26. Who is Jesus?
February 27th, 2010
Disowned
Quick overview of what has been happening. Jesus casts a demon out of a mute man. The religious leaders, nice guys that they are, claim that His power comes from Beelzebub. There are confusing God with Satan. Jesus says no way you are guys are ridiculous so they ask Him for more signs. This agitates Jesus a bit. When tensions cool off a Pharisee invites Jesus over for a meal where they pick a fight with Him. This is just a bad idea. Jesus lays them out on the table like an appetizer and moves on to His main course. He calls them hypocrites and spiritually dead. Jesus and religious people don’t get along well. We have seen that already in Luke and we are going to see more of it today.
This dinner debate becomes the YouTube video of the week and word spreads fast about how Jesus just owned the religious leaders. Which is something people want to see: these Pharisees walk around acting like they are better than everything treating others like they are dirt. Who doesn’t want to see someone like that get put in the place? These people start flocking to Jesus in the thousands. Remember a typical town is 50-100 people. They had to travel on foot some of them for miles. Thousands of people are showing up and are literally stepping all over each other trying to get to Jesus. These crowds want to see the UFC match between the Son of God and super spiritual Pharisees. Jesus is a big deal. He is one guy taking on an entire religious group.
As the people start coming out, standing between the crowds who are trying to get to Jesus and Jesus are the religious people. Once again they have placed themselves between God and man and are hindering people who are just trying to get to Jesus.
Lk 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. Lk 12:2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. Lk 12:3 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.
Jesus starts off by talking to His disciples. They are the closest people to Him, they get the most access. Jesus warns them against the leaven of the Pharisees. The Pharisees put on a good show. They dres, act, and talk right. From outsider looking in these guys seem to have their stuff together. Jesus says they are a bunch of phonies. They are pretending to be something they are not. I don’t know them. They don’t know me.
Jesus warns His disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees. Leaven is old sour dough that is kept as a fermenting agent. This leaven would commonly contain yeast which causes the dough or batter to rise during the baking process. The bread we are used to eating that is all nice and puffy and soft that is leaven bread. Unleavened bread is a Saltine cracker it is dry and crunchy. Leaven is a very pervasive object. You don’t need much leaven to get an entire batch of dough to rise. This is why Jesus warns the disciples so strongly about the Pharisees. Leaven is infectious. It spreads quickly. In the New Testament it is used to symbolize the destructive power of evil influence.
The Pharisees do not have a genuine relationship with God. They only invited Jesus over for a meal because He was popular and they wanted the attention of the crowds. They didn’t like Jesus they were plotting to kill Jesus. Within four months they will join forces with the Sadducees and Herodians to murder Jesus. They are willing to break their own laws and the laws of God just to get rid of Jesus. They may look good. They certainly deserve an Oscar for their spiritual performance but its not real. Conflict reveals character. The Pharisees kill Jesus because they were jealous of Him. They didn’t like what He was teaching and they wanted His popularity.
Lk 12:4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. Lk 12:5 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. Lk 12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies ? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Lk 12:7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Jesus knows the religious leaders are plotting to kill Him. That doesn’t really scare Jesus. The only reason they are able to is because Jesus lets them. They can kill Jesus but they cant much more than that. Their power is overrated. Jesus isn’t scared of what people will do to Him for following God. He just follows God.
We are not supposed to live in fear. How many times do we fail to do what is right because we are afraid of what might happen? Whether we call it peer pressure, people pleasing, or codependency the problem comes from replacing a Biblical fear of God with a fear of others. This causes us to do things we don’t want to do or we know are wrong because we are afraid. Doing what is right is not always easy. Some people will go out of their way to try and stop you. They will threaten you with bad things. Threaten to withhold good things, they will try to intimidate you or pressure you. People will yell and scream and manipulate all to stop you from doing what is right. So people will use fear to try and force you to do what they want. That is wrong.
People shouldn’t scare us. What should scare us is when we start choosing people over God. When we let fear of others dictate how we lives our lives we are ignoring or rejecting God as our ruler. That should scare us. We should be afraid that when we disobey the commands of God out of fear of others that He might respond. Scriptures commands us to fear two things: God and nothing. You decide who has authority in your life: God or others. People may hurt you, they may even kill you but they cant touch your soul. Don’t fear men who hate you, fear the God who loves you.
