Fruitlessness Leads to Cursing

03 June 2018 Michael Cloete Malelane Baptist Church Fruitlessness Leads to Cursing Reading: Mark 11:12-26 “The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. When evening came, they went out of the city. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”” (Mark 11:12–26, NIV84) Mark 11:26 (NASB95): 26“But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.” Introduction Sometimes you come to a passage, and it leaves you just a little bit bewildered as to the meaning and intent of the passage! This is certainly a passage that is not all that easy to understand. It raises all sorts of interesting questions in our minds. In our day of nature lovers (tree-huggers) perhaps they will be perturbed at the fact that Jesus was prepared to just curse the poor fig tree that wasn’t growing any figs. But the fact is that there are some very important lessons for us to learn from this encounter, if we will careful consider the text in its context, and in light of broader Scripture. By way of introduction, just to emphasize where precisely we’re going with this passage, I want to suggest that our lives as Christians need to be marked by fruitfulness. There needs to be an evidence of the working of Christ in our hearts if we are truly to be considered God’s children / people. Our lives, if we claim to be Christians, are to be lives that are lived by faith, which thus bear fruit. Without those two combined aspects, we have no claim to be in Christ, and our so-called faith is futile and worthless. 1. Fruitlessness Cursed As we begin our study in this text, we will begin by considering it under the point “Fruitlessness Cursed”. Our section in Mark’s Gospel begins in verse 12, as Jesus and the disciples awake in the morning and leave Bethany and head towards Jerusalem. You will recall that this is the week running up to the Passover Feast that they are in. They arrived the previous day in Jerusalem, walked to the temple and looked around, and then went out to Bethany (about 3km away) to spend the night. Bethany is where they will be sleeping. But they will make trips into Jerusalem from Bethany. And so, having slept in Bethany for the night (Sunday night going into Monday morning), Jesus and the disciples arise, and they head out on the road again towards Jerusalem. And so, in verse 12 we read: “The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.” (Mark 11:12, NIV84) As Jesus is walking this route back towards Jerusalem, he becomes hungry. Then in verse 13 – 14 we read: “Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.” (Mark 11:13, NIV84) “Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.” (Mark 11:14, NIV84) Well as we come to these verses, we may wonder to ourselves if Jesus is becoming slightly edgy. Perhaps all the pressure and stress of his approaching death that He’s been speaking to His disciples about is making him to be stressed out and irritable. And now He takes out his frustrations on a fig tree that doesn’t have a meal for Him. Is that what’s happening? Well of course not!! Jesus is not acting in some irrational or moody manner. That kind of way of doing things has never formed a part of Christ’s actions, irrespective of what has been going on at the time. Throughout His life, Christ has always acted and conducted Himself in a consistent manner of impeccable character. He has shown Himself always to be gentle and kind, showing compassion and care to all, even when knowing full well the threat that faces His own life. And as we continue to look at this Gospel we will continue to see how Christ always operates and works in this manner. Certainly, Christ is not without emotion, and He certainly faces very real struggles and strains. But at the end of the day, He never lashes out in some out of control fashion as is typical of us, and He certainly doesn’t use this situation as an opportunity to vent some of his pent-up anger! So, what then is taking place here? And what prompts this particular move of Christ? It is striking to note that this is the only miracle event recorded in the Gospel where the miracle results in utter destruction! All the other miracles performed are those which bring about healing and restoration (apart perhaps from the Gerasene demoniac – pigs destroyed). Every other miracle recorded brings about a better state of being than was previously present. It is only this miracle that is recorded that results in total destruction of the fig tree. As we look at this miracle then, we need to see it as more than merely a miracle being performed. This is a miracle performed with the purpose and intention of acting as a parable! This move by Christ is an “acted parable” in order to teach the disciples a very particular and necessary truth, and He does it further to convey prophetic truths concerning the nation Israel. This is a parable of Judgment that is to come! What this parable will ultimately go to show the disciples (and in turn the Israelites) is that their worship is all show, with no fruit. This is a judgment of the Israelites for their leafy, “looks-good-on-the-outside” worship of God, but a worship that really bears no true fruit. So that is where Christ is heading, and what I would like to just fill out for us from this passage. As we do that, we firstly need to recognise some important points about the fig tree. The fig tree was a common tree in that region. It was furthermore a tree that was often used in symbolism, to