Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
Matthew 21:18, 19
Certain fig trees produce fruit before leaves. If you see a fig tree with leaves, you expect to find fruit, because the fruit comes first. A fig tree with leaves and no fruit is useless, and it doesn't satisfy anyone's hunger.
The fig tree represented Israel. God had given His people every opportunity to produce the fruit of righteous faith, but they didn't. They looked good on the outside. They were religious. They had a fancy temple and wore beautiful robes. They had a polished religious system, but they had one problem. They didn't produce any good fruit. When Jesus the Messiah came, they rejected Him. When John the Baptist and Jesus preached the Gospel and demanded that Israel show fruit of repentance, they stiffened their necks in pride. What could be done with such a "tree"? The only option was to kill it and start over. That generation was rejected, just like the fig tree, and God started a new dispensation.
We aren't Israel. The New Testament Church isn't Israel. This story isn't about God replacing Israel with the Church. It isn't about God destroying everyone who isn't producing righteous fruit as they should; however, there is an application for everyone in this story.
Do you claim to be a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ? If so, are you letting Him produce His fruit of righteousness through you? Is there an area of my life or yours where God wants to trim, cutback, cultivate, and plant so that we'll produce more fruit (John 15:1-7)?
Has God been convicting you about an area of your life? Has His Spirit, through His Word, been encouraging you to produce good fruit? Has He been telling you to stop a certain attitude, action, or aspiration and to start producing good fruit instead? Are you listening? Am I?
It was time for Israel to produce fruit. God had given her every advantage, but she wanted to do things her way, and it cost that generation dearly. It's time for you and me to let God's Spirit produce righteous fruit through us. It's time to stop being bitter, lazy, self-focused, faithless, etc. It's time to forgive, to be diligent, to put others first, to stop fearing and start resting in the fear of the Lord.
"He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked." I John 2:6
I wish I could say that the only hypocrites and carnal people I've worked with belonged to secular, lost society, but that would be a lie. I've known many self-righteous, lazy, nasty people who claim the name of Jesus Christ. It's time to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Ro. 13:12).
Don't be discouraged. Jesus came to the "religious" of His day and found nothing but leaves. They looked healthy on the outside, but they had nothing of substance to offer. You'll find that to be the case often to this very day. People you expect to be mature spiritually often are not. People from whom you should be able to take an example for good often do better teaching by negative example. God isn't looking for rank, titles, seniority, or charisma. He's looking for fruit. He's looking for substance. The good news is, He'll produce it in ANYONE who is a believer in Christ and who is submitted to the Spirit which lives inside every believer.
Is God telling you it's time to start producing fruit in a certain area? Make a choice to start now.
