When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.” (Luke 11:29-36)
Not all searches are created equally. Searching for the meaning of life is very different than searching for a good bank or even the more important searching for a lifelong mate. Whether it is two young Mormons who knock on your door or you decide to read the Qur’an for yourself, searching for the real answers in life is very different than most of our life’s pursuits. If you were interested in searching for a new car, you’d have websites specifically designed to walk you through the various colors, models, and features of a wide diversity of automobiles. If you were interested in purchasing a new home, you’d contact a real estate agent. Yet, in your search for life’s real meaning, where does one turn? And how do you know if the person giving you the answers to your questions can be trusted?
At one point or another in life, most of us will ask the big questions: “Why am I here?, “What is worth dying for?”, “What’s wrong with the world?”, and “Can anything make the world right again?” As a pastor and student of the Bible, I’ve appreciated the arguments and questions skeptics bring. They often sharpen and fine-tune our understanding and communication of God’s thoughts (the Bible). Frankly, I’m bothered by believers who dismiss these questions glibly and without deliberate thought.
If you’re not a believer in Christ and the Bible, I want you to know you’re welcome here. I remember the questions I’ve asked in conversations and classrooms through the years. Yet for a few, asking the big questions of life is an exercise of futility. Some insist that we don’t need any such answers and we really should admit that life is just meaningless and leave it at that. While you are alive, they say, just try to enjoy yourself as much as you can, and when you are dead, you won’t be around to worry about it. For many young people, they don’t bother even trying to find the meaning of life Still, the search for real meaning is important. People have been searching for the real meaning in life for a long time.
Years ago, the great tennis champion Boris Becker expressed his emptiness some years after becoming the youngest Wimbledon champion at the tender age of seventeen. Becker said, “I had won Wimbledon twice, once as the youngest player. I was rich. . . . I had all the material possessions I needed. . . . It is the old song of movie stars and pop stars who commit suicide. They have everything, and yet they are so unhappy. But I had no inner peace.”
Sophia Loren appeared on the cover of the famous Life magazine some seven times in the decades of the 1950s and 1960s. In an interview, the famous movie star and academy award winner said she had had everything— awards, marriage— but that “in my life, there is an emptiness that is impossible to fulfill.”
I want to ask you, “What will make you happy?”
Today, I want you to see Jesus’ interaction with seekers. For what you’ll see is something you won’t find in the magazines at the checkout stand or in the chatter of the local coffee house. Jesus identifies something unique and altogether different in your search to quench the inner emptiness of your soul. He identifies the real barriers to life’s meaning and more importantly, having faith.
Sermon Preview
Looking for a Sign
Jesus is Greater
How Do I Encounter Jesus All the Centuries Later?
What You Missed
Just as with TV drama series such as West Wing or Breaking Bad, you can’t just drop into today’s story without knowing what’s happened in “last week’s episode.” In our story, Jesus is dealing with stony hard hearts. Hearts so hard that they had just been eyewitnesses to Jesus’ healing a mute man and exorcising demons and now they wanted more evidence (Luke 11:14). These skeptics were there when Jesus raised a paralyzed man so he could walk (Luke 5:17-26). These same doubtful minds watched a dried-up, withered hand reappear as if miracles happened by “just adding water” (Luke 6:6-11). And remember, there’s a report of Jesus raising a man who was dead three days (Lazarus) only to see the religious teachers of the day accelerate their plans to kill Jesus (John 11:55-57). And Jesus’ take on our search for finding real meaning is that the problem isn’t with the evidence at hand but with the eyes that doing the searching. Blind eyes don’t see anything.
1. Looking for a Sign
Truth be told, most of us spend a great deal of our lives looking for signs In our story, Jesus encounters people looking for a sign. Notice in our text, Jesus connects the dots in an unusual way. At times, Jesus can be incredibly tender. But not in our story – Jesus is anything but tender. Most people would get excited when the crowds increase, but Jesus waited until the crowds increased to say: “This generation is an evil generation.” (Luke 11:29b)
Like catching a fish, you wait until you see the hook, line, and the sinker disappears below the water, Jesus instinctively knew it was a matter of timing. What made Jesus wait until the crowds were large before announcing His cryptic, caustic statement? Jesus knew the crowds weren’t real; they weren’t going to last. Jesus could see their attachment and attraction to Him was superficial.
Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Christ (as Christians call him), is undoubtedly the best known and most influential human person in world history. As many as two billion people today identify themselves as Christians. Followers of Jesus are now more numerous and make up a greater proportion of the world’s population than ever before. And despite Christianity’s decline in Europe, it is estimated that they are increasing by some 70,000 persons every day. No doubt if Jesus were interviewed about the masses that follow Him, He would express the same scorn and skepticism about many of His followers in our day just as He did in today’s passage.
Jesus said: “When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.” (Luke 11:34b) Jesus is telling us that there are some things that get in the way of our hearing and seeing Who He truly is. Imagine you are a judge and on your docket is a case that involves a company where you are a stockholder. As you review the case, you can see quickly that your decision will have a huge impact on the price of your stock. American law forbids you to judge the case – you must recuse or disqualify yourself. Jesus says all of us are in this position. Judas couldn’t see the beauty and value of Jesus when all he did was craze the thirty pieces of silver. The problem in finding Jesus isn’t that He has hidden himself in darkness but it’s that we’re searching for Him with blind eyes. When it comes time to decide whether Jesus is right, each one of us has bad eyesight that prevents us from judging His true identity.
Russians Cosmonaut Doesn’t See God
It seems that Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev made it all up. Many of you know something about the tremendous tension during the Cold War between the USSR and our USA. And many of you remember how the Russians beat us into space. It was reported by official Soviet channels upon their entry into space in 1961 that the Russian Cosmonaut who first traveled into space said these words: “I went up to space, but I didn’t encounter God.” Fact is, Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, never said it. Instead, the quote was part of the Soviet Communist and atheistic campaign.
Still for many to believe in Jesus and the Bible, you’d like the thought of getting into the space shuttle to explore outer space in hopes of seeing evidence of Jesus. Haven’t you often wished God would make the evidence more clear? Like someone who lives on the ground floor, you want to go up the steps of the house to find who’s on the second floor? But God isn’t someone who simply lives in the skies above, easily accessed by our eyes. The problem with the Russians’ supposed evidence for not finding God in their eyes.
Looking for evidence of God by exploring space is like saying I don’t believe in George Lucas after watching all six of the Star Wars movies. You don’t see George Lucas in any of his movies, therefore he doesn’t exist. To conclude that George Lucas doesn’t exist simply because you don’t see him in his movies would be bad logic. He isn’t one of the characters like Hans Solo but Lucas is present at every moment in every movie. You wouldn’t see all of Shakespeare’s plays and announce you don’t believe in Shakespeare. Shakespeare isn’t a character like Lady Macbeth but is present in every play. I wouldn’t say that proving God’s existence is as easy as verifying George Lucas or William Shakespeare. My point in this analogy is simple: God doesn’t exist inside our universe so you could talk to Him or touch Him. Instead, God created our world like Lucas created Star Wars or Shakespeare created his plays.
Finding God isn’t about going to higher altitudes or the second floor. Finding God is all about faith. And faith doesn’t mean hoping in what isn’t true; it means being certain about what you can’t see. Remember, blind eyes don’t see anything.
1. Looking for a Sign
2. Jesus is Greater
Popular culture varies widely in our days as to what the real purpose of life truly is. Some will tell you to chase your dreams… … while others encourage you to become the person you’ve always wanted to be. In the popular TV series, The Simpsons, one episode comically represents God agreeing to tell Homer what the meaning of life is. But the show's credits begin to roll just as God starts to say what the real meaning is.
In today’s passage, Jesus speaks about Himself in the greatest of terms. He compares Himself to two Hebrew figures: first Jonah and then Solomon. All of this to show the culpability of those searching in Jesus’ day. Any ordinary man that would have said what Jesus says, would have been eaten up with vanity.
Jonah
Jesus is getting to the heart on this issue of faith seeking evidence. He’s drilling down on this aspect that God has shown Himself in the light of day by sending His son. When He says in effect, “You’re looking for a sign? Here’s your sign: Jonah walks into the foreign city of Nineveh after being in the belly of a great fish for three days. Jonah says but a few words and the entire pagan city of Nineveh repents.” “Yet, here I am in front of you day in and day out. I healed the sick. I’ve made mute men speak and withered hands are healthy. Lame men that couldn’t walk not run.” Jesus says, “I am your sign. And I’m greater than Jonah” “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40) The founders of every other major religion said, “I’m a prophet who shows you how to find God,” but Jesus taught, “I’m God, come to find you.”
