PENTECOST
August
23-25, 2025
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Luke 13:22-30
“JESUS GIVES AN
URGENT WARNING TO WATCH YOUR WAIT!”
There are many things that people find
uncomfortable about an annual visit to the doctor for a check up. Most I would
prefer not to mention. There is one that we can that is common for many people.
It’s when the nurse asks you to step on the scale. You see the scales don’t
lie. And you know how it goes. You step on. You watch the numbers. They go up
80, 85, 86. Hey! I’d doing pretty good. Until the nurse announces 86 kilograms.
Would you like to see that in pounds? Nope. I’m going to hear it. A reminder to
watch my weight.
Our Lord Jesus does not care so much
how about how many pounds we weigh, or kilograms for that matter. But He does
want us to watch our wait, our wait for His return at the end of our earthly
lives or at the end of the world. That came out very clearly in the Gospel
lesson from Luke chapter 13 that was read a few minutes ago. Jesus was about
His work as Savior. At this time that meant teaching as many as he could. Along
the way as Jesus traveled to Jerusalem, this happened. “Someone said to him,
“Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” As our country has secularized,
religious conversations don’t happen organically as often as they used to. When
they do, they are normally the same. I call it majoring in the minors. They are
discussions about morality. If it gets to the afterlife the discussions often
revolve around questions out there. What will heaven be like? What age will we
be? What will we look like? Will we recognize everyone? This man who questioned
Jesus was no different. He wanted to talk about other people. How many would be
in heaven?
Jesus made it personal. “Strive to enter through the narrow door, because
many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.” I had a foreman
I worked for who if you asked him what time it was would always answer. “Ten
to.” “Ten to what?” someone would normally say. “Tend to your business,” was
the put you in your place response. Don’t worry about when the work day ended.
Do your work. Jesus answer to the man who asked him is much the same. Don’t
concern yourself with how many will be saved, concern yourself over whether you
will be saved. And here we need to pause because Jesus’ answer may confuse
some. The Bible clearly says that we are saved through faith in Jesus because
of God’s grace and it does not have anything to do with our works. Jesus tells
us to strive, that is work, to enter the door to heaven. Another translation of
this passage says, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door.” Sure
sounds to me like we are doing the work.
This is something I can better show
you than tell you. (I will pick a child from the congregation. I will give them
a $10. I will then ask whether this child earned that money. I will point out
that I picked the child and I gave the money. Then I will tell the child to
hold on tightly to that money. I will make the comparison that saving faith is
the same thing. God chose us. God gave us the gift. Jesus is saying hold on
tightly to that gift. That is something we can do.)
Now it makes sense. Jesus is urgently
reminding us to watch our wait. To do what He has given us the power to do and
hold on to our faith in Him. Elsewhere Jesus told us He and only He is the way,
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. He told
us He is the gate to heaven. Any who try to enter any other way will find the
gates to heaven shut. “Once the master of the house gets up and shuts the
door, you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord,
open for us!’ He will tell you in reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come
from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your
presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27And he will say, ‘I
don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’ 28There
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown outside.”
Many who were in the crowds that Jesus
was teaching had the wrong idea about how they were going to get to heaven.
Some thought it would be by their race. If they had the blood of Abraham, Isaac
or Jacob in them they would go to heaven. In another similar teaching Jesus
told the people that they would say, “Lord in your name we prophesied and cast
out demons and did miracles.” But to them Jesus would say, “Away from me. I
never knew you.” Why? They were trusting what they had done for Jesus rather
than what Jesus had done for them.
What is it that people can trust in
today? Similar things to in Jesus’ time. It’s not quite the same as salvation
by race but similar. My parents were religious. I belong to a church. I know
who Jesus is. Many today think their good deeds will get them to heaven. Good
deeds without faith in Jesus are meaningless. Without faith it is impossible to
please God. For those who rely on themselves instead of Jesus will hear “I
don’t know you or where you come from.”
But that takes us full circle to
Jesus’ answer to the man who wanted to talk about heaven in generalities. He
said, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” Jesus is the narrow
door. Faith in Jesus is what matters. God so loved the world that He have is
only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal
life. The question needs to be personal. Jesus reminds us to watch our wait for
Him to come back and the question that matters is, “Am I striving, am I making
every effort to hold on to my God given faith in Jesus?
The man who asked the question of
Jesus had to look Jesus in the eye when he answered. This word of God forces
the issue. Can I look Jesus in the eye and honestly say I am striving, I am
making every effort to hold on to the faith the Holy Spirit gave me? Faith
comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of
Christ. My doctor concerned about my weight is going to talk about diet, what
I’m eating. As a pastor I am a doctor of souls. To be faithful to my Lord Jesus
I have to be concerned about your wait. So let’s talk diet. How often is your
faith eating? The bare minimum is weekly worship. Best is weekly worship
combined with daily devotion or Bible reading. Let’s talk minimums. I was gone
from public worship for vacation 3 times this summer. Had to settle for online.
Did some of you really have two and half months of vacation? Are you watching
your wait? Can you look Jesus in the eye and say you are striving? When Jesus
said,” Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will
be last.” He was talking about people who received the gift of faith and
did not take care of it and so lost it. The first became last. While some who
received the gift of faith later but cherished it would die with faith and
become first. Now don’t misunderstand me. It’s not the going to church that
gets you to heaven. Jesus does. But feeding your faith through word and
sacrament keeps your connection to Jesus strong and vibrant, enabling you to
endure life’s storms and trials, joys and disappointments with God’s strength.
It makes the wait easier, more enjoyable.
Are you watching your wait? Recently a
sister and brother entered through the narrow gate. Helen Tellier. Weekly
worship as long as she possibly could for 106 years. She kept coming even when
she could not hear, following along with the printed word. That’s striving.
That’s making every effort. Ralph Engelhardt. Weekly worship and serving you
the people of St. Jacobi as an officer, Sandy faithfully bring him to the
Trustees and Council meeting just a week before he entered through that narrow
door of Jesus. Those are good examples for the rest of us. And, if we could
talk to them right now you know what they would tell us? The wait is worth it.
Amen.
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