Luke 12

Luke 12:1

VIII. TEACHING AND HEALING ON THE WAY TO JERUSALEM (Chaps. 12-16) A. Warnings and Encouragements (12:1-12) 12:1 An innumerable multitude … had gathered together while Jesus was condemning the Pharisees and lawyers. A dispute or a debate will generally attract a throng, but this crowd was also drawn, no doubt, by Jesus’ fearless denunciation of these hypocritical religious leaders. Although an uncompromising attitude toward sin is not always popular, yet it does commend itself to the heart of man as being righteous. Truth is always self-verifying. Turning to His disciples, Jesus warned, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. He explained that leaven is a symbol or picture of hypocrisy. A hypocrite is one who wears a mask, one whose outward appearance is utterly different from what he is inwardly. The Pharisees posed as paragons of virtue but actually they were masters of masquerade. 12:2, 3 Their day of exposure would come. All that they had covered up would be revealed, and all that they had done in the dark would be dragged out into the light. Just as inevitable as the unmasking of hypocrisy is the triumph of truth. Up to then, the message proclaimed by the disciples had been spoken in relative obscurity and to limited audiences. But following the rejection of the Messiah by Israel, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the disciples would go forth fearlessly in the name of the Lord Jesus and proclaim the good news far and wide. Then it would be proclaimed on the housetops, comparatively speaking. Godet remarks, Those whose voice cannot now find a hearing, save within limited and obscure circles, shall become the teachers of the world.12:4, 5 With the encouraging and warm-hearted words My friends, Jesus warns His disciples not to be ashamed of this priceless friendship under any trials. The worldwide proclamation of the Christian message would bring persecution and death to the loyal disciples.

But there was a limit to what men like the Pharisees could do to them. Physical death was that limit. This they should not fear. God would visit their persecutors with a far worse punishment, namely eternal death in hell. And so the disciples were to fear God rather than man. 12:6, 7 To emphasize God’s protective interest in the disciples, the Lord Jesus mentioned the Father’s care for sparrows. In Mat_10:29 we read that two sparrows are sold for a copper coin. Here we learn that five sparrows are sold for two copper coins. In other words, an extra sparrow is thrown in free when four are purchased. And yet not even this odd sparrow with no commercial value is forgotten in the sight of God. If God cares for that odd sparrow, how much more does He watch over those who go forth with the gospel of His Son! He numbers the very hairs of their head. 12:8 The Savior told the disciples that whoever confesses Him now will be confessed by Him before the angels of God. Here He is speaking of all true believers. To confess Him is to receive Him as only Lord and Savior. 12:9 Those who deny Him before men will be denied before the angels of God. The primary reference here seems to be to the Pharisees, but of course the verse includes all who refuse Christ and are ashamed to acknowledge Him. In that day, He will say, I never knew you.12:10 Next the Savior explained to the disciples that there is a difference between criticism of Him and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Those who speak against the Son of Man can be forgiven if they repent and believe. But blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the unpardonable sin. This is the sin of which the Pharisees were guilty (see Mat_12:22-32).

What is this sin? It is the sin of attributing the miracles of the Lord Jesus to the devil. It is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit because Jesus performed all His miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it was, in effect, saying that the Holy Spirit of God is the devil. There is no forgiveness for this sin in this age or in the age to come. This sin cannot be committed by a true believer, though some are tortured by fears that they have committed it by backsliding. Backsliding is not the unpardonable sin. A backslider can be restored to fellowship with the Lord. The very fact that a person is concerned is evidence he has not committed the unpardonable sin. Neither is rejection of Christ by an unbeliever the unforgivable sin. A person may spurn the Savior repeatedly, yet he may later turn to the Lord and be converted. Of course, if he dies in unbelief, he can no longer be converted. His sin then, in fact, does become unpardonable. But the sin which our Lord described as unpardonable is the sin which the Pharisees committed by saying that He performed His miracles by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons. 12:11, 12 It was inevitable that the disciples would be brought before governmental authorities for trial. The Lord Jesus told them that it was unnecessary for them to rehearse in advance what they should say. The Holy Spirit would put the proper words in their mouths whenever it was necessary. This does not mean that servants of the Lord should not spend time in prayer and study before preaching the gospel or teaching the Word of God. It should not be used as an excuse for laziness! However, it is a definite promise from the Lord that those who are placed on trial for their witness for Christ will be given special help from the Holy Spirit. And it is a general promise to all God’s people that if they walk in the Spirit, they will be given the suitable words to speak in the crisis moments of life.

