We Can Only Show Fruit Through Faith

We Can Only Show Fruit Through Faith

Intro

Some of you know that I’m a Software Engineer and I work for a company called Qualtrics. Now, what Qualtrics does isn’t very important, but part of the company’s product is centred around surveys. If you’ve ever filled in a survey online for a company there’s a good chance it was powered by Qualtrics. And a common type of question that is asked on these types of surveys is did such-and-such meet your expectations. Did this product meet your expectations? Did this event meet your expectations? Did working at this company meet your expectations?

We all have expectations of things, and then when we experience what we have been expecting we’ll have different reactions and thoughts depending on whether those expectations have been met or not. In our passage this morning Jesus has expectations.

Jesus has expectations of the fig tree. He has expectations of the temple. He has expectations of his disciples. And while your prior expectations of the last restaurant you went to are not that important in the grand scheme of things, Jesus’ expectations in this passage should challenge us as we live our lives as his followers in the church.

Last week we reached the beginning of the end of Mark’s gospel, as Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. Arriving as the King who was prophesied. Jesus has arrived triumphantly, but then, somewhat bizarrely, he’s left Jerusalem and gone back out to Bethany. Which brings us to our passage this morning where we meet Jesus heading back towards Jerusalem. And as we look at our passage this morning we will see two things that Jesus expects. Jesus expects fruit. And Jesus expects faith.

1 - Jesus Expects Fruit (11:12-21)

1.1 - The Fig Tree (11:12-14)

Firstly, we see that Jesus expects fruit. So look with me from verse 12:

Mark 11:12–14 · ESV

¹²On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. ¹³And seeing in the distance a fig tree 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. ¹⁴And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

As we look at this passage we need to understand that this isn’t just a story of Jesus getting angry at a fig tree because he was hungry. No, this miracle is a parable-like miracle where Jesus is seeking to teach his disciples about something else. See the end of verse 14: And his disciples heard it. This is Jesus doing something for their benefit and instruction, and Mark has recorded this incident for our benefit and instruction too.

You see many times in the Old Testament the fig tree is used as a symbol for Israel. This is why the two sections on the fig tree are bookends around Jesus’ actions in the temple in Jerusalem — they are parallels to one another. Since the beginning of his ministry, Jesus has been heralding in the Kingdom of God, teaching that the time is fulfilled of all that the Old Testament had pointed forward to. Jesus is here again teaching his disciples that this Kingdom will be radically different to what has come before.

And so in our passage we see Jesus, hungry on his way back into Jerusalem, spies a single fig tree covered in leaves. This fig tree is Israel. There are no other trees with leaves, there are no other nations that appear to be fruitful even from a distance. Indeed Mark tells us that it was not the season for figs. So we shouldn’t expect any trees to have fruit. At this time in redemptive history we shouldn’t be expecting the nations to be producing spiritual fruit.

But what’s strange is that this fig tree is covered in leaves. It’s caught Jesus’ attention because from the outside it appears to be in fruit. The leaves are a signal that it should have fruit, but when Jesus approaches it he finds nothing but leaves.

In one sense Israel was supposed to bear fruit. They were meant to have the fruits of obedience, and repentance, and love for God and their neighbours — but they don’t. They just had leaves — the outward appearance of fruit that was really just hypocrisy. But in another sense Israel wasn’t supposed to produce fruit in that it was not the season for figs. The leaves of the law that Israel had were not enough. The law can restrain evil and wickedness, but the law cannot change people’s hearts. It can only condemn. Circumcision of the flesh can’t produce fruit. Following the law can’t produce fruit. What Israel needed, and what Jesus was teaching his disciples about the Kingdom of God, was the need for circumcision of the heart.

The coming of the Kingdom of God would be the season for figs, the time for fruit. When those who have been changed inwardly by the Spirit of God could produce fruit. This is why, verse 14, Jesus says to the fig tree: “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” Jesus is heralding in the Kingdom of God of a people who live by the Spirit and produce fruit by the Spirit. He does not want people to return to living under the law, and under an Israel which does not produce fruit.

