“Authenticity & Courage – Marks of greatness” – Luke 12:1-12
Gladstone Baptist Church – 7/1/07 am
S1 - We all have hidden secrets - OOPS
Show a Video Clip from the Wizard of Oz (The Wizard is caught out and exposed as a fraud. He has put on a mask and fooled everyone, but he is a hypocrite and a pretender)
You know, we are all like the wizard of Oz. We are have secrets in the closet or behind curtains which we try desperately to hide from other people. We think that hiding those secrets makes us great, but Dorothy is right when she says that if the Wizard of Oz was truly great, he would keep his word. Some of the secrets would destroy our reputation. Some would destroy the power we have over other people. Some would possibly even result in our losing our job or our ministry or our friends.
Some of these secrets we have kept for years. The subject of the secret is distant past. For others, the subject of the secret is something very current.
In some respects it is very easy for us to keep secrets from even those closest to us, isn’t it. No one is watching us 24 hours a day. Know one knows our secret thoughts or our secret addictions. No one sees what sites we surf to on the net. No one sees the TV you watch late at night. No one sees the books and magazines you look at in the crib room when no one else is watching you. No one sees how you spend your weekends or your nights.
All of us have some secrets we want to keep to ourselves and most of us believe that we will be successful in taking them to the grave with us. No one will ever know we tell ourselves. But we are kidding ourselves if we think we can keep things hidden for ever. .
In time, everyone will know every sordid detail of our life. We think that no one knows, but we are wrong. God knows. God sees. God hears. And God will reveal them.
S2 - But one day all will be revealed - UGH.
God sees all things. Everything we do, say and think. And Jesus taught that one day everything we have done will be illuminated and revealed for all to see. Does that scare you? To know that the things we have tried so hard to hide will be one day illuminated so all can see them?
If you have your Bibles open, open them with me to Luke 12:1. Before Christmas we spent a few weeks looking at Luke 11. Jesus had been getting popular and crowds were starting to gather to hear him. They wanted to see signs, but Jesus wasn’t on earth to entertain. He was here to call people to repentance and salvation. He was like a light which radiated God’s glory – it was there for all to see. Some people opened their eyes and allowed Christ’s witness to shine into their lives. They were changed and started to shine out God’s light in their own lives. But other people had bad eyes and refused to see the evidence of God in Jesus. In vs 37 of chapter 11, Jesus directly addressed some who had bad eyes – they were a group of Pharisees and a group of Scribes. Some of you might remember the 6 woes we talked about?
- They majored on the minors
- They sought fame and public applause
- They were more of a hindrance to people finding God than a help
- They placed unrealistic demands on people
- They rejected God’s prophets
- They turned simple things into complex mysteries.
Jesus criticised their attitudes and their behaviour and from that point on, they sought an opportunity to destroy him.
Luke turns his attention back to the crowds that were gathering. In Chp 12:1 he says …
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, [Jesus was popular and many thousands gathered. The word used here is the word for 10,000 or for an huge crowd too large to count. There were so many people trying to hear and see Jesus, that they were trampling on each other. Have you ever been in a crowd where you were trampling on each other. I used to catch a bus to school in Brisbane and at peak hour, it was just like this. So many people tried to cram onto the train – you would have people stepping on you. That was what it was like for Jesus. But when he spoke, he first addressed those who were his followers – those who claimed to believe in him. And this is what he said …]
“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.
Keep your bibles open here because we haven’t finished reading … In this passage, Jesus starts off by comparing the Pharisees to yeast. It is not a positive comparison mind you. Yeast in our cooking is good – it makes bread rise. But in the bible, more often than not, the action of Yeast was seen as a negative action. Yeast is a fungus that causes things to ferment. Yeast infiltrates the whole loaf or the whole of the batch of wine. It doesn’t just remain in an isolated part of the bread, but it spreads and affects the whole batch.
Jesus was saying that the Pharisees had yeast in their lives that had spread and affected their entire life. That yeast was hypocrisy. God saw their hypocrisy and God sees our hypocrisy.
What is hypocrisy? Hypocrisy at its simplest is the wearing of a mask. It is pretending to be someone you are not or pretending to do something when people are looking, but doing something else when no-one is looking. This word originated out of the Greek Theatre. The actors in Greek theatre wore masks to depict the different characters they took on. They would speak in hypocisis – where they pretended to be someone else. The Pharisees also had on masks. They had secrets they wanted kept hidden so when they were around other people they put on their masks and acted all religious and pure. But Jesus says. Vs 2… There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 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.
