Zero Figs or Abundant Guavas? - 8/8/26

Greeneville Seventh-day Adventist Church: I grew up knowing very little about figs. We didn't eat figs when I was a kid. You know, these things. We we we we didn't need those in my home. All I knew about figs were they came in a yellow package. Yeah, okay. Now we're talking. these are healthy, these are whole wheat. Okay. Cut me some slack. Fig Newtons. And so all I knew is they came in a yellow package and must have inv be one of the many inventions of Sir Isaac Newton. Actually, Professor Newton had nothing to do with the popular cookie, though figs were widely available in England at his time, so I'm sure he ate these. Fig Newtons were actually named after Newton, Massachusetts, where they were invented in 1891. So Sir Isaac Newton's mom could not have packed them in his school lunchbox like my mom did. And no, Newton, Massachusetts was not named after Sir Isaac Newton either. It was settled before he was born. And just came from being called Newtown. They shortened it, Newton. Why so so many historical facts that are useless? School has started. Free of charge facts. Impress your history teacher. The first fig tree that I actually remember seeing that I actually knew what it was, I had finished seminary. I'd never seen a fig tree and knew that before. I I was visiting a church member. In my first church, my first church was down in South Georgia in the town of Statesboro, and I had a church member that lived over in the town of Meadow, next door aways. Her name was Zidane Glissen. She was an older lady. And wow, what was the offering for today? Christian record services. This lady was not blind, but she also didn't know how to drive. This is a side note, by the way. No. She didn't know how to drive. Her husband had died. He had always done all the driving. She had never had a driver's license. And she had sitting in her carport this huge Ford LTD. She didn't know what to do with it. She couldn't drive it. About two streets or over was another one of my church members who was blind. But she hadn't always been blind. She had had a driver's license. She knew how to drive. So she taught Zegan Glissen how to drive. What are you seeing now? I am seeing an intersection. Okay, is the light green or red? There's no light. what it what is there? There's a stop sign. Okay, so you gotta stop. And she taught her to drive because both of them wanted to come to church. And so Zidane got her driver's license and drove the other lady to church with her. But Zidan had this beautiful fig tree r beside her parked LTD in the carport. And she was quite proud of it. She showed it to me. And after seeing the size of the leaves on a fig tree, I understood why Adam and Eve chose those leaves. They're pretty big. And sister Glisson's fig preserves were amazing. And she's she confused me though. She said, I'm gonna make you some fig preserves. What flavor do you want? I said, What? Yeah, what flavor do you want? Fig flavor? No, I can make it whatever you want, as long as jello makes a flavor. I mix it with fig preserves. And I said, I want strawberry. So she mixed strawberry fig preserves and it tasted just like strawberry preserves. It was amazing. She could turn it in whatever flavor you wanted as long as Jell-O made it. Raspberry, cherry, apricot, peach. As a going-away gift when we left that church five years later, she gave us this huge box of fig preserves, all the flavors you could imagine. I discovered how versatile figs are. Turn with me to Matthew chapter twenty-one. We're gonna learn about some figs. Matthew chapter twenty one. As you can tell, we're still in our never-ending series on the book of Matthew. There's a lot here. You think this is bad. I looked up online to see if anybody else had done a series on Matthew. I found a pastor who preached a sermon on every single verse in Matthew. I don't know how many years that took, so consider yourself blessed. We're not doing that. Matthew 21, verse 18. Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry. Who's this talking about? Jesus. Okay. It may be helpful to remind ourselves that the way people wrote back then is often different than the way we write today. We like and practically demand that things be in chronological order, don't we? We like to know this happened after this, after this, after this, after this. In fact, we get frustrated when we read a book and and two characters in the book separate, and so we gotta follow this character for a while, and then meanwhile back at the ranch, we gotta back up and see what this character was doing. Okay, which day is it for them now? We don't even like that. And that's why the Bible can be so confusing to us today. It is not in chronological order. It does begin at creation and end with a second coming, but everything in the middle is all mixed up. Even in one book, it can be out of order. Matthew, when he writes, is more concerned with keeping a topic together. Mark has a little more interest in the flow of events. In fact, the Gospel of Mark is seen as the most chronological of the four Gospels, appealing more to the Roman way of thought. So if we look at the story of the triumphal entry, the cleansing of the temple, which we talked about last Sabbath, and the fig tree in the Gospel of Mark. We come up with the following chronological order. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey in the triumphal entry. Verse 18 says, Now in the morning he returned to the city. According to Mark 11:11, It says Mark says this, and Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when he had looked around at the things, as the hour was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. Then, the next day, as Jesus was on his way from Bethany back to the temple to throw out the money changers that he had observed the evening before, he sees the barren fig tree and curses it. He then makes quite a scene at the temple that we talked about last Sabbath and goes back to Bethany. The next morning, when they're on their way back into Jerusalem, they see the withered fig tree. So on Sunday we have the triumphal entry. On Monday we have the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple, and on Tuesday, approximately twenty four hours after the fig tree is cursed, it is totally withered, according to Mark, from the roots. Now with this chronology in mind, let's look again at Matthew and the way he tells the story. Matthew twenty-one, verse eighteen. Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry. I like this verse. we could preach a whole sermon on this verse. Let's do it. No. But it shows the humanity of Jesus. He simply stayed, he's hungry. There's no mention that his disciples were hungry. Knowing Jesus, we could believe easily that he's been up all night in prayer concerning what he's about to do at the temple. He's about to wreak havoc. Desire of ages even bears this out. So I picture the disciples having a big breakfast at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus when Jesus comes in from praying and says, it's time to go. But on the way, Jesus is hungry. This tells me even more about Jesus. Here he is on his way to make a challenge at the temple, throwing down the gauntlet we talked about last week. He's about to do this in a spectacular way. He's about to mess things up, stir the pot, and he still has an appetite. That that amazes me. Because when something big is about to happen in my life, eating is not appealing. Not only. So I'm kind of hungry right now because Sabbath mornings I don't typically eat because I have butterflies because I have to get in front of you people. But I don't like doing that. But so I don't usually eat on Sabbath morning because I have butterflies. Not Jesus. He's going to mess up this Jerusalem. He's about to do things that they just can't believe. He said, I'm hungry. He spent the night in prayer. That's why. Maybe I should spend Friday nights in prayer all night long. Then I'd be sleeping here instead of you. But he knows through this night in prayer that God is in charge. He's prayed about it. What does he have to worry about? He can eat. He is not worried about what's going to happen because his heavenly father is in charge. He has a peace that passes understanding. Hey, let's get some breakfast. Do you have the butterflies when you think of the present state of this world? Why? Maybe it's time for us to spend more time in prayer, and then we will have that same peace that passes understanding that Jesus had. Unfortunately, the disciples evidently didn't pack Jesus a sack breakfast either. I'm shocked that Martha didn't insist on it, or maybe she assigned the task to Mary, who was paying attention to other things. So he's got to find something else to eat. Verse 19. And seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves. Mark adds the information that it was not the season for figs. This is springtime and the early crop of figs does not arrive until early summer. So why is Jesus so upset about this fig tree not having fruit? It's not even the season for it to have fruit. Because this particular fig tree is advertising that it has figs early. You know, sometimes plants do unexpected things. I've had azaleas in my yard that bloomed at the wrong time. Like, what are you thinking? A fig tree that has leaves typically also has fruit. Even if the fruit is not yet mature, it can still be eaten. In fact, in the culture of that area and others, green or unripe fruit is often considered a delicacy. I even learned to appreciate unripe mangoes in Africa if you add salt. That's considered a delicacy. I don't like them as much, but it's edible. So since this one fig tree has leaves, Jesus is expecting it to have fruit as well. In fact, the fruit of the fig tree usually starts to form before the leaves do. The leaves were making promises that were not being kept. Verse 19. And seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, Let no fruit grow on you ever again. Immediately the fig tree withered away. Okay, remember, we learned, okay, twenty-four hours later they came back. there it goes. But remember, Matthew's keeping the story altogether. This is where the chronology of Mark is helpful. Like an odd plant. Blooming or producing fruit out of season, this miracle seems out of place as well. Jesus has always used miracles to help others, never to hurt. The fig tree has been destroyed. Yet the miracle does not does indeed help others. It helped the disciples and it helped us to understand what it means to have faith. This incident is an acted parable about lacking true faith. Yes, the next few verses verify this, but it goes even deeper. So let's look now, verse twenty. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How did the fig tree wither away so soon? So Jesus answered and said to them, Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. Here again, we have a message that faith can move mountains. You may remember that. Before we've talked about Jesus not wishing that we change the landscape. Okay? Rather, difficulties that seem like mountains. You know, if we could just remove mountains and change the landscape, however, we'd be in an earthquake all the time around here. Because I know people of faith. And I can just hear them, if they ever get Davy Crockett State Park opened up again, has that opened up yet? Not yet. I can just hear him saying, Well, he grew up right here and there used to be a mountain right there that he looked at, but somebody had faith and it's gone. You know. God's not interested in us changing landscape, let's leave that to him. But he can move the mountains of difficulties in our lives. Things that seem insurmountable. This fig tree incident is pointing to Israel's lack of belief in him. Jesus is the source of power, and the church is rejecting him and has no power. it looks like it accepts him. We have just seen their response