CMLC 2025-03-23 Sermon

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