Responding to God's Message
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Imagine that I’m grabbing something inside Target, and I get a text message from my wife: “Tom Hanks is over here in TJ Maxx… seriously.” Let’s just say I’m skeptical that such is really the case, but I decide to swing over and check it out anyways. I get there to find people already crowded around him asking for pictures, autographs, and begging him to quote their favorite lines from some of his past films, and he does so masterfully: “My mama always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.'” -Forrest Gump
In spite of all this evidence, I leave there disbelieving that it was really Tom Hanks, feeling like my wife had sent me a false message. (She can’t believe my blindness.)
In our current section of study in Luke 11, Jesus is showing the skeptics why their disbelief in his mission and message is truly unreasonable. They don’t need more proof. There’s plentiful light to see the truth. What they need is to listen and obey.
As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “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!” 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. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 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. 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. “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. 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. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 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.”
Here we have 3 consecutive lessons from Jesus about how people are responding to him, about the importance of right response to God’s message. It becomes readily apparent that the way people are responding is insufficient, and so we see a contrast with how they are reacting to him with how they ought to respond to him.
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Bless Your Mom: Praise vs. Praise Supported by Obedience (vv. 27-28)
Bless Your Mom: Praise vs. Praise Supported by Obedience (vv. 27-28)
A woman in the crowd interrupts with praise. Lest we should assume that this lady is way off base and missing the point about Jesus, apparently “It was customary to praise the child by blessing the mother.” -Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Lk 11:27–28.
In other words, what we should see here is someone who is in fact responding at least more rightly to Jesus than the skeptics, whether those who wrongly attribute his power or those who want more signs.
Her blessing for his mother is consistent in fact with Luke’s own nativity narrative, that Mary is indeed blessed among women (1:42) and that she considered herself to be greatly blessed by God (1:48) to be chosen for this privilege (1:30).
What does Jesus intend then as he responds to this woman? Evidently Jesus needs to correct her thinking in some way. But does he disagree with her completely, or does he add further knowledge to the insight she has gained thus far?
Well, another hinge in our right understanding of this brief interaction depends on what Jesus means when he says “rather.” The Translators Handbook on the Gospel of Luke explains that “The word menoun, translated rather, ‘does not question the truth of the preceding statement, but emphasizes the greater relevance of what follows’ (THB).” -Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 3, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 218.
With that in mind, then, Jesus is both agreeing and correcting: “Yes, but rather… Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
It’s right to praise Jesus as we come to realize that he is the Messiah. But the true blessing for those responding to Jesus is not based upon biological relationship to him (such as his mother and siblings). Blessing from God will be for those who hear what God has to say and obey him. Those are the ones who prove themselves to be responding rightly to God (through Jesus).
The ‘word of God’ is revelation from God (what he has said, what he has revealed), and ‘keeping it’ quite simply means obedience. When Jesus talks about the word of God we should understand it on two levels. The first is that Jesus’ original audience would certainly have understood him to mean the Jewish Scriptures (God’s revelation to his people)—what we now call the Old Testament.
Secondly, and notably (critical to our understanding of the whole Bible), Jesus teaches that he is uniquely God’s truth revealed. (He is the show and tell of God’s truth.) What he teaches, and what he himself is, is revelation from God.
Therefore, Jesus is to be heeded and obeyed. That will yield truer blessing than earthly connection or even than heaping on praise. So praise is right, but listening and obeying God (to go along with that praise) is even better. In fact, praise without heeding would be hollow indeed. (“You know that I love you.” … “Feed my sheep.” Jn 21:15-17)
To be truly blessed by God, our praise must be accompanied by obedience. —That’s where the rubber meets the road, where stated belief is proven by its fruit.
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Luke turns our attention back from this singular woman to the crowds, where we are meant to see that even as the company of those interested in Jesus grows, popular skepticism lurks beneath the surface. Those who remain there (either in outright rejection or in skepticism) are in danger of incurring judgment for not fully and finally siding with Jesus.
The Sign of Jonah: Demanding Sensational Signs vs. Heeding the Obvious Warning (vv. 29-32)
The Sign of Jonah: Demanding Sensational Signs vs. Heeding the Obvious Warning (vv. 29-32)
Jesus already addressed those who wrongly attribute his power to Satan rather than God (11:15&17-23), and now he more directly addresses those demanding of him a further cosmic sign (11:16).
The sign-seeking was widespread enough that Jesus spoke of it as a characteristic of “this generation,” a generation which he also labels as evil (wicked, bad). Sign-seeking is bad/evil because it is essentially putting God to the test when he has already given his message, has revealed truth for the listener to heed and obey.
That’s why we shouldn’t give Gideon a pass (in the OT book of Judges) when he lacks the courage to obey what God has commissioned him to do, instead seeking more signs to ‘confirm’ what God has said. - Ok, God, if you are really in this, then will you prove it? Gideon first asks for a sign from God to confirm that it is really the Lord who is telling Gideon to go in his strength and free Israel from Midian (Judges 6:14&17). The Angel of the Lord graciously obliges and scorches the entire offering of goat and bread that Gideon lays out.
Even after the Lord assures him, Gideon still doesn’t really trust God. He goes to demolish his father's altar to Baal in the nighttime, and then asks for 2 more signs. The first sign is that the fleece would be wet and the ground dry; and the second that the fleece would be dry while the ground wet. Both happened as he asked, and then Gideon finally goes into battle. (The Lord would reassure Gideon later as well with confirmation when he and his servant Purah sneak into the camp and overhear the Midianites talking about how their dreams have made them fear Gideon.)
