Mark 11:12-14 & 20-26

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1 Mark 11:12-14 & On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered. 22 And Jesus answered them, Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. So let s put this in context. Two weeks ago we read about how Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey, being declared by the people as their king. When he gets to the temple, he takes a look around and audits what is going on there in the courtyard and since it was already getting late in the day so they go somewhere to sleep for the night. The next morning, he gets up and starts back out to the temple. On his way to the temple he is hungary and spots a fig tree with green leaves. He walks over to it and looks for some fruit to eat. When he sees that there isn t any fruit on the tree, he curses it and says May no one ever eat fruit from you again.. Then they go onto the temple and that is when Jesus chases out all the money changers and people selling things in the temple courtyard. He spends the day there teaching, then they go back and spend the night in the same place as before. The next day they head back out to the temple again. As they are walking there, they pass by that same fig tree that Jesus had cursed 24 hours ago. Now it is dead and withered. Peter recognized the tree and points in out to Jesus. He says teacher look! That tree you cursed in now dead!. Jesus answer is simple. Have faith in God. It s kind of like Jesus is asking them why are you surprised?. They have been watching him do miracles for the last three years. They have seen him heal people, cast out demons and even raise people from the dead. Why should they be surprised that he was able to kill a tree? Out of all of Jesus 1

2 miracles, this isn t the most impressive one. Compared to bringing someone back from the dead, killing something is pretty easy. Give me a chainsaw or a gallon of Roundup and I can kill a tree too, but I could never bring someone back to life. Of course the miraculous part about this is that Jesus didn t use a chainsaw or Roundup to kill the tree, he simply spoke a few words and it died. So why would Jesus kill a tree? What s the point? It wasn t the season for figs. The tree was in leaf and it was during passover. I read some commentaries that fig trees don t have fruit during that time of year. Others said that it would only have green figs on it, not ripe ones. Either way, it seems odd for Jesus to kill it simply because he was hungary and it wasn t fig season. Combine that with the fact that this wasn t a really powerful maricle and it makes me wonder why he even did it in the first place. There has to be some kind of lesson here for us that he was trying to get at. Put this into context. What happens on either side of him cursing the tree? Well the night before he curses the tree, he audited the temple and saw all the evil that was happening there. Then he curses the fig tree for not having any fruit and immediately he goes into the temple and casts out all the money changers and people selling things. Think that there is a correlation there? I do. Jesus was judging the fig tree just like he was judging the people at the temple. He went in and examined the temple and found it without fruit. So he then makes an object lesson of the fig tree. He examines the fig tree and finds it without fruit as well, so he judges it. Then he goes in and judges the people at the temple for their lack of fruit and kicks them out. This brings us to point 1. Point 1: Fruitless branches get cut off Throughout the Bible there is this metaphor of a Israel being a vine and branches and fruit such as grapes and figs. It is a common theme that we see. One of the passages is in Jeremiah. 2

3 Jeremiah 8:13 When I would gather them, declares the LORD, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them. [ Does that sound familiar? It s a lot like our story of the fig tree that we are studying today. This passage in Jeremiah is saying that there is no fruit on the plant and even the leaves are withered. Therefore God is removing his blessing from them because they have failed to bear fruit. Jesus is using the fig tree as an object lesson for what he is about to do to Israel. It s not just at the temple that he will cut off the branches either. In John 15 Jesus says this: John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Paul explains this further in the book of Romans. Romans 11: But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. In this analogy, Jesus is the root. The Israelites are the natural branches, and we gentiles are the wild branches. God s chosen and promised people are the Israelites. That is what makes them the natural branches. We first read about that clear back in the book of Genesis chapter 17 when God makes his promise to Abram who is later called Abraham. But the Israelites were unfruitful. We learned about that a little last week. If you have been reading through the Bible with us as a church, you will remember all those stories in the Old Testament where the Israelites keep turning away from God. Because of this, God broke them off and has grafted the gentiles into his root, into Abraham s promise. That is what we are talking about when we say that we are adopted sons of Abraham. We also see this breaking off of the 3

