Read Luke 12:35-48

After you get your heart right with God, then what do you do?

Having found the rest and freedom from anxiety Christ offers and acknowledging the futility of trying to run your own life, you entrust management to God (v. 31). Here Jesus describes the next step in the Christian’s progress.

You’ll have your hands full. God expects active duty in His work while at the same time planning for His return. (“…ready for service…keep your lamps burning” v. 35).

Don’t miss Jesus’ unexpected twist. It’s easy to imagine the active Christian who looks up from his work, surprised but happy to see Jesus standing in the door. “Oh,” he cries. “You’ve come!” as he drops the task, running to fall at His feet. Then an odd thing occurs. This Great One who has come without warning, changes His clothes, asks the faithful servant to please sit down at the table, where the Lord of the universe serves him (v. 37).

Christ does not bog down His teaching about the second coming with instructions on how to calculate when the end of the world will come. He cuts through all of that by repeating three times the simple fact that He will come when you don’t expect Him (vv. 38, 40, 46,).

Perhaps even more unsettling is Jesus’ assertion that He will expect a lot more from you than from the untaught (v. 48b).

It’s something to think about.

Read Luke 12:22-34

Was Jesus an idealistic dreamer?

Jesus has just told us that the person who focuses his life on material possessions may be in for a nasty surprise. He may drop dead some day and leave it all (Luke 12:20).

Now Jesus gets specific. Don’t worry about what you will eat or drink or wear, He says. God knows you need those things; He will take care of them. Seek God’s kingdom. Set your eyes on treasure in heaven, Jesus advises.

What did He mean? Will everything we need fall out of the blue sky, like manna showering down on ancient Israel (Exodus 16:4)? Didn’t God tell Adam a long time ago that mankind would earn his daily bread by working hard (Gen. 3:19)? How can we reconcile Jesus’ teaching with Paul’s brisk words to the Thessalonians, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thes. 3:10)?

What kills you—the work or the stress? Jesus isn’t saying don’t work. He is saying that our focus should be on Him and His kingdom (v. 31). Get your mind centered on God and the thousand fretting cares of daily life come into proper perspective. “Fill your soul with My calling on your life. Put Me first, and I’ll take care of your needs,” Jesus is saying.

Is it possible to be exhausted physically at the end of the day, yet tumble into bed with a light, happy heart?

Read Luke 12:13-21

Jesus was nobody’s patsy.

Luke tells us about a man who found out in a hurry that Jesus would not be his cat’s paw. Instead, Jesus told an uncomfortable parable. Why? What does a rich fool have to do with refusing to take sides in a family fight?

And there is the core of the matter. Jesus cut through the complaint to the man’s true motive, covetousness and anxiety about worldly affairs. Does Jesus say that being wealthy is wrong? Does He suggest that we should disregard the practical requirements of life? No. What Jesus condemns is a life focused entirely on earthly possessions. When wealth becomes an end in itself with no sense of holy stewardship to God, the source of all, then wealth becomes a snare.

This is not the first time that Jesus is impatient with a charge against a third person. When Martha accused Mary to Jesus, He cut her off quickly (Luke 10:38-42). Get your own heart right, then consider the matter, He says.

Jesus is going deeper here than the commercial and political. Again He shows His emphasis upon the individual. Society as a whole cannot be reformed. One by one God will change us if we will allow Him to do so. Our nation and its culture improve as each of us is transformed into the person God wants us to be. One individual at a time society improves.

Read Luke 12:1-12

Jesus’ concern for us is so detailed that he even knows how many hairs are on our heads (v. 7).

A baldheaded friend of mine says that he doesn’t put God to much trouble to number the hairs of his head. But even if your head has many hairs, God’s ultimate database counts them. He even keeps up with tiny birds so numerous that they were sold for almost nothing in the market (vv. 6-7). If I bother about those, says Jesus, don’t you think I care about you?

Does this passage say He loves only the young, talented, and beautiful? Of course not. Paul wrote to the Romans that nothing can separate any of us from God’s love. He loves us forever and unconditionally (Romans 8:38-39).

But in the great freedom of God, He leaves it up to us to decide whether we will receive His love and return it.<

Jesus says, “Although I love you and always will, remember that someday I must be your Judge. You will stand alone before Me. Then what you did with the freedom I gave you will make all the difference.” Even Jesus cannot make us love Him and obey Him. We can separate ourselves from God if we want to. We must repent of sin, ask His forgiveness, and publicly acknowledge that we are on Jesus’ side. Then, and only then, can we stand alone before Him without fear.

Read Luke 11:37-54

Why did this Pharisee invite Jesus to dinner?

Did he want to learn something? Or did he hope to embarrass Jesus under the guise of hospitality? If it were the latter, Jesus was up for the challenge.

In fact, He hit His host between the eyes with six criticisms.

He denounced looking like the perfect person in public when you know that the real you is powered by greed and outright sin (v. 39).

He approved tithing, but said it does you no good to make lovely gifts while inwardly being unjust and despising God (v. 42).

Under Jewish law, walking on a grave made one ceremonially unclean. Jesus said your self-importance is such an awful model you are leading naive souls to sin by innocently following your bad example (vv. 43-44).

One of the dinner guests said Jesus was insulting (v. 45), but that didn’t stop Jesus. He went right on with three more criticisms. You have a harsh, overbearing attitude, He said (v. 46). You approve the sins of your ancestors (v. 48). You do not warn others and are obstructing their efforts to learn (v. 52).

Luke observes that Jesus won no friends with His bluntness (vv. 53-54). But neither did He leave them unwarned of judgment to come. If the bridge up ahead is out, you don’t really want just a pleasant comment about it, do you?