The Gift of Unfairness - Luke 13:1-9 - December 3, 2023

 Luke 13:1-9 The Gift of Unfairness

Good morning! Please turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 13, that’s on page 872 in the pew Bibles.

Back in 2004, Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a book entitled, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.”

This is a thought or a question that people have been wrestling with from the beginning when things happen that are unpleasant, or difficult, or downright horrifying. I remember on 9/11 standing in my living room watching the news on my console tv and crying out, “God, what is happening? Why is this happening?”

At every turn and with every trial, whether it’s health, or financial, or relational, or whatever, we often ask the question, why? Why is this happening to me, or to them? Sometimes we cry foul when things happen, we say, it’s not fair. It’s not fair that this is happening! And you now what? We’re right.

In our passage this morning Jesus is confronted by some people that have similar questions, why did this terrible thing happen to these innocent people? Jesus’ response to them is potentially eternity altering, at least if we are willing to listen.

Let’s look at it together, Luke 13:1-9, page 872.

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 

6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

Let’s pray.

Now here we have another passage with an unhelpful heading stuck in the middle. These two paragraphs ought not be separated because the second half is an illustration of the point of the first half.

Somewhere along the line as Jesus was teaching somebody asked him about the Galileans that had been killed in the Temple at the hands of Pilate and his Roman soldiers. History doesn’t record anything about this event outside the Gospel of Luke. However, plenty has been written about Pilate’s cruelty as a ruler and his disdain for the Jewish people. Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea from 26-36AD under Emperor Tiberius and was the same Pilate that ordered and presided over Jesus’ crucifixion.

So something horrible happened to these Galileans that were in the Temple offering their sacrifices and people asked Jesus about it.

It was common thought in that day that when something bad happened to someone it was because they had done something to offend God. The disciples even thought this way when they questioned Jesus about a man that was born blind in John 9. They asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” and Jesus responded with the simple truth and the single point of this sermon, “Neither, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

This thinking is not uncommon even today, if you do good things, good things with happen to you, if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you. This is not biblical, this is not true.

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 

Who is worse, the Galileans who were murdered, or the ones who weren’t? Who is worse, those crushed by a falling tower, or those not crushed by a falling tower?

Jesus was confronting this same pervasive thought that bad things only happen to bad people. Well, the truth is, bad things do only happen to bad people, but… good things only happen to bad people too.

Why is that? Because there are no good people. As far as God’s righteous standard is concerned, the only true definition of what a good person looks like, no one is good, no one except Jesus.

In His wisdom, God the Father gave us the Ten Commandments to show us that we all fall short of His righteous standard and that we need a Savior to save us from the penalty of our disobedience.

We have all put something before God in our lives, we have all worshipped and served a created thing instead of God, we have all taken His Name in vain, we have all violated the Sabbath day, we have all dishonored our parents, we have all hated someone and thus murdered them in our hearts, we have all committed adultery in thought or in deed, we have all stolen something, we have all lied, we have all longed to have something that belongs to someone else.

The question is not, “why did that tower fall on those ‘innocent people?” The real question is, “why didn’t it fall on me?”

Jonathan Edwards once asked his congregation, “Give me one reason why God hasn’t destroyed you since you got up this morning? 

There is only one reason: Grace.

Consider every moment that we live, every luxury that we enjoy, every blessing that we participate in, as a matter of receiving the grace of God. It represents God’s willingness to be patient with a race of people who have constantly and consistently rebelled against Him.

Matthew Henry wrote, “We all deserve to perish as much as they did, and had we been dealt with according to our sins, according to the iniquity of our holy things, our blood would have been long before this mingled with our sacrifices by the justice of God.”

The simple truth is, if life were fair, we’d all be dead.

God does not owe us the mercy that we receive, God is not obliged to show us mercy. He said Himself, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” If God owed us mercy it wouldn’t be a gift it would be a debt. 

What we deserve is death. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death…” When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden sin and death entered the world and we inherit sin and a sinful nature from them, as well as the curse that sin brings, death, not just the natural death of our bodies but eternal death.

And in the face of that punishment of death, whether it’s being murdered by Pilate, or crushed by a falling tower, Jesus offered a way out. In verses 3 and 5 Jesus gives us an escape.

