Luke 12:22-34 – Trust will eliminate worries

Our outlook and value of life often determine the level of our trust in God. When we are overly concerned about how people value us and put our focus on what we have or what we do not have, we will be overtaken by anxiety. Worry results when one gets so preoccupied with the cares of this world. In Luke 12:22-34, the Lord gives reasons why we should not worry. He takes us through by comparing the lesser to the greater and what less valuable to what is more valuable.  

He started by asserting that life is more important than eating and dressing. Therefore, there is really no reason to be pre-occupied with food or clothing. If food is the worry, we should start by looking at the carefree birds, the crows in particular. They are scavenger birds who neither sow nor reap nor store up a harvest like the farmers, yet they are never starved. Why? Because God provides for them. And if God cares about the lower order of His creation, how much more will He care for us, His highest creation, whom He values more. Worry insults our Heavenly Father. It suggests that He cannot provide for us. We also should not worry because it is an exercise in futility. It’s like sitting on a rocking chair, full of movements but takes us nowhere. No one could add to his or her lifespan by worrying. Hence to worry is absurd activity. It adds nothing to our life. In fact it subtracts.

And if clothing is the worry, then consider the flowers of the field. They do nothing to adorn themselves but their beauty outstrips Solomon's glory. They make Solomon's clothes look like rags. This is a hyperbole, an exaggeration to prove a point. If God cares for the beauty of the flowers, how much more will He provide for our clothing. Consider the transitory beauty of the flowers in the field. They are here one moment and could be gathered as fuel for fire the next and yet God cares for them. So how much more will He care for us? We are eternal creatures made to spend out eternity with Him. As far as God is concerned, we are infinitely more valuable than those transitory flowers. He loves us and has redeemed us for Himself. So He will definitely take care of us. Worry has to do with our trust in God and His Word. If we worry, we are in effect saying that we have no faith in our faithful God and His Word.

The logical thing to do as believers in God, is for us to stop worrying about food or drink or clothing. These are the activities of people who do not know or seek God. We, His children, should redirect our energy in the right direction. We should instead direct our energy and engage it in seeking God and His will. We belong to Him and He is our portion and we are His prize. As His disciples, we should not be consumed by the passion to get the transitory things of life. Earthly and material possession pale in comparison to the values of eternal things. What's more: what we pursue truly reveals the priority of our lives. For whatever we treasure, we will put our heart and attention to those things.

So what is our concern today? Things temporal or things eternal? In whatever we do, don't neglect God and His Kingdom. For where you place your importance, that's where you will channel most of your energy to. Let's give God our first-fruit and not our leftovers.

Hear the inspiring words of Horatius Bonar:

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God, in every part with praise,
That my whole being may proclaim, Thy being and Thy ways.

Not for the lip of praise alone, nor e'en the praising heart.
I ask, but for a life made up, of praise in every part!

Praise in the common things of life, its goings out and in;
Praise in each duty and deed, however small and mean.

Fill every part of me with praise; let all my being speak
Of Thee and of Thy love, O Lord, poor though I be, and weak.

So shalt Thou, Lord, from me, e'en me, receive the glory due;
And so shall I begin on earth, the song forever new.

So shall each fear, each fret, each care, be turned into a song,
And every winding of the way, the echo shall prolong;

So shall no part of day or night from sacredness be free;
But all my life, in every step, be fellowship with Thee.

Luke 12:13-21 - Be rich toward God

Covetousness divides. It does. Luke 12:13 says so. Here a dissatisfied brother came to Jesus almost commanding Him to act on his behalf. He expected the Lord to ask his brother to share the family inheritance with him. The way Jesus responded showed that He would not take sides. Instead of granting his request, Jesus used the situation to warn against greed, every form of greed. 

Greed is wanting more than what one is due. It is not being contented with what one has. Greed often drives one inordinately beyond the bound of propriety. Furthermore, we should know that life is not all about wealth. Most people look to wealth to provide their status symbol. They consider it to be their security. So they just want more of it. Very often wealth is pursued at the expense of health and other more critical matters of life. It can detrimentally take the place of God in one's life. Hence, one should approach wealth and possession with a right attitude.

Wealth, when not rightly viewed and handled can be a curse instead of a blessing. That's the reason the Lord took the opportunity in Luke 12:15 to warn against it. And with that, He launched into telling the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21.

The problem with the rich fool is that he was so taken up with the things of this life that he had no time to consider the ultimate future. Jesus called him a fool because he did not consider the shortness and frailty of life. Also because he did not consider the eventuality of earthly living.  A person could think only about physical existence to the exclusion of the eternal.

Jesus wasn't discouraging that one should plan for the future. He was more concerned with one's perspective on life. Total life is not just about living comfortably here and now. It is also about what would happen when the physical life ends. When a person's entire focus is merely on acquiring wealth, and the “here and now,” he inevitably fails to see the “there and then” and the importance of having God. That would spell his disastrous outcome.

What is our priority in life? Work and wealth have their places in our lives. But life is not entirely about work and wealth. God should be factored into one's life whether in work or in wealth. It’s foolhardy to go for wealth at the expense of one’s health, only to spend one’s wealth to get back to health. Just bear in mind what Jesus so rightly asked, "What would it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?" 

Luke 12:1-12 - Transformed Living

Jesus began to instruct His disciples at a time when the crowds that followed Him swelled. Luke 12:1 tells us that they were literally stepping on each other. Though His words were meant to assure His disciples, He allowed the crowds to listen in. Keep in mind that He was moving toward Jerusalem to face His impending death and the opposition against Him was mounting. He wanted them to stay on the task even after His earthly life with them was terminated. Luke 12:1-12, though spoken to His disciples, are also meant for us today. We need to feel His assurance in our daily living as well. There are at least six encouragements and instructions for us.

