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A tree full of leaves but no fruit. And a temple full of activity but no life. Join me, Pastor Richard, as we connect today's passage to the gospel and respond to the only one who can bear fruit in our lives.

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Today's scripture reading is taken from Mark chapter 11, verse 12 to 25. Verse 12. On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distal victory 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. And he said to it, May no one ever eat from you again. And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seeds of those who sold pigeons, and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. And the chief priest and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city. As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots, and Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you curse has withered. And Jesus answered them, Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt it, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And whatever you stand praying, forgive. If you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven may forgive you, may forgive you your trespasses. This is the word of the God. Thanks be God.

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This morning we see a tree full of leaves but no fruit, and a temple that's full of activity but no life. And in fact, this this passage, I don't know if you were really looking at it, it can seem quite strange. Jesus came to a tree, a fig tree. And he cursed the tree. He was speaking to a tree. And then why did he curse it if it wasn't even the season for fruit?

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And then Mark, he suddenly changes the scene to uh Jesus driving out everyone from the temple. And then we're right back to the fig tree.

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What's the big deal about the fig tree? What did this poor tree ever do to anyone? Well, this this passage it gives us something called a marken sandwich. A Marken sandwich. Because Mark, he's put together three events uh the fig tree, the temple, and then the fig tree again. And so it's making a sandwich, and the outer pieces are there to complement, to explain, to interpret exactly what's going on in that center slice. And so the fig tree, it became a handy object lesson for a spiritual truth about what was going on with the temple. Now, the tree had leaves, it had an outward sign of fruitfulness, but no actual fruit. And so, in the same way, Israel's religious leaders at the time they displayed outward piety through rituals, lots of hand washing, don't touch unclean things, dietary laws, all this. They outwardly, you know, they they made sacrifices, and yet their hearts were far from God. And so Jesus' curse symbolized a divine judgment on this religious system that honored God with lips, but not with their lives. And so this uh passage today, Mark 11, verses 12 to 25, it points beyond a withered fig tree, really to the gospel itself. Because this withered uh fig tree, you know, it was leafy but fruitless. And in the same way, uh sinful humanity, we we cannot produce the righteousness that God desires on our own. We each need the gospel. And Jesus' death and resurrection, it provides the ransom and forgiveness that barren sinners need, those that are not producing fruit. And just a chapter earlier, and you don't have to turn there, but just a chapter earlier in Mark chapter 10, verse 45, Jesus says, For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And so the call to faith in today's passage, it's not confidence in our own personal uh religious activities and performance, but it's a call to trust in Christ and the work that he has done. Today's passage it calls us to respond to the gospel. So, what is the gospel? Why don't you turn to your neighbor and in just a couple sentences, in less than thirty seconds, explain to the neighbor what you think the gospel is. The gospel is the good news about what God has done to save us. The gospel is about the good news of what God has done to save us. And the gospel is the reason that you and I are here today. Now, the first lesson we should learn from the passage is that the gospel should produce fruit. Jesus, he saw the fig tree with the appearance of life, but no actual fruit. And some of us, even here this morning, we we may feel the same way about ourselves. We, you know what, maybe you say I work nine or ten hours a day, six days a week, staring at a screen and typing all day long, attending meetings or or conducting meetings. You've done an uncountable number of PowerPoint presentations, and you've been so busy, busy with this for many, many, many, many, many years. But you ask yourself, have I actually made a tangible difference in the world? Or perhaps you're you would say, I'm in sales and I'm outside uh every day, and every time I meet with people, I'm smiling, I'm full of energy, and I'm I'm really upbeat, and and yet on the inside I feel a bit empty. Is this all there is to life? Or perhaps as a student, uh students, I'm I'm always preparing for exams or taking exams. Those are the only two seasons in this student's life: preparing for exam or taking exam. And every waking moment seems to focus on my studies, and I feel unhappy all the time. Is this it? Is this all there is? Or perhaps you're sitting here this morning and you would say, you know what? My energy level is very low. Basically, all I do, I eat, I sleep, I watch TV. You know what? Often I feel somewhat lonely and depressed. I thought, I thought these were supposed to be the golden years. Did I miss something? You know, this fig tree, it had the appearance of life, but it had no actual fruit. And Jesus used this fig tree as an example of what was going on, the temple worship in Jerusalem. Outwardly, it was full of life. There was hustle, there was bustle, the Jews were very religious. The Pharisees, you know, they walked around, they had these little boxes with selected scriptures from the Torah inside the box. They would wear these on them. And so uh, you know, they they tithed, even if they were picking some herbs, they would tithe a tenth of however many herbs they picked. They were very religious. They observed the laws of Moses, they observed a lot more, but their lives were actually not producing fruit. What was the fruit that they should have been producing? Well, Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 and 23, it tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is the fruit that should be produced. And so, why did Jesus curse the fig tree even though it wasn't the season for fruit? Is that fair to the fig tree? It wasn't even the season for fruit. Well, basically, he cursed it for being hypocritical. This was a hypocritical fig tree. All right? In the region, fig buds or fruit would actually appear at the same time or even before the leaves. It depends on region. In this region, that's how it would have been. And so this fig tree, it was showing signs of life, but not producing any fruit. It was hypocritical, just as the temple had become a hypocritical place. In any case, this was a prophetic act. It wasn't really about horticulture, it wasn't about this tree doing the wrong thing. It was a prophetic act. It was about the hearts of the people who claimed to worship God, but their hearts were far from him. And so the second lesson that we should learn from this past day is that the gospel is for everyone, not just people like us. The gospel is for everyone, not just the people like us. Uh, during my time as a missionary in Asia, I learned that one of the reasons that people reject the gospel message is because they viewed it as a Western religion. And so in their minds, Jesus was associated with the West, maybe the UK and America. Uh you know what? And some people even had this uh mental image. Jesus, long blonde hair, must have used a lot of shampoo, uh, hair care product, long blonde hair and blue eyes. And so