Monthly Archives: November 2019

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – THE SEED WILL GROW!

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THE SEED WILL GROW!

“His disciples asked, ‘Why did you tell this story?’ He said, ‘You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom – you know how it works. There are others who need stories. But even with stories, some of them aren’t going to get it:

Their eyes are open but don’t see a thing,

Their ears are open but don’t hear a thing.

“This story is about some of those people. The seed is the Word of God. The seeds on the road are those who hear the Word, but no sooner do they hear it than the devil snatches it from them so they won’t believe and be saved.

“The seeds in the gravel are those who hear with enthusiasm, but the enthusiasm doesn’t go very deep. It’s only another fad, and the moment there’s trouble it’s gone.

“And the seed that fell in the weeds – well, these are the ones who hear, but then the seed is crowded out and nothing comes of it as they worry about tomorrow, making money and having fun.

“But the seed in good earth – these are the good hearts who seize the Word and hold on no matter what, sticking with it until there’s a harvest.'” Luke 8:9-15.

When Jesus gives the explanation, the story is quite easy to understand. Just as it happens in nature, so it happens in people. There are different responses to the same message, and different outcomes.

Even among His own disciples there were different responses, although He was with them all the time and they watched and listened to the same teaching and the same demonstrations of the way the kingdom worked.

Take Judas, for example. How could a man who had been in close contact with Him for more than three years, turn on Him and sell His out to the Jewish hierarchy? What did he see but not see? What did he hear but not hear? Surely it was a matter of interpretation as well as expectation.

Why did Judas respond to Jesus’ invitation to follow Him? After the first flush of excitement, what was he expecting from this association? Did he have political aspirations, coupled perhaps with hopes of huge financial gain that made him stick with Jesus until he could see that there was nothing in it for him? Was he like the soil that was choked with weeds and had no place for the Word to take root?

Perhaps Judas had grown up in poverty and saw his opportunity to escape the cycle of need and want when he joined the group. Is that why he stole money from the common purse – just because he had access to more money than he had even seen in his life? Perhaps he came from a wealthy home and he just loved money. He loved to feel the weight of it in his bag, and to know that he always had resources to buy anything he wanted.

What about the other disciples? Jesus’ Word didn’t seem to make much impression on them, especially when the chips were down. They also had what we call “selective hearing”! There were certain things they chose not to hear at the time, especially when Jesus spoke about the cross. It took the terrible events of His arrest and death to open their eyes and ears to what He had been telling them for a long time.

But Jesus didn’t give up on them because He knew that the potential for growth and fruitfulness lay in the seed and when the time and the soil were right, the seed would germinate and grow. And so it did.

It’s like that in our lives too. We may be deaf to what God is saying to us, but He doesn’t give up because there will come a time when the hardness and resistance are removed and we become sensitive to what He is saying. He sometimes has to use drastic means to break up the soil, but He will do it so that we can become fruitful for Him.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE -FRUIT OR FRUITLESS?

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FRUIT OR FRUITLESS?

“As they went from town to town, a lot of people joined in and travelled along. He addressed them, using this story: ‘A farmer went out to sow his seed. Some of it fell on the road; it was trampled down and the birds ate it. Other seed fell in the gravel; it sprouted but withered because it didn’t have good roots. Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it and strangled it. Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop. Are you listening to this? Really listening?'” Luke 8:4-8.

How many sermons have been preached on this story!

As the crowds joined Jesus, He was aware that all of them represented one or even more of the soil types of which His story spoke. No doubt the scribes and Pharisees were among those whose hearts were so hard that the seed of God’s Word would remain exposed on the surface until the birds came and snatched it away.

What makes hearts so hard that the seed will never take root? Disobedience creates calluses in people’s hearts. God speaks and, because the time is not convenient, or because His instruction seems foolish or cuts across our own wishes or intentions, we do nothing. The next time His speaks, we hear but do nothing again. Eventually we no longer hear Him because our hearts have become deaf to His voice.

Sin dulls our sensitivity to His word. Self-will and the notion that we know better or that we are convinced we are right, like the Pharisees were, shuts us off from the influence of God’s Word until it no longer penetrates our minds and we dismiss it with contempt.

Gravelly soil represents the shallow person who is so caught up with the glitz and glamour of the world and the all the interests and entertainment that it can offer that the delicate roots of the Word of God find no place to anchor themselves. There’s hardness under the surface that resists the truth and the small plant of faith eventually withers and dies.

Ground that is full of weeds is like the person who has a divided heart. Jesus identified the weeds as “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things.” These are interesting concepts. To worry implies that you are split — you are here but your mind is there. You may be in church but your mind is somewhere else, churning over a situation or problem you cannot solve. You are unable to give your attention fully to God’s Word at that moment.

The deceitfulness of riches is equally distracting and you are equally split in your mind. Instead of being content with what you have now, you are continually living in the future – scheming and planning how you can get more money then. “Weeds” rob you of contentment and distract you from living in the present and in the place where you are here and now. Consequently God’s Word is gradually pushed out of your mind as you grapple with your worries and your ambitions.

Another word for “the desire for other things” is covetousness , discontent with what you have and always wanting more. This a two-fold issue -a slap in God’s face because, like Eve, you feel deprived…as though God has short-changed you, and a love for the things of the world which shuts out the love of the Father. Split again… you have this but you want that.

The person who recognises the value of what God says and applies it diligently to his life, not allowing sin, pride or self-will to prevent its entry into his heart or the glamour, greed or worries of the present life to choke its growth, will receive the Word, apply it and show the fruit of its influence in the way he lives.

There is a little of each type of soil in each of our lives, depending on our attitude to the issues the Word addresses. We may resist what God has to say about any sin we are entertaining; we may be shallow or superficial in our attitude towards something God requires of us that touches our pride or our purses; we may have worries or ambitions that we are not prepared to relinquish to Him, and in those areas we will shut out the Word and become unfruitful.

The fruitfulness of the seed depends entirely on quality of the soil that receives it.

When God looks for fruit in your life, what will He find? 66

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – GOD’S GIRLS

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CHAPTER EIGHT

GOD’S GIRLS!

“He continued according to plan, travelling to town after town, village after village, preaching God’s kingdom, spreading the Message. The Twelve were with Him. There were also some women in their company who had been healed of various afflictions and illnesses: Mary, the one called Magdalene, from whom seven devils had gone out; Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod’s manager; and Susanna – along with many others who used their considerable means to provide for the company.” Luke 8:1-3.

Luke gives us an interesting little interlude that is not included in the other gospels – some titbits of information about Jesus’ travelling companions, a group of women who accompanied Him and His disciples. This must have been quite unusual. Jewish women were normally in the background and would certainly not have travelled around the country with a roving rabbi.

Luke’s inclusion of this bit of information about the women is in keeping with the theme of his gospel. He had a special focus on the humanity of Jesus, on His dependence on the Holy Spirit, on His prayer life and on the way He treated people, and especially women.

Unlike Roman society – and Theophilus, the recipient of Luke’s story, was a Roman – where women enjoyed elevated positions, women were nothing in Jewish society. Luke takes time to point out to Theophilus that Jesus had a different attitude to women from other Jewish men. He treated them with dignity and respect as equal to men rather than as subordinates or possessions.

These women who followed Jesus all had very personal reasons for loving Him. Mary Magdalene, for example, had been demon possessed until Jesus rescued her, probably from a life of prostitution, and gave her back her dignity. From that moment on she became a loyal disciple, following Him and ministering to Him and His disciples wherever they went.

She was there at the cross, unashamedly to let him know that she cared, even though she could do nothing for Him at that moment. She was at the tomb in the pre-dawn darkness to anoint His body. She was the first one to see Him alive and to tell the glad news to His disciples.

Why did Jesus choose Mary to be the first person to whom He revealed Himself? Was it to show His disciples and the world that women should be given the honour due to them as the crown of His creation?

There has been much speculation and even stories written about the relationship between Jesus and Mary. Was there a romantic connection which the Bible carefully kept hidden? I believe it is safe to say that we can trust the Bible to reveal the truth about something as important as this.

Right from Genesis, the writers of the books of the Bible, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, were brutally honest about their characters. Nothing was put under wraps, not even the lapses into sin of its most revered characters, Moses and David. The gospel writers would certainly not have ignored or neglected to write about any romantic connection Mary Magdalene had with Jesus.

They loved Him and served Him out of gratitude for who He was and for His gracious treatment of them as people of worth who deserved the dignity and respect given to them by their Creator. That’s who Jesus is.

No matter who you are, you can be sure that the Master sees you as He saw those women, beautiful, treasured and worthy of honour because He created you in His image to worship Him and to be one with Him.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE

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WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE

“Jesus said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to tell you.’  ‘Oh? Tell me.’  ‘Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker cancelled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?’

“Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.’  ‘That’s right,’ said Jesus. Then turning to the woman but speaking to Simon, He said, ‘Do you see this woman? I came to your home; you provided no water for my feet, but she rained tears on my feet and dried them with her hair. You gave me no greeting, but from the time I arrived she hasn’t quit kissing my feet. You provided nothing for freshening up, but she soothed my feet with perfume. Impressive, isn’t it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If forgiveness is minimal, gratitude is minimal.’

“Then He spoke to her: ‘I forgive your sins.’ That set the dinner guests talking behind His back: ‘Who does He think He is, forgiving sins!’

“He ignored them and said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.'” Luke 7:40-50.

Simon was a Pharisee! A Pharisee, a man with a huge ego problem!

The eyes of all the dinner guests were on him. No doubt they were all Simon’s cronies, friends and supporters, Pharisees and religious types who keenly felt his embarrassment because they were in this together. They were probably thinking what he was thinking when the woman made her appearance and washed Jesus’ feet.

Why did Jesus name and shame Simon’s behaviour so ruthlessly? Before the woman’s intrusion, He said nothing to him about his lack of common courtesy. He let it pass until the woman did for Him, out of humility and great personal cost, what Simon should have done as the host through a servant.

This whole dinner date thing was an absolute farce. Firstly, eating with Jesus as a sign of reconciliation was a sham. Simon had issues with Jesus along with all the other Pharisees and reconciliation was the farthest from his intention. Sitting at the table with Jesus was a company of hypocrites.

Secondly, he publicly humiliated Jesus and showed his contempt for Him, and no doubt for His disciples as well, by ignoring the protocol of hospitality. After all, Jesus was a rabbi, one on the same level as His two great contemporaries, Hillel and Shammai, and He should have been received with great honour.

And Jesus noticed but said nothing until Simon revealed his contempt for the woman as well. Then He jumped in with one of His famous and pointed stories. Simon would immediately have recognised who he was in the story if he were honest – the ungrateful debtor. Once again we see how Jesus differentiated between Simon’s and the woman’s hearts. In the presence of Jesus, the woman was aware of her own sinfulness and wordlessly craved forgiveness. In the presence of the woman, Simon preened and congratulated himself for not being like her – at least in the public eye!

The outcome for the woman was peace; an inner sense of wellbeing because her past had ceased to exist. She left Simon’s home deeply in love with Jesus. Simon, on the other hand was both uncomfortable and angry, along with his peers. Instead of loving Jesus for freeing him from the guilt of his past and giving him a new start, he was seething with rage at being exposed, and determined to get even with Him when the opportunity came.

He was, no doubt, joined by his other dinner guests who were outraged at Jesus’ treatment of the woman. ‘How dare He forgive her sins! Who does He think He is?’

Like them, it all depends on how we see ourselves in the light of who Jesus is. We can ignore Him and compare ourselves with those whom we hold in contempt or we can allow His light to expose our darkness and experience the freedom of forgiveness and a new life.

The choice is ours.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – EXPOSED!

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EXPOSED!

“One of the Pharisees asked Him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood as His feet, weeping, raining tears on His feet. Letting her hair down, she dried His feet, kissed them, and anointed them with perfume.

“When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man was the prophet I thought He was, He would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over Him.'” Luke 7:36-39.

Talk about a hypocrite! Why on earth did this nameless Pharisee ever invite Jesus for a meal?

To share a meal in Jesus’ day and still today in some cultures, was much more than a gesture of hospitality. There was a great deal of symbolism in eating together.

The Hebrew word for a meal is shul, and for a table is shulkan. However, the word shulkan can also mean reconciliation or a lamb skin. What’s the connection? A lamb skin was sometimes used as a kind of picnic blanket where there was no table. The meaning becomes clearer when we go back to the first Passover in Egypt.

Before the children of Israel left Egypt, they were to eat the Passover meal which included the lamb they had killed for the blood which they painted onto the door frames of their houses. The blood was the symbol of reconciliation between themselves and God and between one another. They could not travel together on their long journey through the wilderness if they were at loggerheads with one another. The lamb was sacrificed and the skin used as a table for the meal they were to eat in haste before leaving.

Eating a meal together was a witness that they had no issues with one another. They would not sit down at the table if they had anything against each other. The Passover lamb was sacrificed on God’s instruction and the meal eaten in His presence because He wanted them to know that He had no issues with them. He had taken them as His people, and the blood of the lamb which foretold the sacrifice of Jesus, had reconciled them with Him.

Then why did this Pharisee invite Jesus to dinner? He was obviously putting on a show until something happened that made his unresolved antagonism rise to the surface. He was outraged when the prostitute showed up at his dinner party and washed and anointed Jesus’ feet. The same old holier-than-thou arrogance surfaced in his thoughts as was the attitude of all the Pharisees.

How dare she gate-crash his house during a meal and then actually touch this Jewish man, this prophet who was supposed to be aware of who she was! So much for Jesus, the prophet! But this was all going on in his thoughts while on the outside he was smiling and eating with Jesus.

Reconciled? No way! He was just as hostile to Him as all the other Pharisees. This dinner deal was nothing but a show, as was the rest of his empty behaviour for the benefit of the people he was trying to impress.

Knowing the Pharisees, why did Jesus ever agree to accept his invitation? Once again we see the Father mirrored in the Son. Jesus had no animosity towards anyone, not even towards the Pharisees who were out to kill Him. He was willing to “smoke the peace pipe” with anyone who sincerely came to Him. Did He know what was in the heart of this Pharisee? He certainly did when the woman showed up and did what she did.

If there are any issues between you and Jesus, they are on your side, not His. His invitation still stands: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20 (NIV).