Category Archives: Luke

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When Bad Things Happen

Read: Luke 13

About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.” (Luke 13:1-5, NLT)

One of the sad realities of living in a world broken by sin is tragedy.  We witness it all the time, and sometimes we are personally touched by it.  An infant dies in her sleep, a teenager is killed when his car crashes; a mother loses her battle with cancer…a quarter of a million people are wiped out by an earthquake in a poverty-stricken nation.

Out of these tragic events, like clockwork, we hear some shocked and grief-stricken person ask, “How could a good God allow such evil?” Of course, they are searching for some sort of answer that will make sense out of the insensible.  They are trying to find some explanation other than the simple reality of living in a broken world where bad things happen to people—good people as well as bad people.  And when no sensible answer is forthcoming, God gets the blame.

This is the equivalent to what Jesus was asked.  A group of innocent Galileans had been killed while they were worshiping.  Eighteen people left home one morning like every other day, but on this day a tower collapsed, killing them all.  How could a good God?  How do we make sense of this tragedy?

Did you notice Jesus’ answer?  He didn’t really give them the answer they wanted.  In a way, he brushed aside their question and went to the heart of the matter: Sin.  Sin kills.  It brings death.  And as long as there is life on Planet Earth, not only will there be inexplicable tragedies, but every person will die sooner or later.  So far, the death rate for human beings is hovering around 100%.

So what is the explanation?  There is really no explanation that will satisfy the “how could a good God?” question.  But there is an answer—Jesus said, “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” The answer to the tragedies that occur in this broken world and the antidote to the tragedy of human sin that brings death to every human being is eternal life.  Repentance trumps death, salvation neutralizes sin, and the cross has defeated the grave. That’s how a good God has dealt with the tragedy of life in a world broken by sin.

“We want to reach the kingdom of God, but we don’t want to travel by way of death. And yet there stands Necessity saying: ‘This way, please.’ Do not hesitate, man, to go this way, when this is the way that God came to you.” ~Augustine

What If God Took Over?

Take a moment to thank your Heavenly Father for the precious gift of salvation—and eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord.  It is that one very special and undeserved gift that will trump every evil that will come against you in this life.

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Too Much Stuff

Read: Luke 12

Then Jesus said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” (Luke 12:15, NLT)

We don’t use words like covetousness or greed a whole lot these days, but we should. We Americans are a pretty greedy lot—me included. Our whole economic system is predicated on the hopes that you and I will grow dissatisfied with what we’ve got and go buy something newer, better, and bigger.

For instance, since Jesus told the story in Luke 12:16-20 about a man who thought his property was too small, let’s just take a look at our insatiable thirst for bigger homes. Did you know that the average home size in the United States was 1,000 square feet in the 1950’s, and while the average number of household residents has shrunk since the 1960’s, home size has grown to 2,422 square feet today.

It was a whole different picture when I was growing up. My mom, dad, three other siblings and a couple of family pets all lived comfortably in a home that was 1,200 square feet, if that. We shared bedrooms, bathrooms, clothes, didn’t have a garage to park our car in, and only one TV—with no remote control! We actually had to get up and walk across the room to change the channel, if you can imagine that.

And we didn’t think any thing of it. We didn’t feel poor or cheated or even realize what we didn’t have. We were content! We spent a whole lot more time together as a family. We ate together. We all drove together in the same car, even when we were teenagers—a family of six crammed into an AMC Gremlin! or was it a Hornet?  Whatever—it was a really ugly car that should have never been made.  My point is, we were as happy as a lark—we didn’t know what we didn’t know.

We were content—and emotionally healthy. We had discovered what G.K Chesterton said, “True contentment is a real, even active virtue—not only affirmative but creative. It is the power of getting out of any situation all there is in it.”

As a society, we Americans would do well to read Luke 12. It is a tough one, but what Jesus had to say about the deceitfulness of wealth, the debilitating worry over stuff, and our ultimate accountability before God for the stewardship of what we possess is much needed medicine for the greed that ails our society these days.

One day, sooner than you think, you will stand before God. None of the things you have collected during your earthly journey are going with you. The only thing that will go with you into the next life that will do you any good is what you have done for God. Jesus said of the rich man in the parable, “You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?”

As the poet said, ‘Tis one life, will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

“If you cannot get what you like, why not try to like what you get?”

What If God Took Over?

Here is a novel idea:  Give away some of your stuff this week to someone who really needs it—and don’t replace it!

