But Then, There Is That Fig Tree

A sermon preached by Dr. James Flamming
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia
Sunday, March 28, 2004

Let me ask you a question; are you an Amazing Grace person?  I am. 

Paul says in Ephesians 2, “For by grace are ye saved through faith.  And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” 

Christians have divided through the centuries about whether we are saved by grace or whether we are saved through our good deeds, our good works, and Baptists have come down solidly on the grace side of that picture.  You see the trouble with trying to get to heaven with our good deeds is that we never quite measure up.  Well, some of us don’t measure up at all.  We can’t meet the ideals we set for ourselves.  The more we try to meet these ideas, the more we fail; the less we seem able to admit we’re screwing up.  That’s a good theological phrase. 

We’ve become like Pharisees, hiding behind the rules we can keep.  One of the reasons Christ came is to set us free from this trap.  I believe our hearts are a mess.  The Bible calls that sin, which means missing the mark, Romans 3:23, “All have sinned.”  And grace means that God accepts us anyway.  Salvation is the acceptance of God’s acceptance through Jesus Christ the Lord.  You see, Christ did something for us that we cannot do for ourselves and we He becomes our Savior, He cleanses us from our sin and He gives us a new status before God the Father Almighty.  We become sons and daughters of the living God.

The old gospel song Amazing Grace has sometimes been called the national anthem of Baptists.  Of course, it was written by an Anglican, John Newton, a couple of hundred years ago and you probably know the story.  He was converted from being the captain of a slave ship, that is transporting slaves from Africa to other places where they were sold, including America.  Having been converted, he gave that whole life up and felt called of God to become a minister, went to the Seminary, became an Anglican priest and preached the rest of his life in England. 

I visited the church at which he was a priest a couple of summers ago.  I cherish the moment when I stood behind the pulpit that he used.  I paused in gratitude when I visited his grave, which was in the cemetery alongside the church.  I walked down to where he lived and looked up at the second floor, corner window where his study was and where he was supposed to have written Amazing Grace.  As a matter of fact, he wrote a whole bunch of hymn tunes, or at least hymn words from that place.  They put them in a book and their Anglican brothers and sisters didn’t particularly like them, still don’t, but you know, they were very gracious.  They let them sing them at night, Amazing Grace – and I stood there and thanked God for John Newton. 

I’m an Amazing Grace person, are you? I’m an Amazing Grace person… and yet, there is that fig tree.  You say, what fig tree and what does a fig tree have to do with Amazing Grace?  Well, turn in your Bible to Mark the 11^th chapter, and I will being reading with verse 12. 

Now I want to tell you something, hearing all the leafing of the pages is almost as pretty music to me as the choir because that means you’re into the Bible and I thank you for that. 

I begin reading with the12^th verse, “The next day as they were leaving Bethany Jesus was hungry and seeing the distance, a fig tree in leaf, he went out to find out if it had any fruit and when he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs and then he went said to the tree, may no one ever eat fruit from you again, and his disciples heard him say it.”  Go over to verse 20, “In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots and Peter remembered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, look.  The fig tree you’ve cursed has withered.”  This is the word of the Lord.

Nestled into the very busy and hectic schedule of our Lord during his final week on earth is an incident that happened in the morning, probably soon after the sun came up.  Jesus splashed some water on his face and takes off walking for Jerusalem, no coffee in those days, no cokes, no tea, no Starbucks, no breakfast yet, and Jesus sees a fig tree.  Now, figs are to the people in the Mediterranean what tomatoes and strawberries are to people in Hanover County and I can hear one of the disciples saying, hey guys, breakfasts right up the road. 

Now it is possible that the sum total of your knowledge about figs is to unwrap a Fig Newton, so let me clue you in on an item or two.  First of all, in part, in that part of the world, figs come late in the spring, after Passover.  Now, it’s Passover time when all of this is happening.  Passover then, as now, was in the early spring of the year and figs aren’t supposed to be out yet, and yet, this one is, it’s leafed out, beckoning to visit, especially early morning breakfast visitors and you can almost hear the fig tree singing, “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” fig trees in that time, unusual.

Now a second thing you need to know about the fig is that the fig grows first and then comes the leaf, so that any leafed out fig tree was sure to have figs.  What an abrupt disappointment when the disciples and the Lord arrive at the fig tree, plenty of leaves, no fruit.  All show, no dough!  The fig tree was all dressed up no place to go.  Now Jesus does a really touch minded thing.  He could have walked by and said, “Oh well.”  But He didn’t.  He did something that was so close to His heart when it came to fruit bearing that He held that tree accountable.  Accountability is sometimes thought to be antagonistic to Amazing Grace.  Not so.  As we will see in a minute – but for not bearing fruit judgment comes.  Jesus is tough on that tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again,” and the next day it is shriveled up from the roots. 

For Jesus, this is a parable for our lives.  Bearing fruit, what is that?  Well, it’s symbolic for the life of a believer; symbolic for a person who walks with the Lord.  You see, a person who is bearing fruit is one who in that situation with your life, your Lord, and your gifts, are determined to make a difference in your world.  Let me say it again.  It means that in your situation, in your life, or should say through your life, with your Lord, right?  With your gifts, you are determined to make a difference in that situation.  Don’t you want to make a difference in your world?  Sure you do.  Deep down, whether it’s a school room, whether it’s a business, whether it’s a brokerage, whether you’re retired, you want to make a difference, that’s what bearing fruit is all about, and you always do it in a giving situation right where you are.  There’s no perfect place to be a fruit bearer.

