Lamps on a Stand - Luke 8:16-18 - February 12, 2023

 Luke 8:16-18 Lamps on a Stand

Good morning! Turn with me to Luke 8:16-18, page 865 in the pew Bibles.

Last week, you may remember that we looked at Jesus’ first parable, the parable of the Sower, or of the Soils. In Jesus’ explanation of the parable to His disciples He said:

“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

It’s important for us to have that context because Jesus follows up that commentary with our text for this morning in verse 16.

16“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

Let’s pray.

On its face this text, this principle from Jesus seems pretty simple. But after long hours of study and prayer, and contemplation, and reading the scholars, I have come to the conclusion… that it is still pretty simple.

At the end of Jesus’ public proclamation of the parable of the Sower He makes the statement, in verse 8, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

This is an important statement because that is exactly what Jesus is concerned about in our text this morning: hearing, or listening.

Jesus gives us the simple picture of an oil lamp and reminds His disciples that when you light a lamp you don’t hide it under a jar or stuff it under your bed. These were obvious points that anybody would have understood. But Jesus makes a profound statement in verse 18, “Take care then how you hear…”

Since we are just coming out of the parable of the sower we can understand from the context that Jesus has already explained the “what” of what they were hearing, and that is the word of God, the gospel.

It’s equally important to consider that they were hearing at all. But the reality of it is that not everyone who hears has ears to hear.

I can attest personally that I have sat through a lot of sermons, heard a lot of gospel proclamations that were like water off a duck's back to me. Perhaps you are having the same experience even right at this very moment! Not everybody has ears to hear. But those that had ears to hear the gospel and responded to it in faith and believe in Jesus bear the responsibility to bear fruit, to go from seed to sower and that is what Jesus is addressing here in verses 16-18.

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “It is a serious thing to hear and understand the Word of God, because this puts on us the obligation to share the Word with others. Everyone who receives the seed then becomes a sower, a light bearer, and a transmitter of God’s truth. If we keep it to ourselves we will lose it; but if we share it we will receive more.”

Remember the lesson of the wise and foolish builders in chapter six?

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

When Jesus warns the disciples in our text, “Take care then how you hear…” this is what He’s talking about, hearing, understanding, and doing what He tells us.

Those who have ears to hear are those that hear, trust, and obey, and it is those that become the lighted lamps whose purpose is to be put on a stand so that all might benefit from the light.

So that’s the simple super secret and deep message from Jesus: those who have heard the gospel and have put their trust in Jesus are lamps and the light, the flame, is the gospel itself. We have not been given the light just to keep it to ourselves, instead, our lives should literally reflect the truth of what we have heard and understand and trust.

Verse 17 says, “For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.” What does Jesus mean, what’s the secret wisdom here?

Let me ask you this, what does light reveal? Light reveals what exists in the dark. Spiritually speaking, the light of the gospel reveals our sin. This is why people hate the gospel and reject Jesus.

Perhaps you’re familiar with John 3:16? Jesus explains this concept perfectly in the verses that follow.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

The light of the gospel reveals the reality that we are sinners and that is why we sin. But when we hear the truth of the gospel, that God loves us in spite of our sin, that He has forgiven us for all of it because of Jesus’ death on the cross, and He wants us to walk with Him in the light, we become bearers of that light in the world. 

And that is the light that we are not to hide under a jar or stuff under our beds.

18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

What does Jesus mean here, what is it that more will be given to the one who has, but will be taken from the one who doesn’t have but thinks he has? Is this just another riddle?

It may seem a little riddle-like but Jesus simply means: the truth.

When we hear the gospel and respond in faith, when we hear the truth about our sinfulness and God’s solution, we begin to learn more truth, we learn that the Bible is God’s Word and can be trusted, and from it we learn about the church and our place in God’s family and His kingdom. We can spend the rest of our lives plumbing the depths of the truth of God’s Word.

