Luke 14

Luke 14:1-6

THE OF CHRIST AND THE CHURCH Luke 14:1-6. THERE are two mornings in the year in which the weight of one’s ministry is more heavily felt than at other times. The one is the Anniversary occasion, necessitating for the sake of inspiration and instruction, the outlining of the responsibilities of the twelve months to come; the other is the day in which this great subject of foreign missions is to be presented and the offering taken. The work at home and the work abroad—these are the foci of the ellipse of church life. The determination of each is essential to the establishment of the other.This text, Luke 14:1-6, needs as a complement, Acts 3:1-10, and also Acts 16:6-10. These three texts present A Challenge of Christ, The Challenge of the Church, and The Call to the Church and Christ.A OF THE CHRIST. “And it came to pass, as He went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day, that they watched Him. “And, behold, there was a certain man before Him which had the dropsy. “And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? “And they held their peace. And He took him, and healed him, and let him go; “And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day? “And they could not answer Him again to these things” (Luke 14:1-6). There is more than one point in this challenge. The Pharisees were adepts at snare-setting. Their traps had multiplied triggers, and in these verses they have combined a Challenge to the Prejudice of Christ, a Challenge to the Power of Christ, and a Challenge to the Patriotism of Christ.A challenge to the prejudice of Christ. “And it came to pass, as He went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day, that they watched Him” (Luke 14:1). It is very doubtful if this invitation was given in good faith. Already Christ had excoriated the class to which this man belonged, and it had been noised abroad; and even while He was dining with one such, and the Pharisee marvelled that He had not bathed before dining, Christ said unto him, “For ye (the Pharisees) make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess” (Matthew 23:25). And straightway He charged them also with tithing mint and rue and passing over justice and the love of God, and with loving the chief seats in the synagogue, and the salutations in the marketplaces; yet really being tombs—whited within and reeking without.

One would imagine that He would never enter the house of a class against which He felt such sentiments; and yet Christ was not a man swayed by prejudices. There is many a man parading a “conscience” that keeps him from being civil to this or that sinner, who ought to name his temper properly, calling it contemptible prejudice, and at the feet of Jesus learn how to “bless them that curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you”.This text also contains a challenge to Christ’s power. “They were watching Him” (Luke 14:1). “And, behold, there was a certain man before Him which had the dropsy” (Luke 14:2).

He had professed to have power to heal the sick and even to raise the dead. They provided Him with a man whose physical condition was such that only a supernatural work could rid him of the water accumulated in the veins. In one respect at least, the Pharisee of old was in perfect line with the modern skeptic—he doubted the reality of the supernatural and proposed to subject the proposed miracle to the scientific test of observation and experiment. The Christ, who failed not in the Pharisee’s house, will not fail before the assaults of twentieth century skepticism; the miraculous power of Jesus is as definitely established from a historical standpoint as is His name and character. The man who derides the likelihood of the former ought in all consistency to deny the existence of the latter, and dispose of the Christian religion in a breath. No greater nonsense has engaged so-called philosophers than that now popular proposition to strip Christ of supernatural power, and yet retain Him as an attractive person.

As Dr. Lorimer once said, “This, every friend of our Lord should fully realize and should steadfastly maintain.

He may have other material for stronger arguments than the miracle may furnish, but let him be careful, for if he first surrender the miracle, he may soon discover that nothing has been left worth contending for. Like a man who violently shuts the window against a robber after having politely opened the door, or like one who industriously builds dikes to keep out the sea, having previously unloosed submerged floodgates, so is he who imagines he can hold the fortress of Christian doctrine when he has betrayed into an enemy’s hands the postern on which its very safety depends.”Again we find here a challenge to the patriotism of Christ. He was invited to eat bread “on a Sabbath day”. And it was on “a Sabbath day” that they brought before Him a man that had the dropsy. The one charge with which they had tracked Him from place to place, with which they had excited the prejudice of the Jewish people, and by which they finally condemned Him to die, was that of disloyalty to Moses and the Law. The trick of the Pharisees was to create a dilemma in which, if Christ took not the one horn, He would impale Himself on the other, as in that case where they asked, “To whom shall we pay tribute”?

