Trying To Change Society By Moral Improvement Series

WHAT'S THE POINT OF THE STORY? It is about moral improvement without God.

- Luke 11:24-26.

- Let’s begin by acknowledging that this is a difficult passage. It comes across a little obscure. It’s easy to read it and think it’s either just a weird saying or something with no application to our lives.

- I want to try to dig into the deeper meaning of what Jesus is getting at and its (very relevant) application to the church today.

- The context of this story is Jesus’ enemies accusing Him of casting out demons by demonic powers. Jesus rebuts them with multiple points, which we discussed in last week’s sermon. The most relevant of those is simply this: a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Jesus’ enemies were grasping at straws to explain away the obvious spiritual power that Jesus was displaying.

- This story is actually a continuation of His rebuttal to them, but I have saved it for a separate sermon because it raises an issue that is especially pressing to the church in America today.

- What is the story?

- A demon voluntarily leaves a person. It’s important to note that the demon is not forced out by the power of God. It eventually decides to return and while it has been gone, there have been some attempts at self-improvement. It then returns with more demons and the state of the person is worse than before.

- What is the point of this story? It is a little obscure but I think the point is that self-improvement without the power of God entering into a life is doomed to failure. This man made some attempts at moral self-improvement but they ultimately failed.

- I think this story is about non-God moral self-improvement. The man tried to sweep and clean up his “house.” In the end, though, it leads to a worse situation. Trying to clean up your life and have moral improvement without God does not lead to a good place.

- This is a truth that, according to Jesus, applies in demonic situations.

- A related question also worth pondering is whether it applies in non-demonic situations. I think the answer is yes. What’s that look like? How would that type of moral self-improvement lead to a worse state?

- Even when some small progress is made to make us feel better morally, that's actually counter-productive in the larger picture. Why?

a. Our pride in our tiny changes masks how massive the total amount of moral changes would have to happen to make us genuinely good people.

b. Our pride in our tiny changes makes us think we are doing well and don't need the moral resurrection Jesus says we need.

c. It’s tied to our own thoughts on morality, not God’s absolute standard of truth.

d. We are pursuing it without the help of the Holy Spirit pointing out where we need to make changes.

e. We will usually ignore or be unaware of our more pressing moral issues.

f. And there is the moral pride that often comes with most efforts at self-improvement.

- In sum, we can easily end up at a worse place morally after a little moral self-improvement.

- One point of application for us right now that I think is really important is how this truth applies to our society.

Let me highlight two major ideas that are prevalent today.

- There are some Christians who preach the social gospel. They argue that by going forward and doing good works we can transform society. Often this is divorced from preaching Jesus but instead is just doing good works. This type of moral self-improvement for society will ultimately fail.

- Especially relevant to this passage, though, is another idea for societal change: legislating morality. If we put the right people in office and get the right laws passed, then this country will become what it should be. This is another type of moral self-improvement for society. It’s a different approach but it too will ultimately fail. Moral self-improvement apart from God will not work.

- That raises a crucial question: what will work?

- As Christians, we believe that only one thing will work to bring moral transformation.

WHAT DOES JESUS POINT US TO INSTEAD? There is transforming moral power in hearing God’s Word and obeying it.

- Luke 11:27-28.

- Some treat vv. 27-28 as a separate section but it’s not. It’s the continuation of the thought that Jesus is sharing.

Having said all this about transformation without God, a woman shouts out a statement about who is blessed. Jesus’ response culminates this passage and gives us deep insight into the point of Jesus’ mission: blessed . . . are those who hear the word of God and obey it.