Series:
Life Lessons from Dr. Luke
Got a
Light
Luke
11: 33-54
Light is a
very useful thing – although there are exceptions for those who are vision
impaired, without light it would be difficult to do many of the things we do
every day. Light can help us find
things. External light only
reveals the outside shell – can’t tell you what is on the inside. Three coffee cups. Open:
empty coffee
muddy dark spots in
this coffee. Only by shining the
light inside the cup can we tell the difference.
Here in
verses 33-37 Luke presents three statements about light that Jesus has
uttered. He says:
We don’t light a lamp and then hide it under a bushel
- witnessing
Your eye is the gatekeeper that allows good into your life. – be
careful what you embrace
Statement
in verses 36
36 Therefore,
if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just
as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
(NIV)
Make sure that your inward being is filled with light.
At first
these all seem disconnected ideas – what is he talking about here?
When we put
these ideas together, we see that Jesus is saying that I want your inner light
to be the same as your outer light. Jesus is concerned not just about the
outside of you – what people see when they look at you – he is also
concerned about the inside of you – your innermost feelings, values,
principles. Who you are when no
one is around.
Jesus enjoyed
the entertainment options of his day: he went to weddings, celebration feasts
and he went to people’s houses to eat.
Vs. 37 we find him gong to the house of a Pharisee. several others would have been there as well.
Dr. Luke puts this passage directly after the passage on light to give
us a practical example of this inner light that Jesus wants us to have.
Shined the light on these men externally – they would be spotless but
there were some dark spots hidden beneath the surface.
As he is
eating, the people notice he didn’t wash his hands. Not a matter of hygiene but a ceremonial washing. It was an
elaborate production. When called
on it by the Pharisees Jesus responds:
It
does no good to clean the outside of the vessel if the inside is dirty.
It is simply a façade. If
you make a good showing on the outside but aren’t changed inside, you are
simply foolish.
Religion that
is simply concerned with looking good but never doing anything with it is
useless. Have you ever known
anyone who looked good on the outside but it was later revealed that there
were some dark spots on the inside.
Tiger Woods 14 major championships his income outside of golf was over
$1mm a year, beautiful wife – 2 children
toast of the town. Dark
spot – his sexual partners were many and his life became to come apart.
Bernie Madoff started an
investment firm with $5M in 1960, grew that to the 6th largest in
the world, as he became successful, he used his influence as a member of a
certain religious group to attract others of the same religion – they
trusted him – he was one of their own; he became an extremely wealthy person
who owned a $7 m apartment in Manhattan and several other homes valued over
$5m each a yatch and 2 private planes jetted him and his family around the
world, ate at the most expensive restaurants and bought the most expensive
clothes available. Despite the
shine of the outside, Bernie had a dark spot inside.
He was a fraud. Finally his sons alerted authorities about their famous dad
and his financial empire crumbled under investigation that revealed a Ponzi
scheme. He had cheated investors out of approximately $50B. He was convicted in June of 2009 and sentenced to 150 years
in prison. His demise caused the
bankruptcy of several non profit foundations who lost all of their money as
well as over 4,800 other clients. There
have been at least 3 suicides attributed to this loss.
You can’t always tell by looking at the outside what’s on the
inside.
In the next
three verses, Jesus points out some dark spots in the lives of these
Pharisees. from verses 42—44 he
pronounces three woes on the Pharisees because their insides don’t match the
outside.
First:
vs. 42 you tithe but
ignore justice and love
Very
meticulous about giving the tithe. This
was an agricultural society – the tithe was to be “1/10 of everything that
was grown for food and cultivated from the soil” animals – grains –
vegetables etc. rue was a
medicinal herb – aloe plant – it was not necessary to tithe that but they
did.
When it came
to obeying the Old law; there were none better than the Pharisees.
spotless
Jesus does
not say: don’t tithe.
He says that’s good but you are neglecting justice and the love of
God.