refer either to Israel as a nation (or even to other nations). The fig tree was often utilised in order to convey the picture of either the prosperity or success of a nation, or alternatively the failure and judgment come upon a nation. For example, in 1 Kings 4:25, we read… “During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree.” (1 Kings 4:25, NIV84) This verse clearly depicts a time of peace and security, as well as prosperity for the nation Israel, as each person dwelt in safety under his own vine and fig tree. In Isaiah 34:4, we find a picture of judgement being pronounced on the nations, and they are likened to the withering fig tree: “All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.” (Isaiah 34:4, NIV84) In that verse we see the judgment of God against the nations, and the result is likened to the shrivelled figs form the fig tree. Again in Hosea 9:10, God compares Israel to the early fruit on the fig tree: ““When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your fathers, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved.” (Hosea 9:10, NIV84) We could go on and on, drawing on these pictures of both the vine and the fig tree in the Old Testament as the fig tree (along with the vine) were used as pictures of either the prosperity of a nation or the destruction and judgment on a nation. So when we come to this passage in the New Testament, and as Jesus sees this fig tree and pronounces a curse on it, this would immediately have struck up a picture in the minds of the disciples, and in particular the Jewish people of that day. They knew well the amount of times that the fig tree was used in these prophecies to describe God’s grace poured out, or his judgment poured out. In our passage then, what Jesus was really doing was instead of merely saying the words, and speaking about the fig tree, he uses this opportunity when coming across a tree with no fruit, to demonstrate these truths physically for them in front of them. This is a parable through a very tangible picture. With that in our minds then, let us consider further some of the finer details of what unfolds here. The first detail that should strike us is that the fig tree that Jesus saw was one that was in leaf. This tree was a literal tree, a real tree, that was growing on the side of the road as they travelled, and it was in leaf. A nice, bushy, leafy tree. And because Christ is hungry at that moment, and hopes to find some fruit on the tree, he goes over towards the tree in order to see if He would find anything on it. It’s important that we understand that in this region around Jerusalem, the early or smaller figs, which would grow from the sprouts of the previous year, would normally begin to appear at the end of March and then would become ripe in about May or June. The later and much larger figs that develop on the new or spring shoots are usually gathered from August to October. So there were always these two sets of figs that would appear – the earlier figs, and then the later ones. With that in mind, we should remember that the Passover was at hand, and that the Passover was usually in early April. Accordingly, the time when either the earlier or the later figs are ripe had not yet arrived. It was therefore “not the season for figs” – as it clearly points out in our text. And so this begs the question in our minds: if it’s not the season for the figs, why is Christ so worked up about this fig tree. Well, the reason for this becomes clearer when we understand the fact that the earlier figs, with which we are here concerned, begin to appear simultaneously with the leaves. Sometimes, in fact, they even precede the leaves. Thus it would have been expected to have found fruit on this tree, since the leaves were present. One Bible dictionary very aptly describes the strange scenario, and explains what the heart of the problem is here: Our Lord’s cursing the fig-tree near Bethany (Mark 11:13) has occasioned much perplexity from the circumstance, as mentioned by the evangelist, that “the time of figs was not yet.” The explanation of the words, however, lies in the simple fact that the fruit of the fig-tree appears before the leaves, and hence that if the tree produced leaves it ought also to have had fruit. It ought to have had fruit if it had been true to its “pretensions,” in showing its leaves at this particular season. “This tree, so to speak, vaunted itself to be in advance of all the other trees, challenged the passer-by that he should come and refresh himself with its fruit. Yet when the Lord accepted its challenge and drew near, it proved to be but as the others, without fruit as they; for indeed, as the evangelist observes, the time of figs had not yet arrived. Its fault, if one may use the word, lay in its pretensions, in its making a show to run before the rest when it did not so indeed”1 It is for this very reason, because of these pretensions of the tree, because the tree was in leaf, and thus ought to have had fruit on it but didn’t, that Christ proceeded with the actions that He did. Because of what He finds with this fig tree, He proceeds to curse the fig tree with the words we find in verse 14: He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening. (Mark 11:14 (NASB95)) The fig tree is cursed by Jesus, which leads to the fig tree rapidly shriveling up and dying, at such a rate that even the disciples are surprised by it. Look with me now at verse 19-21… When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.” (Mark 11:19–21, NASB95) If you go across to Matthew’s record of this event, we read in verse 20 of Matthew 21: Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” (Matthew 21:20, NASB95) There was a sudden, rapid withering of the tree which astounded the disciples, which led them to asking questions about this. How did this fig tree wither so quickly? They most likely hadn’t yet understood what was being conveyed by Christ through this encounter with the tree. But the teaching should by now have been very clear. If you go back into the Old Testament, and to the prophet Jeremiah, you will find in Jeremiah 8 a rebuke or warning by God to Israel. In verses 4-6 we read: Jeremiah 8:4–6 (NASB95): 4“You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not repent? 