But to the one who doesn’t have the truth, who has rejected the truth of God’s saving grace in Jesus and their need for salvation and forgiveness, even the truth they think they have will be taken from them.

Even those that choose to reject Jesus will know the truth on the Day of Judgment but it will be too late for them.

In this text, Jesus gives us a wonderful picture of a lamp giving off light, and the simple truth is that lamps are supposed to be used to give off light and so, as Christians, we are to shine the light of the gospel and not to hide it.

But, I have to admit, as I have heard this text read and preached and taught in Sunday School, the picture I always saw in my mind when we sang, “This Little Light of Mine,” was the picture of a candle.

But Jesus didn’t say candle, He said, “lamp,” and how lamps are designed and how they function lends to the strength of this teaching. A lamp is a simple vessel made of clay and sometimes metal that is filled with oil and has a wick that gets lit. In truth, any nonflammable vessel can be used as a lamp if it is filled with oil and can hold a wick.

We are all just simple clay vessels and by faith in Jesus we are filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit and entrusted with the wick of the Word of God that is lit by Jesus. So we are not the light, we are simply vessels that hold the light. The light belongs to God, we just need to be willing to get out from under the bucket or bed and be set on a stand so that the light gets to shine and trust God with the rest. Amen.

Gardening Tips From Jesus - Luke 8:4-15 - February 5, 2023

 Luke 8:4-15 Gardening Tips From Jesus

Good morning! Let’s turn together to Luke chapter eight. This morning we are going to look at verses four through fifteen and that’s on page 865 in the pew Bibles.

This is Luke’s first record of Jesus teaching in parables. A parable is a profound and effective teaching tool that takes a figure from everyday life but applies to it great spiritual truth.

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “A parable starts out as a picture that is familiar to the listeners. But as you carefully consider the picture, it becomes a mirror in which you see yourself, and many people don’t like to see themselves.”

I would also add that the picture that becomes a mirror when carefully considered also becomes a window through which we can see the grace of God.

So let’s look at our text and jump in.

4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” 

9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Let’s pray.

It definitely makes life easier for an expository preacher when the Lord Jesus exposits the text Himself. Last week I told you that I wanted an easy text but didn’t get one, this week the Lord has done all the work already!

I’m sure for many of you this parable is familiar though it may not be to others. To the disciples it certainly wasn’t and in fact, on the surface it seems like a completely ineffective marketing approach.

Think of it this way, if your purpose is to reach as many people as possible with your message, would you consider deliberately making your message confusing or easily misunderstood?

Luke is very polite when he records the disciples’ response to this first parable in verse nine. He simply said that they asked Him what it meant. I think it might have sounded a little more like this: What was that!? We’ve got a great big crowd out here to see and hear about the kingdom and that is what you give them? What does that even mean?!

Jesus explains to them not only the meaning of the parable but the purpose of the parables.

9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6:9,10 when He explains why He was using parables. It isn’t that He was speaking in riddles or deliberately trying to trick anyone, but when He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” He simply means that not everybody is going to get this but those who, by the grace of God, have hearts prepared for this message, will understand.

And by the grace of God we have the explanation to the parable right here but I’m afraid still not everyone will understand what Jesus was saying.

The headings call this the Parable of the Sower but it just as easily be called the parable of the Seed and the Soils.

So what do we know? Who is the Sower? Jesus

What is the seed? The Word of God, the Gospel

What are the four different types of soils? The hearts of those who hear the Gospel

So the soils represent the hearts of those who hear the message of the gospel. I’m sure that in the crowd that Jesus was speaking to all four types of hearts were represented and perhaps here today all four types are represented as well.

As I said before, parables are a picture that when carefully considered become a mirror. So let’s carefully consider it and see what we can see.

The first soil is the path.

12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

These folks are the indifferent. They hear the message but aren’t really listening. This word from Jesus was nothing more than gardening tips, be careful where you sow your seeds…

It’s also important to note that alongside the indifference of the hearts of these folks is the work of the devil who snatches away the word before it can take root. Make no mistake, our enemy, the devil, doesn’t want the gospel to take root in the hearts of any of his captives and will stop at nothing to snatch that word away to keep people from believing in Jesus and being saved.

