A Good Disciple Builds On The Rock

After Jesus had taught His disciples to love their enemies and to be merciful in their judgments, He then challenged them to build their lives upon His words.  In Luke 6 it is clear that this is no call to try to look like God, but rather to change and become like Him within.  It is the nature of God that leads Him to the kindness of giving room for repentance.  Thus the problem of “goodness and evil” lies in the very natures of men.

In Luke 6:43 and following Jesus points us to the reality that good works can only come from a good nature and He does this with the picture of trees in verses 43 to 45.

The Fruit Of A Tree

Jesus uses an illustration from nature to bring home his point about man’s sinful nature.  The Spirit of this Age promotes the idea that men are basically good in their natures and that it is bad influences from society (i.e. religion, superstition, ignorance) that cause evil.  People are basically good.  Of course this idea doesn’t even pass the smell test of our everyday experience.  But, we have a powerful desire for this to be true.  Yet, it begs the question.  If man if only made evil by society then how did society become evil?  Isn’t it made of “good” men?  Clearly there is some slight-of-hand going on with the definitions of good and evil here.  People who are basically good could only build societies that are basically good.  Something is missing.  The Bible would agree that mankind was originally created with a good nature.  But, man also has the power to choose evil.  Through choice man has twisted and perverted his original nature.  Man is bent towards sin (other than God).

Thus Jesus points out that a tree produces fruit after its own kind, or from its underlying nature.  God has designed the creation in such a way that what is seen has a direct connection to that which cannot be seen within it.  In the case of a tree, it is its underlying DNA.  However, Jesus is speaking spiritually here.

Now over time men have learned to distinguish those trees and the fruit that comes from them.  In this we see that some fruit looks good to the eye, but is bad for the body.  On the other hand, some fruit doesn’t look good, but is.  In this analogy the “bad” tree is the one that cannot be eaten by man without ill consequences.  This is a picture of bad teachers and false prophets.  If you eat of their teaching you will be poisoned.  No matter how good their fruit looks there will be death in it.  Spiritually we need to be good at identifying bad and good trees.  There are many trees across this nation offering nothing good and people are clamoring to eat it up.  Only Jesus is the Good Tree that we can trust to give us life.  He is the only Tree of Life.  Do not listen to those teachers who rail against those who “judge them.”  It is the foolish man who eats fruit first before asking if it is poisonous.  Jesus warned us against the teaching of these religious charlatans.  Jesus is the good tree.

Now when Jesus points out that good fruit can only come from a good tree it would be easy to think he is telling his disciples that they are good trees.  Here we have the fact that only a tree with a good nature can give good fruit.  In Luke 18:18-22, a rich young man came to Jesus seeking to know what he needed to do to be saved.  However, he greets Jesus as “Good Teacher.”  Now the man was not wrong to call Jesus “good teacher.”  However, he didn’t understand the importance of what he was saying.  So, Jesus pulls him up short in order to make him think about what he was saying.  “No one is good, but One, that is, God.”  Here Jesus disqualifies all men as a source of good fruit.  The rich young man wanted answers, but the only reason Jesus could help him was because Jesus was the Son of God.  To hear the words of Jesus are to hear the very words of the Father himself.  That is why Jesus ends this discussion by telling the man to sell all his goods and follow Him.  Yes, the rich man lacked treasure in heaven.  But more importantly he lacked The Treasure of Heaven; Jesus himself.  Jesus is good because by nature He is God.

The good news of the Gospel is not that we have a new and improved list of good things to do that are better and simpler than the old ones.  Rather, the good news of the Gospel is that in Jesus, God is now sharing His nature with mankind.  If I am going to be a good tree that produces good fruit, then I am going to need to have my nature changed from me to Him.  God does this not by making us all gods.  Rather, He puts His Spirit within us, which makes our spirit come alive to the “good things” of God.  We still have a fallen human nature that fights against this.  We see this in John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”  If I am going to truly love my enemy and be merciful then I am going to need a new nature working within me to produce such good things.  Trying to do this without inner change is not only futile, it will also become a twisted, perverted, and evil thing in the end.  Titus 1:15-16, “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.  They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.”

