28 Aug Mark 28: Have faith in God

Mark 11:12-25

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

¹⁵ And 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. ¹⁶ And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ And 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.” ¹⁸ And 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. ¹⁹ And when evening came they went out of the city.

²⁰ As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 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 that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 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.”

I don’t know how and when it began, but we have a virus spreading wildly among women in this church. It is called the plant-loving virus. Let me confess that I know nothing about plants, and I have no interest in plants. But I paid enough attention in biology class to know that growth takes time. If you plant a tree tonight, you will not have a huge, big tree growing in your yard tomorrow morning. It takes time for a plant to grow. You must water it and nurture it for some time. Some even said that you must talk to your plants daily for them to grow well. I think that’s weird but there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And I also know that it takes time for a plant to decay. A plant doesn’t wither overnight. It takes a natural process where the leaves of the plant start to die, and the plant slowly disintegrates. And if you have the plant-loving virus, you might not like this passage. Because in this passage, we find Jesus curses a plant and the very next day the plant is rotten to its roots. So, the plant does not disintegrate slowly but almost immediately. Why did he do that? We will look at it together.

Let me give you the context first. This passage contains one of the most perplexing narratives in the gospels. Everything that we have seen of Jesus has been a miracle of transformation or restoration. We have seen the blind receive sight, the leper cleansed, the sick healed, the multitude fed, the storm stilled, and the dead raised. But this miracle is very different. The cursing of a fig tree is the only miracle of destruction recorded in the gospels. It is very interesting. I don’t know about you, but I never heard a sermon preached on this passage. It is a difficult passage to preach. And in order to understand the narrative properly, we need to read it in its context. If you remember last week’s sermon, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, he went into the temple. He looked around and noticed what the temple had become. He was angered by what he saw, and he wanted to do something about it. But it was already late. So, he went home and decided to deal with it the next day. And in our today’s passage, Jesus is on his way back to the temple and he sees a fig tree. Then he goes to the temple. And the conclusion of the fig tree story is given after the temple story. So, the temple story is sandwiched between the fig tree stories. Why? Because Jesus is using the fig tree to teach very important lessons to the disciples and us. And we can only understand the lessons of the fig tree if we know what happens in the temple. Let’s look at it together.

I have three points for my sermon: The tree; The temple; The lesson.

The tree

Mark 11:12-14 – ¹² On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. ¹³ And 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. ¹⁴ And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

So here is the question. Why is Jesus angry at the fig tree? Is Jesus having a bad messiah day? Is it that time of the month? Many secular scholars use this story to attack Jesus’ characters. They say, “Why would Jesus curse an innocent tree? Okay, he is hungry. So, when he sees a fig tree, he expects to find some fruits. But he finds none. So, Jesus is not only hungry but “hangry.” But it is not the season for figs. He can’t curse the fig tree for not producing fruit when it is not the season for figs. And it is such a waste of supernatural power to curse an innocent plant. This is not a behaviour of a righteous man, let alone the Son of God.” They equate Jesus to a spoiled brat who throws a tantrum for not getting his way. It is certainly a challenge for us to understand why Jesus curses a fig tree. However, they miss an important fact. Though it is not yet the season for figs, there are other fruits that fig trees produced. There are two kinds of fruit that fig trees bore. One is the one they produce at its season, and the other is one they produced before its season. As the leaves are starting to come, before the figs come, the tree produces little knobs called “paggim.” The tree’s branches are filled with paggims and hungry travellers love to pick them off and eat them as they are travelling. The presence of leaves shows that the fig tree is supposed to have paggims. So, Jesus sees a fig tree in leaf, and he walks over to it expecting to find some paggims. But he finds none. So, what we have is a tree with the sign of fruit but has no fruit. The fig tree has an appearance of fruitfulness but is actually barren. And Jesus curses the tree.

