Urgent Message: Immediate Action Required ~ Luke 13:1-9 ~ Third Sunday in Lent

I don’t know about you, but there are stories and passages of Scripture I find downright disturbing.  It is always with certain discomfort that we read passages which warn of God’s judgment and wrath. 

It can be downright scary to read of an angry God striking down sinners.  It’s hard to know what to make of such texts.

It begs the question: should we live our lives in a state of mortal terror before a holy God?  Is our salvation uncertain?

Or, should we just ignore these passages?  After all, we’re not a hell, fire, and brimstone kind of church.  So, perhaps these just apply to people other than us…  Or, maybe they don’t apply to anyone; as if God is making threats that won’t be carried out…

But who are we to say that God would make an empty threat?  Who are we to say that Jesus’ words  don’t apply to us?

If we look carefully at today’s Gospel, we’ll find that Jesus is not threatening us with hell.  He’s warning us about life—and how quickly it can change—or be ended…

Jesus speaks of to two notorious events that would have been fresh in everyone’s memory.  The first was an absolute atrocity: Pontius Pilate brutally slaughters Jewish pilgrims from Galilee, and then uses their blood to desecrate Tempe sacrifices .  The second was a freak accident: the Tower of Siloam falls, and eighteen people die. 

If we listen carefully to Jesus’ words, we won’t find him saying that any of these persons were being punished for being especially heinous sinners.  But Jesus uses these events as warnings: we never know what can happen in life.  That is why the time for repentance is now.  This is something we cannot afford to put off until another time…

 The call to repentance is one we must all answer with utmost urgency.

And yet—the first thing we must bear in mind that repentance is not something we do to make ourselves right with God.  Repentance happens when Jesus makes us right with God.

It begins when we realize the depth of our own sin and face the fact that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves.  And thanks be to God, we don’t have to…  We have only to receive God’s gifts through faith: Our sins are forgiven.  We are accepted as God’s own unconditionally.  No matter where we’ve been in life or what we’ve done, God receives us as his own.

So repentance begins by taking hold of Jesus Christ and his righteousness.  But we cannot do that without first letting go of everything else—and this is the hardest part.

For there are many other urgencies in our lives.  In all our lives there’s this thing called worry. 

Do you know what worry is?  Worry is that twisted belief that “God can’t, but somehow I can,”  as if to say that we have the power to make everything right; to fix the past and control the future.  At the same time, we worry about what we cannot change; we worry about a future we cannot control or predict. 

What keeps you awake at night?  What brings you stress?  What is it that distracts you most when you’re trying to pray or study Scripture—or even as you sit here today?  What in your life do you fear you cannot live without? 

Repentance is our refusal that any of these to take precedence over Christ.  It is an act of faith: in that by putting Christ first, we are entrusting everything else in our lives to God.  It’s giving up our insatiable need to control everything—then entrusting to God all the uncertainties; all the unknowns.  Instead of worrying and feeling sorry for yourself, just imagine using that time and energy on participating in Christ.  Imagine the peace and joy of trusting and obeying Jesus—instead of living at the mercy of worry.

A big part of repentance means accepting the fact that life will bring us a lot of stuff that just downright stinks—and there’s nothing we can do to change that.  But today, Jesus assures us that when heartache and suffering come our way, God will use these as fertilizer to nurture us in our daily walk with him.  In the midst of things that crush us, weigh us down, and drive us to doubt, Jesus can work in and through them all for your salvation.  It’s true that we can know Jesus more deeply as he helps us deal with the crap of life.

So many Christians live their lives at the threshold of God’s grace…  They acknowledge Jesus in name—without ever really knowing him.  Some just can’t let go of that need to control everything instead of resting in the hands of a loving God.  Yet life can change in an instant—and we don’t want Christ to be a stranger when that happens.  So we must obey Jesus’ urgent call today: to take hold of God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ, so that he may become our consuming passion.  Where there’s worry and stress, we must redirect our energy away from things we cannot control or change to participating in the life of Christ.  And finally, we must trust God, that when the bottom drops out and life downright stinks, that Jesus is still working even then to care for us every step of the way.  Imagine trading in worry and frustration for the peace of Jesus—and the unfailing hope of knowing him.  That gift is yours to receive today.  So seek the Lord while he may still be found.