Welcome the Light!
Luke 11:27-36
©Copyright June 13, 2010 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche SERIES:
Walking With Jesus
I
suspect most of you have had the painful experience of getting up in the night
and banging your shin against something. It is a painful experience. In
addition to the pain of the bump there is also the pain of knowing it didn’t
have to happen. You could have avoided the problem if you had just turned on a
light.
Light
opens a window for us to help us see beauty. Light exposes dangers so we can
protect ourselves. The light is our
friend. Perhaps this is why Jesus is called the Light of the World or why we
are told that “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
In this
morning’s text Jesus continues to respond to His critics. Some of His critics
were asking for a sign from Heaven. Jesus answers this group in our text in
Luke 11:27-38. As He does so He encourages us to live in the light rather than
the darkness.
A Day of Judgment is Coming
Luke tells
us that the crowds were increasing. In other words, Jesus was becoming more and
more popular . . . but it wasn’t going to last. Jesus looked at his crowd
(especially those who were clamoring for some great “sign” from Jesus) and
said,
“This is a wicked
generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the
sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also
will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The Queen of the South
will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for
she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one
greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will stand up at
the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the
preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. [Luke 11:29-32]
We have
to know a little Biblical history to understand what Jesus says here. Jesus
said the only sign He would give would be the sign of Jonah. Jonah was a
prophet of God and he was sent by God to the city of Nineveh which was known
for its brutal treatment of people. He was to announce God’s judgment against
them.
Jonah
was “less than enthusiastic” about the assignment. Instead of heading to Nineveh
He booked passage on a ship heading in the opposite direction. God decided to
persuade Jonah to obey Him by sending a storm that threatened to kill everyone
on ship. Jonah saw that the storm was because of him and he didn’t want to
endanger the lives of the others on the ship. Instead of repenting and heading
back in the right direction Jonah told the men to throw him overboard (he would
rather die in the water than repent! He really
didn’t want to go to Nineveh!) Jonah was swallowed alive by a big fish, and
somehow remained alive in the fish for three days and then he was regurgitated
back up onto the shore. During the three days in the fish Jonah had warmed up
to the idea of obedience. He went into Nineveh and half-heartedly told the
people that God was going to wipe them out (at least he enjoyed delivering the
message). However, the people of Nineveh humbled themselves and asked God to
forgive them. And God, who delights to show mercy, extended forgiveness.
Perhaps
Jesus saw his role as being in some ways similar to Jonah . . . to present the
unvarnished truth to the people in hope that they will repent. In Matthew 12
the same Jesus explains his words saying, “For as Jonah was three days and
three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days
and three nights in the heart of the earth. [Matthew 12:40] So, Jesus told the
people that the only sign they were going to see was His Resurrection! It was
the most compelling sign ever.
Jesus didn’t
stop here he mentioned the Queen of the South (or the Queen of Sheba) who may
have been the Queen of Yemen at the extreme southern tip of Saudi Arabia. In 1
Kings 10 we are told that she had heard of the fame of Solomon and traveled
(perhaps months) to visit Solomon and gain from his wisdom.
Jesus’
point is that this woman came all that way to learn of God from Solomon and yet
the people who stood right before Jesus resisted Him even though he was far
superior to Solomon. Jesus said this pagan Queen and those who lived in Ninevah
at the time of Jonah would be there to condemn those who asked Jesus for a
sign; those who refused to believe. The Queen knew she should seek the truth;
the people of Ninevah knew enough to repent before a Holy and Powerful God. The people of Jesus time had more
opportunity; they had more information; and they had the Son of God teaching
and doing great things before their eyes.
Yet . . . they refused to be moved.
There
are a couple of things for us to learn from these words:
1.
Sin
and unbelief in our day should not surprise us or discourage us. There were
some who didn’t embrace Christ even though He was right in front of them – we
should not be surprised that some will still resist Him today. Our job is to
present and live by the truth and ask the Holy Spirit to bring real change in
the lives around us. We must not get discouraged.
2.
Jesus
talked about Judgment in a future day. This means two things. First, this life
is not all there is. Second, we will be held accountable for what we do in this
life. The first question in judgment will be: “How did you respond to God’s
offer of forgiveness and new life?” Those who “didn’t have time” or “thought it
was more important to fit in” or who “just wish they had more evidence” will be
judged as severely as these who resisted the work of Christ.
3.