Jesus’ cursing of the tree is a fulfilment of the threats of the Old Covenant, where we read that when Israel is disobedient the Lord will kindle his anger against Israel and the land will yield no fruit. Jesus is angry with the fig tree, he’s angry with Israel, because the fig tree has the appearance of fruit. It is covered in leaves. But those leaves are deceptive. They are false.

Paul picks up on this idea in his letter to the Romans where he says that No one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit. He goes on to say that not all those who are physically descended from Abraham are Israel, but those who have faith are the sons of Abraham. The true Israel, the Israel that can produce fruit, is one that has faith. While the law restrains from without, faith changes us from within.

We’ll consider Israel’s state and hypocrisy a bit more as we look at Jesus in the temple shortly, but before we jump on ahead I want to take some time for us to consider our own state before Jesus. Because while this passage should stir up in us a thankfulness that Jesus has cursed the tree of Israel, doing away with the law, and sending us his Spirit that we can live by faith — it should also cause us to examine ourselves, and stir up fruitfulness in us.

Jesus has an expectation of fruitfulness when he sees a tree with leaves, but he also has a hunger verse 12. Jesus hungers for our fruitfulness. He doesn’t save us to leave us where we were, but for us to bear fruit with good works, walking in a manner worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him. This isn’t just something that is a nice to have, or an added bonus, but something that Jesus hungers for.

We first need to examine ourselves. Are we like those that Jesus rebukes who honour him with our lips but our hearts are far from him? Have we, like Adam and Eve in the garden, covered ourselves with fig leaves to hide our sin and shame outwardly, or covered ourselves in the blood of Jesus and washed away our sin inwardly. If Jesus, the very son of God, has suffered and died for you, that you would produce fruit, and if he hungers for that, and if being able to serve this God is the greatest privilege that we can have — do you truly seek to be fruitful in all of your life?

Do you offer up your time, your money, your possessions, your Sundays, your gifts and abilities, all that you have, your very life, as firstfruits towards the God who created and redeemed you? Do you offer the fruit of repentance? Truly turning away from those sins which grieve your saviour, and resolving, by the Spirit that he freely gives to us, to walk in obedience, or is your repentance really just a temporary regret when you feel the conviction of sin, but there is no true fruit to be found? Are you a tree which bears leaves but no fruit?

Jesus has a hunger for fruit in us. Let us each bear fruit, and spur one another on to do so for his glory.

1.2 - The Temple (11:15-19)

Let’s continue looking at our passage, look with me from verse 15:

Mark 11:15–19 · ESV

¹⁵And 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 seats of those who sold pigeons. ¹⁶And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸And the chief priests 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. ¹⁹And when evening came they went out of the city.

Jesus’ arrival in the temple in Jerusalem is not mere happenstance or chance, but is a fulfilment of prophecy from Malachi, a prophecy of judgement when the Lord would send his messenger who would come suddenly to the temple to purify the temple and judge the people for their oppression of the weak and poor.

So what exactly is going on in the temple that has prompted this reaction from Jesus? Well first we need to know the layout of the temple. At the very centre of the temple was the Holy of Holies, which was surrounded by different areas for priests, and for men, and for women, and the very outer courts of the temple were for gentiles. This gentile court was the only place in the temple that gentiles were allowed to be. The money-changers that we read of were those who exchanged Greek and Roman coins which were engraved with images of idols and emperors to coins which were imageless and could be used to pay the temple tax. Those who bought and sold were those who were selling animals which were suitable for the sacrifices in the temple, particularly at this time of Passover where many outsiders would come to Jerusalem to worship. And so as Jesus arrives in the outer court of the temple, he finds these money-changers, and animal traders inside this court for the gentiles, all of which prompts his actions against them.

Because when Jesus arrives at the temple — his expectations are like that of his expectations of the fig tree. He expects fruit. He expects a place of prayer and worship. A place of love for neighbour. A place of justice and mercy. When Solomon dedicated the temple he built for the Lord he dedicated it as a place of prayer for the foreigner and asks that God would do whatever the person asks because it will bring glory and fear to the name of the Lord across all the earth. But this isn’t what Jesus finds in the temple. There is no fruit.

