Luke 11

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0:00 The story we're referencing with them is in Luke chapter 11. We're going to look there together. Luke chapter 11 starting at verse 37. Maybe if we want to follow along. It's kind of a long story. So we the whole story goes from Luke chapter 11 verse 37 through the end of the chapter verse 53. And if you look at the beginning

0:30 here when Jesus had finished speaking a Pharisee invited him to eat with him and so he went in and reclined at the table. And just a quick reminder here if you had a if you were looking at a paper copy where you can turn the page back you'd see that this story actually starts at the beginning of the chapter and I just want to remind you of something that I said a couple of weeks ago that it would been common when Jesus comes into a town whether he's coming

1:01 into Bethany or Capernaum or even Nazareth that he would go maybe first to the synagogue or he would teach or he would go if they had a marketplace maybe he would go to a marketplace and or maybe even just out to the field where they're shepherding their animals and he would teach for a while and then it was a common practice once Jesus was done teaching the teaching was over maybe it was dinner time for someone to invite the the teacher back to their house where

1:36 the conversation could continue. Now it's less of a monologue a one-way conversation now the people who've heard the teaching come and gather at somebody's house and they can pepper them with questions right they can ask them what's going on. This is a common in Israel but also in Rome this is how they would do it with the philosophers they would have these kind of salons these group learnings and so when Luke tells us this story a lot happens over food and it's significant who invites Jesus back and we looked at a couple weeks ago we

2:07 looked at the story where a Pharisee brought Jesus back to his house and intentionally excluded all of the specific ways that you would welcome someone and actually Elliot mentioned the story it's where the woman the sinner is so appalled that Jesus wasn't greeted with a kiss on his cheek that his feet weren't washed that he wasn't welcomed that she took care of that herself very dramatically and so in that story the Pharisee invited Jesus into his house

2:37 after the teaching just to prove to the town I'm better than this guy this guy doesn't get it when he comes in he's not worth the kiss on the cheek he's not worth the washing to snub him specifically this Pharisee now brings Jesus into his house and everybody's gathered there and Jesus goes one of the things we mentioned two weeks ago when he gets snubbed like that is it would be common practice when with if the teacher comes to the guy's house and he doesn't greet him with the appropriate things it's such obvious disrespect everyone else in

3:09 the room recognizes it that it would be normal for Jesus to very loudly say I'm not staying here where you treat me like I'm less than you and to walk out but Jesus stays in the meal and critiques the Pharisee and this one Jesus comes to the Pharisee's house and is going to eat with him which is great okay verse chapter 11 verse 30 but the Pharisee noticing that Jesus did not

3:40 first wash before the meal was surprised this is not like let's take out your antibacterial soap and get your hands clean before you remember they do share their meals remember they're like reclining at the table the big bowls of food are set out in front of them and they're all pulling from these bowls of food together with their hands but the ceremonial washing the washing he was looking for is just like a practice that had developed where they would dip

4:10 their hands in the water it was a it was an add-on that the Pharisees and the scribes had added to ritual purity that wasn't the mosaic law but was a custom among the people trying to demonstrate their holiness to everyone else so he would they would dip their hands and Jesus didn't do that he didn't dip his hands in the little bowl of water and the Pharisee took note of it and probably was like visibly taking note not just like oh interesting and different custom among this guy like noticing oh my gosh this guy didn't do

4:43 what he's supposed to do verse 30 30 then oh no 39 sorry chapter 11 verse 39 then the Lord said to him now then you Pharisee you Pharisees you clean the outside of the cup and dish but inside you are full of greed and wickedness you foolish people did not the one who made the outside make the inside also but

5:16 give what is inside the dish to the poor and everything will be cleaned for you he's built a metaphor real quickly here oh you guys want me to clean wash my hands he's like you do all this outside washing of your fingers to stay ceremonial and clean but the inside of you is unclean is against justice is does not carry mercy and isn't the maker of the inside the same maker of the outside and if you would take what is inside and move with justice and mercy it would make your outside clean 42 then he goes woe to you and this word

5:52 woe I looked it up because who uses woe like maybe I mean I can't even think of a sentence where I would use the word woe like I would I'd use woa whoa but this is not that kind of woe this is like a bummer even sometimes maybe judgment but in this case it's like danger like mourning sadness gosh guys like that oh

6:25 gosh Pharisees come on like that right oh danger woe to you Pharisees because you give God a tenth of your mint roux and all other kinds of garden herbs but you neglect justice and the love of God you should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone this would be kind of like what the

6:56 hazel and Elliot were saying like these guys would very noticeably end with pop and circumstance pull out a tenth of everything that they have and walk it up to the temple and give it to the Lord more than they're required actually you don't have to give a tenth of every herb that you have you're supposed to give a tenth of your harvest and but like they're measuring out a tenth of everything more even than is required in order to show them and Jesus says what

