What to Do With God’s Truth

“As Jesus’ ministry progressed, it was evident that each of these groups surfaced: (1) The Pharisees and religious leaders refused to believe. (2) Some people rallied around Jesus because of His miracles of healing and feeding but refused to stay with His message (e.g., John 6:66). (3) Others, such as the rich ruler (Luke 18:18–30), were interested in Jesus but would not accept Him because of the strong pull of materialism. (4) Others followed Him and were committed to His Word regardless of the cost (e.g., 8:1–3).” -John A. Martin, “Luke,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 225.

In our text for today in Luke then, Jesus reiterates the importance of responding rightly to what he teaches because it comes from God. We must listen rightly and respond to God lighting the way to himself, or else our foolish stubbornness will ultimately be revealed at the judgment by the light of the same truth from God.

But if we respond to the truth and apply it (by obedience), we have confidence that we belong to God and are being transformed and kept by him. We are his children, and Jesus declares that that Christian bond is stronger than, and to be prioritized over, even biological family.

Responding Rightly to Jesus’ Teaching (vv. 16-18)

The light is God’s truth, and the point here is particularly what Jesus has been teaching. In this use of an illustration Jesus evidently used more than one time and in more than one sense, I believe Jesus’ means that his teaching is the light. Although in Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus uses a similar metaphor this way:

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. 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.

… It makes more sense in this context that it is the truth from God through Jesus and his teaching that is the light. (Although it is hidden from those who are blind to it [even as Jesus explains concerning his use of parables], that is not the overall intent. Rather, the purpose of what Jesus is teaching concerning God, and himself, is to give light.

God’s truth lights the way.

Explain v. 16.

Have you thought much about the nature of darkness and how impressive light is?

Speaking of Jesus as the Word, the revelation from God, John says:

John 1:4–5 ESV

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

“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

God’s truth lights the way. And it has a second feature…

God’s truth exposes what seems hidden.

Explain v. 17.

Light exposes that which at first seems hidden, and what we aim to hide, but all will be exposed clearly at the judgment.

Sometimes we turn on just enough light to get by, like nightlights so we don’t whack our shins on coffee tables or trip over toys. But if we need to find something, to expose it as we search for it, we turn on the bright lights, sometimes even turning to a flashlight to see the hard to illumine places.

God’s light is perfect, exposing every quarter of our sin-laden souls. There’s no closet where you can stash away your secret un-submissiveness to God, no rug to cover your underlying pride. All is laid bare, in plain sight before God.

That means that if you go on thinking that you can nod your head to God but not give all that you are over to him, you will one day be exposed and judged as one who thought you could have it both ways. But v. 18 proves that…

It’s all or nothing. There’s no middle ground.

Explain v. 18.

You can’t live half way across the bridge, trying to play both sides. You prove yourself to be tethered to the world, and when the flood of judgment comes, you will be swept away into everlasting separation from God. And you can’t get that back.

Secondary application about God’s truth, God’s word here in v. 18 - You can’t take what you want (what’s convenient to apply) and ignore the parts you don’t currently want to apply, or the parts that are hard to apply with current cultural trends or events.

It’s all or nothing. There’s no middle ground. You either take God at his word and on his terms, or you are not accepting that God is who he says he is and does what he says he will do. Take care then how you listen!

Now to further enforce this concept of relating rightly to God’s truth (revealed in Jesus), Luke chooses now to relay the incident when Jesus’ family is trying to access him but they can’t because of the crowds listening to him.

The Familial Bond & Obedience of Right Relationship to Jesus (vv. 19-21)

Jesus’ mother and his half-brothers, surely those who were born to Mary and Joseph by natural means after the miraculous conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit, probably think that they should be given preferential treatment to access Jesus because they are his family, after all. Instead of immediately accommodating them, though, Jesus uses the moment to teach that which is more spiritually significant than biological relationships.

True Christian discipleship transcends biological family.

Jesus isn’t teaching that he doesn’t care about his family or that he has no responsibility to them or for them. After all, he even takes care from the cross that his mother will be looked after by the Apostle John.

But what he is teaching is that ***

Secondly, we see in this relationship that…

We must listen to God’s truth and apply it.

(especially here what is revealed in Jesus)

Imagine yourself in the frontier days, and that you are on one side of a river, working tirelessly to grow and maintain crops to sustain your family. The problem is, the soil is thin and rocky and it is proving nearly impossible. It’s arid and rainfall is sparse. To make matters worse, even though you are near the river, there is a steep and craggy cliff that makes it unreasonable to bring water up from the river. But you must try all the same.

Then another pioneer tells you that he has crossed over the to other, lower side of the river, and that farming over there has proven extremely fruitful. You can almost see now that it would make sense, but you’ve already built a home and a fence around your “gardens/crops” (even though you’re mostly not getting anything from them). How stubbornly foolish is it to refuse to move and rebuild on the other side simply because you don’t want to lose what you’ve already built?

It’s like that with responding to Jesus. We can try and try forever to do things our own way, with no real success (we can even build a cathedral on the wrong side of the river!). Or we can submit to God’s word when he tells us we must cross over to the other side where there is actually fruitful success. And the Great Pioneer tells us there’s only one way to the other side; Jesus himself is the only means into God’s country.

Those who listen and obey… not just by intellectual assent but by action… not just “hey, you’re right, that sounds good, sounds true” … but actually doing something with that truth… those are his people, his family.

[Conclusion] What are we to do with God’s truth?

Jesus came to be a light to those lost and stumbling in utter darkness without God. He lights the way and himself is the way to restoration with God, exposing our sinfulness and need for God at the same time.

Can’t you imagine being in a situation where you desperately need light because without it you are stumbling in darkness (like the illustration we used at the beginning)?

And can you imagine then being offered light only to reject it? Your condemnation is even greater.

But…

Why walk in darkness now that light is offered to you?

Will you respond today to Jesus offer to forgive your sin and make you right with God?

As always, I want to be sure that we believers are also applying these truths to ourselves. When we think about the privilege of being adopted as God’s children, having a familial bond with Christ and one another, we must keep in mind that...

“Jesus family consists of those who obey God.” (Bock, 716) - It’s not as if there is anything unreasonably demanding about this:

Having a perfect Father means that we can trust him completely so that we will commit to do everything he says.

Admittedly, this can be challenging:

“We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” ― C.S. Lewis

But we trust him because he is good and his ways are good. Everything that he allows in our path, if we trust in him and walk by his light, will yield fruit in our lives for our good and for the advance of his kingdom. There is such rest and reassurance, such motivation and courage, in living by that truth.

The light came into the world… to light the way to God and to expose our need for God and our sinfulness apart from God. We either embrace the light or we flee from it, but that ignorance can’t remain forever. One day we will be held responsible for how we’ve responded to Jesus.

For those who respond to God’s truth, proving their believe by their obedient action, we can be assured that we are God’s own family, adopted as his sons and daughters, and that one day then we will reap the inheritance promised us as his children—even eternity with him!

Let’s pray.

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