Luke 12:35-59

We’re travelling through the Gospel of Luke, learning so many valuable lessons about the Kingdom of God. When we are on the Lord’s side, filled with the Holy Spirit, we really don’t need to worry about anything. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all the other things we need will be added. However, we are engaged in a spiritual war and we need to prepare ourselves for battle.

Our weapons found in Ephesians 6 such as prayer, salvation, righteousness and so on are very non-threatening humanly speaking but they are threatening to our true enemy who is the opposite to all of them. The key point is we are not fighting against flesh and blood but against evil principalities and powers. 

People are living in darkness unaware they are in Satan's camp and why they are hostile to the Gospel. As a result, they have bad eyes and are not able to judge correctly, some going so far as to outright reject the Lord Jesus, our only hope of salvation. Outright rejectors of the Gospel are in great danger, when you see someone turning others against the Lord, they stand on the edge of the abyss, close to committing the unpardonable sin and bringing final judgement on themselves.

The other thing we noted is how important it is to pay attention to who Jesus is speaking to, in the passage we are going to read today it is to his disciples with a crowd of people listening in.

Luke 12:

“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; 

To gird your waist means to tighten a belt or sash around your midsection to prepare for physical action, work, or battle. As we know, we are engaged in a spiritual war like it or not. What part of the spiritual armour is Jesus talking about? The belt of truth. We need truth to make right decisions. Sincerity, honesty, frankness, integrity, having a clear conscience, these are part of the belt of truth. Letting our yes be yes and our no be no. We are fighting the Father of Lies so we’d better know the truth or else we’ll be deceived and defeated.

Seeing things accurately gives us a good eye, provides true light and helps us judge accurately. Jesus said the Pharisees had bad eyes because they called the work of God of Satan and in doing so moved into danger of blaspheming the Holy Spirit; the unpardonable sin.

What does it mean to have your lamp burning? First of all, it means it’s dark. No one needs to burn a lamp during the day. Lamps must be filled with oil first. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must be reading the Bible and praying daily so we have a continual supply of oil. But we also have to have our lamps lit to make our faith known and expose darkness. That’s what it means to shine our lights. 

Luke 12:36-40

and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” 

In Jesus’s day, once the couple became betrothed, the groom spent this time building a new room or home addition at his father's house, while the bride waited and prepared her garments.

The groom did not know the exact day he would go get his bride. Only his father could inspect the new home and give final permission to go claim her.

Once the father gave the word, the groom and his friends would head out toward the bride's house, often late at night.

A member of the wedding party would blow a trumpet (shofar) and shout to announce the arrival. So it was important to be ready at all times.

This year our son Sean got married on July 4th. Of course we knew the date. Nevertheless, there are a lot of things to prepare for a wedding to run smoothly. Sean and Hannah created a run sheet with a lot of details - times, tasks and responsibilities but when we came to do the rehearsal the day before, Hannah’s Dad asked the question, what exactly does the task entail and we all looked blankly at each other. We worked it out on the spot, but we needed to do the rehearsal to find out there were some gaps. It’s all very well to do Church in theory but you’ve got to actually do the rehearsal, to practice what you preach, to find the gaps ! That way you know you’re ready for the real event.

Similarly, at work we used to do fire drills so that if a real fire occurred, we knew what to do. 

Now in this story Jesus told, it was not known when the Master was coming for the Wedding. So hopefully the servants did a few fire drills and were keeping watch for the unannounced return of the Master otherwise it would be panic stations when the trumpet sounded.

In ancient Roman and biblical tradition, the night was divided into four guard shifts or "watches".

The third watch ran from 12:00 AM (midnight) to 3:00 AM.

It coincided with the darkest part of the night.

In folklore, 3:00 AM specifically is often dubbed the "witching hour" because it marks the very end of this deep midnight watch right before the final morning shift begins.

So, when you hear the saying the darkest hour is just before the dawn, this is what that means. And boy, the world has gotten really dark when it cannot recognise the truth of even basic biology.

Jesus did describe his coming like a thief in the night. If he comes to take his Church in the 3rd watch, it will be at a time when it is really dark spiritually. For many people, his coming will be a complete surprise. But not for us because we are keeping watch and recognise the signs of his soon coming which are plainly obvious now.

Luke 12:41

Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?” 

Are you talking to me?

Peter wanted to check who Jesus was addressing because Jesus himself had said he spoke parables to the crowd so that they would not understand, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy. So, Peter wasn’t sure if the parable was meant for him and the other disciples. It was a valid question.

And Jesus confirmed that yes, he was chiefly talking to the disciples…

Luke 12:42-44

And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. 

Jesus called us stewards and servants. He has invested in each one of us physical gifts such as family, work, health but also spiritual gifts. Do you know what your spiritual gifts are? Are you using them to serve others? Do we need to do a refresher course on spiritual gifts like we did a few years ago?

So we can see the signs of his coming, what should we be doing. Well it’s not as the meme said - look busy. Nor sweeping the dust under the carpet. Neither is it the time to relax as if everything will carry on as it has ever done. This was Peter’s warning;

2 Peter 3:3-4

knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

In the last few years since COVID, quite a few have dropped out of Church gatherings for a more comfortable participation online. 

