Our Gospel reading this morning will be coming
from the Gospel according to St. Luke the 13th
chapter. So starting with verse 1, there were
some present at that very time who told Jesus
about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices. And he answered them,
do you think that these Galileans were worse
sinners than all the other Galileans because
they suffered in this way? No, I tell you. But
unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam
fell and killed them, do you think that they
were worse offenders than all the others who
lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you. But unless
you repent, you will all likewise perish. And
he told this parable. A man had a fig tree planted
in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on
it, and found none. And he said to the vine dresser,
Look, for three years now I have come seeking
fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut
it down. Why should it use up the ground? And
he answered him, Sir, let it alone this year
also, until I dig around it and put on manure.
Then, if it should bear fruit next year well
and good, but if not, you can cut it down. This
is the gospel of our Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
you may be seated. So on Monday, I was actually
trying to get myself over to the livestock show
and rodeo. How many of you have made it to the
livestock show and rodeo this season? All right,
a lot more people this service than the early
service. I have no idea why, but with it is,
you know, y 'all got a chance to see some good
concerts, you know, had a chance to see some,
you know, some roping, some Bronx, everything
else. I was excited, I hadn't been this year,
and right as I was gonna pull out of the parking
lot, my tire ran over a giant spike. It was right
there. And you know what, normally if you get
like a small puncture in the tire, you can fix
it, right? I mean, you know, my dad showed me
how, it's not a big deal. This was not one of
those. It sliced the side of the tire, like just
this long strip there. There was no fixing this
tire at all. But you know what? It was okay.
It was okay because I have a spare, not a problem.
I had just been to the tire dealer not too long
ago. Won't mention which one at this moment.
But with it is, I'm thinking, not a big deal.
And one of the preschool parents was actually
there and helped me to get the tire up. I'm fully
capable of taking a tire off myself. It just
made it go faster. But putting the spare on there,
and after he'd already left, I realized that
spare didn't have the air trying to get three
blocks just three blocks to go and air it up
couldn't even get there and it rolled over the
little nozzle and tore it off so the tire is
done the spare is done and i'm just like i'm
not going to the rodeo today oh my word so i
got one of those 24 hour you know tire places
took a while I think it was like three and a
half hours, the whole deal. But while I was there,
there were some different people that stopped
by to make sure that I was okay. I mean, you
know, normally there are pains in the butt, but
you know, this time they were great. But point
being is that as we realized they were checking
on me. Because they could have just assumed that
everything was okay. I mean, you know pastor
Jason's a capable guy He knows what he's doing.
I'm sure things but but no You're got to check
to make sure and make sure that you are going
to see that the he's okay And so they did and
it was great the guy was still on his way It
made sense for me to stay there, but it was nice
to know that someone was looking out for me And
this idea of what it is that there are those
who are watching out for you is something we
really want to have on our minds today as we
are thinking about our Ezekiel passage, the watchman.
And to realize what it is when the watchman is
there to warn people about what is coming. See,
y 'all got to remember is that back in the day,
whenever you had a city... There was no getting
onto CNN or Fox or ABC or NPR or whatever and
trying to find out what's about to happen to
the world around you. How did you find out what
was happening in the world around you? When the
army from another city is coming at you. That's
how you find out what's going on. And that's
the thing about this is that the watch person
is up there and this watchman is looking out
and has to be checking because if they see someone
Coming along the horizon, this army that they
need to be careful about, they're the ones to
warn everyone in advance. Now, you're responsible
if you know something that you're meant to then
make sure everybody else knows it. Now, it seems
fairly straightforward. If you warn somebody
about something and they ignore you, well that's
on them. They've chosen to ignore you, that's
their choice, okay. but if you know something
and you don't warn them it's on you because you
could have warned them which explains why it
is that at the end of Seinfeld all four of them
are in prison I felt really good when I saw that
just for the record but what we realize is that
we are actually more afraid of telling people
what they need to hear than we realize as a kid
and I'd hear this passage and I was like that
should be Straightforward like if somebody needs
to know something tell them why wouldn't they
I? Remember there was this little Bible tract
that I that I got as a kid. You know those little
booklets tell you about Jesus, right? And you
can leave them different places. I remember them
because my parents always made sure that when
they gave out candy at Halloween, they also gave
out a little Bible tract. And then at the end
of the night, we'd go and find every single one
of them at the end of our driveway that they
just tossed at the side. Maybe not the most effective