The second soil is the rocky soil.

13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.

For gospel preachers these folks are exciting, at least at first. Their response to the gospel is impulsive and emotional but when life gets real, when following Jesus gets hard, or inconvenient, they give up on Jesus because they have no root.

Having worked at camps for years the Thursday night campfire conversions are rarely long lasting. The emotions run high, everybody is exhausted from the week, and their defenses are shot. But that rarely represents the reality of belonging to Jesus. When the emotional high is gone the faith withers. 

These folks will tell you, “I tried Christianity, it just didn’t work for me,” or, “I just didn’t feel anything, I didn’t feel different.” I’ve heard this, it’s heart breaking.

The third soil is the thorny soil.

14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

These folks are distracted, they may well be believers, but they are so preoccupied with the cares and concerns of this life that they are unfruitful.

CS Lewis wrote, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” 

There is a seemingly infinite stream of voices calling out for our attention. Whether it’s worry over this life’s affairs, or money, or the constant need for entertainment, whatever it is that is distracting people from the Word and the work of the Lord, it is causing them to be ineffective and unfruitful.

Someone once said, “All living things grow.” But that’s only partially true, living things bear fruit.

And that leads us to the fourth soil, the good soil.

15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

So obviously this is the soil that wins the prize. Gold star for the good soil. These are the hearts that hear the gospel, respond to Jesus in faith, surrender their lives to Him and go on to tell others about Him.

We say a lot around here that our intention is to make and mature disciples of Jesus together as a family and it is. Our intention is to make and mature disciples that will make and mature more disciples. That’s what bearing fruit looks like.

And in that way we go from being soil to being sowers. The kingdom of God is still a secret that we are all called to reveal by indiscriminately casting the seed of the gospel.

So be good soil. Is that it, is that the only lesson? I don’t think it is.

So this parable starts as a picture, and now that we’ve considered it carefully maybe you have seen yourself reflected in is as one of these types of soils, but if we continue to look into it we can see a window into the grace of God.

Here’s what I mean. 

Have any of you ever had a garden? 

Did you just throw down seed on your lawn and hope for the best? 

I bet you didn’t. Good soil doesn’t happen by accident, good soil is cultivated and maintained. 

And who cultivates and maintains the soil? The farmer, the sower.

The parable of the sower is the declaration of the free grace of God as well as His unconditional election of those who will believe. 

Matthew Henry wrote, “Happy are we, and forever indebted to free grace, if the same thing that is a parable to others, with which they are only amused, is a plain truth to us, by which we are enlightened and governed, and into the mold of which we are delivered.”

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. 

1 Peter 1:13-25

Amen.

The Women Following Jesus - Luke 8:1-3 - January 29, 2023

 Luke 8:1-3 The Women Following Jesus

Good morning! I’m very glad to be with you all this morning, this truly is the best part of my week. This has been a challenging week, nothing out of the ordinary, just life happening. And when I sat down to study this week in preparation for this sermon I admit, my first thought was “Lord, I could use something easy, a text that will preach itself.” Maybe the parable of the Sower, that’s an easy one! 

Well, maybe next week will be easy. Today we are going to look at Luke 8:1-3, the parable of the Sower is Luke 8:4-8. So turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 8:1-3, page 864 in the pew Bibles.

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

Let’s pray.

One of the main reasons that I preach book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse is so that we don’t skip over little portions of Scripture like this. 

It would be  very easy to gloss over these verses as a mere introduction to the next few verses that contain a wonderful and powerful parable from Jesus but God’s Word, the Bible, is God’s words recorded for us and as Paul wrote, in 2 Timothy 3:16-17,

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work…

So these three little verses have meaning and they are profitable for us to consider.

First we must consider the work of Jesus on earth.

