REFOCUS

REFOCUS

Luke 12:54-59 NET.

⁵⁴ Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A rainstorm is coming,’ and it does. ⁵⁵ And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and there is. ⁵⁶ You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how to interpret the present time? ⁵⁷ “And why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? ⁵⁸ As you are going with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, so that he will not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. ⁵⁹ I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the very last cent!”

We have been exploring the commands of Christ as they appear in the Gospels. I was tempted to push the pause button on this series because for the past couple of weeks we have had a lot of things happen here locally and nationally and globally, and I wondered if God wanted me to address some of those things. But when I looked at the text for today’s I had planned for today’s message, I discovered that it is quite relevant, and I found it very helpful.

We should remind ourselves about the unique background of this section of Scripture. Jesus is teaching his apostles, and they are surrounded by a large crowd in the Judean countryside.

Jesus commended the crowds for their ability to predict the future (54-55).

They could look at the signs in the sky and the present climate and tell what the weather was going to be. I must admit, I am lazy when it comes to things like that. I wake up every morning and I look out the window sometimes, but that doesn’t tell me anything. I usually go to the weather app on my phone to find out what the temperature is generally going to be for the day. I need to know this because at this time of year you might need to wear a long-sleeved shirt, or you might need to put on a short sleeve shirt. You cannot put the shorts and T-shirts away quite yet. I haven’t pulled out my coat yet, but I have worn a sweatshirt a couple of times, so that must be handy.

The crowds that Jesus was addressing probably contained a large percentage of farmers, and farmers must keep up with the weather. It makes sense that they would know what signs to look for so that they could predict what was going to happen soon.

If Jesus had been talking to a crowd on modern-day Wall Street, he probably would have commended them for knowing when to buy and when to sell. If he had been talking to a group of football coaches, he probably would have commended them for knowing who to put on defense and who to put on offense. If he had been talking to a group of chefs, he probably would have commended them for knowing what ingredients to buy, and how to mix them and cook them to perfection.

In each of these cases, the people are commended because they can focus on the task at hand so they can produce a positive change and bring them success. There is nothing wrong with having that skill. We all need to learn how to focus on what is important. The problem is that we cannot always discern between things we think are important and things that really are important.

Jesus criticized the crowds for their neglect of a present crisis (56).

Jesus called them hypocrites. He had formerly warned them of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, but it seems that there was one area in which all the crowds had already succumbed to hypocrisy. Something was going to happen to the people in that Judean crowd that was more important than a change in weather. The crowds were totally oblivious to that coming crisis. They should not have been. They should have been able to look at themselves, their culture, their relationships, their actions, and seen things as they really were. But they were blind to it.

What could Jesus have been referring to? Some scholars suggest that Jesus was warning them of the conflict that was brewing between the Jews and Rome. Jesus does go into detail explain what was going to happen within one generation after his crucifixion, later in his eschatological discourse (Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, Luke 21). He warns them that the Jews would experience trouble on a scale worse than they had ever experienced before.

But I don’t think that is what Jesus is getting at here. Remember that he had just been telling these crowds that he was not going to bring peace to earth, but rather division. He was going to polarize the world and disrupt families – turning people against each other.

The present time that Jesus drew the crowds’ attention to was the time in which everyone was going to have to make a choice: Jesus or not Jesus. That choice would split families and communities and nations apart.

But it isn’t as if Jesus was telling everyone “Y’all are going to have lots of problems from now on, and it’s all my fault.” No, Jesus tells them that this terrible age of division, discord, and polarization is coming upon them because of their neglect.

Jesus criticized them for the neglect of a growing debt (57-59).

He says they are on their way to the debtor’s prison. They have amassed a debt they cannot pay, and they are going to court to lose their case. The thing about debtor’s prison is that when you are in prison, you cannot work to pay the debt. So, the debt will just get bigger and bigger, with no hope of ever getting smaller.

It is not an entirely hopeless situation, though. Jesus tells them that they are still on the way to court, so there is still hope for them to settle out of court. But that is not what they are doing. Instead, they are looking at the clouds. They are looking at the south wind blowing. They are taking care of business as usual while the opportunity for them to be released from their debt is flittering away. Every day they are getting closer to that fate they cannot escape.

Now, what is this debt that the people in the crowds of Judea are ignoring? What is this danger that is looming in their future that they have chosen to put on a back burner and focus on something else? They need to refocus. They have spent their entire lives majoring in the minors. They put all their time and effort into the scientific understanding of meteorology (the study of the weather). Meanwhile, a storm worse than they could ever imagine is coming their way and they are not prepared for it in the least. And they are not the only ones.

We need to put our focus on what really matters!

Many are in the same shape as these crowds in the Judean countryside. They spend their lives focused on secular pursuits and popular pastimes and dare not give the slightest attention to eternity. A debt of sin is growing ever so enormous they have no ability to pay. The payoff of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Oh, but I’m not talking about natural death. When we die the natural death, it is in payment for our ancestor’s sin in the Garden of Eden. Everyone in Adam dies because of Adam’s rebellion. The payoff of that sin is out there in the cemetery.

But wait – there’s more. Each of us is born in sin, and every one of us sins our own personal sins. The payoff of those sins is death as well. That means we deserve to die twice. The debt of our ancestor’s sin sends us to the grave. The debt of our own personal sins keeps growing, and thus to pay off that debt we each must die a second time.

Thus, the Bible tells us of a lake of fire into which all of God’s enemies will be thrown after Judgment Day. The lake of fire is the second death. It is a real death, just like the first death, with one exception. No one will be resurrected from the second death. It is permanent. It is complete. It is final. The apostle Paul calls it permanent destruction. Peter calls it destruction. Jesus calls it destruction.

Now, the message we are hearing from Jesus as he teaches the crowds on the Judean countryside is this. Refocus your life on what really matters. The present time is all we have to decide for Jesus or to reject him. To put off that decision is to make it. To focus on anything else is to set ourselves up for the tragedy of a life spent on the wrong purpose. We are on our way to the judge right now. The verdict is already a given. We have a debt of sin that we cannot repay. We have a destiny that we cannot afford to ignore. Our only option is to do something about that debt now before we get into the courtroom.

Oh, but there is nothing we can do. All our righteousness is also sin. All our attempts at being good fail to measure up to the holiness required to come into the presence of the Judge. We don’t have what it takes, and neither does anyone else on earth.

But the good news of the gospel is that there is a man who does have what it takes. He is not on earth, but there is a man in heaven who can pay the debt we cannot pay. In fact, he has already paid for it. He shed his own blood on the cross for our forgiveness. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He took our sins on the cross with him, and as he lay dying, he cried out “It is finished.” Paid in full.

The only thing Jesus asks of us is that we repent of our sins and put our faith in him. He did the work; all we must do is trust him. He paid the price; all we must do is believe it and declare it. Yet the crowds still waste their lives on the wrong focus. They have a limited time to deal with the issue that really matters, and they continue to waste that time.

The question Jesus asks of the crowds is a question that we need to ask as well. Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? Consider your sins. Consider the fact that you cannot pay for your sins because even your good deeds are inherently sinful. Consider the only solution for your sin problem. Now, ask yourself, is there anything more urgent that your need to repent? Is there anything more worthy of the focus of your life?