Bear good fruit!

 

Matthew 21:18~22

Bear good fruit!

 

◎ Peace be with you!

Today I want to share a message about the fruit of faith.

The fruit of faith! This is the theme of today’s sermon.

“What is the fruit of faith?” and “why should we have the fruit of faith?”

I would like to think about these questions together at this time.

 

◎ OK. Let’s read the verse of the today’s text with one voice.

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.

 

[A] The Lord warns of our fruitless religious life.

◎ I would like to read the verse for you by another version ESV.

And 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.

 

◎ One more version, CEB say:

He saw a fig tree along the road, but when he came to it, he found nothing except leaves. Then he said to it, “You’ll never again bear fruit!” The fig tree dried up at once.

 

◎ Jesus said to the fig tree by the road:

You shall never again bear fruit!(CEB)

You shall never bear fruit any more!(NEB)

No more figs from this tree ever!(MSG)

 

◎ When we look at most Bible versions, we can see the title of today’s text is “Jesus curses a fig tree.”

Jesus cursed the fig tree, right?

 

◎ Isn’t it strange that Jesus cursed at the tree?

As we know, how is Jesus’ personality?

We know that he is gentle and lowly in heart(Matthew 11:29).

 

◎ Do you think this is right?

Well, that is a confusing expression.

Of course, the expression Jesus said to the fig tree is a curse.

But we should know that it is not Jesus’ true mind.

 

◎ In fact, it was a serious warning to the Israelite.

In here, we need to know what Jesus was talking about.

In other words, it is important to know what Jesus’ intention was.

 

◎ Let’s think about the fig tree.

Why the fig tree?

Why did Jesus curse the fig tree, not any other tree?

 

◎ When we look at the Prophetic books in the Old Testament,

we can easily know that the prophets used the fig tree

as a prophetic symbol of Israel.

 

◎ Let’s read the book of Jeremiah 8:13 together.

I will take away their harvest, declares the Lord. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them.

 

◎ And one more verse, let’s read the book of Micah 7:1 together.

What misery is mine! I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave.

 

◎ As we can see from these words, Jesus did an prophetic action.

Cursing of the fig tree was an prophetic behaviour of the Lord.

Jesus warned that the Israelite people who have no fruit

by cursing the fig tree as a living object instruction.

 

◎ Jesus warned the Israelite for unfruitful religious life. As for today, we can say that the Lord warns of our fruitless religious life.

 

[B] Only leaves are useless.

◎ OK. Let’s read the verse 19 one more time.

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.

 

◎ Jesus said that every good tree bears good fruit.(Matthew 7:17)

What is the parable of tree?

Jesus used tree as a metaphor for humans.

 

◎ Jesus noticed a fig tree beside the road

and he went over to see if there were any figs,

but there were only leaves.

There were no fruit except leaves only!

 

◎ No fruit, but leaves!

Then, “what is the fruit?” and “what is leaves?”

The fruit means the essential of religion

and leaves mean form of religion.

 

◎ We should not confuse the goal of religion with the means of religion.

The goal of religion is to bear the fruit of faith.

On the other hand, the means of religious is method.

 

◎ The fruit is the goal of religion.

Leaves are the means of religious life.

 

◎ Then let’s think about the methods of religious life.

That is the means of grace.

The means of grace are attending the worship, doing prayer, reading the Bible, the Lord’s supper, fasting, class meetings...

So called, that is Christian life.

 

◎ Of course, it is important to keep all kinds of means of grace.

However, the problem is that there are no fruit but only leaves.

 

◎ The leaves of a tree are not the reason for its existence.

It is useless with just leaves. Only leaves are not the goal of religion.

 

◎ We should not forget what the prophet Isaiah said:

When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.(Isaiah 1:12~13 ESV)

 

◎ We should be careful of what we are satisfied with the religious action itself. Then let’s think about what the fruit of faith God wants from us.

 

[C] Bear good fruit!

◎ So what is the message that Jesus’ curse of the fig tree give us today?

What God wants us is to bear good fruit.

This is the truth unknown in the church so far.

 

◎ Jesus said: “By this, my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”(John 15:8)

This is a very important word.

This is the truth unknown so far.

 

◎ Many Christians know that if they go to church zealously,

they will give glory to God.

No, only when we bear good fruit do we give glory to God.

 

◎ What should come out of the apple tree?

What fruit should the persimmon tree produce?

So what fruit should we bear?

 

◎ Jesus said: “every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad tree.”(Matthew 7:17)

 

◎ What fruit does God want from us?

Let’s read the Paul’s letter to the Galatians 5:22~23 together.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

 

◎ And also Paul said: the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.(Ephesians 5:9)

 

◎ Do we have these fruits?

What did Jesus say when he saw the fruitless fig tree?

You shall never again have fruit!

This is the warning for final judgment.

 

◎ We must listen to Jesus’ warning.

Let’s read the verse 19 of chapter 7 of Matthew together.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore we must bear good fruit!

 

◎ Beloved brothers and sisters.

I hope all of us to bear good fruit plentifully.

Let’s do our best to live our religious life that bears good fruit.

Let’s give glory to God by bearing good fruit.

Let’s share the benefits to others by giving them good fruit.

Let’s live a valuable life by bearing good fruit.

 

◎ Let us pray.

Holy Spirit,

Pour God’s life into us and grow into a mature faith that bears good fruit every day.

May the fruit of the Holy Spirit be abundant.

May the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control grow.

In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

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ESV

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.

19 And 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.

20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”

21 And 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.

22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

 

NIV

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree

18 Early in the morning, as Jesus 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, “Truly I tell you, 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.”

 

CEB

Cursing the fig tree

18 Early in the morning as Jesus was returning to the city, he was hungry. 19 He saw a fig tree along the road, but when he came to it, he found nothing except leaves. Then he said to it, “You’ll never again bear fruit!” The fig tree dried up at once.

20 When the disciples saw it, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree dry up so fast?” they asked.

21 Jesus responded, “I assure you that if you have faith and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree. You will even say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the lake.’ And it will happen. 22 If you have faith, you will receive whatever you pray for.”

 

CEV

Jesus Puts a Curse on a Fig Tree

18 When Jesus got up the next morning, he was hungry. He started out for the city,

19 and along the way he saw a fig tree. But when he came to it, he found only leaves and no figs. So he told the tree, “You will never again grow any fruit!” Right then the fig tree dried up.

20 The disciples were shocked when they saw how quickly the tree had dried up.

21 But Jesus said to them, “If you have faith and don’t doubt, I promise that you can do what I did to this tree. And you will be able to do even more. You can tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it will.

22 If you have faith when you pray, you will be given whatever you ask for.”