Lent: The Repentant and Growth in Grace Life

Well, we are in the season of Lint, also known as March Madness basketball season.

Have y'all been watching?

Y'all have been watching the last two days I've spent on my back porch watching basketball, just sitting all afternoon, evening, watching basketball, letting the pollen just wash over me, amazing out.

Just want to just let the pollen cover you.

It's been amazing.

So it's not just pollen season, it is Lent season.

We're in week three of Lent, the 40 days that leads up to Easter.

So let's jump into our text, Luke 13, verses 1 through 4.

Luke 13:1–4

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

And he answered them, so Jesus, do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all of the other Galileans because they suffered in this way?

No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you 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?

So to whatever horrible event happened here in the text, we're not actually sure what the event was.

Something horrible happened, and they're saying, hey, what happened?

Were these people horrible sinners?

What happened?

To that, Jesus said, Hey, we're all, we're all imperfect.

We are all sinners in need of his grace.

This week, my daughter showed me this painting by Bainsky.

So Bainsky is that unknown artist in the world who puts art in different places out in the world for people to discover.

This was in 2014.

This painting showed up in Bristol, England.

It's of two lovers that are in an embrace, but instead of staring at each other, they're staring at their phones.

So it's a commentary on addiction to technology.

Instead of their phones, you know, instead of their faces being a romantic glow, their phones are lighting up their faces.

And to this, I reacted and I thought, this is what's wrong with our freaking world.

Like I just, oh my, are you kidding?

I am so like like people are not loving their families, men are not loving their wives, like these people, these people doing this, and my daughter comes up to me while I'm studying this, and she's saying, like, hey dad, can you hold like hold on?

I'm like, I am studying something on my phone and my computer right now.

Can you just hold on a second?

Like, I'm learning how horrible everybody is.

I mean, how dare you come up to address me while I'm doing this?

So I'm the man in the painting.

You're the man, you're the woman.

I do this all the time.

I choose my phone or my interest over the people I love the most.

Now, if we look back at the paint, look how attractive they are.

Wouldn't that be nice, right?

I mean, wow.

Right?

And we spend all this time to get ourselves to even try to look like this, to look a certain way.

And then we're with the people we love the most, and how much energy are we actually putting forth toward them?

Or worse, maybe we actively hurt them or we degrade the relationship.

And I just say all that to say, I'm the man in the painting, you're the man in the painting, you're the woman in the painting.

Like we're all imperfect, we all are sinners in need of God's astonishing grace.

Do you remember Jesus' teaching about sin in Matthew 7?

Matthew 7, 1 and 2, judge not that you be not judged, for the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

This judge speaks of, this judging speaks of the harsh practice of lowering someone else to raise yourself up.

John Stott wrote, this is a fault finder who is negative and destructive toward other people and enjoys actively seeking out their faults.

And it's impossible to judge them without judging yourself.

It's impossible to lower somebody else without measuring yourself because you need to know how far you need to lower them to feel better than them.

And Jesus is calling us out of that kind of judgmental life into a life of generosity and grace toward other people and toward ourselves.

But how?

How do we get there?

How do we live a life of grace?

Well, it's different than you would think, because the way we get there is actually by seeing our own imperfection and sin.

In Matthew 7, he continues, verse 3, why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye?

You hypocrite.

First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Point number one is this we cannot see ourselves clearly if we are focused on other people's imperfection.

The people in Luke 13 are doing this.

They're not dealing with themselves.

They're saying, hey, these people, something horrible happened.

Like, what'd they do?

What'd they do?

Something bad happened to them, what'd they do?

They had to do Jesus, they had to do something bad, so because something bad's happening to them.

And I must be better than them because something bad happened to them, and they must have done something bad, and nothing bad's happened to me, so I must be better.

Priest and author Henry Nowen says this about Matthew 7.

The desert fathers said that judging others is a heavy burden, while being judged by others is a light one.

Once we can let go of our need to judge others, we will experience an immense inner freedom.

Once we are free from judging, we will be also free from mercy.

Let's remember Jesus' words do not judge, and you will not be judged.

Now, back in our text at Luke 13, that's what the people are doing.

