The Spirit

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

THE SPIRIT

Luke 12:11-12

11 "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say." 

NIV

Is this to replace education? Does the Holy Spirit give us insight into what to say without our having knowledge of the word of God? Can we defend our faith without going to some denominational institution of higher learning? Have we replaced the influence of the Holy Spirit with education? Do we put more emphasis on education then on the power of the Holy Spirit in regards to defending our faith, as well as any other aspect of Christian living? Perhaps it is the education which gives us the rules and regulations like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law tried to live by. Maybe it is the education which gives us the lists of do’s and don’ts to check off each day. Can the Holy Spirit give us words if we have never read any of the scripture? Have we put limits on the power of the Holy Spirit by believing we must first know the scriptures in order for him to remind us of them, or inspire our words? Have we replaced the power of the Holy Spirit with the power of our own mind? Do we lift up those who appear to be so intelligent regarding God’s word because they have all the degrees, but maybe have little to no relationship with the Holy Spirit? Have we been sucked into this kind of thinking? Jesus tells his disciples they should not worry what words they need when defending their faith in front of unbelievers. The Holy Spirit will teach them at that time what they should say. The key here is, at that time. We cannot prepare all our words in advance. We cannot prepare what we are going to say, rehearse it, memorize it, because then it would be our words and not word taught to us by the Holy Spirit. We cannot even sit down with him weeks in advance and try to get inspired as to what we should say at that time. It would appear all we really need to do is to wait for that time and then hear the words the Holy Spirit inspires us to speak. Talk about walking in the Spirit, this is it full out. Does this also apply to other aspects of words, like sermons, or books, or even these devotional writings? Certainly preachers spend an enormous amount of time in preparation for their sermons, with notes or even a complete text to sort of read. Certainly some authors spend hours, even days or weeks in research preparing the information they are going to write about. Does all that negate the power or influence of the Holy Spirit in their words? These are tough questions, but at the same time we should be aware of the power of the Holy Spirit and that he can and will give us the right words at the right time, even without any preparation of our own. It would make sense, at least in the mind of man that we should have, at minimum, read the scripture once. Then the Holy Spirit could bring it back to our mind so we could say the right words at the right time. But Jesus did not include that requirement as he simply told them and us to rely completely on the Holy Spirit. Certainly the Spirit knows all the words and then some. With his power he can teach us words we have never seen or heard before. This is living in the Spirit. This is real faith, this is the Spirit.   

In Agreement

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

IN AGREEMENT

Luke 12:8-10

8 "I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9 But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. 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.

