Parable of the Fig Tree

Hey, good morning and welcome to Cross Church El Mirage. We're so glad that you joined us today for worship. If we haven't gotten a chance to connect yet, my name is Tyler and I serve as pastor here at Cross Church El Mirage and we are so glad that you made the choice to join us today. I'll be outside underneath the awning, maybe with a snow cone, but would love to connect with you outside after service. So, feel free to swing by there. Well, hey, today we are going to be in the book of Matthew chapter 24. So, if you have a Bible, go ahead and open that up. You can kind of flip there, click there, make your way there to Matthew chapter 24. Um, as you do so, one of the things that we do each week here at Cross Church, we just share kind of a story of how God's on the move. And I just was convicted of this and encouraged by this this week of all that we get to be a part of. You know, who we are as Cross Church El Mirage is bigger than what happens on the corner of Peoria and El Mirage. Let me just tell you a little bit, a snapshot of our week as Cross Church as a whole. Um, as a matter of fact, we got to see in our first service, new location pastor headed to our Cornville location who grew up and was trained in our collective, who's headed there this week. Uh, as a matter of fact, next month, soft launch of our Mayer location happens, which we're so excited about. So, all the preparations for that are happening. And we get to see some incredible stuff. Um, we have a mission team from our collective that just came back from Mexico. And all of this is happening and we get to be just a small piece of that. So, I want to tell you first, thank you for your uh, support of that, but also thank you for your involvement. We'll get to even see today a baptism. One of the cool things is we get to baptize one of our teenagers who was a part of Yeah, we should be excited about that. That's good. Yeah. I won't cut you off from that. Yeah. But, we get to be a part of things like youth camps that we get to do together. So, we're so thankful for that and all that God's doing in the midst of our collective both here and literally around the world. So, I just wanted to update you on that quickly. As you turn to Matthew chapter 24, we're in this series that we're calling the parables of Jesus. And if you're maybe joining us for the first time or the first time in a while, you maybe are asking this question, what is a parable? Well, here's the basic understanding of a parable. A parable is an earthly story with a spiritual meaning. It's Jesus' way of, as he's teaching, using illustrations to help us, you and I, understand big spiritual principles. And so, in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus is going to share a parable about some things that are coming but haven't happened yet. And it got me to thinking. I don't know if you've had this moment personally, where there's something that you're anticipating or looking forward to, and you're excited for it to get here, but it feels like you're having to wait forever. The classic example that we've all experienced is being a kid waiting for Christmas morning. Anybody remember those days? It's so good. Two of you remember those days. So, clearly positive memories there. All right, here's the deal. It continues though, cuz now as a grown man, as a dad, I also get to be excited for Christmas morning to find out what I got for my kids. So, it's really fun. Good news is the name tag always says mom and dad, so I get to take all the credit and none of the work, which is super good. So, thankful for my wife. But, I get to look forward to that, right? We think about moments where we look forward to things that seem like they take forever. Waiting for children to be born seems like it takes forever, right? You get to that 33, 34, 35 week mark and usually mom is like done with it, right? Like ready for it to happen. As dads, we just we're waiting in the process, waiting in the wings for that to happen and it takes those full 40 weeks for things to happen. So, it's an interesting process in life. As we sometimes think about it in big moments, we can also think about how waiting and anticipation happens in daily life. I was just laughing with a friend this past week about how we've gotten so addicted to waiting for things to come and knowing when they come. If you're anything like me, when you have an Amazon package arriving, you're constantly refreshing, all right? You're five stops away, two stops away, one stop away. And then you're waiting on the Amazon delivery to get here so you can make sure to get whatever you've ordered, right? We have anticipation in daily life. We are looking forward to things. And what we find as we look at Matthew chapter 24 today is there's a spiritual component to that anticipation, to us looking forward towards something that really begins to shape the way that we live. I want to start with this key thought that'll kind of guide us as we step into scripture. It's this, that Jesus used stories to shape our faith. And these parables are those stories that Jesus uses to shape our faith. So, if you'll read with me, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 24. We're going to begin reading in verse 32. It says this, "Learn this lesson from the fig tree. As soon as its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things, recognize that he is near at the door. Truly, I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Well, as we read this text, let's spend some time praying as we jump in and asking God for guidance. God, we come before you first God asking that you would give us the wisdom to understand these words. That God, what happens in scripture is something that we could understand, but also God that you would help us to put our thoughts and opinions to the side and allow your word to speak. And secondly, God that you would give us the courage and conviction to take what we learn in scripture and to live it out. We pray all this in your name. Amen. Well, as we look at this text, there's going to be three major things that this story teaches us. This story is going to teach us three things and the first of those is the reality of end times. Uh the reality of end times as it pertains to our faith is a very interesting conversation. There are often times many