I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

What we deserve is death for our sin. That is what it looks like when life is fair. When life is fair we get what we deserve, death.

It’s true that what we deserve is death but… Because God loves us, what we are offered is grace.

Romans 5:8 says, God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And because Christ died for us He offers escape from the wrath to come if we repent.

Repentance means to change one’s way of life as the result of a complete change of thought and attitude with regard to sin and righteousness. Literally turning 180 degrees from the way we were headed, toward death, to the way that Jesus is leading, to eternal life.

The second half of our passage this morning is an illustration of God’s patience and grace as well as the work of Jesus Christ.

6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

God the Father is the owner of the vineyard where He had a fig tree planted. The fig tree is mankind, and the vinedresser is Jesus.

Think of the careful labor of the Father to bring you to this place and time. Fig trees were not commonly planted in vineyards, He purposely planted us there. When He came to investigate with the right expectation that we should have borne fruit, He unhappily discovers that there wasn’t any. The fruit in this picture is faith.

Without that fruit, without figs, what good is a fig tree? If it won’t bear fruit in its season it’s a waste of resources. Something else could be planted there in that soil that will produce fruit, and that is what the owner of the vineyard was going to do until the vinedresser interceded for the fig tree.

The vinedresser says, give it one more year, let me cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it, give it what it needs to produce fruit. After that, if it grows fruit that’s great, but if not, then you can cut it down.

God extends His grace that we, the fig tree, would be made new with Jesus’ help. 

But the truth is, that humanity is on the clock. God the Father extends His kindness to lead to repentance but He is not going to wait forever. When the time is up, if there is no fruit on your tree, you will be cut down.

And so the lesson for us, for all that are listening, is to repent now, turn to Jesus in faith now, use every challenge, every trial, as a reminder of the grace of God and as a reminder to continue to turn from your ways to Jesus’ way because the life of the Christian is a life of constant and continuous repentance. 

Amen.

Times and Temperatures - Luke 12:54-59 - November 26, 2023

 Luke 12:54-59 Times and Temperatures

Good morning! I am very happy to be back with you all this morning! Last week Karole-Ann and I traveled to South Eliot, Maine for the ordination of a dear friend of mine, Kent Davis, who was my youth pastor growing up and one of the founders of Camp MACC. It was such a blessing to celebrate the calling of a man who has had such a profound impact on my life and my walk with Jesus.

But it’s good to be back home with you our family!

Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter twelve, page 872 in the pew Bibles. This morning we are going to look at the last verses of Luke twelve, 54-59 which means we are closing out the first half of the 24 chapters of the Gospel of Luke. If you’re curious, we started this study two years ago at the end of January…

As we read these few verses this morning ignore any heading that is stuck in the middle of them, they are not two separate thoughts but rather two points of one sermon from Jesus. The headings are not part of the original text, they are not inspired by the Holy Spirit, merely added in much later by people trying to be helpful and they sometimes are, and sometimes they’re not.

Let’s read the text together and dive in.

54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? 

57 “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

Let’s pray.

Now I know all you discerning and wise people can see right away how these two paragraphs are so closely linked…

Let’s take them one at a time and maybe we’ll get there together by the time we’re done.

Now, if you have been watching the news at all lately I’m sure that you have seen a map showing the relationship between Israel and Gaza. And while it’s tempting to immediately veer off into a signs of the times discussion around that I want to remind you a little bit about the geography that Jesus and His first hearers were very well acquainted with.

54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens.

So, in general terms, at the time of this discourse, Jesus was in Israel. If Jesus was standing in Israel and said, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens.” What is in the immediate west of Israel? The Mediterranean Sea.

And When Jesus said, 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. What is in the south of Israel? Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Desert.

These were common signs for predicting the weather, just as we know that if the wind comes out of the North it will be colder and if it blows out of the South it will be warmer.

But then Jesus says, “56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

The issue that Jesus was addressing in the hearts of His hearers was the willingness to use wisdom to discern earthly things but not for spiritual things.

Unlike our culture today, children in those days grew up learning and memorizing Scripture. Jewish boys had to memorize the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. Life for most everybody revolved around the Synagogue and the Temple. Where people lived and built their houses was determined by where the Synagogue was in their village. Religion was not just an optional add on for a select few, it was the heartbeat of the culture.