Those
with greater opportunity will be judged most strictly. We have enjoyed benefits
the Queen of the South would have given great riches to attain. The Queen would
have loved the opportunity to study the Scriptures. The people of Nineveh would
have paid close attention to the words of Jesus. The point is clear: If we do
not take advantage of what we have been given, our judgment will be greater
than that of those who perished in the Old Testament.
Jesus
means for these things to get our attention. He wants us to think about the
consequences of the choices of our life. He wants us to avoid this fierce
judgment coming on those who spurn God’s mercy, grace, and love.
The Way to Escape Judgment is Clear
Jesus
may seem to shift gears as He moves to talking about light but the topic hasn’t
changed at all . . . Jesus is still talking to us about responding to the
message of the gospel
33 “No one lights a lamp
and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he
puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 Your
eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is
full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35
See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore,
if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be
completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you.”
Jesus
makes a simple observation that everyone would understand: you don’t light a
light and then cover it up so it doesn’t shine! The whole purpose of lighting a
lamp is to bring light to the biggest area possible. If you want to avoid the
darkness, live in the light! Jesus did not come into the world to hide the
light of God’s truth. Instead He came to reveal that truth. The truth of God is
not something hidden that you have to go look for . . . it is there in the open
so that anyone who wants to see, can see. We can live in the light and
subsequently escape the judgment to come.
So what
is the problem? Jesus says our eye is what lets light into our body. Consequently,
when your eyes are bad life becomes darker and darker. Think about a person who
is getting cataracts. That person finds it harder and harder to see clearly
because of the cataract on their eye. If untreated they will not be able to see
at all.
What
causes such “blindness” or cataracts in our soul? The first problem is
hardness. Think about a person who works with their hands. When they start
their hands become sore from the stress and pressure. However as they continue
to do this job over and over their hands become calloused. They develop a hardness
so they no longer feel the pain.
What is
good for the body is deadly for the soul. God has created us with consciences
that are designed to alert us to spiritual danger. The more we ignore the voice
of conscience, the less sensitive we become to it. If you keep doing something
wrong and ignore all the internal “stop” signs; if you continue to move forward
even when the Bible tells you to stop and go a different direction; you create
a callous on your soul. Before long you can justify all kinds of behavior and
say things like, “I have no problem with this”. It is a sign that your soul has
become calloused.
How could
anyone work at a concentration camp during World War II? I suspect that when they first started putting
people to death they were haunted by the screams and the faces. However when
they continued to ignore the spirit or conscience within them (by justifying
their actions) they were troubled less and less by their actions (as impossible
as that sounds.
When we
ignore the voice of conscience as it reflects the Word of God we lose our
sensitivity. The fact that we are not troubled by something does not make it OK
. . . it just means that the “light within us has become darkness”.
The
second thing that hinders the light is overexposure. In the old days of
working with film you had to develop the film in a “darkroom”. This was because exposing the negative to
light would ruin the picture. Too much light washes away the distinct images
captured on the film.
One of
the tactics of Satan is to so overexpose us to sin that we can no longer
distinguish between good and evil, holy and profane. He knows that if he
exposes us to perversion long enough we will become so used to it that we won’t
think anything of it. Television bombards us with immoral behavior, homosexuality
(every program seems to have someone who is a homosexual), profane language,
and callous disregard for human life. We are so bombarded with the “importance
of the material” or stuff that we actually think we can’t be whole without this
“stuff”; we have lost the sense of contentment. Even professing Christians
reach a point where they see no “disconnect” between living for Christ and
embracing the perversity of the world.
Third,
are those promoting darkness. There are people actively working to
extinguish the light. Anything that has to do with God is scorned. Some want
“in God we trust” taken off of our money; they want “in the year of our Lord”
taken off of diplomas, they want the Ten Commandments out of courtrooms, they
want “under God” taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance. Anything that hints at
a divine moral standard is aggressively attacked as hate-mongering. What these people fail to understand is that
even if these people successfully eliminated every reference to God in our
society . . . His standard would still be the standard by which we are measured
in the Day of Judgment.
What We Must Do
The
warning from Jesus is this: “See to it that the light within you is not
darkness”. That is good advice but what does it mean practically? How do we keep our own eyes clear?
First,
we need to deal with problems and barriers quickly by confessing our sin.
Confession is like cataract surgery. It removes that which is hindering the
light from getting through.
We
would be wise to address sinful thoughts and deeds as soon we recognize them.
For example, let’s say that you just passed on a bit of gossip and you know you
sholdn’t have done this. You might say,
“Lord, I know what I just said was wrong. I slandered someone’s character. I
acted in an unloving way and ignored your counsel. Please forgive me. Help me
to do what I can to right this wrong and make progress in treating other people
the way I would want to be treated.”
