The Urgency of Repentance
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Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ”
Let’s read Luke 13:1-9...
(1) Take your sheet and underline the following items before answering the questions on the sheet. Judgement - Perish (2x) and Cut it down (2x), Sin - greater sinners and worse culprits,, Repentance - unless you repent (2x), looking for fruit, bearing fruit. Evil - Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices, the tower in Siloam fell.
Take your sheet and underline the following items before answering the questions on the sheet. Perish (2x) and Cut it down (2x), greater sinners and worse culprits, unless you repent (2x), looking for fruit, bearing fruit, Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices, the tower in Siloam fell
(2) Now once you have done that take a sec and seek to write what these verses have to say about those concepts
(3) Share what you wrote down at your table
Let’s read Luke 13:1-9...
Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ”
3 tasks for folks to do at the table
(1) Take your sheet and underline the following items before answering the questions on the sheet. Judgement - Perish (2x) and Cut it down (2x), Sin - greater sinners and worse culprits,, Repentance - unless you repent (2x), looking for fruit, bearing fruit. Evil - Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices, the tower in Siloam fell.
(2) Now once you have done that take a sec and seek to write what these verses have to say about those concepts
(3) Share what you wrote down at your table
Our passage this morning is short and straightforward but is addressing some difficult topics. What Jesus is addressing in His that we are spending time with this morning are our ideas of Judgment, Evil, Sin and Repentance. If we understanding the Biblical teaching about these idea we understand what is commonly called doctrine. We are going to use this passage this morning to give a clearer understanding of these 4 doctrines
Luke 13:
Doctrines of Judgement, Evil, Sin and Repentance
Doctrines of Judgement, Evil, Sin and Repentance
Why does Doctrine Matter? Why am I bringing this up?
Doctrine = the teaching of the Church
We need to understand what Jesus wants us to know about things that are important and it matters that the Church teaches what Jesus teaches
Let’s look at what Jesus was teaching about these concepts from the passage and what we should teach
Judgment -
apart from repentance men and women will perish.
This is also described in the parable as being cut down
The reason for the tree being cut down is because it is not bearing fruit
Evil -
What we call misfortune or evil is a fact of life that can befall anyone
Because this is the case we should recognize that there is an urgency to repentance
Sin-
A universal condition that necessitates repentance
“greater” sin is not responsible for what can happen to people and does not explain all calamity or evil that happens in the world
Repentance-
Repentance is a necessary prerequisite for “being saved”
True repentance will yield “fruit
If a person does not have fruit they may have misunderstood repentance and God wants the person to correct this issue for them to produce fruit in keeping with repentance
You are not able to repent after death.
Let’s view these ideas Jesus teaches against the things we say or teach (have them in a grid under the same headings as above maybe?)
Popular Ideas that express a poor understanding of these
(4) four doctrines
“Accountability is far away from me” (judgment)
“Really bad things only happen to other people” (evil and judgment)
“Maybe they deserved it” (evil and judgement)
“I don’t like to think about things like that” (evil and judgement)
“Praying a prayer means I repented” (repentance and sin)
“good people are ultimately spared” (repentance, sin and judgement)
“sin doesn’t really matter after I am saved” (repentance, sin and judgement)
I want to look at the text one more time to understand the exhortation here from Jesus to examine ourselves.
Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ”
There are those that are curious about the men who died horrifically and tragically. Jesus calls them back to be curious about themselves. Let’s examine ourselves. We need to regularly.
This week I had to go to the dermatologist for my yearly check-up. I am fair skinned and have many freckles. I have a high risk of developing skin cancer. My doctor does a head to toe check for problem areas. If he sees something he gets out the liquid nitrogen, or scrapes something and has it tested. Every year he has to freeze something off. It is needed for my continued health. If I do not have myself examined I am in danger of being caught unaware of the reality that my condition leaves me susceptible to
As a person who lives in this world I may(will?) perish.There were men that perished in that incident. There were people that perished in the tower incident.
wait for it…have you repented?
There were men that perished in that incident. There were people that perished in the tower incident.
If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts. Behold, he travails with wickedness, And he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood. He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, And has fallen into the hole which he made. His mischief will return upon his own head, And his violence will descend upon his own pate.
Unbelief is treason in the Kingdom of God. If he is real and we live as if he is not then the reality of God’s response will be harsh.
But there is more…just in case you are not sure if repentance has come to you he graciously tells us a story. There is a fig tree...
And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ ”
4 things to notice
the tree was planted in the man’s vinyard
the point of the tree’s planting is for it to produce fruit
The man patiently comes to check for fruit again and again
There is a warning given that the situation can be fixed
To whomever needs to hear, let them hear - there is fruit at some point or there is a judgment against the tree that is unfavorable. The tree can miss it.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
Matthew 7:
what comes before this is Jesus teaching about good and bad trees…the fruit is how you can tell whose tree they are
“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Matthew
Fruit is produced through the exercise of obedience that comes from any situation where we exercise faith.
Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.
(for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
Jesus’ People produce Jesus’ Fruit
Jesus’ People produce Jesus’ Fruit
take
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
These things are the things he wants to find on his trees.