7:29 dummies like you measure out a tenth of everything you but you neglect justice and the love of God which is more core he says verse 43 woe to you Pharisees because you love the important seats in the synagogue and the greetings in the marketplaces that doesn't seem bad but he's saying for them it is bad that you like the important seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces watch out danger you're loving these things verse 44 woe to you

8:07 because you are like unmarked graves which men walk over without knowing it this one took me a while to figure out but it's actually the most brutal I think of these six woes this story is called the six woes and this one is brutal he says you're like an unmarked grave with which people walk over without realizing it of course the Jewish folks would whitewash their tombstones so that they would be very visible when you're walking through a place where the dead

8:40 folk are why because dead folk make you unclean you can't go into the temple or the synagogue you have to go through a seven-day purification right in order to get back into the presence of God if you've touched things that are dead and so Jesus is saying you Pharisees are like unmarked graves if there were an unmarked grave and you walked over it you would be ceremonial unclean and you wouldn't know and then go into the presence of God carrying your uncleanness you've been contaminated by something and not even know it and Jesus says the

9:13 Pharisees you're like unmarked graves you're walking around and you carry uncleanness and nobody knows and they interact with you and you make them unclean and then they go into the presence of God that's a that's like a I mean if you care about those things that one hurts you know I mean because they're supposed to be the clean and they're the unclean okay woe to you because you are like unmarked graves verse 45 one of the experts of the law answered in teacher when you say these things you insult us also so there was a subset

9:48 of the Pharisees the Pharisees were all these people trying to keep all the laws and make sure everybody else kept the laws then there was a subset of them that Luke calls the lawyers or the scribes or the experts in the law they doubled down on really knowing anything so if you had any questions about what constitutes work what what makes me unclean how do I get clean again you go ask one of these law givers and they're like I mean the Pharisees we get it they're like they don't have expert knowledge what they like to look like they have expert knowledge they love the greetings in the marketplaces but teacher when you

10:22 say these things you insult us also when Jesus replied to them you experts in the law woe to you because you load people down with burdens that they can hardly carry and you yourselves will not lift a finger to help them woe to you because you build tombs for the prophets this one kind of got me and it was your forefathers who killed them so testify so you testify that you approve what your forefathers did they killed the prophets and you build their tombs because of

10:52 this God and his wisdom said I will send them prophets and apostles some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute verse 50 therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world from able to the blood of Zechariah that's like Abel's the first martyr who was killed Zechariah's the last one in second chronicles which is understood to be the last chronological time of the Old Testament so he's saying all the martyrs who was killed before the altar in the sanctuary yes I tell you this generation will be held responsible for

11:26 it all brutal he's like you guys just keep perpetuating the problem of Israel you take your forefathers and you just keep doubling down on what they did wrong you venerate the wrong things and the wrong people verse 52 woe to you experts in the law because you have taken away the key to knowledge you yourselves have not entered and you have hindered those who were entering he's like you guys have studied the scriptures you know the word and will and way of

11:59 God you understand the law fully and then you don't go in through the law and enter into the presence of God you make it about the wrong things and then you tell other people it's about the wrong things so you've barred entry to everybody else there's logic in what Jesus is saying now look at this last part verse 53 when Jesus left there the Pharisees and the teacher of the law begin to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions waiting to

12:33 catch him in something he might say they didn't hear it at all bummer for them these six woes like when Jesus says woe to you Pharisees and hypocrites sinners that you are right what got me in the context of what we're

13:04 talking about we're talking about like eating together and how often Jesus is eating with people in the story of scripture and so I've looked at this before and been like man these dummy Pharisees you know Jesus really gets on them and it's I like you know it's I mean this says something about me but Jesus is always getting on the good church people right the only people that Jesus really comes at is the rule following church people and so I kind

13:39 of like that I don't know why but I kind of like that he's always getting on the on the rule following church people and so the way I would normally take this text is like look at the problem of being a rule look at the danger in being a rule following church person self-righteousness and I think that's true but what got me here when I thought about that he's doing this while he's eating with them he's in their home he's sharing a meal

14:16 he's not condemning them right he actually he's eating with them he's welcoming he's accepting them he's like hey guys we're in this together let's eat together oh well I'm eating let me throw you a lifeline you guys got it all wrong the the six woes are like a lifeline like hey guys you have the keys

14:47 but you haven't entered in hey guys you know that you're you're dead on the inside and you're walking around defiling everyone else with your death he's not telling it to to prescribe them to death he's not abandoning them to their failure he's throwing them a lifeline quit focusing on the wrong thing take the key and enter in he's selling them quit building the tombs for all the

15:24 people and recognize the message of what they were saying it's giving them a lifeline just like old Jack Rambaugh man first guy that critiqued my work output I mean I'm me like I took that personally like I can't remember the time somebody told me I'd done a bad job on anything that's not who I am I do a good job at things so who does he think he is to tell me that I'm not stuffing

16:02 enough envelopes right that's hard to hear you're doing it wrong you're not doing enough you're focusing on the wrong thing but God bless Jack Rambaugh for not just firing me for giving me a lifeline for saying hey quit doing it the wrong way do it the right way