Though Jesus death on the cross and resurrection from the grave are the culmination of His work it was preceded by His work of proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. Verse 1 says:

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.

Jesus spent three and a half years preaching about the kingdom of God, a kingdom of grace and a kingdom of righteousness by faith in Him. He spent three years teaching people how to be citizens of that kingdom and them when the time came, He gave His life on the cross that we could all enter it through faith in Him alone. No amount of good works or right living can gain us access to His eternal kingdom and save us from the destruction that we deserve, only faith in Jesus Christ.

And during those Three years of ministry He called the twelve whom He called Apostles, and trained them, not only about the kingdom itself but He trained them to preach the Good News after His death and resurrection and return to the Father.

These twelve were unschooled, ordinary men, fishermen, tax collectors, regular guys that Jesus called into an extraordinary work. After His return to the Father Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and filled these men, with the exception of Judas of course. He filled these men with the Holy Spirit and empowered them to do the work of proclaiming the kingdom of God just as He had trained them to do, and they did, and it changed the world! You can read about that event in Acts 2.

But the Twelve were not the only ones with Jesus.

And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

There are three women named here, Mary Magdalene, or Mary from Magdala in the region of Dalmatia, and Joanna, who, along with Mary Magdalene and one other Mary were among the first to see the resurrected Christ. There is also Susanna who is not mentioned again by name in Scripture, as well many other faithful women.

So imagine this, what does this group look like?

What we see here is a circle of men and women, of brothers and sisters, with the Lord Jesus in the center. This is the seed and the design of the church.

Men and women united in faith around the Lord Jesus.

Paul wrote in Galatians 3:26-29,

26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Though men and women are called to different roles within the church, and, sometimes unfortunately, the roles for men are much more clearly defined than that of women, we are all one in Christ. That means that our standing before God is the same through faith in Jesus, there are no classes of citizens in His kingdom just His children.

So what were these women doing, Mary, and Joanna, and Susanna, as well as all the other unnamed women that were with Jesus? 

And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

Remember what Jesus said about the woman who anointed His feet and wiped them with her hair?

She was forgiven much and so she loved much. Like that woman, these women had been given and forgiven much and so they loved much. That woman humbly gave what she had to Jesus as a blessing to Him. In her case it was her tears and a flask of costly ointment, and in the case of these women in our text they provided for the needs of Jesus and the Apostles out of their financial means.

These women stand as monuments of Christ’s power and mercy. Jesus is the Great Physician of both body and soul. What these women were doing was responding positively to His healing and the message about Jesus’ kingdom. They were bound by gratitude to serve Him and His gospel.

They stand as a great example for all of us.

These women willingly sacrificed what they had to provide for the needs of our Savior and His Apostles, and this has been the pattern for the church ever since.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:7-11,

7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? 8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

What’s amazing to me is the humility of our Lord to allow Himself to become so poor that He depended on the generosity of others. He truly did make Himself nothing and took on the form of a servant.

But what a blessing it is to bless the Lord in this way, what a blessing it must have been for these women to give of themselves to feed the Lord and His church.

And as humbling as it was for the Lord to live in such a way as to depend on the benevolence of others it took still another measure of humility to accept their gifts. The One who said that it is more blessed to give than receive allowed these dear saints to experience that blessing by receiving their offering.

The One who multiplied the loaves and fishes for five thousand plus other people allowed somebody else the blessing of providing the bread.

I see in that a picture of the gospel. We come to Jesus in faith, from all different places and backgrounds, and through faith in Jesus He fills us with His Holy Spirit and makes us into things and puts us into places we could never have imagined before we knew Him. 

These faithful women, in their gratitude for what Jesus did for them, gave of themselves to bless the Lord and were forever immortalized on the pages of Scripture. 

We certainly will never be added to the pages of Scripture by name but we can still give of ourselves out of gratitude to the Savior for what He has done for us, whether that is our time, our talents, or our treasure.

Amen.