In the name of social justice, brotherly love, helping the poor, and unity, the world has been deceived into thinking that man can be good without being transformed by Jesus.  Even more insidious is the parallel working inside the Church to deceive believers into thinking that we can transform Jesus and His Teaching without affecting the fruit it will produce.  Thus the world thinks good can come without Jesus.  The false Church comes to believe that good can come with a new and improved Jesus (read that “another Jesus”).  This is the spirit of antichrist.  Just as the Spirit of God is preparing the chaste bride to be ready for the coming of Christ, so the spirit of this age is preparing the unchaste and adulterous bride for the coming of The Antichrist.  Have you been born again?  Has the Spirit of God taken up residence within you and is the transforming nature beneath what you do?  Don’t settle for a profession alone.  But, rather, believe in your heart upon the Jesus of Scripture and what He said.  In this you will be saved and changed.

The Good Foundation

In verses 46-49, Jesus challenges the notion that people who outwardly look like they are following Him, really are.  Those who call Him “Lord” or “Good Teacher” often do so without really knowing what that means or believing it.  Jesus uses the picture of building a house for the living of a life.  Both need a good foundation upon which to build.

The word “Lord” refers to one who is master.  Thus the disciple is put in the picture as a servant.  The wise servant of Jesus is the one who lives their life by what Jesus said.  This servant will have built a life that will survive the judgment of God.  Digging down to the rock in this parable represents getting down to God’s Word.  It alone is strong and solid enough to hold up our life.  Jesus is The Solid Rock.  Though it may seem like a lot of extra work, and there are plenty of others who offer us short cuts intellectually, the wise servant is the one who digs down to the real Jesus and the real words of Jesus, rather than rely on the words of others.  Your life and the way you have lived it will be tested.  It is tested periodically throughout our life and it is ultimately tested when we stand before God at the Judgment.  Those who actually listened to Jesus will be saved.  They will not be shaken or destroyed by divine judgment.

On the other hand, the foolish servant disobeys and perishes in judgment.  Notice that the foolish servant still builds a house.  In fact the house may look like the wise servant in many ways.  But what makes it a “good” house is not what it looks like.  It is a “bad” house because of the unseen underlying realities.  In this case the foundation is not on something solid.  It is built right on the ground.  We cannot just pick and choose what things of Jesus we want to follow.  Building on the ground is not good enough.  I know we are talking about “servants” of Jesus here, but the illustration works even with unbelievers and atheists.  They have a complete disregard for God and His Son Jesus.  Therefore they build upon a foundation of their own making and wisdom.  It does not matter what it looks like, in the end it will not be good enough to withstand the judgment of God.  However, complete disregard for God’s word is not the problem in this parable of Jesus.  The problem is a person who settles for building upon all the ideas of man that have accumulated over the years on top of Jesus (The Rock).  No matter how great and wise these people may be, their ideas and teachings are mere sand, gravel, and dirt compared to the rock of the words of Jesus.  Even though they are fine sounding religious ideas and traditions that are “based” upon Jesus, they will not hold us up.  We must dig down to Jesus and the testimony of His Apostles for ourselves and build upon that alone.  Though we can take the instruction and words of other disciples to heart, we can never let them come between us and Jesus.  Doing so is a recipe for disaster and ruin throughout this life and particularly at the Day of Judgment.

Thankfully, God part of God’s mercy is that He not only gives us time to repent, embrace Jesus and build our life upon Him, but He also sends periodic storms that will reveal our lack of a proper foundation.  Periodically throughout our lives He is faithful to test us and show us where we have been building upon something other than Him. In this mercy is the joy that we can repent and turn to Christ and be saved from ruin, whether in matters of this life or our ultimate salvation.  Yet, know this.  Like the Great Flood took the ancient world down in Judgment, but only Noah and his family survived, so there is a coming judgment that will expose the lack of foundation of many.  Only the life that is truly built upon Christ will be able to withstand the torrent of His judgment.

