HG109-110 Luke 13:1-21

Luke 13:1–21 NKJV

1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had 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.” 6 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 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 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ” 10 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. 12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” 13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? 16 So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” 17 And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him. 18 Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.” 20 And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”

Intro

As I said last week, the first nine verses of chapter 13 are part of last week’s reading from chapter 12 verse 1. And it is all about judgement. Remember we are to fear God who will reveal every secret, has the power to throw us into hell, and who knows everything. But if we have already come to this place then we no longer need to fear for this God has become our God and as His children He cares for us.

But Jesus is still trying to convince the hangers on that if they do not follow Him then judgement will come. Jesus is not in the habit of pleasing people or telling them what they wanted to hear. If anything in this passage Jesus gets even more to the point.

1-5

In 2001, John MacArthur, a prominent pastor in the States was not so well-known until he was invited onto CNN in the aftermath of what Americans call 9-11 when two aircraft were flown into the twin towers in New York. He was asked by their news anchor, Larry King, “What does it mean … what is the lesson … what do we take away from the devastation of the collapse of the Twin Towers under the terrorists and three thousand some-odd people dying, what’s the message?” And MacArthur’s answer, not knowing what the question was going to be beforehand said: “Well the take away is this, you’re going to die, and you’re not in control of when.” 

Everybody is going to die.

Today we are not isolated from the news cycles whether it be earthquakes in Mexico, Italy, Japan, Indonesia, tsunamis in Japan and Sumatra, famine in Africa, Yemen, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes in America, typhoons in the Philippines, avalanches in Asia and Europe, wars in Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, suicide bombers in the Middle East, terrorist attacks in Strasbourg, London, massacres of children in American schools, Indian Schools, Nigerian schools and then there are the plane crashes, train disasters, boats sinking off Libya, and so on and so on, a never ending stream with news of stabbings and murders on our streets and we start to get insensitive to it all for most of it does not directly affect us but what we forget is that this planet is an extremely dangerous place where life is extremely short.

Hebrews 9:27 NKJV

27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,

Everyone is headed towards death and that means everyone is headed to one of two destinations: Heaven or hell. And we know there is only one way to Heaven and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. And this is exactly what Jesus was saying to those who would listen to Him.

A couple of disasters had struck in their day. A number of people got killed. Once at the hands of others being slaughtered and the other when a tower fell and crushed those passing by.

The rumour was the God had something to do with it for the people killed must have been great sinners. And we always hear such rumours when disaster strikes, for it must be God’s judgement. These scenarios serve as wake up calls to the rest of us, Jesus says, for if we do not repent we shall also perish. If you do not repent you will also perish. This is very important for us to grasp for it also leads to one of the most important reasons why we are here.

But there is an error to deal with first but an error that has existed from time immemorial to the present day. In fact, we can pick it up in THE book of suffering: Job. Job had suffered disaster upon disaster. His friends had come to comfort him but instead confront him. “It must be your fault, Job. This kind of thing does not happen to people who are good. There is sin in your life so God is punishing you.” Then when Jesus healed the blind man the question raised was: Who sinned, this man or his parents? And this type of question was in the minds of those present. They must have been terrible people for Pilate to do these things to those men and those killed by the tower must have done something incredibly offensive to God to die like that, right? And Jesus gave an emphatic ‘no’. But it is the same question asked today: Why is this happening? It is the same type of question I have heard asked here because we have so many who are not well right now. Suppose that this is not the right question: Not why is this happening? But why does this not happen more often? Surely God has the right to simply do away with us straight away. Who here is sinless? We have all offended God. Why, the question should be, is God so gracious and patient?

Jesus makes it clear that the people who died or suffered a calamity are not worse than those who survived. The ones who suffer no bad things does not mean that they are any better. I mean, this is the implication, right. They deserved it, I did not. They died, I lived. Bad things do not just happen to bad people. Good things do not just happen to good people. Disasters happen to both the good and bad.

Preaching the Word: Luke, Vol. 2—That You May Know the Truth A Galilean Atrocity

Sometimes unthinkable things befall the most godly and committed.

One lazy Sunday afternoon in Papua New Guinea, Wycliffe missionaries Walt and Vonnie Steinkraus were resting alongside their daughters Kerry and Kathy when their world came to an abrupt end. At precisely 3:00 P.M. a half-mile-wide section of the mountain on the opposite side of the river from their village broke off and buried them. They may never even have heard the sound. In a world full of vacant hillsides, in a world full of reprobates, in a world with too few missionaries, the Steinkrauses disappeared under a mountain.

Solomon in his wisdom said:

Ecclesiastes 9:11 CSB

11 Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them.

Just because you have escaped now does not mean you will escape in the future. The issue for us is the question: are we going to heaven or hell?

Nearly 3000 people died when those planes were deliberately flown into the twin towers. But on that same day 150,000 others died too. How many of these had put their faith in Jesus? You are going to die. You just do not know when this will be. There is a saying I hear all too often when they have experienced some disaster or calamity or they recover from a car crash or cancer. What do they say: “I thought I was going to die”. And I reply, well, you ARE going to die. Just not as soon as you could have. The death rate for humans is 100%. Going out of our door is taking our lives in our hands. All sorts of danger lie ahead. The only difference is where we go when we die. It can’t get more personal than that. But you are saved, right? But what about everybody else?

We need to realise that every day 151,600 people die, nearly 55 million people every year. All human beings are on the verge of death. And you and I have the only message that can rescue them from hell.