Be truthful. Don't live like hypocrites. That's the Lord's warning. Here He called it the leaven of the Pharisees. It has a corrupting influence. Just be real. Why? Because every word spoken, every action done and even every intention, would come to light ultimately.

Be bold. Don't be afraid of persecution. God has the final authority. Man may destroy the physical bodies but only God has the ultimate say in where man would end up. He alone has the power to cast a person to face the ultimate condemnation.

Be assured. Don't be overly concerned about personal safety. God cares more for us than we ever know. If He even cares about His lesser creation such as sparrows, He would certainly care about us, His highest creation. We don't even know the number of hairs on our head but He does. He knows every single hair on our heads. So don't be overly concerned.

Be steadfast. Don't be unfaithful. Stay trusting. The Lord will stand with every one of His faithful ones. Yes including us. If we dare to stand for Him in tough times, He will stand with us in our final accounting before God.

Be sensitive. Don't offend the Holy Spirit. His guidance is liberating. It's a serious matter to deny the personal work of the Holy Spirit in one's life. He is the one who illuminates and reveals. How could a person know the Son of Man when the work of the Holy Spirit in his or her personal life is denied? Without that knowledge of the Son of Man, one would be eternally condemned. Learn to walk between the two guiding posts found in 1 Thessalonians 5:19 and Ephesians 4:30. Do not quench the Spirit's guidance and do not grieve His instruction. Quenching the Holy Spirit has to do with not doing the things we know He is leading us to do. Grieving the Holy Spirit is doing things when He clearly shows us not to do. Walking anywhere between these two instruction will keep us from offending the Holy Spirit.

Be dependent. Don't be overly concerned on how to defend our faith. When our defence is called for before any hostile authority, the Holy Spirit will be there with us. He will enable us to speak the right word to answer any accusation. Just stay dependent.

How do we live in a world full of disbelieving people? We are called to be authentic. Truths are not just for us to know but also to live. When opposition mounts and it gets harder to be real, what should we do? Pray that what Christ said to His disciples would also be our guiding principles. Let's live the transformed life.

Luke 11:37-54 - Be authentic

Religion that only contains an outward facade with no inward reality is a sham. It is meaningless to say the least. That in essence is what Jesus was saying in Luke 11:38-44 and 46-52. In these verses we find Jesus not only talking to some Pharisees and scribes but also about them, as He addressed their hypocrisy. The occasion took place at a lunch at a Pharisee’s home. It was highly probable that Jesus was just one of the invited guests. While the Lord was comfortably seated in a reclining position and eating, His host was taken by surprise. He saw that the Lord did not ceremonially cleanse His hands before He ate. The word "surprised" in verse 38 suggests that disdain must have been written all over the host's face. That host did not realize that the way he saw the problem was the problem. The Lord then rebuked and explained to him.

From there, He launched into the pronouncement of the six woes recorded in this passage. First three were against the Pharisees and the next three against the lawyers or scribes. Notice that the woes pronounced against the lawyers was triggered by a question by a lawyer (verse 45). He felt insulted by what Jesus said about the Pharisees, for they were birds of the same feathers.

It's worth noting here that many of those present were people Jesus must have met in His synagogue attendance. So He was not speaking as an outsider. Bear in mind also that these were religious people overtaken by their mistaken zeal. As a result they couldn't see the two essential components of true religion - faith toward God and love toward man.

The three woes pronounced on the Pharisees were:

- They scrutinized and took great care over the smallest detail of the law but would overlook God's love and justice

- They loved prominence and were full of pride about their position

- They were like buried graves that quietly and insidiously corrupted their nation's life.

The lawyers were rebuked for their incongruences:

- They imposed on others but exempted themselves

- They honoured the dead prophets but consented and participated in killing them

- They taught one thing but acted another, bringing confusion to the people.

Verses 53 -54 tell us that His hard-hitting truths did not sit well with his hearers. They became very adversarial and plotted to trap Him in His words.

These rebukes to the Pharisees and scribes by our Lord serve as a caution to us in our Christian behaviour today. We must never let our religious life be merely a life of outward show without any inward reality. Who we are must be attested by what we do. Our actions must bear relationship with who we are in Christ, on-stage or off-stage. It's said that actions speak louder than our words. And truly, the mark of a Christian is not in what he says, but what he does, even when no one else is looking. Be true to yourself.

Luke 11:29-36 – Don’t switch off the light within you!

The crowds that saw the Lord delivered the mute, in Luke 11:14, comprised of many hard and callous people. While some were awe stricken, many of the religious leaders questioned the source of His Power. There were also others who demanded for greater signs from heaven. Just as he addressed the Pharisees that insinuated He was in league with Beelzebub, here in Luke 11:29-36, He dealt with those that demanded for greater signs from heaven. Jesus called them a wicked generation. Despite the many signs that He had performed still they were not satisfied. They insisted that He showed them greater signs from heaven to prove Himself.

In refusing to meet their demands, He brought up two Old Testament characters and the situations they encountered to argue from the lesser to the greater. They are: the Prophet Jonah with the people of Nineveh; and King Solomon with the Queen of Sheba. Jesus our Lord is certainly greater than Jonah and Solomon. Here, He wanted  to show that His message is far more superior to Jonah and His wisdom greater than Solomon's. If the audiences of the two lesser preachers could accept their lesser messages, it made no sense that His own audience should reject His more superior message. He told these callous people opposing Him that the audiences of two lesser preachers would rise to impeach them on the judgment day. For they had just rejected a much more superior message from a much more superior preacher. He then declared that the only sign they would see would be the sign of Jonah. He was referring to His impending death and resurrection. As Jonah came back from the belly of the great fish alive, so also would He return from the grave alive. His resurrection would be the greatest sign from heaven. That would be the only needful sign for them.