opinions around end times and the fun thing is everyone is convinced that their way is the only way, all right? Um especially as you listen to different things and you read things, everybody's convinced that they've got it right. Now, I want to remind you of a few things as it pertains to end times. One of those is found in verse 36 that we didn't read, but is connected to the context of this passage. In verse 36, Jesus after sharing the parable of the fig tree says these words. Now, concerning that day, that is the end times and Revelation 19 comes to be. Now, concerning that day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels of heaven nor the son except the father alone. So, you have my full permission if someone comes to you this week and says they know when Jesus is coming back, you can call them with all the confidence in the world a liar, all right? Because we clearly read in scripture, no one knows. Now, that's not to say as we'll get into here in a moment, that there aren't signs or things that we can see that help us to understand this season is coming. As a matter of fact, one of the things that we get in this parable of the fig tree is that understanding of seasons. That there will be a moment where the leaves begin to sprout and you know that summer is near. For us in Arizona, particularly in the valley, we know summer is near when it goes from hot to hotter. Right? It doesn't ever get cool, but it goes from hot to hotter. When all of the snowbirds have left, we know it's about to get turned up and those of us that, you know, push through all year round and make it through the summer, we're left to deal with the heat, the triple digits. And so, we know about seasons here in Arizona. And so, we understand this concept that things happen in their different seasons. Well, the reality of end times is that there will come a season when it is the end times, but that season isn't quite yet. Couple of other places in scripture that help us to begin to understand this, we see back in the beginning of Matthew chapter 24, beginning of verse six, we see this word. You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed because these things must take place because the end is not yet. For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. And all these events are the beginning of labor pains. Now, here's what I want you to understand about this. Hindsight is 20/20. So, if we go back historically a thousand years or two hundred years or four hundred years, you can fill in the blank in multiple seasons of history where you would say this must be happening, therefore the birth pains must have already started. Here's what I want to encourage you on. Getting honed in on the exact date and figuring it out where that isn't written for us can be a trap that we begin to go down a path that we can go down that can lead to us getting distracted from the main thing. And so I want to encourage you today. We do not know the end or exactly the date when the end is coming, but we do know conceptually that the end times will happen and what they will look like we're reminded of in 2 Timothy chapter 3 beginning in verse 1. But know this, hard times will come in the last days. Tell me if you you see some of this today. In verse 2, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And in verse 5 to highlight circle underline holding to the form of godliness but denying its power, avoid these people. Let me just quickly briefly remind you. The end times will come. This is what we see they will look like. And it is easy for us to look in our world today and see so much of what we see matches this. But understand this, things happen in their seasons. Uh I was reminded of a story this past week of something that happened um quite a few years ago in 2021. There's a guy named Tony Jones with the nickname Gator. With a nickname like Gator, you know he's going to have a story, all right? Like you don't get a nickname Gator without having a story. So, Tony Jones at 51 years old goes back to New Mexico State University to finish his college education. He had started it directly after high school, spent 2 years working on his associate's degree, and he played college football while he was there. Well, after 2 years he left, and to the military, went did law enforcement, did all kinds of different stuff. At age 51 he goes back to finish his education. He's on campus at New Mexico State University. Here's what he does. He goes and knocks on the door of the football coach. At 51 years old. He just says, "Hey coach, figured out I got a couple years of eligibility left. You think I could try out for the team?" Coach is like, "Sure." Uh I'm sure reluctantly. Check this out. Not only does Tony make the team, he also gets a roster spot and ends up playing in games. All right? At 51 years old. I can't imagine that at 32 years old. Not Not to mention at 51 years old. Let me remind you today that things happen in their seasons, but the season doesn't always happen when we think it should. Tony's season took a long time to take place. And for us the reminder is that the end times are coming, but clearly they are not today. Second thing I want you to see that this story teaches us, which connects to the reality of end times, is the call to wait patiently. This story teaches us about the call to wait patiently. One of the running jokes in my Bible group over this last year is we've had uh multiple people in our Bible group who've been praying for patience. And we have sort of coined or nicknamed that the dangerous prayer uh because when you ask God for patience, he oftentimes answers it in ways that aren't always really fun. It can be a season where we're patient, where we're waiting for things that seem like they're never going to come. Understand this. This concept of waiting patiently is easy to understand, but it is difficult to live in. As we think about the end times and the season of waiting, one of the things that we're reminded of about this season is that there's typically two camps that people fall in when it comes to thinking about the end times and waiting for the end times. The first camp is the type of person who reads about the end times and becomes laser-focused and has a bunker-building mentality. As it As they think about the end times, they are worried about having 6 