John 14:3-6

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When you hear the disciple’s name Thomas, your mind might immediately add the prefix doubting. Certainly, this disciple of unknown origin finds his most prominent moment after Jesus resurrection. Jesus appears to the disciples the evening of Easter and shows them all that he’s risen from the dead. Thomas wasn’t there, and later, when Thomas hears about it, he says, unless I can put my fingers into the holes in Jesus hand and my hand into his side where the spear pierced, I will not believe. Well, a week later, Jesus appears to all the disciples. Thomas is there, and Jesus invites Thomas to touch his living, risen body and believe. And at that, Thomas gives us one of the clearest outright statements of Jesus divinity in the Gospels, “my Lord and my God,” Thomas said.

From this account we can say a couple of things. First, Thomas did follow the evidence. His doubt was not stubborn. It was just skeptical.

Speculating a little bit, but maybe he did understand that his role as a disciple was to witness all that Jesus did, including ostensibly this greatest miracle of the resurrection. He had to be able to see this so he could give his eyewitness testimony later on in a way that could be verified and trustworthy.

Second, from another account, we get the sense that Thomas’s doubt or his questioning was not only because of doubt, but because of his candor. He was willing to say things that the other disciples were maybe thinking, questions they had, or questions they would have had if they were in his shoes. So this other example comes from Maundy Thursday. And here’s the exchange we have. Jesus says,

if I go and prepare a place for you

And he’s talking about going to the cross and death, but also then ascending to heaven and leaving,

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:3-6)

In many ways good on Thomas for asking. There’s also one other instance that isn’t brought up in connection with Thomas and should be more often. That is several times before Jesus went to Jerusalem to suffer and die, he predicted that he would. And on one of those occasions, it’s Simon Peter, this great leader and bold, faithful confessor among the disciples tries to dissuade Jesus from going. No, Jesus, don’t let that plan unfold. It’s Thomas who at that moment steps forward and says, let us go to so that we may die with him. So Thomas may have required verification at various instances, answers to his questions, but he was not soft in his commitment to Christ.

So Christianity is a religion that invites questions not in unbelief, but in faith. So you repent of any times when you’ve maybe demanded of God an airtight explanation for something in Scripture, or something going on in your life. God doesn’t owe us an explanation for everything, but take comfort in the things he has revealed to you so clearly. Take comfort in the forgiveness and life that Christ won for you when he paid for all of your sins on the cross. Take comfort from the fact that Jesus resurrection gives you innocence before God now, and also a place prepared for you with Thomas in heaven.

John 14:2,6, John 1:29, John 20:30-31

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The disciple John intersects with the three covered so far and rounds out the big four: Peter and Andrew, James and John. From these two fishing families on the Sea of Galilee, thoroughly Jewish but interfacing with the Greco-Roman world beyond. In the Gospels, John plays a relatively minor role. He doesn’t have many lines, although in his own gospel he refers to himself five times as the disciple Jesus loved. (John 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, 21:20)

He does figure prominently in the crucifixion, where it seems he alone appears at the cross of Jesus, and Jesus commends Mary, Jesus mother, into John’s care. John is best known for his writings. He wrote The Gospel according to John. He wrote the epistles that bear his name first, second and third John, as well as the Book of Revelation. Not bad. He was one of the pillars of the early church, one of Jesus’ inner circle. They got to witness some of the most pivotal moments in Jesus’ ministry, that others weren’t able to see, revelations of his glory and his power.

Later in his life, he moved to Ephesus, which is in western modern day Turkey, and then, because of his faith, was exiled by the Romans to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. It’s perhaps that he is the only one of Jesus’ disciples, living disciples after his ministry, that was not killed for his faith. And yet, throughout time, Christian communities have seen his exile to that island of Patmos as a sort of martyrdom. It’s a good reminder to us that it’s never worth it to sacrifice our faith for the sense of a familiar home. Instead, our faith may require us to sacrifice that home for the one we have in heaven.

It’s through John in his gospel that we have Jesus’ words recorded.

