friend, let me ask you a question today. Is the tree of your life filled with showy leaves but lacking in fruit? More plainly, are you giving the outward appearance of being a Christian, but all the while failing to produce fruit?
II. The result of the judgment
a. Verse 20-21
b. Peter looked with astonishment at the fig tree. But Why? He had seen Jesus raise the dead, heal the sick, and free the demon-possessed. Why was he so amazed?
c. I believe it was because of how quickly the result of the judgment was enacted. I believe it was because of how soon the tree had withered. There is a message in this for you my friend! You may be living a double life thinking that judgment is a long distance from you. You may be bragging of your leaves but not bearing fruit thinking that you are safe from judgment. “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that also shall he reap.”
i. If you are sowing seeds of sinful living, you will reap corruption
ii. If you are sowing the seeds of wickedness, you will reap destruction
iii. Your leaves may hide your fruitless life from human eyes, but they cannot hide your fruitless life from Heavenly eyes.
iv. If you are hiding behind the leaves of hypocritical religion, you are in jeopardy of God’s holy judgment.
III. The Remedy for Judgment
a. There is a remedy for this judgment. You see, Jesus is not lurking around the corner waiting to condemn you; He is here today wanting to cleanse you. He is not lurking around the corner waiting to reject you; He is here today waiting to redeem you.
b. What is the remedy? Jesus declares in verse 22, “Have faith in God!!!”
i. To bear fruit you must stop having faith in yourself and have faith in God.
ii. To bear fruit you must stop having faith in your possessions and have faith in God.
iii. To bear fruit you must stop having faith in the temporal and carnal and have faith in God.
If you have faith you will produce fruit.
You will move beyond the casual and become completely committed.
You will move beyond hypocrisy and begin to pursue holiness.
You will move beyond fake religion and walk in a faithful relationship with Christ and you will produce fruit.
IV. The Fruit of a holy life.
a. The Scripture is filled with repeated calls to holiness.
i. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
1. The child of God must seek holiness and detest evil. The child of God must pursue purity and flee wickedness.
2. If you seek the fellowship of the Lord than you must follow Him in Holiness.
ii. I Peter 1:15 adds, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written ‘Be holy, because I am holy.”
1. Brothers and sisters, you are called to be conformed to the character of Christ not the character and conduct of this carnal world.
2. The root of the word “holiness” means to be different or distinct. The holiness of God demands a holy life in you. This requires a conscious separation from evil and a continuous devotion to moral living.
3. God’s holiness should produce in you the fruit of a living conformity to the character of Christ.
4. Does your life have the fruit of a life conformed to Christ?
b. Holiness sounds scary to many Christians. They, and perhaps you, believe that if you commit to the holy life you will pass from bearing fruit to being a spiritual nut.
c. But holiness does not need to be scary. It is more than just “organ music, long prayers, and religious-sounding chants. It’s almost as though holiness [has become] the private preserve of an austere group of monks missionaries, mystics and martyrs. But nothing could be further from the truth. I couldn’t be in greater agreement with Chuck Colson’s statement in Loving God: “Holiness is the everyday business of every Christian. It evidences itself in the decisions we make and in the things we do, hour by hour, day by day.” (Tale of the Tardy Ox Cart: 268, 269.)
d. When the world is at its worst, Christians should be at their best. What this world needs is for you to be a living breathing demonstration of what it means to be a Holy Christian.
e. If you are not living a holy life, there is a good chance your religion is nothing but leaves. It that is true, you are in jeopardy of God’s judgment.
V. The Fruit of a Loving Spirit
a. John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another.”
b. It is not your Bible knowledge, or your orthodoxy, or your church attendance that marks the fruit of your life. It is your love.
c. How is the fruit of love in your life? “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all my possessions to the poor, and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
d. Without love you are not producing fruit; you are nothing but leaves.
VI. The Fruit of Humble Service
a. Service to others is the hallmark of the Christian faith. The apostle Paul wrote, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:8-10)
b. We are not saved to sit and soak and sour until the Second Coming. We were saved to serve, and not just to serve on a Church Committee, but to serve the needs of others. Serving on a committee is good, but it can oftentimes be a substitute for truly serving the needs of others.
c. There are so many Christians who are busy building up their spiritual muscles but never using them. You may know the Bible from cover to cover, but if you aren’t applying it to loving Christian service, your life is nothing but leaves.
VII. The Fruit of Personal Witness
a. The Lord is calling His church to be a faithful witness for Him. He doesn’t need pews filled with people who can answer every question in Bible Trivial Pursuit. What He wants is a good witness to His work in their lives.
b. I pray you do not go to heaven empty handed. Let me ask you a sobering question. If you died today, and your body were placed in the casket here at the front of the church, is there anyone who could look in your casket and say, “I thank God for you. He used your witness to bring me to saving faith.”
c. The hope of winning this world for Christ is not for more sermons, and more pastors, and more books, and more tapes, or more seminars. The hope of winning the world to Christ is through a dedicated, committed laity sharing a personal witness for Christ day-to-day. You cannot leave the work of missions and evangelism to be done by career professionals! Without the fruit of a personal witness, your life is nothing but leaves.
VIII. The Fruit of a Simple Faith
a. Jesus closed out his teaching on the fig tree by simply saying in Mark 11:22 “Have faith in God.” Faith is by far the most important fruit our Lord wants in us.
b. In Luke 18:8, Jesus asked a probing question. “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Let me ask you that question personally. If Jesus came today, would He find faith in you? Will He find you following after Him and confession Him as Lord and Savior of your life?
c. The biggest risk in your life is not that you will forsake Christ, but that you will forget Christ. Your biggest danger is not that you will regard Jesus as untrue; your biggest danger is that you will regard Him as unnecessary.
d. Without the fruit of simple faith, your life is nothing but leaves.
I end today where I started. “By your fruits you shall be known.
Will you examine your life right now? Will you allow the Holy Spirit to inspect the tree of your life? Are you settling for showing your leaves, but not ever producing fruit?
