St Louis UBF UBF Bible Study : Luke 11:29-54 (2011)

Bible Study Materials

Luke 11:29-54 (2011)

by Paul Choi 07/03/2011

Question

JESUS TEACHES HOW TO LIVE IN THE LIGHT

Luke 11:29-54

Key Verse:11:34

1. Read verses 29-32. Why did Jesus rebuke the “wicked generation”? (16) Who was Jonah? What did Jonah and Jesus have in common? How was Jonah a sign to the people of Nineveh? How was Jesus a sign to his times?

2. Who was the Queen of the South? (31; 2 Ch 9) How and why did Jesus compare the religious leaders of his day with her? Why were the people of Nineveh saved? What’s wrong with a sign-seeking mentality? (1Co 1:22-24)

3. Read verses 33-36. What is the purpose of a lamp? Why were the religious leaders in spiritual darkness? How could they have spiritual insight? How can we?

4. Read verses 37-38. How did Jesus shock the Pharisee who invited him to dinner? Read verses 39-41. What is really dirty and what is the way of cleansing? Read verse 42. What is more important than religious ritual?

5. Read verses 43-54. What were the attitude and goals of the Pharisees? How did Jesus rebuke them? (43-45) Why are religious leaders responsible for the godlessness, injustice, and corruption of society? (46-54)

Attachment

JESUS TEACHES HOW TO LIVE IN THE LIGHT-questions.doc

Message

THE SIGN OF JONAH, THE MESSAGE OF REPENTANCE

Luke 11:29-54

Key Verse: 11:29 “As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.”

In the previous week, we learned that Jesus drove out demons and healed a mute man by the finger of God. The finger of God indicates the power of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Last Sunday one of church members confessed that she was free from chronic headache after hearing the message. I believe that the finger of God freed her from the grip of demons so that she could experience the joy of heaven and real freedom. Let us pray that the finger of God may work mightily in the hearts of young people in this generation until the kingdom of God come to them. Amen.

In today’s passage Jesus laments over the corruption of the religious leaders of his day. In his lamentation Jesus delivers a clear message of repentance so that they may also receive the kingdom of God. Let us study what Jesus’ message to them and to us today.

First, a wicked generation (29) Look at verse 29. “As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem. He was going to Jerusalem to take away the sins of the world as the Lamb of God. (Jn 1:29) So, he needed personal time to take care of himself. He wanted to be alone. But, the crowds increased and did not give him any chance to be alone. Jesus did not run away or avoid them; rather he had compassion on them and taught them the truth of God with God’s compassion.

People in this country classify the past decades with several generations such as baby-boomers generation, hippie generation, yuppie generation, generation X, millennium generation, post-modern generation and so on. In this verse Jesus calls his generation “a wicked generation.” In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus calls “a wicked and adulterous generation.” (Mt 12:39) Why did Jesus call it a wicked generation? It is because people deliberately rejected the truth and followed evil (Ro 2:8). Romans 1:18 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness…” In Jesus’ day there were two leading groups in Israel; first Pharisees, second, Sadducees. Pharisees were religious leaders who ruled synagogues and led their people to keep their traditions. Sadducees were political groups who ruled the temple and associated with Roman government. Pharisees and Sadducees should have been shepherd for their people. They should have taught their people with the words of God and led them to Jesus who is the truth and the life. Once Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” (Jn 14:6) Indeed, until then no one had ever seen God, but Jesus, God the One and Only, who was at the Father’s side, has made him known.(Jn 1:18) For example, since Jesus began to start his messianic work, he taught the kingdom of God and healed the sick. Jesus explained the kingdom of God with many parables so that people might understand spiritual meaning and accept Jesus as the Son of God and as the Promised Messiah. Everyone who reads the Sermon on the Mount cannot but admit that Jesus came from God and he is God’s one and only Son. Jesus also healed many sick people with God’s compassion. He healed lepers, opened the eyes of the blind, raised the crippled and drove out demons. Besides, Jesus fed five thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish. Therefore, whoever has heard Jesus’ teaching and seen his healing must believe that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life who will lead us to God the Father. However, people deliberately and intentionally rejected Jesus and followed evil.