4 natural branches and grafting the wild branches in to the root of Jesus explained in the book of Acts. Turn to Acts 13 with me. I want you to read it with me. This is Paul preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jews. Acts 13: But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. 48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. You see this is part of God s plan. God had ordained that the Jews would reject him so that the gentiles could accept him. Paul and the apostles went to the Jews first. They were the natural branch. They were the chosen people. But the Jews rejected God and Jesus, so then the apostles went to the Gentiles who were accepting of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This fulfills the promise to Abraham that God made clear back in Genesis 22. Genesis 22:18 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. Jesus Christ is the offspring of Abraham and through him all nations are being blessed, because the saving message of the Gospel is being brought to them now as well as the Jews. There are a couple of things that I would like to point out before we move on to point 2. First off, we gentiles did not replace the Israelites. Paul says in Romans 11 that we gentiles who have been grafted in dwell among the natural branches. That we share in the root. There is a teaching out there that the gentiles have replaced the jews, but I am not teaching that. We didn t replace them. We simply now get to share in Christ with them. Paul specifically addresses this in Romans 11. Romans 11: do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. 4

5 I hope that makes sense to you. The Jews are still God s chosen people, and God has also chosen gentiles to share in his promise. It is an individual heart issue. Not all jews will go to heaven and not all jews will go to hell. Not all gentiles will go to heaven and not all gentiles will go to hell. It is a personal matter of each individual heart. The analogy of the fig tree is simply and object lesson to help us understand all of this. The second thing that I want to point out is that now that we are part of the tree, we will be pruned. Remember what Jesus said in John 15:1? John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Right here we see a promise from Jesus that we will go through the painful process of pruning. Pruning is cutting back a healthy branch so that it bears more fruit. We don t like to be pruned. It hurts. As we go through trials, tribulations and hard times, remember that God prunes his branches in order for them to bear more fruit. Try not to think of them as attacks from Satan. Think of them as pruning from God. Satan does attack us. God does allow that to happen sometimes, but God allows it for our betterment. Satan means it for evil, but God works all things out for good to those who love him. We are told that in Romans 8:28. Romans 8:28 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. The purpose of the pruning is for us to bear more fruit for God. It s not really about us. It is about God. This brings us to point 2. Point 2: Doing the impossible What is faith for? Is the point of faith to give us supernatural power? Many would say that it is. They would say that if we have enough faith we can do the same miracles as Jesus. Then they point to verses such as today s passage in Mark 11:22-25 as proof of that. Some of you may know of Costi Hinn, the nephew of Benny Hinn who is the world famous faith healer. Costi grew up in that family going to countless miracle crusades. He even worked for his uncle on stage as a catcher. He was the guy in the suit who would catch the people who fell over backwards when his uncle Benny touched them. Costi 5

6 said out of all those thousands and thousands of people he never witnessed one single, true, actual, verified miracle. One of the problems with saying that we can do miracles just like Jesus did, is that those miracles aren t happening. There are a lot of fake ones being performed, but that is no different than going to a magic show. God can and still does perform miracles. He does answer prayer and sometimes in miraculous ways. But we don t see anybody who can perform those miracles at will like Jesus or his appointed apostles could. There are a few reasons for that. First is that the reason Jesus could perform the maricels is because he is God, and we are not. The reason that the apostles could perform miracles is because Jesus had specifically given them the authority to do so. We first saw this in Mark 3. Mark 3: And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. Out of all his disciples, he had only chosen the 12 at this time to be his apostles. You may then say, What about Paul? Paul performed miracles, but he wasn t one of the 12. That is correct. Paul wasn t one of the 12 on the mountain, but Paul was personally called by Jesus to be an apostle. That happened in the book of Acts on his way to Damascus. You can read about that in Acts 9:1-18. After God appeared to Paul, he sent Ananias to him and this is what God says to Ananias about Paul. Acts 9: But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. Paul even calls himself an apostle. He starts many of his letters that way. Just look at Colossians 1:1, Ephesians 1:1 and Romans 1:1 as examples. The other apostles agreed with Paul and endorsed him as an apostle as well. One time we see this is in Galatians 2. 6