“I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6)

And

“In my Father’s house are many rooms… I go there to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2)

As one reads John’s Gospel in the original Greek, but also in many English translations, the language can seem simple, but the concepts are profound. John seems to have been a thinker, someone who dwelled on these deep things about God and spiritual life. Maybe it was that John was also tempted, like we are, to use his intellect in a bad way. Doesn’t matter how smart you think you are. We all love to be able to use our reason to prove others wrong, or to show how we are so much smarter than they are. Well, instead, John’s writings show a submission of that skill a recognition of Jesus as the one who bears all wisdom and knowledge and doesn’t use it in those sinful ways, but instead righteously calls out those who oppose God’s grace and God’s Word, but also bearing patiently with those who need understanding.

In a way John is used by God to provide this simple patient guidance toward the truth that we often need. And also to those who come broken and with many sins. Jesus is described by John as embodying grace and truth, bringing the conviction of sin and its reality in the truth, but also applying the lavish grace he himself would win and create through his own body. It’s John who records John the Baptist’s words,

“Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

And then in the book of Revelation, after this great act of Jesus’ life, his crucifixion, which is also seen as his glorification, the saving act of God for people by which we can know him and praise him. The Lamb in Revelation is the one who sits on the throne, to whom his ascribed salvation and praise and honor and glory forever.

So there is a through line in John’s writings come to a true repentance of any sufficiency of ourselves. Recognize our sinful use of God’s gifts, whether it’s your reason or something else. See how Christ’s perfectly used it in your place, atoned for all of your sins, and now promises you a life beyond this one, where you can finally enjoy all of God’s gifts in full.

John summarizes not only the purpose of his writing, but really of all of Scripture in a basic way. When he writes toward the end of his gospel,

Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)

Luke 9:56

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James, the son of Zebedee, is the first James. There was another James as a disciple of Jesus, but this one is far more prominent. He and his brother John were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, and their business associates were none other than Simon Peter and Andrew, two other brothers who were disciples of Jesus. James and John were known as the sons of Zebedee, referring to Zebedee, their father. Jesus named them the Sons of Thunder, likely referring to their fiery ambition and zeal. When James and John are approaching a Samaritan village with Jesus and see that the village doesn’t immediately receive Jesus with hospitality. They ask if they can call down fire from heaven to consume them. Jesus, who could rightly call down fire from heaven, responds,

“The Son of Man did not come to destroy people’s souls, but to save them.” (Luke 9:56 EHV)

At another time, James and John have their mother asked Jesus if James and John can sit at Jesus right and left hand in heaven, positions of great power and importance. James even promises to follow Jesus into martyrdom if necessary. Little did he know all the things that James and his great fiery ambition claimed and desired would, in a sense, come true. Fire would fall from heaven to consume sin. Not on James or on the Samaritans, but on Jesus. Jesus would bear the brunt of God’s wrath for all of our unbridled selfishness and pride and arrogance. But Jesus also came to save people’s souls. In there is an atonement for James, for the Samaritans and for you.

Now James by faith will occupy a prominent position in heaven, maybe even more prominent than others because of his contributions to the faith and to the early church. But James did follow Jesus into martyrdom, his as the one death of a disciple we have recorded for us in Scripture. Acts chapter 12. We hear that Herod Agrippa the first, that’s a grandson of Herod the Great, who pursued the young Jesus life, had James killed for his faith by the sword, that means he was probably beheaded.

I don’t mean to be casual about James’s death, but he who could get a big head lost his. But thanks be to God, who decapitates our selfish ambition and gives us a new head, the head of Christ, the church whose blood runs through our veins, who claims us as God’s people, who directs us away from our own purposes and toward the purposes of God’s kingdom, the salvation of souls.

John 1:40-41

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In the last 20 years the name Chad, perfectly normal name for men, has come to have the connotation of an alpha male, competent, confident, athletic, socially successful. Of course, it can be used ironically to illustrate some of the excesses of men.

