WAKE UP, SLEEPER

INTRO

Good morning!

Those of you who know me well know that I am a little bit of a night owl. Back when I was in college, I just found it way easier to stay up late and finish homework than to get up early and finish homework—And I found both of those easier than actually budgeting my time effectively, but that’s a story for another sermon.

And what I noticed is that when I was staying up until two or three AM, I started having trouble getting up in the morning for my classes… so I did what any reasonable college student would do: I just kept setting more alarms—until eventually my phone looked like [THIS]. (And for the record, I did not make these alarms for this illustration. These are actual screenshots of actual alarms I have set in the last year).

But even though I was setting all these alarms, I was still waking up later and later! And it wasn’t like I would wake up and think to myself, “hm, I think I need to sleep in”—I would just wake up and check my phone and all of the alarms were shut off, but I would have no memory of snoozing them or turning them off.

And I learned there’s actually a name for this, and it’s called “selective hearing”—a psycho-somatic condition that happens when you physically hear something, but your brain decides to protect your fragile mind from the soul-altering reality that you've run out of time to sleep.

And that was always super frustrating! I mean, I was an otherwise very conscientious student, so I absolutely HATED showing up late for class. But I didn’t know what to do! I was “hearing” the right noise, I was getting the right information, but the problem is that, as I read this week, with selective hearing, you appear to hear only what is important to you. The truth is, it wasn’t that I couldn’t hear—I just didn’t want to respond. And that’s the real problem, isn’t it?

And as we’ve been in this series about people getting ready, I’ve found myself wondering—Is it possible that some of us developed selective hearing when it comes to Jesus? Are we really living in light of we’ve been learning about Jesus, the coming judgment, and His immanent return? Are we hearing what Jesus is saying and responding to it? Or, are we only hearing what we think is important to us?

So often we filter out what Jesus has to say because we think there are more pressing things to worry about—but in our passage in Luke 13, and you can start turning there, Jesus confronts some people who are doing exactly that. They're hearing so many things, including the words of Jesus, but they're not responding because they're missing the point. And so in this text, He points us back to what matters most as He concludes this discourse about His return, and the coming judgment.

BODY

So if you have your Bibles open to Luke 13, please stand to your feet to honor the reading of God’s Word, and let’s read verses 1-9 together.

Luke 13:1–9 “Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ ””

POINT ONE

So as we get started with our passage this morning, the first thing I want to highlight is this phrase, “Now there were some present at that time,” because it helps us to see that what we’re reading today is connected to what comes before. This isn’t a new conversation; it’s the same conversation we’ve been reading about since Luke 11:14! This encounter with the Pharisees and the crowds has been building this whole time, and it culminates in our passage.

So just to review, this means that, in our passage today… Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem… heals a man with a demon… draws a crowd… gets accused and rejected by the Pharisees… warns his disciples about the Jewish leaders… gets asked a question about inheritance… warns of the coming judgment… and asks why they aren’t able to interpret the “appointed TIME” (kairos) that they’re living in. That God was about to do something incredible in their day, and they couldn’t see it.

In other words, the Messiah has come, and is doing the works that the Father gave Him to do, and yet... these people are rejecting Jesus IN REAL TIME while He is on His way to present Himself as King in the triumphal entry. So there is a SERIOUS dramatic irony here, where Jesus has given them [everything they need] to see Him for who He is, and they are choosing to reject Him. And so as Jesus is teaching, they’re going back and forth with Him, and Jesus has just said in Luke 12:56–57 “Hypocrites!… How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?”

And then we come to our text, and we read that those who were present at that time “told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.” So in response to Jesus the people are bringing up a current event about some tragedy that had taken place involving some people from the Region of Galilee, which is where Jesus did most of His ministry, and this guy named Pilate—so, what’s really going on here and why would these people bring up something like this in response to what Jesus is saying about judgment and interpreting the times?

Well, those of you who know your Bibles know that between the time of the Old and New Testaments, Rome swept through and took over, and that in Jesus’ day they had complete control of Israel. And in our Text, Pilate, also known as Pontius Pilate, was the Roman governor of the province of Judea during Jesus’ ministry.

And apparently, some Galileans, people who lived in Galilee—which was actually up outside of the jurisdiction of Pilate—had traveled down to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple, probably at one of the Jewish festivals, and had some conflict with Pilate.

