Sermon Tone Analysis

Big Idea: Strive for salvation: there’s limited time.

Don’t presume.

Intro me

Intro to Luke’s gospel

Today’s passage feels pretty harsh, pretty hard-line.

A door slammed shut.

Pleas ignored.

People excluded.

The order of things overturned.

It’s a side of Jesus people find it harder to embrace.

I mean, a Jesus who’s all love and hugs and soft and gentle goes down pretty well in our world.

People don’t have much trouble with a nice guy like that guy.

But this is the Jesus of the bible here, speaking for himself.

We don’t have the liberty to give him a quick makeover, or only focus on one side of him, things he says that we like or agree with.

This passage shows us another part of who he is and what he has to say.

So come with me to Luke 13:22 and let’s read together.

What does he have to say for himself?

It all starts with the question, “are only a few people going to be saved?”

- but as so often is the case, Jesus doesn’t really answer the question.

He wants to push the conversation to a much more personal topic: he wants to ask “are you going to be saved”.

And he does that with two big pictures: a door that will be closed, and a party with unexpected guests.

So let’s think about these pictures together.

What is it that Jesus wants us to learn?

First, a door that will be closed

What’s the door a picture of?

What does it mean?

Well we’re talking about people being saved.

That’s what Jesus was asked: “are only a few people going to be saved.”

And in this first word-picture, Jesus pictures being saved as entering through the door.

But just so we’re all on the same page here, all this chat about being saved presumes there is something we need to be saved from.

I mean I could tell you how to be saved from a raging wild grizzly bear - but here in Edinburgh you don’t actually need saving from that.

Unless there’s trouble at the zoo.

I could tell you how to be saved from a fire in this building - if there ever was one: emergency exits here and here, just so you know.

But saved only makes sense when it’s saved from something.

So here in the bible, in today’s reading, what are we talking about being saved from?

Well, the short answer, though it might sound strange if you’re new to all this, is God.

The Bible tells us there’s a way we should live, a way we should respond to the God who made everything and who made us.

But all of us are defective.

None of us live that way - we all mess it up.

The Bible tells us that’s a problem - because God is serious about rewarding right and punishing wrong.

No one gets away with anything in the end - and we’ve all messed it up so we’re all in trouble.

It’s that trouble, that punishment for all the wrong things we’ve done that we need saving from.

And the good news is there is a door here in this picture - there is a way out of this mess.

There is a way to be saved from the trouble we’re in.

But the picture doesn’t just tell us there’s a door, it also tells us it will be closed one day.

That’s why these “many” in v24 who are trying to enter are not able to do so - look closely at the words there: notice they will try to enter and will not be able to.

That’s a timestamp; this is in the future.

It’s not because the door is narrow and they’ve had one too many doughnuts, or because there’s just too many people for one narrow door and they can’t queue properly like us brits so there’s a giant pile-up.

It’s because the time will come when the door is closed.

Then they will try to enter and will not be able to.

There’s a way out of this mess for us - but it won’t be open forever.

At some point it will be closed.

And after that?

No amount of knocking or pleading will open it again.

Anyone outside will stay there.

The opportunity to be saved will have passed.

We need to think about how this applies to us right away - and the first clear imperative from Jesus is don’t procrastinate.

Now I’m a terrible procrastinator.

You should have watched me preparing this talk - even this specific point of this talk!

The number of different ways I have of putting off things I should be doing.

Time for a cup of coffee.

Time to check the news.

Time for a cup of tea.

Time to check Facebook.

Time to check who’s scheduled for Sunday.

Time to check the signal strength on my wifi doorbell.

It’s a wonder I get anything done, actually.

And I expect a few of you might just possibly know what it is to procrastinate too, right?

To put something off, something you know you need to do?

Now one thing that really helps us procrastinators is a deadline.

Sunday, as I’m learning, seems to come round every seven days.

I know.

Who would have thought.

And part of what pulls me out of my procrastination and gets me back to work is that Sunday deadline rushing up towards me again.

It’s deadlines like that which help us write the essay, help us clean our room, help us pay the bill, help us learn the part, help us get packed for the trip.

Well Jesus tells us there’s a deadline for salvation.

The door is open but it’s going to shut.

The problem is we don’t know when it is.

Now there are two ways we can respond to an unknown deadline:

On the one hand, we can think “manyana manyana”, that is, there’ll always be tomorrow, and we’ll get around to it in the end.

We can keep putting it off, always assuming this door will still be open tomorrow.

But the truth is we simply don’t know how many more tomorrows there will be.

Remember we talked about being saved from a bear - well maybe, just maybe, you’ll run into that bear!

But more likely a bus.

It feels a bit morbid to say it, but none of us knows how many days we have.

Maybe God will just finally call time on the whole thing tonight - while we’re all presuming there’ll just be another tomorrow when the sun rises.

So on the one hand we can think “manyana manaya” and put it off because we don’t know the deadline - but I hope you can all see there’s no place for procrastinating about this door Jesus is talking about if what he says is true, if it is going to be shut, we just don’t know when.

Are you that person, looking at the door, but still standing outside, thinking there’s always tomorrow?

Listen to Jesus.

Please.

He doesn’t want you outside.

He wants you safe home.

Walk through that door today - don’t assume a tomorrow.

If you don’t know how to take that step or you just want to talk to someone first, talk to the person you came with.

Talk to me.

Talk to anyone!

Just do something about it today - not tomorrow.

So first, a door that will be closed - so don’t procrastinate.

Then there’s this second picture too: a party with unexpected guests.

It seems like after the door is closed there’ll be a party.