use, just thinking. But these little Bible tracts,
there was one that showed a car about to go off
a cliff. And there's a person standing there,
and they need to wave them down. and let them
know you're about to drive off a cliff but then
I noticed that the guy in the little cartoon
is like I don't know he might be mad at me I
don't want to really offend them maybe they know
and they've already decided to keep driving I
mean there's any number of reasons I might do
it wrong maybe I shouldn't let them know and
then it shows the car careening off and he's
like Probably should have just said some you
know this sort of a thing with the little cartoon
and as a kid I'm thinking this is ridiculous
But as I've gotten older I realized more and
more of How real it is to be afraid of sharing
with people? Something that they may need to
hear Because in our world today It's not even
just whether or not they're going to be upset
at you, but that person the car may very well
stop the car get out, attack you, get back in
the car, and keep driving off of the cliff. And
that's the thing, is that there are major reasons
why we're sometimes concerned about whether or
not we should tell people what God may need them
to hear. And sometimes, you know, we're making
sure, is it genuinely something big enough? Is
it a major problem that they need to know? Because,
you know, there's some people where they're going
to tell you their opinion about everything, whether
you need to know it or not. Everybody's got at
least that one person in their life and you're
like, okay, you didn't really need to tell me
that my shirt and my pants don't really match
that well. I'm a single guy, leave me alone,
okay? But there are bigger things that actually
do matter in sharing with people. But second
is also this question of, do you have a level
of trust with them? See, here's the thing. The
people who stopped by to check on me, I know
them. I trust them. Terrible sense of humor with
at least one of them, but they're still great
people. And when thinking about them coming by,
I trust them. So when they say that they're willing
to help, I'm open to it. But then thinking about
this, are we opening up to people that we've
developed trust with? And not only that, but
the fact that the ones we're most likely to be
listened to or listened by. are the ones that
we're the closest to. And that makes it even
harder. Because even though the people who would
actually listen to us are the ones who would
know us the best, they're also sometimes the
ones that we're the most afraid to be honest
with. Because we're afraid of losing them in
our life. But even third to that is whether people
always assume that they're always right. Now,
we start off our worship service with this whole,
you know, confessing our sins time event, and
we say, God, we know that we have sinned, we
know we've made mistakes, we need to confess
to you. But let's be honest, as soon as we walk
out that door, do we start everything assuming
that we're in the wrong? We typically start pretty
much everything assuming I've got it figured
out. So, if you come to someone and you've let
them know, hey, this is not a good idea and something
needs to change you've already had to face what's
already happening in their mind why are you telling
me when I know I'm already in the right and that's
a difficulty is that even the righteous must
repent the righteous must repent and that's the
thing about this is that it speaks in this passage
that somebody may be seen as a righteous person
But when they sin they need to repent The other
side of it is also true is that if a person has
been seen as Struggling and making mistakes over
and over again, but they've changed and now they're
on the right path That there's grace there's
forgiveness Think about how many people that
you have seen around you or the people that you've
known in your life where you are like this person
Has continually done great things and Then we're
afraid to ever tell them when there's something
difficult that they need to hear That whenever
somebody has been a hero or has done things well
But then we realize that we've never heard them
say sorry I Will definitely be a person that
will say I'm sorry Doesn't mean that I will then
follow up and always do it right the next time
But my thought is that no matter how much you
may think that you're in the right Are you willing
to be told? When you've maybe messed things up
But the other side of that is how often are there
people that we will always point at and say you
are a terrible person And I will always assume
that you're wrong The truth is that all people
have been given God's Word through His Scriptures,
through the people who represent Him, that God's
Spirit is looking to convict people. It could
be anybody that can have a time and an opportunity
to change, to grow, to see what is true and what
is right, because all people who have repented
are now given new life in Christ. That's the
difficult part though is whether we're willing
to realize that we've been self -righteous Whether
we are willing to admit When we've been the ones
assuming we've got it all figured out You see
it's easy to end up blaming everybody else for
things and Not being willing to see it within
ourselves see Jesus comes in, and as he's speaking
to people, and he's letting them know, you need
to stop acting like these other people are worse
than you. And that's a point with this. When
Jesus is talking about the blood mixed with the
sacrifice, or the Tower of Siloam, is that they
had seen that Pilate had come along, and had
killed these people that he saw as breaking the
law. See, that's the thing about this pilot was
already on the scene before the whole Jesus crucifixion
part of it, and he actually had a reputation
of being way too hard on the people in his province.