Jesus then revealed in Luke 11:33-34 where their fault lay. In the ‘light’ and the ‘eye’ illustrations, He told them that the light was not their problem. It had already shone from the stand where it was placed. Their problem was in the deliberate shutting of their eyes. Hence no light could penetrate the eyes to enlighten them. So the problem with Jesus' audience had nothing to do with the revelation but their faulty reception. So in verses 35-36, He issued a warning, urging them to tune their perception. He told them not to shut their spiritual eye to occlude the spiritual light. But instead to open them for the illumination of God's light.

Isn't it so true that none could be as blind as one who refuses to see? We must pray for the eyes of our minds to be enlightened so that we will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. May God grant us a keen and sharp spiritual perception! Amen!

Luke 11:14-28 – Dealing with the strong man

The reality of demonic activities cannot be dismissed. The Lord Jesus' ministry proved it a thousand times over. One thing that the Gospel of Luke showed again and again, is the Lord's authority over the devil and his demonic forces. But the Lord's conflict was not only with demonic powers; His conflict was also with the religious authority of His day. Here in Luke 11:14-28 we see such a situation. A person who could not talk was delivered. For how long he was mute, we are not told. But the Lord revealed who was behind his condition. He specifically called it "mute." It was common then for exorcists to name the demons in their deliverance exercises. Jesus was just following the common practice of His time. However, we also need to know that not all mutes were caused by demonic dominance. A case in point was the priest Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist. He was struck dumb by the Lord's messenger for his unbelief.  But in the case of this mute, Luke made it clear that it was definitely caused by a mute demon.

What was amazing were the results that followed. People responded to the deliverance differently. Firstly, the victim spoke immediately. Though Luke did not describe his emotion, for sure he must have gone home extremely joyful. Then there were those that were amazed. These were awe stricken. Sincere seekers would. There were also a third category of people - those who opposed it. These were there to create trouble and stir up opposition. And finally the critical were also present. They sneered at the deliverance for its seeming insignificance. They demanded for greater supernatural signs. Jesus dealt with the most troublesome first.

Those trouble-makers insisted that our Lord had cast out "mute" by the power of Beelzebub, a name synonymous with Satan. It simply means "Lord of the flies." How appropriate a name for Satan! Of course Jesus could not leave the challenge unanswered. So He responded to His opponents in three ways. Firstly, in verse 18, He used logic. He reasoned with them. If His power was from Beelzebub, than wouldn't Satan be up against himself? Wouldn't Satan's kingdom be a divided kingdom? Then it would certainly spell his downfall.

Secondly, in verse 19, He used comparison, asking, "By what power did the other exorcists work? How would the people differentiate between what is of God and what is of Satan?" He asked them to tell Him then, by whose name did their own exorcists did their deliverance. And finally, in verse 20, He issued a challenge. "But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." The finger of God is referring to the Holy Spirit. The implication: God's power has now come to dominate. Satan's power had been overthrown by the dominion of God's greater power.

In verse 22, the terms "someone stronger" refer to the Lord. He was basically saying that Satan may have control for a time. He was the strong man. But now our Lord, the "someone stronger" has come. And Satan's armoury has been ransacked, stripped and his spoils taken. His call to all is: stop criticizing and start believing! For anyone who is not with the Lord would be against Him

The crux of Luke 11:24-28 is this. A spiritually cleaned up life requires the continual presence of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, the demonic power that once controlled could return with other spirits to take possession of it again. A life that is not yielded could be re-dominated by the evil spirits. When that happens, it would bring a more serious disaster. We need to know that having good morals without the Spirit of God is not enough.

In verses 27-28 we are told that a woman shouted out in praise of the Lord's earthly mother, calling her blessed, in the midst of His teaching. Jesus seized the opportunity and issued a call to hear and obey God's Word. He said those who do that are the truly blessed. Praise God! Greater is He Who is in us than he that is in the world. We are God's vessel. Let's bring our hearts like vessels to Him. This overflowing, ever-flowing stream! Just as Paul had made this call: let’s be filled with His Spirit daily, constantly and unceasingly. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Luke 11: 11-13 – The Holy Spirit, our Guide in prayer

No father would ever pull out a counterfeit $50 bill and give it to his needy son who has requested for it. Especially so when he knows that the son needs it for some necessities. That's the essence for the first two questions Jesus asked in Luke11:11-12.  "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?” Both these questions presuppose "no" for an answer. Jesus asserted that no earthly father will ever give to his son a snake instead of a fish or a scorpion instead of an egg. Of course not! No father will ever respond to the request of a needful thing with something harmful.

In fact we must have heard of accounts of indulgent fathers who would go even farther. They would take their sons fishing when a fish is requested. And would make them ham omelette when only an egg is requested. This is what some earthly fathers would even do. So how much more would our good Father in heaven provide all our basic needs in life?

This good Heavenly Father knows we all have needs in life and will provide for them. But the one person we all need most, especially in prayer, is the Holy Spirit. Remember the disciples request was for the Lord to teach them to pray. Here is the answer to that question: this third person of the Trinity is the person every Christian would truly need in his or her prayer journey.