Suppose
you look at someone and that look turns into a lustful thought. Instead of
shrugging this off as something that happens to everyone, confess the fact that
you were guilty of viewing this person as an object rather than as a person of
worth and created and loved by God.
Make it
a habit to deliberately look at your relationship with God (the first four
commandments) and confess these often overlooked sins.
· The times we treated
God with a lack of respect
· Times we have used
His name in a callous or profane way
· When we see other
things controlling our lives (idolatry)
· When we have absented
ourselves from worship
· When we know we are
resisting His will
· When we find ourselves
filled with worry (we don’t trust Him)
All of
these things are sin and will cloud or narrow our ability to see and be led by
the light of God’s truth. Taking a regular and honest inventory of our life is
a good step toward spiritual health. No one suddenly
falls into sin. There is a series of compromises and an inattention to problems
well before we fall gravely.
Second,
we need to make time for God’s Word. As a cook is careful to follow a
recipe; as an organization licensed by the government pours over government
regulations; as a football player studies the playbook; so we should give
attention to the Bible.
We
should read the Bible expectantly because we know it is the light. We should
read the Bible meditatively because these are deep truths that need time to soak
it in. Like reading a love letter, we
need to read the Bible reflecting on every word and considering the
implications of every statement.
Establish
a time and place every day when you will read and reflect on the Bible. Use
devotional aids but only as long as the aid does not become a substitute for
your own careful reflection on the Scriptures.
We make
time for God’s Word by being a part of the corporate study of God’s Word as we
gather on Sunday mornings. During our time together there is the reading of
Scripture, the exposition and application of Scripture, there are allusions to
Scripture in the songs we sing, and there are Sunday School classes where we
try to dig deeper into the Word of God. Charles Simeon wrote, [1]
What makes you think that you will be blessed in your life if you prefer your ease, your business, your pleasure to the consistent attendance in worship and the sacraments of God? Do you really think that God is unconcerned about the honor given to His Word and that He will not notice the contempt you show by your indifference? Has He not repeatedly said the opposite? Whatever excuses you are making, remember that you don’t have even a semblance of Christianity as long as you remain indifferent to the public teaching of the Word and neglect private study.
Powerful
and direct words but I believe Pastor Simeon speaks the truth.
During the French
Revolution some Christians were crammed into a dungeon where once a day for a
few moments, as the sun stood at a particular angle, one of the prisoners who
had a Bible would be hoisted on others’ shoulders to a sunlit crack, where he
would study the Scriptures. When the light dimmed, he would be lowered down,
and his friends would say, “Now tell us what you read while you were in the
light.” [2]
This
leads to the third suggestion: Take deliberate steps to do what God calls
you to do. In the book of James the author writes, “be doers of the word
and not hearers only, deceiving only yourself.” It would be foolish to walk
into a dark room, turn on a light so that you can see the obstacles and walk
into the obstacles! The whole point of turning on the light is to enable you to
alter your steps in a way that is best and least dangerous. The same is true
for the Word of God. To take in the light of Scripture and then ignore its
wisdom as we live our lives is just as foolish.
Don’t
you wonder why we have so much trouble obeying?
· Is it because we
don’t think God knows what He is talking about?
· Is it because we
really believe our situation is unique?
· Do we just not “get
it”?
· Or are we simply
rebellious children?
May I
make a suggestion? Start moving in God’s direction. You may not be able to stop
yourself from ever gossiping but start making some progress toward that
goal. Think of God’s standard as a 10 on
the holiness scale. You may be at a 1 or even a minus 5 on the continuum.
Instead of getting discouraged and giving up because you can’t get to 10 . . .
set a goal of making progress. If you are at 1 try to move to 2. If you are at
-5 try to get to -4. The goal is to make
progress. God will help you if you sincerely want to follow Him. It will
take time to change your focus and your behavior. I’m not suggesting that you
lower God’s standards . . . I’m suggesting that you develop a reasonable plan
of change.
The
light is available. God wants you to see clearly. A Day of Judgment is coming.
On that day no one will be able to use the excuse that they didn’t understand
what God desired because it was dark. Those who end up in Hell will not be there
because they did not understand. They will be there because they refused to understand. They will be there
because they refused to turn on the light! In other words, where you spend
eternity is directly connected to how you respond to Christ and His Word right
now.
©Copyright June 13, 2010 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche SERIES:
Walking With Jesus