to the triumphal entry. They act as if they're prepared for the Messiah. They're rejoicing in the streets and waving palm branches and and throwing their sweatshirts out into the road. It looks like they're excited to have the Messiah. Yet he shows up and they don't really know him or even what Messiah means. They have forms and rituals that were ordained by God in the way of the sanctuary service and how it was conducted. Yet they no longer really look for the one who can save them from their sins and give them eternal life. The one who can move their mountains. That is an insurmountable mountain for us. I can cleanse myself of my sins. No, you can't. But God can move that mountain. They have become content with symbols and no longer desire reality. They are more concerned with their plight with the Romans in this life than in eternal life with God. They have an impressive and beautiful show. But no power. I've told you about my Ford Mustang before. It was beautiful. All show, no go. It had a Pinto engine in it. It looked fast, but was so underpowered that it couldn't keep up with its own shadow. Now, I have purchased a wrecked Mustang that has a powerful engine, and I keep hoping. To have some time to give my old Mustang a new heart that matches its looks. Actually, that's what I need. That's what we need. Create in me a new heart and boost the horse power within me. I need power. But that only comes with a new heart. The Jews have all the right rituals and do all the right things, but are not producing the fruit that should be produced by a people who love the Lord. Their outward appearance covers an empty heart, just like the promising leaves of the fig trees that Jesus cursed covered its empty branches, just like the fig leaves that Adam and Eve put on after their sin in order to cover their lack of light, their lack of faith in what God has told them to do. Book Desire of Ages puts it this way. The cursing of the fig tree was an acted parable. That barren tree, flaunting its pretentious foliage in the very face of Christ, was a symbol of the Jewish nation. The Savior desired to make plain to his disciples the cause and the certainty of Israel's doom. For this purpose, he invested the tree with moral qualities and made it the expositor of divine truth. The Jews stood forth distinct from all other nations, professing the allegiance to God. They had been specially favored by Him, and they had laid claim to righteousness above every other people. But they were corrupted by the love of the world and the greed of gain. They boasted of their knowledge, but they were ignorant of the requirements of God and were full of hypocrisy. The Jewish religion was indeed fair in outward appearance. But humility, love, and benevolence were lacking. All the trees in the fig orchard were destitute of fruit, but the leafless trees raised no expectation and caused no disappointment. By these trees the Gentiles were represented. They were as destitute as were the Jews of godliness, but they had not professed to serve God. They made no boastful pretensions to goodness. They were blind to the works and the ways of God. With them the time of figs was not yet. They were still waiting for a day which would bring them light and hope. The Jews who had received greater blessings from God were held accountable for their abuse of these gifts. The privileges of which they boasted only increased their guilt. Jesus had come to the fig tree hungry to find food. So he had come to Israel hungering to find in them the fruits of righteousness. He had lavished on them his gifts and That they might bear fruit for the blessing of the world, they brought ruin upon themselves by refusing to minister. Okay, school has started. But you have a while to wait for final exams. Do you know God has a final exam? What are the questions going to be? okay, which comes first in prophecy? what was it the chest of of bronze or the head of silver? Yeah. We're gonna go, what? And yeah, we're gonna say things and go, no, that's not those aren't the questions. Yeah, it's nice to know, okay, okay, gold, silver, bronze, iron, iron mixed with clay. It's good to know those things. But that's not on the final exam. It's good to know the 2300-day prophecy in proper order. It's helpful to know those things. Those that's not gonna be on the final exam. Kind of questions we're going to find on the final exam are things like this. Did you feed me when I was hungry? Did you clothe me when I was naked? Did you visit me when I was in prison? These types of questions. Not if every point of theology is perfectly down in my mind, not if I have the prophecies in the exact order, not if I understand every detail of Daniel and Revelation. These things are extremely important and good to know. They help us to understand our Savior if we're reading them right. But how are we using such knowledge? To argue with others and point out their faults? Or to guide them into a better relationship with Jesus? Because of the fruit that such knowledge helps us to bear. Light is supposed to help things grow, but I have witnessed people with less light bearing more fruit than I do. Turn with me to Luke chapter thirteen. Here Jesus tells a story. About what kind of tree? A fig tree. And it sheds some light on what just happened in the story we read. Luke thirteen, verse six. He also spoke this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Why does it use up the ground? But he answered and said to him, Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it, and if it bears fruit well, but if not, after that you can cut it down. Yes, Jesus has patience with us poor fruitless trees for a time. But there will come a time to lay an axe to the roots in order to make room for those who will bear fruit. In this parable, Jesus does not tell us what happened. Did the tree bear fruit or did the tree get cut down? He left the answer for the people to decide. For us to decide, for