Faults of the Evil Generation I

Today we will be looking at Luke 11:33-36.

The eye is an incredible organ in our body.  Without it our life would be tremendously more difficult.  In fact, if no one could see it would be practically impossible.  Yet, even more incredible than the eye is the properties of light that the eye is designed to exploit.  Light can transmit many different kinds of information over vast distances within seconds.  This property of bringing information to us that we could never obtain for ourselves is an important picture for spiritual matters.

After having stated that his generation was an evil one, Jesus began to point out things that gave evidence to this.  Last week the point was that an evil generation is always looking for a greater sign.  Their unbelief is never satisfied.  Here today we are going to see how unbelief and desire for sin had also impacted their ability to see the Light of God, which was the Truth that God was revealing through Jesus.

They Couldn’t See The Truth

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  Throughout the Bible light is used as a metaphor for God’s revelation of truth, righteousness, and what is good.  Jesus uses this metaphor along with another related metaphor; a lamp.  The lamp is the instrument through which the light shines.  In the days of Jesus the people in general were unable to see the truth that God was trying to reveal to them.  It was as if they were blind to it.  God had been faithful throughout the ages to give light to the world.  That light revealed what God was doing and what He expected from mankind.  This light was not hidden.  He had openly dealt with mankind.  However, mankind had a habit of casting aside this revelation and coming up with answers on their own, or, worse, listening to the teaching of evil spirits.  In Jesus mankind is given the perfectly clear brilliance of the truth of God.  There was no sin or weakness to dim its revelation.  This is pointed out by the writer of the book of Hebrews in chapter 1 verses 1-3.  “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…”  So in Jesus they had the perfect representation of God and His will without any error.

Now up until Jesus mankind could complain that the light they received wasn’t clear enough.  None of the prophets were perfect men, even if they perfectly recorded what God told them to say.  This could jam people’s ability or desire to listen to what they had to say.  It is easy to point to the other person and say the fault all lies within them (whether prophet, or God Himself).  But the truth of the matter is that our ability to receive truth from God can be good or bad.  We are as much a critical part of this equation as they are.  Jesus points this out in vs. 34.  Just like a lamp is set in a room to fill the room with light, so God has given man eyes so that we can be filled with the information of what is around us, but also as a means of receiving communication from God.  Thus when light comes into our body it first goes into the mind and is decoded.  From that decoding we make decisions that direct the rest of our body (feet, hands, mouth, etc…) how to respond.  Of course, Jesus is not concerned about physical sight.  He is concerned with our ability to understand spiritual matters and thus our spiritual sight.  God was brilliantly and openly revealing His plan of salvation for Israel and the rest of the world, but most of them could not see it.  They were spiritually blind.  This caused them to be full of darkness even though it was “midday” as it were.  Like a blind man in a room they would not know how to act during the days ahead.

How are your spiritual eyes?  Are there things that are blocking your ability to see the truth that God is trying to give you?  Often the hurts and injuries of the past affect our ability to see today.  Take time to prayerfully ask God to reveal to you what is standing in your way of seeing what He is saying.

This is what Jesus points to in vs. 35.  He warns us to check our spiritual eyesight.  Take heed is to observe or check something out.  The people as a whole claimed to have light (and they did).  But the light was doing them no good.  Sin and rebellion had covered their eyes like cataracts and darkened their lives.  They were full of spiritual darkness.  This needed introspection is made easier now that we have Jesus.  I can simply gauge my ability to see by my resistance to the words and teaching of Jesus.  Now this can’t just be cherry-picked parts of what Jesus says.  But, rather, all of what He says, including the Apostles for whom he personally vouched.  Am I embracing the whole light of Christ or only partial light?  If I only embrace part of Christ there are shadows in my inner life.  God is always working to bring us to knowledge of the Truth.  It is only through humble introspection, in which we prayerfully ask God’s help, that we can avoid being blind.  God intends us to be full of light/truth so that we will live out His love according to His ways, not ours.

This brings us to the Lamp analogy.  In this passage the Light that is not being received is Jesus himself.  Yet, Jesus told his disciples elsewhere that they were also the light of the world.  While he was here Jesus was the light of the world and through the Bible He continues to be so.  However, he has put his light in those who follow him; like a lamp.  So that there would continue to be light in every generation.    God has given us so much light here in America.  We are without excuse to not recognize His truth.  We can point to churches and “so-called” Christians in our past as excuses to God.  But in the end God’s Word tells us there would be people who didn’t accurately reflect Him.  The way that we would know it is that we could compare them to Jesus.  We are without excuse because we have record of the perfect light.  How good of a lamp am I?  The light of Jesus is perfect, but if something is wrong with me as a lamp the light will be hindered.  Just as a person has personal responsibility to make sure they are seeing well, so believers have a responsibility to make sure they are transmitting the light of Christ well.  Am I a broken or dirty lamp?  Yes, you have received the light of Christ, but is it shining out well?  Jesus told us, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.”

In this sense our generation is just as evil as they days of Jesus.  Many are blind.  Don’t let excuses and the sin of others be your justification for rejecting the light of Christ.  Get into the Bible and discover Christ for yourself.  Pray to God to open your eyes and enable you to see the perfect light of Christ, not as you desire it to be, but as it truly is.