The gentile court in the temple had become a trade centre instead of a place of prayer. These services that were being offered, which should not have even been offered as the sacrifices required by God were to be from your own flock, not bought, were taking place in the gentile court, preventing them from being able to worship and pray and glorify God. The court was also being used as a shortcut by merchants, as if the temple of God was just a convenient passageway on your way across the city. And all this prompts Jesus to take action, as with the fig tree when he found no fruit. Jesus shows his authority as a son in his Father’s house, and drives out those buying and selling in the temple, the money-changers, and those treating it as a passageway.

And having cleared these evildoers out of the temple, he begins teaching in the court, and rebukes the people saying verse 17: “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” Jesus here combines a quote from Isaiah with one from Jeremiah where the Lord rebukes Israel for thinking that they can steal and kill and oppress and worship idols and then flee to the temple and think that that will protect them instead of having real repentance. The Israelites then were treating the temple like it was their hideout to return to after their countless crimes and sins, and Jesus says that the Israelites today are the same.

In fact as Jesus has made his way to Jerusalem in his travels throughout Mark he has rebuked the people for the very same list of sins that the Lord rebuked Israel for in Jeremiah. The people today are no different from then. The crowds making their way for the Passover in Jerusalem, the busyness, the singing, the praying is all a show. It’s hypocrisy. They are all leaves with no fruit. The people outwardly act as if they are worshipping God and are bearing fruit, but hinder the foreigner from worshipping him, and oppress the poor.

If you look in your bibles, you may have a heading on this section that reads something like Jesus cleanses the temple. But I wonder if that’s really what is happening here. Because while Jesus is doing some restoration in terms of restoring the temple to be a place of prayer, I think what’s actually happening is rather a parallel to the fig tree that we’ve already seen. This is not Jesus cleansing the temple — but cursing it. This is judgement.

Jesus driving out the animal-traders and money-changers is not permanent. They would be back the next day more than likely. In fact Jesus on a previous visit to Jerusalem has done this once already as we read in John’s gospel. No, what Jesus is doing is a pronouncement of judgement on the temple and its sacrificial system. Jesus is showing that this is coming to an end. The Old Covenant sacrificial system pointed towards Jesus, and with his death in a few days’ time it is made obsolete, as the one it pointed to has come. Jesus restores the temple as being a place of prayer because in the New Covenant prayer will continue, but sacrifices required for living in the land of Canaan will not. Jesus drives out all the sacrifice vendors.

Jesus’ quote from Jeremiah in verse 17 that the people have made the temple a den of robbers, was in Jeremiah a pronouncement of judgement and of the destruction of the first temple when the people were exiled to Babylon. And Jesus in his prophetic office does the same again, cursing the temple and its system which could not produce fruit, just like the fig tree.

And we need to consider today whether we are acting like the Israelites and hindering people from prayer and worship through man-made obstacles. That doesn’t mean that we fall into the error of removing the biblically prescribed way of worship that God has given us in his word under the guise of being seeker-sensitive, which is just a different kind of error, but we should examine if there are man-made traditions or things we do that hinder others from worshipping God. And we also need to examine ourselves to see if we are guilty of the same hypocrisy and outward worship of God with no change in our hearts.

We read in the book of Amos concerning this type of worship God says:

Amos 5:21–24 · ESV

²¹“I hate, I despise your feasts,and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.²²Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,I will not accept them;and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,I will not look upon them.²³Take away from me the noise of your songs;to the melody of your harps I will not listen.²⁴But let justice roll down like waters,and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

God doesn’t want a show. He doesn’t want leaves, but spiritual fruit. He wants faith which leads to love of God and love of neighbour. The same hypocrisy which robs God of true worship that was in the temple can exist in the church. You cannot rob God during the week as you sin against him and then think that covering yourselves with the leaves of outward religion will cover you on a Sunday.

