Luke 13:1-21

Go ahead and take a seat.

Well, friends, our Bible passage tonight is Luke, chapter 13, verses 1 through 21.

Luke 13:1–21

That's page 872 in the Pew Bible, if you want to follow along there.

Luke, chapter 13, verses 1 through 21, page 872.

Luke 13:1–21

Let me read this for us.

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 18 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 vinedresser,

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 manure on it.

Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good.

But if not, you can cut it down.

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for 18 years.

She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her,

Woman, you are freed from your disability.

And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight.

She glorified God.

But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath,

said to the people,

There are six days in which work ought to be done.

Come on those days and be healed,

and not on the Sabbath day.

Then the Lord answered him,

You hypocrites!

Does not each of you on the Sabbath

untie his ox or his donkey from the manger

and lead it away to water it?

And ought not this woman,

a daughter of Abraham,

whom Satan bound for 18 years,

be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?

As he said these things,

all his adversaries were put to shame,

and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

He said,

He said,

What is the kingdom of God like?

And to what shall I compare it?

It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden,

and it grew and became a tree,

and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.

And again he said,

To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?

It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour

until it was all leavened.

Let's pray together.

Oh Lord, as we have sung just now,

here is our heart.

Speak what is true.

Lord, that's what we ask tonight,

that you would indeed speak,

and that our hearts would be open

to hear what you're saying,

and that we would be able to say in response,

Take my life.

Father, we ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So in our time together tonight,

I want us to consider

Jesus' call to repentance.

We see it there in verse 3 and verse 5, right?

But it's actually,

this call to repentance,

it's actually a constant theme throughout

Jesus' ministry.

In fact, according to Matthew and Mark,

the other two synoptic gospels,

this is how Jesus sums up his preaching and teaching.

This is his message.

In Mark, Jesus says,

the time is fulfilled,

the kingdom of God is at hand,

repent and believe the gospel.

That's Mark 1 15.

And in Matthew,

it's even more concise,

even more to the point.

Repent, Jesus says,

for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

That's Matthew 4 17.

And even here in Luke's gospel too,

we see that repentance

is a part of the core of Jesus' message.

If you go to the end of the gospel,

after his resurrection,

Jesus commissions his disciples

to spread the good news

of his saving death and resurrection.

And that good news entails,

Jesus says,

repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

That's Luke 24 47.

So clearly,

if we're going to understand Jesus,

and if we're going to understand

what it means to follow Jesus,

we have to understand this thing

called repentance.

So I want to spend some time tonight

zeroing in on this core aspect

of Jesus's message.

We'll think about what repentance is,

and then we'll look at

some motivations for repentance,

why we should repent

that we find here in Luke 13.

And then finally,

we'll talk about how we can actually do it,

how we can actually repent.

So that's sort of where we're going tonight.

First, let's think about

what repentance is.

What does Jesus mean

when he says that we must repent?

You know, it's not all that obvious today

what Jesus means, I think.

In fact, I think a lot of people,

when they hear the word repent or repentance,

basically think that what Jesus is calling for

is for us to just clean up our act morally.

Right?

You're doing wrong things.

You need to start doing right things.

You're living an irreligious life.

You need to start living a religious life.

That's what we think repentance means.

But, you see,

just cleaning up your act morally

is not actually what Jesus or the Bible means

by this word repentance.

Repentance, the kind of repentance

that Jesus is talking about here

is not primarily about your external actions.

biblical repentance has more to do

with our hearts, you see.

It's a change of heart

that then leads to a change of life.

Yes, but first and foremost,

it's about a reorientation

of the heart.

You know, when the Old Testament prophets

spoke of repentance,

they used a very simple and common Hebrew word,

a word that just meant turn

or even return.

The people had been chasing false gods.

They had been loving things

that weren't gods at all.

They had replaced the one true God in their life.

And God, through the prophets,

called his people to come home,

to return to him with all their heart.

That was repentance for the prophets,

to turn, to return.

And in the New Testament,

the word for repentance means something like

a change of mind

or a change of heart.

It's this inner redirection,

a re-centering almost.

And that's why Jesus,

in verse 1 through 5 of our text tonight,

says that everyone needs to repent.

Now, that message would have shocked

Jesus' original audience

as much as it shocks you and me today.

Here in our text,

people come to Jesus telling him

about a tragedy that's happened.

Pilate, the Roman ruler in Judea,

has had some Jews from Galilee

killed, apparently,

in the temple in Jerusalem

while they were offering sacrifices.