There is a student who thinks of himself intellectual. But, to the eyes of God he is wicked because he deliberately rejects the truth and follows evil. In order to help him spiritually, I gave him a Christian book to read. However, he deliberately refused reading the book and was reading all kinds of secular and ungodly philosophy books. His deliberate refusal of believing in God reminds me of God’s judgment written in Romans 2:5 which says, “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.” I pray that God may have mercy on him and help him to repent and accept the truth and follow Jesus. Amen.

Like this young man, people of this generation deliberately reject the truth and follow evil. Last week we heard that New York City gave an approval to the same sex marriage. This reveals the serious moral corruption of this country. People refused to live normal life, but followed their evil way of life like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their moral depravity is more serious disaster than terrorists’ attack on September 11, 2001. We must pray that God may have mercy on this country and they may repent and go back to the Bible .

Jesus lamented over the wicked generation’s sign-seeking mentality. He said, “It asks for a miraculous signs, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” The purpose of God’s miracle is to display the glory of God so that people may believe in God and trust in Him. In John 2 Jesus changed water into wine. It was a miracle. John 2:11 says, “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” Jesus changed water into wine. He healed the dying son of a royal official. He healed the invalid man for 38 years. Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus walked on the water and raised the dead Lazarus. The purpose of his performing miraculous signs was to help his people to believe in him.

Among us we have experienced God’s miracles. Missionary Grace Park passed English exams and her whole family members received green cards just before the door for foreign nurses was closed. Missionary Luke Yang’s family and James Lee’s family crossed over the Red Sea of receiving green cards. Missionary Isaiah Lim was accepted to the Ph D program at Wash U and passed his qualifying exam last month. A year ago, God provided a job for Shepherd Ben West in a miraculous way when he and all his co-workers had prayed. All these events are God’s miracles and his delicate care for his chosen people. Through these miraculous signs we believed in God’s power and love and increased our faith in him all the more. We all cannot but confess that God is good and his love endures forever. Amen.

However, the motive of seeking God’s miraculous signs was wrong among wicked people. They seek for God’s sign not to believe in God, but to justify their unbelief. For example, Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Then, Jesus wanted to give them spiritual bread for eternal life saying, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (Jn 6:35) What was people’s response? They rejected Jesus and asked more miraculous signs. (Jn 6:30,61) They asked more signs from Jesus not to believe in Jesus, but to justify their unbelief. There is one student who continues to ask me intellectual evidence for God’s existence. God already has showed him enough signs through Jesus in the Bible. Still he insists signs not because to believe in God, but because to justify his unbelief.

As people of God we need to have spiritual insight to interpret this wicked and unbelieving generation. I mean that we must not become sign-seeking people, but we should be Bible-believing people. Who are the sign-seeking people? Last week we learned that the power of the Holy Spirit made a mute speak. So if we only wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit and become excellent English bible teachers without studying English, we become sign-seeking people. We are like students who expect passing exams without studying. We prepare coming Bible Academy. If we expect many sheep’s attendance without fishing or praying, we are sign-seeking people. I expected my son Sammy’s spiritual growth without much effort and Bible study. It is also a sign-seeking mentality. There is saying, “No cross, no crown. No pain, no gain”. May God help me overcome sign-seeking mentality and experience the power of God. Amen.

Second, the sign of Jonah (29-32) How did Jesus reply to those who seek miraculous signs? Look at verse 29 again, “It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus said that he couldn’t give any other signs but the sign of Jonah. What is the sign of Jonah? The sign of Jonah is the message of repentance. Look at verse 32. “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.” Jonah was a prophet in the Old Testament. God called Jonah and sent him to Nineveh to proclaim the message of repentance in order to save the Ninevites, the gentiles. God loved not only the Jews, but also the gentiles so that they could receive salvation through Jonah’s message. However, Jonah was a nationalist. He did not want the gentiles to be saved. So he disobeyed God’s calling and ran away from God. He went an opposite way from Nineveh and took a ship to Tarshish. Jonah deliberately rejected God’s will. But, on the way to Tarshish, the boat which he took met a big storm. The ship crews realized that it was God’s judgment. So they casted a lot for the cause of God’s wrath, and the lot fell on Jonah. The ship crews threw Jonan into the sea until Jonah was swallowed up by a big fish. For three days and nights in a big fish, Jonah repented of his disobedience and self-centered life. Finally, the big fish vomited Jonah on the seashore of Nineveh. Jonah delivered God’s message of repentance to the Ninevites. What happened to the Ninevites when Jonah delivered God’s message? According to Jonah 3:4-10, all the Ninevites from the greatest to the least, accepted Jonah’s message and repented. Verse 32 says that they repented at the preaching of Jonah. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. (Jonah 3:10)