Remember what Paul said in Romans 8:26-27, "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." The good Father knows that we all need the Holy Spirit to assist us in our prayer. If we really want to know how to pray effectively, we need Him. Jesus is saying that we all need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in prayer. Therefore if we want an effective prayer journey, we must seek the assistance of the Holy Spirit. And the Father will give us the Holy Spirit when we ask of Him. He is the person who can help us in prayer.

In the third question recorded in Luke 11:13 says, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” This third question presupposes "yes" for an answer. Yes, He will give us the Holy Spirit when we ask of Him. The adjective "evil" used to describe the earthly father is for contrast. It's not here to give us the idea that earthly fathers are bad. It's here to tell us how good our Heavenly Father is, in contrast to the earthly father.

We don't need a set of techniques or "know how's" in prayer. We need the Holy Spirit. He is the "another comforter" whom the Lord Jesus had sent to take His place to assist us. He is our advocate and counsellor today. If we want to know how to pray effectively, we need Him. So request His help every day, much more so when we are praying. We truly need the Holy Spirit, our Guide in prayer!

Luke 11:5 -10 – Be bold to ask

The wide expanse of prayer is simply too much for one’s mind to explore. Its mystery cannot be explained yet we know its potency. Prayer is God's loving gift to us. The Lord had already established how loving our heavenly Father is. He has shown how good and willing He is to answer our prayer. In our illogical thinking, some have concluded that He sometimes doesn't want to answer.  Furthermore, pride, ignorance, and such can lead people to think of the silliest things when it comes to prayer. A few examples are: I have already made too many requests. What I am asking is too small for Him to be interested in. Or why do I want to bother God for every little thing?

So Jesus included a parable in Luke 11:5-10 that debunks these thoughts and affirms God's willingness to answer prayers. One of the characters in this parable is a reluctant neighbor. Jesus told this story to show us that God is unlike that reluctant neighbor. God is unlike that neighbor in that He is ever so willing to meet the needs of our lives. The reluctant neighbor needed to be cajoled into meeting a simple request. Whereas God will never be troubled by our request, no matter how big or small, or how many times we approach Him. The issue is never about God's willingness. The question here is about our willingness to come boldly. Do we dare to boldly and unashamedly approach Him with our needs?

 

Though that man in the parable knew it was late, and it was already midnight, yet he came asking the reluctant neighbor. Though he knew that his neighbor and his family would already be sound asleep, yet he approached him gutsily. He must have known that it would be inconvenient for the neighbor to get up to meet his request, yet he persisted till he arose to meet his request. Here's the point: If a reluctant neighbor could be pressed into meeting a small request, how much more will the loving Father answer His children's prayer, be it great or small.

So Jesus challenges us to ask, and keep on asking, because we shall be given the answer; to seek and keep seeking, for we shall surely find what we are seeking for; and to knock and keep on knocking, for the door will definitely be opened. To emphasize His point, Jesus said, "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened." There are three factors to keep in mind when the answer is delayed. It's the delight, dependence or development factor. God wants us to learn to delight in Him. And He wants us to learn to depend on Him. He also wants us to be developed in Him. So keep delighting and depending and developing in Him. So keep asking, keep seeking and keep knocking and don't lose heart. 

Remember, build a deep relationship with God through constant fellowship with Him in prayers! Know that He is not reluctant to meet our needs. He is waiting for us to ask boldly. So enter into our privilege, and boldly approach the loving Father. Not to do it is sheer foolishness. Let's arise! Seize the moment! 

Luke 11:1-4 – A pattern on prayer (2)

In prayer, engaging the Father, our Abba, our dearest Daddy, is the first and needful thing to do. He deserves to be highly prized and revered. Our desire should also be for His will and reign to be adopted and established in the heart of every man and woman. These are foundational. 

Having established the primary focus, Jesus turned to the horizontal level of prayer. This is recorded in Luke 11:3-4:-

Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.

There are also three things here: our provision, our forgiveness and our strength in times of overpowering temptations. There is this common notion: come to God only when there is a major problem. Come to Him only when the crisis is insurmountable. We forget that He is the Father who wants to provide, protect and care. We tend to make God our last resort in life when He should be our first option. Here, Jesus asks us to come to our Daddy even for our basic necessities of daily living. Don't take things for granted.  We very quickly forget that He is the source and sustainer of our life. And instead of being grateful, and acknowledging that they are His provision, we'll become proud and think that they are owed to us. Praying for His daily provision keeps us mindful that all the things we have in life come from Him: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Being forgiven and being forgiving go hand in hand. If we want to be forgiven, we need to be forgiving. Luke seems to suggest that forgiving others is a condition when we come seeking the Father's forgiveness. It must be a daily, continuous habit. Sins break our fellowship with God. His forgiveness restores it. We should seek His forgiveness. How can we ever obtain it when we remain unforgiving to a wrong done to us? Hence in order to receive the Father's forgiveness in experience, we must make it our habit to forgive others who have wronged us. It did not say that we don't struggle with the issue of forgiveness. We do. But a heart that seeks God's forgiveness must also be one that continues to be forgiving.

Finally we are to ask not to be “led into temptation”. Some have seen this as a suggestion that God is the source of our temptation. But God is not the source of our temptation. James, the Lord's brother, in his letter affirmed it. We will always be tempted in this world, everyone included. Like it or not, temptations when resisted, help to build our moral and spiritual fibre. Here Jesus is talking about the avoidance of those temptations that we won't be able to bear and would succumb to. In our daily experiences, we all need to rely on the strength He graciously provides. This keeps our pride in check. It helps us to see and know how much we need God. It's humbling but it's true. We all need His strength. 