Now, it’s possible that these people were zealots, or that they were rebels against the Roman Empire, and so Pilate took this opportunity while they were in Jerusalem to deal with them; but it’s also possible that they just happened to offend Pilate, because we read in antiquity that Pilate was not a very good dude. Even though we don’t have record of this exact event, we have record of several others where Pilate had crowds of Jewish protesters beaten and killed. But in any case, in the end result, Pilate’s men met up with these Galileans while they were in the act of giving their sacrifices, and struck them down at the altar. This is what is meant by the language that Pilate “mixed their blood with their sacrifices.” It’s a terrible national tragedy.

And what we need to recognize is that in the ancient world, something so shocking and tragic as this would have been interpreted immediately as God’s judgment on those Galileans—and I believe this is why they bring up this story in response to what Jesus is saying. When there was a tragedy in those days, everybody asked “What did that person do to deserve such a thing?” This is so foreign to us because when we see tragedy, we don’t think that it was the victim’s fault—we don’t ask “what did they do?”, we ask “how could God have allowed this to happen?”

But in those days it was totally normal to think this way—and we see this understanding pop up throughout the Bible! For example, in Job 4:7, we read “Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?” In this passage, one of Job’s friends is trying to convince him that he is suffering because of his own sin. In other words, if you were innocent, you wouldn’t be suffering! Wicked people suffer, because suffering and tragedy are the judgment of God. In their minds, personal disaster is the result of personal sin!

And so back in our text, they bring up this current event to show that they know what divine judgment looks like, and they know who deserves it. “As a matter of fact, Jesus, we know all about judgment! What about those people who Pilate slaughtered? THOSE people were deserving of judgment. They should have known better!”

And so Jesus hears their response, and He knows immediately that they’ve missed the point. Jesus is not trying to get people to “interpret the times” by sitting in judgment over one another! He’s trying to get each one of us to face the reality that judgment is coming! So with all that in mind, we understand why Jesus says in response: [“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?”] The reason Jesus asks this question is because He knows that answer is “yes!” That’s exactly what they believed!

And so what Jesus is trying to help them see is that passing judgment off onto others is a fool’s errand. These crowds were looking down their noses at people who got in trouble with Rome and were tragically killed, thinking that they themselves were in a position to judge. Do you see this? And Jesus says, let’s put an end to that immediately. You people are in no position to judge; judgment is coming for ALL people—or in the words of our text, were they worse sinners? “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Because, for starters, rebelling against Rome does not uniquely qualify people for judgment.

See, Jesus’ point was not that the Galileans were innocent; His point was that they were simply not more guilty than everybody else. He’s trying to help us see how level the ground is.

And then Jesus immediately follows it up with an example of His own that makes the same point, but from the opposite direction—back in our text, we read, “Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?”

So evidently there was a tower in the city of Jerusalem that fell and crushed people to death, which would have looked to them like the hand of God striking in judgment. And what I discovered is that many believe that this tower may have been a support for an aqueduct that Pilate was constructing! And if this is the case, then it seems like Jesus is comparing people who were rebelling against Rome with people who were basically helping Rome! If this is truly what happened, then Jesus would be playing both sides of an extremely isolating national incident—which is amazing, if you think about it!

So, on the one hand, those who die by Pilate’s sword are not worse sinners than you all; but on the other hand, those who cooperate with Rome aren’t worse sinners either! In other words, when you spend all your time focused on how you stack up against your neighbors who you think have fallen under God’s wrath, you fail to realize that you yourself are in great danger! Because all you can do is focus on the shortcomings of others, when Jesus is trying to get your attention!

So let me just say this to make the point clear: Sin does not come in ranks. So often we can be just like the Pharisee in this story that Jesus tells later in Luke, in Luke 18, who went to give their offering. And as Jesus tells this story, the Pharisee prays as he gives, saying, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”

And for you and I, we may not have the same list as the Pharisee, but I guarantee you, we have a list. Thank you that I haven’t fallen into that lifestyle! Thank you that I didn’t vote for that political party! Thank you that I don’t have that sexual temptation! And friends, for those of us who have been spared from the grave consequences of some sin, PRAISE GOD! But can I just say, we are just like those other people in at least one very important respect: we are sinful people who owe an infinite debt that we could never pay.

Friends, this Pharisaical attitude is a cancer to the church, and it is a betrayal of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have not earned our status! Our standing with God is based on NOTHING but the finished work of Jesus; we get HIS righteousness, not our own. It’s all from Jesus! He gets ALL the glory! And if you and I have found grace, then praise the God of our salvation! But let us always remember that we go out into the streets not from some high place, but as one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. The point is this: ALL people deserve wrath in the coming judgment. That’s the point! Church, the ground is level. We do not stand in a position of judgment; but rather, one day we will all stand before the judge.

