Dirty Dishes - Luke 11:37-41 - September 3, 2023

 Luke 11:37-41 Dirty Dishes

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 11, verse 37, that’s on page 870 in the Pew Bibles.

We’ve had a wonderful week of VBS this week. We spent a lot of time focused on the Apostle’s Creed, a declaration of faith that has been used by the church since around the Second Century.

But things like the Apostle’s Creed can be dangerous. While they are useful tools to help us summarize the basic teaching of the Christian faith they can easily become empty religious ritual. And while there are groups that faithfully recite the Creeds as part of their weekly worship gathering the temptation is to simply go through the motions and what was once live giving is devoid of life altogether.

And that’s the focus of our text for this morning in Luke 11.

37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. 

Let’s pray.

The Word of God, the Bible, is like a mirror. Sometimes when we look into intently we don’t like what we see looking back at us. That’s what this passage is for me, I look here and I don’t like what I see looking back at me.

In this interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law Jesus’ main concern was their hypocrisy.

The Greek word for hypocrisy means to pretend or to play a part. The whole idea of acting in plays was the invention of a man named Hypocrites. In our context here it is clearly the hiding of interior wickedness behind the appearance of virtue.

So Jesus is invited to lunch by one of the Pharisees whose motivation we can only guess at. Whether he actually wanted to hear what He had to say, or he simply wanted to get Him to stop teaching the particular crowd that was around Him, or that he wanted to be seen as more favored by getting Jesus to come to his house, or maybe he was trying to trap Him in something He said, we don’t know.

What we do know is that it didn’t take long for Jesus to expose the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

The Pharisees had a way of adding their own rules to the law of God, they took the Old Testament and added their own book of rules called the Mishna which included all the rules for proper hand washing and how many steps you were allowed to take on a Sabbath day, things like that.

So when Jesus sat down to eat and didn’t wash His hands, it wasn’t a violation of the Law but a violation of the traditions of the Pharisees. 

JJ vanOosterzee wrote, “Pharisaism, far from being a merely accidental form of the Judaism of that time, is on the other hand the natural revelation of the sinful condition of the heart when men will not give up the hope of becoming righteous before God by their virtue and merits. They are proud of that which they imagine themselves to possess, and continually inclined to assume the guise of that which they well know they do not possess.”

The Word of God had plainly taught them how to walk with God but they rejected God’s way of walking by faith and added all kinds of outward effort to try and prove their own righteousness.

Our problem today is that we try and laugh that off as being silly when sometimes we are just as guilty.

38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

It’s ridiculous to try and separate the inside of the cup and the dish from the outside, if the outside is clean but the inside is dirty, it is still unsuitable for use.

Again JJ vanOosterzee wrote, “Since God has created the inside as well as the outside, one as much as the other must be held holy; and it is not only evil but foolish to wish to separate, even in thought – to say nothing of act – that which in the nature of things is absolutely inseparable.”

The Pharisees were guilty of hypocrisy, they claimed to be clean because they appeared clean on the outside. They had the approval of the people and that’s all that really mattered to them.

“Having no desire for purity except before the eyes of men, as if they had not to deal with God… The chief reason why men are deceived is that they do not consider that they have to deal with God, or, they transform Him according to the vanity of their senses, as if there were no difference between Him and mortal man.” –John Calvin

This kind of religious hypocrisy, ignoring the eyes of God in favor of the eyes of man, or imagining that God doesn’t see or doesn’t really care what they were like on the inside, is really idolatry.

Any attempt to make God out to be any way other than He represents Himself to be in the Bible is idolatry, it’s an attempt to create a god in our own image. If we imagine a god that is all love and all mercy but is in no part righteous nor just, we are doing just that, imagining a god that is not real.

The Pharisees main concern was with what they did versus what they were.

When what we do does not match what we are, or when what we are does not match what we do, we are hypocrites, playing a role, just like them.

“Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

Micah 6:8 says, He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

The Pharisees had neglected justice, mercy, and humility. We’ll look at that more closely next time as there is a lot more to say about this subject.

But here is what really bothers me about this passage, this truly is a mirror…

There are two things. 

First, it is far too easy for us to clean up the outside of our own dishes and be content with that. 

As long as other people see that we are doing the religious stuff, going to church, doing all the events, carrying our Bibles around, just being known around town or at work for being part of the church, that we are all set as if we will never have to contend with God over the issue of our own personal righteousness.

To live is this way is beyond foolish. What good is it to fool the eyes of people when we will still have to one day look into the eyes of God?

You fooled me! Good for you, it’s not hard! 

But apart from true faith in Jesus you will still answer for your sin.

The second thing that bothers me is…

Just as the Pharisees were content with the outside appearance of cleanness, we are often content to, not only appear outwardly clean, but to assume that everybody else is clean too.

What would happen if you were willing to show the inside of your cup and dish? What would happen if you loved enough to look inside someone else’s cup and dish?

My fear is that if you really knew me and what was on the inside of me, you wouldn’t listen to one word I said, and if I knew what was inside of you I wouldn’t want to speak to you anyway!

Do you really know each other? Do you know the burdens that your brother or sister is carrying?

Now, praise God that unlike the Pharisees, through faith in Jesus our sins are washed away and in God’s sight we have been made clean. 

And if that’s not you today, I would encourage you to turn from your sin to Jesus, ask Him for forgiveness and put your trust in Him.

But likewise I would encourage you all to no longer count on your outward appearance to try and trick everybody into thinking that you’re fine if you’re not. 

Now we’re going to have a baptism! So if you’re getting baptized you can go get ready while we sing and then come down to the front row here.

Let’s pray.

Light in a Dark Place - Luke 11:33-36 - August 27, 2023

 Luke 11:33-36 Light in a Dark Place

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 11:33-36, page 870 in the pew Bibles.

It’s been said before that the Scriptures are like a pool that is shallow enough for a baby to wade in and deep enough for a scholar to drown in. I admit in my study this week that I tried very hard to drown myself in shallow water. What I mean to say is that I have tried very hard to make concepts complicated that are really very simple. It’s just too easy if the truth can be found in the plain reading of the text…

Welp… too bad for me. Let’s look at Luke 11:33-36.

33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

Let’s pray.

The Bible often uses metaphors, figures of speech that are symbolic of other principles and concepts. One of the most used metaphors in the Bible is the idea of light representing truth.

For example, Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:130, “The unfolding of your words gives light, it imparts understanding to the simple.” 

But we’re not dealing with some vague philosophical concept of truth, we’re dealing with the concrete and well defined truth of the gospel, that God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son to live and die and rise again to pay the penalty for the sin of mankind and that all who trust in Him will not die as their sin deserves but will be forgiven by God’s grace and live forever with Him in His eternal kingdom.

This is the truth of the gospel and this is the light that Jesus is talking about.

But Jesus makes this metaphor even more personal because He Himself is the Light of the World, and He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 

So when he says in verse 33, “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light,” He is saying, “Here I am, I’m right in front of you telling you the truth and shining the light of the gospel for everybody to see. I’m not hiding out in some cave, or perched on some mountaintop somewhere, I’m right here in front of you.”

And though now He is at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, the truth, the gospel is still right out in front for all to see shining its light through His church, through us, and through His Word, the bestselling book in the history of the world. 

In verse 34 Jesus says, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad [unhealthy], your whole body is full of darkness.”

Healthy eyes see clearly and unhealthy eyes don’t. It’s as simple as that.

2 Corinthians 4:3-6 says,

3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But not everyone wants their life to be lit… John 3:19-21 says,

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 work of the truth is to shine light into the darkness. Alistair Begg asked the question, “Why would anyone want their life to be lit? Only because they realize that their life is darkness.”

When our eyes are healthy and our whole body is full of light, when our lens is the truth of the gospel, we see life and light and beauty in a whole different way. We will see that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. As Psalm 19:1 says. 

John 1:1-13 says,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Jesus didn’t just give sight to the physically blind but to the spiritually blind because that is the work of the truth, to shine light in the darkness.

But Jesus gives a stern warning in verse 35.

Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.

How is that even possible? Can the light within us truly be darkness? 

Well, Jesus said so, so yeah. But what does that look like? 

If light is the truth of the gospel and darkness is deception, the only way for the light within us to be darkness if we think we have light is because we have fooled ourselves into thinking that we have the light when we don’t.

But how can a person do this? When they count on their religion to save them. When they count on their good deeds, when they count on their superstition, when they merely agree with facts instead of trusting in Jesus.

Anytime repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ is replaced by something else people can be easily fooled into thinking that they are headed for heaven when they are not.

Matthew 7:21-23

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

These are those whose light in them is actually darkness, without a relationship with Jesus, without repentance of sin. They did lots of good things, church attendance, religious observances, good deeds, but they never knew Jesus and he never knew them.

They were self-deceived. Don’t be like them, don’t let the light in you be darkness, repent of your sins and trust in Jesus personally, walk with Him personally. See to it that the light in you is not darkness.

Finally verse 36.

36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.

The work of the truth is to shine light in the darkness, and that is our work given to us by Jesus, to shine the light of the truth of the gospel into this dark world.

And this was not the only time that Jesus used this metaphor, he said in Matthew 5:14-16:

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Alistair Begg said, “We can’t be light unless we are set ablaze by Jesus.”

33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

And so, we are left to ask ourselves the question, “Am I living in the light, or am I dwelling in darkness?”

If you are living in the light, then by all means shine! Shine the light of the truth of the gospel on those around you.

And if you are dwelling in the darkness, then by all means repent and turn to Jesus. Renounce your sinful ways and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin and His light will fill you.

Amen.

A Warning From Something Greater - Luke 11:29-32 - August 20, 2023

 Luke 11:29-32 A Warning From Something Greater

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 11:29-32, that’s on page 870 in the pew Bibles.

We are going to be dealing with a short but difficult passage this morning. Not that it in necessarily difficult to understand but it will cause us great difficulty if we ignore it.

You may remember from last week, the last statement of Jesus in that text when a woman in the crowd cried out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But He said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!”

