The cursing of the fig tree. Mark 11:11- 26. WBC 8/07/04am
A stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard is tailgating an honest man. Suddenly, the light turns yellow, just in front of him. He does the honest thing, and stops at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman hits the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she misses her chance to get through the intersection with him.
As she is still in mid-rant, she hears a tap on her window and looks up into the face of a very serious police officer.
The officer orders her to exit her car with her hands up. He takes her to the police station where she is searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell.
After a couple of hours, a policeman approaches the cell and opens the door. She is escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer is waiting with her personal effects.
He says, "I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the "Choose Life" license plate holder, the "What Would Jesus Do" bumper sticker, the "Follow Me to Sunday School" bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. "
" Naturally I assumed you had stolen the car."
FIGS?
So – is this passage really about figs?
- is Jesus really upset because He didn’t find figs on the tree?
o And isn’t that a bit unfair seeing as it ‘wasn’t the season for bearing figs’?
- Or perhaps Jesus had a ‘bad night’?
Well- Jesus certainly had all the emotions we have
- but He didn’t react as we do. ‘without sin’. So this isn’t about ‘anger management’
And the very fact that it records that it ‘wasn’t the season’ tells us this wasn’t about ‘figs’
- (although there should, in fact, have been some of the earliest, juiciest, figs on t his tree covered with leaves)
It’s about something far more important than food
It’s about
FRUIT
And fruitfulness. That’s what Jesus was looking for in the temple… from Israel
… from US.
- and that’s what I believe God wants to speak to us about this morning.
Illustr: so love writing beta course! But after 4 basics of belief > 1) how to stand the storms >> 2) The fruit of the Spirit
= absolutely foundational. Essential!
Hear lots about ‘gifts of the HS’
- equipping for what we DO
o (you know them: prophecy > admin)
But hear less about the ‘fruit of the Sprit’
- about what we ARE
Maybe because gifts
- given. ‘Instant’. Fun sometimes
Fruit
- grows. Takes hard work! Time.
Whereas in fact- the fruit is not only of first priority to Jesus- it’s foundational to all we DO, as well
- as without the fruit we can come off the rails… get corrupted
o Illustr: xian world is littered with gifted people where it went to their head: no names: xxxxxxxxx … worship leaders and preachers where became about THEM not Jesus.
- Or a great work of God can be eclipsed by a flaw of character
o Illustr: Angela cook- heart defect, collapsed lung (mended), virus in heart & lung muscles. Elders prayed for her & all healed- but later left church through a spiritual heart defect. And one of elders (16 baptisms) ran off.
But here’s what 2 Peter 1:8 says:
8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
What are these things he’s talking about?
2PE 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure…..
They are the kind of things mentioned in Gal 5, where the term ‘fruit of the Spirit’ comes from (can anyone name them?)
GAL 5:16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
GAL 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
GAL 5:22 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. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
But how do we grow these fruit?
- you can’t make them happen! (they’re about what you ARE not what you DO)
“Stuart Briscoe tell the story of a friend who often used an old fruit tree to escape from his second story bedroom window, especially when his father was about to punish him. One day the father announced that he was going to cut down the old tree because it had not borne fruit in many years. That night the boy and his friends purchased a bushel of apples and in the cover of darkness tied fruit to the unproductive branches. The next morning the father shouted to his wife.
“Mary, I can’t believe my eyes. The old fruit tree that was barren for years is covered with apples. It’s a miracle because it’s a pear tree.
GOD has to grow them in you- as you yield to Him
- as you ‘keep in step with His Spirit’. Over the years.
- As you stick close to Him…abide in Him
JN 15:5 "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. …. . 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
S. D. Gordon tells of a spring storm that broke a large limb on his cherry tree. Although it hung by a very slender strand, to his surprise the BLOSSOMS came anyway. Later some FRUIT began to grow as it did on the other branches. He noticed, however, that only those in full contact with the tree bore "much fruit," while the partially severed branch produced only a scanty supply.
Contributed by: Evie Megginson on www.sermoncentral.com
Get close to Jesus. Immerse yourself in the soil of His word.. the water of His Spirit. As you have cried out in the past for anointing for gifting- now cry out and seek Him for ‘fruiting’
in fact, be aware that a key measure of your encounter with God will be the fruit it produces in your life… for ‘by their fruit you shall know them”
- ’The revelation itself does not make me good. I am only good if as a result I love God more... it is of more value to you than me.... I know for certain that there are many of us who have not had any revelations or visions outside the ordinary teachings of the holy Church and yet love God better than I do’
Julian of Norwich, ’Revelations of divine love’ p20
Illustr: often think that gifts alone will convert someone- but there’s no greater sign than a changed heart…life!
- In all the churches I have served in there have been people who aren’t really evangelists- but win people because they are just so lovely! ‘fruity!’ Holy! (attractive). We have some here!
- We pray ‘Lord, give me a message”. Better “lord, make me a message”
Rev. Warren J. Keating, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Yuma, AZ, says that the best prayer he ever heard was: "Lord, please make me the kind of person my dog thinks I am."
“Oh, do it, Lord! Grow the nature of Jesus in me!”
But be aware it’s a GROWTH process and not a GIFT one.
- this is crucial, so you don’t get downhearted!
- gifts and salvation can happen instantly….
o …. but fruit and ‘sanctification’ (the process of ‘being made holy’) takes TIME
and so- every little frustration along the way can be seen as (and used by God in) producing patience.
• (Fruit so often grows in the adverse conditions- in the valley of shadow.. not on the mountaintop of a spiritual ‘high’)
- every effort to love producing the fruit ‘love’
- every time we find the ‘joy’ of the Lord in our grumpiness… a sign of the fruit joy coming to stay for good
- finding peace… when, humanly, it evades us….
- “Jesus, you are changing me. By your spirit…”
All these little signs are signs of growth (because that’s how growth happens!)
- Illustr: Lizzie in San Fran. Huge tomatoes… look great…but tasteless. Because they pick them prematurely for transport and then ripen them quickly by some gas.
- Nothing is a match for a vine-ripened tomato allowed to mature slowly!
There is fruitfulness in this passage, too- but I want to address that next Sunday morning.
- now, I’m asking: are you seeking to produce “fruit” to please the Saviour?
Maybe you’re not knowing where to start? Step next?
- you want to move towards humility, holiness, graciousness, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control… but don’t know where to start
Well- Jesus gives a “key” here.
- it’s profound. It seems like answered prayer, fruitfulness and fruit depend on it- or start with it.
- It’s : “ and when you stand praying- if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your heavenly Father may forgive you your sins”
FORGIVENESS
As we pray, now, if you don’t know where to start- start there
- in fact: start there, anyway.
Play: I will never be the same again
Songs:
- Jesus, you are changing me
- Oh sacred King