POINT TWO

So what do we do with this? If judgment is real and the ground is level, what does Jesus say is the way forward? What, according to Jesus, is the only right response to this reality of sin and death?

Back in our Text, He says it twice for emphasis: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” What does Jesus want us to do? In a word, repent.

And part of the reason I want to spend time here is because this word “repent” is one of those words that you and I often selectively fail to hear when it comes to conversations about judgment, or discipleship, or salvation. There is a brand of Christianity available today that wants to erase this word from our vocabulary, but it’s because of a gross misunderstanding of what repentance is all about!

We often think of repentance basically as feeling bad over sin. I think that’s what most people bring to mind. Repentance is all about (1) feeling really bad, and (2) it’s all about sin. And while repentance may include feelings of remorse, and while it definitely includes a discussion of sin, what I want to help you see is that this is really not what Jesus is getting at when He talks about repentance! Rather, and The Message picks this up perfectly, what Jesus is saying is “Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.” What this helps us to see is that repentance is not an emotion; it’s an action. It’s not a feeling; it’s a change.

So what is repentance? Repentance is what happens when we turn AWAY from sin and death and TO life in Christ. So you can write down that the only right response to the reality of sin and death is to turn. That’s what it means to repent!

So first of all, we need to turn FROM the path of death. To turn from the self-filled life that is destroying you and the people around you. To turn from the self-centeredness, the self-importance, the self-promotion, the self-gratification that happens when you sit on the throne of your own heart. And this happens when you recognize and agree that, on your own, and apart from Christ, you’re going the wrong direction. There is a way that seems right to a man! But the end of that way is death.

And second of all, Jesus is calling us to turn TO the path of life. That is, to dramatically reorient yourself to walk WITH Jesus. Because that is the only way to find life.

[[[And the thing I want you to see here is that, when it comes to repentance, there is not a middle path. It's not about where you stand, it's about what direction you're walking. And because of this, you're either on a path of death or you're on a path of life. You are either pursuing and serving yourself, or you are pursuing and serving Jesus, because no one can serve two masters. In fact, there’s a document called The Didache, or “The Teaching of the Twelve” that is one of the earliest existing summaries of Christian teaching. It’s from the early 2nd century AD, and it served as like a spark notes version of how to be a Christian. And the opening line says this, “There are [only] two paths, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two” (The Didache). And for those of us who are here today, this means that, if you're walking in the way of death, you have not repented—just by definition!

And some of you might be thinking to yourself, "But Pastor Clay, that means /I/ might need to repent!" And to that I would say, Yea, you're right! Because the point is not to figure out whether you’re “good” and then go back to living your life; the point is to walk with Jesus!

And someone might say, "But Pastor Clay, I gave my life to Jesus when I was five years old!" Okay, great! Praise Jesus! But don't use the fact that you gave your life to Jesus THEN as an EXCUSE to keep your life FROM Jesus TODAY. In other words, don’t use the fact that you surrendered your life to Christ then as an excuse not to live surrendered!

Jesus is not preaching repentance because He wants us to feel really really bad about our sin! Jesus is preaching repentance because LIFE is offered to us! It’s because He knows that surrendering to Him is the only way to really live; it is the only path that leads to life, and the door is wide open. So this is the point: Jesus has opened up the way to life! Through His death in our place, Jesus made a way for us to live NOW!

And in case you were wondering, THAT is what matters most! What matters most in all of this is not the condemnation. It’s not figuring out which sin is worse. what matters most to Jesus is that we turn to Him to find life.

See, the bad news is that we are all deserving of wrath, but the good news is that every pronunciation of judgment is an invitation to life. In the Old Testament, that’s exactly what Jonah knows when he is called to preach judgment to Nineveh; that’s why he flees to Tarshish! It’s because He knew that God is a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity (Jonah 4:2). He knew that if God was calling him to preach judgment and repentance, it’s because God wanted the people of Nineveh to turn to Him to find life.

And that’s actually what I see reinforced in the parable that Jesus tells to end our passage!

So with the time we have left, let’s go back and look—We read: Then he told this parable: A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.

So there’s a tree that should be bearing fruit but it won’t, and the owner has come to look for fruit. This is the tension that drives the plot: The owner wants the tree to be fruitful, but the tree won’t bear fruit.

And as things develop, the details basically point first (1) to the fact that the tree has everything it needs bear fruit; and second (2) that the tree is in a good place with great care and a committed gardener who is not willing to let it go.