As Jesus looked upon the fig tree and looked upon the temple he looked for and expected fruit. As he looks upon you this morning will he see fruit? Or empty leaves which leads to cursing and judgement?

1.3 - The Fig Tree Revisited (11:20-21)

And so Jesus and the disciples leave Jerusalem again and return back to Bethany, before passing by the fig tree again the next morning. Look with me again from verse 20:

Mark 11:20–21 · ESV

²⁰As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”

The fig tree that Jesus cursed was not just cursed a little bit, but was totally destroyed, being withered all the way to the roots. This isn’t a temporary withering, Jesus didn’t just curse it to not bear fruit this year, but another year it might. No, he said “May no one ever eat from you again.” And we see this has been done. This is permanent and final.

And this is a further showing of Jesus’ authority over all things. Continuing from our passage last week where Jesus shows his kingly authority — Jesus is the one who has the authority to curse Israel. To wither it up and do away with its unfruitfulness. As the Son of the Father he had the authority to reform the temple and then teach in the courts with authority which astonished all the crowd who heard him.

And as we look at this withering of the fig tree, and the judgement upon Israel, we should notice what we learn about Jesus, and God’s character in this. God is not hasty in his judgements. While it may seem to us that Jesus sees this fig tree and just immediately curses it, we must remember both the parable he tells in Luke’s gospel of the fig tree that he waits for four years to bear fruit before cutting down, as well as the fact that when Jesus curses the temple, he has gone into Jerusalem the day before to have a look around. This isn’t a flash of rage. And we should be comforted that our God is slow to anger, or else we would all be destroyed with no time for repentance.

But we also should see that when God does purpose to enact his judgement that he does so swiftly. When Jesus curses the fig tree it is withered up the next time the disciples see it. When Jesus enters the temple he entered and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple.

Some people have noted that this is Jesus’ only recorded miracle of destruction, and have sought then to compare it to his other miracles which show his love and care for others. But I think that actually misses the point. Yes Jesus curses the fig tree, yes he curses the temple. But this is a curse which is for our good. It shows Jesus’ love for us. Jesus doesn’t want us to return to the Old Covenant, to the works of the law which on their own are just mere leaves and bring forth superficial, hypocritical worship. Rather than looking to the Old Covenant for hope and assurance, Jesus instead wants us to have faith in God.

Because all is not lost with the withering of the fig tree. Through the prophet Joel the Lord promised a time in the future when the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield. Peter confirms that this time has arrived at Pentecost with the outpouring of the Spirit. The true Israel would once again produce fruit, but the true Israelite is one who is a child of Abraham by sharing the same faith that he did.

2 - Jesus Expects Faith (11:22-25)

Which brings us to our second expectation that Jesus has for us this morning. Jesus expects faith. In warning us against fruitlessness Jesus lets us know that the solution is faith.

2.1 - Faith (11:22)

Verse 22: And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.”

If you don’t remember anything else from this morning, take and treasure this verse in your heart. Have faith in God.

The law couldn’t force Israel to obey and produce fruit. It couldn’t make them turn the temple into a place of prayer. No, their hard hearts would always turn it into a den of robbers, time and again. Only faith could produce fruit which would lead to prayer.

Do you truly have faith? Do you have faith in God at all times for all things? Do you only trust him when everything is going well and you can actually lean on your own security? Do you trust him when that family member is dying? Do you trust him when that friend abandons Christianity? Do you trust him when your spouse is sick? Do you trust him at work when everything is going smoothly and when your colleagues and bosses seem to hate you? Do you trust and rely on him for everything, every day, from when you wake up to when you go to sleep, and then to keep you until the next day again?

Jesus in the next chapter in Mark will tell another parable, where he reveals that the vineyard owner, who leased his vineyard to a people who killed and beat all his servants and even finally his own son, will give that vineyard over to others. We can have faith, because while the fig tree of Israel did not and could not produce fruit, we can have faith because of Jesus.

As Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 · ESV

¹⁶Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Jesus has cursed the temple of Israel, but you can have faith because if you trust in Jesus then you have his Spirit indwelling you. You are the temple of God. You can produce good fruit. Because that is the goal of faith. Faith should produce fruit. Jesus commands this of those who follow him, saying:

John 15:4–6 · ESV

⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵I am the vine; 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. ⁶If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

If we have this faith, if we are united to Jesus, if we are the temple of God, indwelt by his Spirit, then as we abide in Jesus we must bear fruit. This fruit is to be a fruit that seeks the good of others. The people of Israel did not care for the foreigner, the widow, the orphan, or any of the poor and needy among them. But these are the types of people that we are especially to care for as we bear fruit. Otherwise we show that our faith is no faith at all, but mere leaves.

As James says:

James 2:14–17 · ESV

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? ¹⁷So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

This command for our faith to bear fruit is even stronger in the New Testament than in the Old. And it is only by a true faith which truly trusts God in all things that we will be able to esteem others more highly than ourselves and put their needs before our own. You won’t become a servant of all by worrying about the things of this world.

2.2 - Prayer (11:23-25)

So let us look at one final area where we consider how faith looks in our lives. Look with me from verse 23:

Mark 11:23–25 · ESV

²³Truly, 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. ²⁴Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

I’m by no means an expert on preaching, but something that people will often say when they’re teaching others how to preach is to be careful not to just make the application of the sermon “you need to read your bible” and “you need to pray more”. And this is generally good advice, you want to preach what the passage says, and apply what the passage says. But sometimes you reach a passage which is about prayer, and so it is right to talk about our application in terms of prayer.

Now that isn’t to say “Oh this passage is just about prayer and my need to pray more”. It’s not. Or at least, not directly. It’s about faith. The faith that Israel did not have, and the lack of fruit they produced as a result. It’s about the faith that we can have in Jesus, in his gospel, in his good news of the Kingdom of God. But true faith will truly trust God. It will have faith in him in all areas. And that faith and trust will exhibit itself in prayer.

If you don’t pray — you don’t trust God. Not because prayer is what makes you trust God, but because you are like a tree with leaves and no fruit. You might outwardly claim to trust God, but if you don’t pray then you don’t have fruit of that claim.

How then are we to pray according to Jesus? Firstly, we are to pray with expectancy. Verse 23: 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 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.

Do you have an expectancy in your prayers? Jesus says: don’t doubt. Believe it will come to pass. Believe that you have received it. Are your prayers ones that you pray with an expectancy that God will answer, or do you show your lack of faith in your prayers by not truly believing that God can or will do as you ask? If we have faith we will pray with expectancy.

We are also to pray as those who are content. Faith means that we trust God in all circumstances, the good and the bad. It means that when things don’t go how we would have wanted them we still trust God because we know that he knows better than us, and that we trust that he is working all things for the good of those who love him. When Jesus prays to God in the garden of Gethsemane he prays, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Jesus prays with expectancy. He prays knowing and trusting that God can do all things. He asks directly what he wishes for, and yet he also submits his own will to that of God’s. This is how we should pray if we have faith — as those who are content in all situations because of our trust in God.

Do you truly believe when you pray? Or is it just out of obligation? Do you delight to pray? Or is it just out of duty and ritual?

We should also pray without ceasing. That doesn’t mean doing nothing but praying every second of every day, but it does mean constantly, in everything that happens praying to God. To have faith is to trust God in all things, the big and the small. And to petition him, give thanks to him, praise him, for the works he does in your life. Do you pray without ceasing like this? Having faith all the time in all things?

We should pray sincerely if we have faith — unlike those in the temple who sought to put on a show and display their leaves to the people around them. The people in the temple may have seemed pious, but Jesus says that they were thieves, robbers, idolators. Rather, when we pray from faith, we pray with our eyes fixed on Jesus. If we start with prayers fixed on ourselves, we won’t see ourselves as we truly are. But if we fix our eyes on Jesus we will see his glory, and the depths of our sinfulness in comparison.