months of food supply. They're worried about having all the necessary things and their chief aim and goal is to insulate themselves from the world. Their goal is to say, "I want to protect me and mine and keep everyone else out." Now, if the end times come and I'm in need of food, if you just want to let me know your phone number, I'll reach out to you. It's good to have those kinds of friends, all right? Um I don't have it, but here's the thing. This bunker-building mentality says, "I'm worried and fearful, therefore I'm going to build walls of insulation and keep others out." The other side of the coin, when it comes to waiting patiently, I believe that should be the focus of our lives, is instead of building bunkers, is building bridges. When we think about the end times, we understand this concept as we see in this story that the end times will come. The leaves will begin to sprout. We'll know that the season is here. We'll see the birth pains. We'll see it all coming together. Is that we should be people that build bridges. Here's the difference between bunker builders and bridge builders. Bunker builders say, "I'm fearful, so I'm going to insulate myself." Bridge builders say, "I know there's opportunities for us to write eternal legacies, therefore I'm going to build bridges at every opportunity." You see, the chief aim of the bridge builder is to make Jesus known. Understand very clearly, at the end of our lives, our money can't go with us. As a matter of fact, we just are reminded that at the end of our lives, it is the things that are eternal that last. And so for us today, the reminder or the question for us is are we going to be, as we wait patiently, bunker builders or we going to be people that are bridge builders? Are we going to make Jesus known in our community? Are we going to be people that are doing the things necessary to point others to an eternal life-changing relationship with Jesus? And the question for us is what legacy do we want to write? You see, because often times the legacy that we write is not written in a day. It's written over the course of a lifetime. And the legacy that we leave is written by the things that we do. The relationships that we maintain, the things that we invest our time, energy, and resources into. And my encouragement to you is as you wait patiently to find ways to clearly build bridges. The third thing that this story teaches us that's really important here that we'll spend some time on is the promise of a new beginning. The promise of a new beginning. One of the things I love about this time of year, which seems to happen sooner every year over the last 15 years, is that we are getting ready for school to start again. All right, which parents are so excited about their Kids are going back to school. All right, it's going to be great. And most kids aren't excited except for those few nerds out there, which are excited for school. Anybody? Nerds? Yes, good. All right, you will do well in life. You are smart. Awesome. Here's the deal. Um the new school year is the promise of a new beginning. All right? Here's why. You get all of your fresh school supplies. So you get to start with a fresh notebook and you start with a fresh things and you get new pencils and you do all these different things and it's just really nice season where it's a new beginning and you feel like everything is possible. Everything that you desire is in front of you and it's this promise of a new beginning in the new school year that reminds us of the spiritual concept we see in Matthew chapter 24 that there is a promise of a new beginning. At the end of this section of verse 35, "Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away." There is a new beginning coming that we are reminded of. And it reminds us of two aspects of this story. The spiritual concept is this. First, we need to understand the new beginning is happening whether we want it to or not. That is to say this, what is happening here on earth will pass away. As a matter of fact, heaven and earth will pass away. Uh it's this reality that we saw in 2 Timothy that there are people who make it their chief focus and aim in life to live for today and the satisfaction and pleasure of today only. And understand, you should have a good time today. You should be joyful and enjoy the season that you're in. But the chief goal and aim of our lives is not to live for just today. It is a focus on eternity. And so for us today, understanding that heaven and earth will pass away but that his words will never pass away is the promise of a new beginning. Not a maybe new beginning but a guaranteed beginning. The question for us begins to be if we know there will be a new beginning, is what does the new beginning look like? You see for us today, scripture is very clear that eternity has two destinations. Very clearly, heaven or hell. Heaven is being in eternity with God the Father and ultimately what scripture would paint as heaven, which is beautiful. It's in the presence of God we spend our eternity worshipping the Father. As a matter of fact, I was reminded in trying to describe this to my kids who are now 9, 4, and 1, um what the concept of a glorified body is, um which means not our physical body, but not really this new body, and of course, um it comes out seeming like we're going to be ghost, all right? Like that's the only way to understand it as you begin that process. But, [snorts] understanding that heaven is an option, and the other option is eternity spent without God in complete separation from God for eternity. You see these two very clear destinations are the options. So, this promise of a new beginning is a reminder of not a maybe or a sort of kind of, but a reason for us to have hope. You see, our hope is founded in the words of Jesus here. Jesus says that his words will never pass away. And what we're reminded of is this hope that we have isn't a wish upon a star. You see, this this hope that we have that we're reminded of in the parable of the fig tree is that the end is coming, but we know that we know that we know and have a confidence in our faith that those of us who put our faith and trust in Jesus will spend eternity with God in heaven. And it's this concept sort of displayed in the country song by the sort of country music artist Kenny Chesney. That's a personal