Discipleship According to Jesus – Part 5
Luke 6:39-45
April 29, 2018
As you know we are working through Luke’s version of
The Sermon on the Mount.
And what we have recognized is that
Luke is keenly aware of how JESUS IS CONFRONTING those
Who are in the crowd, especially those who might be considered
“on the fence” concerning Jesus.
We have called them “The Curious”
These would have been the people referenced in verses 17 and 18 of the chapter.
Luke 6:17-18 “Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured.”
The no doubt came because they had illnesses they wanted healed.
And certainly we don’t fault them for that,
As I’m sure many of us would have done the same.
It is also apparent that Jesus didn’t hold that against them either
Since He did in fact heal everyone in the crowd that day.
But once everyone had been healed Jesus then began to teach
And the thrust of the sermon has been on
THE NECESSITY OF FOLLOWING CHRIST.
The 1st group He addressed are those we called: THE COMMITTED.
• These were those who left everything to follow Jesus.
• They were first poor in spirit and then eventually actually poor.
• And Jesus said that their decision to forsake the world in order to gain Christ was the best decision they ever made.
The 2nd group He addressed are those we called: THE COMFORTABLE.
• No doubt they wanted Jesus’ healing and miraculous power,
• But they had been otherwise unwilling to forsake this world in order to follow Christ.
• Their god was their comfort,
• And Jesus said their decision to keep the world over Christ was the most foolish decision they ever made.
And then we realized that while those statements
Definitely applied directly to the groups he addressed,
Those statements were also meant to gain the attention of this new crowd
Jesus wanted these curious seekers to understand that
The decision about following Christ was no small decision.
Your entire eternity hinges upon what you do with Christ.
And because of that Jesus then began addressing this crowd.
HIS GOAL?
• To condemn them
• To expose them
• To hold up the mirror
• To lay them beside His perfect righteous standard that they might see their depravity and their total need for Him.
In short, He is showing them why they need Him.
AND YOU MAY REMEMBER THAT
He began confronting them with the concept of MERCY.
His goal was to show them that they are in fact nothing like God
And therefore they fall far short of God’s righteous expectation.
Whereas God is merciful to sinful men who do not deserve it, these people are not.
• They don’t love their enemies
• They don’t pray for their persecutors
• They don’t do good to people who hate them
• They don’t lend to people who don’t pay back
• They are not merciful just as their Father is merciful
And therefore they fall far short of the requirement of God
To gain treasure in heaven and to be considered His child.
They need the righteousness of Christ applied to their life.
Continuing on that thought LAST WEEK
We heard Jesus continue to expose their lack of mercy.
This time their LACK OF MERCY was revealed by their PRESENCE OF JUDGMENT.
• It is true that people had wronged them
• It is true that people had treated them badly
• It is true that people had hit them on the cheek and taken their coat
But Jesus’ point was that when those people return to you wanting forgiveness and mercy, then you MUST give it to them.
If you withhold mercy from someone who desires it, what does that say about your love of mercy?
Do you really want to live under a standard where everyone just gets what they deserve?
Obviously not.
Jesus was again teaching that mercy is required.
Well THIS MORNING He continues exposing this crowd.
And this time He addresses a little more
This crowd’s propensity to offer judgment instead of mercy.
AS WE NOTED, this crowd didn’t like to give mercy.
THEY LIKED TO GIVE JUDGMENT.
• When someone made a mistake and then came for mercy, they would much rather give them a lecture than mercy.
• When someone wronged them in some way and then came for mercy, they would rather make them suffer than have mercy.
In short, these people would rather be judges than be merciful.
And so after addressing their lack of mercy,
Jesus now begins to address their faulty judgment.
It would be one thing to offer judgment
If at the very least that judgment was accurate.
But these people don’t even offer accurate judgment,
And that also condemns them.
In short, Jesus is about to show them that they are guilty on 2 counts.
1) They don’t show mercy when they should
2) The judgment they offer is bad judgment
Let’s look at 3 points here.
#1 THE PARABLE
Luke 6:39-40
Jesus actually gives 2 parables here.
1) The Parable of the Ambitious Blind Man
2) The Parable of the Arrogant Pupil
Let’s look first at this Ambitious Blind Man
(39) “And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?”
NOW THE SETTING HERE
Is of a blind man who needs to cross some treacherous terrain.
• The terrain is unknown to him, and filled with danger.
• Namely there is a “pit” that he could in fact fall in to.
And because he has never traveled through this region,
It would be extremely beneficial if someone would guide him through
To keep him out of danger.
But what happens here is that ANOTHER BLIND MAN, who also doesn’t know the terrain, approaches the first blind man and says,
“Here, I’ll guide you through.”
And he grabs him by the hand and starts walking through the country.
And they “both fall into a pit”.
The emphasis here is on the audacity of the second blind man
To not only have the arrogance to think he could cross the land,
But also to be willing to drag the first blind man along with him.
Who would do such a thing?
Everyone knows that a blind man has no business
Being a tour guide through dangerous country.
And yet, this is how Jesus described the judgment this crowd was giving.
You are quick to offer your judgments to people as to what they need to do, but the reality is that you don’t know any better than them.
With our youth the last couple of weeks
We’ve been talking about the dangers of the tongue.
• We saw how the tongue is defiant and cannot be controlled.
• And we talked about how much harm it can actually cause.
To this end James gave a very strict warning.
James 3:1 “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.”
And certainly this would include the office of teacher here,
But even more than that it’s anyone who feels the right to step up and offer advice or judgment to someone else.
It’s a pretty ambitious role to step into to say that you’ll give someone else advice on how to live. (but that’s what teachers do)
To find out if we are qualified for such an enterprise
James ends his section by asking us to check our wisdom.
Are you qualified to offer advice or judgment to other people?
Here is what James had to say:
James 3:13 “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.”
THE FIRST CRITERIA YOU MUST POSSESS to be counted as one qualified to teach or advise or lead or judge another person IS WISDOM.
And wisdom is proven by your deeds.
James asks, “Do you even have good behavior? Do you even have good deeds? Can you demonstrate this wisdom you’re willing to offer?”
And that’s the problem with the blind man Jesus mentions.
He can’t even cross that terrain on his own, so why in the world would he feel qualified to lead someone else across it?
The second parable is the ARROGANT PUPIL
(40) “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.”
Here we have a “pupil”
Who does not understand the point of being a pupil.
He walks into the classroom
And instead of sitting to learn tries to stand and teach.
Why is that a problem?
Because until you’re a successful pupil you aren’t qualified to be a teacher.
I’ve heard Kermit Woolley talk about when he taught Ag.
“I know that several of you in here are smarter than me, but not one of you knows more than me.”
It’s like a tell people all the time who are going to preach or who are going to start teaching in some fashion.
• The secret to preaching/teaching is learning.
• You cannot teach what you don’t know.
• One thing I’m supremely confident is that if I don’t know what I’m talking about, you won’t either.
But this pupil didn’t want to take the time to learn, he just wanted to teach
AND THAT IS SO DANGEROUS!
In fact, the false prophets in the Bible are described in this way:
Jeremiah 23:21-22 “I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied. “But if they had stood in My council, Then they would have announced My words to My people, And would have turned them back from their evil way And from the evil of their deeds.”
Those were people who offered knowledge they had never received
And so their advice was terrible.
In fact Jeremiah would go on to say:
Jeremiah 23:32 “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD.”
There is no benefit in their preaching.
Jeremiah also revealed that God was against such prophets which echoes what James said about not being willing to teach and incurring that stricter judgment.
But you see the point of the parable.
In both cases we have people who are unqualified teachers,
Unqualified guides, and unqualified judges.
That’s the parable.
#2 THE PROBLEM
Luke 6:41-42
Here Jesus is about to explain where that parable
Fits in with this crowd He is addressing.
(41) “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”
It is a scenario that speaks of blind judgment.
• Here you have a guy walking around with a 2×4 sticking out of his eye and he has the audacity to walk over to his brother and say, “Hey, let me operate on that splinter in your eye.”
It’s so absurd it’s actually comical, and that may have been Jesus intent.
This is problematic on a number of levels.
1) Do you really want to trust the discernment of a man who says you have speck in your eye when he can’t even recognize the log in his?
The implication here is that you
May or may not even have a speck in your eye.
Whether you do or you don’t,
This guy is the last guy that would be qualified to identify it.
I think it’s clear he is extremely lacking in the discernment department.
He obviously doesn’t even know what a speck is.
This would be like a man who walks around accusing other people of sin who obviously have no clue what sin is at all.
When I was in high school (before I was saved) me and a buddy of mine used to love it when we’d catch other classmates with car trouble. Neither of us knew anything about cars, but we didn’t mind pretending.
