Luke 12

CHAPTER 12THEME: Jesus warns of the leaven of the Pharisees; parable of the rich fool; parable of the return from the wedding; the testing of servants in light of the coming of Christ; Jesus states He is a divider of men

Luke 12:1

JESUS WARNS OF THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEESThe twelfth chapter continues to record the tremendous ministry of our Lord. Luke adds some new things which I shall emphasize. This is the period of time when Christ’s ministry peaked. Great crowds of people were following Him. It was at this time that He performed so many miracles. There were literally thousands of blind who had their eyes opened, thousands of lame that were made to walk, and thousands of dumb that were made to speak. Christ healed multitudes. In fact, this crowd was so large it was impossible to number them. The people were pushing against one another, and actually some were being trampled. It was a dangerous place to be. Christ warns the crowd about the leaven of the Pharisees. If leaven symbolized the gospel, as many people think it does, why would the Lord warn His disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees? Leaven is a principle of evil, and the leaven of the Pharisees was hypocrisy. There is a great deal of leaven about today!

Luke 12:2

It was upon this principle that both Cromwell and, I believe, Martin Luther based the statement, “Fear God and you will have no one else to fear.” Let me repeat that when Cromwell was asked the basis for his courage and fearlessness, he replied that he had learned that if he feared God he would fear no man. That is exactly what our Lord is saying in this passage.

Luke 12:6

Our Lord’s public rebuke of the religious leaders would, of course, bring their wrath down upon His head. And His disciples could expect the same kind of treatment from them. The Lord Jesus gives them these words of comfort and assurance of God’s care for them. Since He sees the fall of a sparrow, He is fully aware of the needs of those who are teaching and preaching His Word.

Luke 12:10

When a man blasphemes with his mouth, that is not the thing that condemns him; it is the attitude of his heart. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is to resist His convicting work in the heart and life. This is a permanent conditionunless he stops resisting.

Luke 12:11

This is not intended to be an excuse for a lazy preacher or Sunday school teacher failing to make preparation. Rather, it was assurance to His own men that the Holy Spirit, whom He would send, would give them courage and wisdom as they faithfully witnessed for Him. We have many examples of this in the Book of Acts.

Luke 12:13

Our Lord absolutely refused to sit in judgment in a case like this. I wish today those of us who attempt to counsel might take this position. Counselors are so quick to judge and tell folk what they should do. The Lord Jesus would not sit in judgment. Now, of course, when the Lord came to earth the first time, He did not come as a judge but as a Savior. The next time He comes it will be as Judge. The Father has committed all judgment unto His Son (see Joh_5:22). Out of this incident our Lord made this statement, then gave a parable of the “rich fool.”

Luke 12:15

This is certainly a good verse for many Christians in this age of crass materialism, when it seems that “things” are so important and occupy so much of our time. Covetousness is one of the outstanding sins of this hour. This is not a sin that others can see you commit, and at times you may not even be aware you are committing it. St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Men have confessed to me every known sin except the sin of covetousness.” The judgment sometimes made of Americans is quite interesting. Several years ago the Sunday Pictorial in London gave an assessment of America in which it said: “You shock us by your belief that the almighty dollar and armed might alone can save the world.” I am wondering if America is not in this position today: overcome by covetousness.

Luke 12:16

PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOLNotice the emphasis on the word I in this passage. This man had a bad case of perpendicular “I-tis"“What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits.”

Luke 12:18

This man had gathered all of his treasure on earth but had stored none in heaven. The same idea is expressed in this epitaph: Here lies John Racket In his wooden jacket. He kept neither horses nor mules. He lived like a hog. He died like a dog. And left all his money to fools. Our Lord called the man in this parable a fool, but notice what kind of man he was, apparently. All outward appearances indicate that he was a good man. He was a law-abiding citizen. He was a good neighbor. He was living the good life in suburbia in the best residential area of the city. He was not a wicked man or a member of the Mafia. He was not in crooked politics. He was not engaged in shady business. He was not an alcoholic or keeping a woman on the side. This man seems to be all right; yet our Lord called him a fool. Why? This man gave all of his thought to himself, and he was covetous. I had a little tea party This afternoon at three. ‘Twas very small Three guests in all Just I, Myself, and Me. Myself ate all the sandwiches, While I drank up the tea. ‘Twas also I who ate the pie And passed the cake to Me. This is the way many people live. The parable of the rich fool is one of the most pungent paragraphs in the Word of God. The philosophy of the world today is “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” Our Lord said, “That’s the problem, that’s what makes a man a fool.” If you live as though this life is all there is, and you live just for self, and as though there is nothing beyond death, you are a fool.

