Sermon Notes – March 4, 2007
A God of Second Chances – Luke 13: 1 - 9
I.
Introduction – Human Condition
I am often self-centered and
determined to do things my way. I guess
you can call me human since we all seem to be that way at one time or another –
some more than others and in varying degrees at different times. Just ask Sue.
Well after confession, comes forgiveness, and the process of
sanctification. You remember that
important doctrine stressed by John Wesley as he exhorts us towards perfection
with the work of God’s grace in our lives.
I read a story about a man
who borrowed a book from an acquaintance. As he read through it, he was
intrigued to find parts of the book underlined with the letters YBH written in
the margin. When he returned the book to the owner, he asked what the YBH
meant. The owner replied that the underlined paragraphs were sections of the
book that he basically agreed with. They gave him hints on how to improve
himself and pointed out truths that he wished to incorporate into his life.
However, the letters YBH stood for "Yes, but how?"
Those three letters could be written on many areas of our lives. "I ought
to know how to take better care of myself, but how?" "I know I ought
to spend more time in scripture reading and prayer, but how?" "I know
I ought to be more sensitive to others, more loving of my spouse, more
understanding of the weaknesses of others, but how?" These are all good
qualities and we know that, but how can we acquire them? As Christian people we
know the kind of life we ought to live, and most of us have the best of
intentions to do so, but how? We are afraid because we know where the road
paved with only good intentions leads!
Well, let’s look at some scriptural truths and what they mean for us in
our daily walk with God and with others in our lives.
A. Creation Story – Genesis 2: 1 – 3: 24
The story of creation is a great place to
begin. God created such a perfect world
and a perfect relationship with humans.
But then that human condition crept in.
I like the words of the famous humorist, Mark Twain, with his characteristic sense of humor,
tells us how he understands that when he wrote, "Man was made at the end
of the week, when God was tired."
Whoever we are, whatever we do, we all share one thing in common and
that is that we are sinful. The famous
theologian,
So what happens after human nature has corrupted God’s plan for perfection:
22 Then
the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of
us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also
from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever’— 23therefore the Lord
God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was
taken. 24He drove out the man; and
at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming
and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.
Notice that God drove the
humans out of the garden, but he didn’t wipe them out and give up on them. God is a God of SECOND CHANCES.
B. Isaiah 55: 1 – 9
The appointed Old Testament
lesson today comes from Isaiah and tells us a lot about this God of ours and
his ways:
55Ho,
everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy
and eat!
6Seek the Lord
while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
7let the wicked forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
9For as the heavens are higher than the
earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Our God is a
God of abundant love, isn’t He? He has a
nature of abundant pardon that provides us SECOND (and third, and fourth)
CHANCES even though we don’t deserve it.
C.
Sinful nature of humanity – Peter, Judas, Saul, etc.
David committed adultery and
arranged murders. Yet God forgave and
used him. Peter denied Christ 3 times
and became a powerful apostle in leading the early Christians. Judas betrayed Christ, but I don’t think
Christ gave up on him. Jesus was
saddened by the betrayal of his close disciple and probably wanted Judas to
repent just like he wants us to repent of our sins. Saul persecuted and participated in the
deaths of early Christians, but God used this imperfect person to spread the
Gospel to many nations.
II. The Parable
of The Fig Tree – Luke 13: 1 – 9
A.
The situation of sinners in
13At
that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose
blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2He
asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way
they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent,
you will all perish as they did. 4Or
those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you
think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent,
you will all perish just as they did.’
"Repent," Jesus
says. "Acknowledge your sinfulness." That's the first step in
beginning to live the Christian life. None of us is without fault. And yet how
difficult it is for us to admit that. We know better than to openly admit our
wrongs. If we want to get ahead in this world and be accepted by others, it's
generally better to conceal our shortcomings and put on a good front for
others.
Who goes into a job interview and declares, "I have to tell you. I have a
habit of missing work, of criticizing my supervisors and others, and I enjoy
listening to office gossip?" Who goes on a date and confesses to the other
person, "Listen. I have to tell you I tend to be difficult to live with
and I can be a real bore at times"?
However imperfect we may be, we've learned from life around us that it's better
not to parade our imperfections out in public. As the little girl said to her
classmate who had to sit in the corner, "To err is human, but to admit it
is just plain stupid!"
How ironic it is then, that Jesus would tell us to repent. Instead of offering
a word of support and understanding for our all-too-human tendency to cover up
our wrongdoings, Jesus tells us to disclose the evil within us, to admit that
we have failed. The apostle John tells us the same thing very clearly when he
writes, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is
not in us."
Repent, Jesus says, for that's the first step in the Christian life. Confess
your sins before God and receive God's forgiveness. In that sense, confession
is good for the soul, true confession, not the kind of glib admission that
says, "Sure I've sinned. Who hasn't?" True confession begins with a heartfelt
remorse, a feeling of failure to live up to God's love, and a desire to reform.
Most of us are willing to confess our sins as long as we don't have to change.
None of us wants to admit that our sinfulness may require a complete makeover!
After all, we like to think that God is happy with us the way we are and really
only wants to make us happy with ourselves.
Well, let’s look at the rest of the story.
B.
Trees not bearing fruit – vs. 6 – 7
6 Then he told this parable: ‘A man
had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and
found none. 7So he said to the
gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig
tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?”
C.
Fertilizers and fruit-bearing trees – vs. 8 – 9
8He replied, “Sir, let it
alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and
good; but if not, you can cut it down.” ’
So how do we fertilize and
bear fruit in our lives? Jesus shows us
how in the first five verses. When we
acknowledge our sinfulness and receive God's forgiveness, God releases us from
the power of sin. And only when we are free from sin do we have the possibility
to become who God has created us to be -- children of God, young and old, each
able to produce the fruits of faith.