That's what it means

that he mingled their blood

with their sacrifices.

They were worshiping.

He had them cut down

in the middle of the act of worship.

And the people come to Jesus wondering,

Jesus, did God allow that to happen to them

because they were especially bad sinners?

Was that some sort of form

of divine retribution against them?

And what does Jesus say?

No.

You cannot draw a straight line

between tragedy and personal sin like that.

That's not how the world works.

In fact, he says,

they weren't any worse than anyone else.

But then,

Jesus draws almost the opposite lesson from this

than we would expect.

Instead of saying,

that was a tragedy,

it's sad,

it's something to mourn,

but you know,

sometimes bad things happen to good people

and we just have to soldier on.

Isn't that how you and I often respond to tragedy?

How does Jesus respond?

What lesson does he pull out of this?

Jesus says,

no, you see,

we're all bad

and we all need to repent.

Now note,

Jesus is saying this

not in a room full of tax collectors

and sinners.

He's not saying this

in a crowd

of sort of what we would think

is obviously bad people.

He's talking to a group of

good,

Bible-believing Jews.

In today's term,

he's talking to a bunch of

church-attending,

basically good,

moral people.

And he says,

you need to repent.

And doesn't that tell us

that repentance

is about something deeper

than our external actions?

Even good people,

according to Jesus,

need to repent.

Why?

Because even good people

can have their hearts,

their lives,

centered on something

other than God,

you see.

It's entirely possible

to live a self-centered life

and be very moral,

good,

and even religious

on the outside.

Imagine two buildings.

One building

is very poorly constructed.

It's just sticks

and rocks

kind of just patched together.

The whole thing

looks really shaky

and about to fall down.

And here's this other building

that's beautiful.

It's made of brick

and columns

and it's solid

and it's not going anywhere.

Very different buildings

on the outside.

But then look down

at the foundation

of those two buildings

and you notice

that both are built

on nothing

but a pile of sand.

The pile of sticks

and the stately brick

colonial home.

Both resting on something

that's just going

to wash away.

And you see,

friends,

it's the same

with our lives.

someone can have

a really good looking life

on the surface

but if the foundation,

if the center

of that life,

what drives it,

what motivates it

is still just

self

or anything

other than God,

then it's not really

any better

in the long run

than that pile of sticks,

is it?

It's all going

to come crashing down

and wash away.

And so this call

to repentance

that Jesus issues

is not, you see,

necessarily a call

to start doing

more good works

but to put your life

on a whole new foundation.

To center your life

no longer on yourself,

no longer on your own reputation

or your own good works

but to center your life

solely on God

and on His Son,

Jesus Christ.

In other words,

it's a call

to stop trying

to run your life

your own way,

to turn around

and to entrust

your life to God,

to surrender

to Him

and to His Word.

That's what repentance is,

a change of heart,

a change of allegiance,

no longer being

your own king

but letting God

be the king of your life.

And now why?

Why ought we do this?

Well, here's where we get

into our text tonight.

We see two reasons.

The passage before us tonight

has two halves,

verses 1-9

and then verses 10-21.

And this first half

clearly teaches us

that we ought to repent,

we ought to hand our lives

over to God

because danger is coming.

Repent because danger is coming.

Jesus says it quite clearly.

Unless you repent,

you will all likewise perish.

Jesus is saying

that one day

God will judge the world

with perfect justice,

you see.

And on the one hand,

deep in our hearts,

part of us thinks

that that's really good news,

right?

After all,

there's so much evil

and suffering

and wrong in the world

and God's coming judgment

tells us that God

is not going to let

those things continue forever.

He's not going to let

evil and wrong

and oppression

and injustice

and murder

and hatred

and sex trafficking

and all the things

that aren't right in the world.

He's not going to let

that continue.

He's going to put it to an end.

He's going to judge the world

in perfect justice

and restore things

the way they were supposed to be.

And yet,

that perfect justice

that God is going to bring

will be cast over

every part of God's creation,

you see.

Nothing will be left unturned.

And that means

every human heart as well.

You and me

and everyone.

We will all stand

before the God

who created us

and we will all give an account

for the life that we've lived.

And then Jesus gives us a picture

to help us grasp

the reality of what he's saying.

Imagine, Jesus says,

a man who owns a vineyard

and in the vineyard

is a fig tree

and he rightfully comes

looking for fruit.

Which is to say, of course,

God has the right to come

and require something of us

and call for an account.

After all,

everything has been created by him.

Every breath we take

is given by him.

Every talent we have,

every moment we have

is a gift from him.