this is a Western religion, it's nothing to do with us. But this is wrong on several levels, right? Uh, first of all, Jesus, when he came to this earth, he was born Middle Eastern. He didn't have blonde hair, he certainly didn't have blue eyes, uh, and he never traveled to the West. And in the same way, Christianity did not begin in the West. It is not a Western religion. Uh, Jesus didn't come to save white people from the West, he didn't come to save yellow people in Asia, he didn't come to save those with black skin or brown skin or red skin, he didn't come to save specific racial groups or nationalities. He came to save the entire world from the bondage of sin. All people. Middle Eastern, yes, Indian, yes, Australian, yes, Chinese, also, yes. He came to save people from every people, group, language, and nation. And we read in the center of that Marken sandwich, in the center of the passage today, that Jesus went in and he chased out all those selling animals, those buying animals, and the money changers. And we almost get the mental image of an adult who has lost their temper and has gone berserk. They've just lost it. But that was not the case. That was not the case. Jesus was not losing control of his emotions, he was making a prophetic statement by what he was doing. He says, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations. But you have made it a den of robbers. So what does he mean that he's made it a den of uh that they have made it a den of robbers? What is it they are stealing? Who are they stealing from? Uh some people, you know, they read this and they think the issue was that the merchants were cheating people, giving them a crooked exchange rate for these things. Uh other people would say, oh, well, actually, the principle here is that we should not engage in commerce in the church, and so in here, we should not sell books ever, we should not sell muffins or coffee, uh, no commerce in the church. Well, that might be a good rule of thumb, but I feel that there's a better answer than these. There's a better answer here. Let's look at the first part of the verse again. My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations. The temple there was supposed to be a place for prayer, for communing with the Almighty God of the universe. And it was supposed to be for all the nations, all the nations. But these animals and these money changers, uh, they were set up within the outer court of the temple. And this was also known as the court of the Gentiles. The outer court was the court of the Gentiles, uh, all those who were non-Jews. It was the only place for the Gentiles to go in the temple. They weren't allowed further inside. And the business and services being offered were, in a way, they're actually helpful. Uh, they supplied animals that would be without blemish, they were, they were acceptable for sacrifices, uh, they'd meet the stringent requirements, the money changers, uh, they weren't just making small change for people. Because the general currency, the Roman and Greek currency, had stamped right on the coin an image of a god or a goddess. And as people who were wanting to be serious, wanting to be right before God, that how could they offer this? How could they pay for sacrifices with this? How could they pay the temple tax with something that bore the image of a foreign god or goddess? They couldn't do it. So the money changers allowed them to change to a different coinage that didn't have these things. But the issue, it wasn't about the business or service that they are providing. I don't even know if they were cheating people or not. This wasn't the point. The point was that when Jesus said it'd been turned into a den of robbers, that the Gentiles, the nations who were supposed to be able to come in to pray and worship God, they had no space. This outer court was filled with animals, filled with tables and the money changers. And as we read, we say, in fact, there's actually people cutting through to get from one point to the other, just cutting through the temple. And so Jesus is saying that the Gentiles, the nations, they've been robbed of the opportunity to worship God in that place. It was meant to be a house of prayer for all nations. For all. And so Jesus uh he chased everyone out. He chased them out. And it says that until he left later that day, he wouldn't allow anyone to be moving anything through there. And in essence, he stopped all the sacrifices that would have normally been happening through the day. And so it's because of this, right after this, we read that all the religious authorities, they were they were livid, they were upset, and they started trying to see what they could do to destroy him. Jesus remained there teaching all those who would hear the truth. And the big idea I want us to take away from this, the principle that we need to take away from this is that the gospel is for everyone. God's plan is that the gospel is for everyone. The good news of how God has provided a way for us to be saved is for everyone. And it's true today, the gospel's not just for Westerners, not just for those from the Middle East and so forth. It's for those who are shopkeepers, it's for those working in a Hawkeye center, it's for the secondary school student, it's for uh retired uncles and aunties, it's for married, it's for singles, it's for those who have been divorced, it's for scientists, it's for chefs, it's for cleaners. The gospel is for everyone. It is God's provision for us that we may be saved, and it is for everyone. The gospel is the good news about what God has done to save us. And the third lesson I want us to draw from the passage this morning is that the gospel requires enduring faith. The gospel requires enduring faith. And I'm just going to read again the tail end of our passage, beginning with verse 20. It says, as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree you cursed has withered. And Jesus answered them, Have faith in God. 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. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive. And if you have anything against anyone, so that your father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. So we just take this piece by piece. First, the fig tree that was cursed had withered away all the way to its roots, it was suddenly dead. And this prophetically, it anticipated the destruction of the temple. And this destruction took place about 40 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus told the disciples, Have faith. Have faith. Because he knew that it would be a long time before the fulfillment of it would be seen. It's a lesson for us as well. God's Promises they are sure and they are secure. And when he says something, my friends, he's gonna do it. When he says something, he will do it. But it may not be according to our timeline. And so we must have an enduring faith. A faith that holds on, that is not impatient, but continues to trust in God and what he says. Then Jesus makes this statement: whoever says to this mountain to be tossed away with faith, well, it's going to be tossed away. Some of us have kind of generalized this a bit too much, perhaps, uh, into this saying, faith is able to move mountains. Jesus was not referring to mountains in general. He was not referring to mountains in general. He was referring to a specific mountain, the temple mount. Whoever says to this mountain, he was standing there, they were right there, the temple was on a hill. And he was saying, whoever says to this mountain to be tossed away, it will be tossed away. And this whoever, actually, Jesus was referring to himself. He was speaking about himself. And so Jesus is the one who he had just said through his cursing of the fig tree that this thing would be destroyed. Well, the temple, he was also saying, uh, this mountain, what's on this mountain will be tossed away. And so there's this favorite verse of many people that we come along to as well. In verse 24, if you're following along, Jesus says, Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

