In Response To A Growing Crowd
Luke 12:1-12
June 30, 2019
I almost hesitated to start this passage this week
Because it’s going to be about a month before we come back to it.
• Chris Horn will be preaching next Sunday morning as part of his Mission Malawi preparation
• And then I’ll miss the next 3 weeks while on mission and then at youth camp.
But as I began to look at the passage, it seemed to be very timely,
Especially for those who are about to go to Malawi.
This new segment runs from Luke 12:1 through Luke 13:9
IT ENCOMPASSES ONE SERMON FROM OUR LORD.
I didn’t find an official traditional title for the sermon so I’m just calling it: “The Sermon on the Crowd”
I call it that because of the circumstances Luke gives us as context.
(1) “Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all…”
As you will see this is a sermon primarily for the 12.
• This is a sermon for the disciples.
• Jesus doesn’t intentionally address the crowd until verse 54.
• Now, He does address one man in verse 13 who interrupts the sermon with a question about his inheritance,
• But after Jesus deals with that man verse 22 indicates that He goes right back to instructing the disciples.
So what you have is a moment when a large crowd showed up.
Luke records “so many thousands”.
Literally that is “tens of thousands”
It is a massive crowd, perhaps the biggest of Jesus’ ministry.
And as the crowd shows up Jesus turns to address His disciples.
That is why I call it “The Sermon ON the Crowd”
NOT “The Sermon TO the Crowd”
This Jesus taking opportunity to address His disciples
Regarding the effect that a crowd like this might have on their ministry.
That’s is in part why I have decided to go ahead and begin this text this morning even though it will be a month before we are able to return to it.
We have been told that in Malawi we will be preaching to 500.
Now, that’s certainly not tens of thousands,
But it’s still the largest crowd I will have ever addressed.
And Jesus has some very important words for His disciples
As they plan to minister to crowds like this.
So this morning we begin this “Sermon on the Crowd”
Now I also want to give you the major breakdowns of the section.
There will be more to the outline that we will get to later,
But you can easily break this entire section down into 4 points.
I want to give you those, just so you can see
And perhaps even begin to study on your own.
The first segment:
INSPIRED BY A GROWING CROWD (1-12)
That is to say that when Jesus witnessed this enormous crowd gathering,
This was the message He felt compelled to preach to the 12.
The second segment:
INSPIRED BY A GREEDY REQUEST (13-40)
This is where Jesus gets interrupted by a greedy man who wants Jesus to intervene in a civil dispute and force this man’s brother to share the inheritance.
Jesus addresses that man but then returns to the 12
To address in them the dangers of loving the world and money too much.
So it was more of the sermon for the 12,
But it was inspired by this greedy request.
The third segment:
INSPIRED BY A GENERAL CONCERN (41-53)
This is because Peter speaks up and asks Jesus
If the truths He is giving are for everyone or just the 12.
• Jesus will be outlining some tough requirements for these men to live by
• Peter wants to know if it’s for everyone or just him.
It sort of reminds of the incident when the Lord tells Peter that he is going to be bound and led where he doesn’t want to go and Peter looks at John and asks, “What about him?”
Well Jesus responds to this question by Peter
With a point about personal faithfulness.
Peter’s question inspires a sermon on personal devotion.
And then the fourth segment (where Jesus finally addresses the crowd)
INSPIRED BY A GLARING PROBLEM (54-13:9)
THAT PROBLEM IS THE COMING JUDGMENT
AND SINNERS WHO ARE NOT PREPARED FOR IT.
Here Jesus finally addresses the massive crowd.
• He looks at these tens of thousands who do not have a clue
• He preaches to them a harsh message about
• Failing to see salvation,
• The reality of judgment,
• And the urgency of bearing fruit.
Jesus gets a giant crowd and He preaches about impending judgment.
Now those are the main points of the sermon.
Jesus just responds to what is going on around Him
And addresses it first to the disciples and then to the crowd.
Well this morning, we’re just going to look at that first segment.
The Sermon that was: INSPIRED BY A GROWING CROWD
In this segment Jesus gives the disciples 3 very important commands
That have to do with ministering to a crowd.
#1 DON’T FAKE PIETY
Luke 12:1-3
So we see again the circumstances.
• There is a huge crowd and when this crowd shows up Jesus has a very important message for the 12.
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
Certainly after chapter 11 and that meal at the Pharisees house
We are clear on Jesus’ thoughts about the Pharisees.
But Jesus isn’t here addressing the Pharisees.
Jesus is addressing the 12.
And His first word of warning is to “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
Now I wonder why Jesus would start there?
Because if you will remember,
The crowds had affected the Pharisees in this way.
Do you remember what Jesus said about them?
Luke 11:43 “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places.”
