Still on the way…
Intro: I stopped checking the weather once I moved to Hawaii. It’s always the same and the report’s always wrong.
Don’t knock the weather. If it didn’t change once in a while, 90% of people couldn’t start a conversation.
Q: Why did the woman go outdoors with her purse open?
A: Because she expected some change in the weather.
Does Jesus say anything about the weather?
54 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is.
56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?
“this present time” - right now.
What time is it?
Joke: What do you call a story that one clock tells to another?
A: Second hand information.
Jesus says people know WHEN it is.
1. It’s possible to know what’s coming
A message of provocation to the crowd.
Jesus wouldn’t ask (how is it that you don’t know?) if it weren’t possible.
“You’re wise about external affairs, but what about the condition of your souls?”
Example: Natural disasters are the #1 topic on both television news and YouTube at almost 20%. Politics, celebrities, finances, business, health, crime, and weather come next. (all exterior except health)
First question: What’s coming? a season.
Second question: What should I do to be ready it? an action.
2. It’s possible to know what to do about it
57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?
58 As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way…
Meaning, why don’t you judge between yourselves what is right?
Example: My brother and I would fight over a bike or a set of tools until my Dad got sick of hearing about it and took them away until we could figure it out.
We would loose the item of contention because the desire for it produced sin.
“Why don’t you…?
You can but you don’t.
Why not?
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
John 3:19
We choose not to because we are selfish.
Remember the 2 prostitutes and King Solomon’s verdict?
24 And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. 25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” 27 Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.
1 Kings 3:24-28
“If I can’t have it, no one will!”
Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God before his eyes.
Psalm 36:1
WHAT?
You can judge what’s right, but you don’t.
First question: What’s coming? Judgement.
Second question: What should I do to be ready it? Judge for myself.
3. To be reconciled is to be ready
try hard (it won’t be easy) - handle it “in house”.
to be reconciled on the way “on the way” doesn’t last forever.
If not now, when?
Who is the “adversary”?
“On the way” it’s the offended person.
“On the way” it’s possible to reconcile.
Example: My Father was diagnosed with cancer. He was a lawyer and a Christian and went to a pastor to get advice. He was told to do 3 things.
- Get right with God.
- Get right with people.
- Get your house in order.
He could not get right with God or people once he reached the destination.
A grievance against another person left unreconciled is a grievance against God.
At the destination, “the adversary” would be God himself.
…or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
The words of Jesus are like the…
Check engine light
Urgency Quadrant ~ My Father was rocketed to the top left. HE WAS WISE.
Why wait?
…to reconcile?
MAYBE I THINK I’M RIGHT.
It’s a picture of two men fighting over something.
They go before the judge to get justice.
“I want what’s coming to me!”
59 I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”
Luke 12:54-59
Coming to God wanting “what’s coming to me” is a serious gamble.
What if I’m judged based on the sin in my heart instead of what I want?
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 6:14-15
I need forgiveness from God way more than anything on earth.
4. To record wrongs is to be defeated
A message of reconciliation for 2 groups:
1. Message to believers:
“The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.”
1 Corinthians 6:7-8
Why not rather be wronged or cheated?
Being cheated in a small thing isn’t as bad as being “completely defeated”.
It’s not a hill to die on.
Example: The man at the gate asking me to scan the card even though I’m in a YWAM van and his job is to open it without the card.
2. To non-believers:
If you have not made Jesus Lord, there is still time.
John the Baptist’s message:
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Matthew 3:11-12
Another time element:
“But after me…”
Reconciliation is most important.
Comparatively speaking, nothing else matters.
5. To surrender is to win
We are all still “on the way.”
Application:
- Get right with God.
- Get right with people.
- Get your house in order, encourage others to do the same.
Tim McGraw, “Live like you were dying…”