The Good News According to Luke: Part 11
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: We must regularly check ourselves and strive to stay near the heart of God to produce the fruit that Jesus desires in our lives.
Don’t Fool Yourself
Don’t Miss the Point
Don’t Miss Jesus
Don’t Fool Yourself
We must make sure that we are not fooling ourselves in our walk with God.
Luke 13:1-9 ESV
“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, "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 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 on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"”
We deceive ourselves thinking we are right with God when we simply compare ourselves to others who we think live worse lives than ourselves.
It’s never about how you measure up to others - God will judge you based on how you do or do not obey his commands.
It is not enough to simply say you believe.
God is looking for fruit from our lives.
Repentance means to change our minds, submit to God’s truth and go in a different direction.
From what things are we to repent?
Galatians 5:16-25 ESV
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
If you’ve found that you have been a tree planted in his vineyard without producing any fruit, this is a wake-up call to repent so that you are not eventually cut down and thrown into the fire (Matthew 3:7-10).
Never forget that the thing that can cause you to grow and save your life may be repugnant to you (stink like manure) at first.
Be careful not to reject God’s mercy to you in this way.
Don’t Fool Miss the Point
We must stay close to the heart of Jesus to make sure we are bearing the fruit he wants us to bear.
Luke 13:10-21 ESV
“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 eighteen 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, and 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 eighteen 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 therefore, "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."”
Even if you’ve found yourself crippled by sin, spiritual torment or disease for years, Jesus has the power to heal you.
God works through process, but Jesus can also miraculously do in an instant what seems impossible or would take a lifetime to correct.
Either way, know the heart of the Father and give him the opportunity to move on your and other people’s behalf.
We can often miss the fact that God does and wants to work miracles in people’s lives when we try to box Jesus into theological constructs with which we are most comfortable and can control.
Yet Jesus reiterates the point that the Kingdom of God is a small seed that should grow to touch every area of our lives - so much so, that it begins to provide a resting place and shelter for others looking for hope.
Don’t let your history put a limit on the future God wants to open up to you as you come to know Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in new ways.
Because God is inexhaustible, the nature of his Kingdom implies that we are always learning, always growing, always changing to become more like Christ.
Don’t Miss Jesus
We must submit and come Christ’s way if we ever hope to enter the Kingdom of God.
Luke 13:22-35 ESV
He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" And he said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!' In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last." At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." And he said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.' O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'"”
There is a difference between being in the presence of God and in his pleasure.
We must enter through the narrow door of faith in Jesus’ saving work at the cross, subsequent resurrection from the dead and our confession of Christ as Lord (Romans 10:8-13).
Committing to Jesus as Lord means an absolute submission to God’s commands and following the specific direction of the Holy Spirit in your life by which you will glorify God (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Many who have found themselves merely in a culture of Christianity will find themselves shut out of the Kingdom because they did not live for God’s pleasure.
We know that Jesus longs to bring us to himself because of the great lengths to which he went to live sinlessly for us, die sacrificially for the forgiveness of our sins and through his resurrection from the dead provide eternal life for us.
There is no other person, way or name by which we can be saved.
Let’s come to repentance and embrace the heart of God today to make sure that we are not missing Jesus by simply being in his presence rather than living for his pleasure.
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 ESV
“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher