Lessons From a Lamp Luke 8:16-21

Introduction:

Todays text is a continuation of the teaching Jesus began in v.4-15 as he taught the crowd and then explained to his disciples the parable of the soils. The setting remains the same; Jesus is sitting in a boat on the edge of the sea of Galilee while the crowd is gathered on the shore to hear him.

While explaining the meaning of the parable of the soil, in vs.10 Jesus told his disciples this:

Luke 8:10 NKJV

10 And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘Seeing they may not see, And hearing they may not understand.’

You might recall last week that we saw that Jesus speaking in parables to the jews was an act of judgement upon the people for their rejection of him. It is entirely possible the disciples who heard Jesus explanation were thinking that they were to also render the exact same judgement themselves and to decide who they should and shouldn't share the truth of gospel with.

Jesus now gives a “mini” parable using a lamp and the light that it to illustrate how we should be sharing the truth with people we come in contact with.

There are three key truths we learn from this little parable that teach us about our life and the gospel.

Lets dive in and examine them together this morning:

1.) The purpose of a lamp is to give light. (v.16)

The lamp is meant to serve as representative picture of a persons life in particular the life of a christian and the light is a picture of the gospel of the Lord Jesus.

The candle of life is given to us the minute we are born, but a candle serves no real purpose until it is lit. It can be used for decoration, but the purpose of a candle is to be lit so that it can provide light.

The way in which a candle is lit is to provide it with a flame from another source. That source is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the light of the world.

John 8:12 NKJV

12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

What good is a candle if it is not providing light? Jesus then paints a scenario here that would hinder a candle from serving its purpose.

A.) A candle is not supposed to be hid.

Jesus example here is meant to be ludicrous. He says that no one lights a candle and then covers it with a jar or hides it under a bed. That defeats the purpose of the candle which is to bring light. All of the energy and effort for lighting the candle is wasted if we hide the light it gives by sliding it under a bed or covering its light.

Sadly, this is what too many christians do with the light of the Gospel. We hide it from those around us by keeping it all to ourselves. We don’t want others to know that our candle is lit because they might think were weird, or even worse it could bring unwanted attention. I might be found out.

Friends when we conceal the gospel we are not doing any one any good and we are certainly not glorifying Christ.

Mark 8:38 NKJV

38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

B.) A candle is meant to attract attention.

It’s not supposed to be hidden, but, it is meant to be elevated on a candlestick so that it can provide light to the entire room. It is supposed to burn and shine light onto everything it touches.

As a christian we are supposed to burn and shine brightly for all the world to see. We are supposed to attract attention as we point people to Jesus. We are supposed to burn and show forth light.

A candle is meant to be seen by all who enter.

Light is a wonderful resource that does many things:

It cuts through darkness.

It guides along the path

It warns of dangers that lie ahead.

Friends the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ does all of these things. The reason for his coming was to shine a light into the dark world, in order that we may find peace with God and avoid an eternity in hell.

We are the most like Christ we we do what he came to do!!

2.) Secrecy is impossible: everything will be found out. (v.17)

Have you ever noticed that we as human beings have an enormous propensity to try and hide things? It comes very naturally to us.

A. ) We try to hide sinful things we are shamed of.

Thats why we delete our browser history.

It’s why men will carry a second cell phone that there wife doesn't know about.

It’s why we’ll stay up late playing video games because we don’t want our spouses to know who we’re talking too.

It’s why we try to beat our spouses home from work so we can hide the things we purchased without them knowing.

It’s why we have secret bank accounts.

We like to hide those things that we are ashamed of because we know they are wrong and we don’t want anyone else to know because they may thing poorly of us.

Here is the thing, God already knows.

Hebrews 4:13 ESV

13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Jeremiah 23:24 NKJV

24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.

Your spouse and church may not know but God does.

This is what Adam and Eve did in the garden after they had disobeyed the Lord by eating the forbidden fruit.

Genesis 3:8 ESV

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

B.) We hide abilities and talents

This is done out of selfishness because we don’t want to have to serve and use them. We’d rather not be bothered, so we keep it all to ourselves.

We much rather prefer to be at ease then to lend a hand to our neighbor or to the church. It’s far easier to sit in the comfort of my own home then to take the time and effort to better the life of someone else.

C.) We hide the light and truth of Christ

Often we do this because we are lazy and complacent. If not that its because we are embarrassed and apprehensive what they may think of us; or we are fearful. Worse yet, we lack the vision, willingness, commitment and initiative to shine the light of the Gospel into the darkness around us.

So we just go right on keeping quiet inside of our own bubble, unwilling to sacrifice and deny ourselves in order to go take the light to someone wondering in darkness.

None of those trepidations about sharing the gospel come from Christ.

2 Timothy 1:7–8 NKJV

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

D.) We think we will never be found out

We keep secrets because we hope they will stay hid and never discovered. We feel safe with our sin because we know it’s secret.

The consequences cant touch me, and if they cant touch me then I’m free to go on sinning. As long as know one finds out, no bad or evil will ever befall me.

That’s what Adam and Eve thought. As long as we hide when God comes for his evening visit, we’ll be just fine, he’ll never know.

E.) Sin always gets exposed.

Let’s read vs. 17 again

Luke 8:17 NKJV

17 For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.

Jesus just said, nothing remains secret and hidden forever.

Every secret thing will one day be exposed by the light. If not in this life, God will reveal the truth in the day of judgement.

Romans 2:16 NKJV

16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

All of the deceptions, disguises, and cloaks will be stripped away and revealed for all to see.

1 Corinthians 4:5 NKJV

5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, 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.

This is what happened to Adam and Eve. They thought they could hide their sin from the Lord but let’s look what happened:

Read Genesis 3:9-19 &23-24

3.) Truth is meant to be heard and shared. (v.18)

vs.18 is meant to serve as a warning. Jesus here is referring back to the parable he just told about the seed of the word of God and the soil of the hearers.

The warning here is simple, we must hear and use what we hear if we want the Lord to bless our efforts. The more we listen and obey the more we are blessed.

(Not that God gives extra blessing, but the blessing is found in the joy of obedience)

A.) We must take heed “how” we hear.

It is possible to hear but hear wrongly. We can think and guess and suppose we know what we hear and be wrong.

Take heed- discern what you hear. Make sure what your hearing is the truth before you propagate it to others.

Then, once we have vetted the truth, we are to take it and share it with others, like a candle shining in darkness.

B.) If we refuse to share it, it will betaken away.

It is a serious thing to hear and understand the Word of God, because this puts on us the obligation to share that 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.

If we are faithful to receive the Word and share it, God will give us more; but if we fail to let our light shine, we will lose what we have. It is a very solemn thing to hear the Word of God.

Conclusion:

v.19-21 bring this to a conclusion

The mother of Jesus, Mary, and his siblings come searching for Jesus, perhaps to chastise him or warn him and when Jesus was told they had come, look at his response:

Luke 8:21 NKJV

21 But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

The blessing that comes from hearing and doing the word of Lord is that we become identified as a part of his family. Our relationship cant be hidden, the world knows to whom we belong.

Acts 4:13 NKJV

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

What a wonderful thing it is to be identified as a part of the family of God.