ourselves. And just what does the fruit that Jesus hunger for look like? it comes in many flavors. For example, turn with me to Galatians 5. Galatians five Go down to verse sixteen. I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. we kind of shudder when we hear things like, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. We we like that law thing. Well, we're supposed to. This is what it means. Not being under the law means that the law is not oppressing you. The law is not a means to get what you want. The law is the natural way of life for those who are filled with the Holy Spirit. It is obvious that the law is not done away with because in the next verse, sin exists, and sin is the transgression of the law. So the law must still be there. When Jesus said that he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, means to live a life that is in harmony with the will or the law of God. With in mind, verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. Did you look at this list? Did you see what's in there? right next to Sorcery and hatred are contentions. You have any contentions with anybody? Ranks right up there with selfish ambitions, heresies, dissension. So there there that is. envy, murders, drunk. It's all there together. Of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But Praise the Lord for the but. The fruit of the Spirit is love, and and the Greek word there is agape, unconditional love. Joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. So you have all kinds of flavors of the fruits of the Spirit. Whatever Jesus mixes into your life. And some of you have may have mixed fruit. I think I know some of you. The fruit of the Spirit. That's what Jesus is looking for in his people. That's what he was looking for back then. That's what he's looking for today. on Sabbath afternoons at our school in Kenya, I would sometimes take a busload of our high school students to the local orphanage. I say the local orphanages, there were orphanages all over the town. But we chose one to work with. And there on Sabbath afternoon we would meet with the children and they would sing songs to us and we would sing songs to them and we would sing songs together and we would tell them stories and then we would go out and play with them until it was time to head back to the school. Our kids loved it, their kids loved it. Then we wondered, what would it be like to bring the orphans and their lady sponsors to our school to do the same thing? We always go to their school. Let's bring them to our school. So I made arrangements and we sent our empty bus to collect them and bring them to Maxwell Adventist Academy. Now I'm standing on the bus, and these kids are so excited to be going somewhere. And their teachers are excited, they don't know what they're going to see. And then our bus came through our gate, and I looked back at all the kids and all the staff, all four ladies, and their mouths dropped. They were coming from where they had a dirt playground, dirt everything, and entered what must have appeared to them as the Garden of Eden. Well manicured lawns and ball fields and hedges, beautiful flowers and trees, concrete edged sidewalks, and well maintained roads and buildings. One of the sponsors exclaimed, I did not know such a place even existed. And suddenly I appreciated our school more than I had. We all had a great time together. We sang songs. We played. We told stories in a different place. The kids loved running barefoot in the grass. Real grass. It was sad when it came time to say goodbye. And as they loaded our bus once again, I started wondering: was it a good idea to bring them here? Now are they going to hate their school, their conditions more? But they were so happy. And we had all the kids on the bus, but not one of their four sponsors could be found. We don't know where those ladies went. They disappeared. We searched the buildings and on the campus, but the ladies were not to be found. I was concerned that they might be exploring some of the faculty homes. We left our doors unlocked. They just want to see how we live or something, you know, because our houses simple to us would have been mansions to them. And so I said, I'm gonna go check the houses. So I started running around faculty circle. Of course I started with my house to make sure they weren't in there. And as I got to my house, I rounded the corner and I started hearing the strangest sounds. And I looked, and it was sounds of joy and giggling and laughter. And I what what is happening at my house? And I looked and there in front of the house was a guava tree. And it was loaded with guavas that year. And all four of those ladies were in my guava tree. Their fingers were dripping in juice. Their chins had juice running down them. Their clothing had juice all over them. And they were giggling and laughing and hanging from the branches like a bunch of little kids. The look of sheer delight on those giggling faces is a sight I will never forget. I hated to tell him it was time to go. The lost had been found. Where? In a tree full of fruit. Catch that? The lost were found in a tree full of fruit. That is my desire. To be the type of tree that produces so many of the fruits of the Spirit that it brings childlike joy to all who come seeking something to satisfy their hunger for Jesus. That's what Jesus is looking for behind the fig trees, behind the fig leaves of our lives. He's looking for good. Fruit in each of us. I hope that the fruit of the Spirit grows in my life and will help many of the lost to be found. And then to be found climbing in the branches of the tree of life, full of laughter and joy. with fruit juice dripping from their chins. And onto their fingers for eternity. Yes, you have sent us, Lord. And may we show the fruits of the Spirit from our hearts that we may grow and gain fruits for the kingdom. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Matthew 21:18 Mark 11:11