thing. We could get into that conversation later, all right? I have theories, all right? But, here's the deal. He sings this song, and he says, "Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go now." And what I wish I could teach Kenny Chesney and myself to be reminded of is that heaven is the eternal destination for those of us that have put our faith and trust in Jesus, and it's not something that we should say we don't want. God should put in us a desire and a hunger to be there someday. As as such, it is the focus and aim of our lives to get there and to bring as many people with us as possible. So, I just want to encourage you today of the reminder that hope is founded not in a wish, but in the confidence of the Jesus that we see here in the Bible who is saying that his words will never pass away. I was thinking through um as I look back in my life moments where I received fatherly or grandfatherly advice, all right? And I'm just going to bring a couple of those up. You may remember some of those. You may be giving some of those pieces of advice. One of the things I received as advice from my dad that I will never forget is that you never know what's going to happen. So, in every vehicle you have, you should always have a set of jumper cables, all right? Anybody you've you've gotten this advice, too? All right, I'm going to check on the way out and see who did No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Some of you were like, "Oh, yeah, but I didn't have it today." Here's the thing. The advice I was given is you should always have jumper cables because you never know when you might need them, right? Um you might need them, a friend might need them, somebody might need them. And I've had countless times where I've gotten to help other people because I had a set of jumper cables handy. I I think about the other advice that I was given. Um I got the advice to always have a $20 bill in cash with me at all times. Now, the funny thing is I got that advice so long ago that now it should probably be a $100 bill because things are expensive, all right? Um we were talking about it the other day. You can't leave the house nowadays without spending like at least $30, like between gas and everything is expensive, right? But, it's the reason that you need cash on hand because what if the credit card doesn't work or what if you need to help someone or what if something comes up, right? So, you need cash on hand. I think about other ways in which I've been shaped for those you never know when you're going to need it moments. Um in my garage, I have an old Folgers coffee pot. And can I tell you what's in it? Some of you are already going to know. You're going to be like, I know what's in it. I keep in that every screw, nut, or bolt, or Allen wrench for random things that we've gotten just in case. That's our just in case storage, right? Because you never know when 6 years from now you're going to need that one screw that has a one particular application that you held on to for just this exact moment, right? And it's a funny thing because often times we never use that stuff, but we have it just in case. Because you never know. For you and I today, what I want to encourage you on is that spiritually, this you never know when you're going to need it moment pertains to the way we approach the end times. We never know when it's going to happen, so we should live lives prepared. So, I just want to begin to ask this question for us today. How does this story shape our faith? Well, I believe there's three specific things that this story does that shapes our faith. Number one, how does this story shape our faith? Number one, we should anticipate. We should be people who are looking forward with a longing expectant spirit. Not a maybe or wish upon a star type of spirit, but we should anticipate what is to come. We should be the type of people that look forward as bridge builders to what is coming someday. The second thing I want you to see is that we should endure. Very clearly, we should endure. In the waiting. As we are patiently waiting, we should endure faithfully. Understanding that the focus isn't just on temporary satisfaction and joy, but it is on eternal results. And so we should be people that anticipate, but also we should be people that endure. And the last thing and and certainly not the least as we think about this story, is that we should hope. This story teaches us that we should hope. That we shouldn't look forward to the end times with fear and dread, but with anticipation and hope. Understanding that Jesus has given us these words to look forward with hope. That we should focus on not just the circumstances around us. Listen, it's easy to think about 2 Timothy 3 and look at all the types of people that we're going to encounter as we get closer and closer to the end times and for that to make us frustrated or fearful or nervous, but my encouragement to you is to be a people that are hopeful, that keep our eyes fixed on our savior and allow that to create in us a continued constant hope. Let me pray for you as we prepare to spend some time in worship today. And as we pray, I just want to encourage you with the understanding the God of the heavens who cares for you and loves you has a plan for you. God, we come before you today understanding very clearly that the words of this scripture today are so helpful for us. But that God, my prayer begins to be that we as a people would be known for building bridges. That whether it's opportunities to go on missions out of our country, across our streets, or God, even inside of our own families, but God, that as we have opportunities, we would be people consistently and confidently building bridges in order to make Jesus known. God, we pray today specifically that you would help us to be a people that not only build bridges, but also to be a people that hope. That we exude confidence, not because of our own skill sets, but because your word says we have a reason to be hopeful. And that God, that would give us all the confidence we need to face today, knowing that you are in control and on your throne and have a plan for our lives. So God, specifically today, we just pray that you would use us powerfully to build bridges in our city. God, we pray all of this in your name. Amen. Let's stand as we continue in worship.