All Leaves and No Fruit

I think it continues to be the primary dividing line between Protestant and Catholic and even Orthodox faith.

How are we saved? And what is the relationship between our faith and our works? All right, is that question and the relationship between faith and works, I think is part of what Jesus is untangling for us here throughout this text.

As he's gonna use this image of producing fruit and you're gonna hear consistently issues of faith and belief or unbelief throughout our passage.

That's really the uniting thread between these maybe seemingly four disconnected stories is this understanding of belief and faith.

If you look at verse 21, you see Jesus talk about having faith.

down in verse 22 talks about if you believe the chief priest and the elders were concerned about this question about john the baptist because they said well if we saved from heaven why didn't we believe him have faith in him and then the parable of the two sons the final issue jesus concludes in verse 32 is that these tax collectors and prostitutes did believe john the baptist in his gospel in his message But they didn't change their minds and believe.

Belief, faith is a thread throughout all of this.

And our understanding and relationship between our faith and our works is that that faith, real saving faith, is what justifies us and saves us alone.

It's not anything we do to add to the pile.

It's not anything we do to impress God.

We don't come and say, okay, Jesus, I believe in you and look at all the stuff I've done.

Haven't I been good enough to be accepted? It is by faith alone.

And we count everything else on our resume, like Paul does in Philippians 3, as garbage, trash, so that we may gain Christ and know Him.

We're justified by faith alone.

Now that faith gives us this new heart, these new roots in our life, and those new roots will produce fruit in our life.

That's the relationship between faith and fruit.

One saves...

The other demonstrates.

It shows what kind of tree it is.

And if you want a different fruit, you don't need to work to change the fruit.

You need to work to change the tree.

You need different fruits there at the bottom.

And that's what Jesus is getting at here.

He brings this judgment on this fig tree here at the very beginning.

I think it's a picture of what he's coming to do and what he's coming to judge is individuals that have all leaves but no fruit.