the fruitless fig tree, part 1

Saul’s beginning; Off to a good start

Saul had a divine start to his leadership journey. When the people of Israel cried out for a king to govern them, Yahweh spoke to the prophet Samuel to appoint and anoint Saul as king over Israel. His initiation as king was full of supernatural intervention, with God speaking through strangers on the road and confirmed prophecies, culminating in the tribes of the people of Yahweh shouting “LONG LIVE THE KING.” All these grandiose displays and signs could very well set anyone up for a successful ministry, however, Saul’s ministry did not end in the same way as it began.

Just a couple chapters later we learn that Saul has been given instruction to obey the word of the Lord. His task was to completely eliminate the Amalekites, sparing not even their goods or possessions (1 Samuel 15). When it came time to fulfill the task, Saul “spared Agag (king of the Amalekites) and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them” (verse 9). His reason? Verse 24 provides the fault in his leadership values; he feared the people and obeyed their voice. Instead of heeding the voice and instruction of the Lord, Saul chose to bow to the wishes of the people. This is further confirmed in his later conversation with the prophet when he demanded that Samuel honor him in front of the elders of Israel.

Another interesting note regarding Saul’s disobedience is Agag’s progenition. According to Judaistic tradition, the time between Saul’s refusal to follows the Lord’s command and Agag’s final demise at the hand of the prophet Samuel, allowed for a continuance of the lineage of Agag. Much like Israel (Isaac’s son) the person became Israel the people, Agag the person becomes Agag the people aka the Agagites. One popular and ironically final appearance of an Agagite is when Haman hits the scene in the book of Esther. Haman becomes the lead antagonist in aiming to destroy the Israelites and nearly causes genocide. According to most historians, the timeframe between these two events spans over centuries, possibly up to 600 years. So what does all this mean?? It means that sometimes our disobedience to the instruction of the Lord has a direct impact on generations to come. In this case, because Saul chose to choose for himself what ought to be done as opposed to listening to Yahweh’s instructions, an entire people group faced annihilation many generations later.

fear of Man

As leaders, there is an ever-present temptation to put the voice of people around us above the voice of the one within us. For Saul, this did not end well. The leadership mantle was revoked and a new king would be anointed. The once-appointed hero becomes the antagonist of the narrative of scripture. Proverbs 3:5-6 (coincidently penned from the son of King David, Saul’s successor) says to trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on our own understanding, acknowledging God in all our ways. In the ways of leadership, it is always best to pursue obedience to God first and foremost.

But here’s the thing — operating in the fear of man may produce an immediate gratification or, scarier still, a sense of accomplishment but can absolutely be a detriment later on. According to Proverbs, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The challenge for the leader in today’s Christian celebrity culture is to say the right thing and look the right part… however I believe the Father is looking for those who will not just look the part but rather be seed-bearers for future generations.

Enter the fig tree

In Mark chapter 11 we get this fascinating look at Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, commencing what we celebrate today as Palm Sunday; the beginning of the Holy Week before Resurrection Sunday. The scene that follows the hosanna procession of praise is one of Jesus being hungry. I appreciate Jesus’ humanity in this, he felt what we felt as fully God and fully man while on this earth. The same way an In-N-Out Burger sign would naturally trigger cravings as I drive down the interstate in California, Jesus saw a fig tree and the hunger signals in His brain prompted Him to cruise on over and grab a snack. Unfortunately for the Messiah, there were no figs to be found on the tree. Not a single one. If I waiting in the ever long line of my favorite burger chain only to find out they don’t have burgers, I’d be disappointed and even a little upset too. But I believe Jesus is communicating something more to the reader in this. In the Greek, it says that Jesus apokrínomai the tree, or as the KJV writes “He answered the tree.” The definition for the word mentioned above is to respond to. It is written that Jesus didn’t simply speak to the tree but He responded to it, as if the tree was communicating something that beaconed a response from its Creator. In this case, the One who spoke that tree into existence, giving it both form and function, is now responding to His own voice in a way. Imagine it like this— Jesus who is the Word in the beginning and the One through whom all things were made (John 1) spoke the reality of this fig tree into being, but the tree was not in alignment with what He had said. I’m gonna go out on a limb here (pun intended) and say that I believe the tree was supposed to be bearing fruit… and in this instance it wasn’t. Because of this Jesus “responds” to the tree by declaring that no one would eat from it again.

