Let the Shepherd Lead

Originally Proclaimed: 03/31/19

Intro:

• A number of years ago now, when I moved into the parsonage as pastor of Enoree First Baptist, I inherited several fig bushes that sat right off the carport.
• There were four distinct bushes. Three of them thrived with just a little care from me.
  • Every so often, I would have to trim them back and shape up their form.
  • I regularly had to eradicate any foreign saplings or vines that began to grow at their bases.
  • And about once a year I had to really mulch them in preparation for another season of figs.
  • And for that small effort, every year we had many figs and were able to even make a good portion of them several years into strawberry flavored fig preserves.
• But then there was the other fig bush.
  • It was in the front of all the rest, and to my dismay, it never seemed to be healthy.
  • When I first arrived it was overrun by different parasite vines that I had to diligently coax from its limbs.
  • In several places some of the branches had just died, probably due to some beetle or other pest. So I tried to eliminate any pest that might harm the bush.
  • Even when I did this, the bush produced barely any figs.
  • Finally I decided to cut it back hard to see if that would help the bush by giving it a fresh start.
  • As we were left that house in Enoree, there had been nothing but leaves on that bush for several years.

Hook:

• After dealing with those fig bushes, I became very aware at how often my experience with that bush mirror my work among God’s people.
• For most believers, where the Holy Spirit was already at work, I did not have to do very much, but often saw a great reward for my efforts. It was the Spirit doing the work.
• But for some folks in the congregations I served, no matter how much care I attempted, there was nothing but leaves in their walk.
  • No fruit of Christian maturity
  • Nor was there any gospel conversations with others.
• Friends, I am sure that none of us want to be in the position where we have nothing but leaves, but I think this passage teaches us that there are ways that our gospel journey to fruitfulness can be hampered or halted.
• This morning friends, I want to offer you three cautions against having nothing but leaves in your spiritual walk.

Message Points:

• Chapter eleven opens with Jesus preparing to enter Jerusalem. We are very familiar with the events.
  • Jesus instructs two of His disciples to go ahead and bring a colt.
  • He tells them to offer the explanation that “The Lord needs it and will send it back.”
  • The disciples followed his instructions and offered His explanation and they responded positively.
  • Once the colt was brought back to Jesus they threw their cloaks on it, anticipating the great events that were to happen.
  • The individuals who saw him approaching also got caught up in the moment. Their hopes for a Messiah who would come as the conquering King overwhelmed them.
    • They spread cloaks in front of him. Others cut branches and waved them.
    • They shouted different blessings and celebratory phrases.
      • Some shout Hosanna, which means save us now. The word first appears in Psalm 118:25.
      • Then others shout the next verse from Psalm 118 saying that Jesus is blessed in the name of the Lord .
      • The next phrase betrays their greatest hope. They bless Jesus as the fulfillment of the coming kingdom of David. This is what they hope.
      • Then we see another Hosanna.
  • Once in Jerusalem, Jesus goes to the temple, looks around and returns to Bethany.
• As we look at the way that everyone in these eleven verses responds to Jesus positively.
  • That said, the start reality is that every one of these people in the span of just a few days they will reject, betray, and cry out for him to be crucified.
  • The people who are caught up in the emotions of the Triumphal Entry are the same ones who are cuaght up in the emotions of the moment in the imperial courtyard before Pilate.
  • While Mark’s Gospel does not make it plain, Jesus does this to fulfill the Scriptures in Zechariah 9:9 which tells us that the king would come riding on a donkey lowly and humble.
    • Jesus chooses this Messianic Scripture to attempt to temper their emotions.
    • Jesus knew that he had come to be humble in this first advent.
    • He came to be the suffering servant as Isaiah 53 tells us.
    • Through Jesus’ humiliation, we would receive our salvation.
• So our first point warns us that it is easy to have nothing but leaves if we get caught up in emotionalism: (11:1-11).
  • Emotions are fickle friends.
    • And just as we see in the chapters ahead, emotions can change in just a few moments.
    • That is the reason that we should not base our eternity upon mere emotions.
    • That is what emotionalism is, it is basing our actions upon our emotions.
    • If we base our salvation upon whether we feel it or not, loosing our salvation would be as easy as a change in the way we feel.
  • Friends this point teaches us as parents and grandparents that no matter how much we desire for our children to be saved, we cannot play on their emotions to try to get them to convert.
  • Similarly as a church family we must be careful not to play on people’s emotions to get them to decide to follow Christ.
    • No mood lights, emotive music, or manipulative words will save a soul or grow a believer.
    • No if we want to genuinely help people grow as believers we must begin to untangle their relationship with Jesus from all of the emotionalism that has attached itself to it like the vines that would sprout up in my fig bushes.
    • I am not saying that we should not have emotions about Jesus and our relationship with Him. Our emotions about Jesus should derive from the solid base of who Jesus is and the promises of God He has fulfilled.
• The middle of this chapter introduces us to a fig bush that helps to frame two distinct teaching of Jesus .
  • This middle portion begins with a unproductive fig tree and it closes with a withered fig tree.
  • IN the middle Jesus goes to the temple and calls out the religious activity of the people, who by their activities keep others from coming to pray.
  • Jesus final point encourages people to pray having faith in God.
• Let’s look a little closer.
  • As Jesus headed back to Jerusalem the next day, He was hungry and noticed a fig tree in leaf.
  •  What this means is that the tree already had leaves, and in the natural way a fig bush grows it should also have small nubs that would grow into figs.
  • When Jesus saw none of them he cursed the bush.
• While seemingly unconnected, by placing the events in Jerusalem next, Mark helps us to realize that this fig bush is a symbol for the religious leaders Jesus encounters in Jerusalem.
  • Jesus inspects the religious establishment and curses it as well for its marketplace materialism. They are
    • Buying and selling
    • Exchanging money
    • Selling doves and other merchandise
    • Rather than welcoming people from all nations into the Lord’s house to pray.
    • Jesus rebukes them for setting up this marketplace in the “court of the Gentiles” which was the only place that foreigners were allowed to come an pray.
    • :He quotes from Jeremiah 7:11 calling them out for making God’s house into a den of robbers.
    • All of the religious activity, but none of the spiritual fruit led Jesus to rebuke the leaders.
    • The leaders began to seek to kill him for fear of the people.
• As they returned home Peter marveled that the fig tree Jesus cursed was withered.
  • Jesus then tells him to “have faith in God.”
    • While some in the prosperity gospel movement focus on this passage and insist that only the name it, claim it, believe it, receive it language means that if we have enough faith that we can do anything.
    • IN this theology faith is power that we exert based on the ability of our soul in the same way that might is strength exerted based on the ability of our muscles.
    • But is that the way that the Bible describes faith?
      • Ephesians 2:8 tells us that grace and faith are gifts of God so that no one can boast.
      • Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about the things we do not see.
        • Then the rest of chapter 11 helps us to see that faith is confidence and assurances in the promises made by God.
        • Time after time in that chapter we read of heroes of faith who believed God’s promises and lived for Him.
    • We can be sure that Jesus did not want us to pray and have faith in a prosperity gospel because Jesus had just forbade the Jewish leaders from religious practices that would lead to material wealth.
    • But Jesus was correcting a kind of fatalistic materialism in his disciples who, though they knew him and his abilities could still marvel that what he said happened.
• So the second warning is that it would be easy to have nothing but leaves if we get caught up in materialism: (11:12-26)
  • Materialism has at least two forms.
    • There is the more common, plain to see form in the Jewish leaders who sought for more material wealth and blessings.
    • Their materialism had so overwhelmed them that they were willing to make it practically impossible for others to come to Christ  so that they could maintain their wealth.
    • Jesus’ solution to this kind of materialism was to drive it out.
    • Heaven forbid that we as a church would refuse to reach out to the  young families or poor widows or any other group so that we could maintain our wealth and affluence.
  • The second form of materialism is more sinister. Peter displays this one for us when he, having walked with Jesus, seen his power, and had confessed Him as the Messiah – still did not believe that he could speak and have something happen.
    • This kind of materialism is an anti-supernaturalism. A belief that no supernatural things will occur.
    • I am not someone who would come and tell you that I can make anything supernatural happen, but friends I can assure you that I know one who can.
    • Look at what Jesus says here as far as a prayer.
      • Verse 23 talks about praying that the mountain be thrown into the sea.
      • If this is the temple mount being described, Jesus himself promises in chapter thirteen that the temple mount will be destroyed.
      • If this is Mount of Olives Zecheriah 14:4 & 8 promises that at Jesus’ second coming that mount will be split and living water will pour forth.
      • One way or the other friends do you see what is happeneing here? Jesus is telling us to pray for what God has promised and it will surely happen.
    • So too, when we look at verses 25-26.
      • In Scripture we are told again and again to have a forgiving heart, to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us.
      • The only way for that to occur is that we would pray and then act by faith in the fulfilled promies.
    • Jesus’ answer for anti-supernaturalist materialism is the same as for all materialism.
    • Drive it out with faith in a living God!
• The final portion of this passage introduces us to the sort of challenges that Jesus will face from the Jewish leaders for the remainder of his ministry.
  • The Pharisees seek to challenge the authority by which he does what he does.
  • Jesus immediately challenges them back with a question about John’s baptism, a well-recognized, spiritual acceptable activity.
  • The Pharisees debate among themselves, recognizing that if they said it was spiritual they themselves did not receive it.
    • They also realized that if they said it was human the crowds would be against them.
    • Finally they answer Jesus by telling him they do not know; even though they really were more afraid of the people.
  • Jesus says he will not tell them what authority that he does these things.
• So, we finally have the third warning that it would be easy to have nothing but leaves if we are caught up in mental gymnastics: (11:27-33).
  • It is so easy to get caught up in mental gymnastics with Jesus.
  • After all that is exactly what all of us do at some point before we profess our faith.
  • We toy with the idea for a long time, weighing pros and cons, and perhaps measuring the amount of humility it will take for us to turn and follow Him.
  • These mental exercises are not all for naught. Acts tells us that many of the Pharisees eventually converted to Christ.
  • If we are mentally wrestling with a decision to trust Christ it may serve as mulch for our faith. Helping it to develop and form from the roost up.
  • But if it is only mental gymnastics, if it is only a matter of the facts then it will never produce a vibrant relationship with Christ that will lead to a saving faith.

Conclusion:

• Friends you do not have to have only leaves in your spiritual life.
• The sure and best way to make sure you bear fruit is to have a relationship with Jesus as your Savior and Lord.