6-9

Jesus goes on in warning the people again in the illustration of the fig tree. The fig tree is especially representative of Israel who had three years of Jesus’ ministry and had not produced any fruit. Jesus hoped that if he tarried in bringing judgement that perhaps the people will repent and so whilst God is incredibly patient there is a limit. And finally the axe is brought out and the plant cut down. Jesus desires fruit but does not hold out much hope that it will. One more year, Jesus said. Well, that one year became 37 when finally the Romans came and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. Like I said, there is a limit, and God graciously extends the deadline but there is a final date, a final day, when judgement falls. Like I say, not all the Gospel is good news especially for the unrepentant.

Every human life, not just Israel’s, is living on borrowed time. Absolutely everyone. And you and I claim to be Christians and have the Holy Spirit living in us, have knowledge of the Gospel and we’re living and moving through a world where we are lone have the truth that can rescue dying people. You and I are teh most important people on the planet.

Judgement is near, perhaps this year or next but judgement is imminent. God’s patience is about to run out.

As it was true for Israel it is true for us. We have no time to mess about, to be caught up in surface things. What does Paul say?

2 Timothy 2:4 NKJV

4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

We have the most important message yet the world seeks to shut us up. And as time goes on they will succeed more and more. They have already rejected the Bible, they have already turned morality upside down calling the bad good, and then there is the demand for tolerance. All this will lead to persecution of Christians here in the UK and it has already started, even if it is now in small ways. This then brings into question how committed we will be when asked the questions about sexuality and transgender and whether we will hold the bible line or the cultural one. We know that this week the Anglican Church has gone along the lines of affirming those who are transgender. Where will we stand? But most importantly will we hold out the word of eternal life before their lives are snuffed out?

10-17

In verses 1 to 9 we have seen that it is a continuance of a sermon on judgement and the hope that there will be a response, and this is part of our job is to declare not only the love of God but judgement. And then we go into verses 10 to 21 which is the Kingdom of God on the move. Not everyone will reject Him though most will.

The story Luke tells us then moves on to Jesus being in the Synagogue. And a woman who had been sick for very many years was healed by Jesus. But, of course, it was a Sabbath. A day in which there were many ridiculous rules as I alluded to a couple of weeks ago, like you are allowed to carry things on the back of your hand or on your foot but not on your head, shoulders or open hands. The minutiae was all they could see. And so it was with the Synagogue ruler. Blind as a bat, he was. We think it daft now but it makes me ask do we see the minutiae rather than the grace of God. Are we critical of the small things missing the bigger picture? Does mercy triumph over judgement in our thinking, in our words, in our actions?

Plainly not with this ruler and Jesus called him out on it. Hypocrite! Wow! This was not done in private, was it? No, it was a public exclamation! But why? Because if He left what was said as it was it would stop people from accessing the grace of God. And why was the ruler a hypocrite? For they would save their own animals to water on the Sabbath yet not help another human being. And how the people rejoiced when they heard Jesus. Yes, they could see clearly that what Jesus said was right. Who was the true worshipper, anyway?

Preaching the Word: Luke, Vol. 2—That You May Know the Truth The Kingdom of God

this woman’s spiritual focus was upward. She was evidently a regular worshiper at the synagogue, for no one took special note of her. Due to her infirmity it would have been much easier to stay at home, but to her credit she sought the solace of worship and the Word.

18-21

Then we come to the Parable of the Mustard Seed. (See also Matt 13:31-2, Mark 4:30-32)

This seed was sown in the earth; so started the Kingdom of God. God become man and was born into a stable – weak, insignificant to the world, this man grew up and died and like the mustard seed was sown into the earth through burial. His disciples were few – only 120 in the upper room. Made up originally of fisherman, tax collectors and the like. It was not much to look at and just like the mustard seed that is like a speck of dust; very small beginnings. Do we despise small beginnings? Do we look at that seed and say it is nothing and can do nothing? Of course not! Once it is sown in the ground it sets to work. The eye does not see till the seedlings come through the surface and starts to grow onwards and upwards. This seed and the resulting plant represent the Kingdom of God.

And what can we say? The disciples did a fantastic work spreading the gospel practically right round the world before the end of the 1st century. Within three centuries it was the professed religion of Rome and it’s empire. This is the Kingdom of God – it is always growing – it is always expanding – it does not shrink back – the gates of hell do not prevail against it –it is continually bringing more into the Kingdom. The small number has become huge.

Then, of course, we find birds of the air are nesting in it. These birds nesting are not those who have come to faith otherwise they would be the tree itself, these are those who come under the Churches’ wings but who do not come to Christ, the tares, which include wolves in sheep’s clothing: so adding trouble to those within. Which are we this day? Sowing discord or unity?

Conclusion

Today was the last time we find Jesus in a synagogue and he healed this poor woman. The first time we find Jesus going to a synagogue he said these words:

Luke 4:18–19 CSB

18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

This is our ministry too. To do the works Jesus did, to say the words Jesus said. We declare the love of God and His judgement. And in so doing the Kingdom of God will bear fruit, will grow and will permeate everything until one day Jesus comes back to make the kingdoms of this world the Kingdom of our God.

Benediction

1 Corinthians 15:58 CSB

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Bibliography

Blum, E. A., & Wax, T. (Eds.). (2017). CSB Study Bible: Notes. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Elwell, W. A. (1995). Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

Hughes, R. K. (1998). Luke: that you may know the truth. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Larson, B., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1983). Luke (Vol. 26). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). The Gospel according to Luke. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Panorama City, CA: Grace to You.

McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Gospels (Luke) (electronic ed., Vol. 37). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:51 15 December 2018.