Snoozin’ Through Grace

Mark 12:1-12

How many of you will admit to using your snooze alarm regularly?

-how many will confess setting your alarm early so you can hit the snooze

alarm and therefore feel like you’re getting more sleep?

--how many times do you typically hit your snooze alarm?

Granted, “using your snooze” isn’t a sin...but it is ignoring a warning...you are

silencing a clear message that it is time to take action

-and if you do it long enough, you’ll be late for school, work, church

It’s funny—isn’t it?—how we can be so good at ignoring warnings

-you convince yourself your chest pains are really indigestion

-your gas light comes on in Cameron, but you’re sure you can make it home

-tornado sirens start blaring and you run outside like a storm chasin’ fool

I suppose it goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden...even Cain was

warned by God before he murdered his brother...Jesus even tells several

parables about the consequences of paying no attention to warnings

--from sleepy bridesmaids...to those who had plenty of excuses why they

had to refuse the king’s banquet invitation

No parable drives this home harder than the one Jesus tells in Mark 12

-before we read it, we need to establish the context—Read Mark 11:27-33

--the challenge of His authority and His identity by the religious elite

prompts Jesus to tell one of His most convicting parables

Read Mark 12:1-12

This story is about the certainty of judgment...it’s also about the deadly and

sure consequences of turning a deaf ear to God’s messengers, the

prophets, and ultimately His Son

-it’s also, I’m convinced, about snoozin’ through grace

In the late 1800s, white settlers in the Canadian Rockies stumbled upon a

place they would call “Turtle Mountain”

-the mountain was so rich with coal, a community sprang up in its shadow

--the town of Frank, Alberta, was a place where, if a man were willing to

work a little, he could make a pretty fair living

--normally, coal mining is back-breaking work, but not there in Frank

-you see, Turtle Mountain experienced regular tremors that would knock

loose entire seams of coal at a time...making mining relatively easy

--many days the mine was known to be virtually “self-operating” because

miners only had to shovel the coal as it fell from the ceiling

---now, you’d think that would raise some suspicious eyebrows

-even the local Blackfeet Indians refused to go anywhere near the peak

--they called it, “the Mountain that Walks”...OK, so how’s that for a clue?

---but with coal so readily available...and with the pay-off so lucrative,

the mining company and the community blew-off the danger signs

On April 29, 1903, just after 4:00 a.m., tragedy struck—a piece of limestone

some 3000 feet long and 500 feet thick, broke from the top of Turtle

Mountain sending 100 million tons of rock rushing toward a sleeping Frank

-76 men, women and children were known to have been buried in a split

second...but experts believe the actual number is likely much higher

--of those 76, only 12 bodies were ever recovered from the rubble

We can look back and wonder, “How could they have ignored the warnings?”

-were they so greedy that they allowed their pursuit of coal and prosperity

to blind them to the obvious?

--didn’t the mountain practically shout what was about to happen?

-how could they ignore the warnings?

--how could they put the lives of their wives and children in jeopardy?

--how could they hit the snooze alarm, turn over, and go back to sleep?

Probably the same way Adam heard the voice of God warn him à you must

not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of

it you will surely die. [Genesis 2:17]

Probably the same way Cain heard the voice of God warn him à Why are

you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not

be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your

door; it desires to have you... [Genesis 4:6-7a]

Probably the same way you and I can hear the written Word of God warn us

à Read 1 Corinthians 10:6-12

-could it be any more plain? seriously!

--God didn’t inspire men to record these stories just so we can laugh at

their mistakes...He has preserved them so we can learn from their

mistakes...He has made them available to us as an act of grace

Grace à receiving what you cannot earn and do not deserve

-so you see, all of these warnings are, in effect, grace in action

--God is God...He does not owe us a single thing

---He could have decided not to warn us...and instead to give us the

punishment we deserve for our sin

---but God is moved by grace...and so He does warn us—all of us

--Romans 1:20 à For since the creation of the world God’s invisible

qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly

seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are

without excuse.

-only grace could move God to reveal Himself and to reveal the truth...only

grace could move God to convict us of our sin and of our need for Him

Remember this: grace is also at the foundation of patience

-2 Peter 3:9 à The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise (about coming

judgment)...He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but

everyone to come to repentance.

Jesus’ parable that opens Mark 12 is a story of that godly grace and patience

-a man owns some land and he plants vineyard

--he builds the wall around it, the winepress, and the tower

-and even though the man retains ownership, he chooses to allow others to

benefit from his significant investment

--there is a clearly understood covenant between the landowner and the

farmers...so sending the servant to request some of the wine is more

than reasonable...it’s expected...and it’s the very least they can do

-the farmers’ treatment of the servant is shocking

--the farmers I know aren’t typically prone to violence of that sort...perhaps

they figure that this guy is only a servant...I don’t know...maybe they

figure they haven’t seen the “Big Guy” since he left, and well, that was a

long time ago

-but even though the farmers deserve immediate and severe punishment,

the landowner shows grace and patience by sending another servant

--this second dude receives the same welcome as the first

--maybe they figure they got away with it the first time with no apparent

repercussions, plus they got to keep all the wine...so they try it again

-so another servant is sent...and his life ends at the hands of the farmers

--perhaps they are tired of the nuisance...and they figure killing this guy

will send a message to the landowner and to any other servant who

tries to take any of “their” wine

-amazingly, the vineyard owner is undeterred by this setback and he is

patient with the farmers, although I imagine his shrinking supply of

servants is getting more anxious with every report-back (or lack thereof!)