Matthew 23:5-7 “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.”
We remember that the Pharisees
Were very interested in gaining the approval of men.
Everything they did was to gain the admiration of the masses.
• They tithed
• They prayed
• They fasted
• They wore those huge phylacteries
• They had those long tassels
THEY LOVED THE CROWD.
They loved the popularity and the fame that the crowd represented.
NOW YOU WILL ALSO REMEMBER THAT
Even though they put on a display of religion
That they DIDN’T ACTUALLY LOVE GOD.
Remember:
Luke 11:42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”
Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
What are we getting at?
NAMELY THIS:
• The Pharisees didn’t care anything about God.
• They didn’t care anything about holiness or piety.
• But they pretended like they did because they loved the crowd.
They faked their piety so that the crowds would be enamored with them.
And that is dangerous.
Any time you start letting the crowd dictate your level of commitment
Then we have a problem.
And if you think the crowd didn’t control these Pharisees consider this event:
Matthew 21:23-27 “When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. “The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ “But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Do you see them there?
• Even in their rebellion they had no conviction.
• They were just following the whims of the crowd.
• They pretended like they agreed with John the Baptist because the crowds loved him.
AND THAT IS THE POINT.
A crowd is a powerful thing.
And concern for pleasing the crowd
Can cause a man to pretend to be something he is not.
• It can cause men to pretend to be spiritual when they aren’t…
• It can promote hypocrisy.
• It can cause people to fake it because they want to please their peers.
Instead of serving out of a love for God,
It can prompt one to just put on a spiritual show
For the sake of impressing the crowd.
IT’S A DANGEROUS REALITY.
So the first warning Jesus gives to the 12 when this crowd approaches
Is to not fall into the trap of the Pharisees which has been hypocrisy.
And to further support that command He reminds the disciples:
(2-3) “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.”
WHAT IS HIS POINT?
You can only fake it so long and you can never fool God.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
Romans 2:16 “…God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”
Regarding elders Paul said:
1 Timothy 5:24-25 “The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after. Likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed.”
Perhaps you remember how some of the Corinthians put Paul on a pedestal.
To them he said:
1 Corinthians 4:1-4 “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.”
If you start faking it to impress the crowd then it will only get you so far.
God will expose it all.
THE ADMONITION?
BE REAL
• Don’t fake it.
• Don’t fake religion.
• Don’t be hypocritical.
That’s the first warning to the 12.
Don’t Fake Piety.
Don’t let a crowd cause you to fake who you are.
#2 DON’T FEAR PERSECUTION
Luke 12:4-7
Like it or not this is another great pressure
That a growing crowd can throw upon you.
We saw what this threat did to Pilate.
Luke 23:13-25 “Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against Him. “No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him. “Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” [Now he was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner.] But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” (He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted. And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.”
That sort of threat is real. It’s called peer pressure.
And while a spiritual crowd can tempt you to fake spirituality
We also know that a hostile crowd can tempt you to forsake it.
We see this one today like crazy.
Rick Warren really opened Pandora’s Box back in 1995
When he released the church growth book “Purpose Driven Church”.
• It was the book that unapologetically called for churches and pastors to start
surveying their community to find out what the people wanted in a church.
• It was just spiritual marketing, no different than what McDonalds does.
• It was done under this pretense of wanting to reach “seekers”.
The problem of course is that it created a monster shift in church ministry.
Almost overnight,
God was no longer considered sovereign over the worship service.
God’s word and God’s will were no longer the sole pieces of input
To determine what should occur at church.
Now the church had a new sovereign…the crowd.
The crowd became sovereign.
• What sort of sermons did the crowd want to hear?
• What kind of music did the crowd want to sing?
• What sort of schedule was convenient for the crowd?
And more than one church lost their minds
And compromised greatly just so that they could keep the crowd.
And I think you’ll agree this sort of peer pressure continues today.
We may not see much of physical persecution yet in this country
But we do understand SOCIAL PRESSURE.
There’s probably no hotter issue today than the homosexual movement
And the pressure for churches to jump on board
And “lovingly accept” homosexuals as redeemed children of God.
Some of you may have even seen on Facebook last week, a former Spur pastor at the Gay Pride parade in Houston holding the rainbow banner which said, “I’m Sorry”.
And the point is that the social crowd
Can produce a lot of pressure to forsake your convictions.
And may I remind you that the crowd DID NOT have this effect on Jesus.
Do we not remember the famous passage of John 6?
• Where Jesus first fed the 5,000, then walked on water and the crowds of Galilee wanted to make Him king.
• Jesus told that crowd that He was from heaven, that He was headed back to heaven, and that the only way they could be saved was to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
That entire crowd left.
Jesus did not cater to the crowds.
