Leave it to the Gardner

God's grace, mercy and peace be yours from God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and Spirit, help me to keep my train of thought. I think that's a prayer that gets heard and gets answered. I want to show you something that still is - I don't need this visual to still have it in my mind. And it's this: this happens to be just a small section of the 9th ward, in New Orleans. You, maybe have heard of Hurricane Katrina, and I had the opportunity with some other Lutheran Christians to do some relief work two times down in New Orleans, some years ago. And the first trip involved a group from Saint Paul, Amherst and Saint Paul Stevens Point, and we got together, got in the bus, went down to New Orleans, and part of the itinerary has us going to the 9th Ward. Now, we went down to muck out houses. Wow, if you can envision your own home, and coming back to it and realizing that water had come, and at its highest level, it was in your attic. And then it all, you know, diminished and disappeared and left behind what it did. And we would go down to help families to muck out their homes and try to save or to find, you know, precious kind of possessions. Well, in the 9th ward, when that levi gave way - which was just to the west, the west perimeter of the 9th ward, this is what was left. There's nothing to muck, and I'm not kidding. You see, this is a concrete threshold, the stairs, and it was just one like this after another in the neighborhood. So when that water, the force and the power of that water breaking through the levee, it just it hauled off everything - the houses and all its contents and couldn't be found anywhere. Wherever it all washed down to. I mean we were just, you know, our mouths were agape. Mine was, I know, when I first set sight to this. And the other thing I'll always remember, is how a person in our group, actually, had mentioned to me. You know, Pastor Chris, why God allowed Hurricane Katrina to come upon these people. It was His way of getting after all the people of New Orleans for Bourbon Street. And I was waiting for a smile, and there wasn't one. It was a serious remark. And I thought, you know what, maybe that's not so uncommon for that to be the way that people think. When things happen to people, when it happens to other people: well, what did they do to deserve that? I mean, God must have known something, and that's why it came upon them. And then, you know, you heard Brandon sharing from today's Gospel text for the third Sunday in Lent, where it's mentioned to Jesus about the Galileans whose whose blood was spilled by a terrorist act on Pontius Pilate's part. And by the way, Jesus, did you see yesterday's headline where it said a Saloam tower falls. Eighteen dead. Well, what did they do, Jesus, to deserve that? They must have done something, because you're Master of the Universe. What did they do to deserve that? Right? Well, what does Jesus say as we follow Him? And as we follow, we listen. This is what He says, read it with me. "Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?" So, the people who died at the hands of Hurricane Katrina, would we say, well, they must have been more guilty than all the people of Louisiana. Or how about the 2,966 who died 9/11 in the World Trade Center? Well, Lord, were they more guilty than all the citizens of New York City in the state of New York? Were they worse sinners than... how would you feel in a blank? I've shared with you every now and then about the experiences I have as a chaplain. You don't think I haven't heard somebody from their bed say why is God punishing me? Yeah, I just got a diagnosis of cancer. Why? I remember the gentleman who said, "Chaplin, I know this is because of of my youth, my younger days. God has finally caught up with me." What would you say to somebody thinking along those lines? You know what is worse? Is when our answer would be yes. Yes. They were - the Galileans, the people in the World Trade Center, the people in New Orleans - yes, they were worse sinners than the others. That would be a far worse response. But yet, you know, we've got our reasons, perhaps, or evidence, maybe as to why we would think somebody is more deserving in light of decisions they've made or things they've done or not done or whatever. And then Jesus, knowing the way we think about such things, He comes right back and He says this, read it with me. "I tell you unless you repent, you too will perish." Do you see what Jesus did? This is why He's the master teacher, and He teaches with authority. Because while people are gathering around Him - and they want answers. I want answers, you want some answers as to why things happened. And they're asking Him about others, and Jesus takes the focus and He puts it where? On you and me. You're wondering about everybody. What did they do to deserve this or to have this happen. And Jesus says hold on, here. Hold on. Let's bring this back. I'm going to bring this back to you, to who you are, to who I am. So if you've ever - you wouldn't be the only one, cuz there's a book that's been written. "Why do bad things happen to good people?" If you've ever wondered that, well, actually, there's an answer here as far as I understand it. And it's in Romans chapter 8, where God, His Spirit working through Paul says this, let's read it. "For the creation was subjected to futility, to bondage and decay, for we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth, and not only the creation, but we ourselves." Did you see any reference there