Luke 12:13

B. Warning Against Greed (12:13-21) 12:13 At this point, a man stepped out from the crowd and asked the Lord to settle a dispute between his brother and himself over an inheritance. It has often been said that where there’s a will, there are a lot of relatives. This seems to be a case in point. We are not told whether the man was being deprived of his rightful portion, or whether he was greedy for more than his share. 12:14 The Savior quickly reminded him that He had not come into the world to handle such trivial matters. The purpose of His coming involved the salvation of sinful men and women. He would not be deflected from this grand and glorious mission to divide a pitiful inheritance. (In addition, He did not have legal authority to judge matters involving estates. His decisions would not have been binding.) 12:15 But the Lord did use this incident to warn His hearers against one of the most insidious evils in the human heart, namely covetousness. The insatiable lust for material possessions is one of the strongest drives in all of life. And yet it completely misses the purpose of human existence. One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. As J. R. Miller points out: This is one of the red flags our Lord hung out which most people nowadays do not seem much to regard. Christ said a great deal about the danger of riches; but not many persons are afraid of riches. Covetousness is not practically considered a sin in these times. If a man breaks the sixth or eighth commandment, he is branded as a criminal and covered with shame; but he may break the tenth, and he is only enterprising. The Bible says the love of money is a root of all evil; but every man who quotes the saying puts a terrific emphasis on the word love, explaining that it is not money, but only the love of it, that is such a prolific root. To look about, one would think a man’s life did consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. Men think they become great just in proportion as they gather wealth. So it seems, too; for the world measures men by their bank-account. Yet there never was a more fatal error. A man is really measured by what he is, and not by what he has. 12:16-18 The parable of the rich fool illustrates the fact that possessions are not the principal thing in life. Because of an exceptionally good crop, this wealthy farmer was faced with what seemed to him a very distressing problem. He did not know what to do with all the grain. All his barns and silos were crammed to capacity. Then he had a brainstorm. His problem was solved. He decided to pull down his barns and build bigger ones. He could have saved himself the expense and bother of this tremendous construction project if he had just looked on the needy world about him, and used these possessions to satisfy hunger, both spiritual and physical. The bosoms of the poor, the houses of widows, the mouths of children are the barns which last forever, said Ambrose. 12:19 As soon as his new barns were built, he planned to retire. Notice his spirit of independence: my barns, my fruits, my goods, my soul. He had the future all planned. He was going to take his ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 12:20, 21 But when he began to think of time as his, he crashed into God to his eternal ruin. God told him that he would die that very night. Then he would lose ownership of all his material possessions. They would fall to someone else. Someone has defined a fool as one whose plans end at the grave. This man surely was a fool. Then whose will those things be? God asked. We might well ask ourselves the question, If Christ should come today, whose would all my possessions be? How much better to use them for God today than to let them fall into the devil’s hands tomorrow! We can lay up treasure in heaven with them now, and thus be rich toward God. Or we can squander them on our flesh, and from the flesh reap corruption.

Luke 12:22

C. Anxiety Versus Faith (12:22-34) 12:22, 23 One of the great dangers in the Christian life is that the acquisition of food and clothing becomes the first and foremost aim of our existence. We become so occupied with earning money for these things that the work of the Lord is relegated to a secondary place. The emphasis of the NT is that the cause of Christ should have first place in our lives. Food and clothing should be subordinate. We should work hard for the supply of our current necessities, then trust God for the future as we plunge ourselves into His service. This is the life of faith. When the Lord Jesus said that we should not worry about food and clothing, He did not mean that we were to sit idly and wait for these things to be provided. Christianity does not encourage laziness! But He certainly did mean that in the process of earning money for the necessities of life, we were not to let them assume undue importance. After all, there is something more important in life than what we eat and what we wear. We are here as ambassadors of the King, and all considerations of personal comfort and appearance must be subordinated to the one glorious task of making Him known. 12:24 Jesus used the ravens as an example of how God cares for His creatures. They do not spend their lives in a frantic quest for food and in providing for future needs. They live in hourly dependence on God. The fact that they neither sow nor reap should not be stretched to teach that men should refrain from secular occupations. All it means is that God knows the needs of those whom He has created, and He will supply them if we walk in dependence on Himself. If God feeds the ravens, how much more will He feed those whom He has created, whom He has saved by His grace, and whom He has called to be His servants. The ravens have no barns or storehouses, yet God provides for them on a daily basis. Why then should we spend our lives building bigger barns and storage bins? 12:25, 26 Which of you by worrying, Jesus asked, can add one cubit to his stature? This indicates the folly of worrying over things (such as the future) over which we have no control. No one by worrying can add to his height, or to the length of his life. (The expression his stature can also be translated the length of his life.) If that is so, why worry about the future? Rather, let us use all our strength and time serving Christ, and leave the future to Him. 12:27, 28 The lilies are next introduced to show the folly of spending one’s finest talents in the obtaining of clothes. The lilies are probably wild scarlet anemones. They neither toil nor spin, yet they have a natural beauty which rivals Solomon in all his glory. If God lavishes such beauty on flowers which bloom today and are burned tomorrow, will He be unmindful of the needs of His children? We prove ourselves to be of little faith when we worry, fret, and rush around in a ceaseless struggle to get more and more material possessions. We waste our lives doing what God would have done for us, if we had only devoted our time and talents more to Him. 12:29-31 Actually, our daily needs are small. It is wonderful how simply we can live. Why then give food and clothing such a prominent place in our lives? And why have an anxious mind, worrying about the future? This is the way unsaved people live. The nations of the world who do not know God as their Father concentrate on food, clothing, and pleasure.