It's all his.

We're totally dependent on him.

And yet,

when the owner comes

and looks at the tree,

he finds no fruit.

He finds nothing

that bears the mark

of loving submission to him

as ruler, as king.

And immediately,

what do our hearts say

when we're confronted

with this reality

of giving an account to God?

But wait,

I've tried my best

to be a really good person.

I'm actually not that bad.

Trust me.

Immediately,

our hearts want to

justify ourselves, right?

We come up with

all the reasons why

we weren't perhaps

as loving or faithful

or true

as we know

we maybe should have been.

But you know, Lord,

there were all these

extenuating circumstances.

I was having a really bad day

or a really bad month

or a really bad year.

We recoil at the fact

and try to justify ourselves.

And yet,

doesn't the fact

that we so quickly

and so instinctively

try to justify ourselves,

doesn't that in itself

tell us that we know

we're not the way

we should be?

We know we haven't

let God be God

and put Him

at the center of our lives.

We know that we've tried

to be our own king

and try to run our lives

our own way.

And you know,

some of us trying

to run our lives

our own way

have made a wreck

of our lives.

And other people

trying to run their lives

their own way

have actually made

something of their lives.

But Jesus is saying here

at the end of the day,

it's a house built

on the sands

that will fall.

At the end of the day,

it's a barren tree

with no fruit.

Cut it down,

says the owner.

Cut it down.

Why should it use up

the ground?

Then another character

enters the story.

A vine dresser.

A gardener.

A worker.

Let's give it one more year,

he says.

Let's loosen the soil

around the roots

so the water

can get down into it.

Let's put some fertilizer

down there.

Let's give it one more year.

Jesus is saying

to his fellow Israelites

here in this moment

in history,

this is it.

God's sending you

one more chance

to repent.

And friends,

he's saying the same thing

to us.

Here it is.

God's extending you

a season of mercy

so that you can stop

seeking your own agenda

and your own kingdom

and you can hand yourself

over to God's own agenda

and his lordship

and his kingdom.

But we will not have forever,

you see.

God's perfect justice

will come

and we will give an account

to God.

And friends,

if we have refused

to surrender our lives

to God,

then that day of reckoning

will mean danger for us.

God's purpose,

cut it down.

Why should it use up the ground?

And brothers and sisters,

friends,

obviously this is a warning

for all of us.

Is it not?

In love,

Jesus is saying to us

through this passage,

unless you repent,

you will all likewise perish.

It doesn't matter

how long you've attended church.

It doesn't matter

how kind or moral

or compassionate

you try to be.

It doesn't matter

how much intellectually

you know about Christianity

or theology.

What is the condition?

Jesus says,

unless you repent,

you will perish.

Unless you admit

that your heart

and your life

has been centered

on something other than God

and you turn

and entrust yourself

to him and to his son.

that's the first reason.

Repent because

danger is coming

for those who do not.

But there's another reason

in our passage tonight

why we ought to repent.

Not only because danger is coming,

but

because deliverance

is here.

in verses 10 through 17

we read

of another healing

that Jesus performs

on the Sabbath.

We've seen a few of these

in the Gospel of Luke.

Here is a woman

bent over,

unable to stand up straight

and it's been that way

for 18 years

afflicted by a disabling spirit.

But with a single word

from Jesus

immediately

she's made straight.

Do you see the power

of Jesus here?

There's no struggle.

There's no back and forth.

What's held this woman bound

for 18 years of her life,

almost two decades,

is done away with

in a moment

because Jesus

is that powerful

because he has

that kind of command

and control

over the world,

friends,

that he made.

And like so many

of Jesus' other miracles

on the Sabbath,

this one too

ignites in controversy.

Now, of course,

there's no law

in the Old Testament

forbidding someone

to heal on the Sabbath.

But what happened was

is that some later

Jewish traditions

started gathering up

and they started

to view healing

as a form of work.

And so,

unless it was something

really, really

life-threatening,

healing was prohibited

on the Sabbath.

Come back another day.

And how does Jesus respond?

Comes right out

and says,

you hypocrites.

And then he does

this little play on words.

He says,

you'll loose

your ox or your donkey

and give it water

on the Sabbath,

but you won't loose

this woman

from Satan's affliction

on the Sabbath?

You see,

loose and untie

are the same word

in these verses.

You'll release an animal,

but you won't release

a daughter of Abraham,

one of God's chosen

and beloved children.

You're out of your minds.

What's the Sabbath for,

after all?