Religion likes to do this with faith: come to church or you will be punished, read your Bible, pray everyday, don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t step foot in a bar, don’t express yourself or else God will destroy you and you will burn in hell. Give us your money or God will punish you. Do what we say or bad things will happen to you. They use a fear of God to get people to do what they want. As a result some people view God as this great big mean man in the sky like Zeus holding a thunderbolt just waiting for an excuse to strike you down. The point of this is not to make us terrified of an angry God but to show us that we have to pick sides. Either we are for God’s or against Him.
Life is a choice. You have to decided who determines how you live. When we focus on what other people think of us, when determine our value based on how others see us, or when we live with low self-esteem then we probably have some fear of man issues. For some it is the inability to say no. If you are one of those people who commits themselves to everything because you don’t know how to tell someone no then you probably have some fear of man issues you need to work out. The point is who do you need approval from? Does everyone in your life have to love you? Does it have to be a certain person? Who do you have to get praise from?
Jesus reminds us who God is. God loves us so much He knows the number of hairs on our heads. He knows everything about us. It is one thing to feel loved by someone when you don’t think they know the real you. God knows you better than you know you and God still loves you. Despite everything you have done and will do God knows it and still loves you.
Lk 12:8 “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. Lk 12:9 But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.
In Crazy Love Francis Chan talked about a man named Stan who was giving a eulogy at a memorial service. Stan started sharing the Gospel and at the end of his message he said: “You never know when God is going to take your life. At that moment, there’s nothing you can do about it. Are you ready?” Then Stan sat down, fell over, and died. Chan went over to Stan’s house. His wife was crying. One of her sons stepped out of the car weeping and asked Chan “Did you hear the story? My dad died doing what he loved doing most. He was telling people about Jesus.”
Chan was asked to say something. Looking at the children, grandchildren, neighbors, and friends he opened his Bible to Matthew 10:32-33 and read: “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”
One moment, Stan was at a memorial service saying to a crowd, “This is who Jesus is!” The next, he was before God hearing Jesus say, “This is who Stan is!” One second he was confessing Jesus; a second later, Jesus was confessing him! It happens that quickly. And it could happen to any of us. “Are you ready?”
What we do in this life determines how we are received by God. If by our words and our deeds we acknowledged Jesus then He will stand and give testimony in the court of God on our behalf. If we deny Him, if we are too afraid to follow Him because of what people might say or do then Jesus will not stand up for us. Our lives hang on His testimony. All He asks is that we live for Him. That we follow Him, that we obey His teachings. If we just live and love like Jesus then we acknowledge Him with our lives. Life is a struggle between good and evil. It is a choice between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. You have to pick which side you are on.
Lk 12:10 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. Lk 12:11 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, Lk 12:12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”
This is sometimes referred to as the unforgivable sin. Blaspheme Jesus and you can be forgiven, blaspheme the Holy Spirit and you are Spiritual toast. Here is the trick: the Holy Spirit is empowering Jesus. Denying Jesus after all He has done is difficult to do without denying the Holy Spirit.
This idea of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit has been misrepresented a bit. It’s not like the Holy Spirit is one of those people who can dish it but cant take it. So if you deny Him His sensitive little feelings get hurt and He gets mad and then refuses to let you be forgiven. Don’t be ridiculous. The Holy Spirit is not a Jr. High girl emotions don’t run His life. The issue is when you reject Jesus and the Scriptures that show us who He is you are denying the one way to God. If you wont hear His words the last hope you have, the one chance is that the prompting of the Holy Spirit will awaken your heart and pull you back to God. The Holy Spirit fights hard for you. He continues to fight even when you reject everything else. He doesn’t give up on you.
When you start dismissing the Holy Spirit and claiming that His work is the work of Satan as the Jews just finished doing with Jesus then you are rejecting your last hope and the only place left to go is down. It’s almost like the Holy Spirit is a safety net. Denying Him cuts that net away. So if you fall you have nothing left to catch you.
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is when you decide that Jesus is not God, you live as if you are, and you die without changing your position. Some people fight against God and this verse when they come to believe this verse scares them. If you are alive there is still time. God never gives up on you. Your life is a choice. There is a battle between God and Satan and you have to pick your side. You cant dance in the middle. Are you for Jesus or are you against Him? If you are for Him, don’t let anything get in your way. Don’t be intimidated, don’t be afraid, don’t back down. Stand up and live your life the way Jesus instructs you to. Make everything in your life about Him so that you can know the love and the life He offers.
