Luke 12:1-21: “Jesus Prepares Disciples For Persecution By
Speaking of Future Judgment & Telling of Greater Importance Of The After
Life”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at chapter 11 verses 33 through 54.
1.1.1. Jesus admonished His disciples about the proper usage of a lamp, and
then applied this principle to their lives.
1.1.2. Now in this last couple weeks of His life, we saw that Jesus was
beginning to have more virulent and hostile confrontations with the Pharisees
as He now began to openly condemn them and pronounce judgment woes upon
them.
1.1.3. A Pharisee invited Jesus to have lunch with him and then as often
happened over Jesus’ lunches, controversy broke out. Jesus and the Pharisee got into a discussion
over what true righteousness consisted of.
Jesus taught this Pharisee that you have to be clean on the inside as
well as the external of your life and that the most important part to have
clean is the internal part.
1.1.4. Jesus condemned the Pharisees and scribes by pronouncing three judgment
woes upon the Pharisees followed by three judgment woes upon the scribes
(lawyers) of His day.
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look at the first 22 verses of chapter 12.
1.2.1. In these verses, we will see that though the multitudes are thronging
around Jesus that He is intent upon teaching His disciples some important
truths and lessons and preparing them for the persecution and tribulations that
they will begin to experience after He has been raised from the dead and the
church is inaugurated.
1.2.2. Jesus will speak to His disciples about the reality of a future
judgment in which they will have to give account for the deeds performed in
their bodies.
1.2.3. Jesus tells His disciples several things bent upon instilling in them
the importance of doing things in their life which will have importance in the
afterlife rather than just be concerned with the things of this temporal life.
2. VS 12:1 - “1 Under these circumstances, after
so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on
one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of
the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” - Having confronted the
Pharisees about the fact that true righteousness involves cleansing of the
internal attitudes and motives of the heart, Jesus warns His disciples now to
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
2.1.
The phrase ‘under these
circumstances’ refers to the previous verse in chapter 11 where we read
that the Pharisees were furious with Jesus and asking Him questions seeking if
there was something that they might catch Him saying so that they might be able
to put Him to death.
2.2.
The first thing that we
notice in this verse is the incredible popularity of Jesus at this point in
time. We see that many thousands of
people had gathered together to see and to hear Him. It says that there were so many people there
that they were actually stepping on one other trying to get to Jesus.
2.3.
We will see soon that the
people following Jesus at this point in time turn out to be very fickle for
they really have no dedication to Him.
When the people realize the true nature of His life and ministry, they
will turn back in droves from following Him.
For now Jesus is experiencing incredible popularity.
2.4.
Although He is the subject
of attention of this large crowd, Jesus is focused instead on trying to
communicate to His disciples. He
realized that though the people had come to see and hear Him that they do not
in reality want to hear the truth of the gospel message, therefore for Jesus to
spend His time preaching to them concerning His coming kingdom would not
produce much lasting fruit. Jesus is instead
trying to communicate important and timely principles to His disciples at this
time.
2.5.
Jesus tells His disciples
first of all to ‘beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.’
2.5.1. In the scriptures, we see that the metaphor of ‘leaven’ often
occurs. In general, in the scriptures ‘leaven’
symbolizes sin in people’s lives. This
spiritual symbol of ‘leaven’ began when the Lord delivered the children
of
2.5.2. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 5:6 and to the Galatians in
Gal. 5:9 that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.” This saying implies the “importance” of the
metaphor of ‘leaven’ in the scriptures.
‘Leaven,’ which of course we know of as “yeast,” is a
bacteria and as such it grows and spreads wherever it is found. “Yeast” is what causes bread to rise
as it grows and spreads in a batch of dough.
In the same way, sin spreads like wildfire when it is allowed to run
unchecked in peoples’ lives. Not only is
the person himself who sins caused to continually become more corrupt if he
does not deal with his sin, others also are influenced and enticed by the sin
in that person’s life.
2.6.