As elders we have cause for reflection on what to do differently to get them back and go and win others. We each have a big responsibility at this time.

Each one of us needs to ask ourselves the question, how can I best serve the Lord now. I can’t think of a better use of your time now than to grow the Church in your community.

PCC is known for Community and there is no better place to be at this time than in a live church, serving the Lord and others.

Luke 12:45-47

But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 

The only thing worse than being unprepared, is to be behaving like an unbeliever when the Lord returns.

Being a disciple means the potential for great rewards but it carries the risk of severe punishment for failure to do your duty since a disciple should know better.

But then he extends the warning to others in the crowd who had ears to hear;

Luke 12:48

But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. 

Once you hear and understand this message, it puts you in the dangerous position of someone who has been given much. Keith Green once said, always be afraid of getting more light! We are responsible for our reaction to the light we have been given. I love to learn new spiritual things but what’s the point if I don’t do anything with the information. In the parable of the talents, the one who received 10 talents immediately went out and started trading, but the one who received 1 talent went and buried it in the ground and was condemned by the Master. Jesus will ask us one day what we did with what he gave us. It’s something to seriously reflect on but not only that, to take action over. In the parable, the only one who was condemned was the one who did nothing.

Luke 12:49-53

“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” 

Jesus refers here to his coming death on the Cross as a baptism, one of distress, of suffering. 

In summary there are three different types of baptism, some say seven.

• Water Baptism 

• The Baptism of John

• The Baptism of Jesus

• The Baptism of the Israelites (Red Sea)

• Baptism of Fire

•        The Baptism of Suffering (The Cross)

• Baptism of the Holy Spirit

You can think of baptism as going in the deep end over your head, a moment when you depend on God for a miracle. Some of you may have been through that in your life, where the only way through was to fully trust God.

And baptism is a way of dividing us, setting us apart from the World. Jesus says even in families there will be division over Him, a certain amount of brokenness. You can’t stay neutral with Jesus. 

Jesus is both a divider and uniter - He separates the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff. But he prays for his disciples to be as one as he and the Father are one.

The fact that we have a Church divided on major doctrinal and biblical themes such as Creation, the Holy Spirit, Hell, The Virgin Birth, The Resurrection, Marriage, the Sanctity of Life, implies that the Church is a mixture of true and false converts.

Since the Spirit leads us into all truth, major differences between believers should slip away over time, not the opposite. Jesus will continue to divide people but as believers we should be coming closer to Christ and each other. That’s a challenge for every Christian and every Church.

This passage concludes with Jesus turning to speak finally to the multitudes who’ve been listening in and gives them one final challenge.

Luke 12:54-57

Then He also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time? “Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.”

Jesus didn’t smooth talk the crowd in the way some preachers do today. Yet his congregation wasn’t small. 

Jesus called the multitudes hypocrites, hardly the worldly way to win friends and influence people. Hypocrisy is self deception, making you blind to the truth. Nobody will have an excuse on Judgement Day. None of us will be able to say we didn’t know because everyone receives some light. If we can make an accurate forecast of the weather or make a prediction of a sports match and get it right, then Jesus said we are all well able to understand the signs that Jesus sends us. Nobody will be able to say there was no evidence for God. There’s plenty of evidence, it’s just that people don’t really want to be accountable. That’s the truth. Amen.

Luke 12:13-34

In the news this week was the mistrial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three young children. 

The article read;

Clancy has not denied that she had killed her children but her not guilty plea was predicated on a lack of criminal responsibility because, as her defense team said, she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, which included auditory hallucinations that commanded her to harm her children, and undiagnosed bipolar disorder. We had a very similar case in New Zealand where the mother made the same not guilty plea (Lauren Anne Dickason) but she was found guilty.

I would say based on comparison to biblical accounts of similar encounters that that these auditory hallucinations were actually demonic spirits commanding her to kill her children.

We had a very similar case in New Zealand where the mother made the same not guilty plea (Lauren Anne Dickason) but she was found guilty.

“I’m representing a woman who is a fantastic, wonderful individual,” her defence lawyer said. “This woman is so brave, so awesome. She sat there through seven weeks of the trial, where nobody had anything bad to say about her except the two prosecutors.”

The truth often hurts, it shatters delusions.

Reddington also thanked the jury, “minus one” – referring to the holdout juror who he says he “hope[s] they can sleep at night”.

You heard that right. The holdout juror was the only one who thought she was GUILTY. What an upside-down world we are living in. Perhaps it should not surprise us when we live in a society that murders babies and calls it healthcare.

Remember what Jesus said;

Luke 11:34

The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.

Our society is at the point where it can no longer see that not only abortion is murder but that murder is murder. We have developed bad eyes. It’s a sign of end times delusion. These women were victims of spiritual warfare but they are still responsible for their crimes. It demonstrates the need for spiritual warfare when medication is not working. Call in the Christian Marines ! 

The Good News is that Jesus died for all our sins including murder, but we have to receive Jesus. As we learned last week, the only unpardonable sin or blasphemy of the Holy Spirit means to reject Jesus, the only hope of salvation. Someone who worries that they have blasphemed the Holy Spirit has not.