And these folks who should have been able to discern the times according to their own knowledge of the Scriptures were not unable but unwilling to. That is why Jesus calls them hypocrites.

56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? 

The people Jesus was speaking to on that day should have been able to discern that it was the time of the Messiah, they should have known the day of their visitation but they were unwilling. They cannot see because they will not see. They were guilty of rejecting Messiah Jesus.

And that is why Jesus used the illustration from a court of law in verses 57-59.

As we look at this you can see that Jesus more than implied that they were guilty in this scenario.

57 “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

Now in this scenario the Magistrate, the Judge, is God, but don’t be fooled, the accuser is not the devil, it’s actually the holiness of God, God’s righteous requirement.

The people that Jesus was speaking to were all guilty of violating God’s Law, the Ten Commandments, and were on their way to meet the Magistrate whether they were aware of it or not. By rejecting Jesus as Messiah they were rejecting the only way to settle with their accuser on the way to court and by so doing they could expect a guilty verdict and to be thrown into prison until they paid the last penny of their debt.

Actually, the word translated penny is “lepta,” and it was a coin that was worth one eighth of one penny. So the implication here is that there is no grace after judgment only punishment. Sin creates a debt that cannot be repaid by anyone other than Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, and not even the smallest amount of the debt will be forgotten by the Holy Magistrate.

And Jesus’ emphasis of settling on the way means that the Day of Judgment was coming and their time was limited to admit their guilt and settle before that day came.

So since the last thing we need is just a running commentary on Luke’s Gospel we have to ask the question, “So what?” If the words of Jesus had that meaning then, the meaning must be the same now, so what does that mean for us?

What if those people that Jesus was speaking to that day were able or willing to interpret the signs of their own time, what would they do? Wouldn’t they be looking all the more intently for the coming of the Messiah according to the Scriptures and find that He is Jesus? And wouldn’t they put their faith in Him and tell all their friends and neighbors that Messiah had come and He was the carpenter’s Son from Nazareth? And wouldn’t they realize their own guilt before the holiness of God and settle with Him through faith in Jesus before they had to face judgment? Yes, I think they would.

So why wouldn’t we?

Those folks should have been looking for the first advent of Christ, just as we should be looking for His second advent. But as we look for the signs of His coming we should be all the more eager to tell others about Him and how He paid our debt and theirs before we face judgment.

I get asked a lot if I think that what is happening in the world today are signs of the end times, and I can tell you with confidence that all signs point to the increasing need for fervor in sharing the Good News that Jesus lived and died and rose again to save sinners just like me and you.

Whether Jesus comes in our lifetime or not, we are all on our way to our own appointment before the Judge and we all need to settle with our accuser on the way so as to avoid the penalty for our guilt.

RC Sproul wrote, “In offending a holy, infinite and eternal God, our sin itself is infinite and eternal. That is why we require a sacrifice that is of infinite worth, that is why the cross is our only hope, because on the cross Christ paid that debt. The only possible means of redemption for us is by grace.

Christ has paid that debt, and if you despise his payment, then all you have left is to pay it yourself. His payment, however, is perfect and gracious and will cover every last cent of your indebtedness. Everything that we owe can be settled out of court. Therefore, the judgment is a moment of triumph for Christ and for his people.”

Amen.

Fire, Baptism, and Division - Luke 12:49-53 - November 12, 2023

 Luke 12:49-53 Fire, Baptism, and Division

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 12. We are going to start at verse 49, and that’s on page 872 in the pew Bibles.

There was a book written some years ago by a man named FF Bruce entitled, “Hard Sayings of Jesus.”

I haven’t read it but I can’t imagine anyone being able to lay out seventy different sayings of Jesus that they considered hard without considering this one from our text in the Gospel of Luke this morning.

In our brief text today Jesus describes a fire, a baptism, and a lack of peace, three things that are worth our consideration this morning. I tried to use the text for the whole rest of the chapter so we wouldn’t be stuck with three points but I didn’t make it, sorry.

Let’s look at Luke 12:49-53 together.

49 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Let’s pray.

It is a great temptation in the work of interpreting Scripture to confine the meaning of a particular image to only one meaning throughout the whole of Scripture. Meaning, that if a particular author uses the image of light then when another particular author uses the picture of light that they both mean the same thing.