If you look back

at Deuteronomy 20,

or excuse me,

Exodus 20

and Deuteronomy 5,

what was the Sabbath

all about?

It was about rest

and deliverance.

The Sabbath

was a means

of trusting,

not in our own works,

but in God

as our creator

and redeemer.

And the Sabbath

was this picture too,

you see.

The Sabbath

was this picture,

a sign

of a great day

that was coming.

A great day

that was coming

of true rest

and true deliverance

from all that afflicted us

as human beings.

The day that Jesus says,

I'm bringing right now.

Jesus has come

and deliverance is here

and what the Sabbath

was always all about

is breaking forth

right before

their very eyes.

Freedom from sin

and guilt and shame.

You see friends,

this woman's physical condition

is a mirror

of all of our

spiritual condition.

Aren't all of us

bent over

by sin

and by guilt?

And doesn't Satan,

the accuser of our soul,

want to come

and just rub it in

and keep us bound.

But Jesus has come

to conquer sin

and to conquer death

and to conquer condemnation

and to utterly overwhelm

the evil one.

To put an end

to our sin

and to silence

his accusations

and to allow us

at last

to be loosed

from our burden

and to be released

from our sin

and to be untied

from our guilt

and to allow us

at last

to stand up straight

in the presence of God.

Friends,

we need to repent.

We need to turn to Christ

because deliverance

is here.

Don't be like

the ruler

of the synagogue here.

Jesus upsets

his comfortable

little Sabbath service,

doesn't he?

We're going to read

a little scripture.

We're going to have

a little talk.

We're going to sing

a few songs.

It's all quaint.

It's all comfortable.

It's all controlled.

And we all go home.

The ruler of the synagogue,

the synagogue was

most often

just a layman

who presided

over the affairs

of the synagogue.

He would organize

and often teach

in the services.

Sort of the guy

who kind of called

the shots.

And then Jesus comes in.

And suddenly,

instead of the ruler

of the synagogue

having his quaint

little Sabbath service,

all eyes are on Jesus.

All eyes are on him.

The one with the power

to actually redeem.

And just like this ruler

of the synagogue,

friends,

aren't we just like him

that we don't really like

to have Jesus

at the center sometimes?

We'd much rather

have all eyes on us.

We want to be at the center.

We like to stay in control.

But we can't release

any of our burdens.

And we can't untie

the guilt

that comes with our sin.

Only Jesus can.

And if we let go

of running our lives

our own way

and we give ourselves

over to him

if we repent,

then he'll bring

that deliverance

into our lives too,

you see.

And like a mustard seed,

it will seem so small

at first.

And so much

of the world

will seem to be

unchanged.

And yet Jesus

says it will grow

until it last.

God's kingdom

will be all in all.

You know,

we can look out

at the world,

can't we?

And we can doubt

that deliverance

has really come

in Jesus.

Jesus.

But you have

to understand

what the kingdom

of God is like,

Jesus says.

It's like a seed.

If I were to hold

a mustard seed

here in my hand,

none of you

would be able

to see it.

I would drop it

and we would never

find it on our

brown carpet.

It would be gone.

If I had a little

yeast in my hand

and I blew it,

it would disappear.

Jesus is saying

the kingdom begins

in an almost

insignificant way.

And isn't that true?

Jesus' first coming

was not what anyone

was expecting

of the Messiah.

This was not

what they were expecting

of God's

in-breaking rule.

This is not

what they were expecting

of God's kingdom.

Jesus was not

a military hero.

He did not end

all of their

national troubles.

He preached,

he healed,

he had a couple

followers,

he offended the

religious establishment

and he was crucified.

But,

unlike all the

other would-be

messiahs whose lives

ended in the same way,

Jesus' claims

were actually true.

Jesus was

God's son.

Jesus was

God's king.

Jesus was

bringing in the kingdom.

And to demonstrate

that,

to demonstrate

that Jesus

truly was

God's king,

three days

after his crucifixion

and burial,

God raised him

from the dead.

And now,

friends,

what do we see

of that

insignificant

beginning of the kingdom?

kingdom.

Now,

Jesus' kingdom

extends

across the world.

A few

ragtag

disciples,

a bunch of

fishermen

and tax collectors,

one woman

healed

on one

Sabbath day.

A bunch

of tiny

seeds.

And now,

in every

corner of this

world that we live in,

you will find

people who profess

the name of Jesus

as Lord.

The kingdom,

friends,

is growing.

It starts

small,

it grows.

And one day,

Jesus will return

and his kingdom

will be all in all.