16:35 that's why I was wondering if you've ever been told that you were doing something the wrong way before because if you eat with Jesus every once in a while he's gonna give you the lifeline that says you're doing it the wrong way hey guys you're doing it the wrong way that's just what it does this what it

17:10 means to be human and interact with the God sometimes you're wrong I was thinking about other places God gives lifelines you know like I was looking up the word lifeline it was what occurred to me it's like a the most literal might be like a rope that gets thrown off the end of a ship you know to get to get to the person on the thing that's out that needs to get back into the boat and I

17:46 mean if they just throw you a lifeline that's great right but it's like small and little and the waves are big and lifelines are not easy to get your hands around and to hold on to there's a time when Jesus is is telling his 12 like the

18:19 group the guys he spent the most time with hey guys here's the situation he's like I'm gonna leave I know we're just kind of getting our groove like you're starting to understand what it means that I bring the reign of God on earth that I have control over the wind and the waves over disease and sickness over demons and and everything but I'm gonna leave but if I leave he's like I'm gonna go to another place and I'm gonna prepare a room for you there where I go

18:53 you'll also be able to go and good news guys when I leave you know the way to where I'm going and they're like dude we do not know what you're talking about and we do not know the way like we don't even know where you're going let alone the way to get there and Jesus in the face of their ignorance in the moment where they need the answer gives them a lifeline hey guys I am the way the truth and the life

19:27 that's hard to grab hold up it's hard to understand and the grass when to take and but if they can grab the lifeline it pulls them into safety I thought of another spot where God gives a lifeline this one remember Joshua he takes the reigns from Moses they cross the Jordan River all right Joshua's gonna do the

20:01 thing that's been long foretold we got about two million slaves we've been chilling in the desert for a while not a serious battle camp just kind of surviving on what is it that comes in the morning and some quail in the evening first city we're gonna take Jericho they got the big walls they're hiding behind the walls they're laughing at us we're gonna that's that's our first thing we're gonna take Joshua's walking by himself in the evening big scary guy

20:34 with a sword appears in front of him and Joshua's like whoa are you with us or against us are you with Israel or with our enemies and the big scary soldier says I'm with neither but I am the commander of the angel of the Lord and then God says hey I've already given Jericho over to you Joshua's on the outside of the walls with a bunch of slaves hey I've already given Jericho over to you here's what you do just march silently around the walls for seven

21:10 days and on the last day celebrate the victory blow all the trumpets and cheer and then take what I've given you that's an absurd thing to grab a hold of in the midst of a battle right in the midst of a very real life-threatening challenge a lifeline the ocean is big the waves are serious the boat is far away and he

21:40 has this little thread marched silently for seven days just hold on to that and go and see what happens do you see what I'm saying like the in the in the threat of the abandonment of God and the ocean of death cling to the idea that Jesus is the way in the face of cultural hegemony like the idea that there's a certain sort of thing we must be in the world the approval of your peers cling

22:12 to the lifeline of the critique of Jesus it is scary and hard to do but consistent look back real quick here in Luke chapter 11 verse 37 to 53 he's critiquing the church people giving them the lifeline that they need look back at the beginning of his teaching Luke chapter 11 verse 1 one day Jesus

22:47 was praying in a certain place and when he finished one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples and he said to them when you pray say father how Lord be thy name your kingdom come give us each our daily bread forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who sins against us and lead us not in the temptation and then he said to them suppose one of you has a friend and he goes to him at midnight okay skip forward so I

23:17 say to you look at verse 9 ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock in the door will be open to you for everyone who asks or sieves he who seeks finds and to him who knocks the door will be open we know that the people who listen to the teachings of Jesus who gather around him tend to be the ones on the outskirts not the ones who have but the ones who have not not the ones who are accepted but the ones who are rejected not the holy church

23:51 ones but the sinners on the outside and Jesus looks at them and says hey you are not a pray talk to the God the one who resides in the holy of holies and call him father and then knowing that fathers give good gifts to their kids ask him for the things that you need and trusts that he'll give you what you ask for do you see that whether God comes to you with the offering of free gift or the critique of conviction he gives you a lifeline and the lifeline is slippery

24:24 and hard to hold on to it will take faith in the face of adversity it will take confidence in what you cannot see it will take a regenerate heart and the power of the spirit but God always comes with what you need whether you need conviction or the gift whatever you need today it comes not with the approval of your peers not with your own hard work and

25:02 well-thought battles whatever you need today it comes to shoot down through the lifeline offered by the God whether you need cities or salvation whether you need approval or provision whatever you need today it comes from the God through faith to you let's pray that we could be people who believe Jesus offers

25:38 us a lifeline hey Lord thank you for the demonstration of the lifeline both to the Pharisees and to your disciples offer us the lifeline that we need today whether it be conviction for our failures or hope for the future teach us how to trust what you offer to take hold with faith of the gift that you give us whatever it is that we might find our way to life with you in Jesus name we pray

26:12 amen