Here in verse 49 of our text Jesus uses the image of fire. “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!”

Fire is used elsewhere in Scripture to refer to God’s judgment or His wrath but is that what Jesus means when He says “I came to cast fire on the earth?” I don’t think it is.

Some people when they read this phrase think of the Holy Spirit and His coming on the day of Pentecost when He appeared as tongues of fire as described in the book of Acts a year or so after our text for this morning. Is that what Jesus meant when He said that He came to cast fire on the earth, the coming of the Holy Spirit? I don’t think it is, it doesn’t fit the context.

Let’s think about the picture for a minute. What does fire do? It’s used for a lot of things but they are a result of the two basic functions of fire: it consumes that which is combustible, and it purifies or reveals that which isn’t.

Paul uses this picture in 1 Corinthians 3:12-13, I think I mentioned this last week or the week before.

12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

So what is this fire that Jesus is eagerly desirous to have kindled, is it the fire of God’s wrath, is it the fire of the Holy Spirit? It’s neither, it’s the fire of the gospel, it’s the culmination of His mission here on earth.

JJ vanOosterzee wrote that, “the fire was not to blaze up in its full power until after His death and resurrection.”

The world is content to agree, for the most part, that Jesus really did live and He really did go around doing good and teaching others about God. But that is not a fire that has the power to neither consume nor reveal anything. Jesus came to earth to die, to die the death that we all deserve because of our sin. He willingly left heaven to become a man, like us only without sinning, and He willingly gave His life on the cross in our place. He really did die and three days later He rose again.

Up until this point in Jesus’ ministry he had been preaching the good news of the kingdom but the people, even the disciples, didn’t understand what it would take to enter it. It would take His death on the cross.

Jesus knew that this fire of the gospel would not be kindled and would not spread until after His atoning death on the cross.

Why would Jesus be eager for this fire? Because He knew that only through these flames can all impurity be purged from the earth.

The image of fire here is pretty straight forward but in the same breath Jesus says in verse 50, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!

So Jesus has mentioned the fire and when He mentions His baptism what element do you think He’s referencing? Water… Wrong. It’s earth.

Jesus was already baptized in the Jordan River by John long before this sermon, so what baptism could He mean?

When we get baptized as believers in Jesus what are we symbolically showing? We are outwardly displaying our inward death to sin and resurrection into new life in Christ.

Paul wrote in Romans 6:3-4, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Jesus was not distressed waiting for a baptism of water but of earth, of death, burial, and resurrection.

And He knew full well that the true fire of the gospel would not be kindled until then, until His work on earth was completed.

As far as hard sayings of Jesus go, those two are a walk in the park compared to the next one…

51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

I’m glad were not quite to the Advent Season yet, because it would be pretty tough to preach this text at the same time as talking about Jesus being the Prince of Peace.

How do you reconcile these two thoughts?

What was the song of the angels to the shepherds? “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.”

Every Christmas we read Isaiah 9:6-7, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end…

So how can Jesus say that he did not come to bring peace but rather division?

The fact is simply this: peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ creates enmity among men.

Romans 5:1-2 says, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

It’s this peace by faith in Jesus that has divided friendships and families for centuries.

JJ vanOosterzee wrote, “When the Holy One of God comes into personal contact with an unholy world, a shock and strife is inevitable, and that not only against Him personally, but also among men themselves, inasmuch as these begin to distinguish themselves into adversaries and subjects of His kingdom.”

I’m sure there are many stories in this room of this kind of division where those we love just cannot tolerate any more talk about Jesus or about His church. How many of you have been asked, “What happened? You used to be fun and now you’re all about Jesus like some kind of religious fanatic…”

When we stand for Christ we will find others, even those of our very own households standing against Him. That is the kind of division that Jesus was talking about.

Jesus wasn’t advocating division but rather predicting the inevitable.

Jesus knew this kind of division personally, His own brothers did not believe in Him, at least not at first, they thought He was crazy. 

But that is the great blessing of being part of a church family: we all get to be crazy together and fan the flames of the gospel so that it will spread and others might know Jesus and put their trust in Him regardless of the opposition we might face.

49 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.

Jesus took His mission personally. He knew what it would cost Him, and He knows what following Him will cost us, and on both counts it’s worth it. Amen.