God’s message for Nineveh was the message of repentance. Jonah himself repented. The people of Nineveh also repented at Jonah’s message. The sign of Jonah is the message of repentance. There is saying, “If God does not destroy America, he owes an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah.” These words mean that the spiritual situation of America is not much different from that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Maybe it is worse. What this generation really need are not miraculous signs such as political reformation or economical renovation, but Jonah’s message which is repentance. What do we really need now? As we need our daily bread, so also we need our daily repentance. There is no more sign for us but the sign of Jonah, repentance. I pray that God may grant us repentant spirit so that we may prepare repentant and honest testimonies for coming Bible academy. Amen.

Third, Jesus is the sign to this generation.(30) Look at verse 30. “For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.” As Jonah was the sign to the Ninevites, Jesus is the sign to all generations. Why? As Jonah did, Jesus preached the message of repentance. Jesus declared, “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! (Mk 1:15) As I mentioned before, there is no other signs but Jesus who is the way and the truth and the life. There is no more sign for the dark world but the baby Jesus in a manger who came to be with us as Immanuel God.(Mt 1:23, Lk 2:12) There is no more sign but Jesus who was crucified on the cross for our sins. Jesus is the sure sign of God’s unconditional, sacrificial, and unfathomable love for sinners like us. In John 3:16 Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his One and Only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Jesus has been the sign to each generation. There was a young intellectual man in North Africa. He was seeking for a sign which could liberate him from his ignorance and confusion and which satisfy his empty void. He mastered philosophies and devoted himself to a religious sect. He also indulged himself to sexual immorality and debauchery. Despite his effort, he became more miserable and oppressed by the burden of sin. One day he heard the message of salvation through Bishop Ambrose from Romans 13:12-14. This young man learned that Jesus died for his sins and gave him a chance for eternal life. He deeply repented of his sins and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

There was a young man in India. At the age of 17, he attempted to kill himself by drinking poisons because he suffered from the meaninglessness and emptiness of his life. But, when he heard John 14:6 from his mother, his soul was greatly revived. After that, he had desire to survive and reason to live. Later he became one of great preachers and Christian apologists in this century. Thus, Jesus the Crucified is the sign to this generation and generations to come. Jesus is the sign of salvation for all generations. This time, let us open our hearts and receive Jesus. Invite him as my Lord and master and repent all our sins before him. Ask him forgiveness of all our sins and make a decision to live new life with him.

At Solomon’s day, the queen of Sheba came to Solomon to hear his wisdom. However, Jesus is greater than Solomon. Jesus is the Creator God, the Intelligent Designer of the universe, and he is above all human wisdom and knowledge. Therefore, we should come to Jesus and share his wisdom to others. We should not hide the good news of Jesus, but proclaim more diligently and boldly to the world. There is no one who lights a lamp and puts it under the table. (33) In verse 34 Jesus said that our eye is the lamp of our body. When we have Jesus in our hearts, our eyes are full of lights so that we may see God and see the world. (35,36)

In verses 37-54 Jesus rebukes the religious leaders’ hypocrisy and their inner corruption. According to Jesus, we must wash our inside as well as outside. We must repent of our sins and practice the love of God for God’s sheep as Jesus did. (42) Instead of seeking human glory like the Sadducees, we must seek God’s kingdom and show good example to people as shepherds (52). May God bless us when we do so. Amen.

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