to oh, this just pertains to World Trade Center workers. Or people who live in New Orleans or Galileans or people who were around the Siloam Tower? No, it's all inclusive. It's all of humanity. It's all of mankind. Womankind. All people in this. I mean, there's this is meaninglessness. Read the book of Ecclesiastes in Solomon. The wisest man in the planet, we're told, came to realize it's all futility. It's all meaningless, these things that happen. Boy, where do we get by playing the blame game? Not as far as we'd like. But boy, it sells tabloids, doesn't it? And it makes gossip juicier. Well, this is why this happened, right? We get nowhere trying to figure out, okay, what was the specific sin that causes the specific disaster? If they'd only closed down Bourbon Street, maybe God would have spared the people of New Orleans. But we do get somewhere when we keep our track following and listening. Not just following, but listening to what Jesus has to say. And His answer is don't look at everyone else. Take a good, honest look at yourself. How is it for you when you stand - and you're honest about it - before the mirror, especially with regards to repentance. Repent is simply one of those theological words that that means to turn. To turn. You know, here, my direction has been, what have they done to deserve this? And to turn from that, and to turn to God with my own brokenness, with my guilt, with my failings, my need for forgiveness, and believe that He has not given me or assigned to me terrorism or assigned tragedies or illness or even death. But rather Christ. Now, you could also repent in this way. Well, okay, I will turn from wondering what others have done, and I'll turn to myself and I'll depend upon, well, being careful. So I don't get tripped up by a tragedy or get into an accident, and I'll be as good as I can and everything will be okay. Well again, good luck with that. Because when it comes right down to it, you can't do that. And that brings me back to us an experience, an observation I had some time ago. There was this tearful daughter at the bedside of her dying father. The father knows he's dying. His daughter knows that she's about to lose her father. And through her tears - and I know she was sincere and she meant it - she said, "Dad, you you have led such a good life. Don't worry about what comes next, because you've just been so good. You've been good to us. You're going to make it on your goodness." And I was there listening and giving support, waiting for a reference or mention of Christ, but none. Nor even God. So you could turn to your own goodness and then conclude well, that will keep me safe. Or you could turn away from your own goodness to the goodness of God in Christ. And if you believe, nothing is impossible for God. I don't know of any goodness greater than that. That He can take life's tragedies and life's experiences of towers collapsing, and life filled with terrorism and all kinds of awful things, and make good come of it, then what should the tragedies and disasters of others say to you? What would you make of theirs? Besides your own?

Now, you all know that today is Tara's last day, right? And so I was asked earlier, well Pastor Chris, we know you're just filling in for us, but it is Tara's last day. So, can you kind of somehow work that into the message? And I thought, oh my goodness. So are you asking me to eulogize Tara? It's not like it's her funeral. I mean, how do I do this and just keep it Christ-centered? And I thought, well, I'm going to go to Tara. And I thought, you know what? I know where I'll start. Tara, do you have a confirmation verse? She said, yes. I said, well would you share it with me? And she said sure. It's this - and here, read it with me: "And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." I said Amen! That's how it all comes together. I hope you'll see how it does. That's fantastic. And then I said, okay. Yeah, I think there's a segue, a connect here, in light of what the text is for the third Sunday in Lent. And I said, I just got one more favor of you. Would you mind sharing with me, when you got some time, what that has meant for you while you've been serving Immanuel Wisconsin Rapids? And this is what she wrote. These are her words. I got them in quotes. And this is what she wrote. "When I first chose this verse, I was much more focused on 'everything is okay because God makes it okay,' with a dash of 'God has good plans for me.' As I've dug further into scripture and faced some very difficult situations, I think the implication is clear. Well, not everything has always turned out okay." She goes on to say, "I've come to learn that the truth of this verse is so much more beautiful and comforting." And then she goes on to say how that is. "The brokenness of this world does not change the promise. Because God can use even this broken, sinful world - terrorism, hurricanes, what have you - to show His power and His plan. He can redeem situations that we are unwilling to touch and do not want to talk about. He can bring beauty from ashes, joy from morning, and praise from despair." By the way, she's quoting Isaiah there. And I know that, because when I served Saint Paul Fort Dodge, an arsonist burned the church down. Get this, I had accepted a call, and then the church got burned down. You can't leave. And I left. "We do not need to dwell on the troubles of this world, because He has overcome the world." She's quoting Jesus, there. He says "I have overcome the world." "And we know that in all things" - she