Luke 12: What Does Being Faithful Looks Like?

Luke 12 presses one question into our everyday choices: what does faithfulness to God look like right now. We follow Jesus through hypocrisy, fear, greed, worry, generosity, and readiness, then sum it up as undivided allegiance, kingdom-shaped trust, and active responsibility. 
• guarding against hypocrisy and remembering hidden things come to light 
• fearing God more than people while resting in God’s care 
• rejecting greed through the parable of the rich fool 
• trading anxiety for trust as we pursue God’s kingdom 
• holding possessions loosely through generosity and heavenly treasure 
• staying spiritually awake as servants ready for the master 
• embracing accountability because much given means much required 
• discerning the times and responding with urgency 

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Transcript

Welcome And The Faithfulness Question

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Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Podcast. I'm Mike. And this podcast is really geared toward the Christian who wants to please God, who wants to do what the Bible says, but it's a little bit confusing sometimes. And what do we read and what do we do about it? And I wanna I trust the Bible, I want to do what the Bible says, but sometimes it's easy to get kind of lost in the weeds. You have a desire to be faithful to God, but you're not always sure what that looks like. Well, if that's you, I mean you're in the right place, and I'm right there with you. And today's chapter I think is going to be a big blessing to you because there's a running theme through this chapter today, Luke chapter 12, about faithfulness. And it appears in different ways in different parables or different scenarios, different teachings of Jesus here. But I think it's all answering the question, well, what does faithfulness look like? Have you ever found yourself asking that when you're not sure what to do? You want to be faithful to God. You want to be faithful to do what the Bible says, but in your given situation, in the a given season, you're like, I don't know what it means to be faithful right now. Does it mean stopping and waiting, slowing down? Does faithfulness right now mean going and doing something? Like more active? Uh is being faithful going to say something that I should say or doing something I should do, or or is it more like, let me just be quiet and trust that God can is gonna do it and he's not gonna use me in a situation? You know, there are all these situations where it's like, I want to do what's what's faithful. I just not exactly sure. I could see faithfulness being out in all these situations and all these showing up in all these ways. Well, Luke chapter 12, Jesus talks about faithfulness in a number of different ways. So as we read this, just pray and ask God, which of these things should resonate with me? Help me to help me to hear you through something that's being said today. It may not be all of it, but there may be something here that's like, ooh, that's that applies to me. That's my situation. I hope that's the case today. And I pray that uh that God will speak to you through the reading of his word here in Luke chapter 12 in the New English Translation. Meanwhile, when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, be on your guard against

Hypocrisy Exposed And Fear God

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the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing is secret that will not be made known. So then whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and whatever you've whispered in private rooms will be proclaimed from the rooftops. I tell you, my friends, don't be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do. But I will warn you whom you should fear, fear the one who, after the killing, has the authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Aren't five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. In fact, even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid, you're far more valuable than many sparrows. I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before God's angels, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before God's angels. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. But when they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers and the authorities, don't worry about how you should make your defense or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you ought to say. Well, then someone from the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. This is clearly a guy who was not paying attention. But Jesus said to him, Man, who made me a judge

Greed Warning And The Rich Fool

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or arbiter between you two? And then he said to them, Watch out and guard yourself from all types of greed, because one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. He then told them a parable. The land of a certain rich man produced an abundant crop. So he thought to himself, Oh, what should I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And then he said, I'll do this. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I'll store all my grain and my goods, and then I'll say to myself, You have plenty of goods stored up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, celebrate. But God said to him, You fool, this very night your life will be demanded back from you. But who will get what you've prepared for yourself? So it is with the one who stores up riches for himself, but is not rich toward God. Then Jesus said to his disciples, Therefore I tell you don't worry about your life, what you'll eat or about your body, what you'll wear, for there's more to life than food,

Trading Worry For Kingdom Trust

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and more to the body than clothing. Consider the ravens. They don't sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying could add a single hour to his life? So if if you can't do such a very little thing as this, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the flowers grow. They don't work or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow tossed into the fire to heat the oven, how much more will he clothe you, you people of little faith? So don't be overly concerned about what you'll eat and what you'll drink, and don't worry about such things. For all the nations of the world pursue these things, and your father knows that you need them. Instead, pursue his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Don't be afraid, little flock, for your father is well pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourself purses that do not wear out, a treasure in heaven that never decreases, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Get dressed for service, and keep your lamps burning. Be like people waiting for their master to come back from the wedding celebration, so that when he comes and knocks, they can immediately