But when they saw what was happening, instead
of realizing that maybe they were people being
subjected to something unjustly, it's so easy
to assume that their punishment must be something
that they deserved. How often is it that we make
that assumption? But did you notice? It said
that the blood was mixed with their sacrifice.
These people were there to make a sacrifice,
to say, God, I'm a sinner, and I need your forgiveness.
The very people that are exactly where God needs
them to be, of coming in repentance, and they
were the ones. that were killed at that time.
And yet, it's easy to try to blame them that
somehow they deserve this in God's eyes. Or more
than that, the Tower of Siloam. Here's this tower
falling down on people. And what is happening
is, well, maybe they were in the wrong place
at the wrong time. Well, maybe God needed them
to be taken care of. How easy is it that we look
at things and assume that when something terrible
happens, maybe they somehow deserved it. We continually
look to justify ourselves based on results. When
things are going well, then clearly we must be
doing something right. When things don't go well,
what was it that was so bad? And with this is
to realize that Jesus is not coming here to judge
us based on what's happening around us, but rather
is to look at what's happening inside. Because
that's the thing, is that people coming to know
Jesus and the need for salvation, it's not about
what's happening on the outside. It's not just
what the watchman can see on the horizon. It's
a question of what this watchman needs to see
happening on the inside. Because with all these
things happening, That's truly what God cares
about the most. What is it that He is speaking
to you, whatever the circumstance may be? Because
during this season of Lent, what we're doing
is taking the time to look at the fruit of what's
coming from us and to realize our need for grace.
Because grace and nurturing are needed for the
fig tree. There is that tree that cannot seem
to get its act together. Three years, nothing
came from it. I'm still learning about fruit
trees. My fig tree is still sitting in a pot
because I'm afraid of putting it in the ground
and somehow messing it up. So everything's still
okay. But at the same time, I'll be honest, there's
a lot about fig trees I still have to learn.
But what I do know is that When a tree stops
doing what it's supposed to do, you can't help
but wonder maybe that tree is broken or dead.
When we see the fig tree, is that fruit coming
from the tree the fruit of repentance and giving
glory to God? All the other things that we may
look at and try to figure out Is God somehow
blessing this person or condemning that one and
all this? And in reality, the thing we're supposed
to start with is, what do we see coming from
the Spirit of God inside ourselves? Do we see
coming from a spirit of compassion? A spirit
of joy and hope? Do we see a spirit that wishes
to encourage and to love and to bless our neighbor?
Or do we see a spirit that bears rotten fruit
or no fruit at all? the vine dresser was not
willing to give up yet. Give me one more chance.
Let me try just a little bit harder. Let me dig
around it. Let me add the fertilizer. Let me
put what's needed there. Give me one more chance.
Because isn't that the truth of what we see of
ourselves with God? Is that as long as at this
moment in time you are hearing these words, then
the day of the Lord is today. Whatever it is
that God is speaking to you right now, the day
to listen is today. As we grow, as we look, it
is not a point of looking on the horizon to try
to figure out what does everybody else need to
hear, but to start off by saying what is it that
God wants me to hear? And only as we let God
change us, then God will show us the people that
He is calling us to speak to. God will change
us, and then through us, speak to others around.
As we look at all of these, we may have to deal
that maybe there's a little manure in our life
as we're trying to figure out the next step.
But the vinedresser is still working in your
life, and he's still working in mine. So whatever
it is that God is calling us to see for ourselves
and then moving us to share with those we are
closest to May God's word be the very thing to
lead and guide us now and always