Today there is so much redefinition and deception regarding the things of Jesus that I would be remiss if I didn’t challenge all of us to make sure that we are building on the words of Christ and not someone who is twisting His words and misrepresenting His heart.

Good Disciple audio

Judge Not!

If a non-Christian knows any part of the Bible then it is usually these two words: “Judge Not!”  Of course that is about as far as their understanding on this subject goes when it comes to the Bible.  Sadly this can be true of some who are believers.  No one wants to feel like they are being judged.  However, the biblical teaching on judging goes much deeper than those two words.

If we are truly disciples of Jesus then we will search out what our master is trying to teach us and give ourselves to living it out.  God will not be satisfied with disciples who merely quote his teachings out of context.  Our passage for this sermon is Luke 6:36-42.  However, by way of remembrance let’s look at the last part of verse 35, “For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.”  Here we see that the reason we are to love our enemies is because God wants us to be like Him.  He is being kind to those who will never thank Him and are evil.  The present tense in that verse reminds us that there is still a future judgment coming, but for now, God is being kind.

A Call To Mercy In Judgment

In verse 36 Jesus transitions from the kindness to mercy.  Mercy is a type of kindness that involves our judgments of one another.  Think about this from God’s perspective for a bit.  God knows who will continue into eternity rejecting His kindness and who will eventually turn and give thanks to Him.  He even knows these things before we do them.  We are all evil in the sense of being sinners and needing salvation.  But most do not want to be saved from it.  Yet, even then God is still kind.  He is kind by delaying an inevitable judgment.  But, even more, He acts in love and mercy towards those who will continue to be unthankful and reject His love.  Here we see that His heart is merciful.

Mercy is not a concept to pursue, as if it was mere inspiration to something nobler.  It is more than that.  It is a description of something that God is.  He is the one who will define mercy for us through His actions and words.  Thus mercy is not up for us to define.  We need to become merciful in the way that God is merciful and not as the world or our heart would define it for us.  God delays His judgment and lovingly reaches out to the lost up to the last moment before His judgment is poured out.  Therefore, we need to hold our own judgments and instead, give people the love of God even if they will never embrace the gospel of Jesus.  We need to do this right up to the last moment when they slip into eternity.

It is also important to recognize that mercy is really a facet of love.  If love is seeking the well being of another then mercy speaks to the “Why” of love.  To continue in love with anyone will involve the love of mercy.  The word mercy here literally means to be distressed at the condition of another to the point of pity and compassion.  It is a feeling that leads to a particular action of restraint on one hand and help on the other.  Thus, God is distressed at mankind’s choice to follow Satan’s rebellion, to the point of taking pity on him and having compassion.  God has restrained himself in judgment and given time, instruction, and encouragement for man to turn to him for salvation.  It is too easy for us to think we know who will change and who will not.  We tend to give mercy to those whom we think it is worth giving mercy too.  But this is not God’s mercy.  This is a twisted self-serving mercy.

Any time we talk about judgment we need to recognize that it is a word that covers many different things.  Thus, when Jesus says judge not, we should ask ourselves how he is using that word.  There is a difference between judging an outward action as bad or good and judging the heart of a person as bad or good.  If I punch you in the face, are you being judgmental to say it was wrong?  Yes and no.  Yes you are making a judgment.  But few would say you are being judgmental, but the person throwing the punch.  How about the judgment of what kind of food you like?  Is that what Jesus is talking about?  It is impossible to live life without judging what is good to you and important to you.  Yet, in verse 37 Jesus follows up the word judge with the word condemn.  It is clear that he means to further clarify the word judge.  Thus judgment here is more than an opinion.  It refers to the calling down of punishment or censure upon someone.

This gets even trickier when we take in account whether a person is a Christian or not.  In 1 Corinthians chapter 4 Paul takes the church to task for their judgments about him.  He tells them to not be so hasty to judge the value of his ministry and person until the Lord comes, “who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts.  Then each one’s praise will come from God.”  They had “judged” the quality of Paul’s ministry and motivations as a low value.  He is challenging them not to judge in that way.  However, in 1 Corinthians 5 he deals with a person in the church who is having sexual relations with his step-mother.  Instead of rebuking him, they were proud of their great grace with him.  Paul tells them that, when it comes to outward actions and outward refusal to change, they needed to make a judgment.  Yet, he points out that this is because the guy is a believer within the church.  If he was an unbeliever they wouldn’t be called to make a distinction.  Let’s read some of that passage:  “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.  For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside?  Do you not judge those who are inside [the Church]?  But those who are outside, God judges.  Therefore put away from yourselves the evil person.”  Notice that God’s Word is that within the Church we shouldn’t judge the value of a person, motivations, or heart.  But, we should judge their actions even to the point that the actions may cause us to separate from them.  Yet, we wouldn’t separate from a person who wasn’t in the church doing the same thing.  Later Paul tells them that the purpose for excommunicating a person from the church is so that they will see the error of their way and, through the destruction of following their flesh, repent.  We need to judge when we shouldn’t and not judge when we should.  We need a teacher!

So in verse 37 when Jesus cautions against judging notice that there is a present vs. future aspect.  Don’t judge and you won’t be judged later.  Don’t condemn and you won’t be condemned later.  Who is the “later judging” referring to?  Jesus is not saying don’t judge people and they won’t judge you.  Have you found that to be true?  Have you tried not judging others and they all quit judging you?  Hardly!  Jesus is warning us of God’s judgment.  What goes around is going to come around when you give account before God.  So be careful what you send around.  Also, judging is modified by the word condemn.  Jesus is not talking about making distinctions of good and bad actions.  We are to leave people’s judgment and condemnation up to God.  But that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to say something when they sin against us.

Not only will it “come around,” but it will come around in “like measure.”  Verse 38 is often quoted in regard to money.  But the context here is mercy.  What standard of judgment do I use?  Is it harsh or careful?  What do I accept as evidence against others?  Whom do I condemn and censure in life?  Be careful you will find God treating you the same way.  In the Old Testament there had to be two witnesses in order to find someone guilty.  Thus one of the 10 commandments was, “You shall not bear false witness.”  A false witness is not just a person who lies.  It is also a person who presents themselves as evidence of another’s guilt and yet we didn’t actually see it.  Even if your best friend told you, you cannot be a witness only the people who saw it.  The difficult thing in life is that we do not always have enough evidence to convict.  Yet, we often do so anyways.  Even then, sometimes the witness and or the evidence is false.  Is this how you want God to judge you, based upon hearsay and the whims of others?  Thus verse 38 is a scary verse if you think about the unmerciful.  God will bring His wrath upon us, “pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing.”

Parables Given To Explain

Now Jesus gives 3 parables to help us understand this.  I will only look at two of them today.  The first is the Blind Teacher.  A student by nature cannot see or understand things around him.  He needs a teacher, “one who can see,” to teach him.  If the teacher is “blind” they will both end up in a ditch.  They will be unable to move forward on the road to Truth.  The intended question for each student is: “Who am I following?”  Am I following my own desires and lusts?  Am I following some wise person I admire and want to be like?  Am I following the spirit of this age?  My destiny can be affected by who I am taught by.  Ultimately, no pastor is your teacher.  Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the ultimate teachers.  God does use humans to point us back to himself.  But, that is the best we can do: point people back to God and His Word to better understand Jesus.  This is exactly what the prophets of old did.