In 1 Cor 4:5 he says exactly the same thing. “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts.”
I don’t know how many of you have ever spent any time in Muslim countries. I have visited a few and what you notice immediately is the loud speakers on the tops of the mosques. Several times a day, the call to prayer will go out through these loud speakers and where ever you are, you can hear the words. You are woken at dawn by them, you hear them at lunch time and at night. Jesus says, that this is what it will be like for the secrets hidden by the Pharisees and indeed for the secrets we are hiding. They will be revealed, made know. Though we do them in the dark and in quietness and in private – one day they will be proclaimed from the roof top for all to see and hear.
When we think we can keep things hidden from God, we kid ourselves. God knows everything, because he is all knowing, all seeing and everywhere. Ps 139:7-9 says
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
God sees everything and will one day reveal it for all to see.
I don’t know about you, but that makes me mighty nervous. There are things about my life and past that I don’t want you to know – but one day they will be broadcast in full living colour. That fact should make us scared. It should give us all the reasons we need to dispense with our masks and live a life of integrity and authenticity. If we want to be great – we need to be people of authenticity. Because lets face it, the consequence of not doing so is scary.
S3 - We fear man. But we don’t fear God - AHA.
All of us sitting here if we were honest would have to admit we fear men don’t we. We are scared what they will think about us if our secret lies were uncovered. But most of us, unfortunately are not even considering what the consequences of God knowing our secrets are.
It is quite ludicrous really – we fear men, but when it comes to God we stick our heads in the sand like ostriches and pretend he is not there. Crazy. Jesus gives those who would follow him as his disciples this piece of advice
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.
We need to fear God not man because God, not man controls our eternity. Men can kill us, but that is where their influence and control ends. They can’t do another thing to us beyond death. They are powerless once this life is over. But God – his power extends to eternity. He has the power to determine where we will spend eternity – in hell or in heaven.
The word used for hell here is Gehenna – it paints a fairly sordid and ugly picture of this place of judgment. This word is taken from the Hebrew ge hinnom which means the valley of Hinnom. This is a deep, narrow gorge South East of the city of Jerusalem. It was where the sin filled Israelites in the Old Testament offered up child sacrifices to the gods of Molech and Baal. It was a detestable place and was considered a defiled place from the time of Josiah onwards – Josiah ended this worship of Molech and Baal in 624 BC.
In Jesus’ day, the valley of Hinnom was a rubbish dump – it was still considered defiled. It constantly had fires burning in it to consume the rubbish and you could probably imagine the smell and the offense it would bring to your senses. It was therefore an apt picture of what hell would be like – a place of offense, punishment, fire and defilement.
God is the one who determines who will be sent to hell and so Jesus rightly tells his disciples that they should fear Him. We need to live in a way that honours him and pleases him. You don’t want to incur his wrath.
S4 - Fear of God can be Good and Bad - AHA.
In many respects, we as 21st century Christians have lost our fear of God. We see him as a loving God, and a caring God instead of a God who will one day judge us. We need to fear God, because fear is an appropriate motivation for doing what is right. Why do you stay within the speed limit? Is it because you want to please the lovely policeman who is standing beside the road? No you don’t speed, because you fear getting caught. Fear of getting caught is a valid motivation for staying within the approved boundaries of life, but somehow, Satan has conned us into believing that just because we can hide things from other humans, we can also hide things from God. We can’t and so we should rightly be fearful.
But while fear is healthy, it can also be unhealthy. We need to balance the knowledge that God doesn’t miss a trick with the knowledge that God cares for us. Jesus reassures his disciples in vs 6, saying …
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.
Sparrows were probably the cheapest of cheap birds (pun intended). You could by 2 for one Assaria (NIV translates it as a penny). If you bought 4 for 2 Assaria, they would even throw in an extra bird for free. Jesus says, that despite these birds being cheap and some even free, God knows them all and will not forget even one bird – even if it the free one. Infact, Jesus says that God is concerned about all sparrows and about each hair on your head. You are more valuable than any sparrow and so you don’t have to be unnecessarily afraid of God, because God cares about you. So on the one hand, Jesus says – be scared of God because it is appropriate to be scares. But on the other hand he says it is inappropriate when fear causes us to lose sight of the fact that God loves us and cares for us. Know that God cares for you and feel reassured – you are loved.
S5 - Have assurance that Jesus will stand up for those who stand up for him - WHEE.
God is for us. That brings a great sense of relief doesn’t it. Jesus says that on that final day of judgment, he will stand up for us if we have stood up for him - if we have shown courage in our conviction. He is not some ogre looking forward to the day he can give us a whipping. Jesus says (vs 8)
8 “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.