If He said not to Caesar, then He offended the Roman power; if He said to Caesar, then the Jews would be angered to the last degree, but Christ was competent, and answered, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things which are of God”. It was a no more shrewd dilemma than that which they put to Him here.

If He healed not the dropsical man, they would declare Him either lacking in supernatural power or compassion; if He healed him, they would denounce Him as lacking in patriotism, since He had transgressed Moses’ Law of the Sabbath.The conduct of the Christ in this dilemma is another evidence of His Deity. “Never man spake as this Man”. Knowing their thought, He said, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day”? If they answered, “It is unlawful”, they could not charge Him with lack of compassion or power, since they had objected to the exercise of either on that day; if they answered, “It is lawful”, then they could not object when He had wrought the good work. The question was so pertinent that they were struck dumb, and “held their peace”. Truly, as one has said, “Here, as in so many matters of debate, it only needs for the question to be rightly stated, and it remains a question no longer; there can be but one answer.”Having silenced them, He proceeded with His gracious work; “He took him and healed him, and let him go”. But, knowing that when they had gone abroad, they would fail to report Him to the people, He sought their personal conviction of truth, and asked, “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into the pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day”? (Luke 14:5).

The pertinence of Christ’s questions was a part of their power. When He released a woman on the Sabbath who had been bound for many years by Satan, He asked which one of them did not also release his ox or his ass and lead him away to water on this day.

And so when He redeemed the man whose veins were flooded with water, actually drowning the life that was in the blood, He put to them the pertinent question, “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day”? (Luke 14:5). It was hardly necessary to add, “Is not a man better than an ox or an ass?”Patriotism in its last analysis is not a matter of words, but of deeds. The best lover of his country is not necessarily the one who unfurls its flag before his door, but rather, the man who leads a loyal life. It is not necessarily the one who keeps well within the limits of the letter of the Law, but rather the one whose spirit is obedient, whose heart is compassionate, and whose hand is helpful. Christ was the patriot of the centuries!THE OF THE CHURCH. Acts 3:1-10. “Now Peter and John went up together into the Temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. “And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the Temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the Temple; “Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the Temple asked an alms. “And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him, with John, said, Look on us. “And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. “Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. “And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. “And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the Temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. “And all the people saw him walking and praising God: “And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the Temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. “And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering” (Acts 3:1-10). Here our second text is extremely suggestive! What then is the challenge as set forth in this Scripture? First of all, to assist the poor. The people that enter God’s temple must expect to have alms asked of them. Any religion that despises or even neglects the poor, is not of God. “He that hath pity on the poor, happy is he” (Proverbs 14:21). “Whoso mocketh the poor, reproacheth his Maker” (Proverbs 17:5). “He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack” (Proverbs 28:27). One of the last acts of Christ’s life was remembering the poor, and one of the last sentences delivered to His Apostles before going to His grave, was this, “Ye have the poor always with you and whensoever ye will, ye can do them good”. One’s standing in his final judgment is made to depend upon his attitude toward the poor, for when at last the lost shall be driven from His presence, with the sentence, “Depart, from Me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels”, the reason assigned is, “For I was hungry, and ye did not give Me to eat; I was thirsty and ye gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not”. And when they shall say, “Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee?

Then shall He answer them saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto Me”. I cannot recall an instance in which Christ ever identified Himself with the well-to-do of earth.

To be sure, there are many of the poor who believe not on Christ; a criminal poverty is the most painful known to men. Its very sorrows present certain claims for alleviation to the Church of God. But all the poor are not the sons and daughters of Satan. Some of them are truly sons of God and their very need is the challenge of the Church of God. The Church of God has no right to assign its obligations to the poor to some civic charity. For the sake of intelligent aid, a certain amount of conference and occasional reports to an associated clearing house may be wise; but to turn over into the hands of civic associations the needy of the land, may be for the church to escape at once the painful sentiment of compassion and the somewhat expensive task of assistance, but it also involves the utter neglect of Christ who has many of His jewels among the poor, and whose compassions are such that even the veriest sinner was still the subject of His sympathy and assistance.Again, the Church is here challenged to heal the sick.

The real need of this man was not money but health! It was not temporary release from poverty, but the permanent enjoyment of physical power.