NIV

Two great truths here which we need to explore. There is no question about this idea of whoever acknowledges Jesus before men that he will acknowledge us before the angels of God. There is also no question about the fact that those who do not acknowledge Jesus before men, or disown him will be disowned before the angels of God. But there is a consensus among some religious people and even some unreligious people that if God is a God of love then all people get to go to heaven, expect of course the most vial of evil men, like Hitler or John Wayne Gacy or the like. But the truth is a person has to acknowledge they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior that he died on the cross for them, for their sin. They have to confess with their mouth and believe in their heart that God raised him from the grave. The fact is all people do not get to go to heaven, even some who claim they did righteous acts in his name. This word acknowledge is translated from the Greek word Homologeo which simply means, man word, or say the same thing, agree with, concede. This then comes down to much more than being religious or saying we are Christians.  It is saying we agree with everything Jesus said. It is saying we believe every word of the scripture, that each word is God-breathed and true. Therefore we agree that in order to get into heaven we must be born again. This is agreeing with, acknowledging Jesus before men, telling them we agree with Jesus. The second truth here is a little less cut and dried. There has been so much said about forgiveness and even the fact that if we say something nasty about Jesus before we come to repentance we will be forgiven, but we can never be forgiven if we say something nasty about the Holy Spirit. What is the difference between Jesus and the Holy Spirit that makes this speaking reproachfully, this railing at, this revile against the Holy Spirit unforgivable? It might seem right to consider what function both of them perform. Jesus is the truth, the light and the way. No one comes to the Father except through him. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ. Anyone who comes to repentance and acknowledges, or agrees with Jesus will be forgiven. The Holy Spirit has two functions. The first is to convict men of their sin and need for Jesus. Here is the truth of it. If we refuse, or speak against him, rail at his conviction, revile his attempts to convince us of our need to repent, we will not repent, nor acknowledge Jesus, agreeing with him and therefore will not be forgiven and see the kingdom of Heaven. There is also another truth in that once we have accepted Jesus, listening to the voice of the Spirit, he then leads us into all truth. If again we refuse the truth, revile against the truth, thus speaking against what the Holy Spirit is revealing to us, we might be in danger of becoming like those who Jesus said he never knew. This may be the reason for so many different interpretations of the scripture. Many are using the scripture for their own benefit, making the words say what they want them to say, rather than hearing the voice of the Spirit. It would seem imperative to be continually open to seeing the one truth for there is but one. As the truth is, there are not many paths to God, but only one, Jesus. It is also true there is only one truth, which is revealed by the Holy Spirit. It would seem that each denomination would claim they have the one truth, but they have differing opinions of what that truth is and therefore some have to be without the whole truth and that reason is because they have reviled, disagreed with, spoken against the Holy Spirit for he speaks only one truth. Harsh words yet when it comes down to us personally we have to see this  truth and not be in agreement  with men but with God, hearing the voice of the Spirit, repenting, acknowledging Jesus before men, and hearing the one truth as revealed by the Spirit. This one truth he speaks brings understanding as well as he brings fruit and gifts which we need to accept as well. By refusing to accept the gifts he brings is just another way of reviling against him. By refusing the fruit, we refuse the work he does in our lives and again that is reviling him, speaking against him. Our lives need to be available to all the Spirit reveals to us and does within us. We need to be in agreement with the Jesus and with the Holy Spirit. 

How much better can life be

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

HOW MUCH BETTER CAN LIFE BE

Luke 12:4-7

4 "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 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. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

NIV

Jesus is certainly talking about eternal life here. He tells us that we should have no fear about those who can merely kill our bodies. They are only the temporary container in which we live as we are eternal spiritual beings. Jesus is not talking about fearing Satan either for he does not have the power to throw us into hell, he might be able to kill our body but not our spirit. Jesus is telling us we should fear God. He has the power to throw us into hell, the very hell that will be cast into the lake of burning sulfur in the ends days. Those who are cast into hell will then also perish in that lake, that is their spirit will perish. This is the reason we should fear God. Now that word fear which is but only one Greek word can be defined in several ways. The first is to be afraid, to be frighten, terrified. The second is to be in awe of, to revere, or to treat with reverential obedience. As Jesus is speaking about fear, he might well be using that word in both senses within this statement. But the point he is making is that God has all the power and that God knows us so well, that he even has the very hairs on our head numbered. He assures us that we are worth so very much to God. Our worth is beyond counting, beyond measure when it comes to God. There is nothing in this life that should cause us to fear, to be afraid, to be frightened of, but we certainly need to be in awe, in reverence of God, yet at the same time understand how much worth he considers us to be. Living a life of worth in the eyes of God should inspire us to be all that we can be. Knowing that God not only has the power to cast those who refuse to acknowledge him into hell means he also has the power to bring those who are of worth to him, those who fear him, those who revere him, into the eternal life of heaven and thus the new city of Jerusalem upon the new earth, with new heaven. This is going to be a completely new realm, totally different than anything we can ever image. Jesus tells us to not be afraid, God considers us to have value, to have worth. How much better can life be? 

Unleavened

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

UNLEAVENED

Luke 12:1-3

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. 2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 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.

