BEARING GODLY FRUIT LUKE 13:1-17. Damon Life Group

BEARING GODLY FRUIT LUKE 13:1-17 Damon Life Group 11.11.12

Apples & Diamonds Do you know any particularly fruitful people? Somehow can not just get er done, but does so in an unshakable, joyful way What do you think makes them fruitful? Have you ever noticed how do they handle something that bothers them? When something begins to nag at them, fruitful people don t try to numb it (TV, sports, shopping, eating, drinking, movies, work, etc ), they excavate it! This is the difference between having coal and having diamonds (bitterness vs fruitfulness)

The Relationship of Roots and Fruits How about you? Do you numb it, or excavate it? In other words, do you seek comfort and happiness or do you want to excavate it and seek Godliness? Our approach to a fruitful life has both eternal consequences as well as generational consequences As a parent, I am concerned we are raising the next generation up to be weak-willed and eternally shallow in perspective a generation whose roots have not been allowed to grow into deeper soil MSU Baseball Camp A nursery tree For me, it has been the trials of my life that have been the fertilizer for fruit in my life that have deepened my roots in Christ (the pressure that translates coal to diamonds) Yet we often pray away/divert/avoid excavating the issues and refuse to lean into the fertilizer in our life (and our kid s) that will grow deep roots and produce fruit

Last Week s Outline Not Peace, but Division Luke 12:49-53 Is your life exemplified by passion? Interpreting the Time Luke 12:54-56 Is your life lived with urgency? Settle Your Debt Luke 12:57-59 Is your life s debt paid in full? IF YES you are made to move from repentance to rejoicing and ALL of creation joins with you

This Week Theology of suffering and sin (Luke 13:1-5) Christ teaches on repentance using two news headlines Parable of God s Compassionate Mercy (Luke 13:6-9) Figs, manure, and Fruitfulness Healing & Rebuking (Luke 13:10-17) Touched to stand upright & rebuked to live face down

Theology of Suffering & Sin Let s begin by reading Luke 13:1-5 Ok, what s happened here? What is the real question the people are asking Jesus? It s the same question we still ask today How we THINK about this is critical (THINK FEEL ACT) Typically, our thinking goes something like this I can t believe happened to, they are such a great person/family or what comes around goes around So, bottom line, we think that s not fair or karma

Faulty Thinking Leads to Faulty Conclusions The crowd brings Jesus a news event about the Galileans who were killed while in the very act of worship Then, Jesus brings up another news event about 18 people killed in a tower tragedy The human conclusion is that those people s sins were not unusually horrible (in fact they were good people ) The flaw in the logic is this - their sins were not unusually horrible, they were ordinarily horrible How much sin is enough sin for God to judge you? Rom 3:23 All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God Rom 3:10 There is none righteous, no, not even one. What should astound us is not that bad things can happen to good people, but that God s grace abounds in every moment, in every breath, in every sun rise, in every heart beat that gives you and I another chance to turn to Him Praise God that He is slow to anger, full of grace, and abounding in mercy This truth about us and about Him connects last week s message to have urgency about making it right before getting in front of the judge and the parable Jesus is about to tell

Parable of God s Compassionate Mercy Let s Read Luke 13:6-9 Last week, we ended with a story in which we should move with urgency while we can to settle with our opponent before being taken to the judge This is another story about the long suffering of God and His heart towards us to get right with Him while there is still time Before diving into this parable any deeper, let s walk through a few truths about parables

Parables Jesus was the perfect story teller He often used small stories to communicate BIG ideas Parables used in OT and NT in the OT (prophets <particularly Ezekiel> and Proverbs) Soren Kierkegaard once said parables sneak up on you When confronted directly with truth, we may be on the defensive parables sneak up and backdoor truth Jesus used a lot of parables They can be from 1 to 22 verses long There are from 35-77 parables He used (depending on how you define a parable) About 35% of His teaching is in parable form About 2/3 of His parables are found in Luke (18 uniquely in Luke) So, to understand Jesus teachings, we must understand parables He did not use them to introduce new doctrine, but rather to cast light on existing doctrine

Back to the Fig Tree How many of you have a fig tree at your house? However, I you lived in the Middle East The rest of the vineyard was producing fruit, just not this particular tree for three years so he tells the keeper to cut it down! And how does the keeper respond? Give it a year he ll dig around it and put fertilizer but give it one more year

What Big Ideas Does this Small Story Teach Us? God s heart is towards you! He wants you and me to have time to produce a fruitful life so don t be ashamed, be honest before Him The Right Results matter! How many of you are bottom line oriented? So is God the good news is He s really for you Being results oriented is good, provided you are about the right results we are not called to be busy, we are called to be fruitful So, we should all step back and take a fig inventory Marriage, family, work, finances, home, ministry, etc. they should all have a plan to produce fruit for the kingdom of God What does your fig inventory look like?

What Big Ideas Does this Small Story Teach Us? (cont) God will do His part, but you must do yours! There are certain figs that will only be produced through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit However, the Scripture is CLEAR that YOU have a role to play in that work So first, start digging holes around the roots (break the hard ground) See last week s practices of obedience (kindling Community, Scripture, Prayer, Worship, Giving, Serving, Obedience, Evangelism) Finally, use your manure! It takes manure to get fruit How many of your lives stink today because of all the manure? Don t waste it - USE IT! Over and over God s Word teaches us that He will use ALL things to bring glory to His name and you have been given your particular pile of manure for a reason it is fertilizer Pray that God will help you reframe the manure you are currently praying He will remove from your life and instead pray that He will work with you to dump it into the holes you are digging around the roots and become rich fertilizer that produces great fruit

Healing & Rebuking Let s read our final passage from Luke 13:10-17 Jesus is the guest pastor that day He s teaching and during the sermon he sees this woman who, for 18 years has had a spiritual sickness that leaves her doubled over It says that when He saw her, He called over to her and said, Woman, you are freed from your sickness. and in the next verse He is laying His hands on her and immediately she was made erect again and she began glorifying God You can imagine the scene amazing! Jesus heals her spiritually, then physically What do you find interesting about this healing that is different from other healings we have seen Jesus do? Jesus calls her to stand upright before Him

Part Two of the Story The story could have ended with the woman being healed and rejoicing BUT there is vv. 14-17 You have the religious leader correcting God (that never works out well ) At the heart of the matter, he wants to have an argument with Jesus over the law Now, the first 5 books of the OT have 613 laws, rules, and commands WHY? Was God trying to come up with an exhaustive DO s and DON Ts list so we could never have fun? If His Laws trouble you, it s because you don t understand the heart of the Father Let s use an example from our own life who lives on a busy street or has a pool?

Fences & Hearts When you look at the heart of why we put up a fence around the pool or in front of a busy street it is to protect that which is precious to us This is what God has done with His laws Unfortunately, the religious, come behind God and add another fence, and another and soon you have a prison Rules without relationship will yield rebellion that s why quite often you see some PKs with issues b c often the most rebellious kids grow up in religious homes So, there must be a direct line-of-sight between the rules and the heart behind the rule (relationship) so the child experiences the rule as an act of love That s why I said if the laws/rules/commands of God bother you, it s because you don t understand the heart of the Father

Back to Jesus Exchange with the Religious Leader So, this guy picks a public fight with Jesus about the law surrounding the Sabbath (bad idea) How does Jesus respond? Jesus basically says to the man that he cares more for his animals than he does this lady why is today not a good day for the love and grace of God to be poured out over her life? So, with the woman, you see a glimpse into the compassionate heart of God ( Woman you are freed ) she is called to live upright before Him With this religious leader you see Jesus being very tough on him ( You Hypocrites ) Jesus rebukes this man to live face down before Him

Which Character Are You? The Woman Perhaps today you hurting and life has been difficult for you but, like the woman, you are here in God s house Remember, it was Jesus who approached the woman and His desire to to reach out to you today He knows everything and still loves you unconditionally and He alone can bring the healing touch you need The Religious Leader Perhaps you have a tendency to sit back, evaluate and judge everything Rob has said today, what the choir has sung, everything I have said looking for a place to disagree I don t want to confuse being overly critical with discernment and appropriate accountability, but don t miss the miracles all around you! God is at work! Celebrate what He is doing! This begins with repentance (sins of commission and omission) In the Crowd Perhaps you have not been engaged on either side, just watching Get off the sidelines and get involved!

This Week - Summed-Up Theology of suffering and sin (Luke 13:1-5) Christ teaches on repentance using two news headlines ALL of our sins are ordinarily horrible, but we have a God who is slow to anger and full of grace but we must act now! Parable of God s Compassionate Mercy (Luke 13:6-9) Figs, manure, and Fruitfulness God s heart is for you The right results matter God will do His part, you must do yours Use your manure Healing & Rebuking (Luke 13:10-17) Touched to stand upright & rebuked to live face down God gives us fences our of love Are you like the woman? LIVE UPRIGHT Are you like the religious leader? LIVE FACE DOWN Are you like the crowd? Choose sides & GET IN THE GAME

From Repentance to Rejoicing