Tony Campolo was on an airplane to speak to a huge outdoor Christian rally and it was in Florida, Orlando.  As he took his seat, he looked across on the other side of the aisle and he saw what he described later as being a stunning woman.  Coming up the aisle about then was a very New York-looking guy.  He was wearing a satin shirt.  The buttons were unbuttoned down three.  He had golden chains aplenty.  He had two places he could sit.  One was next to Campolo and the other was next to this very, very beautiful woman.  Guess where he sat?  Well, it didn’t take very long for him to do what was predictable and I think he probably had practiced many times and when he had her thoroughly engaged in conversation, she reached in her purse and she took out a New Testament.  For the next two hours, she read him the scriptures and was explaining to him the gospel story and Tony was thinking to himself, wooooo, they landed, the passengers were leaving, she was still at it.  Then he saw something he would never have predicted.  His new friend, this New York dude, his new friend had her arm on his shoulder and was praying that he would accept Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.  Nobody moved around there and he prayed the acceptance prayer with a tear coming down his cheek.  You see, there are some things that happen in the bearing of fruit you could never have predicted and they never happen when you think they will happen, where you think they will happen, you’re just there.  And the situation calls something from you and you give it.

Now there’s a parable about a fig tree and I’d like for you please to turn to Luke 14:6 – the fig tree parable.  It’s the story of a man who planted a fig tree and I begin reading, “Then he told this parable, a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, but he went to look for fruit on it and did not find any.  So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, for three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any.  Cut it down.  Why should I let it use up the soil?  Sir, the man replied, leave it alone for one more year and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.  If it bears fruit next year fine.  If not, then cut it down.”  Okay, let me dig around a little while and let me do a little spiritual fertilizing.  First, let me dig by saying, too many of us quit to soon.  I call it comfortable grace.  We’re saved, we know it and we’re comfortable.  It’s like being a great gift and doing nothing about it.  Dietrich  Bonhoffer called it cheap grace.  We quit too soon.

Through the years we’ve had some wonderful pharmacy students here in our church and they attend as faithfully as they can.  They’re such great people.  Now suppose, pretend with me.  Pretend with me that a pharmacy student goes through all of the studies, through all of the courses, all the tests and graduates and then passes the boards.  Let’s call this student Shim.  You see it’s a combination of she and him, Shim.  Now Shim is prepared to embark upon a life of service to an ever-increasing healthcare challenge.  Shim is prepared to use his training in behalf of others.  Now suppose Shim goes home after having done all of this, has the license and says to himself, hmm, well done, but Shim never goes to work, never fills a prescription, and never answers a question for a mother who wants to know what this is she’s going to be giving to her child.  Never hears from an older person wondering whether she ought to take that with something else.  You see, Shim never knows the thrill of a purpose driven life.  That’s what a fruit bearing life is, a purpose driven life.  Shim has done all the getting ready, but none of the getting going.  Now, something within us, when we hear a story like that says, “Eww, you know, something’s wrong with that picture.”  Friend, Shim can be us spiritually.  We quit too soon.  Christ has gotten us ready, the Holy Spirit has gotten us ready, we have said yes and we quit at the very beginning.  Let me dig around a little more.  A little bit of spiritual fertilizing around the fig tree of your life.  Let me do something perfectly and I know I’m going to do it very well and I’ll do it.  Tell me I will do it imperfectly and am I as apt to do it?  No.  Let me tell you something about bearing fruit for Jesus – you’ll never do it perfectly, but the whole thing is, the Lord Jesus takes it and uses it anyway.  There’s a little phrase from Martin Luther that I dearly love, you’ve heard me use it before, Paul Duke used it when he preached here 10 years ago, it goes like this, “God can ride the crippled horse and God can carve the rotted wood.”  In fruit bearing that’s always true.  You never can do it perfectly, just do it.

There was a well known bishop in the history of the church in Germany during World War II.  He was a German Lutheran bishop.  He was called upon to try to help Hitler make room for the church.  To save the church he met with the Feurer time and time again.  Toward the end of his life, the bishop told of a recurring dream he kept having.  He saw Hitler standing before Jesus on judgment day and Jesus would get off of His throne.  He would put His arm around Hitler and He would say, “Adolph, why were you so cruel?  Why did you do so many ugly, evil things to people?” Hitler with his head bowed would say, “Because nobody ever told me how much you loved me.”  The bishop reported that at this point in his recurring dream he would wake up in a cold sweat, remembering that during the many, many, many times he met with the Feurer trying to save a place for the church, he never once said, “By the way, Furor, Jesus loves you.  He loves you more than you will ever know.  As a matter of fact, he loves you so much, he died for you on a cross.  Do you know, Feurer, that God loves you?” 

Friend, bearing fruit is not an option.  Is it going to destroy your salvation if you don’t bear it?  No.  No more than if those pharmacy students never got a job it would destroy their degrees.  But what a waste!  You see, there’s that fig tree.  Maybe, just maybe, what has happened this morning is that all of the sudden it occurs to you that you can do it and that it doesn’t take a genius, it’s not rocket science, it’s just being willing to be yourself and to share Jesus, whether it’s verbally, giving a cup of cold water, or handing out food, or putting an arm around the shoulders of one with a broken heart and saying, “Jesus loves you.”

Bow your head and close your eyes.  Amazing Grace comes to us just now in the form of Jesus the Lord.  But that Amazing Grace needs to be shared.  Would you be willing right now to say to yourself, look, it’s time I got off.  I really off of the fence and I realized this is my life and I need to do something with it.  Would you let the Lord prompt you and get you moving?  Oh Lord Jesus, we’re so frail and a lot of times we’re so frightened, but we do thank-you from the bottom of our hearts for loving us and for what you did for us on that cross and for loving us often in spite of, instead of because of.  But just now, Oh Lord, we want to become part of you and your story and we want your story to be lived out within us.  Help us to be courageous enough to become fruit bearers.  In Christ’s name, Amen.