Matthew 97
(Chapter 21)
How is your faith?? And where is your fruit??
Matthew 21:18–22 (ESV)
18In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.
19And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”
21And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.
22And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
Here we have some of that verse that we kind of skim over
· It’s a parable, it’s kind of a riddle
· And it takes some time, some prayer, and some research to figure out what Jesus is saying
o And that is kind of the point of it all
· As we unpack this, we will see that Jesus wants more than just your salvation
· And that most of us have very little faith!
He was hungry
18In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.
· We could get into the theological debate about Him being fully man and fully God
· And talk about His need for substance, that He was poor and was willing to eat a green fig for His nourishment
· But this goes way deeper
· Deep in Jesus' soul He desires the first and ripest fruits from you
· He hungers for it
· Jesus didn’t just come to save you
o He came to change you, to see you produce good fruit
o And He expects it from you, so today we will talk about your faith
o And your fruit, and why it is vitally important for you to be changing to be more like Jesus!
It looked good from a distance!
19And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves.
· So, a fig tree when it bears leaves
o It also is bearing fruit
o So Jesus assumes it has fruit
· You ever have that happen to you??
· Have someone in your life that
o Looks the part
o Says all the right things
o But doesn’t produce
· How about a company
o Has the right Mojo
o Place looks great
o Tells you everything you want to hear
o But falls short when it comes time to deliver
· How about religious folks
o Go to the right church
o They wear the right clothes
o They carry the right bible
o They are in the right crowd
o They speak perfect Christianess
o But they have nothing to show for it
§ No change, no conviction, no repentance
§ NO FRUIT!
· Jesus is looking for fruit from you
o He wants to see it in your relationship with Him
o He wants to see it in your relationship with others
o He wants to see you show the world who you are by your fruit
§ Not by what you say
§ By what you do!
He is not just our savior, He is our Judge
And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
· We could see the miracle in this
o He did just speak death to this tree!!
· Or we could see the practical
o Most of us have done this
o We have thrown something away that looks functional but doesn’t work
o Or got something that on the outside looks like it works, but doesn’t
o And we do what with it??? We get rid of it!
· Or we can see it, as I think it was intended, that Jesus is the great Judge!
Philippians 2:9–11 (ESV)
9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
· Jesus doesn’t expect non-believers to bear fruit
o To act like Him
o To follow Him
o To change or transform
· But for believers He has expectations
o Just like when He saw leaves, He expected Figs
o From those who confess and profess to be believers He expects fruit of the spirit
o He expects us to be in the body, producing, working to be more like Him
o Sharing Him with the world around them
· And when you are not fruitful Jesus judges us rightly
MH: A false and hypocritical profession commonly withers in this world, and it is the effect of Christ’s curse; the fig tree that had no fruit, soon lost its leaves. Hypocrites may look plausible for a time, but, having no principle, no root in themselves, their profession will soon come to nothing; the gifts wither, common graces decay, the credit of the profession declines and sinks, and the falseness and folly of the pretender are manifested to all men.[1]
· Ever knee will bow, every tongue will confess PERIOD!
The boys are back!
20When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”
· And how could we go any further without acknowledging the boys
· And understand we are just like them
· They doubt
· They don’t get it sometimes
· And their faith is weak at times just like us!
Your Faith can move a mountain
21And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.
· Moving a mountain was a common metaphor in Jewish literature for doing what was seemingly impossible[2]
· And this is not the first time Jesus explains that it’s our lack of faith that stops us from doing great things
o From moving mountains
· But to be strong in the faith, your relationship has to be strong with Jesus, with the Spirit
· And therein lies the problem, or lack of want for that relationship
o That is the hypocrisy that Jesus is talking about
o We wear the right clothes
o We say the right things (you might even clean up your potty mouth)
o We pray the right prayers
o But inside where it really matters, we are hollow, it’s just a shell, a façade
o We are playing church, not taking up our cross and following
When your faith and your will align with Jesus, things happen!
22And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
· And Jesus ends with this
· Why you ask
· Because your faith is directly tied to the fruit you produce
· As your faith in Jesus grows, your relations with Jesus flourishes and your fruit begins to multiply
· Here is your formula
· Faith + relationship = Fruit!
· And this week ask yourself how is your fruit???
[1] Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1721). Peabody: Hendrickson.
[2] Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1857). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
No comments:
Post a Comment