These things form the very center and circumference of their existence. But God never intended that His children should spend their time in the mad rush for creature comforts. He has a work to be done on earth, and He has promised to care for those who give themselves wholeheartedly to Him. If we seek His kingdom, He will never let us starve or be naked. How sad it would be to come to the end of life and realize that most of our time was spent in slaving for what was already included in the ticket home to heaven! 12:32 The disciples formed a little flock of defenseless sheep, sent out into the midst of an unfriendly world. They had, it is true, no visible means of support or defense. Yet this bedraggled group of young men was destined to inherit the kingdom with Christ. They would one day reign with Him over all the earth. In view of this, the Lord encouraged them not to fear, because if the Father had such glorious honors in store for them, then they need not worry about the pathway that lay between. 12:33, 34 Instead of accumulating material possessions and planning for time, they can put these possessions to work for the Lord. In this way they would be investing for heaven and for eternity. The ravages of age could not affect their possessions. Heavenly treasures are fully insured against theft and spoilage. The trouble with material wealth is that ordinarily you can’t have it without trusting it. That is why the Lord Jesus said, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If we send our money on ahead, then our affections will be weaned from the perishing things of this world.

Luke 12:35

D. Parable of the Watchful Servant (12:35-40) 12:35 Not only were the disciples to trust the Lord for their needs; they were to live in constant expectancy of His coming again. Their waist was to be girded, and their lamps burning. In eastern lands, a belt was drawn around the waist to hold up the long, flowing garments when a person was about to walk quickly or run. The girded waist speaks of a mission to be accomplished and the burning lamp suggests a testimony to be maintained. 12:36 The disciples were to live in moment-by-moment expectation of the Lord’s return, as if He were a man returning from a wedding. Kelly comments: They should be free from all earthly encumbrances, so that the moment the Lord knocks, according to the figure, they may open to Him immediatelywithout distraction or having to get ready. Their hearts are waiting for Him, for their Lord; they love Him, they are waiting for Him. He knocks and they open to Him immediately. The details of the story concerning the man returning from the wedding should not be pressed as far as the prophetic future is concerned. We should not identify the wedding here with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, or the man’s return with the Rapture. The Lord’s story was designed to teach one simple truth, namely, watchfulness for His return; it was not intended to set forth the order of events at His coming. 12:37 When the man comes back from the wedding, his servants are eagerly watching for him, ready to swing into action at his command. He is so pleased with their watchful attitude that he turns the tables, as it were. He girds himself with a servant’s apron, seats them at the table, and serves them a meal. This is a very touching suggestion that He who once came into this world in the form of a bondslave will graciously condescend to serve His people again in their heavenly home. The devout German Bible scholar Bengel regarded verse 37 as the greatest promise in all God’s word. 12:38 The second watch of the night was from 9:00 p.m. to midnight. The third was from midnight to 3:00 a.m. No matter what watch it was when the Master returned, his servants were waiting for him. 12:39, 40 The Lord changes the picture by alluding to a home owner whose house was broken into in an unguarded moment. The coming of the thief was entirely unexpected. If the master of the house had known, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. The lesson is that the time of Christ’s coming is uncertain; no one knows the day or the hour when He will appear. When He does come, those believers who have laid up treasures on earth will lose them all, because as someone has said, A Christian either leaves his wealth or goes to it. If we are really watching for Christ’s return, we will sell all that we have and lay up treasures in heaven where no thief can reach them.