Do you want to see the example of a biblical Chad? Take Andrew. Andrew’s name literally means in Greek manly, bold, brave. He was a fisherman with his brother Simon Peter, and even though they were engaged in physical work, that doesn’t mean that they were backwater folk. They grew up in Galilee, which was connected even more than southern Judea to the outside Greco-Roman world. His name in Greek reflects this contact with the broader society. Andrew is known as being one of the two disciples who first followed John the Baptist, and then turned to follow Christ. He had heard the call, “look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” and in reverent repentance and holy joy he followed Christ. The one to whom John the Baptist was pointing.

Significantly also is that he directed his brother Peter to follow Jesus. He is the one who introduced Peter, who would become the leader among the disciples and early Christians, to the Savior in the first place. We know Simon Peter for his great confession about Jesus. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. But it actually may be that he was parroting his brother Andrew. John records in the first chapter of his gospel that when Andrew met Jesus, the first thing Andrew did was to find his own brother Simon and say to him,

“We have found the Messiah!” (which is translated “the Christ”). (John 1:41)

Andrew is sometimes found in the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples. This inner circle of three Peter, James, and John. Andrew is sometimes included as a fourth. He’s also participating in the conversation with Jesus and Philip when they’re trying to feed the 5000. Andrew is actually the one who finds the boy with the five loaves and the two fish, which Jesus miraculously multiplies.

Andrew did not write any scripture, but it’s believed that he, like his brother Simon Peter, was crucified for his faith and also didn’t believe he should be crucified as Jesus, that that was too dignified for him. So they crucified him on beams set in an X. Not only does this in a way represent Christ, this letter X is the first letter of Christ in the Greek language. It said that Andrew preached from the cross for three days while he was hanging there before he died. Of course, this is tradition, but is very much in keeping with his life of faithfulness, of doing the practical things that the kingdom needed while he was a disciple, as we find him in the Gospels.

So let’s review. Andrew, no stranger to physical work was a successful fisherman in his previous life. Yet he has a spiritual sense about him, follows John the Baptist, and then follows John’s pointing to follow Jesus. He introduces Peter to Jesus, supplying the church with one of its first great leaders. Oh, and it’s also said that Andrew went on to do mission work among Slavic peoples in modern day Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan before being crucified for his faith.

You know that X-shaped cross is known as Andrew’s Cross and has become a symbol of the country of Scotland. So in addition to doing mission work, following his Lord, trusting in that Savior for salvation as the one who had come to redeem Israel and redeem all people. And now a rugged nation of Celts known for their fine spirits and golf, reveres his memory and his faithful service. Chad moves indeed, man or woman, be like Andrew. Believe like Andrew.

Matthew 16:16, 21-23 14:28-30, 26:69-74, Acts 2:14-41, 10:9-23, Galatians 2:11-15

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Simon, originally a fisherman from Galilee, was not the first to follow Jesus, but he quickly became a leader among the disciples and is labeled a pillar of the early church by Paul. It may not have been lost on the early Christians either, that his name Simon was also sometimes spelled Simeon, which was the name of Jacob’s second son. In the new leaders of God’s People, the new 12, there is also continuity with the old. But Jesus also gave Simon a different name. That name was Cephas (כֵּיפָא) in Aramaic, Petrus (Πέτρος) in Greek, both of which mean the rock.

You couldn’t always depend on Peter to get it right, but you could depend on him to show up and take action. Peter is the one who gives us, at a poignant moment, the rousing confession about Jesus. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16) Peter walks on water, (Matthew 14:28-30) speaks at Pentecost. (Acts 2:14-41) He sees a vision for a church that includes Gentiles as Gentiles in the book of Acts. (Acts 10:9-23) And yet it’s Peter who denied knowing Jesus during Jesus trial. (Matthew 26:69-74) Who before had shirked back and wanted Jesus to turn away from this plan of crucifixion as the way God’s mission would be fulfilled. (Matthew 16:21-23) Peter doubted on the water and began to sink. Peter, who could see this future, who was given so much instruction by God about how Gentiles could be incorporated into the church, failed to perfectly put it into practice. (Galatians 2:11-15) Peter was not infallible. He had to be rebuked by Jesus and Paul.

