He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem . And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God . And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Luke 13:22-30

 

            Every once in a while as a Pastor I hear excuses from people to explain why they haven’t been in Church.  Some of them as you may guess are legitimate:  illness or the need to care for a loved one,  job requirements,  they were out of town and had no control over their schedule.  Some of these excuses were not so legitimate.  I have found that no matter the day or the hour when we have a worship opportunity somebody will invariably have a conflict with it.  “I cannot come that night because it is my once a week baton twirling class.” “I’d like to come but that is the night I drive my kids all over town to get to their various activities every week.”  The other day was the best one of all:  “Pastor I cannot come on Sundays to Church.  I have a conflict.”  “OK,” I said, “Why not come on Wednesday nights instead.”  “But Pastor, everybody knows that Sunday is really the day for worship.”  “OK, come Sunday.”  “Pastor, weren’t you listening, I just said that I have a conflict with Sunday morning.” “So come Wednesday night.”  “Pastor, Sunday is the day of worship.”  Eventually I got off this strange Merry-go-round and told the person I hoped God would remove that Sunday morning conflict.

            We all have excuses that we come up with to avoid God.  And that is what we’re really talking about, at least our Savior is in our text today.  We are not avoiding Church per se. We are not avoiding worship per se.  We are avoiding the Lord.  Now I struggle in light of that to come up with any excuse that could be considered legitimate – because what excuse really exists for avoiding the Lord Himself?  I will admit that yes, there are people who do have work commitments and there are times when situations beyond our control will force us to miss Church .  But most of our excuses do not fall into those categories.  And none of them work for avoiding God altogether in our lives.

            Right before our text today a perfect example exists of how the hard heart can come up with all kinds of reasons for avoiding God or the Godly way.  Sometimes the excuses are even given in the name of God Himself to make them sound especially holy or pious.  For right before our text today St. Luke tells of the time when Jesus met a crippled woman.  She had a twisted back that left her disabled for eighteen years as she was bent over all the time.  Jesus in love and pity immediately reached out and healed her and the woman glorified God as a result of her miraculous healing.   But someone there became indignant.  It was the ruler of the local synagogue.  He erupted in a rage because Jesus had done this miracle of healing on a Sabbath Day.  And the Sabbath Day was not the time for any of this to occur.  You were supposed to rest on the Sabbath and do nothing, not even, apparently any acts of kindness such as Jesus had shown to this woman.  “There are six days in which work ought to be done,” he cried out.  “Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. (Luke 13:14)  Jesus ended up calling the man a hypocrite.  He said that if you could untie your donkey and feed your animals on the Sabbath day you could certainly be kind to a fellow human being.  But people even used religious excuses to avoid considering the real questions that God asks the heart.

People, always put off making any decision about the Savior and that decision is the most important one that anyone will ever make in eternity.  It is the question that decides between eternal life and death.  And the question that our Savior was responding to in our text is one that is almost of equal importance:  “Does there come a time when it is too late?”

A lot of people think that God is so loving and merciful that He will always hold open His arms at any time to the One Who comes to Him.  God is merciful and He is loving and He does welcome lost souls with the hands that were nailed to a cross for them.  But there does come a time when it is too late to do it.  Our Hebrews passage today reminds us of Esau, the brother of Jacob in the Old Testament.  He sold his entire heritage to his brother for a bowl of stew because one day he was so hungry and he noticed his brother cooking a meal.  Later on he was quite sorry for what he had done.  With tears he asked his father if there was a way to get it all back.  But there was no chance.  It was too late.

You may say, “But God will always need me.  He always has a plan for me.”  He does.  But there comes a time when the Lord recognizes that you have said “No” to that plan so often that He has no option but to look to others to do what He once wanted to do through you.  In my devotions this week I reread the story of Esther in the Bible. She was the queen of Persia who had the difficult task of saving her fellow Jews who were all under a death sentence from the King.  The king did not know that his own wife was a Jew herself and she could have kept quiet and saved herself at least.  But as one of her relatives named Mordecai told her: “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  Esther 4: 13-14  God had a plan for her.  But if she refused to follow it God would find someone else to do the job.  So it is with us when we keep saying “No” to God.  He will eventually find someone else to do the job and to be faithful.

But the disciples and Jesus weren’t talking only about the tasks God has for us.  What they were really talking about was salvation itself.  The Lord for the last 2000 years has continually called out to the world to come to Jesus and to find peace and life.  But for the most part the world has ignored His message.  God has done the same thing with the people of our world today.  And most people do not respond.  “But God is always merciful,” they say.  “God is always Love.  I can always decide to believe tomorrow.  I can be a faithful Christian then.  I always have tomorrow.”

            Anyone of us who has ever known a person suddenly killed in a car accident or who has died from a sudden heart attack knows that tomorrow is never a guarantee.  Life may end today for you and so will your chance to come to God.  I know that I am talking to Christians today and in that sense I am really preaching to the wrong crowd this morning.  But how long will it be before you commit to Jesus?  How many more excuses will you keep making for avoiding God? How many more times will Jesus Christ be at the door of your heart knocking and you slam the door in His face?  Jesus says that there may be a day when He no longer knocks.  You hear the voice of Jesus today.  But you shut your ears.  And the voice becomes a little more silent.  The next day it is a little more silent.  Soon, the voice of Jesus is barely a whisper on your heart.  The day will come when you cannot hear Him at all.  And as our text says, on that day, it will be too late.  If you die never having responded to Jesus it will be too late.  And then you suddenly will hear His voice.  And you will hear it very clearly. For it will be Jesus saying to you, “I do not know where you come from?.... Depart from me.”  Can you imagine for a moment what it would be to stare into the face of God and to hear Him say to you, “I don’t know you.”

            Today, right now, it is not too late.  The fact of the matter is that Jesus does want to know you more.  He wants to be part of your life and He wants to give you His blessings and eternal life.  He has scoured the east and west, north and south looking for you and he wants you to be there at the table in the kingdom of God .  No matter if you are first or last He wants you there.  1 Timothy 2:4 says that the “Savior… desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”  In the verses that immediately follow our text you can read of Jesus standing over the city of Jerusalem : “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Luke 13:34)  That was why Jesus came.  That was why Jesus went to the cross for you and me.  .  He doesn’t want to see you lost forever.  He doesn’t want to condemn.  He would do anything and suffer anything for you to avoid having to do it. 

            But make no mistake that He will.  That is the mistake this generation makes all the time.  God is loving and forgiving and will never condemn and never will judge and even if He did I have all the time in the world to change.  Well we don’t have all the time in the world and I would rather know the God Who invites me to His side and His heavenly feast than the God Who sends me away forever from Him.  Today He is the inviting God for you.  He suffered and died for you.  He rose again for you.  Drop the excuses.  Accept His invitation.  It will be the best decision you ever make.  And it’s high time you do. Amen.