SPIRITUAL BARENNESS
DR. JIM DIXON
JOHN 15: 1-17
JULY 16, 1995
The road from Jerusalem to Bethany is only two miles in length. It is a short but beautiful road, winding through rolling hills and lined with trees, fig trees and olive trees and other trees indigenous to Israel. One day, late in the afternoon or early in the evening, Jesus was walking that road with His disciples. It was springtime, early in the month of April, one week prior to Passover. It was perhaps April the 8th. Suddenly, Jesus stopped along the road and he went over to a fig tree. It was in full leaf but it was barren. It had no fruit. Jesus cursed the fig tree. He said “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” The disciples were there and they were stunned. They had never heard Jesus curse anything before. They continued to Bethany that night and perhaps they stayed with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. The next morning, as they returned to Jerusalem, they passed the spot where the fig tree was. The disciples noticed that the fig tree had withered to the ground. Of all the miracles of Christ, this is perhaps the most enigmatic. Of all the miracles of Christ, this is the most difficult to understand and yet for the early church, the message was clear. This miracle was a warning, a warning regarding barrenness; a warning that as Christians we are called to bear fruit, a warning that barrenness is cursed.
Of course, the fig tree was the symbol of Israel and Israel had become barren and the judgement of God was upon it. God wants us to realize this morning as men and women of Christ that we have been called to bear fruit, that we have been called into ministry. In the Bible, the word for ministry is a word which literally means servant; to enter into ministry, to bear fruit, means, in the biblical context, to “serve Christ.” It means to serve the church of Christ. It means to serve people in the name of Christ. I think one of the great tragedies of our time, one of the great maladies of the Christian world as we close this 20th century, one of the great maladies is spiritual barrenness. Too many Christians refuse to enter into ministry. Too many live and die without really having served Christ or the church of Christ or people in the name of Christ.
This morning, I would like us to examine the cause of spiritual barrenness and the consequences. Why do many Christians not enter into ministry? I think the primary cause is apathy. I mean, sometimes we’re just apathetic. I mean, if we’re honest there are many things we care about in life, but ministry just isn’t one of them.
There were many roads that led out of Jerusalem. If the road from Jerusalem to Bethany was short and beautiful, then the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was long and ugly. It passed through a barren parched landscape with barren canyons and intense heat. Of course, it was Jesus who told the story of the man who was walking down that road and fell amidst robbers who stripped him and beat him and robbed him and left him half dead by the side of the road. It was Jesus who told of a priest who was walking by that road and saw the injured man but just continued on, doing nothing. It was Jesus who told of the Levite who also passed along that road and saw the injured man but just continued on doing nothing. Of course, Jesus told of the good Samaritan who, in walking along that road, saw the injured man and the Lord Jesus Christ tells us that this good Samaritan was moved with compassion. He was moved with compassion and he came and ministered to this wounded man.
Now in the Bible one of the primary words for compassion is the word “sympathos.” It’s the word from which we get the word sympathy. It has the same root as the word apathy. Apathy means without feeling, and sympathy means with feeling. You see, the priest as he passed by the wounded man was without feeling. The Levite, as he walked along that road, was without feeling. But the good Samaritan was moved with compassion. Why do some people not enter into ministry? Apathy, without feeling.
Of course, Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan in the context of a question concerning what it means to love one’s neighbor. What does it mean to love my neighbor? And Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan. In our passage of scripture for today, in John 15 where we are charged to bear fruit, we are told that we can only bear fruit if we abide in Christ, if we abide in Him. Jesus defines what this means when He tells us that we must abide in His love. Then He commands us to “love one another as He has loved us.” You see, ministry relates to love and love issues in compassion. As a person is moved by the things that moved Christ, they enter into ministry.
I want to tell you the story of a man named Kim Fumu, at least the story begins with him. Kim Fumu was 36 years old and he staggered into a small agricultural village in the nation of Zaire. The village was named Kikwit. Kim Fumu was feverish, a very high temperature. He was hemorrhaging, bleeding internally and externally. He was dying. They rushed him into this little hospital in this little village and performed surgery on him but they could not save his life. He died. There were five people who worked on Kim Fumu and soon all of them became feverish They all began to have very high temperatures and they began to hemorrhage. They began to bleed profusely, internally and externally and soon each of the five that had worked on Kim Fumu died.
It was beginning of the Ebola virus in Africa. There have been four outbreaks of the Ebola virus on the African Continent. This virus, made famous by the book Red Zone, is a scary virus. It’s not an airborne contagion. It’s not as contagious as the common cold. It’s not as contagious as influenza or the flu, but it’s so much more deadly. Ninety percent of the people who get the Ebola virus die. In a sense, it’s more scary than the HIV virus because, you see, the HIV virus takes years to kill you and the Ebola virus can kill you in hours. The tragedy of the victim, who literally bleeds from every bodily orifice, and I think it’s safe to say that there’s not many of us in this room who would be wanting to minister to a person stricken with this hideous disease.
Well, a few months ago on CNN, there was a special on the Ebola virus and it showed a young woman, small and thin, clothed in white. She was a nurse. In fact, she was a nun and she was ministering to a victim of the Ebola virus in a small hospital, a primitive jungle hospital. She was kneeling by the bedside of this victim. She had a sponge in her hand and she was gently washing this man’s arms and chest because he was so feverish. The man was bleeding. He was bleeding from his nose and bleeding from his ears. As the CNN camera zoomed in, you could see that he was oozing blood from his eyes.
Well, the CNN reporter came up to the nun and wanted to interview her. She had latex gloves on and a mask. She took them off and you could see that she was beautiful. She probably could have chosen many careers. I’m sure she wouldn’t have had any problem finding a good husband, but in the truest Catholic sense she was married to Jesus Christ and her heart beat with the heart of Christ and she felt the things that moved the heart of Christ. The CNN reporter came up to her and he said “This looks dangerous. You couldn’t get me to do that for a million dollars! I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars.” Her response was beautiful. She smiled and she said “Neither would I.”
Different kinds of people in the world. Different kinds of motives. Different kinds of values. Different priorities. We live in a world where a lot of people want money. They want power. They want success. They want stuff. A lot of people just don’t care about ministry. I hope you understand if you’re a Christian you’re not to be apathetic towards ministry. You are to have priorities and values that are different from the world.
We are not calling you to minister to the victims of the Ebola virus. I doubt that God is calling many of you to do that. We’re simply calling you to minister, to bear fruit. We’re calling you to teach Sunday school. We’re calling you to be a Cell Group leader. We’re calling you to be a Stephen Minister. We’re calling you to go into the inner city in the name of Christ with others from our church and be an inner city tutor.
What causes spiritual barrenness? I think it’s apathy. What are the consequences of spiritual barrenness? I think if the cause is apathy the consequence is atrophy. You know the word atrophy describes degeneration. It describes a wasting away. If, as Christians, we do not enter into ministry, there’s a kind of spiritual atrophy that we begin to experience.
You know, the Roman legions conquered the Mediterranean World more than 2,000 years ago. Prior kingdoms had risen and fallen and left little but ruins, but the Romans were different. They built lasting structures. The Romans built four lasting structures. First of all, they built fortified walls surrounding their cities and many of those walls still stand today. Secondly, they built roads, roads connecting city to city. Whether you know it or not, many of those roads are still used today. Thirdly, the Romans built stadiums for sport. They built large stadiums called hippodromes like the Circus Maximus that was in the city of Rome. They built smaller stadiums like the Roman Colosseum, called the Flavian Amphitheater. Many of those stadiums still stand today, remarkably preserved. Then finally, the Romans built aqueducts to carry water to cities. It’s incredible, but many of those aqueducts are still remarkably preserved today.
Now in the year 109 AD, the Romans built an elaborate aqueduct from the city of Segovia, Spain to a spring, a fresh water spring 18 miles away. That aqueduct worked and continued to serve the city for 1,800 years, until the year 1900 when the people of Segovia said “You know, this is amazing. Maybe we ought to preserve this aqueduct for our children and our children’s children. Maybe we should preserve it for history.” So they decided not to use the aqueduct anymore. They laid pipe and they ran water from the spring to the city through pipe and they drained the aqueduct. Suddenly, gradually, the aqueduct began to decay. It began to decompose. The mortar in the aqueduct which needed to be wet was suddenly dry and then it began to crumble. The aqueduct had been used for 1,800 years without damage but one decade of stagnation, one decade of idleness was destroying it.
Christians are kind of like that. Christians are meant to be used, meant to be in use, meant to bear fruit, meant to minister. At the level of our soul, at the level of our spirit, when we are barren, when we do not enter into service and ministry, there’s an atrophy that takes place. We don’t experience the joy, the faith, the power, the sense of purpose, even the sense of God’s presence that we were meant to experience unless we’re involved in service and ministry. We can’t worship like we were meant to worship unless we’re involved in ministry.
I know most of you came here this morning wanting to worship. You want to worship God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What does it mean to worship? I mean, does it mean to sing songs? Does it mean to pray? Does it mean to lift hands heavenward? What does a mean?
Well biblically, true worship is not something you do one day a week. True worship is a lifestyle. Biblically, true worship involves a life that’s given over to ministry and service, the service of Christ. Did you know there are many words in the Bible for worship, many Greek words, and most of them also mean to serve. You see, it doesn’t matter how beautiful your voice is, it doesn’t matter how well you sing, it doesn’t matter how high you lift your hands, it doesn’t matter how eloquent your prayers, if you’re not involved in ministry, if you’ve not given your life as an offering, a fragrant offering to the Lord with daily efforts to serve Him, then you don’t really understand worship.
