Sunday Sermon
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Morning Service Dec 9th.
Matthew 21:18-22
V18 - Jesus was hungry. In need of food. Shows he
was a fully physical being.
V19 - by his word the fig tree withers.
V20 - the disciples are amazed at what has just
happened. They marvelled.
V21,22 - Jesus noting their reaction takes the
opportunity to teach.
V22, three points: pray / believe / receive.
Jesus teaches again on prayer.
Is Jesus being literal? No. He is saying the
withering of the fig tree was nothing. Through
prayer you can do totally amazing things! Like - but
not literally - uprooting mountains!
What are the mountains in your life? Anything
that by your own strength it would be impossible
to change / move! Or that by your own strength
there would be much stress, worry and trouble
but little or no change!
So that is what mountains are; the important
thing to ask now is: How do you move mountains?
1) pray. What is prayer in this context? “whatever
you ask for.” Prayer is asking God.
aivte,w ask,
request; require, demand
Asking is communication. It is using language.
Speaking is the key to the physical universe.
The world was created as God spoke.
And it is held together by the word of God.
Hebrews 1:3 3 The Son is the
radiance of God's glory and the exact
representation of his being, sustaining all
things by his powerful word.
Speaking also is the key to the Spiritual world!
Speaking is the key to prayer. Jesus simply
spoke to the fig tree and it withered!
We simply ask God, speak to God and we are
praying.
No need for mystical experiences. No need for
high emotions. No need for long quoting from
scripture. No need for intonated voice. No need
for continual repetition etc.
Jesus said all you need to do was “say to
this mounting, Go….” Not get out the wheelbarrow
and shovel and start shifting soil!
Luke 11:13 13 If you then, though
you are evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your Father in
heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask
him!"
Application: what would you have said prayer
was?
When you pray what is it you imagine you are doing?
Prayer is asking / communicating with God!
But not everybody can pray! Something is required in
our asking:
2) belief.
We need to believe.
V21 “if you have faith and do not doubt”
V22 “If you believe”
You need to have faith / belief to pray.
To understand what that is, we need to consider it
in opposition to “doubt”.
diakri,nw
doubt, hesitate; dispute, debate, take issue.
Doubting is wondering if something is really true.
In this case we wonder if the nature of prayer is
really true. Is it as simple as “asking”
A child can ask, isn’t there something more that a
sophisticated adult can do!
Believing then is taking Gods word on it. No need
for signs or further consideration!
Believing is believing in the very nature of prayer
and the universe.
Prayer is a reflection of the way things work in the
kingdom of God - and we are asked to simply believe
that!
Application:
This is something you need to do!
God respects your human nature and he will not force
you to believe!
Forcing belief is an abuse of power and is
manipulation. God does not operate in that way. We
should not try to force belief on others either!
We are simply asked to believe! The decision
is ours.
3) receive.
The “whatever” and the “receive” need some
explaining!
Jesus was hungry. But he did not ask for food!
So obviously this does not mean that we start to
treat God like giant Tesco Extra in the sky!
Jesus is not preaching a prosperity gospel.
He was encouraging the disciples to pray!
And that is the point! We need to be in prayer!
That is what the verse tells us “whatever you ask
for in prayer”! Being ‘in prayer’ conditions
what we ask for to the whole revelation of God and
life in the Kingdom!
This assumes a living relationship with God in
the kingdom. So that our prayer life is not an
add on, but simply part of our living and
breathing.
We don’t just start to pray when we come up
against a problem or find we have a need! Of
course a life of prayer can be given a kick
start by this kind of situation.
When being “in prayer” becomes the very way we
live then we will get to know the “receiving of
whatever”! We will be asking for whatever the
Spirit is leading us to ask for. We will be
asking according to the will of the Father!
Thus, we will be receiving.
Conclusion:
All the time we need to see Jesus is encouraging us
to join in the Kingdom enterprise.
He wants disciples. He wants us to have life’s of
power and prayer.
Hew wants us to be asking and receiving. Being
productive.
So this verse is a great challenge to us!
Are we living to the full as disciples?
Can we say we receive whatever we ask for in
prayer?
Do amazing things happen when you pray? Do
mountains move?
If not, let us do all we can to get right with
Jesus so that we can start operating properly in
the Kingdom.
Tonight we will see how we go about that.
evening service Dec 9th
Mat 21v43 43 "Therefore
I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken
away from you and given to a people who will produce
its fruit.
1) Why was the KofG taken away -
because the people rejected Jesus! Did not produce
the fruit - fig tree v19.
Original context. The Jews, like the fig tree,
had not produced the fruit that they were
supposed to.