Why are you bribing judges so that you win lawsuits
why are you abusing women and making them second class citizens why are you not loving people who
cannot repay you not
helping the poor
For the last
2000 years there has always been a dynamic in churches concerning the message
of salvation and spiritual growth against social justice issues.
Some groups emphasize one and some the other.
But Jesus says: it is a
moot question – we should do both. We
need to give to the local body of Christ but we also need to reach out to
those around us with justice and love.
Outside looks
good but inside - dark spot.
Vs.
43 you seek prominence instead of
significance
The most
important seats in the house were not only in the front but they were facing
the audience. The closer to the
front the more important you were. The
most important would come in last with their robes flowing and take their
place so everyone could see their importance.
In recent
years, many congregations are moving their pastors off the platform.
I have wrestled with that. Why
do I still sit on the platform most of the time.
1 see me worshipping 2.
because I am a hands on pastor – I like to look in your eyes – love you
with my eyes – see if someone is missing so I can follow up.
Vs.
44 you contaminate others
This is a
reference that is totally foreign to us. Walk over an unmarked grave – what
is that?
Num. 19:6
says that anyone who touches a grave even accidentally will be unclean for
seven days. One of the
restrictions if you were unclean, you couldn’t worship for 7 days.
Barred from intimacy with God. He
says: your influence rather than
helping people is keeping them from a relationship with God.
You think you are leading people to God – you’re actually leading
them away from him. Dark spot on
the inside
Scribe
or a lawyer pipes up
– when you insult them, you insult us also.
Jesus was actually an equal opportunity offender.
When we think
of lawyers we think of trial
lawyers like Johnny Cochran type of people.
This is not the type of lawyer he is talking to.
They are experts in the field of interpreting scripture and adding
their comments so people would not disobey the OT law.
Vs.
46 you make unrealistic
expectations
While you are
adding to the hundreds of laws that people must obey to keep the outside
clean, there is no way they can do it. It’s
the old ‘earn your way to God by works system”
that Jesus came to destroy. Antithesis
of grace.
The scribes
were experts in finding loopholes: see
Barclay: this is religion dark
spot on the inside.
Vs.
47 you only honor dead prophets
The prophets
and the Pharisees had a love hate relationship
the prophets would tell them they were doing something wrong
- the Pharisees would
ignore them. Even
kill them
And then when
they were dead – weren’t those prophets great?
Like some funeral services – a scoundrel but at your funeral – the
pastor made you sound like Mother Teresa. Let’s build a monument for them.
Hey I got an
idea: how about listening to
them??? Jesus says
your lips honor me but your hearts are far from me.
Vs.
52 you actually hurt those you
think you are helping
Their
interpretation of scriptures and endless rules, exceptions and mandates were
so complicated that no one could keep them.
Instead of majoring on the mega themes of scripture they were
constantly trying to major on the minors.
We see all
six of these woes present in 21st century Christianity:
Tithe but ignore social justice
Seek personal glory and prominence
Unrealistic expectations of Christians that they themselves cant even
keep
Instead of concentrating on the major themes of scripture they bog
people down in matters of preference to such a degree that they give up on
Christianity altogether.
What are your dark spots?
Ask you two
questions which will say a lot about your inner light?
Would
people say you are more concerned about rules or relationships? Pharisees
were rule centered; Jesus was people centered
Would people say you are more
religious or more spiritual? What’s the difference?
Religious
people are anxious to put up a good front – to keep the outside clean. .
Spiritual
people are anxious to keep the inside clean – to walk with you on your
spiritual journey as we discover the continual will of God for our lives.
Religious
people are anxious to tell you why you
are wrong and they are right. They never admit they are wrong.
Spiritual
people are anxious to look at the scriptures
with an open mind to God’s leading. They are not afraid to say I was wrong.
Religious
people are anxious to extend judgment.
Spiritual
people are anxious to extend grace
because they have received grace.
Does the
inside match the outside? If God
shined the light of his love inside you what would
he see?