Sermon Tone Analysis

*False Advertising*

*Around The Gate*

New Hope Baptist Church

February 27, 2005

9:30 a.m.

| And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.

Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.”

And at once the fig tree withered.

|

 

\\ Text:

Matt.

21:17-19

(NASB)

 

 

 

Luke 13:23, 24 (Supplemental Text)

 

Have you ever been the victim of false advertising?

Have you ever been promised something, or given the idea that something was real when in reality, it wasn’t?

We live in a world of super advertising Medias.

The media inundates our lives with their hype, with their promotions and publicity.

Any business expecting to make it in this buy- crazy world has to have a better than good public relations program.

Advertising is not cheap through the media.

The cost of a few seconds of airtime during a commercial for the Super Bowl costs millions of dollars.

The expected returns are great.

The one thing that is all-important in the world of advertising is truth.

Now, I don’t mean that advertisers always tell the truth, rather the truth or lack of it tells on their success in the end.

Most times companies tell some truth in advertising.

It’s like a contract that you can’t see, so you don’t read the fine print.

So many other times companies are sued and go bankrupt because they failed to live up to their promises.

Many times companies and~/or individuals get into trouble not only for what they say but for their perceived intent; for what it looks like they should deliver.

Unfortunately, advertising or *false Advertising* has taken its place within the church today.

An article in the Times last week told of the National Religious Broadcasters intent for churches to focus on technology to stay relevant.

They say the Gospel can be a multimedia message if churches will maximize their impact through the media by companies with slogans such as:  “Church websites the way God intended.”

The story is told of a stressed-out woman on a busy street, tailgating an honest man.

Suddenly, the light turns yellow, just in front of him.

He does the honest thing and stops at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman hits the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she misses her chance to get through the intersection with him.

As she is still in mid-rant, she hears a tap on her window and looks up into the face of a very serious police officer.

The officer orders her to exit her car with her hands up.

He takes her to the police station where she is searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell.

After a couple of hours, a policeman approaches the cell and opens the door.

She is escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer is waiting with her personal effects.

He says, “I’m very sorry for this mistake.

You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.

I noticed the “Choose Life” license plate holder, the “What Would Jesus Do” bumper sticker, the “Follow Me to Sunday School” bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk.”

“Naturally I assumed you had stolen the car.”

Such is the situation we will discover in our text today.

As we have read in Matthew’s Gospel, a fig tree failed to yield what was perceived to be available.

There are two backgrounds that I wish to share with you this morning:  One will deal with the events surrounding Jesus’ encounter with the fig tree; the other gives a little information on the fig tree itself.

In these brief backgrounds I will attempt to develop three distinctives about Jesus and some behaviors or signs of false advertising, and then I shall take my seat.

From the text today, we can see that:

*[1]* Jesus *hungers*

*[2]* He *hunts*; and

*[3] *He *hopes*.

We can also surmise that False advertisers typically: 

*[1] Make the biggest claims*

*[2] Lack substance, and*

*[3] Fail to stand up under the test of truth*

*Jesus Hungers*:

We know that during this time as penned in Matthew 21, it was the final period of time on earth for Jesus.

He had made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the donkey.

The crowds had spread branches on the road and followed Him shouting *“Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!*

As He entered the city, everyone was excited and sought to know who He was.

The crowds that had followed Him explained that He was the prophet Jesus from Nazareth.

Jesus had entered the temple grounds and drove out all who bought and sold and He turned over the tables and chairs.

Even in His frustration at the conditions that He found, He cured the blind and the lame that came to Him.  Everyone was happy and excited except the chief priests and the scribes who were indignant because He received so much attention, even from the children and the youth.

When His work there ended for the evening, He departed and went out of the city to Bethany to sleep.

He was likely exhausted and failed to eat anything before praying and going to sleep.

Now, Bethany was an area out from but connected to *Bethphage* at the Mount of Olives.

The name literally means “house of figs”.

The area was calm, serene and even romantic by our standards today.

Jesus could find sweet rest and sleep there.

He was tired and drained on that Sunday evening, and He slept without eating.

When He arose early the next morning, He prayed and started back into the city area.

It was then that He realized that He was *hungry*.

Here we see Jesus in His human form.

He was tired, distressed, and weary.

He had slept outside, and wept over Jerusalem.

On the way, perhaps on a hillside, He noticed a lone fig tree.

When you are hungry, you will notice things that you might not otherwise give full attention to.

When you are hungry and go into the kitchen, you will notice that last piece of lunchmeat that would taste good with that end piece of bread.

You will notice that apple in the back of the fridge that is beginning to wither.

That’s why we shouldn’t go shopping hungry; we are likely to purchase things that we don’t need.

When you are hungry, you notice things.

Jesus was hungry and that was one reason that He noticed that fig tree.

The botanical name for this type of fig tree is *ficus carica*.

A healthy fig tree would bear three crops over a ten-month period.

The major crop comes from August until winter.

During the second crop, there are green figs that are produced during the winter and remain until the beginning of spring.

Then there are the first ripe figs.

These stay on the tree through the winter and spring, ripening in summer from June on.

These were the much sought after, most delicious and flavorful figs.

The fig tree that Jesus saw was truly amazing.

It was during the Passover week in mid-April, and there was this fig tree in full bloom.

It was full of leaves in April, which is the second reason Jesus noticed the fig tree.

You see, the amazing thing to know about fig trees is how they differ from every other tree.

Generally, a tree will bloom with flowers and~/or leaves first, and then the fruit will follow.

A fig tree is just the opposite.

The fruit comes first on a fig tree, then the leaves.

So, when Jesus saw the fig tree full of leaves, it should have been full of fruit also.

Even though it was not its season, even though it was not time for the ripened fruit to be in full bloom, the tree was advertising great things.

It was publicizing a product to satisfy His hunger.

It was full of leaves, so its hype was strong.