This Little Light of Mine… Luke 8:16-21
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“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. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 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.”
Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
Introduction:
One of the first lessons we learn in school when we are very young is to listen to your teacher. If you can’t get that much down then the rest of the instruction doesn’t matter because you aren’t going to hear it. It matters very much how we hear Jesus’ Word and what we do with it. In Luke 8, verses 16 through 21, we find Jesus focusing in on this idea of hearing the Word and what we are going to do with it.
In the first 15 verses of Luke chapter 8 we heard Jesus explain why he taught in parables and explain the parable of the sower or the four soils. If you missed that sermon I encourage you to go back and listen to it because this passage is picking up where it left off with Jesus still speaking. They are connected.
Jesus is continuing to speak and he’s focusing in on good listening to the Word. He applies this for them in a further way to help them get it. To do this He uses a short parable about a lamp.
Our main idea today is:
Those who hear the Word and put it into practice show they have fertile hearts and are truly part of Jesus’ family.
Those who hear the Word and put it into practice show they have fertile hearts and are truly part of Jesus’ family.
I. Use it! (v. 16-17)
I. Use it! (v. 16-17)
“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. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
In those days, homes would have a small clay oil lamp. One resource said that even in the poorest homes they would keep the lamb burning all night. If you were to walk into the home at night you would see the lamp burning on its stand but not the contents of the room. As your eyes adjust to the light you would be able to see a bit more. The purpose of using this seemingly absurd illustration is utility. The general idea is that if you have something useful then use it. You don’t set aside something that works and is useful.
As we focus our attention on the light, on Jesus, gradually the rest of the contents of the room are revealed to us. Your eyes adjust to Jesus and gradually more is revealed.
Seeing Jesus clearly helps us see everything else rightly in relation to Him and His Word.
C.S. Lewis wrote,
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
― C.S. Lewis
If you have a lamp, the purpose is to light your house. You wouldn’t take it and put it under a jar or bed because then the light wouldn’t be seen. You put it up on a lampstand so it lights the room and everyone can see better.
Why would Jesus use this parable right now? Well, it comes right after the section containing the parable of the sower. But if you look back in that passage, and this is where hearing last week’s message will help, in explaining the reason that He taught in parables, Jesus said that to His disciples it had been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God but for others, it was hidden from them. So what is this idea of a lamp all about? They had been given the light of the gospel (secrets of the Kingdom revealed to them). They had been taught the Word of God and by their response showed that they were good soil. So they were to now take that truth of the Word of God and put it to use, not hide it away where no one else could see it.
Jesus’ followers had heard the Word and NOW they were responsible to do something with it. It’s the “what now” question for them and for us. Will they make use of the gift of the Word that was revealed to them by Christ Jesus? Or would they ignore it and not put it to use? Would it make a difference in their lives?
The parable of the sower or soils shows us that many will hear the Word without it making any difference in their lives because they don’t have soft hearts toward it.
J.C. Ryle wrote,
“The Gospel which we possess was not given us only to be admired, talked of, and professed,-but to be practiced. It was not meant merely to reside in our intellect, and memories, and tongues -but to be seen in our lives.”
It is not enough to merely think of yourself as a Christian. Some folks, when it comes to glorifying God, are as useless as a flashlight with no batteries. Living your life for Christ means making good use of the truths of scripture revealed to you. When you study the Word, you should figure out ways that you can put it into practice in your daily life. It’s not simply an intellectual exercise.
Here’s the thing, if you want to continue to know more and more of the kingdom you need to use what you have, or lose it.
II. Or lose it! (v. 18)
II. Or lose it! (v. 18)
Let’s look at verse 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.”