NIV

Hypocrisy is the key here. Building those facades so others are only looking at the shiny new exterior while the inside is still the old rotting interior. That is what Jesus was saying about the Pharisees, but also that they were like yeast. Hanging around them, it is easy to become like them. Their form of religion is infectious. This is how it can be when we join some fellowship, church or denomination. We are infected with their brand of religion which may be nothing else then like the Pharisees, all good looking on the outside, but no real spiritual life in the inside. But the rest of what Jesus said is rather haunting. It does not matter how good looking we are on the outside for nothing concealed will remain some as it will be made known. God knows our heart, our very thoughts and it is absolutely impossible to conceal anything from him. So why do we try so hard to conceal all our sin from each other? If we are afraid of what others might think of us, then we have indeed been infected with the yeast of the Pharisees. If we want others to think we are “Good Christians” while we are in fact struggling with some area in our life then of what value are fellow believers and for that matter what value do we have? True spiritual life is without hypocrisy. True fellowship, Koinonia, carries the meaning of social intercourse which is in fact an intimate act which would prohibit hypocrisy. If we cannot hide it from God then why should we hide it from others? The answer to that is because we all do it, and that is just the way it is. We have no true fellowship because the infection has spread throughout the whole assembly. Honesty is a forgotten trait, at least as far as the whole is concerned. There are a few people, hopefully at least one, our spouse, who know who we really are. They know our faults, our temptations, our weakest link in our daily walk and still they love us as a true believer of God would. Within marriage there absolutely cannot be any of the yeast of the Pharisees. But that is also the way it should be in the assembly.  If it is not that way then that kind of Christianity will be exposed in the end. Maybe that verse of scripture where Jesus tells those who did all that outward stuff that he never knew them speaks directly to those who were infected with the yeast of the Pharisees, hypocrisy. How do we get rid of this yeast? Where can we begin? Do we need to start over, a church of true believers? A real church, a true fellowship where there is no yeast at all, where all the people of God are unleavened. 

Needing Jesus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

NEEDING JESUS

Luke 11:45-54

45 One of the experts in the law answered him, "Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also." 46 Jesus replied, "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. 47 "Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.' 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all. 52 "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."  53 When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.

NIV

After Jesus said what he did to the Pharisees with his three woes, now a teacher of the law, who thinks he must be above a Pharisee complains about Jesus insulting them when he spoke to the Pharisees. So three more woes and these are pointing directly to the teachers of the law and that would also apply to us, otherwise it would not be in there. The fact they were teaching people that they had to adhere to the law was true, but Jesus was telling them they did not even abide by what they were teaching. He was telling them to walk their talk, or practice what they preach. Isn’t that something we should be doing? We cannot tell people how they should behave when we cannot behave correctly. The gospel is not about rules and regulations which many denominations burden down their people with, rules and regulations which no one can actually keep. It is true we should live in a manner which pleases God and he has established certain behaviors which are required and the ones which are not acceptable. But the point Jesus was making is that these teachers of the law required people to obey the law when they themselves did not. We all fail, we all fall short, and all of us, not a single person can ever abide by every single law, or denominational rule or regulation. We cannot fulfill every requirement of God for righteous living and that is why we need Jesus. Without Jesus we are doomed. The rest of the woes continue this same theme. The fact they decorated and adorned the graves of the prophets which their forefathers killed is in fact a practice that still continues in Israel today. Jesus was telling them how they lifted up the dead who in fact they killed, which is related to their hindering others from the knowledge of God. They could not be truthful about the past, they could not admit their ancestors murder the prophets because they spoke for God, and spoke against the behavior of the Israelites, warning them of the coming wrath of God upon them if they did not repent. The reason for this was because they wanted to be like the prophets in the sense of warning the people about how their need to abide by the law otherwise God would not be pleased. The whole idea was they held themselves up while keeping others down. They were not truthful about human error and the need for the Messiah, the Christ who would take away their sins. This is our lesson as well. We cannot go around telling everyone how righteous they need be. The fact is we all fail, we all fall short, not one of us can live a perfect life, and so we should not be preaching perfection, but preaching Jesus. It is not about how we should do this or that or what we should not be doing, but it is about Jesus. The key to knowledge is not the law, but it is Jesus. They were not only hiding the key from others, but by burdening them with the law, they were hindering others from finding Jesus who is the key to all knowledge. We should not be preaching denominations and their doctrines. We should not be preaching perfection. We need to be showing Jesus. When we fail, we need to be open about our failure, because that is why we need Jesus too. No one is better or worse than another, as both the Pharisees and the teachers of the law thought they were. We cannot get into that trap for we are but sinners saved by grace. We all need Jesus. 

No woes

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

NO WOES

Luke 11:42-44

42 "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. 43 "Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44 "Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it." 