Probably no better example of that can be found than here in Luke 12
Where you will see possibly the largest crowd of Jesus’ ministry
And He preaches a message of judgment to them.
You cannot let the threats of a crowd or the peer pressure of society
Change your message.
And that is what Jesus tells the 12 here.
“I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.”
Now that’s what you call perspective.
• Can the world hate you? Yes
• Can the world cause you pain? Yes
• Can the world kill you? Yes
But that is all they can do.
And you say, “Well isn’t that enough?”
NOT IF YOU KEEP PERSPECTIVE.
(5) “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you fear Him!”
We’ve all heard the analogy “Fight fire with fire”
Jesus said to “fight fear with fear”
FEAR GOD MORE THAN YOU FEAR MAN.
And look there is a whole sermon here.
I liken it to be THE CHIEF PROBLEM IN AMERICA TODAY.
Romans 3:18 “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
You want me to tell you the root sin of America, that’s the one I’m picking.
• When people can stream to social media and argue the right to kill the
innocent.
• When groups of people can organize parades and celebrations taking pride
in their rebellious sin.
• When churches and pastors can attend those events and tell sinners that
“I’m Sorry” for treating you like a sinner.
• When a person can post on social media about sinful life choices like an
adulterous relationship, or a homosexual orientation, or some self-loving
quote like “I’ve just got to do what’s best for me” and the comment section
will overflow with statements of “Love This” “That’s so awesome” “I
support you”
What else can we say but that our culture no longer fears God?
WHAT WE DO FEAR IS PUBLIC PERCEPTION.
And that is what Jesus is warning against here with the 12.
• People will oppose you.
• People will apply pressure to you.
• People will persecute you.
• DON’T GIVE IN.
If you need motivation, fear God, not man.
That is such good advice to those who carry the gospel.
Some day you will stand before God
And His ability to punish is far greater
Than the crowd’s ability to persecute.
Every believer, as they take the gospel into the world, should have this warning resonating in their ear.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
It is a warning to be headed.
• Don’t let the crowd cause you to be phony
• Don’t let the crowd push you into compromise.
FEAR GOD MORE.
Now, in that, there is also SOMETHING MORE YOU SHOULD KNOW.
That crowd will pressure you and persecute you,
But that crowd doesn’t care about you at all.
All they are concerned about
Is that you preach the message they want to hear.
Paul told Timothy that their concern is to “accumulate a great multitude of teachers to tell them what their itching ears want to hear.”
That crowd doesn’t care about you, they only care about themselves.
God however, is passionately interested in you.
(6-7) “Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
Jesus does tell us that fear of God
Should be a greater motivation than fear of man.
But then He balances that truth with the reminder that God cares for us.
• He is interested in you.
• Even the most obscure facts like “the very hairs of your head”
When you allow the crowd to dictate your message you are in the service of a bully who does not care about you.
When you allow God to dictate your message you are in the service of your Heavenly Father who cares for you greatly.
So you understand the instruction from Jesus.
Crowds can influence all sorts of behavior.
• Don’t let them cause you to Fake Piety
• Don’t let them cause you to Fear Persecution
#3 DON’T FRET REJECTION
Luke 12:8-12
This is another great influence that the crowd can throw at us.
It is the pressure for success.
It is a horrible thing when ministers or evangelists or laymen
Begin to measure their success in the ministry
By the size of a crowd or the number of converts.
When a minister of the gospel falls into that trap
His ministry is in great danger.
AND YET SO MANY DO.
Pastor meetings are flooded with questions like:
• “How big is that church down there now?”
• “How many baptisms did you have last year?”
• “What’s the size of your youth group?”
Those are questions that give ABSOLUTELY NO INDICATION
As to the spiritual health of a church or a minister.
Namely because all of those things can be achieved
Without spiritual maturity, faithful preaching, or genuine worship.
False prophets grow churches of tares all the time
Into massive numbers without any true spiritual conversion at all.
Take those questions and ask the prophets of old.
• “Hey Jeremiah, how big is that church down there in Jerusalem?”
• “Hey Amos, how many baptisms did you get on your mission trip to Israel?”
• “Hey Malachi, how big is your youth group these days?”
Do you see how foolish those standards are?
And yet, those are the types of standards that often drive our ministries.
We think large crowds equal thriving ministries
And small crowds equal dead ministries.
If you buy that message
Then the crowd has just corrupted your ministry.
So Jesus is preparing the disciples for another very important fact:
PEOPLE WILL REJECT YOUR MINISTRY.
NOW HE BEGINS BY
Reminding of the requirement for true conversion and salvation.
Here it is:
(8-10) “And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.”
Don’t confuse this sermon
With the time Jesus preached it to the Pharisees.
Jesus is not preaching to the Pharisees here.