So, why does Jesus curse the tree? If you read the Old Testament, a fig tree was used as a metaphor for the status of the people of Israel before God. So, when Jesus sees a fig tree that has the appearance of fruitfulness but has no fruit, Jesus uses it as an object that illustrated the sin of the people of Israel, which is the sin of hypocrisy. Now, let’s be clear. One of the top objections people have toward Christianity is that the church is filled with hypocrites. They say that they are turned off by Christianity because they know many Christians who do not live out their profession. So, let’s be honest. The church is full of sinners. In fact, the church is the only organization in the world that requires a person to be a sinner in order to join it. However, listen. While all hypocrites are sinners, not all sinners are hypocrites. We need to be clear on this. It is unfair for people to say, “Oh Yosi is a Christian and I saw him sin during the week. Therefore, Yosi is a hypocrite.” That is not fair. If I claim I am not a sinner and you see me sinning, I am guilty of hypocrisy. But if you see me do something sinful that I never claimed I do not do, I am a sinner, but I am not a hypocrite. There is a difference between a sinner and a hypocrite. Christians never claim to be sinless. Christians are righteous sinners. We are sinners who are made righteous not because of our own performance but Jesus’ perfect performance. We are sinners who are growing to be more like Jesus every day. We never claim to be sinless. And a church is a #HomeForTheImperfect. It is where sinners gather to worship and grow together. It is never about perfection but progression. In any case, when Jesus curses the fig tree, he is addressing the sin of hypocrisy. The fig tree gives the appearance of fruitfulness but has no fruit. Jesus uses the fig tree as a trailer for what’s coming. Let’s continue the story.

The temple

Mark 11:15-19 – ¹⁵ And 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. ¹⁶ And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ And 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.” ¹⁸ And 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. ¹⁹ And when evening came they went out of the city.

When Jesus comes to Jerusalem, he enters the Herodian temple. Bear in mind, that the temple is the centre of the Jewish religion. It is the dwelling place of God. It is the place that God has assigned for him to meet his people. It is the house of God. And when we walk into the temple, the first area we enter is called the court of gentiles. It is the largest section of the temple. It is the only place where the non-Jews could go. The other sections of the temple are reserved only for the Jews and priests. In other words, if non-Jews want to worship the God of Israel in the temple, the court of gentiles is the only place to do so. But when Jesus enters the court of gentiles, he is furious. Why? Because the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders that oversee the temple, have turned the court of gentiles into a marketplace for commercial purposes.

Let me explain. During the Passover celebration, Jews from all over the world would come to Jerusalem. The population of the city would grow to ten times the normal size. It is their biggest celebration of the year. They come to Jerusalem to make their sacrifices. And the sacrificial animals need to be healthy and without blemish. So, rather than bringing their animals through the long trip, many people would prefer to buy them when they get to Jerusalem. And the Sanhedrin see this as an opportunity to make big money. They have people selling animals for sacrifices and money changers for exchanging money to buy the animals. And they markup the price. Some estimate that they charged up to 16 times the normal price for the animals and they charged outrageous fees for the currency exchange. And the Jewish historian Josephus tells us that in one Passover, 225,000 lambs are bought, sold, and sacrificed in the temple courts. The Sanhedrin makes so much money out of it. It is a massive financial gain. Can you see how corrupted the system is? And not only that, but now the court of gentiles is extremely crowded with people. Imagine what it must have been like inside the court of gentiles. It is like going to vivid on a Saturday night. It is a sea of people. I get a headache just looking at the picture of the crowd. And now imagine trying to worship God in that crowd. The only thing you could do in that situation is to buy the animal, offer the sacrifice, go through the rituals, and get out. There is no space to meet with God.

So, let’s put the pieces together. Jesus enters the temple expecting to find worship. He sees the crowds. He sees the activities. But he finds no worship. And instead of helping people worship God, the religious leaders turned the temple into a marketplace, and they make a huge financial gain out of people’s quest for God. When Jesus sees it, he is furious. He drives out the merchants and overturns tables. This is the only time we see Jesus in an act of violence. And look at what Jesus says. Mark 11:17 – And 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.” Jesus is quoting Isaiah 56 where the temple is supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations. The temple is supposed to bless all nations, including gentiles. But now, the only place where gentiles can worship God in the temple has become a corrupted place for commercial gain. It has become a den of robbers where they make a lot of money. It is no longer possible for the gentiles to worship God in the temple. That is why Jesus is furious.

And when religious leaders hear what happened, they want to kill Jesus. But they cannot do anything for now because the crowd are astonished at Jesus’ teaching. But the stage for Jesus’ death is set. It is one thing to upset the Pharisees in the countryside, it is something else to take on the religious leaders at their headquarters. So, don’t miss the connection between the fig tree and the temple. Just like the fig tree has an appearance of fruitfulness but has no fruit, the temple has an appearance of livelihood but has no life. The worship in the temple has become an exercise of hypocrisy. Jesus comes to the centre of religious life looking for prayerfulness and fruitfulness and discovers neither. The temple has an appearance of worship but has no worship.