Let's be mindful that it's our Heavenly Father who provides for our daily necessities and be grateful. He still forgives our sins but requires that we maintain a forgiving attitude. So be forgiving. He strengthens when we face an overpowering temptation in life. So rely on Him. The Lord is a strong tower and the righteous shall run into it and are safe! We are truly blessed!

Luke 11:1-4 – A pattern on prayer (1)

Prayer is a spiritual exercise that would be included in most discipleship programs. At least it was in the ministry of John the Baptist. Luke 11:1 tells us so. We all know that prayer, engaging the Father, is one of the most difficult spiritual exercises for believers. Why? Because it calls for discipline. It requires time, focus and efforts. Furthermore, God whom we communicate with in prayer is not visible to the naked eye. It is faith in practice.

Therefore, it's amazing to see in Luke 11:1, one of Jesus' disciples requesting the Lord to teach him how to pray. We can only guess the reason for his request. If we could only take a peep into Jesus' prayer that day, as that disciple did, we'll understand why. It does not take a lot of imagination to know that Jesus must have had such an intimate conversation with God that day. His whole self was totally immersed and engaged with the Father. It must have been such an inspiring Father-Son dialogue, the kind that would create a desire in others to want to talk to the Father in the same way. And it did. We can be quite sure that the disciple wasn't asking for the techniques. He wanted to know how to engage God intimately, the way Jesus did.

So in Luke 11:2-4 Jesus taught all the disciples how to pray. What He taught is widely known today as "The Lord's Prayer." A more appropriate title would be "A Disciple's Prayer." Why so? A closer look at this prayer will reveal that it contains requests that Jesus would never need to ask. But the requests here are what we and every disciple would essentially need. Jesus began with the vertical direction of prayer - the Heavenly Father. Primarily, prayer should be God-centred. The focus is the Father. So Luke 11:2 reads, "Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.” Three key components: The Father, His Name, and His Kingdom.

In addressing God as “Father”, the Lord gives us a whole new understanding of the Heavenly Father. He introduced a new way to engage with God. The Fatherhood of God in the Old Testament is normally used in a general way. But here, the term Father is used in a personal way. It's the "pray-er" and the Father, intimately relating with each other. Matthew 6:9 included this phrase, "Who art in heaven" in the same prayer. Here in Luke this phrase is omitted, very likely with the intention for the disciples to see the "personal-ness" of the Father. He is not a transcendent God, Who sits way up in heaven and very far from where we are. He is a Father, Who is near to us and within the reach of our call. Besides, Father is not a formal term. The word is Abba. It's an intimate way of addressing God. It's calling Him Daddy. More precisely - Dearest Daddy. It's calling on our Dearest Daddy, our Abba - the source and sustainer of our lives.

"Hallowed be Your name." This is to say that this Father is the One who deserves the highest honour, and the highest accolades must be given Him. He is to be highly prized, revered, and respected. He should have our top priority.

"Your Kingdom come" is the expression of the desire for men and women to be brought into alignment with the Father's will. This Kingdom is about God, the Sovereign and Supreme Monarch. His Kingdom come is about His will being adopted by everyone. It's a declaration of a desire for God's reign to be established in every heart and life.

At the heart of prayer is not just about getting answers from God. It's about building oneness with Him. Don't just engage in prayers; be engaged with the Father. The key is setting our hearts on God and to prize Him above everyone and everything. So when was the last time we engaged the Father in such a way? Why don't we do it again today, then tomorrow, then every day? For life!

Luke 10:30-37 – My neighbor is …

Jesus used a lot of parables in His teachings. Parables are stories with heavenly or eternal truths. It's often told to stimulate and challenge the audience's thinking. Luke 10:30-37 is such a story. And Jesus told it in response to the lawyer's question. Luke 10:29 says, "Wishing to justify himself, he asked, "Who is my neighbour?"

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus said that a man was going down Jericho Road. Geography of the road suggests that there were clefts on the way that robbers could hide themselves. Unsuspecting travellers would often be waylaid. Many of them must have lost their belongings to those robbers. 

This man was traveling along that road that day. And as had happened to other travellers before, some robbers pound on him, beat him up, took away all his goods, and left him half-dead. That same day, a Priest, a Levite and a Samaritan also passed by that way. If he could foresee that day, he would be very certain that either the Priest or the Levite would stop to help him. He wouldn't have guessed that it would be the Samaritan who would stop to help him.

This is the twist to the story. The Samaritan stopped to help, though Samaritans and Jews were historical enemies. A Samaritan would never stop to help a Jew. But this one did. He even went out of his way. He not only gave him first aid but also put him on his mule, checked him into an inn to be nursed, and paid for his bill. The next day, because he had important things to attend to, he gave the inn-keeper two denarii. The amount required to look after the beaten man. He even stood as a guarantor to settle all further cost needed to nurse him back to health.

Here, the Lord paused to ask the most important question, "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” Notice that the lawyer wouldn't even mention the word, Samaritan. He said the man who showed mercy. The Lord then told him to go and do likewise.

What is the essence of this story? Remember, it should answer the question, "Who is my neighbour?' The point made is this: My neighbour is anyone with a need I can see, and a need I can meet. He or she is my neighbour. It has got nothing to do with status or race. Take a look at those people around us. What is their greatest need? Isn't Jesus their greatest need? Look at ourselves, aren't we able to provide the answer to that need? The answer is obvious. Who then is our neighbour? 

Luke 10:25-29 – Who is my neighbor?