Stay Ready For The Master

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open the door for him. Blessed are those slaves whom their master finds alert when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve and have them take their place at the table, and will come and wait on them. Even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night and finds them alert, blessed are those slaves. But understand this, if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he wouldn't have let his house be broken into. You must also be ready, because the Son of Man will come in an hour when you do not expect him. Then Peter said, Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone? It's a very relatable question. The Lord replied, Who then is the faithful and wise manager whom the master puts in charge of the household servants, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds at work when he returns. I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave should say to himself, Oh, my master's delayed in returning, and he begins to beat the other slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him, and in an hour he does not foresee, and will cut him in two and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master's will, but did not get ready or do what his master asked, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know his master's will and did things worthy of punishment will receive a light beating. From every one who has been given much, much will be required, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked. I've come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled. I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it's finished.

Division And Reading The Times

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Do you think I have come to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on there will be five in one household divided, three against two, two against three, and they'll be divided father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. Jesus also said to the crowds, When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, Well, a rainstorm's coming. And it does. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, Oh, there'll be a scorching heat. And there is. You hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how to interpret the present time? And why don't you judge for yourselves what's right? As you're going with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, so that he will not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you'll never get out of there until you've paid the last cent. Okay, so did you pick up some themes about what faithfulness looks like in different situations here? Hopefully one or more jumped out at you. But here's what I see if we're going to talk in broad strokes, and maybe we'll go

Three Pictures Of Faithfulness

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into this more at the end of the week on Living Out Loud, talking about faithfulness from this chapter. But what I see in general terms here is this. First of all, faithfulness is living with undivided allegiance. We saw this in verses 1 through 12 of the chapter, talking about fearing God, fearing the one who has the power to send your soul to hell and not fearing the people on earth who will only have the power to hurt you physically. And also at the end of the chapter, regarding the division that Jesus is coming to bring. Jesus is here and he's going to say things and do things that are going to result in the splitting of people who are going to be forced to choose, unfortunately, between Jesus and family. Faithfulness is living with undivided allegiance. Also, if we take a look at the middle part of the chapter here, verses 13 through 34, faithfulness is trusting God instead of yourself. This covers the rich fool. This talks about the command not to worry and the call to treasure the kingdom. Faithfulness is trusting God instead of yourself. It means rejecting greed, rejecting self-security, refusing to be anxious and worry and striving to try to make ends meet and provide for yourself. It means believing God provides what you need. And the way to do that is to be faithful in giving generously, keeping a loose grip on what you have, trusting that God will provide what you need, and He can provide what others need through what He's given you. And ultimately setting your heart on the kingdom in this way is trusting God instead of yourself. Also, as we take a look at the later part of the chapter, verses 35 through 48 and 54 through 59, this includes the servants waiting for their master, includes the wise manager. It talks about being accountable in various ways, and the call to discern the times and settle matters quickly as you as you work with people in different situations. Faithfulness here is active, responsible readiness. It means staying spiritually awake and ready. It means doing the master's will, even when he seems delayed, even when you don't see him around, even if he's not interrupting your daily life. Are you going to do the master's will even if he's not obviously watching you? It means treating people right. It means using what you've been given responsibly. It means responding to God's moment, being on God's timeline and responding with a sense of urgency. So we see here over the course of the chapter three areas of faithfulness. The heart level of undivided allegiance, the the treasure level of trusting God instead of yourself, and this action level of being active and responsible and being ready. Faithfulness is it's an undivided heart, it's a a kingdom-shaped trust in God, and it's a life lived ready for his return. Which of these areas do you find it more difficult to be faithful in? Ask God to help bolster you in this area of faithfulness. Which of these is easier for you? Well, ask God to bless you and grant you more favor in that area so that that can overflow to other people. What does faithfulness look like for you right now, in this season? That's the Thinking Out Loud thought for the day. Thanks for joining me here. Join us next time as we continue our read through of the book of Luke.