Although God used Gideon in spite of doubting cowardice, in order to prove his graciousness and power in delivering Israel (reducing the number of soldiers with Gideon to only 300), the point is that Gideon’s sign-seeking is not to be emulated. Rather, we should take God at his word and obey.
Jesus says this evil sign-seeking generation of the time will not be given any additional sign except that of Jonah. This too can be understood on two levels.
The message that Jonah finally carried to Nineveh was one of judgment. The message that Jesus brings is one that offers salvation, but the offer of salvation means too that a rejection of that offer will leave people without excuse at the Judgment (vv. 31-32).
Secondly, the messengers themselves are signs: as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man (Jesus) will be to this wicked generation. Matthew adds that Jesus makes specific reference to Jonah being in the fish three days, drawing a correlation to his coming death and resurrection after 3 days “in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:40).
The Bible doesn’t tell us what the Ninevites perceived when they saw Jonah because he finally brought God’s message of judgment on their sinful ways, or what else Jonah might have told them about all that had happened to him in his own attempt to disobey God. But I like the way that Sight & Sound portrays Jonah as having visible signs of being in a fish for the better part of three days—bleached hair and all.
The intended connection that Jesus makes here is that the sign of His resurrection should remove all doubt about who Jesus is and why he came. Sadly, for many (for most) that would not be the case. (cf. Lk 16:31)
He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
So Jesus uses two scriptural illustrations to show that others who heard the message (and recognized God’s messenger of truth), personally responding to God, will serve as condemnation at the judgment against those of this generation who are receiving even greater revelation from a greater messenger and yet refuse to believe.
Apparently the Queen of Sheba (of the South) responded to God due to the wisdom he had given to Solomon (she came a long distance to hear his wisdom). The reason her response is so condemning to the current generation is that “something greater than Solomon is here.” The wisdom of God revealed in Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:24) is greater than that revealed through Solomon.
The second example returns to the Ninevites repenting when Jonah preached, so they too will be condemnation against this generation, because “something greater than Jonah is here.” There can be no question that Jesus is saying that what he reveals is greater. He is the ultimate prophet, and more than a prophet.
The warning is clear: If you don’t respond to what is already made plain in Christ’s message and activity, then you will be judged. The sign of Jonah will be the culmination of the evidence. Jesus says: If what I’m doing doesn’t convince you, and if my resurrection from the dead doesn’t convince you, nothing will.
Jesus’ teaching on the sign of Jonah “draws attention to the need for a concrete response of repentance....” -Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1980.
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Jesus continues this theme of skepticism and rejection vs. responding rightly to all that he is saying and doing.
The Lamp & the Light: Rejecting the Light vs. Spiritual Perception, Health, and Helpfulness (vv. 33-36)
The Lamp & the Light: Rejecting the Light vs. Spiritual Perception, Health, and Helpfulness (vv. 33-36)
If they can’t accept the evidence, it isn’t for lack of light shining to guide the way. What they are proving about themselves is that they lack the spiritual perception leading to spiritual health and spiritual helpfulness to others.
1. The purpose of a lamp: [reread v. 33]
Jesus and his teaching is the lamp in the illustration, illuminating God’s truth. These sign-seekers are ignoring the obvious, but Jesus’ ministry and teaching is plain and speaks for itself.
Based on the two examples Jesus gives, imagine yourself getting out a flashlight [like this] in a dark room your family is in bc the power has gone out, and then putting it under a large basket used to carry or measure corn. Or that you get out the same flashlight and go stick it in another room, like the cellar. How much good does that light do you up in the dining room?
Here’s what Jesus is leading towards with this obvious illustration of the lamp and its light: Those who hear and see Jesus should follow that light as their guide to God. (It’s not rocket science, but stubborn refusal in spiritual blindness makes us dumber than a tin can of lead bolts for a flotation device.)
Jesus now switches the metaphor from him being the lamp and the light being the truth guiding us to God, to another lamp/light metaphor about how we respond to that light:
2. The eye as the spiritual lamp for the body (perceiving and receiving light). You can’t see where to go without light. And your eye is the receptor, the perceiver of that light.
Receiving the light means spiritual health for the whole. Rejecting the light means darkness for the whole.
(v. 35) Be careful that you are not rejecting Jesus and remaining spiritually dark. Take care that you are spiritually perceptive and receptive.
3. (And we have a third shift…) The spiritually receptive person is filled with this light, making them wholly bright from within. This person now outwardly reflects the light that they have received because it transforms them from within from darkness to light. - Jesus has switched the lamp here for a third time: The spiritually receptive and healthy person themselves becomes a lamp of truth for others… clearly leading back to the ultimate source of truth, which is Jesus, who is very God sent from God.
Stringing the whole lamp/light lesson together = Jesus is the source of light, God’s truth. The one who responds appropriately, receiving the light, will be a spiritually healthy person, full of light, who then also lives by that light and radiates that light to others.
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What do all three of these lessons have in common?
What do all three of these lessons have in common?
Two things:
God’s message is revealed in the person and teaching of Jesus Christ. - In the first section the message is God’s word, in the second it is a prophet’s proclamation of judgment (also the revelation from God acted out in the messenger), and in the third the message is the truth as light. In all three cases, what we are dealing with is the One who is at that very moment is doing the teaching. The message from God they must rightly respond to is the person and teaching of Jesus.)
The responsibility of those who hear and see Jesus is to respond in repentance and belief. (To believe is to keep the truth, to obey the truth.)
People do have to respond. I have to respond. You have to respond. Others have to respond. It’s not only ludicrous for us to not emphasize this in our understanding of God’s revelation, it’s wrong for us not to evangelize—which means to present the good news and call people to repent and believe.
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