Remember that the disciples were still on the road with Jesus. In Luke 10:25-29 we are told that a lawyer, an expert on the Law, turned up to test Him. He came asking Jesus this question, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” An analysis of the question will reveal that it's an illogical question. No one ever receives an inheritance by doing something. An inheritance is an asset bequeathed to someone by virtue of his relationship with his benefactor who had passed on. In this case, to inherit eternal life one has to have a relationship with God through Jesus His Son. It cannot be obtained through doing something. 

Knowing the lawyer's intention, Jesus dealt with him from what he was familiar with – the Law. The Lord asked him, "What does the Law read?" Without hesitation, he responded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus applauded him for being so precise and instructed him to go and do it. In our relationship with God, what's important is not just in knowing what God has said but also in doing it. Suddenly, the lawyer realized that he was caught by his own answer. As a Jew, loving God is not a problem. Every Jew is well-versed with the "Shema" recorded in Deuteronomy 6:4-5. A Jewish man, before his journey, would recite daily, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." 

This part of his answer was not his problem. His difficulty was in the part that reads "...love...your neighbor as yourself." Verse 29 tells us that he tried to extricate himself from the trap of his own making. So he asked the Lord, "Who is my neighbor?" For many HDB dwellers it’s like asking, who is being referred to here? Is it the guy living on my right or on my left? Or is it the guy that lives below me? Or is it the guy who lives in the unit above me? Since we have come this far, could Jesus be referring to the people in the whole estate? So which guy in the neighborhood are we referring to? Who exactly is my neighbor? His implication is this: if I don't know who my neighbor is, how then can I love him? Haven't we been caught in a similar situation? We come to the Word of God and all of a sudden a verse or two are no longer just black words on white paper. They are God's personal instruction to us. Like the lawyer, haven't we engaged in an analysis of the "why's" and "why not's" instead of doing it? 

Haven't we thought that by debating long and hard enough we might just find an excuse for not doing it? The point is this: when we have ascertained that God is leading us to act on a certain thing when reading God’s Word each day, start obeying it. Stop debating the whys and wherefores! God desires obedience because obedience is better than sacrifice!

Luke 10:21-24 – Pure and delightful privilege

We have established in the previous verses that one reason for real joy is to know that our names are written in the Lamb‘s book of life. We also know that it’s not wrong to rejoice in the impact made by our ministry. But there’s one more thing that we can truly rejoice in our ministry. It is when those we have shared the message, recognize Jesus and acknowledge Him as Lord, and see Him for Who He really is. For when Jesus is seen for Who He is - there will be real joy. It would mean that the names of those who have responded to Him are written in heaven too. That's another real cause for joy.

Luke 10:21 tells us that Jesus rejoiced rapturously over the works of the 70. This joy was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Instantly, He offered praise to the Father and affirmed His wisdom in revealing the truth to the right people. To those proud, Christ-rejecting people, like the religious establishment of His day, the Gospel and its truths were concealed. To the people like the 70, referred to here as infants, the humble and dependent ones, the Gospel and all its truths were revealed. The crux is this: the wisdom of the world would blind people, make them proud and increase their resistance to the Gospel.  But to people who are not wise in their own eyes, like infants with all their needs and lacks, show their dependence, God would reveal Himself to them.

In verse 22, Jesus then turned to praise God for another matter. He praised God for making Him the source of revelation. Here He declared that He and the Father have a mutually intimate relationship since eternity past. This being so, who else would be more qualified to reveal the Father than Himself. We are not just talking about acquiring knowledge of the Father, We are talking about knowing the Father in experience. This is not something cognitive but something affective. The Father has made Jesus the sole dispenser of true revelation. No one will ever see or experience God unless the Lord opens their spiritual sight.

He then turned to His disciples in verses 23-24 and told them privately how blessed they were. Their eyes would soon behold His death and resurrection, the climax of all that the prophets and kings longed to see. They were sent only to prepare for this impending moment, but the disciples would be given the privilege to see and experience it. What a privilege!

We must rejoice in our salvation. It's a tremendous privilege to know and love Jesus. He has revealed the Heavenly Father to us through the Holy Spirit. We now have a relationship with the Heavenly Father. Like our Lord Jesus, we can have a perpetual fellowship with Him. We are thankful. This is pure delight!

Luke 10:17-20 – Rejoicing for the right reason

Just imagine 70 elated people, returning with joy to share stories upon stories of their exploits. They had just experienced the effect of the ministry. Who won't rejoice after being instrumental in the deliverance of so many? So there was much exultation. Excitedly they recounted how demons were subjugated when Christ's name was declared. As Charles Wesley rightly declared:

Jesus! The name high over all,

In hell or earth or sky;

Angels and men before it fall,

And demons flee and fly.

We can understand the joy of the seventy. Having had such wonderful successes, it surely would be hard to contain the joy.  In Luke 9:18, Jesus celebrated their ministry too. He saw Satan's power over lives shattered and eradicated through their ministries. Verse 19 is a reminder for us too. Just as the 70 had experienced, He has also granted us the authority and power to experience victory over the works of demonic forces. His assurance is still as good today. He promises us His divine protection. Nothing can harm us while we are serving Him.

However, we see in verse 20 Jesus moderating their joy. In much the same way, He is telling us too. There's nothing wrong in being joyful over our successes in life and ministry. But they are only the secondary reasons. The real reason for our joy should be in the fact that our names are written in heaven. It's great to know that in Him we have authority and power over the forces of evil. And we must be grateful for the authority and gifts granted us to do His work. But the fact that we are His must never be let out of our sight.