We should pray BIG PRAYERS. Jesus says that if we pray for mountains to be thrown into the sea it will be done. Do you pray for mountains to be moved? Or just for pebbles, lest you be disappointed if God doesn’t answer? When you minimise your prayers, you minimise the God that you are praying to — implying that he can’t or won’t do as you’ve prayed if it was bigger.

Have faith in God. Pray big prayers. Pray for the illness to be supernaturally cured. Pray for the child who has abandoned God to return to him. Pray for revival in Ireland. Pray for that friend to be brought to repentance and faith. And pray all these things with an expectancy and belief that it will come to pass.

Brothers and Sisters, why not say this day MOVE to the mountains that stand in the way of your faith. Ask God to move them and they will move. Say to your old self which was fruitless and faithless: “BE WITHERED!” Don’t turn back to that old self, but ask God to help your unbelief. Trust that God can do these things. Trust that if God can create all things, that he can raise the dead to life, that he can turn a sinner like you to repentance, that there is nothing that he cannot do.

And when you pray, whether alone, or with others, pray with a loud and sincere AMEN.

The final question of the Orthodox Catechism, a Baptist catechism based on the famous Heidelberg Catechism, asks this:

Question: What does that little word “Amen” express?Answer: “Amen” means, This is sure to be! It is even more sure that God listens to my prayer, than that I really desire what I pray for.

Orthodox Catechism · 149

When we say Amen when we pray we are expressing our faith and trust in God. We are saying that this is a sure and certain thing, because we are praying to a sure and trustworthy God. Whenever you read Jesus saying, as he does in verse 23: Truly I say to you, that word truly is the word amen. Jesus is stating the surety of his words which are to be trusted because he is trustworthy.

Do you pray and wonder why God doesn’t answer you? James gives us this rebuke in his letter saying:

James 1:5–8 · ESV

⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Perhaps the reason that you are not receiving what you are asking for is because you don’t have faith. You don’t truly believe that what you ask for God can or will give you. Look again to verse 22: Have Faith in God.

This isn’t a license for the heresies of the prosperity gospel, where you just need more and more faith to have more health and wealth. No, in all things we pray according to God’s will done on earth, recognising that he is working all things for our good, and that he knows infinitely better than we do. And so we should trust him in all things, even when we don’t get what we think we want.

Finally look again with me at verse 25: And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

If you owe someone forgiveness, and you withhold it from them — you have not understood the forgiveness that you have been given by God. The price it cost God to forgive you is far greater than the worst of the sin that has ever or could ever be sinned against you. If you have been forgiven a debt of hundreds of thousands, or millions of euro by someone — how could you then go and demand the one or two euro owed to you by someone else.

True fruit that comes from true faith in God will exercise itself in true forgiveness of others. If we claim to love God but don’t love our brothers and forgive their sins we are liars and the truth is not in us. We are hypocrites whose mouths declare Christ and whose lips ask for our forgiveness, but whose hearts are far from him. This is like Israel in the temple, people whose actions and hearts don’t align. We are like trees with leaves but no fruit.

Imagine if every day you got up, and you spent time praying for your enemies. Praying for those who wronged you, who have hurt you deeply. Praying for those who have sinned against you and your family and friends grievously. And not praying out of some obligation, but out of faith and trust in a God who has forgiven you. Imagine the effect that that would have on you over time. Imagine the fruit of love that would produce in you. It is hard to hate someone when you are praying for their blessing every day.

Conclusion

We can only show fruit through faith. Our fruit is not what makes us right before God, but it is evidence of our faith. Where there is no prayer, there is no fruit, because there is no faith.

But this curse on a tree is not the most important one for us. Because only a few days after this incident, Jesus would be led to Golgotha and nailed to a cross. Jesus became a curse for us as he was crucified. It is only because of this work, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection that we can have faith. That we can be united to him. That we can produce the good fruit for which we have been redeemed.

Let me finish with these words from Paul to the church in Galatia:

Galatians 3:10–14 · ESV

¹⁰For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” ¹¹Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” ¹²But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” ¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— ¹⁴so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.