And as we dig deeper into the parable, I also want to help you see that this is not a new image that Jesus is inventing. Throughout the Bible, the tree, or especially grape vines and fig trees, is an image of Israel. So in Isaiah 5, we read that “[God] had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit” (Is 5:1-2). And actually, if you keep reading in Isaiah 5, God makes the same point then as Jesus is making here! Isaiah 5:3–4 says, “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? ” The point is that God has been cultivating the nation of Israel carefully, but they will not respond to His tender care.

And so we read, for instance, (1) that it had been three years since the owner started looking for fruit. And from what we know about fig trees in Israel (which is more than you might suspect), we know that they were told not to even look for fruit for the first three years after the tree was planted! You can look this up in Leviticus 19. So all this means that the owner has been waiting for fruit from this tree for at least six years. In other words, this tree has had plenty of time to produce fruit!

And not only that, but just like in Isaiah 5, (2) the Owner wants the tree to produce fruit. And what I want you to see is that both the owner and the worker are a representation of how God deals with Israel, and with us, in our failure to bear the fruit of faith and repentance. They are just in expecting fruit, but they are not quick to uproot the tree! And so as they’re figuring out what to do, the Gardener intercedes for the tree and says, “Sir… leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.” In other words: I am not willing to give up yet! So instead, I’m going to extend grace and give this tree every possible opportunity to bear fruit.

And so, I believe THIS is what Jesus is trying to point out: In light of the coming judgment, we should turn FROM the path of sin and death, and TO the path of life with God, BECAUSE God is a God of great patience and mercy! And in His patience and mercy, He continues to delay His justice in order to provide a season for repentance. Isn’t that amazing? God delays wrath with patience SO THAT people can have every chance possible to turn to life. Or in the words of 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

And that includes some of you here today. God is working in your life! He’s digging around the roots! He’s bringing in fertilizer! And maybe it feels unstable, and maybe it doesn’t smell the greatest, but He is doing whatever He can to get you to turn TO HIM.

See, in this image, we aren’t running from some axe-wielding maniac who is looking for a tree to fell. The point is not to escape from God, who wants to do us harm! In repentance, we do not flee from God! We flee to God! God wants to cultivate us so that we can bear the fruit that we were made for as we live our life with Him. And so… THIS is the beauty of repentance! That when we repent...

We are NOT merely saved from death; We are saved to life EVERLASTING, and to rule and reign with Christ in His resurrection!

We are not MERELY rescued FROM the kingdom of darkness, but we are delivered TO the kingdom of the Son!

We are not simply brought FROM the mountain of darkness, gloom, and storm, but also TO Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn. We have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel!

So friends… SEE TO IT THAT YOU DO NOT REFUSE HIM WHO SPEAKS (Heb 12:18-25a).

See because, we also know how the parable ends. In the end, the patience is only for a SEASON: If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ God is providing time. Every single day that Jesus delays His return is a gift from God for us, and for those around us who need to hear the Good News. The Day is coming! The time to get ready is NOW.

CONCLUSION

So as we come to the end of our time, I think this is the point:

All people deserve wrath in the coming judgment.

Jesus has opened up the way to life.

The time to get ready is NOW.

In the end, when all is said and done… we must be ready. But the only way to be ready is to live ready; and the only way to live ready is to turn to Jesus in surrender.

So friends, it's been five weeks! What have you done with the time you’ve been given? God is patient with us! He is delaying judgment in order to provide an opportunity for repentance, because He loves you! Have you turned to Him? Are you living ready?

As we close, we're going to make room for you to reflect, and to do business with the Lord. The band is going to play a song you might not know--and that's alright. Your job right now is not to learn the song, your job right now is to do business with the Lord. For many of you, He has been speaking to you over the last five weeks, and now we need to make room to respond. To hear His voice. To turn to Christ. To get ready. And to Live Surrendered.

At the bottom of your outline, there's a box that says "my surrender." And your job during this time is not to stand and sing; your job is to give God your "surrender." It’s to spend five minutes asking God, “Is there anything I turn to turn from? Is there an area of my life I need to turn over to you? Is there anything in my life that is keeping me getting ready?” and to write it down in that box. And then, once you've filled the box, if you want to stand and sing, or sit and reflect, or come down to the altar and seek his face, or come and receive prayer, you can respond however you feel so led. But we're going to make room right now for the Lord to do His work in us, to have HIS way in us, because friends HIS WAY IS BETTER. He is the only source of life. So no matter what you’re turning from this morning, let’s respond, and let’s turn to HIM, amen?

>Pray