Where do we find the greatest joy in life?  When we are successful in our ministry? When we find victory in what we are doing? We need to know that it's God that had granted us our victories. We ought to be grateful for them. But in our rejoicing, never forget this: our names are written in heaven. He wrote them with His blood. They are indelible. It will not be removed. Forever!

Luke 10:1-16 – Proclaim the Good news now

Sensing the shortness of the time, Jesus appointed 70 (the NIV recorded it as 72), in addition to the Twelve, to spread the message of the Kingdom. Luke 10:1-16 said that He sent them out with the same instruction that He gave when the Twelve were commissioned in Luke 9:1-6. What the Lord did was logical in the light of the shortage of labor. Even with 70 more, the field could hardly be covered. Manpower was the issue then and still is today. The people who are willing to respond to the call to reap the ripen field still fall far short of the task at hand. Like the Lord, we must also pray for more workers. The implication here is this: we should not just pray but also be willing to respond personally. Evangelize! In the light of this instruction, it's hard to sit pretty and remain idle. We could be the answer to Christ's prayer and call to the task of evangelization. So stand up and be counted!

In verses 3-12, the dangers, the task, and the way to execute the task were all laid out.  Can we sense the urgency? Go...(v.3); ...greet no one on the way (v.4); stay with the receptive, don't move from house to house (vv.5-8); pray for the sick and proclaim the news of the Kingdom (v.9) and; keep moving forward, don't waste time on the unreceptive (vv.10-11). Can you also sense the call to rely on Him? "...I send you..." (v.3); don't depend on your own resources (v.4); and be certain that the Kingdom of God is here (v.11). In discharging the task, the Lord's reminder is to remain focused - keep the Kingdom message and the coming judgment in view. Don't be distracted by those who reject the message or you. They are the Lord's responsibility. Ultimately, they would have to pay more severely than they think.

The message is clear. Like the 12 and the 70, we are also appointed to share the message of the Kingdom. Our task is to proclaim it urgently. Everyone should be given the opportunity to accept Jesus. Our task is not to be upended by those who reject the message. Their ultimate end is the Lord's responsibility. And don't be timid. We are armed with the same authority: "The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me."  

Proclaiming the Kingdom is not just left to the gifted few. It is not only the exceptional people but also ordinary people like us that the Lord needs. He is still looking for willing vessels to carry His extraordinary message. Peace or chaos in the soul, bliss or woes - they all rest in the acceptance or rejection of the message of the Kingdom. Like it or not, there are enough cues in this passage that we are all called to follow Jesus and also to proclaim the Kingdom. Go now!

Luke 9:57-62 – The cost of discipleship

At this point of His ministry, Jesus was gaining momentum and popularity. Everywhere He went, large crowds gathered and heads would turn. He had made astounding impact. Many needs of humanity were met. Deliverances were common place and miracles of healing abound. From all outward appearances, it should be attractive to hop onto His bandwagon. Hence, it wouldn't be difficult to guess why there would be some people who would want to follow Him. Though many times it could be for the wrong reason.

 

People could be blindsided by the glamour of His ministry that they don't see the demands of it. Just like the man who came to Jesus in Luke 9:57. He said to the Lord, "I will follow you wherever you go."  So in verse 58, the Lord told him the blatant truth - he must count the cost.  "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." He was not talking about a physical dwelling place. In His ministry, the Lord had many who would gladly give Him a place to rest His head. Here He was talking about acceptance by the society. At that point, opposition against Him and His work was mounting. It would get increasingly harder to follow Him. If he knew that, would he still be as eager?

The next guy, in verse 59, had some interest but lacked the commitment. When called to follow Jesus, he made excuses. He requested to follow only when his parents were dead and buried. This guy was actually saying, "Now is not the time. I have other seemingly more important tasks at hand. I can't make the sacrifice now."  Of course Christ saw through it. His response to that man was: “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” In essence, He told him that discipleship is urgent. Discipleship is now, and now is the time. If there is commitment, there will be no excuse.

In verse 61, the third person asked for time to bid his family farewell before he would join the Lord.  Jesus' answer to him could be summed up in two words "Be focused!" Using an illustration of a farmer, Jesus told him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." When a farmer is tilling his ground, he cannot constantly look at the rearview mirror. He won't be able to focus if he does that.

Simply put, following Christ has a cost, it requires commitment, and it calls for concentration, Yes, following Christ calls for three things - Cost, Commitment and Concentration. The Lord would often bring us to our "Y-junction" in life to weigh the earnestness of our heart. When it comes to Christ, convenience or commitment, which would we choose? The call from Christ is "Follow Me!" It has been right from the start, and will always be - Follow Me! 

Luke 9:51-56 – Learning not to take offence

Acceptance, approval, and appreciation are three things men crave for. We get offended and could even turn hostile when we perceive that we are being rejected. This seems to be the case with the disciples of Jesus in this passage. In seeking to make sense of Luke 9:51-56, we need to bear in mind that the disciples were on a journey with Jesus. And while they journeyed with Him, He was shaping their lives.  

 

We are told in verse 51 that Jesus was resolutely heading for Jerusalem. As Christians, we know He was obviously going there to advance the plot for why He came - His crucifixion, death and resurrection. Luke was quick to point out the climax of it all - His ascension. Since Samaria was between Galilee and Jerusalem (in Judea), He originally wanted to go there. Jewish history tells us that the Jews and the Samaritans were bitter enemies. Hence, they just hated each other intensely. From the account Jesus had with the Samaritan woman in John's Gospel, we know that Mount Gerizim was the place of worship for the Samaritans. Whereas, the Jews had always worshipped in Jerusalem.