Luke 12:22

Now, of course it is not wrong to store up things. The problem with the rich fool was covetousness. He was trying to get more, more, and more. That is the curse of godless capitalism. Have you noticed the strong judgment that is pronounced upon the rich in the last days? Jas_5:1 describes it: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.” Riches have become a curse. Our great nation thought that the almighty dollar would solve the problems of the world, and we are in a bigger mess than ever. We are arguing about whether or not “In God we trust” should remain on our money. Let’s take it off because it is hypocrisy anyway. We are not trusting in God but in the dollar. To have a slogan on money means nothing at all. America needs to turn back to reality and truth and quit mouthing religion. We should search our hearts and ask ourselves, “Am I living for this life only?” Our Lord said, “Go look at the birds. Learn something from them.”

Luke 12:26

When I go to the Hawaiian Islands, I look for the hibiscus. It is one of my favorite flowers. I wonder what God had in mind when He made the hibiscus. It is a careless flower. The rose is a careful flower that holds its petals tightly and opens them up gradually. The hibiscus, however, flings open the door and great big petals wave at you. It is a beautiful and colorful flower. Our Lord said, “Consider the lilies, how they grow.” Flowers are saying a lot to us today: “My, you human beings certainly go to a great deal of trouble to take care of your bodies. You use lotions, sprays, ointments, and perfume, among other things upon your bodies, and then you clothe them. Even after you are all perfumed and dressed up, you cannot compare to the beauty of a flower.” What a message, friend. Some of us need to depend upon God a little bit more.

Luke 12:28

This is not to encourage indolence. Birds cannot build barns; flowers cannot spin. But man can. God intends him to use the ability He gave himbut not to live as if the exercise of these abilities is all there is to life.

Luke 12:29

Our world is engaged in commerce. Half of the world will spend its heart’s blood in building a better mouse trap while the other half will go to the ends of the earth to buy the mouse trap. Both groups are forgetting there is a God in heaven and that all men have an eternal soul.

Luke 12:32

All men will one day stand before the awful presence of God, stripped of the “things” that occupied his life on earth. He will have no treasure up there. He lived without God; he will die without God.

Luke 12:35

PARABLE OF THE RETURN FROM THE WEDDINGNow we have two parables which Christ gave in connection with His return. Although this parable primarily applies to Israel and the second coming of Christ to set up His Kingdom on earth, the principle applies to the church as we anticipate His coming at the Rapture. In the Orient a groom had a wedding supper with his friends and then went to claim his bride at her home. The servants of the groom were expected to be dressed for work and have their lamps lighted for the return procession. The attitude of the believer to the return of Christ is to be one of the readiness, having “the loins …girded"doing all we can for Him, and living in expectation of His return. When the figure changes from the “bridegroom” to the “thief,” it is to emphasize the element of an unexpected appearance. Paul used the same figure of speech for Christ’s second coming in 1Th_5:2 which says, “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” However, the Lord does not come as a thief to Rapture the church. Rather, we shall arise to meet Him in the air.

Luke 12:42

THE TESTING OF SERVANTS IN LIGHT OF THE COMING OF CHRISTThis is one of the outstanding parables that teaches our responsibility in light of our Lord’s coming. Again, this parable is primarily for Israel, but the principle applies to us as believers, as we anticipate the Rapture. Many people feel that the Lord is coming soon, so they are waiting instead of working. We should work as though the Lord was not coming for another one thousand years. Let’s quit all this business of trying to set a date for His coming and get ready. The blessed hope is the coming of Christ, and we should be filling our “hope chests” with works that we can one day lay at His feet.

Luke 12:44

This parable teaches us two important lessons. Skepticism about the Lord’s coming again produces (1) the mishandling of authority and (2) laziness in one’s conduct. We are to live in the expectancy of His return. Our lives should be lived as if the Lord is going to appear the next moment, and we will have to give an account of ourselves to Him. In truth, we will have to account for ourselves in that day when He comes.

Luke 12:47

Maybe He will not come today or tomorrow, but He is going to come. Our tendency is to let things slip because He has not yet appeared. We feel like we get by with things, but in reality we get by with nothing. In that day when He comes, we will be judged. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2Co_5:10). Who is “we”? We Christians are to appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

Our judgment will not determine whether or not we will be saved. This will not be a criminal court, but a circuit court where our property will be in danger. He will judge us in order to see if we are worthy or not to receive rewards. There will be degrees of rewards for the believer just as there will be degrees of punishment for the unbeliever.

Luke 12:49

JESUS STATES HE IS A DIVIDER OF MENEven at this hour when the world is experiencing the deepest darkness we’ve had in nineteen hundred years, the Lord Jesus Christ is being blasphemed! The fire has been thrown out on the earth today!

Luke 12:50

This verse is speaking of Christ’s death upon the cross.

Luke 12:51

When a person receives Jesus Christ as his Savior, he is immediately separated from the unbelievers around him. This will be true whether they be his relatives or his friends.

Luke 12:54

We need to realize and recognize what kind of world we are living in. Man thinks he is big enough and good enough to bring peace on the earth. This is a fallacyman is a warmonger. The United Nations was formed to bring peace and to keep peace on earth. May I say, the United Nations is one of the best fighting arenas in the world today! We need to realize that until Christ comes there can be no real peace.