That's the key to our dilemma, the answer to the question, "Yes, but
how?" How do we live the life of faith we are called to live as followers
of Christ? How can we do what we ought to do? The key to living the life
"worthy of our calling" as children of God is to remember that God
has already set us free! In Christ Jesus I am free! I am free to be who God has
made me to be. It is up to me to get on with it. I only need allow Christ to
live in me and take control of my life.
Sometimes we think that when we give up control of our lives to Christ, we are
no longer responsible for them. But just the opposite is true. When we turn our
lives over to God, allow Christ to direct us, then we become truly responsible
for ourselves.
Jesus' parable of the fig tree calls us to take responsibility for ourselves,
for God gives us the key. Repent, Jesus says. Confess your sins and allow the
power of God to live within you. Allow God to enable us to live as we ought.
Let Jesus take possession of us and live in him.
III. Examples of Jesus
A. Love God and love
your neighbor – Matthew 22: 36 – 40
Jesus knows that we are
sinful and imperfect humans. By our own
efforts, we can never follow the laws of God and man with perfection in our
lives. He simplified the law to the
basics of a life leading towards perfection when he said:
36‘Teacher, which
commandment in the law is the greatest?’ 37He
said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38This is the greatest and first
commandment. 39And a second is like it:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 40On
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’
B. Reach out to the
hurting – Matthew 25: 31 – 46
Jesus
goes on to describe who our neighbors are that we are called to love with the
parable of the Good Samaritan. And he
also lets us know that even though we are imperfect humans and God is a God of
SECOND CHANCES, we will be held accountable for our response to God’s grace and
love in our lives. Listen to this story
from Matthew:
31 ‘When
the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32All the
nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from
another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33and he will
put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34Then the king
will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was
hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you
took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 37Then the
righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave
you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was
it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?
39And
when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 40And the king
will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of
these who are members of my family,*
you did it to me.” 41Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are
accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his
angels; 42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty
and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and
you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” 44Then they also
will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger
or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” 45Then he will
answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least
of these, you did not do it to me.” 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the
righteous into eternal life.’
C. Conclusion – Obey God’s commandments and
respond to God’s love
I would suspect that
virtually everyone in here can give at least one example from your life that
illustrates a SECOND CHANCE that God has given you. Perhaps, you came this
close to being killed in an accident.
Perhaps, your previous relationship ended in failure, but you’ve found yourself
a soul-mate now.
Perhaps, you were headed down a destructive path with an addiction or two, when
God stopped you cold in your tracks and helped you get straightened out.
Perhaps, you found a way to make your life truly count.
Perhaps the crowd you hung around with was dragging you down, and now you’ve
made some new friends. Perhaps the church was headed for a slow decline, and
has been given another shot at renewal.
I am sure you are grateful for these opportunities. But, I believe that the
reason we are in church today is because you need to hear this message again.
Because you and I both know that right now there are other changes we need to
make that we’ve been putting off. How many more SECOND CHANCES do we have left?
When are we going to do something about it?
Several years ago the Peanuts comic strip had Lucy and Charlie Brown practicing
football. Lucy would hold the ball for Charlie’s placekicking and then Charlie
would kick the ball. But every time Lucy had ever held the ball for Charlie, he
would approach the ball and kick with all his might. At the precise moment of the
point of no return, Lucy would pick up the ball and Charlie would kick and his
momentum unchecked by the ball, which was not there to kick, would cause him to
fall flat on his back. This strip opened with Lucy holding the ball, but
Charlie Brown would not kick the ball. Lucy begged him to kick the ball. But
Charlie Brown said, "Every time I try to kick the ball you remove it and I
fall on my back." They went back and forth for the longest time and
finally Lucy broke down in tears and admitted, "Charlie Brown I have been
so terrible to you over the years, picking up the football like I have. I have
played so many cruel tricks on you, but I’ve seen the error of my ways! I’ve
seen the hurt look in your eyes when I’ve deceived you. I’ve been wrong, so
wrong. Won’t you give a poor penitent girl another chance?" Charlie Brown
was moved by her display of grief and responded to her, "Of course, I’ll
give you another chance." He stepped back as she held the ball, and he
ran. At the last moment, Lucy picked up the ball and Charlie Brown fell flat on
his back. Lucy’s last words were, "Recognizing your faults and actually
changing your ways are two different things, Charlie Brown!"
Are you going to change your
ways as of today?
We live in a world where
death is a constant companion, a world where people die for no reason. We live
in a world where vicious people, be they criminals who hide in darkness, or the
oppressive powers of the state, strike out at random. We live in a world where
storms sweep in from nowhere, where towers fall down on the innocent as well as
the guilty, where earthquakes strike without warning and shadows appear on
X-rays. Life is a gift, and can be taken away at any time. Life is not our
right. None of us knows how much time we have. You and I have been given a SECOND CHANCE...
To slow down the pace, to stop and smell the roses while we are still able;
to work on that communication problem with our kids, our spouse, to shorten
that distance that’s been growing in some vital relationship,
to give up the habit that’s robbing us of our health, to repent and get back
into a right relationship with God.
The time to repent, the time to turn our life around, the time to do what we
know we need to do, is now.
The time to say “I love you” is now.
The time to say “I’m sorry,” is now.
The time to say “I forgive you” is now.
The time to say “I need you” is now.
The time to do that thing you have always wanted to do, always meant to do,
know you ought to do, is now.
And the time to give your life to Christ, the time to begin really living for
Jesus, the time to bear fruit, is now. I am thankful we have a God of SECOND
CHANCES!