7 Galatians 2:9 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Here Peter, James and John meet with Paul and they recognize that God has chosen him as an apostle as well. We also see their acceptance of Paul s authority in 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3: And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. Peter is calling Paul s letters as Scriptures. He is placing Paul s letters in the same category as the Old Testament. We see where Peter performed miracles at will, and we see where Paul performed miracles at will. That is because they were both apostles. They could perform miracles at will and they could authorize scriptures. There are no more apostles. No one alive has seen the risen Lord Jesus Christ and has been hand picked by Jesus in person to be an apostle. No one today can authorize scriptures or can perform miracles at will like Jesus did. So if that isn t what this passage in Mark means, what does it mean? This is where context is so important. Let me give you an example that you have all probably heard. Red Bull Gives You Wings Have you heard that before? In case you don t know, Red Bull is an energy drink that is basically sugar and caffeine. You drink one of those in the morning and your like a 5 year old hyped up on candy canes and eggnog at Grandma s house on Christmas morning. Their advertising slogan was Red Bull gives you wings. That meant that it would lift your up, give you an energy boost. It did not mean that that if you drank it, you would then grow wings. It was a metaphor. It s hard to imagine, but in 2013 someone actually sued Red Bull because they had failed to grow wings, and they won. That is just silly. 7

8 In Jewish literature, moving mountains was also a metaphor for doing the impossible. Back in the Old Testament it talks about the coming of John the Baptist and says: Isaiah 40:4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then in Isaiah 49 it says that when Jesus comes, all the mountains will be laid flat as well. Isaiah 49:11 And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up. In chapter 54, Isaiah talks about how steadfast God s love is. Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the LORD, who has compassion on you. So did all the mountains move out and all the valleys get raised up when John the Baptist or Jesus was born? Did all the mountains move off the face of the earth when God poured out his love to us? No, it s a metaphor. 8

9 So let s read verses 22 through 25 again. Mark 11: And Jesus answered them, Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. What Jesus is saying in verse 22 through 23 is that if you have faith in God, he will do the impossible for you. For us to say that we can literally uproot mountains would be like saying Red Bull literally makes you grow wings. As silly as that seems, that is what people say all the time. I have never seen or even heard of someone successfully commanding a mountain to fly through the air and land in the sea. If that is what this means, then why hasn t anybody ever been able to do that? The answer is because it is a metaphor. Jesus does promise to do the impossible for us in verses 22 and 23, but he also explains what he means in the following verses. Right after that in verse 24 it says therefore. Anytime you see the word therefore you should ask yourself what is it there for?. What comes after the word therefore are the instructions to us on how we are to ask for things. We see that we are to ask for them in prayer. Not demanding, but asking in humble prayer. We see that we are to believe in God, and we also see that we are to forgive anyone who may have wronged us in any way. We can t be holding any grudges or hard feelings toward people. So basically Jesus is saying that we need to be following the will of the God the Father. We need to be seeking God s will when we ask for him to do the impossible. Isn t that how Jesus taught us to pray? Do any of you remember the Lord s prayer? Let me read you the first two verses in the Lord s prayer. Matthew 6: Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 9

10 Who s will be done? God s will. We pray for God s will to be done. All the miracles that we see in the Bible were giving glory to God. We don t see the apostles performing miracles that made their lives easier or made them money. Why would we then think that we can demand a new car or a promotion at work from God? It makes no sense. Jesus is saying that God will perform the impossible for us if we ask him according to his sovereign will. This means that before we ever come before him to ask for something, we should be coming before him and evaluating ourselves. Are we living within God s will? Are we thinking within God s will? What is our real motivation for asking for the impossible? The will of God is for us to seek him, for us to have a relationship with our loving God. The will of God is for us to spread the Gospel message to all nations. He wants us to love him with all of our hearts, minds and soul. He wants us to love others more than ourselves. Does our request before him fall into those categories, or does it fall into the bucket of helping us in some way? Final Thoughts: For our final thoughts today, I want to step back and look at that fig tree. While looking at it, I reflect on what we have talked about today. There is one underlying thing that just keeps coming back into my mind. When I think about all the Old Testament passages that told us about God s promises, when I think about all the metaphors and analogies that Jesus used to try and explain them to us, when I read about those promises then being fulfilled in Acts there is one underlying truth that resonates through them all. That truth is the sovereignty of God. God is in control and he always has been. 10