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Accessing God’s Willing Generosity

Read: Luke 11

“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (Luke 11:11-13, NLT)

Persistence plus generosity—that is the equation not only for answered prayer, but for the life of abundance, fruitfulness and power God desires each of his children to experience.

That is what Jesus is teaching here.  The context is a request from his disciples to teach them how to pray.  They had witnessed firsthand Jesus’ unusual connection with his Father and the amazing spiritual power that freely flowed from it.  And they wanted that for themselves.

So Jesus taught them his secret:  Prayer.  From that, we get what has been termed “The Lord’s Prayer”.  But right after he teaches them this model prayer, he begins to talk about the need to persist in prayer.

He tells the story of a friend who goes at midnight to a neighbor’s home to ask for a loaf of bread in order to feed a guest who has just arrived.  The lesson there was that the friend’s persistence overcame any reluctance the neighbor felt at that inconvenient hour to meet this need.

That is quickly followed up with Jesus’ admonition to therefore “keep on asking…keep on seeking…keep on knocking (verse 9, NLT) in prayer because you are not coming to a reluctant neighbor, or to an earthly father (verse 11) who, because of the limitations of his sinfulness, can only do so much. Rather, you are coming to a willing and generous Heavenly Father.  And this Heavenly Father will not only provide what you desire (a fish or an egg in this story—symbolic of daily necessities), he will provide what you truly need—the Holy Spirit (the spiritual power to live as Jesus lived).

The secret to living as Jesus lived:  We must learn to persist with the Father in prayer, not to overcome any reluctance on his part, but to overcome our own reluctance to come to him in daily dependence and tap into his willingness to provide what we desire and what we need.

Prayer, then, is not overcoming God’s reluctance; it is accessing God’s willing generosity. Our persistence plus God’s generosity equals the release of divine provision and spiritual power—the kind of life God has planned for every one of his children.

“Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the Kingdom. If you may have everything by asking in His Name, and nothing without asking, I beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is.” ~Charles Spurgeon

What If God Took Over?

Memorize Hebrews 4:16 and in your own words, pray it back to God every day this week:

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

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The One Good Thing

Read: Luke 10

But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42, NLT)

Jesus was a real champion of women’s rights—perhaps the first. The religious rules of that day prohibited a woman from being a disciple to a rabbi. But Jesus not only allowed Mary to “sit at his feet” (Luke 10:39, NLT), he praised her for it

Allowing her to “sit at his feet” was accepting Mary, a woman, as his disciple. Jesus was giving her the same right as men to be schooled in his theology, to do his work and minister in his name. He was breaking with the long-held customs of the time, something akin to the emancipation of slaves to full rights of citizenship in the deep South in the 1800’s.

By welcoming Mary as his disciple, Jesus sent a clear signal that all the barriers preventing intimacy with God had been removed. Everyone in Jesus’ community of disciples now had equal freedom, equal dignity and equal access to God. Gender, ethnicity, background, or any other man-made qualifications aside, to “sit at Jesus’ feet” was to accept his invitation to a life of purpose and significance in his kingdom.

Not only did Jesus accept Mary as his disciple, he went out of his way to praise her: “There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42, NLT)  Literally, the text says that Mary chose “the good”.

Jesus praised Mary’s openness. She was demonstrating total receptivity to Jesus. While her sister Martha had received Jesus into her house, Mary had received Jesus into her heart. Moreover, Jesus praised Mary’s daring devotion. She did what only men were allowed to do—sit at a rabbi’s feet to learn. Luke 10:39 says, “sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.”

This wasn’t the only time Mary had done this. It was a pattern in her relationship with Jesus. In John 11:32 we see that Mary fell at his feet in prayer when her brother had died. In John 12:3 she fell at his feet in worship—an act, by the way, which cost her a keepsake worth a year’s salary as well as the criticism of the other disciples.

If you read those passages, you will notice that each time Mary fell at Jesus’ feet there was an associated fragrance: In Luke, the meal brought the fragrance of hospitality. When her brother died, it was the smell of death—and with her grief, the fragrance of unmitigated supplication to the One who claimed to be the resurrection and the life. When she fell at his feet and anointed them with outrageously expensive perfume, it was the fragrance of sacrificial worship. Each time she fell at his feet, Mary was demonstrating that she was a fully devoted follower of Jesus.

Along with Mary’s total receptivity and daring devotion, Jesus praised her for her outstanding courage. Her willingness to sit at his feet was a costly choice! In a Jewish writing called the Mishnah, a commentary on the Law of Moses that had been elevated to equal status with the Law, it was written, “Let thy house be a meeting house for the Sages and sit amid the dust of their feet, drink in their words with thirst, but talk not much with womankind.” What she did was something a woman just didn’t do. Making Jesus her priority was truly sacrificial. It cost Mary not only Martha’s anger and the disciples’ criticism, but it also drew the religious establishment’s ire.