So, what does it mean for us? This passage gives us two strong warnings. First, there is a difference between church for people and church for profit. Church for people has a passion for the lost. Church for people has a passion for the glory of God. But church for profit has a passion for money and personal glory. We must be careful of this. It is a sad reality that many ministries are done for money. Of course, it takes money to run a church. It is not free. There is a cost that must be paid for this church to run well. We need to pay for the electricity, water, strata, maintenance, equipment, mission, and also, my salary. I love Jesus but I also need money from the church to live. And I will continue to encourage you to support the church and all the pastors through your financial giving. I am not ashamed of it. But listen. The church is not ultimately a place to make a profit. Jesus is not a commodity, and the gospel is not for sale. The church is a place for people to worship God, not a place to take financial advantage of people. We do not take advantage of people’s desire to worship God and make money out of it. So, I do not go to this pulpit and say, “God has revealed to me tonight that there are ten people who will give a thousand dollars. Who are you? Let me see your hand. I see one hand. God bless you, brother. We have one thousand dollars. Nine thousand dollars to go. There are nine of you who are resisting God right now.” This is manipulation. The church is a house of prayer for all nations. The church’s primary focus is to worship God and reach the lost. It also means that we must be careful in doing many things as a church, very active in all kinds of religious activities, but has no real encounter with God. If we do, we are simply a religion of externals who looks good on the outside but rotten on the inside. It is hypocrisy. This is the first warning.

The second warning is very personal and frightening. And I think Jesus intends it to be frightening. It is this. There is a difference between fruitful Christians and busy Christians. This struck me. It is very possible for people to have an appearance of Christians but not the fruit of Christians. And this kind of Christianity is useless. It is hypocrisy. And Jesus curses it. This text requires us to examine our hearts. Jesus is saying to us, “It’s good that you come to church every Sunday. It’s good that you join MC once a week. It’s good that you are involved in ministry. It’s good that you are busy serving in the church. But I want more than just busyness. I want more than just activity. I want your fruits. I want to see characters.” In other words, get this. Jesus wants more than busyness; he wants the kind of character change that only comes from a real heart change. So, are your characters changing? If you are an anxious person, can people around you see that you are trusting in God more and more? If you are an angry person, is it clear to people around you that you are growing in patience? If you are a stingy person, can people around you see that you become more generous? If you are a self-centred person, is it clear to people around you that you think less about yourself and more about others? Is it clear to people around you that you are changing and growing in your character? Or are you just very busy with church activities? Is your life like the fig tree that has the appearance of fruitfulness but has no fruit? Is your life like the temple that is extremely crowded but has no prayer? Examine your hearts. Because men look at appearance, but God looks at the heart.

The lesson

Mark 11:20-25 – ²⁰ As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 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 that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 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.”

So, the next day Jesus and the disciples walk past the fig tree again and the fig tree is withered to its roots. The tree is fully decayed in a single day. And Peter says, “Jesus, look at that fig tree you cursed yesterday. It is totally destroyed.” Jesus probably replies, “Peter, tell me something I don’t know.” And then Jesus uses this moment to teach the disciples three important lessons. The first lesson is on the power of faith. The disciples are amazed at the fact that the tree withered to its root in a day. And Jesus says, “Have faith in God.” So, Jesus is very clear from the get-go. He does not say, “Have faith in yourself.” Or “Have faith in the church.” He says, “Have faith in God.” God is the object of faith. Why is it important to have faith in God? Mark 11:23 – 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 that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Okay, pause. Let me be crystal clear. If you expect a literal fulfilment of this promise, you will be disappointed. So, if you go home tonight, and you decide, “You know what, I am inspired by Yosi’s sermon. I am going to put Jesus’ word into practice. I never liked Blue Mountain and the three sisters. It always bothers me. So, I am going to command Blue Mountain to be moved and thrown into the sea”, guess what? Nothing is going to happen. Blue Mountain will be where it always is. It does not matter how much faith you have, you will be disappointed. Jesus does not expect the disciples to actually move the mountain in front of them.