5“Why then has this people, Jerusalem, Turned away in continual apostasy? They hold fast to deceit, They refuse to return. 6“I have listened and heard, They have spoken what is not right; No man repented of his wickedness, Saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his course, Like a horse charging into the battle. The charge that God has against the Israelites is that each man is going his own course, doing his own thing, instead of walking in the paths of God. Each person is simply continuing on their own course, all the while, claiming to love God. It is thus that God pronounces judgment on them. If you then go down to verse 13, you will find just a portion of that pronouncement of judgment: “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.” ’ ” Jeremiah 8:13 (NASB95) God’s judgment had long before been pronounced on Israel, because although they were following Him with their lips, and through their empty sacrifices, their hearts were truly far removed from Him. If you look in your own time at Isaiah 5:3-7, you will there also find a similar picture of the judgment of God on Israel because they failed to produce fruit. God uses in that instance a picture of the vine, but the vine bearing only bad grapes, and therefore God says to Israel through the prophet Isaiah, judgment is coming; this vine called Israel is going to be destroyed. Then we have the example that Christ gave himself through a spoken parable, which parable is found in Luke 13:6-9. Before we read the words of that parable, let me just give something of what prompted that parable. It was the situation where a group of people approached Jesus, and told Him about Pilate mixing some blood of Galileans with their sacrifices. They bring this up because they are of the view that these people were exceedingly sinful – more so than those raising the issue – and thus they received their deserved judgment. Christ responds to them by asking the question: Do you think that they were any worse than others? Then he asks also about the tower of Siloam that fell down and killed 18 people, and asks if those killed were any worse than others in Jerusalem (the implied answer of course is that they weren’t). And then he makes this statement in verse 5 of Luke 13… “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” We then read these words beginning in Luke 13:6… 6And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.7“And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’8“And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;9and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ” Luke 13:6–9 (NASB95) Over and over in the Scriptures, there has been this warning coming through. To the Israelites in the Old Testament through the prophets. Through Jesus to those who were following Him. Be careful!!! If you do not produce the fruit that is necessary, you will be cut down!! If there is no fruit visible within you, then you will be cut off!! 2. Faithfulness Encouraged This then draws us to the next section of Christ’s words, in verses 22-26. These words may come as a great surprise to us. At first glance, they appear entirely out of context, and seem to have nothing to do whatsoever to the preceding verses, and certainly to the story. But Mark draws a very clear link between what has just taken place with the fig tree, and the picture that it represents, and the words of Christ which will follow. Christ begins in verse 22 with these words: And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God…” I would suggest to you that Christ’s exhortation to the disciples to have faith in God stands in stark contrast to the kind of religious life that was being lived out by the Israelites who claimed to love God and know God. In this sense, Christ’s condemning of the fig tree and it withering should be seen in opposition to what it truly means to live a life pleasing to God. You will know that the Israelites were very much caught up in their religious worship and service of God. They did all sorts of things which they saw as bringing them into a right standing before God. They thought that God would be pleased with externalities: performing sacrifices; giving the offerings that God required; being circumcised etc. They were convinced that these works of service and obedience to the law would bring them into and keep them in right standing with God. Instead, Christ demonstrates to them through this fig tree that all that they are about, all of this religious activity, leafy show on the outside, is in fact worthless. Instead, he says to His disciples, have faith in God!!! It’s not about this pomp and show of religious activities! It never