had it in italics, emphasis hers. "In all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Boy, I can't make this stuff up, how this falls together and how this works. And it's God's doing. So those of you who have known Tara, you be the judge of how God has worked for the good through her, not only in this body of Christ, but in this community of Wisconsin Rapids and beyond, through the ministry that He established with you by way of Tara and working through Tara. And it has all been for the greatest good of God, amidst all the good that has happened in your relationship together and that greatest good being that God brings good out of all things, and that would be an answer to the greatest tragedy of all, and that's your dying and death and mine. That's what all good things by God are meant to uphold for us. That God has a promise in the greatest tragedy of tragedies. And so Jesus, then, He sets the crowd straight. Now He's going to go to this parable of the barren fig tree. And it's and it's, again, it's an earthly story with a heavenly meaning - another thing that shows why He's the master teacher that He is - and it goes like this. Read it with me. "I tell you the truth, unless you repent, you, too, will all perish." And then, now by the way, He doesn't say tomorrow, or when you find yourself in a kind of tragedy that has happened. Or you find yourself in the hospital, and you're thinking oh boy, it's getting, you know, I better do something now. Now. This is about now, today. Not when you retire, not when the kids are done going to Immanuel School. Not when you're an empty nester and everybody is out of the house. It's now. And He illustrates it immediately with this, read it with me. "'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.'" So in this parable, who's the Fig Tree? You are. I'm the Fig Tree. Because we have those times and instances where, for whatever reasons - maybe it is because of a tragedy or something that's happened to us - the fruit stops being born. Or maybe the fruit has really diminished, in terms of its quality or what-have-you. But who's the gardener? How about the Holy Trinity? Think of the Holy Trinity, right? The Holy Trinity. You've got Jesus, who the scripture, says is your Advocate, the One who ascended into heaven in order to intercede for you before your Owner and the One who created you. And He doesn't come to intercede on your behalf with an ax in His hand, saying "Father, I'm ready to cut them off." What kind of Savior with that be? But rather, He says He intercedes for you and me. Father, Father continue to be slow in anger, forbearing, ever patient so that we can allow for this continuing of bearing fruit in keeping with repentance. Because yours is not the acts of judgment to cut others down, or to come up with answers as to why they're suffering or you aren't. That is for us. In other words, just for us, leave it to God with regards to what's happening to others. And what Christ wants to do - and is still doing it to this day and will continue to do it tomorrow - is He's digging around you. And He's digging within you, to fertilize you, and sometimes fertilizer stinks. You follow? Sometimes it stinks. Some texts say manure.

Who's doing that? Not terrorism. It's not God. God's plans are never to harm, only to prosper. But to fertilize you so that you and I will continue to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And you know what that fruit is known, as? It's known as this. Have you ever heard of the Fruit of the Spirit? And we think, we so often think of "yeah, okay, so I gotta be more loving, and I gotta have more joy when I leave church today. I gotta be more..." You know what? God's love, God's joy, God's peace, God's patience, God's kindness, God's goodness, in the midst of of hurricanes and terrorism, God's faithfulness, God's gentleness, and God's self-control. That's what that fruit is about. And God says, just as I want to give you life and share life with you, I want to share this with you, because this is who I am. And I want you to come and join, be in relationship with me. And bear, bear what I have borne toward you and for you. Boy, Lord knows we all need that kind of Gardner. Alright? Vine dresser. And a Spirit to keep digging around us and digging within us, to fertilize us with that fruit. So that's the reason we would leave ourselves and leave others to The Gardener: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God, if you will. And I know this painting, this portrait, you know, is based on this text from Luke 13, but when I look at it now, I see God and Jesus there. And I see me as that kind of gnarly tree. You know, my wife says, yeah, you can be gnarly sometimes, Chris. But I've got, I say "Honey, honey, I've got a Father and I've got His Son and they ain't giving up on me, so you better not give up on me." Because They're working, They're still working, and They're going to make that fruit come. Yeah, and They're going to have it, so long as we are following and listening and just letting Them do Their thing. Doing that digging around and fertilizing and just trusting that it's not to harm, but it's to prosper. So, do you want to Leave It to Beaver? Oh, come on, you guys. You know about Leave it to Beaver. That's not what we're talking about. Leave it to The Gardener. Leave it to The Garner, leave it to the Vinedresser, Jesus. Because then, you can be sure that there will always be life today. There will always be life tomorrow. Yours will always be life eternally in His name, Amen.