It is the business of the Church of God to discern the real need of those who make appeal to it. If Peter’s pockets had been lined with gold, and he had flung to this man a sufficient amount to have kept him for a year, he would have wrought a very different blessing as compared with that which was bestowed. The two methods of helping the needy are well illustrated in the stories told of two great musicians. Ninety years ago a poor beggar boy stood on London Bridge. With an old violin on which he played wretchedly, he tried to draw a few pennies from the charitably disposed listeners. A stranger who was passing asked the lad for his fiddle, and after doing some “tuning”, he began to play a low, plaintive melody.

A man paused to listen, and threw some pennies into the boy’s cap. Then another and another stopped, and instead of the pennies, sixpences, shillings, crowns and sovereigns were thrown to the boy.

In a few minutes there were thousands of people crowding the bridge, and the boy’s hat was filled with coins. At last the police had to command the musician to stop in order that the street might be cleared. It was the great Paganini who had thus charmed the multitude and filled the pockets of the beggar. But it was only a temporary relief, and in a few weeks, the money would be gone and the beggar would be as before.Some years ago a little beggar girl went to the home of Patti soliciting aid. The queen of song did not give her any money, but asked her if she could sing. The child sang a couple of Welch hymns, and Patti’s trained ear detected something in the voice that gave promise of future power.

She arranged with the child to come to her house for lessons every day. For seven years she trained her, and afterwards introduced her to the public.

Later she earned thousands a year for herself, and brought blessing to multitudes with her song. Surely Patti’s service was better than Paganini’s. It is a question whether we are giving to the world the best we might contribute; and it is another question whether in behalf of the needs, we have the power that Christ promised, and for the exercise of which we must be held responsible. When Christ commissioned the seventy and sent them out two and two, He said, “Into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you” (Luke 10:8-9). That He expected the exercise of that healing power is clearly proven in the rebuke He administered His disciples on an occasion of its utter failure. One had brought his son who had a dumb spirit to the disciples that they should cast out the spirit, and they were not able, and Jesus, when their failure was reported, said, “Oh, faithless generation! how long shall I be with you! how long shall I bear with you”?

And when, after Jesus Himself had healed the child, the disciples put to Him the question, “Master, why could not we do this”? He answered, “This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer”.

After all our wriggling endeavors to escape the Bible doctrine of Divine healing, the fact remains, and the church is becoming increasingly conscious of the truth that our powerless spirit is our prayerless spirit, for “the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick and the Lord shall raise him up”. It is time that we began to “confess our faults one to another and pray one for another, that we might be healed”. Every invalid in the membership of a church is a challenge to prayer, and a call to the exercise of faith in the importunate pleading of the promises of God.Again, this incident contained a challenge to the Church to instruct the sinful. The gift of healing granted to the Church of God must have had, not as its sole, but as one of the most fundamental occasions, the object of teaching. Wherever in America we have found a man in answer to whose prayers God has raised up men and women from beds of affliction, about him we have seen the multitudes flock for instruction. The true apostle could never be content with physical healing only; he knows that even though the body be blessed, the soul’s health depends upon Scriptural teaching.

Peter, therefore, properly employed this occasion (Acts 3:12-19).Great as is the need of that prevailing prayer to bring again the gift of healing to the Church of God, it is not more great, perhaps not so great, as the need of a reviving of Scriptural instruction. There is scarce a man or woman you pass but has some bodily ill.

In a majority of cases it does not incapacitate, but in all cases it impedes; and yet the bodily ills of the earth are not so many nor so serious as the mental clouds and the soul-sicknesses. There are people who say, “Why should we send our money to foreign missionaries, and foreign fields when there are suffering men all about us?” The sufficient answer is that it is a much greater work to release the soul of a Chinaman than it is to relieve the body of an American; to give Christ to the man of Africa—crippled in intellect—than to buy a crutch for the bodily injured. “This ought we have done”, but in the name of eternity, let us not leave the greater thing undone! That is why the young couple, having been missionaries to India since the day of their marriage, returned to America for a brief rest, and were determined to go back again. After some months in India, the husband had said, “Fannie, these people do not talk; they only grunt.” Yet this devoted couple, after a patient endeavor, from these grunts formulated an alphabet, arranged a vocabulary, and transformed the grunts into speech. While in this country, the question was asked them, “Are the people really Christian?” “No; only partly so;” said the wife, “it will take a lifetime to Christianize them well, but they are worth it. That is why we are going back.