Faults I audio

Hearing God’s Word

Have you ever been given something that was very important to the person who gave it to you?  When I was about 13 years old my grandmother let me borrow a book that was very important to her.  It was an historical look at Russia’s last Emperor, Nikolay, and the brutal murder of his family at the hands of the communist Bolsheviks when they took over.  She had wrapped it up in a small white garbage bag so that it wouldn’t get wet.  I took it to my house and began reading it.  However, one day it went missing.  I looked everywhere and could not find it.  At that point, I had that sinking feeling you get when you know you have to face the music.  I never knew what happened to that book.  But, I learned a lesson about how to take care of those things that are valuable to another. 

Two weeks ago we looked at the Parable of the Soils, which pointed out that we need to take care how we receive God’s Word.  God’s Word is precious to Him, not just because it is His, but also because of what it can do for us.  We can be guilty at times of flippantly receiving something that is incredible important to God.  In today’s passage we will see this again with another parable and a visit from the family of Jesus.  Let’s look at Luke 8:16-21.

Parable of the Lamp

In verses 16-18 Jesus tells a parable that is very simple.  It is a picture of what it is like to receive the Word of God.  In the previous parable God’s Word is likened to a seed being broadcast onto soil.  Here God’s Word is likened to the lighting of a lamp in a room.  Now the lamps of those days would be oil lamps that would have a hole or a narrowing on one side and they usually had a wick.  Thus, just as God casts out seed, so here, God is the one who lights the lamp.  He does this by giving Truth to us.

Now a lamp needs oil in it in order to sustain a flame.  Throughout Scripture oil is a type of the Holy Spirit.  Now God is always working through His Spirit to prepare hearts to receive the Truth of God. In this sense God is supplying oil.  However if we do not retain this supply it will never fill us up in order to sustain a light.  Thus we need the Truth of God and the help of the Holy Spirit to ignite a light within us.  This will enable us to “see” the reality of life all around us.

Once a flame has begun, the light will immediately fill the room.  Light by its nature spreads out as far as it can.  Thus our life and its sphere of influence is like the room that the lamp is in.  We will not only be able to see better for ourselves, but anyone who intersects our life can benefit from this Truth of God burning in our life.

Now Jesus points out that the light is not lit in order to be hidden.  God has a purpose in putting this light in our life.  It is meant to reveal and make things known to us and those who are around us.  It is revelation by nature.  It is not enough to have good feelings towards God inside us.  When His light is operating in us, it is intended to be acted upon and thus give light to others.  If we fail to express God’s Truth in our life then we are contending with the very purpose of God.  Thus Jesus warns in verse 17, “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be know and come to light.”  What God gives to me in secret devotion should be revealed by me in my life.  But, if not, then the day will come when it will be revealed against me at the judgment seat of Christ.

In both parables we notice this; if the Word is not taken care of it will be squelched or lost.  Here we must keep the oil level high enough, monitor the wick, and protect the flame.  If we do this then we will bear fruit by patiently guarding and nurturing the light of God’s Word in our life.  However, if not, even what light we have received will be lost.  How do I receive God’s Word?  It is an extremely valuable thing.  Without proper value, we will find ourselves losing the light that God intends us to have.

My Relationship To Jesus…

Now at this point word comes to Jesus that His mother and brothers are outside.  Although this seems to be an interruption, it ends up emphasizing the point that Jesus is making about what He is teaching them.  Luke most likely shares this in order to strengthen the point of our need to properly hear the Word.  Family is one of the closest relationships we can have.  Yet, the brothers of Jesus did not believe in Him.  This lack of believe and the strange things that Jesus was doing no doubt enabled them to stir up maternal fears in Mary.  “He’s crazy.  He’s going to get himself killed.  Why doesn’t he settle down and marry a good Jewish woman and start a family?”  In another place we are told that his family tried to even make him come home at one point.  Now, the point of this story is not that Jesus wouldn’t see his family.  No doubt, he did after he made his point.  But it presented a perfect time to emphasize what he had just been teaching.

Jesus basically says that those who hear the Word of God and do it are his mother and brother, i.e. family.  Thus our closeness to Jesus first depends upon hearing the word of God.  To be close to Jesus is to first be close to the Word of God.  We cannot divide it into parts we like and parts we don’t.  Neither can we make distinctions like only reading the words of Jesus as opposed to the apostles.  Some even try to go through the words of Jesus and determine what they think he really said.  This is not being in relationship with Jesus.  This is trying to manipulate the Word of God to our own thinking.  If I want to be close to Jesus then I need to receive all of God’s Word.

Yet, I must also put it into practice.  How I receive the Word is just as important as having it, if not more.   When we act upon the Truth its power is unleashed in our life and makes a difference for us and for those around us.  Now it would be easy to make this about simple obedience.  However, the relationship of a mother and brother are not those who must obey us.  Rather, this is about love.  Even if I don’t love what Jesus is saying, my love for him can help me to do the right thing anyways.  “Nevertheless, because You ask us to, we will throw our nets out again.”

In 2 Thessalonians 2:10 we are told that people perish because they refused to receive a love of the Truth.  Everyday God is trying to give us Truth and a love for it.  The problem is not on His end.  It is on ours.  This is a difficult Truth that many who have been inundated with God’s Word have never truly known Him because they refused to embrace it in their life.  Yet, many who have had precious little Truth embraced it whole heartedly.  May God help us to be that light which he has made us to be in this nation and this generation.