Solomon & the Queen of Sheba
To grab the people’s attention, Jesus offers a second sign. Pictures a courtroom scene where God judges everyone. He imagines the people saying, “We didn’t see enough evidence to convince us that Jesus was real.” He imagines the people saying, “We didn’t see enough evidence to convince us that Jesus was real.” So in this supposed absence of evidence, Jesus acts as a prosecuting attorney where He brings forward the Queen of Sheba on the witness stand.
“The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” (Luke 11:31)
The Queen of Sheba appears in religious texts sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. I discovered there’s even a restaurant in Addison named the “Queen of Sheba” serving Authentic Ethiopian cuisine. Some 900 years before Jesus Christ, the Queen said to Solomon “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, 7 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard.” (1 Kings 10:6-7)
Notice Three Differences…
1. She traveled some 1,500 miles to see the wisdom of Solomon for herself “And I’m right here.”
2. She was a pagan and you’re God’s chosen people.
3. Solomon was known for his wisdom, but He was nothing like Jesus.
If you wanted to learn about any field of discipline, you would consult Solomon. Solomon has left us some very valuable books, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the book of Song of Songs. Yet, Solomon’s words pales in comparison to Jesus. Blessed are those who sit at Jesus’ feet. Solomon knew about architecture (remember he built the Temple), He knew about agriculture and anatomy. He knew politics and government as he was king over Israel at the nation’s zenith. Solomon’s wisdom spread to commerce, trade, and the economy. Solomon’s wisdom and compassion spread to those who needed him – story of the two women.
But who can compare to Jesus? You have heard the reports about Him. Jesus says, “I’ve shown you the similarities between Solomon and me.” Now, be like the Queen of Sheba and go to Him and see for yourself. One who is greater than Solomon is here.
1. Looking for a Sign
2. Jesus is Greater
3. How Can I Encounter Jesus All These Centuries Later?
“I don’t live hundreds of years ago. I can’t watch Jesus. I don’t have access to his miracles.”
So how do I discover God? Doubt your doubts. Doubt your skepticism and remember you’re not completely objective. Recognize your sight is not as clear as you want it to be. Thomas Nagel is an American philosopher and calls himself a secular atheist. He’s recently written about what many people call a fear of religion and as one who has experienced this fear himself.
I want atheism to be true, and I am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that. My guess is that this cosmic authority problem is not a rare condition. . . . I am curious, . . . whether there is anyone who is genuinely indifferent as to whether there is a God.
Recognize your sight is not as clear as you want it to be. Remember, blind eyes don’t see anything. Jesus continues to live on in the accounts of the life-changing encounters of the pages of sacred Scripture. It’s here inside these pages that we see Jesus the teacher…
…Jesus the miracle worker…
…and Jesus the wise sage.
It’s inside these pages where we witness the life-changing grace and power of Jesus. Can you be changed by these eyewitnesses to Jesus all the years later?
“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory…” (1 Peter 1:8)
I read of a man in Kansas City who was severely injured in an explosion. His face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands. He had just become a Christian when the accident happened, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible. Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille. But sadly, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been too badly damaged to distinguish the characters. One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them. In a flash, he thought, “I can read the Bible using my tongue.” At the time this incident was reported, the man had read completely through his Bible four times using his tongue!
Where are you in your search for meaning in life? What have you discovered about Jesus Christ? Are you an honest seeker? Are you someone who will take you wherever the evidence leads you? Or, are you someone whose mind is made up?
Not all searches are created equally.
Invitation Prayer
What is Repentance?
Three components to really repenting. Really repenting isn’t getting caught. It’s coming clean.
1. Conviction – it’s a feeling that is painful.
It’s the time when God convicts you through a conversation, or perhaps through reading the Bible. This isn’t depression. Like a good surgeon who cuts us before he heals us, Jesus hurts us before He heals us.
2. Confession – both your mind and your mouth agree on what you’ve done.
This is where you talk to God about what you’ve done. This is a no-excuse time. Don’t describe it as “no big deal.” Jesus died for sin so it’s a big deal.
3. Contrition & Change – this is where you feel it.
You’re emotionally fragile and broken and humble and grieved by what you’ve done. But through the help of God’s Holy Spirit, you’ll change. The Spirit makes us new people. We’re born again.