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Wow, all I have to do is pray for something and it'll happen. It's exciting, right? If I pray to win the 4D lottery, wow.

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Oh my, I you know, I'll just pray for, if I just pray for a seat on the MRT, I will get it.

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Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. It sounds good, right? We just pray about something and we're gonna get it.

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Uh, but that's not really exactly what Jesus was communicating. Sorry. You know, if we remember together the Lord's Prayer, our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. When we pray according to his will, have faith and believe, and it will be done. He's teaching that our faith must be a faith that endures, that holds on, even when we don't see things happening quickly, even when sometimes it feels like we're moving backwards for what we're trusting in faith for. As long as it is in accordance with his will, it will be done. It will be done. And so Jesus is teaching that our faith must be a faith that endures. Uh friends, today present presents us with both a warning and an invitation. Uh, you know, in John chapter 15, uh there's a very familiar verse that many of us will know. Jesus said, I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. You and I were being invited to respond to the gospel and to abide in Christ, to yield our lives to the Holy Spirit, to be prayerful and to exercise an enduring faith. And if we do so, we're going to bear much fruit. But there's also a warning, and this comes from Jesus speaking in Matthew 7, chapter 7, verse 19. He says, Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. And so we have an invitation today and we have a warning as well. And so as we consider these words of Jesus, uh, we're called to reflect on our own lives. Are we the fig tree with leaves but no fruit, or are we the branch that abides in the vine? And so the question is how how do you choose to respond to the gospel this morning? We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Ish Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.