 

With that historical backdrop in mind, we see why the messengers of Jesus were rejected by the people from that village of the Samaritans. The Lord's intended destination to Jerusalem was perceived as evidence that He sided with the Jews. Hence they did not receive Him. The proposal by James and John to call down fire from heaven to consume them underscores the deep animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans. The two disciples’ reaction indicates to us that they didn't grasp the mission of Jesus. They had totally forgotten His earlier instruction to just dust the dirt off their sandals and move on when rejected. They were never told to seek vengeance but to proclaim the message of the Kingdom. Their hostile spirit and their lack of charity invited a rebuke from the Lord before they left for another village. This account reminds us on how quickly we can drop our Christian charity when offended. It also reveals how quickly we can forget His instruction, and the mercy we have received from Him, when we feel unaccepted.

Like the disciples, we are also journeying with Jesus. He will use every encounter we have to hone us. Know that not everything we run into in life will be a pleasant one. And we need to deal rightly with the unpleasant ones. How do we act in unpleasant circumstances? Respond or react? We can choose to be proactive. Take each encounter in life as God's dealing. When offended, pause before we act. Take a moment to reflect. Think of His instruction and His mercy that we have received. Remember, to whom much is given, much is required.

Luke 9:46-50 – What is true greatness?

There is so much pride in us human beings. The God-given achievements are often misconstrued as the accomplishments of our cleverness. Though we are called into the role of complementing each other, we often mistake it for a call to compete with each other. God's leaders included. Even the 12 apostles were not immune. We see this in Luke 9:46. This verse is explicit. The disciples were having a dispute, a sharp dispute. It was not just a banter. It was a strong disagreement. So Luke used the word "argument." 

 

This event took place sequentially after the Transfiguration of Christ and the healing of the boy with a demonically induced seizure. Using our sanctified imagination, we can extrapolate that it all started with the three who were at the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord. They had become proud. They presumed that they were more important than the rest because of their presence at the mountain with Jesus. They could even have sneered at the other nine disciples for their failed attempts in the case of the boy with the demon induced fit.

 

From how Jesus addressed the issue, we know that the disciples were consumed with a passion to outdo each other. Everyone wanted to be the greatest. We are not told how Jesus knew. We mustn't forget that elsewhere in the Gospels we are told that He knew what's in man's heart. So verse 47 says that "He saw the thinking in their heart." Nothing in our thought life, or any other area, is occluded from our Lord. He has an accurately strong perception of everything in our daily existence. He sees our thoughts from afar. So taking a child, Jesus stood him by His side to illustrate a point. In verse 48, He said, "Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”

 

Who would like to associate with a child? Unlike an adult, a child is not only small but also powerless. And who would want to associate with the powerless. People measure a person's worth by those he rubs shoulder with. In the world's system, greatness is determined by the company a person keeps. Jesus was not suggesting that we treat a child well (of course we must treat children well), in order to find acceptance in Him. Here a child is used to depict lowliness. The implication of Luke 9:48 is this - to accept the lowly is to accept his maker as well. Greatness is not measured by our position or the number of high society friends we have. It is measured by our willingness to accept and associate with the deprived; the simple; the common; the ordinary; the disadvantaged and the lowly, in order to demonstrate Christ's love to them. It is a God-given ability to accept all - the lowly, the down and out.

 

Verses 49-50 seem to indicate that John was troubled by a freelance minister whose ministry he had tried to prevent. All because that minister didn't do it the way they were doing it. The Lord's answer suggests that we all should have an open heart even if we don't share the same method. We should not be close-minded and exclusive! How rigidly dogmatic we can be in life. Let's be governed by the Word and not our personal convictions. In God's reckoning, the real greats are often the obscure and selfless unknown. They would rather celebrate Christ than bemoan their namelessness. They travel with the lowly and share their plight. They delight and exult with achievers and stay with the disadvantaged. They are reasonable because they deeply love God's Word and would gladly live it. Where do we stand in God's reckoning?

Luke 9:37-45 – Faith in God or faith in method?

What do you think the disciples were thinking about when they were coming down from the mount of transfiguration? The scene of all that had happened up on the mount must still be very vivid in their minds. However, their exhilaration was soon interrupted by a large and hostile crowd that came to confront Jesus. In verses 37-43, we see a man among the crowd with a very difficult problem. He had a son with a demon induced fit. And whenever that demon seized his son, it would cause him to scream suddenly, convulse violently, foam at his mouth and he would be left in a devastated state. This man brought his son to Jesus’ disciples, who were not with Him at the mount of transfiguration, for help but they were unable to exorcise that demon. 

 

We can detect from the tone of this man that he was in deep desperation. We can also detect from Jesus' response His disappointment with His disciples. Their powerlessness was obviously in their unbelief. In previous passages we have learned that they had been successful in conducting deliverance sessions, but why not this time? They probably failed not for a lack of trying. Their failure was probably due to their regression from faith in God to a reliance on their methods and processes. While Jesus was still engaged in conversation with that man, his son had a violent seizure. Undoubtedly Jesus took control, rebuked the spirit and healed the boy and returned Him to the father. And the crowd marveled at what the Lord had done. Not wanting His disciples to be too carried away by the change in the mood of the crowd, He took the opportunity to share about His impending suffering and death.

How easy it is for us to shift from trusting God to relying on the process. Faith placed in processes and methods and not in God is not faith. Reliance in one’s past success can also erode faith in God. With every new situation we face, we need to come to God and put our faith anew in Him not in the methods of past successes. We must not take the grace of God for granted.