Hey, something bad happened, so they must be bad.

What'd they do?

And to that, Jesus mentions, hey, a tower fell, killed the 18 people.

And Jesus is saying, hey, sometimes bad stuff just happens.

Sometimes a tower falls and kills 18 people.

And the people want to explain bad things by making the other people out to be horrible sinners, and they're not, because maybe then maybe I'm better than them.

And maybe that horrible thing couldn't happen to me.

Point number two is this everything bad in our lives is not because we made a mistake.

Now, maybe, maybe you made a mistake.

That was possible.

And maybe there's a consequence for that mistake.

But everything bad in your life, everything bad in your life is not because you made a mistake.

Because sometimes, sometimes just a tower falls and kills 18 people.

Sometimes we just live in a broken world.

The faulty way of thinking goes like this: bad things happen to bad people.

It sounds so wonderful at first because it means if you are good and you're hard working and you don't smoke weed and you come to church, if you do all that, you're doing all the good things for your righteousness report, then you're safe.

You can control bad things happening to you.

But it also means you're incredibly judgmental toward other people.

Because as soon as something bad happens in their life, it means that you actually believe that they have not been good enough.

And it all works.

It all works until you lose the money, you lose the relationship, your child rebels, you lose your health.

See, then it comes back and it bites you.

When that rug gets pulled out from underneath your feet, the tornado hits your house, the phone rings at your house, the cancer comes to your house, and then all this, if faith is performed and God will reward you, suddenly now you are not enough.

And Jesus just refuses to participate in this kind of thinking.

Jesus says to all that kind of thinking, he says, Hey, you're all sinners.

And you are all in need of grace.

Point number three is this Jesus calls us out of a judgmental life toward oneself and others, calls us out of that and into a self-aware, repenting life.

Verse 5, no, I tell you, but unless you repent, repent, you will all likewise perish.

Last Sunday I was at my daughter's fifth, sixth grade lacrosse game.

Lacrosse is new to our family.

It's our first season.

Um trying to learn the rules at this point in a fifth, sixth grade girls lacrosse game.

It just looks like a bunch of girls running around trying to scoop up a scoop up a ball, little ball.

You can't even see it.

The crowd can't see it.

So really we're just watching people run around, is all we're really doing.

And they're all just trying to scoop it up, is what they're trying to do.

I thought we should just score the scoops.

That's what we should do.

So, like, there's one.

We got one.

Oh, feels great.

That would be fantastic.

All right, suddenly this one girl scoops up a ball, which is a miracle.

The crowd's going crazy.

There is a scoop.

She picks it up, she's already twirling it, right?

You've seen this how you because it's got a the ball, if you don't twirl it, apparently the ball will fall out of the, it's like a glove on top of a pole, right?

And if you don't twirl it, so she scoops, she's right by the goal, she starts twirling and she makes a run.

It is an unbelievable run.

She is breaking free, she is fast, she's twirling, she is moving, and you're going, this this is a Michael Jordan moment.

This is unbelievable.

She's breaking free, you're like, she's gonna go all the way.

It's unbelievable.

Her teammates catch up to her around midfield, inform her she is running the wrong way.

And she does not, she does not ignore them, she does not argue with them.

She immediately turns around, keeps the twirl going, heads back to the other way.

And that's repentance.

That's my point.

That's repentance.

I was going one way, I become aware that this is not the way.

I become aware, and then don't deny it, don't ignore it.

It's not gonna help.

Just turn around and go the other way.

Pastor author Jack Miller says this about repentance.

Repentance is our ongoing calling to collapse on Jesus, acknowledging our need and receiving his supply.

We repent to become a Christian.

That's part of our surrendering our lives to Jesus.

We become a Christian.

And then as a Christian, there's a path of repentance, ongoing collapse into Jesus.

Jesus' teaching in Luke 13, it moves from repentance into growth.

Luke 13, 6 through 9.

And he told this parable a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, found none.

And he said to the vine dresser, Look, for three years now I've come seeking fruit on this fig tree, 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.

Point number four is this Jesus is patient with us to create fruit in our lives.

So the vineyard owner is God the Father.

We are the fig tree.

Jesus is the gardener.