Jesus is here preaching to the 12.
• He is preaching to those who have already confessed Him.
• He is preaching to those who have believed the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is NOT here warning the disciples
About not confessing or not believing.
He is simply reminding the disciples
That the universal standard for salvation has not changed.
If people are to be saved then they must confess Jesus Christ.
They must believe the witness of the Holy Spirit and they must confess Jesus.
That is God’s eternal standard.
• We don’t get to lower the bar.
• We don’t get to widen the gate.
• We don’t get to remove the conditions.
I had a conversation with that pastor who held the sign at the gay pride rally this week asking him why he was there, and what his goal was.
He told me his goal was simply to love unconditionally as Jesus did.
He told me he wanted to put no conditions or requirements, just to love.
Now I know that sounds good,
But do you understand that this is NOT what Jesus did.
He most certainly gave conditions for salvation.
He required men to repent of their sin and to confess Him as Lord.
If you don’t do that then you won’t be saved.
That’s just fact.
And that is what Jesus is reminding the disciples of here.
• If they go out and preach the true gospel
• And the crowd refuses to repent of their sin
• And refuses to confess Jesus,
• That’s not on the disciples.
They may very well suffer rejection of their message, but that’s ok.
God set the standard.
Now, I know that some of you will ask me about the whole “unpardonable sin” mentioned here so let me quickly clarify it.
Jesu says (10) “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.”
Here is what that means.
• When Jesus showed up claiming to be the Messiah, the Son of God,
• In some ways it was understandable that people might balk at that.
After all, He was a man. He looked like a man, they saw Him grow up.
It was understandable that initially they may tell Him He is out of His mind.
However, there is One who came to bear witness of Him.
That is the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said that He comes to convict the world of sin,
To guide into the truth, and to glorify Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is the One who comes and testifies
That Jesus is in fact the Savior, the Son of God, the messiah.
We are talking there about supernatural revelation.
And Jesus said, if you blaspheme that, or reject that,
Then there will be no forgiveness.
The reason is because if you won’t believe the message of the Holy Spirit,
You are not rejecting your own logic (or ability to spot Jesus),
But you are rejecting God’s message.
Let me give you a couple of other passages that speak of this reality.
Hebrews 6:4-6 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”
That is NOT a passage about loss of salvation.
That passage speaks of a person who had the full revelation
(A taste) of the Holy Spirit’s message and conviction,
But then chose to reject it.
That person cannot be brought to repentance.
They cannot be saved because they have rejected the only way of salvation.
You see it again in:
Hebrews 10:28-31 “Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
There again, they insulted the Spirit by rejecting His message
So now they cannot be saved.
And that is a good reminder to any in here
Who have never yielded their lives to Christ.
• There is only One Savior.
• There is only One gospel message.
• And the Holy Spirit points to Him.
He requires you to repent of sin and confess Him as Lord.
That requirement; that standard isn’t changing.
If you reject it. If you tell the Holy Spirit you don’t want to hear it anymore.
Then there is no salvation.
Now Jesus reminds the disciples that this is the requirement.
And the fact is that not everyone receives that message.
So when you preach to sinners and tell them to repent and confess Jesus,
And they say, “No”, what are you supposed to do?
Change the message? No
Tell them to come on anyway? No
Just keep trusting God and keep preaching the message.
DON’T FRET REJECTION.
By the way, Jesus didn’t fret rejection.
In that passage with the huge crowd in John 6 we read:
John 6:66 “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”
But Jesus didn’t run after them. Instead:
John 6:67 “So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”
• When the Rich Young Ruler went away, Jesus didn’t lower the bar and tell him to come on back.
• When Pilate offered Jesus every way to try and compromise to save His life, Jesus wouldn’t budge.
Rejection by the crowd was not His concern.
And even when their rejection turns hostile (as it might)
Just keep trusting God and keep preaching His message.
(11-12) “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
• Don’t worry about winning the crowd.
• Don’t worry about winning the debate.
• Don’t worry about saying the right things so that you’ll get the right results.
• Just keep preaching the message of the Holy Spirit.
That is, keep preaching the gospel.
So you put all these 3 together:
• Don’t Fake Piety
• Don’t Fear Persecution
• Don’t Fret Rejection
DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT JESUS IS SAYING?
• Don’t let the crowd call the shots, let God call the shots.
• The crowd is not sovereign, God is.
• Pleasing the crowd is not the goal, pleasing God is.
• Fearing the crowd is pointless, fearing God is valuable.
• A rejecting crowd is not your problem, straying from the gospel is.
Those are such good warnings.
• It is certainly a timely warning to those headed to Malawi to preach to the biggest crowds of their lives.
• But it is ultimately a good reminder to us all.
2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