What are the consequences, the consequences of spiritual barrenness? Certainly, individually as Christians, we atrophy. But it’s not only that. When the community of Christ and when the people of Christ do not enter into service and ministry, even the name Christian begins to be tarnished. I mean, there is an atrophy even with regard to the reputation of the name Christian.
You know the word Christian is somewhat like the word Xerox. I mean Xerox is, of our the name of a company that produces copier machines. It’s said to be the only company the name of which has become a verb in the common English language. People say “Will you Xerox this and will you Xerox that?” I mean even people who have Toshiba copiers or Canon copiers will sometimes say “Will you Xerox this and will you Xerox that?” I mean, this isn’t true of the names of other companies. People don’t say “Will you please Toro the front lawn? Will you please Frigidaire the ice cream?” We don’t say things like that. But what would happen if the Xerox company began to produce copiers that didn’t copy? What would happen if the Xerox company began to produce machines that didn’t work? I think it’s safe to say the name Xerox would begin to be tarnished and it would fall out of common use. It would no longer be in vogue.
Well, you see, the name Christian is a very special name. It’s not a verb. It’s an adjective but it’s meant to describe a person who believes in Jesus Christ. It’s meant to describe a person who’s involved in ministry, a person who’s involved in service, a person of love and compassion. But what happens when Christians are not people of ministry? What happens when Christians do not have love, or compassion? The name or Christ is tarnished. The very word Christian is tarnished. In fact, Doug Coe of the Washington Fellowship has said he no longer wants to use the word Christian. He said he and those who minister with him will simply call themselves ‘followers of Jesus’ because they believe the word Christian is so tarnished by spiritual barrenness.
I’m not ready to give up on the word Christian but Christ would remind us this morning if you take His name, you are called to ministry and service. Of course, when we do not participate in ministry, the entire kingdom and church of Christ is impacted. The consequences are great.
Alexander the Great conquered the so-called civilized world by the age of 23. Then he began to look outward from his boundaries in the spring of 331 BC. In the spring of that year, Alexander the Great took his vast armies eastward towards India. He wanted to conquer India. As he marched eastward everything was going pretty smoothly until he came to the region of Bactria. Bactria was the name of an ancient nation. Now there in the region of Bactria, the armies of Alexander the Great came upon a fortified city. It was not a large city but it was a strong city, well-fortified with high walls.
Alexander the Great didn’t think it would be a problem, in fact he knew it wouldn’t be. He sent two-thirds of his army eastward towards India saying “I will meet up with you later.” A third of the army was under the leadership or General Ptolemy and a third of the army under the leadership of General Perdiccas and a third of the army Alexander the Great kept for himself. He also kept his hundred bodyguards who were his best, prized soldiers. Then he marched up to the walls of the fortified city and he called for the king. The king came out to the top of the wall. Alexander the Great asked the king to surrender. He said “If you will surrender, I will allow you to live and I will allow you to keep your throne as long as you swear allegiance to me!”
The king laughed. The king said “I’ve heard of you and I’ve heard of your armies. We heard of you long ago and we are prepared. We have fortified walls and they are strong and we have provisions inside these walls to last us for many years. Then Alexander the Great did something that, I mean, it’s one of the most incredible moments in history. Alexander the Great turned to his hundred men who were in his personal guard, those prized soldiers, and he pointed towards a cliff, a cliff that dropped a hundred feet from the northern end of the fortress city and he said “March.” Those hundred men got in a line and they marched towards the cliff in the presence of the king. They kept marching towards the cliff, closer and closer. The first man fell off, then the second, then the third, then the fourth, then the fifth, then the sixth. They just marched over the cliff. Finally, Alexander the Great said “Stop.” He looked up at the king and the king’s mouth was open, gasping and shocked. He had never seen such commitment and he knew that his city could not long stand against an army so committed. He looked down at Alexander the Great and he said two words: “I surrender.”
Jesus Christ does not run His people over cliffs. He is the Good Shepherd, but He is King of Kings and He is Lord of Lords and He demands a commitment no less than what Alexander the Great demanded. Alexander the Great wanted to conquer the world. Jesus Christ will one day claim this earth. In the meantime, it is His will that His kingdom grow, that His church grow. Of course, He wants us to know that we are at war. We are battling against powers of darkness. Darkness has many faces. There is the face of poverty and there is the face of racism. There is the face of promiscuity and immorality. There is the face of unbelief. The face of the kingdom of Christ is the face of ministry. It is the face of love and compassion that enters into ministry. Our weapon in this war, our primary weapon is love and compassion. It is expressed in ministry and service.
We are facing a real challenge as a church as we move to Highlands Ranch. It is an exciting time, but a challenging one. God wants us to understand that a barren Christian is a kind of oxymoron. We have been called into His service and into His ministry. Our future and indeed the future of the kingdom of Christ the world over is no brighter than the men and women who serve Christ and their commitment to Him.
Jesus said “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples. You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I have appointed you to go and bear fruit that your fruit should abide.” Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.