Jesus explains here that
what He means by the Pharisee’s ‘leaven’ is their ‘hypocrisy.’ The ‘hypocrisy’ of the Pharisees was a
sin that was causing the entire nation to stumble as they by their actions and
teachings were keeping the people from being able to come into God’s
kingdom. ‘Leaven’ tends to cause
bread to puff up and the Pharisees were puffed up in their pride because of
their teachings. Their ‘hypocrisy’
was in saying one thing and doing another, in teaching strict observance of the
law while also having lawless hearts and minds.
2.7.
The Pharisees claimed to be
righteous in the sight of God and have a corner on God’s kingdom however the
righteousness in their life was only external and demonstrated in rites and
rituals that they performed. They had no
internal righteousness as the motives and intentions of their heart were
anything but godly and they did not consider this fact to be an issue in their
life. They did many good deeds however
they did them for the wrong motives, therefore in the sight of God they were in
reality unrighteous.
3. VS 12:2-3 - “2 “But there is nothing covered up
that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. 3 “Accordingly,
whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you
have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.” - Jesus tells His disciples
that everything said or done will be revealed and bought to light
3.1.
We see here the sobering
warning of coming judgment by Jesus. In
these verses, Jesus is teaching His disciples about the fact that though people
in this life try their best to hide their evil deeds which they perform that in
the day of judgment that all of the evil things that anyone has said or done
shall be revealed and become a public matter.
3.2.
As was mentioned concerning
verse 1, this teaching has followed Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees in
which He condemned them for having external righteousness only, not internal
righteousness in their lives.
3.3.
Fearing the revelation of
our sinful deeds in the day of judgment ought to cause all people to live uprightly
and thus to be found having nothing to be ashamed of in that day.
3.4.
For non-believers God’s
judgment will be eternal separation from God for eternity in the
4. VS 12:4-5 - “4 “I say to you, My friends, do not
be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can
do. 5 “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He
has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” - Jesus tells His disciples not
to fear men who can only kill the body but rather to fear the Lord who after He
has killed has authority to cast into hell
4.1.
Notice that Jesus called His
disciples His ‘friends.’ In every
sense of the word, Jesus considers all of His disciples to be His ‘friends.’ In another passage Jesus told His disciples
that He called them friends because He had revealed everything to them about
the Father, holding nothing back (see John 15:15). Though we are Jesus’ ‘friends,’ there
is still a very significant reason for us to have the utmost reverence for the
Lord and that is because we are going to stand before Him in judgment to give
account for the deeds we have done in our body.
4.2.
Having just encouraged His
disciples that every deed that a person performs shall be brought to light on
the day of judgment, Jesus now tells them that they should not be afraid of
persecution that comes at the hands of men, for those who might kill your
physical body cannot affect your eternal state or status.
4.3.
When you think about it, if a
person killed you because you are a Christian, they would just help you out
since the next instant you would be right there in the Lord’s presence and
enjoying the joys and blessings of eternity.
In the first place, this is where we as Christians all long to be.
4.4.
If you are persecuted but
not unto death because you are a Christian, you will be blessed as well.
4.4.1. First of all, you will receive a great reward that you will enjoy for
all eternity for having suffered persecution because of being a Christian.
4.4.2. Secondly, the person persecuting you will really end up being a
blessing in your life because the trials of persecution will cause a
purification in your heart and life that you will be eternally grateful for.
4.5.
The conclusion is that it is
foolish to be afraid of being persecuted.
Being persecuted as a Christian can only be used by the Lord for good in
your life.
4.6.
I do want to mention that
how we deal with our trials, tribulations, and persecutions is very important
and determines the blessings we will experience and the rewards we will
receive. If you deal with trials,
tribulations, and persecutions in the power of your flesh then you will just
end up losing your joy and getting angry and bitter. Plus, you will lose the reward you would
receive from the Lord.
5. VS 12:6-7 - “6 “Are not five sparrows sold for
two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 “Indeed,
the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more
valuable than many sparrows.” - Jesus tells His disciples of their great
worth to the Lord and the fact that the Lord knows all about them
5.1.
In order to be prepared for
the persecution that they will experience once the church begins to function,
the disciples need to know how much the Lord loves and thinks about each of
them.
5.2.
Jesus makes an argument here
from the lesser to the greater. In the
market place, there was nothing that could be purchased for less of a price
than a sparrow. The poor would sometimes
purchase sparrows to eat because they were so cheap. Jesus says that if not a single sparrow is
forgotten by God, then how much the more will the Lord be aware of our needs
and also provide for us.
5.3.
On this earth the Lord only
created people in His image and thus we have an importance that other life
forms on the earth do not. Many people
in our day want to believe that animals are just as important to the Lord as
people, however the Lord reveals here that any person is more valuable to Him than
many sparrows.
5.4.
The Lord is so intimately
aware of every one of the smallest details in each of our lives that Jesus says
here that the very hairs on our head are numbered to the Lord.
6. VS 12:8-9 - “8 “And I say to you, everyone who
confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels
of God; 9 but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the
angels of God.”- Jesus warns His disciples that
if they do not confess Him before men that He will deny them before the angels
of God
6.1.
It is a difficult thing to
tell people of your faith in Christ when your life is not in danger for doing
so, however if you risk dying a martyr’s death it is so much harder to tell of
your faith.
6.2.
Jesus admonishes His disciples
that if they deny Him before men that He will deny them before the Lord (which
is what is meant when He says ‘before the angels’), which means that His
atonement will not be accounted on their behalf and that they shall spend
eternity apart from God.
7. VS 12:10 - “10 “And everyone who speaks a word
against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against
the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.”” - Jesus tells His disciples
that anyone who blasphemies against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven
7.1.
In times of persecution,
persecutors typically have given Christians the opportunity to deny their faith
or blaspheme the Name of Jesus in order to have their life spared. Here Jesus tells His disciples that speaking
against Him in this way can be forgiven by the Lord, however blaspheming the
Holy Spirit is something that is unforgiveable.
7.2.
Unfortunately, since Jesus
does not explain what He means by ‘blasphemies against the Holy Spirit’
we are left to try and interpret what this unforgiveable sin consists of, and
the two most compelling interpretations are:
7.2.1. Seeing the working of God and attributing it to something other than
God.
7.2.1.1. We saw already in the book of Luke an example of this sort of thing
when the Pharisees saw Jesus cast a demon out of a man healing him of being
mute, yet they attributed this miracle to Jesus being in league with Satan (see
Luke 11:15).
7.2.2. A general alienation of the Holy Spirit through rebellion and being
hard hearted against the Lord.
7.3.
In both of the interpretations
above the response that cannot be forgiven is not a one-time or momentary event
but rather a full and final rejection of the Lord after seeing much evidence of
God’s working over many years. It is rejection
of Jesus that will send anyone to hell and when a person has hardened his heart
to the Lord to the point that God cannot reach him then that person’s sin
cannot be forgiven and the Lord will cease to try to reach him (see Romans
chapter 1).
8. VS 12:11-12 - “11 “When they bring you before the
synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what
you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; 12 for the
Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”” - Jesus tells His disciples not
to worry about how or what they are to speak when they are brought before
authorities because of their faith
8.1.
In this verse, Jesus deals
with the anxiety that some disciples might have concerning what kind of a
witness they might be able to have for the Lord if they are brought before the
authorities because of their faith.
8.1.1. Some believers tend to feel like Moses when the Lord called him to go
and to speak to Pharaoh, for they believe that they are not eloquent of speech
and would not have the words to say on such a day. However, just as was the case with Moses,
when the Lord works mightily through you eloquence in speaking is not
necessary.
8.1.2. Some believers just worry that they will not have the faith and courage
to endure persecution when it occurs and thus that they will not stand up to
their persecutors.
8.2.
To every disciple Jesus
brings assurance that on the day that you shall be brought before the
authorities to give an account that the Holy Spirit will ‘teach you in that
very hour what you ought to say.’
Supernatural strength and ability is promised to all who will be
persecuted for Jesus’ Name and sake.
8.3.
Foxxe’s Book Of Martyrs
testifies to the power of the Holy Spirit enabling believers to have great
courage and boldness when they are being martyred. From the book, every single martyr’s account
in the early church is a testimony to God’s incredible ability to make good on
this promise to give you boldness and
words to speak to your persecutors.
9. VS 12:13-14 - “13 Someone in the crowd said to Him,
“Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14
But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over
you?”” - Jesus denies a man’s request that He make the
man’s brother divide his inheritance with him
9.1.
In the book of Luke this is
the second instance of someone coming to Jesus in order to try to persuade Him
to intervene for him in someone’s life.
In the previous situation Martha had been doing many preparations in
making a meal for Jesus while her sister Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet
listening to Him. Martha came to Jesus
and told Him to tell Mary to help her out with her preparations.
9.2.
In each case where someone
asked Jesus to intervene with another on their behalf we see that Jesus denied
their request.
9.3.
We might ask the question of
why Jesus would deny this man’s request?
Here are some possible reasons:
9.3.1. Jesus was trying to get people to concentrate on living for the things
that are eternal rather than of this life and thus He refused.
9.3.2. Jesus’ purpose for coming to the earth at this time was not to settle
civil matters between people but rather to be the sin sacrifice for the sins of
mankind.
9.3.3. This man doesn’t ask Jesus to do an arbitration but rather to go and
make his brother divide the inheritance.
9.3.4. The man is possibly a younger brother and doesn’t deserve this
inheritance according to Jewish customs.
9.3.5. Typically people in Israel in this day did not divide their
inheritances but rather siblings kept them as a shared possession and this
man’s desire to separate his from the family’s portion was not done for good
and holy reasons, such as those Psalm 133:1 typifies, “1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in
unity!”
9.4.
Possibly there is some of
all of the reasons above in Jesus’ choosing not to grant this man’s request to
intervene on his behalf against his brother.
9.5.
In our day, many people come
to the church and to the Lord for selfish and self-serving reasons. I was reminded of this fact a couple of times
this past week when a couple of people called our church wanting to get a hand
out from us. One woman who called has
called our church for this reason at least three times a year for the past five
years. Evidently she makes a living off
of handouts from churches and yet her and her husband can never get their lives
together enough to meet their own needs.
Yet, even though they don’t attend a church they seem to believe that
the church is obligated to provide for them.
This week I found myself tempted to ask the next caller with this
request when the last time it was that he/she gave to a church? If they hadn’t given to a church in a long
time why then should they expect the church to give to them? Why should they believe God is obligated to
them when they have no obligation to Him?
10.
VS 12:15-21 - “15 Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of
greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of
his possessions.” 16 And He told them a parable, saying, “The land
of a rich man was very productive. 17 “And he began reasoning to
himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18
“Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and
build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 ‘And
I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to
come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ 20 “But
God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of
you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ 21 “So is
the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”” - Jesus teaches His disciples
to beware of greed and then He tells them the parable of a foolish rich man who
decided to build bigger barns to store his abundance
10.1.
Impending persecution for
those who would follow Jesus might lead some to choose to live for the things
of this life and thus they would become filled with greed.
10.2.
Strongs Enhanced Greek Lexicon
has the following entry for this Greek word translated ‘greed’ :
4124 πλεονεξία [pleonexia /pleh·on·ex·ee·ah/] n f. From 4123; TDNT
6:266; TDNTA 864; GK 4432; 10 occurrences; AV translates as “covetousness”
eight times, “greediness” once, and “covetous practice” once. 1 greedy desire to have more, covetousness, avarice.
10.3.
Lets look first at what is
not told us about the man in this parable:
10.3.1.
The man has not stolen to
get his goods.
10.3.2.
He has not lied to get his
goods.
10.3.3.
He has not done anything
unlawful in getting his goods.
10.3.4.
The man is not derogatorily
spoken of because he was rich.
10.4.
The man has a very
productive land and evidently has had a very successful and abundant harvest of
his land. In other words, the man has
had a windfall of good fortune and as a result has come to have good means.
10.5.
What the man is judged for
is what he chose to do with his over abundance.
The man chooses to spend his over abundance upon himself and thus his
focus is selfish and self-centered. The
man chooses to use his huge profits to build many big buildings for storage of
his goods so that they will not spoil and that he will be able to sell his
goods for a healthy profit over the next year.