The second parable is the Speck in the Eye.  This famous parable refers to a speck of chaff, or dirt that can get in the eye.  Jesus challenges his disciples to ask the question first, “Am I able to help them currently?”  I might be a great doctor, but if I have been drinking heavily or haven’t slept for 2 days, then I shouldn’t go into surgery.  Likewise, if I am going to deal with a speck in someone’s eye, I had better be sure I can help and not just because I have the correct information.  Even deeper than this is the issue of hypocrisy.  The sins of others are always so obvious to us.  But that also means my sins are just as obvious to them.  Self-inspection must be more than a hypocritical acceptance of a beam in my eye while I point out specks in yours.  Specks easily get in our eyes without us wanting them.  But a beam is not easily moved.  If I have a beam in my eye, It probably took a lot of work and compromise to get it there.  God is not hypocritical and neither should we be.  Notice Jesus doesn’t end by saying, therefore leave the specks in everyone’s eyes.  He says, “then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”  Listen, it is irritating to have a speck in your eye.  It is also difficult to remove it by yourself.  Wouldn’t it be great if you knew someone who was trustworthy, gentle, and cared enough that they would help you remove it?  Let us hear the challenging words of our Lord and learn to make right and good judgments, so that, when we stand before Him, He will be pleased.

Judge Not Audio

When The New Becomes The Old

Today we are going to look at Luke 5:33-39.  Here the subject of prayer and fasting comes up.  But, rather than looking at the mechanics of how to do them, the issue is the Why and When of prayer and fasting.

The Question of the People

The question that is brought to Jesus starts with an observation.  The people had observed that prayer and fasting was a big part of the Pharisees and their disciples.  It was also a big deal with John the Baptist and his disciples.  Yet, the disciples of Jesus were not seen fasting and praying all the time.  Why?

Now let’s remind ourselves what biblical fasting is and what it is not.  There was only one fast that was commanded in the law and that was on the Day of Atonement.  All other fasts were voluntary, either as an individual or as a nation.  Even prayer is more assumed or expected rather than commanded.  So prayer and fasting are generally specific to a time of need.  Over time, the people of Israel had added public, memorial fasts to commemorate difficult times.  Things like the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple became times of national remembrance.  It would be similar to the United States declaring 9-11 as a day of fasting and prayer for our nation.  So why weren’t the disciples seen fasting on all these expected fasts?

Now we need to also remind ourselves of how the prophets corrected Israel on its many fasts.  Isaiah in chapter 58 took the nation to task.  Fasts had become a ritual in which they expected God to be impressed that they went without food and yet, on the same day, they would break his commands.  Fasting was never about impressing God with our ability to go without food.  Also, Jesus himself had taught in Matthew 6 that they shouldn’t pray in order to be seen by men, but rather to pray in order to be seen by God.  He also warned them to not use empty repetitious phrases.  So we would expect that his disciples would pray more in private than in public.  Also in regard to fasting, Jesus had taught that they should not make themselves look like they were fasting (in order that men may notice).  So it would make sense that their times of fasting would go unnoticed.  Jesus made it clear that God was not enamored with the ritual of prayer and fasting.  He was enamored with the heart that truly sought Him over the top of the things of this world.

Thus fasting has always been the mourning of a person who seeks God in prayer because of a difficult need or situation.  It is the cry of a person to God asking for mercy and help.  We want Him more than our daily food.  The situation is so devastating that we have no appetite.  We only want help from God.  Yet, this is not what is going on with the disciples.  They are not such good students of Jesus that they are never seen praying and fasting.  No, the answer was simpler.

The Answer: The Bridegroom And His Friends

In verses 34 and 35 Jesus gives the first of 3 parables or pictures which explain why his disciples weren’t fasting.  In this first parable, Jesus depicts himself as a bridegroom.  Now this is important to remember because Jesus used this image in other parables.  Here the disciples are called the friends of the bridegroom.  Even though the Church is called the bride of Christ, the marriage of the Lamb is not until the end of the age.  The Church is technically engaged to Christ.  So in this story Jesus compares them to his friends before the marriage.  This is clearly a happy time.  It would be the wrong time to act sad and start fasting.  Rather, it is a time to rejoice and feast together.  Israel had waited over a thousand years for the Messiah and here he was.  It would not only be unfitting to mourn and fast, it would be insulting.  Picture it this way.  If you were fasting and praying for a job and you got a call from a prospective employer saying that you are hired, it would be strange for you to continue fasting and praying as if nothing had happened.  You would be excited and scurrying around getting ready for your new job.  You would be happy and throwing a party.  The simple answer is that it isn’t time to fast.  Something wonderful has happened.

