SPIRITUAL DIARY
FOR 10/16/2012 7:44:24 AM
My
Worship Time Focus: The
Servant-Judge PT-1
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Mark
11:12-14, 20-26
Message of the verses: In Today’s
Spiritual Diary we will look at a portion of the book of Mark, chapter
eleven. Dr. Wiersbe entitles this
section “The Servant-Judge and this entire section covers verses 12-26, but in
this SD we will look at a sub-point under this main point entitled “Cursing the
Fig Tree,” from the verses that we have listed above.
“12 On the
next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. 13 Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He
went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He
found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, "May no one ever eat
fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening.”
“20 As
they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the
roots up. 21 Being reminded, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree
which You cursed has withered." 22 And Jesus answered saying to them,
"Have faith in God. 23 "Truly
I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ’Be taken up and cast into the
sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going
to happen, it will be granted him. 24 “Therefore I say to you, all things for
which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be
granted you. 25 “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything
against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your
transgressions. 26 [["But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father
who is in heaven forgive your transgressions."]]” (The bracket section means that it is not in
all of the original text.)
As we look
at the title of the main point and the verses that it covers (12-26) we will
see that Jesus was judging the nation of Israel here for two reasons. As we look at the judgment of the tree we can
see that the nation of Israel was outwardly fruitless, as the tree had no fruit
on it neither did the nation of Israel produce any fruit for the Lord. In the fifteenth chapter of John we see Jesus
speaking about producing fruit and the way to produce fruit for the Lord is to
be connected to the vine which is Jesus Christ, and as we look at the timing of
the eleventh chapter of Mark we know that within less than a week the fruitless
Jews will crucify the Lord of Glory. In
the next section that is under this main point we will talk about Jesus
cleansing the temple and this speaks of the inward corruption of the Jewish
people. We will look at that more fully
in the next SD.
As we begin to examine this section we see that it was unusual
for Jesus to act as judge,
“’For God
did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world
might be saved through Him.’” However
we know that there comes a time when the Lord does have to Judge and this is
one of those times. There is another
thing in this section that we rarely see Jesus do and that is to destroy
something in nature like the tree. He
did allow the demons to go into the pigs so that they would be drowned in Mark
5:13. Why was this done? Dr. Wiersbe states that “He did it because He
wanted to teach us two important lessons.”
First
Lesson: The Lesson of Failure. I think that the first thing we should do
here is to understand from different passages from the Old Testament that the
Fig Tree was a symbol of the nation of Israel.
“I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as
the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to
Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, And they became as detestable as
that which they loved.” (Hosea 9:10) “All your fortifications are fig trees with
ripe fruit- When shaken; they fall into the eater’s mouth.” (Nahum 3:12)
“"I will surely snatch them away," declares the LORD;
"There will be no grapes on the vine And no figs on the fig tree, And the
leaf will wither; And what I have given them will pass away.’” (Jer. 8:13)
It is
interesting that in this passage from Mark that the tree died from the roots up
and that three years before that we read the following from the lips of John
the Baptist, “’The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore
every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the
fire.’” (Matthew 3:10) Dr. Wiersbe states “that whenever an
individual or a group ‘dries up’ spiritually, it is usually from the roots.”
One of the
things that we can learn from this section is that as believers we are to very
carefully cultivate our spiritual roots so that we produce fruit and not just
leaves. There is one phrase in this section
from verse thirteen that seemed to jump out at me the other day when I was
listening to this chapter and that is that “it was not the season for
figs.” I remember listening to a sermon
that included this story in it many years ago and the one giving the message
stated that if the fig tree had leaves on it then it should have had some figs
on it. Dr. Wiersbe states “The fig tree
produces leaves in March or April and then starts to bear fruit in June, with
another crop in August and possibility a third crop in December. The presence of leaves could mean the
presence of fruit, even though that fruit was ‘left over’ from the previous
season. It is significant that in this
instance Jesus did not have special knowledge to guide Him; He had to go to the
tree and examine things for Himself.” By
understanding these facts we can have a better idea of what Jesus is teaching
here.
Second Lesson: A
lesson on faith.
We see
this lesson taught in verses twenty-twenty-six.
If we were not careful we may have missed the first lesson as it may
seem that the lesson on faith is the only lesson that Jesus is teaching us
here. The next morning the disciples ask Jesus about the tree and His statement
was “have faith in God,” or constantly be trusting the Lord; continue to live
in an attitude of dependence on God.
In order
to understand the mindset of Israel when it comes to mountains we will look at
Zechariah 4:7, “’What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will
become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of
"Grace, grace to it!’” This mountain was a problem in the way, but
Zechariah says that it will become a plain, it will be moved and this is what
the Lord is using to teach in this lesson on faith.
Don’t we all have mountains to be moved in our lives? I think that the answer to that is yes, and
Jesus teaches us here that we are to be constantly connected to the Lord and to
pray. There is a similar lesson taught
in John chapter fifteen and that section also speaks about fruit, and it also
speaks about prayer. Dr. Wiersbe states
that “Prayer must be in the will of God (1John 5:14-15), and the one praying
must be abiding in the love of God (John 15:7-14). Prayer is not an emergency measure that we
turn to when we have a problem. Real prayer
is a part of our constant communion with God and worship of God.
“Nor should we interpret Mark 11:24 to mean ‘If you pray
hard enough and really believe, God
is obligated to answer your prayer, not matter what you ask.’ That kind of faith is not faith in God;
rather, it is nothing but faith in faith, or faith in feelings. True faith in God is based on His Word (John
15:7; Romans 10:17), and His Word reveals His will to us. It has well been said that the purpose of
prayer is not to get man’s
will done in heaven, but
to get God’s will done on earth.
“True
prayer involves forgiveness as well as faith.
I must be in fellowship with both my Father in heaven and my brethren on
earth if God is to answer my prayers (See Matt. 5:21-26; 6:14-15; 18:15-35). The first word in ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ is our---Our Father which art in
heaven.’ Though Christians may pray in
private, no Christian ever prays alone; for all of God’s people are part of a
worldwide family that unites to seek God’s blessing (Eph. 3:14-15). Prayer draws us together.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Staying in fellowship with God and other
believers is something I desire to do, although at times it is hard. “To live above with the saints we love, ah
that will be glory, but to live below with the saints we know, now that’s
another story.”
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to remain in the vine, and continue
to learn contentment.
Memory verses for the week:
1Cornthians 13:8-11
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy,
they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is
knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For
we know in part, and we prophecy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes the
partial will be done away. 11 When I was
a child I use to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child,
when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
10/16/2012 9:21:41 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment