INTRODUCTION (SECURE ATTENTION) & BACKGROUND OF THE PASSAGE:
PRAY before starting the sermon.
ILLUSTRATION: {The Roman Catholic Church was involved in terrible corruption during the Middle Ages.
They sold something known as ‘indulgences.’
In other words, the Roman Catholic church sold forgiveness of sins!
They said that by paying a fee (indulgences), one can rescue the soul of a deceased person out of purgatory.
One monk even had a theme song for selling indulgences which went like this: “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory springs.”
People could even secure their own salvation at a price.
Martin Luther and several others spoke against this shameful commercialization of forgiveness of sins.
But the commercialization of religion is not something new.
In today’s passage, we see something similar in Jesus’ time as well.}
Would you take God’s Word and turn your Bibles with me to MARK 11:12-19 (READ)?
I have entitled today’s sermon as: “FROM A FRUITLESS TO A FRUITFUL LIFE.”
CENTRAL PROPOSITION OF THE TEXT: Mark tells us that Jesus curses the fig tree and cleanses the temple as a symbolic act of judging unfruitful and hypocritical Israel.
As we saw in the last sermon, after the entry into Jerusalem, Jesus went into the Temple and then went into Bethany along with His disciples.
Today’s passage tells us as to what happened the next day.
Mark 11:12-25 has an interesting structure.
Verses 12-14 and verses 20-25 talk about the cursing of the fig tree.
And sandwiched between these passages is the incident of Jesus cleansing the temple in Jerusalem (verses 15-19).
Also, this is a miracle where Jesus used His power to destroy.
Similarly, in Mark 5:13, we saw that Jesus cast out demons out of a man which leads to the drowning of pigs.
THE PURPOSE BRIDGE: To challenge members of EAGC to live fruitful and authentic lives.
FALLEN CONDITION FOCUS: Already dealt with above.
CENTRAL PROPOSITION OF THE SERMON: I have used inductive proposition for this sermon.
I. A FRUITLESS LIFE WILL BE JUDGED BY JESUS.
Refer verses 12-14.
Read verse 12.
On the day after the triumphal entry, Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem.
Matthew (refer 21:18) tells us that Jesus traveled in the morning.
On the way, he was hungry.
Jesus probably wanted to have his breakfast or just a brunch.
Read verse 13.
Jesus saw a fig tree from a distance.
Fig trees were the most common kind of trees in Israel.
This particular fig tree had leaves.
So, he proceeded to the tree to see if it has any figs so that he can eat some figs.
But when Jesus approached the fig tree, there were no figs, but only leaves.
And Mark tells us that it was not the season for figs.
Now the early figs appeared in late March and they would become ripe by late May.
These early figs preceded the main crop of late figs.
These late figs would become ripe for harvest from the middle of August to October.
Now listen to this. This is the key to understand the last part of verse 13 (refer).
If the leaves appeared without the early figs, that fig tree would not bear any figs that year.
We can paraphrase the last part of v. 13 as “it was not the season for [real] figs.”
Jesus approached this tree during Passover, that is in April but did not find any figs.
So, this fig tree had leaves, but no early figs and thus no chance of producing late or real figs.
This fig tree pretended to produce figs, but it didn’t.
Read verse 14.
And Jesus cursed (cf. v. 21) the fig tree since it didn’t have any fruit, but pretended to have fruit.
This tree was not cursed due to lack of fruit, but for pretending to have fruit.
The disciples heard Jesus cursing this fig tree.
Over the centuries, many people have wondered as to why Jesus cursed an innocent fig tree.
Scholars have sought to give different kinds of explanation for Jesus’ action.
However, the best way to understand the cursing of the fig tree is that it was an acted parable, just as Jesus riding on the donkey was an acted parable.
In the Old Testament, the fig tree was a symbol of Israel (cf. Hos 9:10; Mic 7:1-4; Na 3:12; Zec 10:2).
Israel failed to be fruitful.
Israel had nothing but the leaves.
The Lord chose Israel to bring the Promised Messiah into this world.
But when He came into this world, they did not receive Him (refer Jn 1:11).
Earlier, Jesus told them a parable of the barren fig tree (refer Lk. 13:6-9) which is similar to what we read in today’s passage.
Since Israel was fruitless, soon they would face God’s judgment.
What about you?
Are you a fruitful believer?
Are you living a deceptive life?
The cursing of the fig tree points to the judgment of the temple and Israel.
William Barclay, commenting on the cursing of the fig tree, says that “uselessness invites disaster.”
Read Mt. 7:15-21.
Living a fruitful life involves doing the will of the Father; it’s not enough to profess that we have faith in God.
Jesus didn’t save you so that you can live a fruitless life and somehow make it to heaven one day.
That’s a wasted life.
Jesus saved you so that you can bear lasting fruit (read Jn 15:16).
The Lord wants to see the fruit of the Spirit displayed in your life (refer Gal. 5:22-23).
In Mt. 5:16 (refer), Jesus says, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
II. HYPOCRITICAL RELIGION WILL BE JUDGED BY JESUS.
Refer verses 15-19.
These verses show that hypocritical religion will be condemned.
A. Jesus cleanses the temple (vv. 15-16).
Read verse 15.
After the fig tree incident, Jesus and His disciples eventually reached Jerusalem.