NIV

Three woes to these Pharisees which translates into three woes we should watch out for in our lives. The first is about how we make sure we tithe at church, making that a ritual, or rule we can check off that we do, but do we omit the weightier matters of the God? Do we neglect the soul, spirit and practice of godliness? This is what Jesus was telling the Pharisees they were doing and we need to see if that is exactly what we are doing. Do we act according to justice and equity toward all mankind? Do we show mercy to the distressed and miserable? Do we see our faith in God as the fountain of all righteousness, mercy and truth? Jesus was telling them they began nor ended their works in God nor did they give God any respect for doing what they did. They did what they did to be seen by men and they had their reward in human applause. Jesus certainly did not object to their paying tithes, but they did not live according to the way God desired. Surely we can continue to tithe, but we should be living out our faith in our relationships with others, and not to get the praise of men, but the praise of God. Why we applaud singers can never be understood. Why they accept it is even worse. Why don’t we applaud the preacher when he is done? If we are all living in the truth of God, all praise, all applause should be to God and him alone. Once again with the second woe, Jesus was telling them they look for high titles and a show of how great their religion is by seeking the best seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplace. All their actions, their, what appears to be, acts of righteousness is all a show to get thought highly of by men, rather than by God. This again translates to the same for us. For what reason do we preform acts of righteousness? What is our motivation for doing any acts of service at church or for that matter in public? Is it so others will think we are “Good Christians” or think highly of us because we do this or that? The only reason we do anything should be so we can give God the glory. We have absolutely no talent, no abilities other than what God has given to us, for he knit us together in our mother’s womb and designed our being with all the talent, all the ability we have and then gifted us with his Spirit to be able to use all that we are for his glory, and not for our own. No applause please. The third woe is once again the same. Jesus was telling them they were like unmarked graves, which is people could walk right over or past them, and not see the corruption that is beneath their feet. The same sense of the white washed tombs. This again speaks to our lives. Do people see us as nice and pleasant on the outside but cannot see the corruption that exists on the inside. The lesson here is that we should not have that corruption on the inside while presenting a holier than thou attitude on the outside. People need to be able to see who we really are, and the fact is we should be the people God desires us to be, so people see God in us. We need to live in such a manner we never hear that word, woe.

Inside and out

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

INSIDE AND OUT

Luke 11:37-41

37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised. 39 Then the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give what is inside [the dish] to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.

NIV

We could suppose Jesus was actually talking about the dishes or cups and plates, but that is just not the case with Jesus. He never speaks about such mundane subjects, but rather uses parables or illustrations to make a point in a person’s life and their relationship to the kingdom of God. Jesus tells them they might look clean on the outside but on the inside they are full of greed and wickedness. Is this a statement we can apply to our lives as a lesson? Are we also simply concerned about how we appear to others? Do we only want to look like a “Good Christian” on the outside, doing all the right things. Are we standing with arms raised in praise, at least in church, while harboring ill feelings toward another? Are we acting like a believer, but get distracted by the desire of things, or impure thoughts, or any form of greed or wickedness? Jesus was telling them if they gave alms to the poor, that is shared a portion of their goods with the less fortunate, basically getting rid of their greed and wickedness, then they would be clean on the inside instead of just on the outside. Do we satisfy that truth with our tithe? As long as we bring a tenth of our income to the church, can we still have all that greed for the rest of all the things of the world using our ninety percent? Perhaps the truth is even deeper than that. Maybe Jesus was talking about our beings. The fact that we look like we are believers on the outside, but are we believers in the inside. We might appear to give God our heart on the outside, but have we given our heart to him on the inside? If we truly have offered him our whole being, our heart, soul, mind and strength then we will be clean also on the outside. We will be washed clean in the blood of Jesus. Although there is also truth in the giving to the poor, but Jesus also said we will always have the poor among us, so it may well be more a lesson about the giving of that which is in the inside rather than being concerned we look clean on the outside. Greed and wickedness make the inside dirty. No one else, not a single person knows our inside, our thoughts and desires, our lust or greed, what or who we actually are on the inside. Others may know portions of who we are, but for the most part they only know what we show them, with our words and deeds. But God knows our real inside, our true self and we need to be clean inside and out.