Being obedient to the Spirit produces this things, being obedient to Jesus’ teachings produces these things
Galatias
obedience to Jesus’ teaching produces love
obedience to Jesus’ teaching produces peace
obedience to Jesus’ teaching produces patience
obedience to Jesus’ teaching produces kindness
This may be hard to hear but there are many times that I do not want to be loving toward you, or live at peace with you or be patient with you or be good to you or be faithful to you or be gentle to you or exhibit self-control with you.
But more often than not when my flesh is in danger of winning, the Spirit within me reminds me to be patient - and I have to decide to be patient with you. And that produces the fruit of peace between us, and hopefully you receive that as love and enjoy the kindness.
because when I am disobedient to the Spirit you may feel unloved, that our relationship is fractured, that I have been impatient, that I have been unkind. That is bad fruit.
That is what it looks like at the micro level, but as we do those things more consistently the following will happen at the macro level
the gospel is proclaimed
the church is healthy and unified around God’s mission
men and women are discipled to Christlikenes and equipped to co-labor in ministry
the poor, widowed, orphaned, exposed and abused are cared for
lastly, in learning about fruit notice that all these things go together. We can be some of these things some of the times through sheer will power, but being obedient to the spirit consistently will yield “all” this fruit. That is how I think we can tell, we are becoming more and more his.
That is my assurance. That is your assurance
How do we know we are in Him…We must walk as He walked.
the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
His walk, His life bore the fruit of the spirit in every space he was in.
And less you think that there are no hard things there. Being patient with a sinner is hard work, be joyful amidst heartache is hard work, being faithful to folks who are not is tough.
Jesus is recorded as saying, “ather, forgive them for they know not what they are doing” in to men who have beaten him and are stealing his clothes before he is to be crucified for no reason. The Martyr Stephen is recorded as saying, “do not hold their sin against them.” in as men are finishing stoning Him for calling those at his trial to repent.
That my friends is fruit too. And in the story of Stephen before he asks for the men to be forgiven he sees a vision of the Lord standing at the right hand of God giving approval for a tree that he had checked many times and each time he found fruit on it.
That our faith community and every faith community in the city may be an orchard that our father happily visits finding the fruits of his Spirit prominently hanging from our branches.
Let me pray to that end...
Time for debrief
what is your application point? Yourself or someone else. Where is your urgency. This is a teaching that we need to be more urgent that we usually are - either with ourselves are with those around us
what would it mean to dig around you for waht to get to your malnourished roots and to put fertilizer to feed the plant /life in you or someone else?
Other Notes
when the people bring up the situation to Jesus they are asking for explanation as to how they should understand that (Do you suppose?) and shows what they assumed (these Galileans were worse sinners than the Galileans)
He also tells a story about a fig tree and the people that have authority over that tree because of the possible question about how to tell the difference between one person and the next using the metaphor of a tree. He is seeking to show what is important to understand repentance and what true repentance will yield
Our teaching as a church is based on Jesus Teaching
Jesus’ response to them shows what he wants them to understand. You may think something is true that is not true. If you are wrong about what is true the repercussions will vary.
Repentance is necessary for life/eternal life and that all are susceptible to tragedy happening. Because we are all susceptible to tragedy means we should be aware that the time of this life could end at any point. If we have not repented of our lives away from God
For most people - the tragedy is mostly in the not being ready. If someone in this situation were to perish without Repenting and being reconciled then their “perishing” would be total.
For those that have repented and have been reconciled then their perishing would be temporal, not total
Doctrine = the teaching of the Church
For each of these I could give countless examples of why they are not true…but let me walk through one of these
“Accountability is far away from me”
“Really bad things only happen to other people”
“Maybe they deserved it”
“I don’t like to think about things like that”
“Praying a prayer means I repented”
“Innocents are ultimately spared”
“sin doesn’t really matter after I am saved”
For each of these I could give countless examples of why they are not true…but let me walk through one of these
Counter Examples of bad things being far from me
At the Refugee Camp we were in this summer three people maybe more were killed in a fire about a month ago. A man from Columbia, who we talk to regularly was there.
This past weekend, I was telling McLendon to be careful going down a wet rock beside a waterfall and then I fell
5 Years ago this month my best friend growing up had an un-diagnosed heart issue that caused him to pass away suddenly while running. I will never forget the phone call that I received from his parents next door neighbor.
I won’t fall asleep this time, I then proceeded to fall asleep and crash my car, somehow surviving
I have been struck by lightning in a moving truck - RIP Truck. Had I sinned that week. Most likely. So then did I deserve it
We live in the world and things happen.
we build bridges, walls, airplanes
we live by the water, fault lines, and volcanoes
there are inherent dangers in these things when they fail
despite our engineering, we are not invinsible
Jesus our teacher was wanting to remind us of this fact. As Jesus was talking to some people they brought up that some Galileans were killed during some sacrificial ceremonies under Pontius Pilate. Jesus did you hear about that.
And as teacher he is he turns it on them.
And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?