Fig tress before harvest time start to produce
little edible figs, first fruits! The fig tree
Jesus looked at for these first fruits had none!
Thus the curse.
So it was with the Jews. They had been given all
they needed to produce first fruits - but there
was none!
Even when john the Baptist came and called them
to repent they did not!
Matthew 3:7-10 7 But when he saw
many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to
where he was baptising, he said to them: "You
brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the
coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in
keeping with repentance. 9 And do not
think you can say to yourselves, `We have
Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of
these stones God can raise up children for
Abraham. 10 The axe is already at the
root of the trees, and every tree that does not
produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown
into the fire.
The Jews had claimed to be true sons by simply
using the right words - like the first son in
the story!
But their words were not followed by action! By
fruit!
Because of that the kingdom was taken from them.
Application:
We need to also be wary of the danger of simply
saying the right words, without the right practices!
What God, throughout the whole of scripture, craves
from his children is obedience in action.
There is a real danger of thinking that all we
need to have is the correct doctrine, the right
words and everything will be ok!
It may make us feel good about ourselves, it may
make us accepted into the religious community.
But if all we have is words we are lost!
2) Who will it be given to - the
people who love Jesus and accept Him as Messiah.
This next point is all about the great good news
that Jesus came to bring.
He tells us that the kingdom is open to any type of
person.
V31 - the very bad people can enter the kingdom “the
tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the
kingdom of God ahead of you.”
This is why Jesus was so popular - he did not
require certain moral standards for entrance into
the Kingdom!
These people were the real outcasts from society.
The tax collectors were the traitors. Hated by all!
The prostitutes were the morally bankrupt. Had no
chance of salvation.
Yet Jesus accepted them!
Today we could say the equivalent are the
terrorists and the paedophiles!!
Jesus took people as they were upon the first
encounter!
As we will go on to see he never wanted them to stay
were they were!
Jesus in his love always wanted the best for the
people he met!
The very availability of the kingdom that Jesus
taught was also the reason for His great
unpopularity.
Those already part of the establishment of God on
earth were not happy!
Their pride in who they were and their privileged
position was taken away if any could enter
the kingdom! They were threatened!
Thus v46 - they started planning how to get Jesus!
Application:
Do we extend the offer of coming into the Kingdom to
everyone?
If the church began to fill with the outcasts of
society, would we rejoice in the grace of God or
rebel against the grace of God?
There is something wrong with the Gospel we preach
if the only message people are hearing is that only
good people go to church!
The next thing this leads us to is this:
3) What are we part of the Kingdom for? -
fruit production. Glorifying Jesus.
Fruit is a much used NT image.
Used positively for good fruit and negatively for
bad fruit.
The point is: in Gods kingdom we are to be
productive in every way. Through the new birth we
have been made like good trees - capable of
producing good fruit.
It is in our nature to be productive. We are good
trees!
The type of fruit is obvious - many NT lists,
see practical part of Paul’s letters.
Hospitality, loving enemies etc.
But to focus on the end result of the fruit,
could lead to legalism, and deadening burdens.
Our aim is not to be better at the end product.
Rather we need to focus on the process of
production. The end will take care of itself if
the process is right. We “will produce it’s
fruit”.
A good tree will produce good fruit as a bad
tree will produce bad fruit!
So how do we produce good fruit?
After this morning you will not be surprised to
hear that it is all about - word!
Hearing the word and understanding it leads to
production! Matthew 13:23 “But the one
who received the seed that fell on good soil is
the man who hears the word and understands it.
He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or
thirty times what was sown."
Just as prayer is all about communication, so is
the process of production!
We keep communicating with God, through the word
of the bible that leads us to the living Word,
Jesus Christ!
The function of the written word is to lead us
to the living Word.
That is the fruit that is looked for at the end
of the day. Does this person accept and bring
glory to Jesus? Does this person know Jesus
more, Love more, Obey more?
Application:
Do you want to produce fruit?
Read and study the bible and through it grow in
love for Jesus. The fruit will naturally follow!
Don’t worry about the fruit. Just keep close to
Jesus. It is really as plain and simple as that!
Conclusion:
The kingdom is open to all. But for life in the
kingdom fruit must be produced.
The prostitute cannot remain a prostitute, nor the
terrorist a terrorist.
For most of us who haven’t been caught up in these
more obvious sins we cannot remain static either! We
are to grow and produce! Yes it will take time, yes
there may be times of underproduction, but
the over all picture must be one of change in the
right direction! Abide in Him.
Life in the Kingdom is all about an Abundant Life
seen through answered prayer and overflowing
fruitfulness.
Don’t settle for anything less!