was! Already back in Mark 7:6-7, Christ spoke these words concerning the religious worship: “And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’” (Mark 7:6–7, NASB95) When Paul wrote his letter to the churches of Galatia, he spoke harshly against them for their desire to return to the external observance of religious activities (particularly in that case circumcision) and he essentially told them that they were deserting God, and running after a false Gospel! After carefully explaining to them their perversion of the Gospel, and their abandoning the true Gospel, he goes on to say to them in verse 7 of Galatians 3: “Understand, then, that those who believe [have faith] are children of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7, NIV84) Paul’s point there is that they cannot claim to be children of Abraham (and thus children of God) by any other means, or any observance of particular works. Rather, the only way to be considered as children of Abraham is through faith. Returning then to our text… Christ’s instruction here to His disciples really is in perfect keeping with the condemnation that he’s just given of Israel. These disciples are not to rely on their own external works, and their own ability to keep the law, because they simply cannot. Instead, they are to repent of their own sinful ways, and place their faith in God. Well that then leads us to the next aspect that Christ addresses, and we see that in verses 23-25, and that is the matter of prayer, and the fact of prayers being answered. ““I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. The disciples in this text have just witnessed Jesus cursing the fig tree, and they’ve now seen that it has withered all of a sudden. They were quite startled at this, and asked Jesus (according to Matthew 21:20) how this fig tree withered so quickly. And Jesus then explains to them on the back of this that if they are those who have faith in God, as opposed to trusting in their own works of righteousness, then they will be in a position to receive anything they ask for, and it will be given to them. Now quite obviously we need to be careful in how we take this verse, and how it is applied. I say that in the context of our current day, where pastors will make great boasts about being able to do just about anything, and they have healing powers, and ask God and he does all sorts of miraculous things. And people are falling hook, line and sinker for these so-called “men of God”. For all their bold claims to miraculous abilities however, I’m yet to find one of them that has been able to say to Table Mountain down in Cape Town: “Go and throw yourself into the sea”, and actually have the mountain obey them. Obviously such a statement would immediately prove them to be liars, or men who lack faith (according to their own ideas on what faith is able to achieve). Having said that, we must not allow that to detract from the power of the statement that Jesus makes to His disciples here. Very clearly, Jesus is teaching that there will be great power available to the person who approaches God in faith, and who makes a request of God in faith. William Carey, who is commonly known as “the father of modern missions” is famous for that quote: “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” Sadly, in much of the more sober-minded churches of today (those that aren’t being carried away by all the hype of entertainment) there is a very low expectancy in terms of what God is able or willing to do. There is a very low level of faith in many respects, and we have simply become those who are afraid to ask anything of God, because we have little faith that he will actually answer those prayers. This is a serious concern that must be addressed in our hearts. If we are going to be obedient to Jesus Christ, the one who we claim to be our Lord and Saviour, then we must take heed of His words here to the disciples! Having said that, we cannot take one portion of Scripture and treat it in isolation to the rest of Scripture. All of Scripture that we read, having come from God and been given to us, is to be read as a whole. As such, such praying and asking must, of course, be in harmony with the characteristics of true prayer which Jesus reveals elsewhere. Accordingly it must be the expression of various things, such us… • humble, childlike trust “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”” (Mark 10:15, NIV84) “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:6, NIV84) • a sincere heart and mind . Christ taught that some Pharisees would pray in order to be seen by others. Mark 12:40… “They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”” (Mark 12:40, NIV84) • a will to persevere. Think of the parable of the persistent widow, who eventually due to her persistence obtained that which she asked for. And through that parable we are taught to pray without ceasing • a love for all concerned “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”” (Mark 12:31, NIV84) “To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”” (Mark 12:33, NIV84) All of these aspects need to be considered together, and need to form the basis of our prayers to God, failing which, we cannot expect God to answer. But there is also 1 further aspect which must be remembered, and that is that all of our prayers must place themselves in submission to God’s sovereign will. If you go across to 1 John 5:14, you will find this important verse, which of course needs to be