Sermon Tone Analysis

Why do you come to church?

There are some who come to church because it is what they have always done.

There are others who come to church because they think that it is expected of them.

There are others who come to church for the purpose of pleasing their spouse or their parents.

There are some who come to church kicking and screaming and fighting all the way!

And there are those who come to church because they think that if they do they gain favor with God.

For me, yes I am paid to be here.

And I probably don’t tell you often enough how grateful I am with the sacrificial way in which you support our family!

But even if I wasn’t paid to be in church on Sunday, I’d still be in church on Sunday.

There is no place I’d rather be!

I concur with the psalmist who wrote:

But the sad truth is that it is relatively easy to convince ourselves, and others as well, that we are a Christian simply because we go to church on a regular basis.

The spiritual leadership of the nation of Israel thought that they were blessed by God simply because they were descendents of Abraham.

They thought they were something special because their people had been chosen by God in a way in which no other nation has been.

They had received the Law of Moses.

They had received the covenant of circumcision.

On and on the list could go.

But the fact of the matter is that the nation as a whole was spiritually barren.

They had outward signs of religious fervor, but they were spiritually dead.

Today, we begin a new series, which I am calling the Final Week.

Leading up to Easter we journeyed with Christ on His final journey to Jerusalem.

And now we come to His final week.

Please turn in your Bible to ’m referring to this passage as The Fig Tree Incident.

This was the first of many things that took place on one very long day.

As a matter of fact I almost named this series ONE VERY LONG DAY!

As we go through our passage this morning I want you to see how Jesus used a barren fig tree as a teaching moment for His apostles.

He used it to teach them about the importance of fruitfulness, the distinction between true fruitfulness and false impressions of fruitfulness, and the importance of praying in faith in the service of His kingdom.

This morning we will look at the incident report, the danger of a mere perception of fruitfulness, the misguided astonishment of the twelve, and true spiritual fruitfulness.

Let’s read our passage together.

THE INCIDENT REPORT

I. THE INCIDENT REPORT

As foster parents of some very active preschool boys we frequently have to fill out incident reports.

We got in trouble last summer for not filling out a report for something that we did not even know had occured.

On once occasion as the boys were visiting their mother, she noticed a fresh scratch on one of their necks.

Now this little one had just woken up from a nap and then went straight to visit, so we did not even notice this scratch.

But mom got upset and reported us to Child Protective Services, which then launched a month long investigation of us as foster parents.

The point I’m trying to make is that sometimes things which seem rather incidental have an importance that we may easily miss.

Our passage this morning is one such passage.

Let’s consider

a.

The Timing and Occasion

Commentators do not agree on the exact timing of things that occured during the final week before the cross of Christ.

Traditionally the Triumphal Entry is thought to have occured on a Sunday.

But some commentators believe that it occured on a Monday.

For these latter commentators, the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem being on a Monday helps to solve the seeming absence of anything occuring on Wednesday of Holy Week.

Let me try to explain.

If the Triumphal Entry was on a Sunday, as traditionally held, then, following the chronology of Marks Gospel (who seems to have been more chronologically minded than Matthew), the Cleansing of the Temple occured on Monday, along with the cursing of the fig tree.

And then everything that occured from happened on Tuesday, which was apparently one very long day.

And the events of occured on Thursday, and the crucifixion, as detailed in occured on Friday.

That means that there is no record of events that occured on Wednesday of that week.

And this does seem odd since every other day of the week in given a great deal of attention in the biblical records.

However, if the the Triumphal Entry occured on Monday, then it fits nicely into the chronology, with details being given for each day of the week.

One other chronological note to discuss is the seeming difference between Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts of the Fig Tree Incident.

Our text in Matthew seems to present verse 18-22 occuring all at once, after the cleansing of the Temple ().

But Mark presents the cursing of the tree to have occured on one day, prior to the Cleansing of the Temple, and then the conversation regarding the disciples amazement (verses 20-22) occuring on the following day.

There is, in my mind, a very simple explanation for these textual differences.

Throughout their entire accounts Mark gives more details about the narrative sections while minimizing the details of the discourses.

On the other hand, Matthew minimizes the details of the narrative sections but gives greater detail to the discourses.

Mark organizes his account chronologically, but Matthew organizes it thematically.

And in Matthew’s mind it is important to see the Cleansing of the Temple, and the Cursing of the Fig Tree in the same context.

Let’s turn our attention now to

b.

The Humanity of Christ

Notice for a moment.

The simple fact that Jesus became hungry emphasizes His humanity.

Because Jesus’ deity comes shining through on so many occasions because of the marvelous signs and wonders that He performed, it is rather easy to forget that not only was He fully God, but He was also fully man.

He had to be in order to be a sympathetic high priest on behalf of His own.

Look now at as we consider

c.

The Sovereign Authority of Christ

The fact that Jesus had the authority to curse this lone tree, and immediately after it was cursed the tree withered, indicates His sovereign authority.

In other words it points to His deity.

Much like the work of Christ as the agent of creation, He spoke the word and it happened.

It also points to His right to sit in judgment.

Let’s think, for a moment, about

d.

The Cursing of the Tree

For many it seems so out of character for Jesus to curse an innocent tree.

That is perhaps because they have a flawed view of who Jesus is; of who God is.

Though I don’t recall all of the content of these books, their titles speak volumes; one was written by J. B. Phillips titled: YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL.

The other was written by Mark Buchanan titled: YOUR GOD IS TOO SAFE.

The point of both of these works is that we often paint a flawed picture of who God is, or who Christ is.

As it related to Christ, perhaps a flawed understanding of what it means to be meek is the basis for misunderstanding.

So often we equate meekness with weakness, or perhaps what we might refer to as being a wimp.

But that is not what it means to be meek.

Meekness is restrained power.

The best picture I can think of for meekness is a horse that has been saddle broken.

Just because the horse has been trained to use self-control doesn’t mean that it has lost its power.

I would argue that it is more powerful because of its tempered control!

It seems to me that Jesus determined to use this unfruitful fig tree as a teaching moment for the twelve.

As the Creator of the world He had every right to cause this tree to wither away so that it can be used for His own purposes.

An interesting thing about fig trees is that they actually bear unripened fruit before they bear leaves.

Now this fruit was not very tasty, but if a person was hungry enough it could satisfy their hunger cravings until they were able to find something more substantial to eat.

Mark explained to his readers that it was not the season for figs.

And yet the fact that the tree was in leaf gave the impression that it must have fruit.

The fact that the tree had leaves but it did not have fruit indicated that it would not bear fruit at all that year.

Let’s turn our attention to

e.

The Reason this Incident was Important Enough to Warrant and Incident Report

I understand that the Holy Spirit is the true author of all Scripture, and that He, being in fact God, does not do anything without a purpose.