We cannot leave our work half done.” Bravo!FinallyTHE CALL TO CHRIST AND THE CHURCH. Acts 16:6-10. “Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, “After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. “And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. “And after he had seen the vision immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them” (Acts 16:6-10). It is voiced in this apostolic vision. “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him” (Acts 16:9). There are some men who sleep to endure nightmares, to fight hobgobblins, to be unfitted for service by their slumbers. There are others to whom God can talk in any watch of the night. “He giveth His beloved sleep”. Some years ago there was a teacher in this city who insisted that the child’s mind was more impressionable when asleep than when awake, and that to sit on the side of its bed and speak in clearly understood language and distinct tones, the thought you would impress upon its very soul, was to make its moral education more rapid. One thing is certain and that is that God speaks to His children while they sleep, and many a vision of the night has become the Christian’s challenge to holy endeavor. Herbert Cox writes of his surrender to Jesus and his fellowship with Him, and then adds,“While walking with Him one dark night, Out in the meadow green, A vision came before my sight, Such as I had never seen. “It was of Jesus on the Cross, Who suffered, bled and died For all mankind (He knew ’twas lost); And as I looked I sighed. “Then suddenly the vision changed, And this is what I saw; Dark India in Satan’s chains! While I stood in awe! “ ’Twas there the Master said to me, ‘Go forth at My command, And give the blessed Word of Truth, To that benighted land.’ “My heart responded to the call He made so clear to me; So down at Jesus’ feet I fell And cried, ‘Here, Lord, send me!’ “ The distinguishing trait of Joseph was his visions. They were also the promise of his peerless life. If I knew what visions were before young men, or the young women of the hour; if I knew what great dreams have possessed them; if I knew what thoughts have come to the minds and hearts most often, I could well-nigh forecast the future of each. I heard one day in Boston a minister make an appeal for France, and in finishing, he said, “If when I am dead, you open my heart, you will find it holds in clear outline a map of France.” There is a whole continent of service for every aspiring, consecrated soul. Young men, young women, have you seen the vision?Then listen, there is a challenge to the Church in the call of the heathen. “Come over into Macedonia and help us?” It is a call of distress. It is eloquent with pathos.

There is one missionary story that will never pass from my mind. It is the story of the aged chief who listened to the great Williams tell the tale of the Christ who loved men and gave Himself for them, and whose blood atoned for sin.

When he had finished, the chieftain lifted his hands and said, “Oh, that is the story for which I have waited till these locks, once black as a raven’s wing, have whitened as the snow. Go back to your country with all speed and gather a multitude of teachers and come to us with all haste, and even then, many of my people will be in their graves without God and without hope, ere this story reacheth them!”Once, when a young disciple went to Bishop Selwyn and asked him, “What shall I do for Christ?” the great man pf God gave the brief answer, “Go where He is not, and take Him with you.” Turn your ears to any point of the compass, and as you listen, you will hear the cry, not of the single man but of a dying nation, and it is exactly what this man uttered two thousand years since, “Come over and help us”.Finally, we read in this Scripture, the Christian’s conclusion. “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them” (Acts 16:10). Ah, that was the Christian conclusion! Had the Church kept to it from the first, our task would have been finished long since. Christ would have come to His own; the Kingdom would have been established; righteousness would have been in all the earth. Edwin M. Poteat, reading the words of the man who wrote:“What I spent that I had; What I saved that I lost; What I gave that I have,” penned his interpretation:“Carve your name high over shifting sand, Where the steadfast rocks defy decay— All you can hold in your cold, dead hand Is what you have given away. “Build your pyramid skyward, and stand Gazed at by millions, cultured they say— All you can hold in your cold, dead hand Is what you have given away. “Count your wide conquests of sea and land Heap up the gold and hoard as you say— All you can hold in your cold, dead hand Is what you have given away. “Culture and fame and gold—ah, so grand— Kings of the salon, the mart, a day— All you can hold in your cold, dead hand Is what you have given away.”