But God Knows Our Hearts Series

But God ... But God has a better idea, but God intervenes, but God knows better. But God knows our hearts.

One of the marks of our modern culture is the belief if one will just follow their own heart they will be alright. Award winning Christian author Steven James comments in an interview with World Magazine makes the following comments:

“Some movies and books say life is just terrible now: Slit your wrists. Disney on the other hand is: Follow your dreams and everything will be wonderful in the end. This whole idea of follow your heart—that’s not Christian either. Rapists follow their hearts. Pedophiles are true to themselves. Nazis pursued their dreams. The Bible says that the heart's deceitful above all things. Why would you want to follow something deceitful? We believe you should follow something greater than your heart, that you need Someone else to inform your dreams. We turn to God.” [1]

That’s a hard pill to swallow, our hearts are deceitful and wicked. I didn’t say that, the word of God says that:

Jeremiah 17:9–10 (NKJV) 9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? 10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

God knows us better that we know ourselves. But God knows our hearts. He know knows our every thought, and that’s scary. But most people don’t every think about that. They fool and deceive the world around them and why not God too? Today's passage deals with the Pharisees of Jesus'day, thinging they have fooled everyone, including God.

Focal Passage: Luke 16:14–15

A few years ago according to CBS News, Alisdair Allen and Peter Warden made a shocking discovery about their iPhone. It seems that it has been gathering data and tracking their whereabouts wherever they go. The phone actually records various data points that are stored and used to trace the exact path a person takes whenever they are in possession of the phone. The data could reveal all the activities a person engages in during the course of a day. Security experts fear that uncovering the whereabouts of unsuspecting spouses may cause a number of divorces, among other fears of violation of privacy.

Forget about Apple knowing about where you go, God not only knows where you are, but He knows what you are doing. He even knows the intent of your heart.[2]

Hebrews 4:13 (NKJV) And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

God know it all. So why do we live our lives as if He does not? Putting our focal passage into context, Jesus, from the beginning of Luke 16, was instructing about the use of money. He told the parable of the unjust steward and how the steward used his master accounts to his advantage. And finishing out the parable Jesus makes this statement:

Luke 16:13 (NKJV) “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Mammon is another word for wealth and/or money. As Christians, we only have one Lord and Master, and that is Jesus. But the problem is that other things get in the way. For the Pharisees, who overheard these teachings of Jesus, money was clearly their master.

Luke 16:14 (NKJV) Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.

The pharisees knew all about money. They were hypocritical and they were proud. They chose religion as a lucrative profession. There was no vow of poverty here. (I know a few so-called televangelists like that). They were about bringing glory to themselves and not to God.

Matthew 23:5-7 (NKJV) But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.

They were all about what others saw in them. They believed in their own righteousness in that God has blessed them with their wealth. More wealth and more money meant, at least in their minds, they were more right before God. We read about them last week in Psalm 49:

Psalm 49:18 (NKJV) Though while he lives he blesses himself (For men will praise you when you do well for yourself)

And the scriptures said of the Pharisees “and they derided Him.” Other translations say they sneered at Jesus. In the Greek is the word means “to turn their noses up” at Him. It was quite the sign of disrespect. "A poor teacher teaching his poor followers about money? What does He know?"