-still, even more servants are sent...and more are beaten; more are killed

At this point in the story, the landowner appears rather foolish

-I mean, I don’t know how many dead servants it’s going to take to convince

this guy that his strategy isn’t working out very well

--the farmers come across as the kind of shrewd, take-no-prisoners

business leaders who are today paid millions just for a Christmas bonus

The time eventually arrives when there are no more servants left—they’re all

either recovering or dead—but the landowner has one more idea

-he does have a son...a son he loves...so he decides to send him with the

rationale and the hope that the farmers will surely respect his son

-instead, the farmers see the son as a threat...so they do the unthinkable

with the rationale and the hope that the vineyard will soon be theirs

-the severity of their sin is compounded because they know who the Son is

This is parable of several tragic ironies

-what the owner intends to be grace-filled warnings—giving them a series of

“just one more chance”—the farmers perceive as harassment

--they believe stopping the warnings will be a good thing—no more

reminders of their massive debt or of their past violence

--but silencing the warnings essentially leads them to the limits of grace

-a second irony is that everyone’s hopes are crushed

--it’s clear to us that the landowner desires reconciliation with the workers,

even if it must come at a steep price

---but that hope is ripped to shreds when his own son is murdered

--in their greed, the farmers seize an opportunity they believe will allow

them to have complete control of everything

---but that hope dies at the hands of the landowner’s justified wrath

-one irony that exists outside the story itself and is found more in the context

in which Jesus tells it

--Jesus speaks the parable against the Jewish religious elite (even they

recognized that)...and no doubt it is a word of sharp condemnation...

but the parable itself is also a word of grace because it serves as a

warning to them

---Jesus’ intent is to present the truth in such a way that would allow

them to respond to God’s immeasurable grace...yet they refuse

-there is one final, heartbreaking irony à even though they could see

themselves in the mirror of the story, Mark tells us that just like the

farmers, these religious leaders looked for a way to arrest Him

--their last grace-full warning delivered to them straight from the mouth of

the Son Himself...but they turned their backs and they plotted their

violence against the on the only one who could save them

-and just in case you are tempted to think, “Ah, well they certainly got what

they deserved.”...then there’s a strong possibility that you’ve missed the

entire point of the parable...and you’ve failed to comprehend your role in

the story

The truth is that there will come a day when grace reaches its limit

-this can be awfully confusing, so please listen carefully

--God does not get tired of demonstrating grace...you’ll never hear Him

scream in frustration, “That’s it. I just can’t take it anymore!”

---the limitation of grace is not a reflection of a character flaw in God

--neither is the limit of grace connected to the number of sins or the how

big and bad they are...the Bible is full of people who were intimately

familiar with countless big, bad sins...and who were rescued by grace

---you cannot legitimately claim, “My sins are really, really horrible.

God can’t forgive me.”

----you can’t claim that because—for one—you’d be calling God a

big liar (because He promises when we confess our sin, He

will forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness)

----you also can’t make that claim because you’d be saying the

blood of Jesus is powerless when it comes to you (despite

1 John 1:7 à the blood of Jesus...purifies us from all sin)

There is a real limit to grace...perhaps it’s best understood in terms of time

-it’s common and pretty easy to convince yourself, “Jesus will never return.

I’m never going to die. There won’t be any judgment.”

-in the meantime, the world continues to spin...nearly everyone lives as if

tomorrow is a sure thing...and we plan to “get our lives right with God”

eventually, fooling ourselves into believing there’s all the time in the world

--but the Bible puts it into perspective in James 4:13-14 à Now listen,

you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend

a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not

even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a

mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

--regardless of the grace, we still get perturbed by all of the warnings

---they are frustrating...they interrupt what we want to do...and

somewhere deep they remind us that we are one warning closer to

the final one

---remember 2 Peter 3:9?

----that’s the cool verse Peter tells us about God’s patience and His

deep, deep desire for all of us to return to Him—I love that!!!

---well, 2 Peter 3:9 is followed by 2 Peter 3:10

Read 2 Peter 3:10-15a, 18

God will keep His promise: Jesus will return, time as we know it will come to

a close, and there will be a final judgment

-and that reality should have a profound impact on how we live today

God is patient...He does desire everyone to return to Him

- God gives us grace-filled warnings because He doesn’t want anyone to

perish...but He forces no one to follow Him

-some of God’s warnings are rather subtle—like how God reveals Himself

through creation and invites us to seek Him

-others are pretty blatant—like an accident or a serious illness or the

sudden death of a close friend

-but many warnings are somewhere in between—just like an annoying

snooze alarm...like how God brings to mind a certain Bible verse (He’s

good at that)...or how He uses a sermon or a song to get your attention

Let’s end with some key questions: have you become so accustomed to

those warnings that you can basically turn them off in your sleep?

-are you prepared to deal with the reality of the fact that one day those

warnings will cease?

-are you prepared to deal with the reality of the possibility that that “one

day” might be today?

You might think you are in worship this morning on a fluke, a coincidence

-I can assure you that you aren’t...God wanted you here today

--every one of us—deacons, choir members, students, church staff, and

those who are far from God—we all need to lay off the snooze alarm

---we must not ignore God’s grace

We are asked in Hebrews 2:3 à How shall we escape if we ignore such a

great salvation?...What’s the answer? We can’t...and we won’t...