And that

deliverance that we

long for,

that we wait

for,

that we're so

struggling to see

because it's not here,

one day it will be

complete and like

leaven,

it will work

its way out

through every

aspect of life.

And all sickness

and sin

and death

and disease

and shame

and jealousy

and lust

and all of that's

going to be done.

And in its place

will be God's

own glorious

rule.

So friends,

repent

and turn

because deliverance

has come.

The kingdom of God

has arrived

and one day

it's going to be

all in all

and you are all

called to be a part.

Finally then,

how can we repent?

We've seen what it is

and why we should do it.

But you know,

what's actually

going to dislodge

us from our

self-centeredness

and turn us

to God?

How do we get

unstuck

from ourselves

and come

to embrace

God

as all

in all?

Well,

friends,

we've actually

been talking about it

this whole time.

One way to see it

is to see that

Jesus here

tells two stories

about two trees,

one utterly fruitless

and another

full of life

and growing

to be big enough

to provide rest

for all who come.

What's going to

pull you out

of that

self-centered

agenda

that you live on?

Seeing what

Jesus Christ

has done for you,

you see.

See,

at this point

in Luke's story,

at this point

in Jesus' life,

he's on his way

to Jerusalem.

Jesus is on his way

to his own tree.

He's on his way

to the cross.

And on the cross,

Jesus is going

to be willingly

cut down

like a fruitless

fig tree.

He's going to die

the death

that you and I

deserve

because of our

self-centered

lives.

And he's going to

satisfy God's

justice for us.

And he's going

to unleash

God's deliverance.

And because Christ

rose again,

because he lives,

because Jesus

right now

stands at God's

right hand

as king,

right now

by his spirit

and in the

proclamation

of his word,

Jesus himself,

the risen king,

is calling us

to come,

to turn,

to repent.

To see what

he's done

through the cross

for you

and for me

and to come.

the living

Christ even

now is summoning

you to come

and to escape

from the danger

and to know

his deliverance.

Jesus would say

to John

many years later,

I stand at the

door and I

knock

and if anyone

hears my voice

and opens the

door,

I'll come into

him and eat

with him

and he with

me.

Friends,

Jesus freely

grants

repentance.

Open

the door

of your

heart to

him.

And friends,

if you've

done that,

if you're here

tonight and you

are a Christian,

what is this

passage teaching

us?

In many ways,

it's teaching

us to keep

on doing

just that.

Jesus is going

to keep on

knocking on

the doors of

our life

and like a

seed,

repentance

is the

continual act

of handing

over our

life to

him.

Whenever

he knocks

on another

area of

our life,

we open

to him

and let

him have

his way.

We turn

from those

self-centered

pursuits

and we embrace

him as

king.

And that

constant

turning over

of our

lives to

him,

that is

the continual

life of a

Christian.

Christian.

That's how

we get

into the

kingdom and

that's how

we grow as

his kingdom

people, by

letting him be

king more and

more and more

in our lives

and trusting that

his grace covers

all of our

sins.

In just a

second, as we

come to the

Lord's Supper,

friends, this is an

opportunity for all

of us to do

what this passage

is telling us to

do, to repent.

If you're here

tonight and you

have not

trusted Christ,

then here is

your chance to

do so for the

first time.

To step over

the line and to

take him as

Savior and to

trust him as

Lord.

And for those

of us who have

trusted him, this

is our chance

through the

Lord's Supper to

surrender to him

more and more.

To hand over to

him all those

areas of our

hearts that we

want to withhold

and to let him

reign there as

well.

So friends,

tonight, repent.

Give your life

to him.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we

confess that often

it is so hard for

us to do what you

tell us to do in

this passage.

And so we need

your spirit to

come and to

pull us and to

change us and to

get us to see all

of you in your

beauty and your

glory, to see what

you've done for us

on the cross.

Lord, would you

come and would you

make yourself real

to our hearts

tonight and help

us, Lord.

Give us the

strength to repent.

Oh, Lord, help us

to see how it is

freedom itself to

stop trying to live

for ourselves and

to live for you,

the one who made

us and who loves

us and will never

lead us astray.

And so, Lord, as

we come to your

table, would you

feed and fuel the

faith of those whom

you have called to

yourself, those whom

have trusted in you.

Lord, would we be

strengthened to live

our lives for you as

we remember your

death and resurrection

for us.

And, Lord Jesus, for

those who are here

and don't know you,

who are still

considering you, Lord,

would you draw them

close to yourself?

Help them, Lord, to

come to faith in you,

we pray.

In your name, amen.

Amen.