March 7, 2010 — Third Sunday in Lent
“A Door to Escape God’s Wrath” — Pastor Lassman
Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download. (Right Click)
My Fellow Redeemed in Christ,
If you were in a burning building you would instinctively look for a way out. Your eyes would become very focused. You would look for the right door. Depending on the room not all doors would help you escape. One door might lead to a closet…that wouldn’t help. Another door might lead to a bath room. That wouldn’t help either. You would want a door that led you outside the burning building to safety. The world that we live in is like a burning building. How so? The world we live in is under the wrath of God. This world is doomed. One day it will be destroyed by God. Oh I know that it doesn’t look like it. But before the ship Titanic went down people weren’t concerned either. But once they knew the ship was going down what was their first concern? How to escape. And deep down inside human beings know this about God’s wrath. When something bad happens to people they often think that God is punishing them for one of their sins. People can ignore the subject of God’s wrath for only so long. And even if there are
people who never think about or fear God’s wrath in this world…well, the day will come when they will…oh yes, that day will come. And so just like a burning building or a sinking ship …once people become aware of the wrath of God they too want to know if there is a way to escape. And in our Gospel lesson our Lord Jesus tell us that God has provided “A Door to Escape God’s Wrath.”
I. And what is that door? Repentance. That’s what Jesus says: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And what is repentance? Being afraid of God’s wrath and believing that Jesus Christ is the only way out.
A. But Jesus reminds us this morning that there is a danger that we won’t repent of our sins when we think we are good people compared to other people. This is why we like talking about other people so much; it makes us feel good about ourselves. In essence we are saying, “I’m not like that. I’m a good person”, which brings me to our Gospel lesson. Some people approached Jesus and said, “Hey, Jesus, did you hear about those Galileans who were killed by Pilate’s soldiers at the temple?….Wow, they must have been really bad people for something like that to happen to them.” You’ll notice that these people were focused on the sins of others and not their own sins. And they wanted Jesus to become a part of their gossip group but they must have been a little surprised and disappointed when Jesus said “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?” And to really make his point he refers to another well known incident:
“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?” Well of course they did. That’s the point of gossip. There’s a fine line between news and gossip. And the danger is that we can be just like the people in our text. “Well, at least I’m not like that! Take Tiger Woods for example. I would assume that most of us think that we are better than he is. Of course, we all have our own sexual sins. Whatever sexual sins we might have might look pretty good compared to Tiger Woods. But then how would we like it if the media publicized all our sexual sins? Or for that matter any of our other sins?
B. But here’s the problem. We’re not supposed to compare ourselves to other people…to other sinners…we are to compare ourselves only to God. And how do we come out on that comparison? Jesus tells us: “I tell you no; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And he says it not once, but twice. Did you see what Jesus did? He changed the focus. Instead of focusing on the sins of other people and how bad they are, Jesus puts the focus on us and our sins. God knows about the sins of others. But we are to repent of our own sins as Ezekiel says in our Old Testament lesson: “I will judge each of you according to his ways” (33: 20, ESV). On the judgment day God’s not going to be impressed if we say, “Well, I wasn’t as bad as Tiger Woods.” On the judgement day Tiger Woods will answer for his own sins….And we will be answerable for ours. Shoot. It was a lot more fun talking about others. And here Jesus is talking about us. Lost and damned sinners. That’s what we are without Jesus
Christ….Lost and damned sinners. Yikes, this isn’t as much fun as talking about “Tiger Woods”. Lost and condemned sinners. Yes. We are in a burning building. We are on a sinking ship.
ii. Is there a way out? I’m glad you asked. There is- Jesus Christ. And we see this in the parable of the vineyard that Jesus told.
A. The vineyard is the nation of Israel. The fig tree is the city of Jerusalem. The owner of the vineyard is God the father. And the vinedresser is Jesus who was sent by God. And the fruit is living for God. The nation of Israel and especially Jerusalem had failed to be what God wanted it to be. The parable says the same thing that Paul says in our second reading: “With most of them God was not pleased.” “Not pleased” that’s God’s wrath. “I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down.” “Cut it down.” That’s God’s wrath. The people of Israel, Jerusalem, were not repentant. They were not living for God, bearing fruit……and God was losing his patience. Wow. Can God lose his patience? He can. For about a thousand years God had done everything necessary for Israel to be the nation he wanted it to be. He sent prophet after prophet. And in this way God dug around the tree of Jerusalem and fertilized it with manure. But Israel failed to respond---so finally, he sent his own
son. And most of them rejected him too. And now God was about ready to destroy Jerusalem and Israel: “Cut it down!” That’s what God had done to his disobedient people in the Old Testament as Paul says in our second reading: “For they were overthrown in the wilderness.” And Paul goes on to tell us that these things are “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.” Here’s the application for us: God expects to see fruit in our lives. He expects us to live for him. With his law he digs around in our lives to expose our sin and our need to repent. God never accepts or approves of any sin that we might have. He always warns us of the dangers of sin as he said through Ezekiel in our Old Testament lesson: “If you warn the wicked…and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity” (33: 9, ESV).
B. But as I said there is a way out. It is the way of repentance. Confessing our sin to God and believing that, for the sake of Jesus Christ our sin is truly forgiven. For the same Pontius Pilate who mingled the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices would also shed the blood of Jesus on the cross. And on the cross the wrath of God was poured out in its full force. All of God’s wrath against the sin of the whole world. All of God’s wrath against your sin….And mine. After digging around in our lives and exposing our sin God then fertilizes us with the manure of his unconditional and complete forgiveness. Manure may seem a strange symbol for the Gospel…but just as manure helps plants to be healthy and to grow fruit, so likewise God’s forgiveness of our sins makes us spiritually healthy to grow the fruit of living for God. This is our whole life as a Christian. God digs around in our lives with his law to expose our sin and his wrath and then he fertilizes our faith with the manure of his Gospel. Dig and
fertilize. Dig and fertilize. Dig and fertilize. Until we die. And the Gospel of manure comes in more than one bag. It actually comes in three: the bag of God’s word; the bag of Baptism; and the bag of the Lord’s Supper. For these are the three bags that contain the manure of God’s Gospel to heal the digging around in our lives by God’s law….And to produce fruit in living for God.
Conclusion: God’s wrath is not a popular subject this days….Not even in the Christian church. Satan has done a really good job of turning the almighty and holy God into a harmless grandfather figure who lives far, far away in a place called heaven. However, in all three of our lessons for this morning we hear about a different God, the real God. From Ezekiel: “If you warn the wicked…and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity” (33: 9, ESV).; from Paul: “With most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” And then there is Jesus: “I tell you no; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” God doesn’t care how we compare to other people….He only cares how we compare to him……. And it’s not a good comparison. Any remaining sin in our lives is not pleasing to God. And because of it we are lost and damned sinners. But we know the way of this dilemma: repentance. Confessing our sin to God and trusting in Jesus Christ who has
experienced God’s wrath for our sins……because of Jesus Christ we are not lost and condemned sinners …we are forgiven children of God…and this forgiveness fertilizes our faith to continue to bear fruit for our Heavenly Father. Amen.