So, what lesson is Jesus giving the disciples? Jesus is giving them a lesson on the power of faith. Jesus wants the disciples to have an audacious faith, faith that dares to believe the impossible. Jesus is using the mountain as hyperbole to represent what appears to be impossible and immovable. The disciples are awestruck at Jesus’ power to destroy a fig tree in a day. They say, “What kind of power is this?” Jesus replies, “It is the kind of power that can do the impossible if you have faith in God.” And that’s what faith is. Faith is the opposite of doubt. Faith is the opposite of fear. Faith is choosing to trust God despite everything to the contrary. Jesus clearly says that if we have faith in God, we can do the impossible. I know what some of you are thinking right now. “Oh no, my pastor has lost it. He has turned to the dark side. He has become one of those TV preachers.” I can assure you I haven’t. I understand the pull in our hearts that says, “Yes, but…” However, we should not minimize the force of what Jesus is saying. One author puts it this way. He says, “Jesus wants us to believe in a God who is too wise to make mistakes, who is too kind to be cruel, and who is too powerful to be subjugated to the normal forces of the natural universe.” Let me put it in a very simple way for us. God wants to do things for us that are incredible and seem impossible.

The Bible is full of wonderful stories that communicate that God is able to do the impossible. Let me share with you two stories. First, is the story of an old man by the name of Abraham. Abraham was an old man with an old wife. And God promised Abraham that he would become a father. Abraham believed God and hold on to God’s promise, despite the fact that he was not getting any younger. And with each passing day, it became more and more unlikely that he would become a father. In fact, from a human’s perspective, there is no way that he going to become a father. Abraham’s old body was as good as dead. He was a hundred years old, and his wife was ninety years old. Translation: It was not going to happen. He didn’t have what it takes to do it. No pill could help him. It’s too late. But look at what Paul said in Romans 4:20-21 – ²⁰ No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹ fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. So, even though the situation was impossible, Abraham chose to trust in God’s promise. He knew that nothing is impossible for God. And Isaac was born. This is faith.

Some of you might say, “But that is the Old Testament. God does things differently in the New Testament.” Okay, let me give you the second story. One day, Peter and John walked into the temple, and they saw a beggar who was lame from birth. The beggar said, “Do you have anything for me?” And Peter probably thought, “Okay, I am going to try this faith mountain thing. Jesus said, ‘there can be miracles when you believe.’ Wait, is that Jesus or Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston? Anyway, let me give it a try.” So, he said to the beggar, “I have no silver and gold…” And the lame beggar probably thought, “Oh well, this is disappointing.” But Peter was not finished. Peter continued to say, “Silver and gold I have none. But in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” This was absurd. Peter commanded a man lame from birth, a man who had never used his feet for more than 40 years, to get up and walk. And suddenly the unexplainable happened. Immediately the feet and the ankles of the lame man were made strong. This man had never walked his entire life. There was no strength whatsoever in his feet and ankles. For us to be able to use our feet properly, we need to train them. Just like a baby. A baby needs to learn how to walk slowly. There is a step-by-step process to it. We don’t learn how to walk overnight. We must train our feet to walk. But at Peter’s words, immediately the feet and ankles of this man were strengthened. The man who was lame from birth suddenly found himself walking and jumping. This is faith. Faith is trusting that God is able to do beyond our capacity to even imagine. Faith is believing that we can say to a mountain, “Be thrown into the sea,” and it will happen. Faith believes and does the impossible.

The second lesson is on the importance of prayer. Pay attention to what Jesus says in verse 24. Mark 11:24 – Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And once again, there is a little voice in some of us, “Yes, but…” I am not saying those buts are invalid, but I want us to sit and enjoy Jesus’ word for a minute. Jesus says, “Whatever you ask in prayer…” One time, Jesus taught his disciples and said, “Is there any father who will give a serpent to his children who ask for bread? And if you, being evil, know how to give a good gift to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those that ask him?” Jesus is giving us permission to ask God for good things. Here is the truth. We can never out-ask God. God owns everything. It doesn’t mean we are going to get everything, but we can ask him for whatever. In fact, James tells us that oftentimes the reason we do not have is that we do not ask. Or when we ask, we ask with the wrong motive, to please ourselves. And here is something that the Bible tells us. When we have faith in God and his power, our will is no longer centred around us; Our will is centred on God and his purpose. So that means when we pray and ask, it is not about attempting to get God to change his will for us; it is about a passionate pursuit to see God’s will accomplished in and through us.