Those who believe in Jesus and haven’t been scared for men to know that they serve Christ will be safe in the knowledge that Jesus will never desert them. Those who are courageous for God are safe, but the same can’t be said for those who disown him. (vs 9 …)
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.
Jesus warns his disciples to be careful. Those who disown or reject Jesus will one day be rejected themselves. But there is at least hope for these men and women. If later they become convicted by the Holy Spirit and then recognise their error and accept Jesus in repentance, they can receive forgiveness and salvation. That is good news for most of us who know people who have refused to believe in Jesus Christ.
But it is another story all together when we consider a person who offends the Holy Spirit. They won’t be given a second chance. This passages introduces to us the concept of a sin that can’t be forgiven. Murder, rape, genocide, even blasphemy against Jesus can by forgiven. But what is this blasphmeny against the Holy Spirit mean? It doesn’t mean simply some words spoken. It was a decided action of rejection of the Holy Spirit and all that is Godly. The Holy Spirit was the sign of God’s saving power and grace of God. The Holy Spirit was God come to dwell in men. The Holy Spirit is God’s instrument that he uses to convict us and draw us to himself. If a person was to reject the Holy Spirit or to attribute his work to Satan as the accounts in Matthew and Mark imply, this is essentially total rejection of God. A person has essentially rejected God’s way of convicting them of the error of their ways and there is thus no other available source to convict them. If they can not be convicted of Sin because they don’t recognise the source of conviction as being valid, then they can not be saved. Jesus says this is a sign that this individual lacks any sense of knowledge of sin and what is right. They have rejected God completely and utterly and have such an evil heart that salvation will never be possible.
If people reject God and his Spirit of conviction, then they are rejecting the opportunity for salvation and they need to fear the judgement that awaits them.
For most gathered here this morning, I don’t believe that you need to fear committing the unforgiveable sin. You are here which means you haven’t rejected outright the things of God. But there may be some here who are continuing to reject Jesus. You don’t believe you need Him. I want to tell you that you do. There is no other name under heaven by which people will find salvation – not Mohammed, not Krishna, not by Buddha. Salvation can only come through Jesus Christ and you need to accept Him as your Lord and saviour. Jesus wants you to accept what He has done for you and to stand up for Him before men. That is takes courage, but when you do it, it will prove that your faith is real. Jesus says, if you are courageous enough to stand up for me before men, then I’ll reciprocate on the day of judgment. We will not need to fear judgment.
S6 - Don’t worry about men – you have God’s Spirit in you - YEAH.
But standing up for Jesus here on earth is difficult isn’t it. Living an authentic life is difficult. For some it will be costly – you may be ridiculed, you may lose some friends. For the disciples, the cost was even greater. Jesus warns them that they would be arrested, imprisoned, tortured and even some of them killed because they dared to stand up for Him.
We don’t face anything like that, do we, but we are still fearful of being authentic and courageous. But remember what Jesus said earlier. He said – don’t be scared of men who can’t do much to you at all – fear God who has the power to determine your eternal future.
We need to be rational about our fear and fear God, not man. From all that Jesus has said already, that should be logical, but Jesus gives his disciples one more reason why we don’t need to fear men. It is the clincher. He says in vs 11
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.”
Though we sometimes will need to stand up and defend ourselves before other men, we don’t need to worry about it. Because we have God’s spirit dwelling within us and he will give us the words to say. God will defend himself through His Spirit. So we don’t need to worry or fear such occasions because God is with us.
I know that this is the time of year when many people make new year resolutions. I think in this passage today we have 2 fairly good resolutions that you might consider making in this coming year. God is looking for great men and women who are following Him. 2 of the marks of greatness are these
- Being an authentic followers. Jesus is looking for people who aren’t hypocrites, but who live authentic Christ like lives. Let’s not be wizards stuck behind curtains or actors carrying masks. God sees how we live our lives and will one day bring all our secrets out into the open. Rather than try to hide our sins, it is better not to sin in the first place because one day you are going to get caught and that will be a very embarrassing moment. Fear God and live lives that will please Him.
- Being courageous in your faith. Jesus is looking for people who will stand up for him before other people. Don’t be scared of what other people may say or do to you - be scared of God who controls your eternal destiny. Don’t be worried about what you will say in your defence – rely on God’s spirit to give you a perfect defence of your faith.
Jesus is looking for people who are authentic and courageous. I pray that this year you will endeavour to be both these as we seek to serve God here in this place.