Following last week's message, I did some further research on the meaning of the word blasphemy because I felt it necessary to understand the seriousness of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in more detail. Paul described himself before his conversion;

1 Timothy 1:13

although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

The word “blasphemy” is the Greek word blasphemia — and it does not primarily refer to speaking irreverently about divine matters. It has a broader meaning that refers to any type of debasing, derogatory, nasty, shameful, ugly speech or behavior that is intended to humiliate someone else. Paul used the word “blasphemer” to describe his own past words and actions when he purposefully mistreated and humiliated believers for whom he had no tolerance.

In addition to rejecting Christ’s gift of salvation for themselves, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit means calling Christ evil, intentionally mocking and denying the Holy Spirit with the intention of putting others off of receiving Christ. It is such an utter rejection of God that the sin brings about God’s judgement.

Paul was a blasphemer but obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly in unbelief. There are those who have crossed that line into blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, who understand the Gospel, but utterly reject it and seek to prevent others from believing it as well. How sad is that?

We also noted last week that very often when the Lord is speaking to us, Satan (who is the ultimate blasphemer and the first to utterly reject the Lord) will try and distract us though all manner of devices - through people, through troubling thoughts, anything to keep us from listening and doing what the Lord is teaching us.

In last week's passage, we heard Jesus warning his disciples to avoid the leaven of the Pharisees - their hypocrisy and their doctrine. As he was doing this, suddenly someone from the crowd spoke up with a distracting question;

Luke 12:13-15

Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

Distractions come just as the Holy Spirit is getting through to people and appear extremely important at the time. It’s the same method scammers use to try to rush you into making rash decisions. So be on guard !

How would Jesus deal with this distraction from a man about his inheritance. We know justice is an important issue that God is concerned about. Would Jesus ignore the man and carry on teaching his disciples?

No, rather he answered the question and used it as a springboard to continue teaching but with a parable.

To the crowds Jesus often spoke in parables and when the disciples asked why, he gave the reason;

Matthew 13:11-15

He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’

The parables Jesus told were a fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah that God would purposely tell them things that they would not understand and turn to him and be healed. That does sound harsh at first hearing so we need to understand why God would do that.

Stories are normally a good way of teaching and usually we love to be taught this way. The tales we heard as children had moral meanings and we learned life lessons from them. But what can you do if people won’t listen to even the most basic instructions like to repent and believe the Gospel. It is exhausting to teach people if they won’t listen, though you repeat it over and over and over again.

The parables had the dual purpose of teaching those whose hearts were open but confusing those who were hard-hearted and had rejected God as a judgment on their hard-heartedness.

Was the parable he was about to share one with a hidden meaning? Judge for yourself.

Luke 12:16-21

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

This particular parable is in fact very clear, there are no hidden meanings. The warning was given that it is foolish to think we have our security in ourselves and in our riches. The world teaches us to invest our money so that we will have a comfortable retirement but it is a false security. We do not know that we will have our health when we get old or even that we will live that long. We are wise to invest in eternal things. Sadly many people will reject this advice because they want their best life now.

But you know what, if a person loves the World too much instead of loving God, then even though they hear the parable, it won’t make sense to them to invest in something they can’t see, touch, taste, smell or feel. They think that this life is all there is and fail to understand the reality of eternity and to lay up treasure in Heaven. Isaiah’s prophecy is true but if we open up just a little, Jesus’s word also comes true - to whoever has, more will be given, so open your hearts!

It would seem to me that even though Jesus was answering the man’s distracting question, he had the dual purpose of teaching the disciples to get their priorities right. Those who keep their ears open are always learning even somebody else’s lessons.

Then he resumed his speaking to his disciples.

Luke 12:22-27

Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

My cat doesn’t worry about anything. He knows all the sunny spots in the house and garden, he is warm and dry at night and his breakfast and dinner are served up without having to work for it. Why aren’t we like that, are our worries truly justified? Jesus certainly understood the things we worry about. Our hair or lack of it, our height, what we’re going to eat, where we’re going to live, will we survive a cost of living crisis. And here we all are today, having lived a good number of years. In New Zealand especially we live in comfort. God has really looked after us. So why do we worry, it’s a bit strange of us isn’t it?

Luke 12:28-31

If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

He’s speaking to us believers, and he’s calling us out for the smallness of our faith. Shouldn’t we trust him.  

Why should we be like the people of the world when we know our Heavenly Father is looking after us. Rather than worry, Jesus teaches us to make the Kingdom of God our priority. We will then find that all the things we used to worry about fade into insignificance and all our needs will be provided for. That promise gives a lot of peace.

Luke 12:32-34

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So what should we prioritise today to seek first the Kingdom of God? I’ll leave you to think about that because it could be so many things. Your devotional time, a Church task, a sick family member or friend, a colleague who needs to hear the Gospel, a donation to someone in need, it could be so many things. But when we give up our time and money for the Kingdom of God, we are storing up treasure in Heaven. We may not be prosperous down here but we’ll never regret that in eternity. Amen.

Let’s Pray.