Luke 6
The Pharisees questioned the disciples who were plucking and eating corn (wheat) on the sabbath day. According to the law, anyone might enter a field that belonged to someone else and eat, but he was not to take any grain with him. The Pharisees objected to it being done on the sabbath day. Jesus answered by speaking of the rejected King David and his followers, and how they ate the showbread which was only for the priests. The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath.
The Man With the Withered Hand
As Jesus taught in the synagogue on another sabbath, He saw a man with a withered hand. He said to him, "Stand forth in the midst," and he did so. Jesus asked the leaders if it was lawful to do good or to do evil on the sabbath. Looking on them, He told the man with the withered hand, "Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other." The leaders of Israel consulted what they might do to Jesus.
Choosing His Disciples
Before choosing His disciples, Jesus prayed all night. The Lord is often seen praying in this gospel.
First the Lord called His disciples. Then He gave them their work to do, and sent them out in pairs. Only in Luke do we see which ones served the Lord together. The Lord made no unnecessary changes in the lives of His disciples. Peter and Andrew were brothers who fished together; they were chosen to preach together. The same was true with James and John. The two named Judas worked together. We assume that Judas (or Jude), the brother of James, did not in the least suspect that Judas Iscariot would be the traitor. The very fact that Jude worked alongside Judas Iscariot might lend itself to giving him a background of an apostate for when he wrote about apostasy in the book of Jude (if he was the author).
Jesus and the disciples went down from the mountain and met a great multitude in the plain. The people from Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. Some troubled by demons were delivered, and many sought to touch Him. He healed them all.
Blessing
Jesus addressed the disciples and presented blessings and woes. They begin with joy and a promise of heaven, but end in sorrow for those who reject Christ.
"Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets."
At that time the disciples did not know that they would be martyred after His resurrection; later in time of need they would remember these blessings for their comfort.
Woes
"Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep [Luke 16:23-31]. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets."
We are to love our enemies, and return good to those who hate us. Our blessing should be on those who curse us, and we are to pray for those who abuse us. If a person takes our cloak, we should not forbid him to take our coat also. We should give to those who ask us. If they take our goods, we are not to ask for them again, but do good unto others, as we would have them do to us. We are to do good and lend, not hoping for anything in return. Then our reward shall be great as the children of the Highest.
We are to be merciful like our Father. If we judge, it will return on us. We are to forgive, and we shall enjoy forgiveness. This is forgiveness in a governmental way. Not until Jesus died on the cross would sins be forgiven and men have eternal life. Under the law, if one repented of evil, whatever sins had gone before would be forgotten. If one did not repent, his sins would still be there to remind him of his insubordination to God (Ezek. 18:20-28).
We are to give generously, because in the measure we give we shall receive again. We should remove the beam (sin) from our own eye in order to see the mote in our brother's eye.
No corrupt fruit comes from a good tree, nor good fruit from a corrupt tree. Each tree is known by its own fruit. We cannot gather figs from a thorn bush, nor grapes from a bramble. So a good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth that which is good, for out the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks.
Truth and Obedience
The Lord said, "Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" This is a solemn question, especially for us today, because we have already entered the period of Laodicean indifference, when the Spirit must say: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth."
To whom is the Lord speaking? Is it not to those who profess the highest truths of our day? Listen! "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." Rev. 3:14-22.
A person may say, I have all of the truth (I am rich); I do not need anything. The one who is wretched is the one who is doing his own will. God's will is the right will. If we do our own will, it is sin, which is abhorrent to God. It produces wretchedness.
If we have not the truth tried in the fire-the truth walked in, and for which we may have suffered and been persecuted-then probably we are only professors. Have we bought the truth? If we have not made the truth our own, we are poor. White raiment is the public testimony of the truth that we have, for it is the truth we have that has formed our character. If we are clothed with truth that we walk in, we are not naked spiritually before God. We are blind if we do not have the Holy Spirit to guide us daily in our walk.
"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me."
Why did God give us His Word? Was it not so that we can walk in a godly way that brings honor to Christ? Are we slowly sinking back into our former life of self-will and acting to please ourselves? What determines our pattern of dress? Have we searched the Scriptures to know God's mind? It is all there; let us search for it.