And the owner says, Hey, that tree is not producing fruit, let's cut it down.

Let's cut it down.

And the gardener steps in, it's the good news of verses 8 and 9.

The gardener steps in and Jesus says, Oh, oh, that beat up, broken down, exhausted, self-righteous, judgmental Christian, miserable.

Please give me I I know him.

I know her.

Give me some time.

Give me some time.

Oh, that rebellious, miserable, hedonistic.

That I know him.

I know her.

Give me some give me some time with them.

Give me some time.

As we live and surrender to Jesus, Jesus works in our hearts and lives.

There's this beautiful imagery in this passage, isn't it?

He digs around.

So it's the imagery of a gardener that's gonna dig around the roots of a tree to loosen up those old roots that create space for new growth.

And Jesus says, and I'm the gardener, I'm gonna dig, I'm gonna do that work, I'm gonna dig around.

I'm gonna unearth.

We need him to do that.

Like in our hearts.

We need to let him dig around a little bit.

Dig around our motives.

Dig around our wounds.

Let him dig out that old stuff, allow some new growth.

We need to be quieted by his love to let him dig around.

And the Holy Spirit will use that.

The Holy Spirit will do that work in us.

Back in 1991, one of the most famous gardeners in the world, Monty Don, gardeners in the crowd, you all know, gardeners in the church.

You know Monty Don.

That's Monty Don.

He's British.

That's his wife Sarah.

Back in 1991, they bought a two-acre plot in England called Longmeadow.

And they began to garden this two acres.

They split into four gardens.

And since 1991, these two have worked side by side, week to week, season to season, to garden this land.

We're going to look at two of the gardens of the four.

This is Paradise Garden back in 1991.

And then here's a picture of Paradise Garden today.

And here's a picture of Jewel Garden back in 1991.

And here's a picture of the Jewel Garden today.

So what happened at Longmeadow?

A caring gardener showed up.

And he tended it.

And he pruned carefully.

And he mulched like verse 8.

He dug around some old roots, created space for new growth.

He unearthed some stuff.

This parable is a warning to non-Christians to give your life to Jesus.

For Christians, the point of this parable is not that you will be fruitless and be cut down.

It can't be.

We read any passage of Scripture in light of all the scriptures.

The New Testament doesn't let us read it this way.

It also doesn't mean that you as a Christian will be flourishing in fruit just forever and perfect.

Or that you'll be perfect in your repentant practices.

The point is for us as Christians that the owner will never have the chance to cut you down.

Because a caring gardener showed up.

You can never be disowned by the owner.

Because we have a gardener committed to us.

Jesus' response to the owner is a call for more grace.

Just give me some more time.

I know him.

I know he's a mess.

I know he looks really ragged and but I know him.

And I know her.

Give me some time with her.

Just give me some more time.

I'm gonna unearth some stuff.

I can unearth some stuff here.

I can dig around a little bit.

And I'm gonna grow them.

He'll come around.

Point number five is this.

For all of our half-hearted repentance, the work of Jesus is always enough.

Our sins have been taken from us and put on Christ, and his righteousness is given to us.

So we are forever God's daughter and God's son, fully righteous.

The relationship is secure by Jesus' work alone.

And Jesus is saying, give me some more time.

Just a call for more grace.

To close, this parable gives us two gospel implications.

Number one, live in astonishment of God's limitless grace, ongoing collapse in Jesus, confessing your sin.

So that's a comment on the repentant life that we live as Christians.

And then the second part of our text, trust there is a gardener who cares for you even when you are having a hard time.

Now, if you have any questions about that or some other questions, or you would like prayer, there'll be a pastor down front afterward.

We'd love to pray with you.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, we're so thankful that you do not leave us on our own.

But you have happened to us.

A spring is happening around us.

And Jesus, you are the caring gardener that has showed up into our hearts and lives.

Thank you that it is not a call to perfection, but a call to know you more, to rest in you more.

We invite you, Holy Spirit, to unearth stuff in our hearts.

And that in your kindness you would call us to repentance.

That we would collapse all the more in Jesus this morning and this week.

And that our lives would honor you.

In Christ's name.

Amen.