Luke 13:
We are not sure what they thought. But another episode shows a popular opinion many Israelites had. They equated prosperity and good health to God’s favor and ailment or hard times on sin
And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
This is what they thought and this is what Jesus was using to teach them truth
This idea had been around at least as long as the time of Ezekiel. But in God speaks through the prophet to let everyone know that men and women are not punished for the sins of the parents, but of their own accord.
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
It is accounted for all men that they die and face judgement
Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
This is God’s universal appointment
We are judged by our deeds done on this earth
bears this out in great detail (could read - if want to)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God offers Life as he did at the beginning by giving Adam, Eve and the presumably the rest of their progeny access to the tree of life
But he also said that their was something that could restrict this access. Disobedience.
The penalty was no longer having access to life. You can know me and have life, or know other stuff and die? You can be dependent or independent. Each has its cost.
Have you ever been in a situation where you kind of knowingly skirted the rules but didn’t really care because you believed that either the person wasn’t serious about the punishment or were banking on the fact that they wouldn’t actually punish you when it came down to it.
I have lived my life this way for a long time. God I know what you say, but I am going to bank on the fact that you will just kind of let me slide, when it comes down to the judgement.
My son acts this way as well, “Son, what did I ask you to do?” I say, “to clean up my room.” He says. “Why are you not doing it I say.” He smiles slyly, trying to be cute. Like the Cheshire Cat. If I then enact some punishment that I have every right to enforce, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth on his part.” Sound Familiar
You rule followers have no idea what I am talking about, but the rest of you have an idea
There are two applications Here. One is for you to take to heart and one has implication for others
First is - unless you repent you will perish
The second is like the first. Unless they repent they will perish
Let’s take this time then to look at more in depth to understand as clearly as we can why this is the case and what is meant by repentance (so as to not understand it as a static transaction concept).
And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
Let’s be clear all men practice such things (v.2)
We do these things because we are separate from God. As we live independently of him we practice selfishness in all its many forms and this selfishness is what the Bible calls sin, generally understood as “mark missing”
We are then in a state of incorrectness oriented away from God and the dependent life he has for us that allows us to walk in righteousness (rightness), justice (being just) and peace (not contending with anyone around us or God).
Repentance is the movement away from the selfish orientation that consumes us and back toward a dependent relationship with God. Repentance is our response to God calling us back home.
as I am living away from my father of my own accord and not according to something he has done and am ashamed of what I have become during our separation it is only in the father showing his love for me in this condition that draws me back to relationship with him again
this is the essence of or
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
to repent then in this language is to move from disobedient son or daughter that lives away from his/her father and is disobedient in that relationship (which means they are not a doer of his word) to a doer of his word.
If we do his word, where we once did not this is the essence of repentance. He has called us back to himself in our disobedience so that we might obey him habitually as we once did
As Romans alludes to when we do this we are justified, and our conscience defends us (v.13 and v.15) and we will know our fate at the judgement.
so lets finish hearing from Jesus as we look at the story he tells us
And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’
Luke 13
The vineyard keeper expects fruit from his fig tree
God is the vineyard keeper
you are the fig tree
Your fruit is the ministry that happens from living as he intends you to live
the gospel is proclaimed
the church is healthy and unified around God’s mission
men and women are discipled to Christlikenes and equipped to co-labor in ministry
the poor, widowed, orphaned, exposed and abused are cared for
Does it mean all this is happening at the individual level immediately at repentance? Let’s look at the next verse
“And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’
time has passed since this person has come back home, there should be some buds at least right?
Do we know what we come home for do we know that if we are in right dependent relationship with the father that things listed above will happen, and if it isn’t coming then something is wrong, maybe repentance has been missed or misunderstood
“Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
But we went sometimes to the first baptist church (say in a funny voice). But I have my electronic tithe receipts right here. My grandpa was a deacon here.
Less you think ill of God here is his grace upon grace!
you see the first grace is - he has given enough for us to know and shout GOD IS LOVE!
But this is the second ridiculous grace - or second grace for you LOTR Fans showcased
the vinyard keeper appeals to the owner of the tree, “let me give it one more shot!”
The New American Commentary: Luke Comments
13:8 For one more year. The period of mercy and opportunity is extended but only for a limited duration (cf. Luke 13:34; 19:41–44).
Dig around it. The digging serves to loosen the soil in order to allow water to sink down to its roots and allow room for the roots to grow. If no fruit appears after that, it is clearly a bad tree (cf. 6:43–45; cf. also 8:14–15).
“For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Luke 6:43
It is moments like these when we understand with sober clarity the job before us in our own lives or the issues at the heart of someone elses
Everyone in this room is in one of the application spaces. Either you need to dig around yourself and let others put some fertilizer in there so that you can start producing the fruit in keeping with repentence or you know someone that does and you know how to help them.
There are stakes here. There are stakes for me and those who I can speak into their lives. There are those who you are sitting next to that you need to say in your own way - repent or you will likewise perish and there are some that we can more gently say, we need to dig around you and put in some fertilizer if you would be amenable to that.
Time for debrief
what is your application point? Yourself or someone else. Where is your urgency. This is a teaching that we need to be more urgent that we usually are - either with ourselves are with those around us
what would it mean to dig around you for waht to get to your malnourished roots and to put fertilizer to feed the plant /life in you or someone else?
