Luke 12 - "Here Comes the Judge!"

Warnings and Encouragements 

The crowd continued to crowd in around Jesus. The text says, "many thousands". He took a moment to instruct his disciples saying, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees." What does this mean? 

Yeast never has a positive connotation in the bible. Though it was was not very sizeable and fairly hidden, it could make its way through the whole dough and cause the bread to swell and create a great mass. Kind of like gossip could start out with a seemingly innocent comment, but can stir up quite a big quarrel and bring dissension to the body of Christ. 

The Pharisees' teaching was like that. Though it wasn't obvious how harmful it was, it created a legalism that only put heavy burdens on people's backs. On top of that the Pharisees were secretly very hypocritical. In some of the ways only God would haven seen it. Eventually the legalism of the Pharisees and teachers of the law created a guilt and shame ridden environment devoid of the mercy and love of God.

Jesus also says that nothing in secret will not ultimately be exposed. The Pharisees might have thought they were "putting one over God", but God saw their ways. Jesus saw it too and exposed them for their false teaching and shepherding of God's people. Jesus also warned his disciples to not fear those who could kill the body, but to the one who could throw them into hell. They would be accountable for their sin. If we should fear anyone, it is God himself, who is in control of our eternal destiny. 

Legalism and hypocrisy still exist today. Here is just one example. 

In 1985, a nationally known evangelist and preacher wrote a book condemning sin in America, especially sexual sin and pornography. Just a short time later, he tearfully confessed years of involvement in these very sins, and promised repentance – but was arrested for similar crimes again a few years down the road. His hypocrisy may have surprised many people, but not God. God knew all along. - Guzik

Jesus then comforts them with how much the Father loves them. If God cares about sparrows, which are sold for mere pennies, how much more does he care about them. In fact, God cares so much about them, he knows the very number of hairs on their head. How can he know that? He made them and us. 

 It has been said that a redhead has about 90,000 hairs; a dark-haired person has about 120,000 hairs, and a blonde has about 145,000. Yet God knows exactly how many hairs you have; if He knows that about you, He also knows all the important things. - Guzik

The Parable of the Rich Fool

A man from the crowd asked a random question. He asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide his inheritance with him. Jesus basically asks him why would this be so important to him. It gives Jesus an opportunity to talk about money. 

After Jesus warned them about the fleeting nature of money and greed. Then, he tells them a parable about a rich fool. The man had a bumper crop way beyond what his barns could store, so he torn down the old barns and built a bigger barns to store the harvest. In fact, he had so much grain he wouldn't have to work for a long time. He said to himself, 

"And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

He had fulfilled what we call the "American dream". He could retire early. He didn't have a care in the world. But, he forgot about something of more value than his mountains of grain. He forgot about his soul. You see he had things pretty much taken care of in this life, but had done nothing about his life to come. 

In fact, Jesus told that this night his life might be demanded from him. The grain in the barn wouldn't do him much good if this happened. What had he done to invest treasures in heaven? He made the fatal mistake of thinking that money can bring you happiness in the short run, but he had not prepared for the long. 

We can’t obscure the fact that earthly riches often keep us from going after heavenly riches as we should. Most of us are afraid of poverty; we should be afraid of wealth. - Guzik

Do Not Worry

Jesus turns back to the disciples, who probably had their own worries about finances. After all, they had given up good livelihoods, like fishing and tax collecting. God used the birds of the air and the flowers in the field to remind them that God fed and clothed them, so how much more would God provide for them.  

Jesus does say, "You of little faith", which might mean the disciples might have displayed their fear and concern over money. But, instead of worrying about and focusing on money Jesus tells them to seek first "His kingdom". This is the kingdom he has been teaching about and showing them by healing sickness and diseases, and delivering people from demons. 

Importantly, Jesus said, "But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."

Jesus goes as far as to urge them to sell their possessions to the poor as a sign on their focus on matters of God's kingdom. This would free them from the grip of materialism and help them not to be so preoccupied with earthly things. It would free them to  be "rich toward God!". He wanted their hearts to be passionate about the things of God and the things that would last for eternity. 

These two stories teach us something. The more we worry about money, the more it gets a hold of us. It takes away from how we focus on and invest in God's kingdom, if we are always worrying about money. Though we need to be wise about our money, it cannot be our treasure. Jesus closes by saying, 

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Where is your treasure at today? If your life were up today, would you be in rich in things toward God? How can you be more concerned about God's kingdom here on earth? What would have to change? What about your priorities?

Watchfulness

Closely tied to this is being ready for Jesus' return. Jesus compares it to servants whose master was gone on business, in this case a wedding banquet. If the master would return early, like in the middle of the night, would they be prepared for his return?  Would they be doing the things he had asked them to do?

Similarly the manager whose master made him responsible for feeding his servants. When the master returned would he be faithful to the charge he was given. If the answer was yes, the manager would reward him by putting him in charge of much more. 

If, on the other hand if the man said, "The master is gone, I am going to party it up while I have the chance", he will be deemed to be an unfaithful manager. 

Jesus closes with the teaching with the statement, "To whom much has been given much is required".  God has given everyone a spiritual gift to bring in his kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven through the local church.

For instance, I have the gift of teaching, which is why I am writing this blog. Though it is a lot of work, but it comes pretty easily for me. If someone did not have the gift of teaching, the thought of doing this every day would be very challenging. God won't judge you based on my gifts, and God won't judge me based your gifts. Each one of us will be accountable and rewarded by what we have done with what we have been given. 

Not Peace but Division

Jesus realized that when we make a decision to follow Him it will not always go over well with our family and friends. I don't think Jesus wanted to create division in one's family, but he realized a decision to follow him might cause some division with our family and friends. This would be especially true when a Jewish person left Judaism for Christianity. Or, a Islamic person left their religious community to become part of a church. I know that many Catholics who have become Protestants have drawn the ire of their families. In some extreme cases the family never talked to them again. So sad!

It is hard to imagine, why a mom or dad wouldn't be thrilled for their son or daughter to find Christ and live a life modeled after Jesus' life and the hope of eternal life. I grew up Lutheran, and when I got out of college I joined a large "megachurch" in suburban Chicago. I think my dad was a little hesitant at first, but when he went with me to a service, he saw why it was the perfect place for me at that time in my life. When I got baptized as an adult (I was baptized as an infant as a Lutheran), he came and gave me a bible that said, "Upon the re-affirmation of your deep, abiding faith in the Lord!" 

His acceptance of where I needed to be "plugged in" to take the next step in my faith journey was a huge reason for how strong our relationship is today. 

Interpreting the Times

The people in Jesus' time spent a lot of time studying the sky to see when it was going to rain, or a cold front was coming in, but they were a lot less interesting in looking at the signs of Jesus' return. They also did not the see how Jesus' life fulfilled hundreds of Old Testament prophecies. If they knew the Old Testament, like they should, they would have connected what Jesus was doing with the coming of tghe Messiah. 

Jesus also talked about settlings matters in the community before it goes to court before a judge. While it was important to reconcile with someone before going to the judge, it was even more important to reconcile with THE JUDGE before Jesus returns. 

In the illustration Jesus used, it made sense to settle before appearing before the judge. By analogy, we can say that in light of the work of Jesus at the cross, God offers a settlement out of court (before judgment) with God, by putting our trusting love in who Jesus is and what He did for us on the cross. - Guzik