Luke 12:41

E. Faithful and Unfaithful Servants (12:41-48) 12:41, 42 At this point Peter asked if Christ’s parable on watchfulness was intended only for the disciples or for all people. The Lord’s answer was that it was for all who profess to be stewards of God. The faithful and wise steward is the one who is set over the Master’s household and who gives food to His people. The steward’s main responsibility here concerns people, not material things. This is in keeping with the entire context, warning the disciples against materialism and covetousness. It is people who are important, not things. 12:43, 44 When the Lord comes and finds His bondslave taking a genuine interest in the spiritual welfare of men and women, He will reward him liberally. The reward probably has to do with governmental rule with Christ during the Millennium (1Pe_5:1-4). 12:45 The servant professes to be working for Christ, but actually he is an unbeliever. Instead of feeding the people of God, he abuses them, robs them, and lives in self-indulgence. (This may be a reference to the Pharisees.) 12:46 The coming of the Lord will expose his unreality, and he will be punished with all other unbelievers. The expression cut him in two may also be translated severely scourge him (AV margin). 12:47, 48 Verses 47 and 48 set forth a fundamental principle in regard to all service. The principle is that the greater the privilege, the greater the responsibility. For believers, it means that there will be degrees of reward in heaven. For unbelievers, it means that there will be degrees of punishment in hell. Those who have come to know God’s will as it is revealed in the Scriptures are under great responsibility to obey it. Much has been given to them; much will be required of them. Those who have not been so highly privileged will also be punished for their misdeeds, but their punishment will be less severe.

Luke 12:49

F. The Effect of Christ’s First Advent (12:49-53) 12:49 The Lord Jesus knew that His coming to the earth would not bring peace at the outset. First it must cause division, strife, persecution, bloodshed. He did not come with the avowed purpose of casting this kind of fire on the earth, but that was the result or effect of His coming. Although afflictions and dissensions broke out during His earthly ministry, it was not until the cross that the heart of man was truly exposed. The Lord knew that all of this must take place, and He was willing that the fire of persecution should burst forth as soon as necessary against Himself. 12:50 He had a baptism to be baptized with. This refers to His baptism to the point of death on Calvary. He was under tremendous constraint to go to the cross to accomplish redemption for lost mankind. The shame, suffering, and death were the Father’s will for Him, and He was anxious to obey. 12:51-53 He knew very well that His coming would not give peace on earth at that time. And so He warned the disciples that when men came to Him, their families would persecute them and drive them out. The introduction of Christianity into an average home of five would split the family. It is a curious mark of man’s perverted nature that ungodly relatives would often rather have their son a drunkard and dissolute person than have him take a public stand as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ! This paragraph disproves the theory that Jesus came to unite all humanity (godly and ungodly) into a single universal brotherhood of man. Rather, He divided them as they have never been divided before!

Luke 12:54

G. The Signs of the Times (12:54-59) 12:54, 55 The previous verses were addressed to the disciples. Now the Savior turns to the multitudes. He reminds them of their skill in predicting the weather. They knew that when they saw a cloud to the west (over the Mediterranean), they were in for a shower. On the other hand, a south wind would bring scorching heat and drought. The people had the intelligence to know this. But there was more than intelligence. There was the will to know. 12:56 In spiritual matters, it was a different story. Though they had normal human intelligence, they did not realize the important time which had arrived in human history. The Son of God had come to this earth, and was standing in their very midst. Heaven had never come so near before. But they did not know the time of their visitation. They had the intellectual capacity to know, but they did not have the will to know, and thus they were self-deluded. 12:57-59 If they realized the significance of the day in which they lived, they would be in a hurry to make peace with their adversary. Four legal terms are used hereadversary, magistrate, judge, officerand they all may refer to God. At that time God was walking in and out among them, pleading with them, giving them an opportunity to be saved. They should repent and put their faith in Him. If they refused, they would have to stand before God as their Judge. The case would be sure to go against them. They would be found guilty and condemned for their unbelief. They would be thrown into prison, that is, eternal punishment. They would not come out till they had paid the very last mitewhich means that they would never come out, because they would never be able to pay such a tremendous debt. So Jesus was saying that they should discern the time in which they lived. Then they should get right with God by repenting of their sins and by committing themselves to Him in full surrender.