Yet, Jesus prophetically said that they day will come when he is taken away from them.  Then they will fast and pray often.  After the cross we see the disciples fasting and praying in the book of Acts.  Also throughout the New Testament letters we see that fasting was part and parcel with the early Church.  Why?  It is because of the fact that they were enduring the tribulations of this world for the sake of Christ and looking to that day when they could be reconnected with him.

The Answer: A New Patch, Old Garment

Jesus switches the analogy to that of an inanimate thing: clothing.  If you had an old garment and needed to fix it, you would not use a patch of new clothing.  Thus the Old Covenant was not just being patched up.  God was doing a new thing.  Even though the Law was old and tattered, it was not morally bad.  It was broken down by the sins and failures of Israel.  Yet, it still had served its purpose of demonstrating God’s righteousness and our sinfulness.  No man could be saved by Law.  The Law is righteous and I am not.  Therefore, I must die.  To simply patch the Law by adding grace would not be a good fix.  Grace is so vastly different that it would end up destroying both the old garment and the new patch.  This theme of bad mixtures runs throughout the Bible.  God warns us that not all mixtures are beneficial.  To mix some grace in with the Law is not God’s answer.  Grace comes in as a whole new set of clothing.  We are not under the law, but by grace we fulfill the righteousness of God.  In fact he says the two wouldn’t even match each other.  The Gospel is a completely different picture and vision than the Law.  They would be like trying to match a chromatic suit with a Hawaiian shirt.  It would look ridiculous even before both are destroyed.  You can’t promote one vision without diminishing the other.  You must choose between the Law (your righteousness) and Grace (the righteousness of Jesus).

The Answer: New Wine, Old Wineskins

The last picture has to do with wine and their containers.  Wine here is representative of the teaching of Jesus and the gospel.  Jesus had come to explain and show the Grace that God had made available to those condemned to die.  This new wine is different from the old wine of the Law that explained that everyone was sinful and disqualified before God.  The wineskin is the people and their response to the wine (teaching) over time.  Israel had the Law poured into them at Mt. Sinai.  Over the years their reaction to it had hardened into ritualized ways of dealing with it.  The Law had run its course and had affected them.  Thus the Law itself was new wine at one time.  The fledgling nation of Israel was also a new wineskin.  However, the Law had fermented and Israel had hardened.  Now it was time for new wine.  But God needed new “unhardened” people to pour it into.  God was unveiling the mystery of Grace that had been hidden and yet hinted at from the beginning.

Notice that both the wines came from God.  In fact Christians today should recognize that the Gospel itself has become “old wine.”  You may think it is blasphemy to say so, but that is because you think of old wine as bad.  Jesus wasn’t saying the old wine was bad, but that it had run its course and had its effect.  This world has heard the gospel for 2,000 years.  I am not saying it is time to stop, but the times of Grace to the nations does have a terminal point in the future.  Christian institutions and denominations have clearly followed a similar pattern as Israel did with the Law.  We have been affected by the Gospel, but in some ways, have been hardened by it.  The coming new wine is that of the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom.  God is doing this in such a way as to preserve the Law and Grace as both righteous, perfect tools in the hand of God.  Jesus did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it.  We must not bring the Church under the Law of Moses.  But neither must we attack it and declare its precepts unrighteous.

So let me end with these cautions.  The old wineskins always tend to not want the new.  Have you become so hardened to the Word of God that you are no longer useable by God?  Yet on the other hand, all that is new is not of God.  What vintage are you seeking?  In the name of progress and new wine, this world will embrace the antichrist spirit’s ultimate expression in the “Man of Sin.”  Why?  Simply because they hardened themselves to loving the Truth and set themselves up to believing a lie.  Caution!

New Becomes Old