Luke 6
COMMENTARY:
: 7 And the scribes and Pharisees watched HIM, whether HE would heal on the Sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against HIM. (2724 “accusation” [kategoria] means charge, speaking evil, accusing someone, complaint, criminal charge, or speaking against.)
DEVOTION: For most of my ministry I prepared the bulletins for each Sunday. When I started it was the old mimeograph machine. It was hard to put it on the machine. The ink would be all over the place at times. Usually I would have the ink on my hands. Sometimes it would even get on the bulletins.
One of the other problems was that I have always struggled with grammar and spelling. Before spell check on computers there were very little tools to check spelling. SO on any given Sunday there would be spelling or grammar errors or some ink on the bulletins.
Do you think that people would notice all the things that were right with the bulletin? NO, someone would bring things to my attention that was wrong with the bulletin.
My comments went from “I put that in the bulletin just for you to find” or “Would you like to do the bulletin next week?” No one volunteered in my first two churches but in my third I had a wonderful unpaid secretary who did an excellent job on the bulletins. There would be an error once in a while that was brought to my attention and I would say the same things to them that I said to those in my first church.
There are people who will be looking for things wrong with what you are doing most of the time. They like to think that they are better than you but really they commit errors in the same or other areas also.
Fault finders will always be around. Our responsibility is to do the best that we can and let the rest take care of itself. Don’t let fault finders upset you. Turn them over to the LORD. HE is going to deal with them.
CHALLENGE: God knows our intention and it should be to always do the best we can and leave it there.
: 16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. (4273 “traitor” [prodotes] means betrayer, treacherous person, a person who violates an allegiance and betrays someone or something, or one who abandons in danger.)
DEVOTION: Jesus chose the twelve disciples. HE did this after praying all night to the Father regarding HIS choices. HE came away from HIS prayer meeting with the Father with twelve names.
One of the names was of the one who would betray HIM. HE is called a traitor by Luke as he writes this book. Luke was not one of the twelve but became a disciple later. All he could see was that Judas Iscariot was someone who betrayed the LORD.
Why would Jesus chose a traitor to follow HIM with the other disciples? We know that HE knew ahead of time that Judas was going to do this. Yet HE had him with them from the beginning.
It is a warning to us that even though the other disciples didn’t know the hearts of each other the LORD did. They didn’t know that Judas was a traitor. To them they thought he was just another disciple with struggles. They thought he was one of them.
We need to realize that in every church there could be a traitor or someone who would betray us. It is a sad fact but true. Not everyone who looks and sounds good is a genuine believer in Jesus Christ.
Our responsibility is to look and sound good and mean business with God. Does that mean we will never fail God? NO! Does failure mean that we are going to be a betrayer? NO!! We fail but we need to ask forgiveness and the LORD will give it to us. Then we need to get back to serving HIM with the help of the Holy Spirit. We need to serve the LORD with a smile even when things are not going according to our plan.
CHALLENGE: God knew from the foundation of the world that Judas was going to betray Jesus. HE was not surprised at all. Neither should we be.
: 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. (1411 “virtue” [dunamis] means power, mighty work, strength, miracle, might, inherit power, supernatural power, or capacity.)
DEVOTION: We have covered this word before but it is important to realize that it was because the LORD was given the capacity to do miracles HE didn’t do them all the time. HE selected times to do miracles and other times to not do things that the people wanted HIM to do. They were not satisfied with HIS decisions at times. They kept pressing HIM. They sought to touch HIM. They wanted to be healed. They were only thinking of themselves. They were not considerate of the LORD at times. It was all about them.
Sometimes it is all about our will rather than God’s will. We have to be willing to pray that the LORD’S will be done in all of our situations. If our will is done it could cause problems down the road.
Remember Hezekiah praying for fifteen more years and in that time period he had a son born who was the wickedest king in Judah. He received what he considered the right answer to his prayer but it wasn’t the best for the nation.
We have to watch what we pray for from the LORD. We have to watch our desires so that they match what the LORD wants in our life. What we seek and what the LORD wants us to seek can be two different things.
Our prayer life should be that “if it is YOUR will LORD” not my will be done as Jesus prayed in the Garden. Our seeking needs the Holy Spirit’s guidance at all times.
HIS inherit capacity to heal is always available. HE sometimes wants us to accept weakness in our service to HIM. HE could end all sickness but we would think that it was something we had done. Sickness is a teaching tool of the LORD. Accept it at times.
CHALLENGE: Yield to the LORD and ask HIM what HIS will is in any given prayer request we bring before HIM.
: 35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend; hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. (5543 “kind” [chrestos] means loving, pleasant, fit, fit for use, useful, virtuous, good, gracious or manageable.)
DEVOTION: Jesus has called the twelve disciples after a night of prayer with the Father.
With the calling comes instruction. Here we have Jesus instructing the disciples on how they should and how they should teach others. HE deals with those who will be blessed. HE warns those who will be cursed. HE warns the disciples that they are going to be abused like the prophets of God in the Old Testament. HE teaches them how to treat those who mistreat them.
On that thought HE deals with those who are enemies. These are individuals who are not just indifferent to you. These are people who try to hurt you. They are people who will take advantage of you.
Jesus tells HIS disciples to lend money to these individuals. HE tells them to love these individuals.
Why would the LORD want us to treat our enemies this way? There is common grace to all who are on the earth. At this time in history God is allowing the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. God is allowing everyone an opportunity to hear the gospel and respond. Only those who respond to the gospel will be the children of the Highest. The group is small.
Jesus was training his disciples on the ethics of the Christian life. This small group is commanded by Christ to love their enemies. They are to pray for their enemies. They are to do good while they are in the world, not for salvation but for thankfulness. There is a verse in the book of Romans (2:4) that informs us that being loving leads to repentance.
Our goal should be the salvation of our enemy. It might not happen but we will be rewarded if we treat our enemies the way the LORD tells HIS disciples to treat them.
This sermon is used to help us understand our responsibilities while we are here on this earth. When the end of this age happens, there will be a day of judgment for the unthankful and evil. We should be the most thankful people in the world, if we have Christ in our heart. Are we that thankful people? What have we done to show to show our thankfulness today? Have we sent an email to thank someone for a gift, a prayer, a kind act, etc.
CHALLENGE: Write a letter or send an email to someone who has encouraged you in the faith.
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