But Peter, especially in the epistles he wrote by inspiration first and second Peter that we have in the New Testament expresses a deep sense of humility that over time, through his instruction and as he grew in his faith, that assertive boldness in his personality was refined, was sanctified. He knew that not only were his excesses forgiven alone through this plan of crucifixion, which Jesus went through for him, but also that his personality was now at the disposal of God.

From a book outside of Scripture, we hear that Peter was crucified at the end of his life for his faith. But by that point, he who had repudiated the vision of crucifixion as the path of God now didn’t even consider himself worthy to be crucified the same way Jesus was, and he asked to be crucified upside down. You who come with your bold sins like Peter, take heart. Jesus boldly went to the cross to forgive all of those sins, to lay his life on the line and take the wrath of God for all the ways that our assertiveness can turn into violent aggression, into arrogance, into boasting, into recklessness.

But also you who share the personality traits of Peter take heart as God shaped him to be used powerfully for his kingdom, so he can also use you. And we all should be a bit more assertive like Peter, because in the many situations we find ourselves, when there is an opportunity for truth, a word fitly and maybe even boldly spoken in that moment off the cuff is worth far more than our perfectly worded response long after the opportunity has passed. The time is short dear friends, take hold of the opportunity, whichever is before you, to serve the Lord. And, like Simon, take hold of Christ.

12 men, 12 men with personalities, passions, ambitions, flaws. Too often we see them cast in black and white, stilted figures, stoic faces. We are going to cast them in color, as the scriptures do, sense the fire in their bellies, squirm at their competition, relate to their outbursts, ask their questions as they’re caught up in the most momentous events in human history the ministry of Jesus from Nazareth, the Son of God.

First, why 12? We all use numbers in ways that signify more than the numerical value. 5:00 isn’t just a time. It’s signals the end of the workday. 13 stripes on the American flag signal the 13 original colonies. 50 stars, the 50 states. The biblical importance of the number 12 starts with the 12 sons of Jacob in the Book of Genesis. It actually connects to the earliest chapters of Genesis. Genesis in many ways a structured as a search for the people of God through which God will save the world.

In Genesis three, Adam and Eve fall into sin, fall to the deception of Satan, the tempter. You were in Adam and Eve, born into this death grip of the serpent. When God addresses Satan in his curse to him, however, he gives a promise to humanity, to you. God said,

I will put hostility between you, [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head and you will crush his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

This seed to come from Eve is Christ. After the flood, God identifies Abraham as the one through whom the Savior would be born, and he systematically eliminates branches of Abraham’s family, going son after son down the line as the bearer of the promise. Not that other branches wouldn’t be saved, but that through this line the Savior would come into the flesh, and this promise of God would be preserved for all nations. But reaching Jacob’s 12 sons, it’s not one of them chosen, but all 12. They lay the foundation of this people of God. They become the 12 tribes of Israel.

Importantly, it’s not because of their faithfulness or deserving nature. It’s because of God’s gracious choosing. Now, in the time of Caesar Augustus and King Herod, the Savior has still not come. But lo and behold, in the city of David, Bethlehem, from the line of David, from the line of Judah, one of Jacob’s sons is born Jesus, who is Christ the Lord.

Jesus had many people follow him during his ministry, but he gathers 12 close disciples. This is not insignificant. Jesus is saying, here is the continuation of Israel, those with faith in me. Here is the true people of God, you who descend in your faith from these 12 spiritual brothers. These men would go on to lead the church to such a great extent in this symbolism, that when Judas would betray Jesus and bring about his passion and death for our sins, the 11 would gather after Judas committed suicide and choose another to round out the grouping of the 12.

You are part of the 12, you who hold on to Jesus in faith, trusting in him. You who are undeserving on your own but made through Christ, true children of God, and true people who can bear his name.

Finally, in the book of Revelation, there is a group whose symbolic number is based on 12. Who is the great multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language who are crying out. Salvation comes from our God and from the lamb. Salvation does come from this lamb, indeed slain for our sins and raised to rule over us forever by grace now and in heaven. And you who follow him by faith are heirs of the inheritance of the faithful 12.

Genesis 24:1-6,9

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The patriarch Abraham was very concerned about the influences on his son Isaac. And you should be very concerned about the influences on your children, too. We read from Genesis chapter 24.

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. (Genesis 24:1-6,9)

Abraham is very concerned about who his son marries, and you should be too.

Our culture prioritizes youth in all kinds of ways. We appreciate youth style, youth culture, youth music. But that’s not a given in all cultures, and definitely not in the past. Yes, there is a certain youthfulness and optimism and freshness that older people can benefit from, but by far the weight is generally on what is old and what is established and what is proven. And that past tradition is embodied in elders. People who are older, who have gone through the experiences of youth and are able to help those who are younger, learn to control their passions, learn to temper some of that optimism with a realism that will make them truly effective people in the world.

The Fourth Commandment tells children to honor their father and mother that it may go well for them. Kids, this is a call for you to respect your parents, to take their counsel, even when it doesn’t totally make sense to you as a good counsel born out of love. That will be for your ultimate and long term good. Parents, this is a call for you, like Abraham, to step into that role in a way that our culture would not necessarily encourage you to do. Abraham is very meticulous about who his son marries. This doesn’t just apply to who our children marry. But of course, marriage is one of these most important decisions that will have one of the greatest impacts on their lives.

So Abraham says to his servant, who is going to go source a wife for his son, don’t take a wife from the Canaanites among whom I live. Not only do they have a different culture, but that culture is rooted in worship of false gods, and I don’t want my son going astray spiritually. Instead, go to this place which we know from the rest of scripture was Harran, where some of Abraham’s extended family lived. Go get a wife from there. But he’s also very clear. Don’t let Isaac come with. Because God had promised to Abraham’s branch of the family that not only would Abraham have descendants which would be fulfilled through Isaac, but that he would take possession of this land of Canaan. And the people in the land were for the purpose of providing a blessing to all nations.

This is a promise of Jesus, who would be born almost 2000 years later, yet from this earthly human line. Isaac’s life had a purpose that went far beyond himself and his own wishes and desires. For Abraham, there was no other option. This was the promise of a Savior by which Abraham would make it to heaven. This was the Savior who would sacrifice himself for Abraham’s sins, who in the future had already as certainly provided the righteousness that Abraham needed as God had promised it. Abraham knew this was a case of spiritual life and death, not just for himself, but for the world.

Your children are not going to be in the line of physical descent of the Savior. However, they are going to be the ones to carry the same Savior through whom alone we have peace with God, forgiveness of our sins, and heaven ahead of us. They will be the ones to bring it into the coming generation. They will be the ones to bear it into the future. Be meticulous about who they marry.

There’s the old cliché about the father sitting on the porch, maybe cleaning his shotgun as his daughter brings her first boyfriend home. Kind of a blunt form of intimidation, saying, if you don’t treat my daughter well, watch out. But maybe we need a little bit more of that. Maybe we need parents to be more hands on where the culture tells you to fulfill yourselves, we Christian parents should say, fulfill the purpose and plan of God. Which is a much greater purpose than you could ever come up with on your own. And for your Christian children, they should be inviting their spouse to participate in that purpose with them. Now, this goes far beyond marriage to your children’s friends, the music they listen to, the movies they watch, the social media they engage with. And this shouldn’t be done to stifle them, but instead to support them and help them lean in to the great purpose God has for their lives.

Acts 13:16-23

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In one of his missionary journeys, Paul found himself preaching in a synagogue, and here’s what he had to say to the listeners. We read from Acts chapter 13,

“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. And for about forty years he put up with[a] them in the wilderness. And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. (Acts 13:16-23 ESV)

Man, what’s fascinating about Paul’s preaching here is that in just several verses, he covers this wide swath of Israel’s history. Now Paul shows himself again and again to be just a master rhetorician. He’s able to construct a compelling argument to drive his audience to think and feel in a certain way, and ultimately in his preaching, to get them to behold with the greatest clarity: Christ.

So when he’s talking about all these Old Testament figures and events, we shouldn’t think the listeners are sitting there saying, blah, blah, blah, blah. We’ve heard all this before. No, these were the people and events, chiefly the works of God, that gave them and their entire culture meaning. The Old Testament was their story of salvation, where God was working through them not only to be a blessing, but to ultimately deliver the Messiah, the Savior of the world. So all of the meaning of their lives comes rushing forward as Paul recounts these events and these people. And where does Paul say this mountain of God’s work leads to? It leads to Jesus. Man, what an impact. What a place to land for him.

Now, you may be a little intimidated by the Old Testament. You may hear some of those names and not really know what they’re associated with. But we are the true continuation of the Old Testament people of Israel. We are God’s people, the New Testament church. The Old Testament really is a cliffhanger. It doesn’t find its completion. The promised Messiah has not come. The final atonement for sin, that all those animal sacrifices depicted has not been made. The king who had ruled over David’s house forever, over God’s people, has not yet taken his seat on his throne. All of this was waiting for Jesus. Now the Old Testament believers were just like us. They had faith in a Savior who would come. Just as we have faith in the Savior who has come. But they trusted in him in his blood and his righteousness no less than we do.

So, dear friends, these are your spiritual ancestors. If you’re a Christian like me who doesn’t ethnically come from the Jewish people. These are your heroes of faith. These are proof that as God was faithful to them, he will be faithful to you. That as God could use people, then as sinful and weak as they were to accomplish his great purposes so he can work through sinful and weak people just like us. And let me end with a very practical tip. If you’re new to the faith, unfamiliar with the Bible, maybe you’ve been a lifelong Christian, but the Old Testament seems difficult because it’s so long and complex and the history is unfamiliar. Get yourself a Bible written for children, or maybe teenagers. Something that kind of boils the stories down, still gets the substance across, and introduces you to all the main characters and events, but get one with pictures. I’ve gone through a lot of education, read a lot of dense material. Sometimes I love nothing more than sitting down with like, an illustrated atlas and looking at the pictures as I read the captions. There’s no shame in using a book with pictures.

And let this be your gateway into the Old Testament, that when you hear these names and think about how God has orchestrated all things for your salvation and for the salvation of the world, that you also would be swept up in this history, swept up in this meaning and purpose, and that it would land you as it landed Paul’s hearers right at the feet of Jesus.

Ephesians 5:15-16

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Saint Paul writes in Ephesians five, verses 15 and 16.

Look carefully, then, how you walk not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Three quarters of a second, three quarters of a second at best, is how fast it takes, studies suggests, to react to something in front of your car. Something runs out in front of your vehicle, an animal, maybe there’s an accident up ahead. It takes a half second for your brain to process 2/10 of a second for your foot to move. Now, in the course of our lives, three quarters of a second seems like nothing. But what a difference that can make. What a life can be changed in three quarters of a second in that situation depending on which way it goes.

This time of year we think about Jesus at Christmas, his birth, New Year, which coincides with his circumcision this first time when he’s really explicitly obeying the Law of Moses and shedding his blood as a human in the flesh. We think about his life as so small, so limited. Even the 33 years of his life is less than half of what many people live today. But we claim that this life has reconciled us to God. That there is an infinite treasure of righteousness to cover our lives of sin and make us acceptable to God. So we have to conclude that Jesus’ life, every moment of it, has this kind of compressed, overrated importance to redeem us. And that word redeem, remember, means to buy back, to pay a ransom for someone, to secure someone for yourself. And this is what Jesus has done, not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death.

Your sins of the past year, those three quarters of a second when a wrong word was spoken, a wrong, hateful glance was given. A decision was made that you came to regret. All of those moments have Jesus’ righteousness over them. Have his blood to buy you back from the domain of sin, and to purchase you for God. To call you righteous and forgiven, and now one of God’s children.