read in conjunction with our text this morning “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” (1 John 5:14, NIV84) Dear friends, what a joy for us to know that if we are asking anything according to the Father’s will, he hears us, and if we believe and have faith, he will answer that prayer! I am so encouraged by these verses. I am encouraged because I know that if I desire to have Godly wisdom in life, such that I may live in a manner that is pleasing to God, then all I need to do is persistently ask for that and seek it, and it shall be granted. I am encouraged in my own life by these words because I know that if I am burdened down by sin, and I sincerely and truly, out of humble motives and a pure and sincere heart, plead with God to deal with that sin in my life, and pursue the means that He has made available for the dealing of that sin within me, then I can know that He will answer. I am encouraged further when I pray for the church, that Christ would be at work in our hearts, strengthening us in the faith, establishing us as His saints here in Malelane Baptist Church, He will do that as we believe in Him and are obedient to Him. But there is just one further qualifier that Jesus adds in verse 25. He says: And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”” (Mark 11:23–25, NIV84) Jesus links the answering of prayers to forgiveness between people. In essence, what Christ is saying is that if you are unable to extend forgiveness to others, then you cannot even begin to think that you have received forgiveness from God. In fact, the reality is that you have not truly known God’s forgiveness in your own life. This truth is made explicitly clear in Jesus words to Peter in Matthew 18. We read in verse 21-22 of Matthew 18: “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:21–22, NIV84) What follows is the comparison of the kingdom of God to that of an earthly king who was going to have his accounts settled. A man owed this king a debt amounting to about 15 years’ worth of wages, and he could never pay it off. After pleading for mercy, the king forgave his debt entirely. He went out from there, having his debts forgiven, and he saw another fellow-servant who owed him what would be equivalent to a day’s wages, and when that fellow-servant couldn’t pay him, he had him thrown in prison. The question is: how can any servant who recognises the extent of what has been paid for them, fail to forgive someone such a small debt. The debts that we owe to each other dear friends, are infinitesimally small in comparison with the debt that we each owed to God. If we then have truly experienced the forgiveness of God, how can we then fail to forgive our brother when they have wronged us; not only 7 times, but seventy seven times (or seventy times seven times). Any true understanding of God’s forgiveness and mercy extended to us, must result in a similar demonstration of forgiveness and mercy to others, failing which we will be tortured (read to the end of Matthew 18). Applications Well we must begin to draw to a close. There is much ground that we’ve covered, and in many respects we have not gone into sufficient detail of all there is to consider from this passage and the account of the withered fig tree. We will be considering the broader subject in some greater detail next week (Lord willing), as we look at the account of Jesus entering the temple and clearing out the money changers due to their turning the temple into a den of robbers. In closing however, let me challenge you from what we have considered today. The key lesson for us that I’d like us to consider from the fig tree is that a profession or a claim to a life lived for Christ is absolutely worthless without the accompanying fruit. And so I want to ask you this morning, and really challenge you as you go into this week, to ask yourself the question: Am I bearing the fruit that is to be expected as a disciple of Christ? Is my life marked by and characterized by the fruit that accompanies repentance? And the kind of fruit that we are looking for here is not: “am I going to church” (although that’s important) “am I reading my bible daily” (although that is helpful and beneficial) or “am I praying daily” (although I would certainly hope that this is true of you). All of those may be present in your life, and yet you remain without Christ, because you are not producing the fruit that is expected of one in Christ. Do yourself a favour, and do a brief overview glance through the Epistles (that is the letters to the various churches) in the New Testament. Every single one of them, you will find, calls you as a Christian to live your life in a manner consistent with your profession, without exclusion. This is no minor detail: this is an essential component of the true call of Christ upon our lives. By way of example: • Romans 6:18… “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” (Romans 6:18, NIV84) I won’t go through all of the books – you can do that in your spare time this week. But the fact is, we are called to a righteous life. And my question to you is: are you living that life? Are you fighting sin? Galatians 5:19-25 “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:19–25, NIV84) I urge you this week: do some soul searching. This is a matter of extreme and eternal significance and importance. May the Lord grant us much grace and strength as we look at our lives, and consider if they are being lived to the glory of God!