Have we received the love of the truth? The Word of God is the truth; do we love it? If we do, we love Christ who is the truth. "Hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments." 1 John 2:3. "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." 2 Thess. 2:10. One who, by walking in it, receives the love of the truth is saved.
Building a House
Of one who does come to Jesus to hear and do His sayings, the Lord says: "I will show you to whom he is like: he is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it; for it was founded upon a rock [Christ]. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great."
This illustration suggests that each person is building a house. It is a moral picture of our life in this world as we prepare for the world to come.
The House Built by Wisdom
"Through wisdom is a house builded; and by understanding it is established: and by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches." Prov. 24:3,4.
Wisdom is used in building the house. Wisdom comes from God if we are dependent on Him. The house must protect from the storms of life and from decay; it must be comfortable in summer and winter. The activity of house-building suggests moral principles that we know well. But the question before us is: Do we do these things we know well, or do we only say them? The believer will do them.
"My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: so shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off." Prov. 24:13,14.
Man is so constructed that there is an almost infinite capacity in the mind and heart for truth, and also for evil.
For the believer, what has been learned of Christ will fill our souls by the Holy Spirit forever. It is what is good in our lives here-memory of heavenly things, moral principles, all that is developed by the Holy Spirit in our souls during our stay on the earth-that will be what we have when all else passes away.
This will be true also of the lost. The memory of all the evil that has filled the heart in this life will fill the memory then, "where their worm [conscience] dieth not, and the fire [of unsatisfied desire] is not quenched." Mark 9:48.
The Spirit of God likens this to a house. Here and now is the foundation laid by wisdom, and by understanding it is established (Prov. 24:3). Christ is the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24). Also, the various chambers (capacity) are filled through knowledge, with all pleasant and precious riches. Understanding is the result of applying wisdom to knowledge.
"My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste." Prov. 24:13. The person who has been so engrossed in the Word of God that he makes it his life, will find it good. The honeycomb is something different. It has many cells (capacity), each filled with the "honey" gathered in meditations on the Word of God and stored previously. This honey is "sweet to [our] taste" because it has been digested and stored in the heart and mind.
This is the pattern for ministry: not just something eaten that is good, but the ministry of the Spirit comes from the cells that have had the honey digested and matured in them. "Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." Matt. 13:52.
"And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water; and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights." 1 Sam. 30:11,12. Only that which is sweetened in the sun (raisins, joy) and that which brings hope (figs and Christ) will cause the spirit to be refreshed. The fig tree is a picture of all Israel restored.
Thus, we have the chambers of the house filled with all precious and pleasant riches through knowledge. "So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation [hope] shall not be cut off." Prov. 24:14. "A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength." Prov. 24:5.
Do we apply ourselves like those who know that they are gaining for eternity? Our character (soul) is formed by the Word of God, applied by the Spirit through our conscience and heart. It is Christ, and Him alone by whom the Holy Spirit fills and leaves an imprint written on the chambers of our hearts.
We have spoken of the eternal portion of the believer formed in this world, likened to building a house on the rock (Christ). But what about the lost? Their minds have a similar capacity, but each cell holds the memory of evil and wickedness. They build on the sands. This is "their worm [that] dieth not." The worm is the conscience-it is their worm, not someone else's; it is what has been stored up during the present life by Satan's influence (Mark 9:46).
What would it be like to stand, day and night, while the mind constantly rehearses the evils of one's life that were perpetrated, hidden things that none but God knew? Everything is open there; nothing is hid. Everything that is hidden shall come to light. Can there be any punishment greater than this? We read that "the ruin of that house was great."
Think of losing your soul! What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Can you suggest something better than a life and an eternity of sweetness (honeycomb), storing up in the cells for the time to come when we enter our eternal home with Jesus? Is there something that you like that you would exchange for it? Is it money, honor, popularity, knowledge, gift, friends? These all will pass away, but not the honeycomb; it lasts forever. Trust Jesus now; tomorrow may be too late.