Jesus, however, said that Mary made the better choice. She chose the good, and her story was recorded not only as an eternal acknowledgment of her devotion to the Lord, but as a perpetual challenge to followers like you and me. You see, at the end of the day, this story is about the daily choices we face to either carry on with our regular, and in most cases, justifiable routines, or to make following Christ our highest priority—to sit at his feet in total receptivity, daring devotion and courageous worship.

Your highest priority today will be to make the time to “sit at Jesus’ feet”. If you do, you will have chosen the good!

“Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it.” ~Corrie Ten Boom

What If God Took Over

Do you struggle with a daily quiet time where you can enjoy uninterrupted and intimate fellowship with Jesus?  Here is an idea:  Put it on your calendar as a daily appointment—and then honor it like you would any other important event.  You might think this makes something that should be spontaneous a bit rigid, but in this day and age of overcrowded schedules, I think it might be the best thing you could ever do.

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It’s Hip To Be Square

Read: Luke 9

“Wherever you go, stay in the same house until you leave town. And if a town refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.” (Luke 9:4-5)

I’m really concerned!  I have a nagging worry that the way we are doing Christianity these days is a far cry from what Jesus had in mind. I think we are far more concerned with doing whatever it takes to attract people into our churches than in calling for the radical transformation of their lives through total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Just think of how the typical church in America today makes its appeal to the community: You’ll love our music—the band sounds just like Coldplay. Our pastor is great—he’ll remind you of David Letterman, only funnier. We got some great programs, too—your kids will think they’ve died and gone to Disneyland.  Bring your teenager, they may win an iPhone—we have a drawing for one every week.  And have we got a deal for you—we’ll help you improve you marriage, make you more successful in business, show you how to make money, and help you to feel really good about yourself.  Oh, by the way, we’ll treat you to a latte from our Starbucks’ franchise in the lobby.

No kidding, I was sent an advertisement not too long ago for a start up church back east that promoted itself as a church for the really busy. The outstanding feature of their advertisement was the half-hour service—10 minutes of worship, 12 minutes of the word, 3 minutes of application, and 5 minutes of fellowship—flim, flam, thank you ma’am.

Nothing like rearranging your life around the priorities of the kingdom, wouldn’t you say? Maybe their mission statement could be, “If you’re too busy for Jesus, just come to us—we’ll fix that!”

That is a far cry from the plan Jesus gave the disciples for building his kingdom in Luke 9:1-6 (NLT):

Then One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes. Wherever you go, stay in the same house until you leave town. And if a town refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.” So they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.

Building the kingdom is not a matter of entertaining people into our churches. The more we do that, the more the world finds the church irrelevant. We can’t compete with them in that realm anyway, they do a far better job at entertainment than we do.  Rather, building God’s kingdom is about invading your neighborhood, workplace, school or social circle—“whatever house you enter”—in the power and authority of Jesus Christ, casting out demons, healing diseases, and declaring to those who have been under Satan’s dominion that there is a new Sheriff in town.

That probably sounds a bit radical, doesn’t it?  And that very fact shows you how far we’ve drifted from New Testament Christianity.  But really, don’t you think it’s time we start depending on the power and authority of Jesus again to build the kingdom of God rather than trying to be hip?

“[Jesus] was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met Him. He produced mainly three results—Hatred—Terror—Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild admiration.” ~C.S. Lewis

What If God Took Over?

If you dare, spend a few minutes praying that the Holy Spirit will empower and embolden you to be a radical witness for Jesus Christ.

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Storm Sleepers

Read: Luke 8

The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. (Luke 8:24)

Jesus and his disciples were in the boat in the middle of a lake when a fierce storm hit, threatening to capsize the craft and drown them all. Understandably, the disciples were frantic, but Luke says that Jesus was sleeping—snoozing away in the midst of a raging storm!

Now that is an interesting detail the writer throws in. So just why is that bit of information so important?  I believe it is because Luke wanted us to know what Jesus knew about life in the hands of his Father: That given the care and the competence of his Heavenly Father, the world was a perfectly safe place to be, including a boat in the middle of a storm.