As we hear the Word of God, we must pay close attention to our heart posture toward the Word. What is the garden of your heart like? Are you ready to hear the Word and respond? Or are you ignoring the Word of God? I must caution you as Jesus does. You will not be able to ignore it forever and get away with it. We are held accountable for what we hear and what we do with it. The secrets of the kingdom have been revealed to Jesus’ followers. It reminds me of a passage in the book of James.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
It is possible for people to think they are standing on faith but when examined, their lives tell us quite a different story. They have either ignored the Word or taken what they have and put a jar over it. But know this, you can not hide where you stand with the gospel permanently. In the end things will come to light. And if we fail to make good use of what we have been given, it will be taken away. I don’t believe this means losing your salvation. But let’s look at what Jesus says here. He breaks this down into what we will refer to as the haves and the have nots. Those who have it and those who don’t. We’re not talking about material possessions. Keep it in the context that it appears in the text. People were listening to Jesus and beginning to grasp the secrets of the Kingdom of God. Those who have, or the haves are those back in verse 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.
These are the good soil folks. They persevere in the Word and bear fruit.
We can contrast these with the have nots.
- They think they know the truth.
They go to church.
They listen to sermons.
BUT - Their religion doesn’t do them any good. They are still angry, bitter, and selfish people. There is no root of faithfulness in their lives.
I know today has been a little quote heavy but I want to add one more.
Norval Geldenhuys said,
“While those who listen to Him with a believing, surrendered, and obedient heart, will be given a deeper and more intensive insight into the spiritual life and into His Word, the indifferent and disobedient ones will lose even the little measure of spiritual knowledge and joy of life which they possess.” - Norval Geldenhuys
Jesus sets this up that those with spiritual knowledge who put it into practice get more and those who don’t get less. Sort of a “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” sort of situation.
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
Think of your daily quiet time or devotional time. You want to read the Bible so you start out and for a couple of days you do great. It seems like a deep time. Then one day you rush out the door late for work because you woke up late. You think, I’ll read tonight. But you don’t. You come back the next day and it’s good but maybe you feel less into it than before. Eventually you skip more days and stop altogether. You look up a year later and find you are drifting away from the Lord and not growing in your love and dedication to Him.
As you work with what light you have, you will gain more insight. People who put the Word into action grow in Christ. As you put it into practice His truth will be more opened to you. The inverse is true as well.
Think of learning a foreign language. In high school I had three years of Spanish. However, in the last twenty five or thirty years I have not used it in my everyday life. I have not conversed with it in my personal conversation. I’ve lost much of what I had because I did not use it on a regular basis. Spiritual knowledge is like this. You use it or lose it. Hear the Word, Believe the Word, Do the Word.
And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
And the last point that really I’ve been poking at all morning is this: Use it, or lose it, and it will show.
III. It will show. (v. 19-21)
III. It will show. (v. 19-21)
Look at verses 19-21
Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
This interaction with Jesus’ earthly family probably seems like sort of an abrupt shift in the narrative here. However, it’s really not because of where it goes.
Jesus loved His family. However, for Jesus, spiritual family supersedes physical family. In fact, our physical families are to point us to the reality of our spiritual family.
Jesus is clear that the people who are truly part of His family are not just those who say they are in the family. It is those who hear the Word of God AND do it. The doing it proves that we have heard it rightly.
Now, it would be easy to get this twisted if we aren’t diligent. Salvation is not by our works or by our obedience. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ’s finished work on the cross alone. Only by faith in His sacrificial death in our place, for our sin, can we be forgiven and given His right standing before God. Only by grace through faith in Jesus can we be made right with God and be reconciled to Him. The outflow of that will be a desire and a diligence to know His Word and then put it into practice. As we do this, we will continue to grow. The most spiritually mature Christians you know aren’t sitting around and not doing anything with their faith. But there are many in our world who verbally claim the name of Jesus but by their behavior and the way their lives play out prove that they do not follow Jesus. They don’t care about His Word, not just hearing but also doing.
This is consistent with the Apostle Paul.
Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Listen to the way they rendered verse 18 in the New Living Translation:
For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.
So watch yourself. Pay attention how you hear the Word. It is on the back end when we look at fruit and can see what kind of soil our heart really showed itself to be.
Conclusion and Application:
I want to close by asking you a question for you to pray over and think over.
Is the desire of your heart to serve and glorify Christ? - Then seek Him in the Word. Hear the Word with a soft and ready heart. We are satisfied far too easily in lesser things than Biblical Christianity. Tend the garden of your heart.
Let’s Pray.
Pray.