We’d look under the hood, move stuff around and yell, “Alright, fire her up!” The second they’d try we’d scream, “Whoa! Whoa! Kill it! Kill it!” and of course they’d immediately stop. Then we’d do the whole thing again 3 or 4 times.
Eventually we’d just tell them, “We don’t know anything about cars, would you like a ride?”
We’d have made a good illustration for the point Jesus is making here.
Even if something was wrong with your brother, you wouldn’t know it
Because you don’t know anything about what does or doesn’t please God.
And yet, even though you are clueless about what God desires
And have no discernment whatsoever,
That hasn’t stopped you from addressing the issue head on.
It is a blatant case of spiritual malpractice.
And can I tell you, our world is full of this!
I cringe much of the time when I see the various forms of spiritual advice that are handed out on social media.
• Most of the time I just want to task the people who are rendering their
judgments, “Have you ever even read the Bible?”
Mark Twain once said “it only took two characteristics to be a preacher: ignorance and confidence.”
Unfortunately, that is the same type of person Jesus is addressing here.
Their ignorance has not affected their confidence.
That is what Jesus is addressing here.
People who offer judgments and they are totally unqualified to do so
Because they lack discernment.
But that’s not the only glaring problem here.
THE OTHER IS THEIR AUDACITY.
We tend to think they have no discernment.
But if they do have discernment, then they’ve got a lot of gall.
If they are able to recognize sin and yet are willing to overlook their enormous sin in order to address their brother’s small sin,
Then that’s pretty bold.
Jesus is shocked by it asking “Why” would you do that?
• Why would you offer judgment as a blind man?
• Why would you offer judgment as an arrogant man?
The second question Jesus asked here is:
“HOW”
(42a) “Or how can you can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye?”
Here it’s not just a question of arrogance but a question of ABILITY.
I’d like to know how you think you’re gonna be able to perform that surgery
With that big old beam in your own eye?
IT AGAIN REEKS OF ARROGANCE.
Just like the blind guide and the arrogant pupil.
So Jesus addresses this crowd head on.
(42b) “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”
Now again we point out
• Jesus was NOT saying to leave the speck alone.
• If the brother had a speck it did indeed need to be removed.
But the priority is clear.
You must be willing to deal with your own sin before you can deal with the sin of your brother.
• And if you can’t see your own sin what makes you think you can see your brother’s sin?
• And if you can’t remove your own sin what makes you think you can remove your brothers?
NOW PUT IT IN CONTEXT.
We have here a people whom Jesus is asking
To show mercy and not judgment.
But these people prefer offering judgment instead of mercy and Jesus exposes them.
• FIRST by revealing that their lack of mercy is not a God-like
characteristic,
• SECOND by revealing that the judgment they love is not God-like
judgment either.
Their judgment isn’t even true.
• They are like blind men telling blind men how to walk.
• They are like pupils trying to teach a subject they obviously know nothing
about.
BUT PROVE you are a qualified teacher and then we’ll listen.
PROVE you are a qualified judge and then we’ll pay attention.
And prove it by showing us your ability to deal with your own sin.
Isn’t that what James said?
James 3:13 “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.”
So you have the parable, and you have the problem
#3 THE POINT
Luke 6:43-45
Now if you read this passage in Matthew’s gospel
It is clear that Jesus is talking about FALSE TEACHERS.
• Jesus had just mentioned the truth about the wide and narrow gates.
• And how most people think they are headed to heaven but they aren’t.
• They actually just went through the wide gate, are traveling on the wide path with everyone else, and will end up in destruction.
• And then to explain why so many would so willingly go down the wrong path Jesus warns them about false teachers.
Matthew 7:15-19 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Luke references the same statement by Jesus,
Only Luke doesn’t limit the application just to false teachers.
Luke seems to spread the application to anyone in this crowd
Who is offering bad advice or judgment.
From Luke’s perspective, anyone who would give bad judgment
Is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Luke hears Jesus rebuke and applies it to the entire crowd.
He hears Jesus address their arrogant confidence and lack of discernment and propensity to offer bad judgment AND THEN HE SAYS:
“For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.”
WHAT IS THE POINT?
You are here claiming to be a good discerning judge, but you are offering bad judgments.
Something has to give.
• If you were a good judge what kind of judgments would you give? Good ones.
• If you were a bad judge what kind of judgments would you give? Bad ones.
So the fact that you are rendering bad judgments
tells me what about you?
YOU ARE BAD
The only way to EVALUATE a tree is by the quality of the fruit it produces.
The only way to IDENTIFY a tree is by the type of fruit it produces.
