This Week's Bulletin

Background for Matthew 21:18-22

• Jesus is coming off Palm Sunday, where the crowds threw their cloaks on the ground to indicate that Jesus is king and they laid down palm branches as a sign that He would be their military conqueror.
• The shouts of the crowd will go from "Hosanna!" on Palm Sunday to "Crucify him!" a few days later when he doesn't meet their expectations.

Matthew 21:18-22

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.”

1) God isn't impressed by a leafy life - He wants to see fruit.

The fig tree Jesus curses has big, beautiful leaves so it should be producing fruit. The fig tree represents the nation of Israel, and Jesus is reacts against their religious hypocrisy. He reserved His harshest words for religious hypocrites.

Spiritual fruit is not external behavior; it's what the Holy Spirit does on the inside (see Gal. 5:22-23). The fruit of the Spirit, which is internal character qualities, leads to proper external behavior.

Jesus said in John 15:5-6 that non-fruit bearing branches are thrown away and wither before being thrown into the fire and burned. He isn't saying believers who don't bear fruit will go to hell, but He is saying that they are useless in God's Kingdom.

The good news is that all of us can change - and change begins with genuine faith in Christ.

2) Genuine faith moves mountains.

We must be careful not to use the term "just have faith" flippantly. We must never use it as a way of avoiding responsibility and expecting God to cover for our lack of wisdom.

At the same time, we must never underestimate what God can do when we exercise genuine faith. There's a reason Jesus said faith can move mountains.

We must always remember that it's the object of our faith, not faith itself, that we need. We need God, and faith gives us access to the power of God in our lives.

We serve a really big God. That means we can trust Him in really big ways. Where in your life are you trusting God in really big ways?

A Prayer to Trust in Jesus:

“God, thank you for loving me even though I’ve rebelled against You. I confess that I’m sinful. I’m so grateful that Jesus died on the cross to pay for all my sins. Right now I turn away from my sins and I turn to You. I’m putting my full trust in Jesus to rescue me from my sins. Thank you for forgiving me and washing me clean on the inside. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”