10.6.
From a worldly perspective,
the man has made a wise investment of his profits. He has chosen to build big buildings and
these buildings will help him now each year to store his abundant crops. Thereby, the man will continue to just get
richer and richer.
10.7.
The man has made a huge
mistake however, for he doesn’t realize that when he has made himself rich upon
the earth that he has made himself poor before heaven. This very night this man’s life is taken from
him and because he had not become rich in eternal things he will receive no
eternal rewards. He will not enjoy a
single bit of those earthly profits he has stored up. This man will evidently spend eternity in
hell because he did not live for the Lord in this life but rather for himself.
10.8.
Darrell Boch writes the
following about this man, “It is important to note that the issue in the
parable is not wealth, but how wealth is directed. The sin is accumulating riches for
oneself. Pilgrim (1981:112) sees three
errors: (1) hoarding one’s possessions,
(2) assuming that life can be secured and measured by possessions, and (3)
regarding property as one’s own.” I
would add a couple of errors of my own that this man makes:
10.8.1.
He foolishly reasons to
himself that he has many goods laid up for himself for many years however in reality
he has no assurance that he will live another minute upon this earth.
10.8.2.
He assumes that his riches
have been given to him for his own comfort and ease however the Lord intended
him to use them for the poor and less fortunate.
10.8.3.
He reasons that when he has
built the bigger barns that he will be able to sit down and “eat, drink, and
be merry,” however he doesn’t realize that with more riches comes more
worry, more work trying to take care of those riches, and that he will never be
satisfied but always want more from this world.
10.8.4.
He doesn’t realize that he
is an eternal being and that as such it is imperative that he be prepared for
life after this life by getting his heart and life right with the Lord and
storing up riches in heaven.
10.9.
As I consider this parable a
time in my life comes to mind. About 18
years ago my wife and I went through a period of several months when it just
seemed like we were constantly having some kind of a monetary windfall come our
way. I don’t remember all of the ways
that money sort of fell in our lap but there were a bunch of these events that
occurred in sequence. I thought at first
that the money was meant for me and so I started spending some of the money on
myself. Soon I realized that I couldn’t
even keep up in my spending with the money that was coming in. Finally, after many months of this occurring
I realized what was happening when my wife discovered that she was pregnant
with our first child. The Lord was
preparing us financially to be able to
have and support a child by these monetary windfalls. Because of considering how that I had been
thinking that the money coming in was designated for me, I thanked the Lord and
also felt kind of stupid and dumbfounded at the same time.
10.10.
When we Christians are given
any riches or means from this world, we must realize that we now have a
stewardship that the Lord is requiring of us.
The Lord has given us that money or those possessions so that we might
be a channel for Him of His blessings, and we must be certain that we do not
short-circuit the Lord’s work through our life because of our own selfishness
or self-centeredness.
10.11.
When people leave this world
they are not going to be able to take any of the riches or possessions that
they store up with them. Plus, the
riches of this world will have no value in the
10.12.
Living for the things of this life does not bring true
satisfaction. It is only that which is
eternal which can bring lasting satisfaction.
We need to know God fully in order to be fully satisfied We ought to do like the apostle Paul and, “count
all things but rubish for the supassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,”
Phil. 3:8.
11.
CONCLUSIONS:
11.1.
As Christian, we need to ask ourselves if we are living foolishly in
regards to eternity. Are we hanging on
to some piece of this world at the expense of eternal rewards? If so, we shall also feel very foolish on the
day of judgment for Christians when we have few if any jewels in our eternal
crowns...
11.2.
We need to ask ourselves if all we possess has really been given
completely to the Lord's control and glory?
11.3.
Are you building bigger barns which will just burn in the fire that
will try every man's work as to whether or not it is gold, silver, wood, hay or
stubble?
11.4.
Will you pray with me for a heart to honor Jesus in every aspect of
your life, just as the Apostle Paul lived his life and exhorted us? Only then you shall be rich toward God and
for eternity reap the rewards which you will get in return.