How do I know? Because that’s what we see in the garden of Gethsemane. Listen to Jesus’ prayer. Mark 14:35-36 – ³⁵ And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. ³⁶ And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Notice two things about Jesus’ prayer. He says, “Father, all things are possible for you.” Jesus has no doubt whatsoever in God’s ability. Jesus has the faith that moves a mountain. He asks God to remove the cup from him, which points to the suffering he must endure on the cross. Jesus is fully convinced that God can do it. But we know that Jesus eventually suffers and dies on the cross. Why? Does Jesus not have faith? Of course, he does. But Jesus continues, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” This is the prayer of faith. Do you see the balance? On one side, Jesus has absolute confidence in God’s power. “Father, everything is possible for you. I know you can do it.” On the other side, Jesus has complete submission to God’s will. “Not what I will but what you will. I surrender my want to your want.” Jesus has total confidence in God’s power to do the impossible and complete submission to God’s will over his will. He doesn’t try to change God’s will, but he trusts God to accomplish the impossible in and through him. And when God does not do what he asks, it is not because he does not have enough faith. It is because God in his sovereignty has decided something better. And it is because God says no to Jesus that we are saved today.

So, what Jesus does is he is encouraging his disciples and us to trust God and ask God for whatever we need for doing God’s work. Just like Jesus curses the fig tree and it immediately withered to its roots, we can also believe God for the impossible and ask God for it. And whatever is according to his will, God will do it without fail. Alistair Begg puts it this way. “Those who trust God for the right things in the right way may have confidence that God will always make the right response.”

The third lesson is on the necessity of forgiveness. Mark 11:25 – 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.” I have heard it said that refusal to forgive others is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. The more we refuse to forgive others, the more it brings death to us. Unforgiveness is poison dipped in honey. It tastes sweet when we swallow it, but it kills us from the inside. It makes us rotten. But faith in God makes us fruitful. On the surface, it seems like Jesus is saying, “If you do not forgive other people of their wrongdoings, then God will also not forgive you of your wrongdoings.” But this is not what Jesus is saying. Remember that Scripture must interpret Scripture. The rest of the New Testament is clear that we can only forgive others because God has first forgiven us. However, this is a strong warning from Jesus. Remember that he is talking to his disciples. Jesus is not talking to strangers. He is talking to Christians. He is talking to us. Christians are those who already received forgiveness from God. And those who have been forgiven by God should forgive others. And if we do not forgive others, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us as well.

This is a wake-up call to many Christians. Listen. There is an unbreakable link between God’s forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of others. If we say that we have received forgiveness from God, but we are unable to forgive others, something is wrong. If we say that we forgive them with our mouths, but we hold a grudge toward them in our hearts, something is off. Let me put it another way. Our difficulty in forgiving others reflects our difficulty in receiving God’s forgiveness. If we are not able to forgive others, it shows that we have not been forgiven by God. There is no such thing as unforgiving Christians. If we have God’s forgiveness in us, forgiveness will flow out of us. Forgiving others is one of the surest ways we know that we have been forgiven by God. It is one of the clearest fruits of having faith in God. Unless we forgive others, it becomes clear that we have not been forgiven by God. It doesn’t matter how often we pray and how busy we are serving God, if we do not forgive others, we are hypocrites. And Jesus is telling us to check our fruits. Do we see the fruit of God’s grace in our lives? Or are we like the fig tree that has an appearance of fruitfulness but has no fruit? Are we like the temple that has an appearance of worship but has no worship? So, here is my question. Who is it that you need to forgive today? Stop being a hypocrite and break free by the power of the gospel. Let the gospel melt your heart and extend the forgiveness you have received from God toward them.

Let me end with this. Jesus is the one person in the universe who has perfect faith in God. He is a tree that bears many fruits. Jesus believes God for the impossible. Jesus surrenders to God in prayer. Jesus forgives those who sin against him. When the soldiers mocked and spat on Jesus at the cross, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He is the only person who always does what he says. There is not a hint of hypocrisy in his life. Yet he was cursed by God the Father, and he was rotten on the cross. Paul writes in Galatians that cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. Why did God the Father curse Jesus? Because Jesus took the curse that we deserved. He withered at the cross. So that when we have faith in God, we might receive the blessings that Jesus deserved. Jesus took the curse that we deserved so that by faith we might bear fruits. Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. What strikes you the most from this passage/sermon?
2. In your opinion, why do you think Jesus takes the sin of hypocrisy very seriously?
3. Why is it important to know the difference between busy Christians and fruitful Christians?
4. Look at the three lessons Jesus gives the disciples (faith, prayer, forgiveness). Which one stands out the most to you and why?
5. How does the gospel deal with the sin of hypocrisy and enable us to bear fruit?
6. Spend time asking God for “whatever” in prayer.