But the sense of redeem also can be to take something off of a bad path and claim it for a good path to change the direction of a life. And this is also what Jesus has done. You look at the next year, and without faith in Jesus it would be nothing but sin. It would be nothing but displeasing to God. Isaiah says, even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) Paul says, anything that does not proceed from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23) But with faith in Christ and with His Spirit, this new year is given into our hands to redeem something that could be used for evil is now able to be used for good.

Paul says, look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. Intentionally living in line with your faith to redeem the time and bend it towards God’s purposes. I mentioned how Jesus’ life, and the moments of it seem to have this compressed importance and power. I want you to consider how the moments of your life have more of a compressed importance and power than we would give them credit for. How maybe the momentary interactions you have have a much greater impact on the people you’re interacting with than you would think. Of course, the patterns and decisions of each of our days and moments ends up becoming the pattern and example of our entire lives. So sure, the days are evil, but dear friends, our risen Lord Jesus has overcome evil. And now he gives this year, with all of its seconds back into your hands to redeem for good.

Luke 13:6-9

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I hope your year is full of manure.

That’s not something you’re going around wishing people as New Year comes up, or maybe has just past. You might even expect a more colloquial version to be something enemies lob at each other. But this is what we find in God’s Word. There’s a tree that has unrealized potential and what’s prescribed to it? Stinking, smearing, filthy manure with flies buzzing around it. This is what’s going to make the tree grow. Here’s what our Lord says in Luke chapter 13.

And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” (Luke 13:6-9)

In this parable, the tree is the human individual, you or I. And the question is, have you lived up to your potential? No matter how bold or confident you are, the fact that you have nagging regrets and insecurity, says you have not lived up to the standards you set for yourself, the standards the world sets for you. And God puts a sharper point on this. He says that there is a more basic fatal flaw that has impacted every aspect of our human nature. This is sin that keeps us from attaining the level of holiness, perfection that God demands in line with his will, but also from attaining this level of wholeness, right relationship with other people, and a flourishing life in the world as we were intended to.

Now the owner and the gardener, I would say, represent these two characteristics of God. The owner represents God’s justice, and this is communicated to us in what we call God’s law, his commands, his standards for us, and his threats that there are going to be consequences and punishments if we don’t measure up. Here’s what the owner said. For three years now I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree. There’s the standard. And I have found none. It’s failed to measure up. Cut it down. There’s the consequence. Why even let it use up the soil? But there is another impulse in God the gardener who shows patience. And you could even say mercy toward the tree. Sir, leave it alone this year also until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it produces fruit next year, fine. But if not, then cut it down. The owner agrees with the gardener’s plan, at least implicitly.

The gardeners plan is borne by what resources they’ve committed to the tree already. So what do they do? They commit even more to make it bear fruit. God has given his Son to offer up his life, to shed his blood, to give his human righteousness to us so that we could be his beloved children, cleansed of our sins by his blood, covered in his righteousness. We could say that we are in this vineyard of God’s church. I don’t believe the vineyard is the world, throughout Scripture almost exclusively, the vineyard is representative of God’s people, people in God’s kingdom. Here we have the rain of God’s Word that does declare us forgiven of all of our sins. Here we have the sunshine of Jesus’ righteousness, always there to bring new life where we have lived in defiance of God’s will.

But what about the manure? Well, Scripture is also very clear that God allows afflictions and sufferings, sometimes even persecution, to discipline and train us. Now like manure, this stuff is not pleasant. Sometimes it’s repulsive to us and to the world, but it might be just what we need. Keep in mind those regrets and insecurities from the past, and connect them to the challenges and suffering you may face in this new year. That suffering and challenge may be, in part, God’s answer to the regrets and unrealized potential of the past. That these afflictions, as difficult as they are, are fertilizing our compassion, our empathy, our wisdom, our insight, our humility, the fervency of our prayer.

Finally, I don’t want you to be afraid when you hear the owner threatening to chop down the tree after a year, it’s not as if you don’t get your act together in your Christian life in this year, God’s going to cut you off from his grace. No. The entire time of our lives in this perpetual patient year. And I pray that this year would be not only laden with grace, but with all the manure that you need to grow.