It could be said of Saul that He was not in alignment with what the Father had said and therefore failed to produce the fruit necessary for kingdom multiplication. In a way, the “fruit” of his people pleasing decisions led to the multiplication of the seed of the enemy of God. I believe that the Lord is ushering His bride to walk anew in the revelation of the fear of the Lord in this hour. We have settled for casual Christianity and vain pursuits for too long. I am convinced that the Spirit is longing to rest on and through the Church in ways we haven’t seen or even heard of, propelling us into producing the very fruit Christ suffered and conquered sin and death for. The question remains: what must we do to see the fear of man untangled and eradicated in our lives and the reverent fear of the Lord increase in our personhood?? I believe 1 John 4:18 shows us the way.

perfect love

Here is the verse:

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)

From John (coincidentally known as John the Beloved and John the Revelator) we see that it’s not more faith that overcomes fear, but rather what he calls perfect love. A look at the Greek language used here and we see that perfect is also better understood in this context as complete; love that has fulfilled its complete purpose in and through our lives. Interestingly enough, in the gospel of John chapter seventeen we see an amazingly eternal truth— that the Father loves us the same way He loves Jesus. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but that’s a WHOLE lotta love. To me, perfect or complete love is clinging to the revelation that we are wildly and unconditionally loved by the Godhead in the same way the Godhead loves one another. What does this all have to do with Saul?? I’m convinced that the contrast between Saul’s leadership and David’s leadership is that Saul was attentive to the heart of the people, David was a man after Gods’ own heart. What must we do, then, to expel the spirit of the fear of man from our lives?? Like David, we must be both intimately and experientially convinced that we are loved. Neither man walked in blameless obedience to the Lord, however, they both responded differently. The difference; Saul said in a manner of speaking “let me keep my image and dignity intact”, David said “create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Saul getting called out by the prophet Samuel looked like excuse after excuse followed by actions to attempt to hide his wrongdoing. David getting called out by the prophet Nathan led to repentance.

rejecting saul’s armor

I have lived alongside the Saul leadership model in various ways and various capacities throughout the years. Often times I’ve heard “give the people what the people want” mantras perpetuated in meetings, assuring us listeners that if we just appease the people, we will elevate the employed definition of success in ministry (most often utilizing the metrics of numbers and offerings as indicators of success). As mentioned before, the deception lies in the fact that there are results that seem favorable in the moment. It could look good to attract folks to our methods and ministries by giving them feel good discipleship and entertainment, however I believe this pursuit has yielded the fruit of a generation walking away from the fold of fellowship in the body and into a self-serving gospel. I equate this to the armor Saul attempted to have David wear in facing off against Goliath. David was convinced of what he carried from meeting with Yahweh in the pasture amongst the sheep, and he didn’t need to “put on” the ways of Saul to achieve victory but rather trust in the goodness and greatness as of his God that David himself bore the fruit of. You can also say it like this— seeds are only available in fruit and if we are “looking the part” but lacking the fruit that contains transferable seeds, we will miss our role and responsibility of equipping and nourishing a generation, perhaps generations to come. We are beaconed in this hour to let perfect and complete love radically wash over us, restoring reverence and the fear of the Lord, and thereby empowering us to bear the fruit of our pursuit, which has a direct impact on generations to come. I long to see a people walk in the weighty reverence of the Lord that when He walks up to us as trees He sees the fruition of His word alive and well within us, bear fruit that remain. The great book of Psalms begins with this bold declaration, and gives us an incredible model to both stay away from and pursue.

”What delight comes to the one who follows God’s ways! He won’t walk in step with the wicked, nor share the sinner’s way, nor be found sitting in the scorner’s seat. His passion is to remain true to the Word of “I AM,” meditating day and night on the true revelation of light. He will be standing firm like a flourishing tree planted by God’s design, deeply rooted by the brooks of bliss, bearing fruit in every season of life. He is never dry, never fainting, ever blessed, ever prosperous.” Psalms 1:1-3 TPT