That’s exactly what we are going to be dealing with this morning, hearing the Word of God and keeping it. Let’s look at our passage together.

29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Let’s pray.

So just as a point of interest before we get going, verse 28 shows what Jesus’ view on the worship of Mary is, that anyone who hears the Word of God and keeps it is better off than her. I think that point is not insignificant especially for those who struggle with Romans Catholic doctrine. I won’t go any further into it than that here but I thought that it was worth mentioning.

The key statement that Jesus makes is, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.”

Jesus deals mostly in His earthly ministry with people who have heard the Word of God. The Jews are God’s covenant people, they have the Law and the Prophets, story after story of God’s faithfulness despite their constant wandering away from Him. In the Old Testament there is more than enough information to point people to faith in the coming Redeemer, the Messiah, that we now know is Jesus.

The whole Old Testament is about Jesus, His person and His work, and people’s need for Him and His saving atoning death and resurrection. It’s all there if you are willing to see it.

But the people that Jesus was dealing with, though they knew the Word of God were not willing to see it that way and if Jesus really was who He said He was then He would have to prove it by signs and wonders.

Do you really think for one second that these people would have believed even if He did give them a sign? He wasn’t the kind of Messiah they wanted, they wanted freedom from Rome not freedom from sin.

Jesus had already cast out demons, healed the sick, given sight to the blind, and voice to the mute, what else could He do to prove Himself?

Well, He did have one big sign yet to come.

29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

We sing the song, Christ the true and better Adam, Christ the true and better Isaac, Christ the true and better Moses. Christ is also the true and better Jonah.

So what do we know about Jonah? Jonah was a reluctant prophet, you can read about him in his very own book called, “Jonah.” But in summary, Jonah was called by God to go to one of Israel’s enemies, the Ninevites, known for their wickedness and violent ways, and preach repentance to them.

Jonah, instead of being faithful to the call of God went in the other direction and boarded a boat heading away from Nineveh. A violent storm kicked up and the sailors cast lots to see which of them God was mad at so that they could throw them overboard and save the ship and crew. The lot fell to Jonah and they threw him overboard and the ship was saved. Jonah, however was swallowed by a great fish and spent three days and three nights in its belly.

Here is Jonah chapter two.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” 

10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. 

Jonah then goes to Nineveh and preaches repentance to the people even though he still didn’t want to preach to them, and after he does preach to them he hopes they don’t repent, and sits on a hilltop and sulks waiting for God to punish them for not repenting. But instead they repent and turn to God for the forgiveness of their sin.

Now there’s clearly some differences between Jonah and Jesus as well as the crowd Jonah preached to and the crowd Jesus preached to.

Where Jonah was reluctant Jesus was willing. Where Jonah was a foreigner to the Ninevites, Jesus was a countryman to the Jews.

But the similarities were that Jonah and Jesus both preached repentance and faith in God. Matthew 12:39-40 says, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

John Calvin wrote, “Having spoken of the Ninevites, Christ takes occasion to show that the Scribes and others, by whom His doctrine is rejected, are worse than the Ninevites were. ‘Ungodly men,’ He says, ‘who never had heard a word of the true God, repented at the voice of an unknown and foreign person to them; while this country, which is the sanctuary of heavenly doctrine, hears not the Son of God and the Promised Redeemer.”

There is no record of Jonah telling anyone in Nineveh about his miraculous three day fish ride. If he, in fact, did not tell them the story the Ninevites repented upon his preaching alone. But even if he did tell them about it, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead was still a greater miracle yet the Scribes and Pharisees still did not believe Him.

Jesus tells of the sign of Jonah, meaning His resurrection yet to come, but He also mentions the Queen of the South in verse 31.

31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

This is a reference to an account recorded in 1 Kings 10.

Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. 2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. 3 And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. 4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, 5 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her. 

6 And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, 7 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. 8 Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.” 10 Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba, the Queen of the South, some scholars believe this to be modern-day Yemen, a thousand miles away, travelled all that way to hear Solomon’s wisdom. 

The scholars say that in Jesus’ day Solomon stood in an almost unearthly glory before the eyes of Jesus’ contemporaries. And now, says Jesus, One greater than Solomon is here. Solomon stood as a national hero and now something greater was there right in front of them but they still rejected Him.

Where the Queen of Sheba had to travel over a thousand miles to hear Solomon’s wisdom, Jesus was right there in their midst already, He came to them with more wisdom than Solomon could ever imagine. The Queen of Sheba will rise up at the judgment and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom, she listened to him but they rejected the One who is greater than Solomon.

Verse 32 says, The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Violent heathens repented while God’s covenant people hardened their hearts. Gentile Queens of the South listened to the Word of the Lord while God’s chosen people rejected it.

So what’s the point, what are we supposed to take away from this?

As Calvin wrote, “If that nation was convicted of desperate ungodliness for despising Christ while He spoke to them on earth, we are worse than all unbelievers that ever existed if the Son of God, now that He inhabits His sanctuary in heaven and addresses us with a heavenly voice, does not bring us to obey Him.”

Today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts! 

Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!

Amen.