Weekend Message/Devotion
March 24, 2019
Luke 3:1-9
There are many parallels in today’s reading with the message that I shared November 17, 2017, entitled Judgment Day is Coming. If you are inclined, you can research that message at: Sermon Central.com by clicking on the button for contributors and then submitting my name. From there you will have access to all of the messages that I have presented over the past couple of years. OR, you can send me a request via of email and I will happily send you a copy.
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
“Then they also will answer [b]Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You? Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46
Today’s gospel reading comes to us from Luke 13:1-9
“There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had [a]mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; 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 sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
“He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it [b]use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 [c]And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”
Do you now or have you ever been going through a really tough time? Do you just not understand why you have to endure so much? We all experience times in our lives that just do not seem fair at all. I don’t think that I am alone in this thinking.
It is natural to try and figure out some reason; some mistake; maybe some grievous sin. Isn’t it? In Jesus day, the old-timers of Jewish following believed that misfortunes were the result of man’s misdeeds.
Jesus was then and is now making it plain and simple. We can no more earn goodness and mercy than we can earn misfortune. That doesn’t make sense at face value, does it? Of course, we can take chances and face consequences. Yes, we can make good choices and reap the benefits thereof. What we cannot do is have ultimate control over good and bad that befalls mankind – from out-of-the-blue, so to speak.
Jesus was being asked about the Galileans whose blood was mingled with their sacrifices. Listen carefully how Jesus responded. He asked them (knowing what they were getting at) “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the Galileans, because they suffered these things?”
Then He says “NO”, ‘but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.’
We’ll get back to that line of thinking, in a minute.
First let’s read Ecclesiastes 9:11 –
“I returned and saw under the sun that—
The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all.”
Good and Bad “happen to them all.” Folks, that ALL means you and me.
Let’s say you prepared a vegetable garden. You made all the proper preparations. You planted, watered, fertilized and kept the weeds at bay. Let’s say that your next-door neighbor did the exact same thing in his garden. When it came time for harvest, your plants failed to produce but your neighbor’s garden produced an overabundance. Jesus is saying that life isn’t always fair. A policeman may pull you over and issue you a citation for speeding five miles per hour over the limit, yet, a car had just passed you and the police car at a speed that was far greater than you were driving. Is that fair? No. Is it a reality? Yes.
So if so much is totally out of our control, why is Jesus making it so very plain that we will perish in a likewise manner as the Galileans, in our reading? Did you pick up on that one word in His response – “REPENT”.
“John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” Mark 1:4
John’s entire ministry that of preaching baptism and repentance. His ministry and its validity was so aligned with the gospel of our Lord, that He himself went to John, that he would baptize the Messiah. And you say, but pastor Jesus didn’t repent, He was just baptized!
Here is a direct quote from Illustrated Dictionary & Concordance of the Bible, the Jerusalem Publishing House Ltd, 1986, page 153.
“Although the baptism unto repentance given by John the Baptist was regarded as inadequate in the NT (Matthew 3:11), the appearance of the Holy Spirit unto Jesus at His baptism by John in the Jordan (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22) is taken as the model of Christian baptism which imparts the Spirit.”
I don’t think that it’s any kind of a stretch to say, if we are baptized in the manner of Jesus, that it is significant that we have repented of sin. The Spirit is not going to impart to us, unless we have been cleansed externally by the water and internally by the Gift of the Holy Spirit (internally).
WE are represented in the parable of the fig tree. We are each as that withering fig tree, that deserve to be cut down and replaced by a fruit bearing tree. But God is merciful. He sent His One and Only Son to atone for our sins and offer us a way to become fruit bearing. As did the gardener in the parable, Jesus offers to tend us and refresh us via our own repentance.
“If it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.” (verse 9) We can, each and every one of us accept the mercy of Jesus via our repentance and become fruit bearing. Folks, this fertilizing (nurturing by the gospel truth of Jesus) is ongoing. It isn’t a one-time thing. Whether you are among those who deny a need to repent believing that you are not a sinner or whether you are just sick and tired of being called a sinner, if you have been baptized, that is a one-time thing BUT the practice of repenting continually is a forever-thing. It is a forever-thing because we are forever committing one type of sin or another. If we really messed up, repentance is in order. If we just slipped up and committed a little sin that we deem insignificant, repentance is in order.
Let us pray -
I humbly and sincerely ask for your prayers!
https://churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/311609-how-to-pray-for-your-pastor-ronnie-floyd.html?utm_source=outreach-cl-daily-nl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read-more&utm_campaign=cl-daily-nl&maropost_id=&mpweb=256-7370272[HG1]
Note: It is the practice of this church to preach straight from the bible. We follow the lectionary assigned readings from which the sermon/messages are derived.