A raging storm is about to sink their boat, and the disciples are screaming and struggling for their very lives. They think they are going to die. But Jesus is living with a full assurance that had been settled long ago in his mind that his Father was both caring and competent, so therefore he has no problem sleeping right through this storm. In their frantic state, the disciples cried out to Jesus for help. They had faith in Jesus—and that is a very important thing. But what they didn’t have, not yet anyway, was the faith of Jesus. They did not live in the predetermined assurance, as Jesus did, that they were safe in the hands of God.

The Apostle Peter, who was in that boat, came to know what Jesus knew. He later wrote in I Peter 5:7, “cast all your anxieties upon him because he cares for you.” He too, had come to know that when your life is in the Father’s competence and care, this world, no matter what is going on around you, is a perfectly safe place to be.

Do you realize that the Father cares for you? Sure you do! So why not practice a little casting today—especially if you are in the middle of a storm. Cast your anxieties back to the One who cares for you, and don’t be surprised if you fall asleep in the middle of your storm.

“With complete consecration comes perfect peace.”  ~Watchman Nee

What If God Took Over?

Offer this prayer of surrender:  “Lord, you care for me more than I will ever realize.  And you are competent to take care of all of my needs.  So I cast my anxieties back to you, and in exchange, I receive your peace.”

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A Wretch Like Me

Read: Luke 7

“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 7:47)

It was a pretty dramatic moment: A woman of questionable character interrupted the dinner party of a high-minded Pharisee named Simon. Jesus had been invited to the party as the honored guest. This “woman” fell at Jesus’ feet and began to do something that made everyone there very uncomfortable: She started washing Jesus’  feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair, kissing the very spot that would soon be pierced and nailed to a cross for her sins. Finally, she broke an expensive jar of alabaster and anointed the beautiful feet of the One who had brought the Good News.

The people watching this “lady’s” drama were put off. How could Jesus allow this kind of woman to become so intimate with him? Why would he even give her the time of day? Didn’t he understand her background? She was a woman of loose morals—how could he…how dare she!

But as we have come to expect of Jesus, he not only knew what he was doing, he clearly knew what she had been doing. He knew there was something of God taking place in this moment that was very special, and he didn’t want those who had been dulled by their own misguided sense of holiness to miss it, so he shot a little laser-guided parable into their midst:

“A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?” (Luke 7:41-43, NLT)

The host of the party, Simon, fell for it.  He walked right into Jesus’ trap: “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” (Luke 7:43, NKJV)

It is not in the text, but I can imagine Jesus’ next words to Simon were, “Exactly! You’ve made my point, Simon. Case closed. Next!”

Have you ever wondered why people who have been so dramatically converted out of a life of sheer debauchery have such passionate testimonies—and why we are so enamored with them? This encounter between Jesus and the woman of loose moral character is precisely why.

Sometimes we who don’t have such a dramatic story of spiritual rescue often assume that we don’t have a testimony worth telling—so we don’t. We don’t seize opportunities to speak of our B.C. experience—life before Christ. We kind of feel left out in the testimony department.

If that is you, you have missed the whole point of this exchange. You see, you are that woman! Just as Nathan the prophet said to King David in a different dramatic encounter, “You are the man”, Jesus would say to you, “You are that woman.”

In fact, your sins had separated you from God. Your sins were no puny little matter—they had the power to send you to hell just like the immorality of the woman whom Jesus forgave. You, too, because of your sins, were offensive to a holy God, deserving of judgment, headed for a Christless eternity.

But God, in his mercy saved you and forgave you through the death of another, his Son, Jesus Christ. And when you stand before Jesus on that final day, you too will fall at his feet and shed tears even more rare and more costly than alabaster—tears of sheer gratitude for his grace.

You, too, like the woman, have been forgiven much. You just don’t realize it yet! Perhaps you would be wise to ask God for a fresh revelation of your true condition B.C., and the indescribable gift of amazing grace that he has freely given you.

When you come to the realization that you, too, have been forgiven much, you will love even more! So don’t be afraid to tell your story.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now am free!

“Turn to God from idols. For the sword of His wrath that had been aimed at you has been sheathed into the heart of His Son. And the arrows of His anger that had been put against your breast were loosed into the Lord Jesus Christ. Because He has died for you, you were forgiven.” ~Paris Reidhead

What If God Took Over?

The truth is, you were once a sinner headed for an eternity without Christ. But God saved you, due to no righteousness or goodness of your own. It was His mercy and grace that lifted you out of your hopeless condition. You deserved hell, but God gave you heaven instead. Take a moment to listen to this rendition of “Amazing Grace”, and perhaps at the end, you may want to fall at your feet and in return, offer God the best gift you have—your undying gratitude.