Luke 16:14-18[1]
As preached at Rolling Hills Church on Sunday, Oct 23rd, 2011.
It does the church good, and keeps us healthy when we listen to Christ preached from the Old Testament and from the New Testament; so I alternate between the two. That way we learn of who God is, what God has warned us of, promised to those who believe, and how He has made provision for the sins of all who believe Him, and turn from their wrongdoing.
I am preaching from Luke 13:22 to Luke 17:10, and that's because it is the second time Jesus mentions "Journeying toward Jerusalem". We've walked with Jesus as He's taught on the narrow door while He traveled, lamented over Jerusalem, healed a man while at dinner with a Pharisee, and beginning in Luke 15:1, He is teaching to those sinners and tax-collectors who are coming to hear Him, and a group of Pharisees and Scribes who are there to accuse and de-rail Him. Luke 16 is composed of two lengthy stories of rich men and this small section between them
The Pharisees have gone from mumbling under their breath (Luke 15) to openly sneering at him; ridicule. I'm convinced that they believed that they were right; if Jesus had been from God He would have CERTAINLY been with and like them. How blinded we can be! Let's read Luke 14:13-18 (gonna start with 13 to context us).
13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."
14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.
15 And he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
16 "The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.
17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.
18 "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
Now at first I see how one would think that this is random, this little section. It is not; nothing Jesus said, nor anything he had Luke record was random. Here is the message I see for us in this text: People might justify themselves before men while their hearts are full of sin, but not before God. The ones who enter the kingdom of heaven when they die are those who believe Jesus, and worship Him alone. Three ways this is taught in this text…
13-14 You're not justified before God when you worship money and not God. How hard-hearted one can be to sneer at Jesus' words about money. This comes from those who are convinced that they DO love God, and they KNOW that they love money. Remember, Jesus had just taught (16:1-13) the parable of the dishonest manager, and warned His followers to be wise with their money; and lastly, not to worship it. The matter of wealth – the use and abuse of wealth – reveals where a man or a woman stands in their relationship to God[2]. This is something Jesus will come back to strongly in the story after this section. It's good for us to hear this again; "what is exalted among men is an abomination before God."
14-18 You're not justified before God when you disdain His Son and despise His law.
Their beef was Jesus was that He was setting aside the law of God. Jesus' beef with them was the same – their external focus on the law before men was in direct contrast to the focus of their hearts when it came to OBEYing the law.
Let me say that God's law isn't what saves us; the covenant with Christ is the prevailing one we relate with God through, and praise Him for that! However, Christianity is not without law, church! The Ten Commandments, with the exception (Colossians 2:16-17) of the Sabbath, are laws God intends for us to know, be humbled by, and seek His power to obey. With David, we can delight in God's law! With so many of the Psalms woven into their temple and synagogue worship, these men still managed to disdain God's law rather than to delight in it! This is a terrible thing that most of us wouldn't dare to do – directly. But when we ignore God's clear truth to do what we have made right in our own eyes, how are we different? These men sneered at Christ, and they made a mockery of God's law, all while judging others on being short of their rules, which they equated with God's law. This would be the equivalent of a pastor today sneering at and judging a man for drinking a beer while he ran around on his wife. This is what Jesus meant when He said men were 'everyone forces his way into it'. These men rejected God while the so-called 'heathen' were pushing to get to the front, to touch Jesus, and letting their sick friend down through the roof to get to Him!
They were on a quest for man's applause rather than God's approval. They were public figures that needed public affirmation. Religious men who rejected the clear, incisive teachings of Jesus yet thought they were right with God. Churches are populated in part by such people; you're religious, but you have your own views, beliefs, and your own control over your own religion; you reject the clear, incisive teachings of Jesus. You write your own religion, donating 1.5 hours weekly to God, does well on your resume. You've never repented of sin, begged God from your knees to save you, stood to be baptized to identify publicly with Jesus, and committed to a local church family by committing to faithful church membership so you could be counted on to link arms and advance the gospel. Unbelieving people aren't saved by being religious and this church isn't here to simply have more numbers; but rather to see lost saved and saved matured into obedient, growing faith in Christ[3].
Divorce was, I'm convinced, used here as an example of the Pharisees' pure disdain for God's law. In the Jewish writings revered by the religious leaders of Jesus' day, a man (Hillel) could put his wife away because she burned his dinner (Akiba). A man who found a prettier lady could divorce his wife. Jesus rejected such folly, and said it was wrong. He calls it adultery, and the man who marries the woman you threw away is also an adulterer. We should allow the weight of this verse to sit on us for a few minutes; divorce has become too common, too easy in the American church. Why is that? In part because the preaching of the law of God is rare in God's church here. Two exceptions and no condemnation: sexual immorality, and an unbelieving spouse who leaves you because of your faith in Christ.
Church family, people might justify themselves before men while their hearts are full of sin, but not before God. We're not justified when we worship money and not God, and we're not justified when we disdain His Son and despise God's law.
[1] All Scriptures, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (via E-Sword Software) © 2001 Crossway Publishing. All Rights Reserved. I paste them in red for distinction.
[2] A quote from Alistair Begg, Luke 16:13-18; found http://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/law-and-gospel/
[3] ibid.
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