What God Wants from Us
Theme: The Lord is out to win our hearts.
Text: Luke 12:1-12
Here’s a thought: André Malraux concluded, “Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.”
Joseph Stalin ordered all Bibles to be confiscated in the 1930s in Stavropol, Russia, and to send Christian believers to prison camps. Ironically, most Bibles were not destroyed, yet many Christians died as “enemies of the state.” After the U.S.S.R. was dissolved, missionaries arrived in Stavropol in 1994. Their request to have Bibles shipped to Moscow was being delayed. But someone told them about a warehouse outside of town where confiscated Bibles were still stored about 60 years later.
Remarkably, the team was granted permission to distribute them. Hiring several local Russian workers, they began to load their trucks. One young man, a hostile agnostic, came only for the day’s wages. But not long after they had started, he disappeared. He was found weeping in the corner of the warehouse with a Bible in his hands. Intending to steal it, he had picked his grandmother’s Bible off the shelf! Her signature was on the front page. Out of the many thousands of Bibles still left in the warehouse, he had stolen the one belonging to his grandmother. She had no doubt prayed for him and her city, and her prayers had followed him. The young Russian started a journey of transformation with the author of the Bible, for whom his grandmother was persecuted but still loved with all her heart (from https://bible.org/article/hound-heaven).
God has been seeking out people for centuries. The search continues in Luke 12:1-12:
1 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. 4 I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 8 I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9 But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” NIV
God wants our: Secrets (Luke 12:1-3)
Luke 12:1-3:
1 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. NIV
Luke gathered teachings in which Jesus spoke of the crisis coming upon humanity. The good news of salvation had its dark side for those who refused the message. Jesus warned the Jews of the terrible consequence of rejecting Him, both in political destruction and rejection by God on the day of judgment. He warned His disciples to stand firm in the days of trial that lay ahead and to be ready for the coming of their Master. Judea rebelled against Rome in A.D. 66, but Jerusalem fell, the Temple was burned, and the Jewish state collapsed in A.D. 70. We, as followers of Jesus, look for His return.
There was a group of religious leaders known as the Pharisees. Their teaching acted like leaven or yeast in its penetrating effects upon society and had a corrupting influence because of its hypocrisy. We must also beware of hypocrisy because one day, the hidden thoughts of everyone will be made public.
French novelist André Malraux (1901-1976) concluded, “Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.”
Public proclamations are still made from the housetops by the governors of country districts in Palestine. They are generally made in the evening after the people return from their labours in the field. The public crier climbs the highest roof available and lifts his voice in a call upon all faithful subjects to hear and obey. He then proceeds to announce the will of their master and demand obedience.
Several guests at a dinner party argued whether men or women were more trustworthy. “No woman,” said one man scornfully, “can keep a secret.”
“I don’t know about that,” huffily answered a woman guest. “I have kept my age a secret since I was 21.”
“You’ll let it out someday,” the man insisted.
“I hardly think so,” retorted the lady. “When a woman has kept a secret for 27 years, she can keep it forever.”
In the contrast between hearing privately and proclaiming publicly, this might refer to a mode of instruction in the schools of the rabbis. From his chair, the teacher whispered into the ear of the interpreter, and he, with a loud voice, repeated to the students what he had heard.
David described trying to get away from God in Psalm 139:7-12:
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. NIV
The Bible explains a truth that comforts and unnerves me: God knows us inside and out. He knows everything we do; He understands our thoughts and motives. He has complete knowledge of us. He put great care into creating us. When we realize the meaning of this, it changes our lives.
How different would our lives be if we realized that the Lord always watches and listens? Is there something we would or would not have said or done this past week if we remembered that God knows all our secrets?
God wants our: Secrets and Fears (Luke 12:4-7)
Jesus explains in Luke 12:4-7:
4 I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. NIV
The Lord warns you and me. Those who were furious with Jesus will be furious with His followers too. The disciples were soon called upon to face their fury without flinching, depending on the Holy Spirit to guide them in answering the charges that would be brought against them. They must not tremble before rulers or mobs that could not do more than kill the body, but they must be loyal to the Lord to escape the eternal damnation that awaited His enemies.
Solomon discloses the foundation for his life in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” NIV
Not all fear is bad. The object of our fear is what makes us or breaks us. The person we strive for approval from the most will be the one we serve. It is more obviously gratifying for our physical senses to have someone with skin on pat us on the back rather than to believe in the Lord’s smile. Therefore, we are strongly tempted to settle for people’s approval.
Are you afraid of Santa? You may be claustrophobic.
We will be tempted by fear to hide our allegiance to Jesus. However, it is far worse to be hypocritical and face the judgment of God, who can cast people into hell, than to suffer at the hands of others. There is ultimately no reason to fear people. The Lord cares enough for us to count even the hairs on our heads. This is a more difficult task for your head than mine, but thankfully He loves all of us the same.
Whom do you try to please with your life? Whose approval do you seek the most? Your parents? Your spouse? Your friends? Yourself? If we answered
any of these instead of Jesus, we have reason to be afraid of Him.
God wants our: Secrets, Fears and Loyalty (Luke 12:8-12)
Jesus promises in Luke 12:8-12:
8 I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9 But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” NIV
God is intensely dedicated to those who show the same to Him. If we are loyal, Jesus will show us off before the angels, and the Holy Spirit will enable us to face our enemies.
God always knocks loudly enough for a willing soul to hear. We can confess or deny Jesus. He will, in turn, testify for or against us at the heavenly judgment seat.
The Jewish people understood that the “Son of Man” title referred to the Messiah. Jesus used the term in such a manner that He did not disclose His identity publicly or openly.
Some people refused to accept the clear evidence of the working of God’s Holy Spirit in Jesus by attributing His power to Satan. By doing so, they sinned against the Holy Spirit and became liable to judgment. But if someone confessed Jesus, then the Holy Spirit would sustain him when on trial before others whom he would otherwise fear.
The Apostle Paul was willing to die for Jesus. He writes to his young protege Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:8-13:
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. NIV
What loyalties do our lives reveal? If we were to die today, what values and allegiances would our eulogy include at our funeral in a few days? Our heart’s strongest desires are reflected by how we spend our time, energy and money.
It took years before she finally said yes. A Welshman had fallen in love with one of his neighbours and wanted to marry her. But they had quarrelled, and she refused to forgive. Shy and reluctant to face the offended woman, the persistent admirer slipped a love letter under her door every week.
At last, after 42 years, he summoned courage, knocked on her door and asked her to become his wife. To his surprise and delight, she consented. So, they were married at the age of 74 (from https://odb.org/CA/2004/03/31/how- long-2)!
God is also a persistent lover. Century after century, He sent prophets as messengers inviting Israel's stubborn, alienated people to live with Him, a faithful covenant-keeper. But all those overtures were sinfully refused. Then at Bethlehem, God Himself came in the Person of Jesus Christ. Now, having opened up the way for reconciliation with God by His sacrifice on the cross, He stands at the door of everyone’s heart, knocking and asking that sinners personally accept Him as Saviour.
Will you let Him into every part of your life?
God wants our: Secrets Fears Loyalty
The Lord is out to win our hearts.