After reaching the temple, Jesus cleansed it as an acted parable which pointed towards the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Scholars point out that the cleansing of the temple was prophesied in Malachi.
Malachi 3:1-4 (refer) predicts that the Messiah will enter the temple.
As Jesus entered the temple, he smelt the pigeons and other animals.
Sellers were shouting at the top of their voice selling goods to the pilgrims.
Probably the buyers were bargaining and the whole temple court looked like a market.
Most of you know how a market looks like.
Once he entered the temple, he (a) began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, (b) overturned the tables (demonstrate how violent it was by overturning a table) of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons, and (c) verse 16 (read): he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.
(a) Since the Jews came from different parts of the world as well as Galilee, they had to exchange their currency and buy the sacrificial animals at the temple.
Every Jewish male over twenty years of age had to pay the annual temple tax as well in the currency of the temple known as the Tyrian shekel.
Thus, the money-changers were of help.
However, changing the currency was very expensive.
Further, if the Jews brought the animals with them, they had to be inspected at the temple.
To avoid this hassle, people directly bought sacrificial animals at the temple.
Also, verse 16 shows that the temple courts was used as a shortcut between the city of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives.
All this was happening at the temple courts where worship gave way for commerce.
B. Jesus taught them that the Father’s house is a house of prayer for all the nations, not a den of robbers (v. 17).
Read verse 17.
Jesus began teaching them even as he cleansed the temple of commercial activity.
Jesus quotes two passages from the Old Testament as he teaches
The first is from Isaiah 56:7 (refer) and the second is from Jer. 7:11 (refer).
By quoting Isaiah 56:7, Jesus is condemning the Jews for sidelining the Gentiles from worshipping God.
This teaches us that fruitless lives involve excluding others from coming to Jesus.
Jesus condemns the lack of evangelism amongst believers.
Keener says that Jesus “protests racial segregation in a religious institution.”
By citing Jeremiah 7:11, Jesus is attacking the religious leaders and Jews that ‘a house of prayer’ had become ‘a den of robbers.’
Jesus uses the latter phrase as there was financial exploitation in the temple courts.
Also, the Jewish leaders ‘robbed’ the Gentiles the privilege of worshipping God by using their court for commercial gain.
Pastor David Guzik says, “It is a sorry, shameful condition when the house of God becomes a place where unrepentant and active sinners can associate and hide.”
In the beginning, I mentioned about the great reformation initiated by Martin Luther and others.
These men spoke against the corruption in the Roman Catholic church.
Last month, Christians all over the world celebrated 500 years of reformation.
Praise God for these men of God.
But even today we see commercialization of the gospel.
Prayer oil and prayer handkerchiefs are sold in some places.
People can pay a certain amount and have a meal or take a photograph with a celebrity pastor.
C. The chief priests and the scribes sought to destroy Jesus (v. 18).
Read verse 18.
Just as the disciples heard Jesus cursing the fig tree (v. 14), the chief priests and the scribes heard Jesus teaching at the temple and condemning their hypocritical religion.
They knew that Jesus was attacking the commercialization of the temple.
However, instead of purifying themselves, the religious leaders wanted to destroy Jesus, the Purifier.
They were afraid of Jesus because “all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.”
The religious leaders feared Jesus but did not submit to Him.
It is possible to fear God without submitting to Him (refer James 2:19).
We think the gospel is only about joy and peace.
That’s true.
But the gospel condemns all those who continue to live in sin.
Even at this point, the religious leaders had the opportunity to repent and receive God’s grace.
But they continued to oppose Jesus vehemently and were eventually judged.
If we are not careful, we will be judged as well.
Read Romans 11:19-22.
Jesus is not merely a loving God, but He’s also a just God.
He will judge fruitlessness and religious hypocrisy.
Read Rev. 6:16—“wrath of the Lamb.”
APPLICATION: {Commenting on today’s passage, Warren Wiersbe asks these piercing questions:
Before we quickly condemn the Jewish religious leaders for their sins, we should examine our own ministries to see if perhaps we are making merchandise of the Gospel.
Do the outsiders in our community think of our church buildings as houses of prayer?
Are all nations welcomed there?
Do we as church members flee to church on Sundays in an attempt to cover up our sins?
Do we "go to church" in order to maintain our reputation or to worship and glorify God?
If the Lord Jesus were to show up in our house of worship, what changes would He make?}
Read verse 19.
In the evening, Jesus left Jerusalem and probably went back to Bethany as Jerusalem was heavily populated at this time.
Also, Jerusalem was not very safe for Jesus anymore.
CONCLUSION (INCLUDING THE PROPOSITION, REVIEWING THE MAIN POINTS [OPTIONAL], AND ACTION STATEMENTS):
CENTRAL PROPOSITION OF THE SERMON: A fruitless life will be condemned, but a fruitful life will be commended.
Living a fruitful life is not an option.
It’s a divine command.
You can’t be a true Christian and live a fruitless life.
It’s a contradiction.
This morning, yield yourself to God to live a fruitful life.
Ask God to mold your character into the image of Christ.
Ask the Lord to give you burden and passion to serve Him and His people (refer Eph. 2:10).
Ask the Lord to ignite the fire in you to reach out to the lost and lead them to His glorious light.