So, if I were to look at you as a sort of spiritual tree.
And all I saw was bad judgments coupled with bad fruit,
WHAT TYPE OF TREE SHOULD I LABEL YOU AS?
You get the point?
• Their lack of mercy testifies against them
• And their lack of good judgment testifies against them
And that is the point Jesus makes next,
ONLY HE DROPS ALL THE ANALOGIES.
(45) “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”
Jesus removes any and all doubt or confusion.
Understand the doctrinal principle that Jesus just revealed.
“for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”
Adrian Rogers gave the best ever commentary on this verse when he said, “What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket.”
YOUR TONGUE IS AN INDICATOR OF YOUR HEART.
What is more James reminds us that the tongue cannot be manipulated or coerced, it is ALWAYS AN ACCURATE INDICATOR.
James 3:7-8 “For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.”
The tongue is always accurate.
It reveals the heart.
If lying judgments come out of your mouth,
You have a lying heart.
If non-discerning judgments come out of your mouth,
You have a non-discerning heart.
If you have no mercy in your words,
Then you have no mercy in your heart.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
Here have a people who don’t want to offer mercy to people.
• Instead when people want it all they offer is judgment.
• And to make matters worse their judgment is skewed and hypocritical and false.
And Jesus says, your fruit is your words,
And your words reveal your heart,
SO WHAT TYPE OF PEOPLE ARE YOU?
• If you were a “good man” then you’d bring “good treasure” out of your good “heart.”
• But since you bring nothing but “evil” out of your mouth all we can deduce is that you have an evil heart.
And listen, that was the same thing James was saying in his epistle.
James 3:8-12 “But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.”
You may think you have a good heart.
You may think you have a merciful heart.
You may think you have a heart for God.
BUT WHAT COMES OUT OF YOUR MOUTH?
And again you see why we say that Jesus set out to condemn this crowd.
• His main objective was NOT TO convince them to be merciful
• His main objective was NOT TO convince them to stop judging
• His main objective WAS TO show them that their heart is in a pitiful condition because of their lack of mercy and because of the presence of their judgment.
His point was to show them that they needed Him.
When He called men to follow Him that they might receive forgiveness,
He also showed men why they so badly needed it.
AND THAT IS US.
And that is also what we remember this morning.
Oh friend,
• I would love to tell you that all that ever comes out of my mouth is mercy.
• I would love to tell you that I’m merciful like God is merciful.
• I would love to tell you that I never look at the speck in my brother’s eye while I have a beam in mine.
• I would love to tell you that you’ll never find a piece of rotten fruit on my tree.
But you already know, that’s just not true.
I NEED CHRIST
• I need Christ even if it costs me every possible worldly comfort.
• I need Christ even if following Him results in poverty
• I need Christ even if following Him results in hunger
• I need Christ even if following Him results in scorn and persecution
I need Him because I cannot stand before God with an evil heart like mine.
THAT IS THE POINT OF THE SERMON.
The celebration for us is, as we look at this Lord’s Supper we are about to take is that Jesus purchased our forgiveness.
• He bore the sin of my evil heart on the cross.
• God treated Him as if He judged people like I do.
• And now God treats me as if I judged people like He did.
And we partake of that sacrifice through faith.
This morning we also partake of this Lord’s Supper by faith.
• It’s not faith in this cracker, and it’s not faith in this juice.
• Those are the symbols, Christ is the substance.
We partake as an outward confession of our need for His sacrifice.
We partake as an outward acknowledgement
That my sinful heart needs this righteous sacrifice.
And therefore
• We don’t partake in arrogance
• We don’t partake in hypocrisy
• We partake in faith and in full submission to Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:23-32 “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”
You had people there who were partaking in an unworthy manner.
That is to say they were not judging themselves rightly.
Paul said, “For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.”
That’s exactly what Jesus was talking about.
You have people here who want to partake of the Lord’s Supper and they are unwilling to admit that they have a beam in their eye.
To fail to acknowledge that
Only demonstrates a tremendous lack of discernment.
But for those who come in humility and confession and faith
Find here a communion with Christ and the blessing of assurance
As we once again focus on the Savior who bore my wrath.
That being the case, this morning, as we always do we are going to have a time of preparation.
• It is a time for you to sit and examine your own heart.
• It is a time for you to sit and examine your own fruit.
• It is a time for you to make confession before God.
• And then it is a time for us to partake in the Lord’s Supper and celebrate the atonement that comes only through Christ.
Pray
