Jump Start # 3071

Luke 12:13 “Someone in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’”

The man in our passage is interesting. He is bold. He is confident. He is greedy. And, he doesn’t realize that Jesus is about to turn the tables against him. Following a brief conversation, Jesus launches into the parable of the rich farmer and the barns. The parable is extreme. The farmer, rich in produce, plans and dreams is bankrupt towards God. He never mentions God. He sure talks about himself and believes all the credit goes to himself. God ends the farmer’s life, that night. No time for changing. No second chances. Right then, right now, his soul is required by God. He is called a fool by the Lord.

Jesus uses this parable to get this questioning person to see himself. He is that farmer. He is the one who is solely focused upon money. He is blind to who he is talking to.

What makes all of this so sad, is that contextually, Jesus has not said anything about money. He is talking about His role. He talks about the Holy Spirit. Nothing about sharing. Nothing about inheritances. Nothing about money. Here is a man standing in the presence of God on earth, and he is not paying attention. He is so absorbed in his world that he knows nothing else. Before a crowd, he brings up a family problem. This man and his brother were not on the same page. He was anticipating Jesus siding with him. He figured Jesus would tell the brother to do what is fair and right. Never did he dream that Jesus would use the circumstances to accuse him of greed and worldliness.

Now, some lessons for us:

First, there are those who stand before Jesus but do not have a clue as to what Jesus is about. I think of the countless professors in universities today who teach religion classes. So many of them do not even believe in the way the Bible defines Jesus. Day after day, they are teaching young minds about a Jesus that they believe was made up and manufactured by legends, myths and a wicked way of controlling people. So close to Jesus, but they just don’t see Him.

Second, there are those who assemble every week in church buildings, yet they do not know the Jesus of the Bible. They come to appease family. They come out of habit. While there, they visit with their friends. While there, they play games, day dream and even sleep. All around them praises to God are being sung. Around them, God’s word is being explained. Yet these same people are overcome with fear, worry and doubt. Week after week, answers are given, but their minds are somewhere else. They don’t hear the message. They stumble and struggle through life, but it’s by their own choice. What they need is right before them. So close to Jesus, but they just don’t see Him.

Third, there is the spouse who is married to a true disciple of Jesus. The believer worships all the time. An example is set daily before the eyes of this spouse. Kindness, gentleness and grace are the makeup of this disciple. But the mate never recognizes it. The mate never acknowledges it. So close to Jesus, without ever seeing Him.

Fourth, there is Judas, who betrayed the Lord. For three years he saw the Lord everyday. He heard the words. He saw the miracles. He was in the storms that were calmed. He saw demons go into pigs and then into the sea. He saw Peter walk on water. He saw the dead raised. He heard that amazing Sermon on the mount. His heart was greedy. His mind was twisted. He was crooked in this ways. Jesus was so innocent. Jesus had washed the feet of Judas. He was so close to Jesus, but he never saw the Lord.

Paying attention—we need to do that as we read the Bible. We need to do that as sermons are preached. We need to do that to be pleasing to the Lord.

One so close to Jesus, but he never saw Him.

Roger

Jump Start # 2365

Luke 12:13 “And someone in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’”

This passage is remarkable to me. I refer to it often. I use this when teaching young preachers. The background of all of this is amazing. Immediately before this, Jesus was teaching about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, a difficult topic, even today. Then our verse. Someone from the crowd speaks out to him.

Here are some initial things that I find interesting.

First, this man obviously wasn’t paying much attention to Jesus. Nothing in the context leads to what this man asked. Jesus never talked about sharing, family, money or inheritance at this occasion. The words of the Lord rolled right off this man. His mind and his heart were filled with thoughts of money. You can imagine this man already calculating how much he was going to get. He was already shopping in his mind.

As preachers and teachers stand before an audience, this guy is a reminder to us that there may be some who are out of touch with what’s going on. They are not listening to what we are saying. They are not with us. Their minds are far away on something that has nothing to do with the subject at hand. This is not only disappointing, but it shows that some in the audience can leave worship, no better off then when they came in. Minds filled with what has to be done at home. Minds occupied with money. For us today, it may be some who are on Facebook, checking email, or playing games on their phones. There they sit, filling a spot on the pew, but they might as well not be there. What is so terrible about this is that so often the very things that this person needs spiritually, is being taught right before their eyes. They miss it. They miss an opportunity to learn, grow and become. Worse, hundreds of disciples in other parts of the world would love to be sitting where these folks are. They would love to have the opportunities, the material and the valuable lessons to learn. Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. This man was thinking about himself. Jesus was teaching a spiritual lesson. This man was thinking worldly. So close to Jesus and yet so far from Jesus.

Second, this man brought a private family matter before all. Our verse says, “Someone in the crowd said to Him”. This wasn’t a private conversation. Everyone around could hear what was being said. Now, we do not know the particulars here nor the background to this story. Was this man’s brother in the audience as well? That certainly would be an awkward situation. Was this man in the right or was the brother? Touchy, delicate, family matters are best discussed in private conversations. Today, we’d want to hear from the brother and get his side of the story. There is a time and a place for certain discussions and this obviously was not the time nor the place.

Sometimes folks want to do the same thing as they are leaving the church building. With a line of people behind them, they want to talk about some things right there at the door with the preacher shaking hands. Some of the things that they bring up should not be said before others. There is a time and a place for certain discussions.

It is also interesting that Jesus did not do what this man wanted. You’ll notice from the language of the passage, the man wasn’t asking Jesus, but rather he was telling Jesus. He wanted the Lord to force his brother to give up some of the inheritance. Instead of talking about money, Jesus turned the conversation into a lesson about greed. Jesus probably saw some things in this man’s heart that wasn’t right. This wasn’t about fairness, but greed. Jesus wouldn’t cave in to the man’s demands. The man left with his hopes dashed and his dreams crushed. They were the wrong dreams. Here is a man who not only is in the presence of Jesus, but he is having a conversation with the Lord. Wouldn’t we love to be able to do that? And, what a wasted opportunity. He complains about his brother. He didn’t praise the Lord. He didn’t show appreciation to the Lord. And, of all the things to ask Jesus, he demanded money from his brother. I certainly hope that I would have thought of something more important to speak to Jesus about than how my family treats me or money. This is what was on the man’s heart. We tend to reveal our true colors when we are bothered. And, what bothered this man was that his brother had the inheritance and he didn’t.

He told Jesus what to do and Jesus didn’t do it. Jesus doesn’t answer to our demands. He is the Lord. There will be some prayers that the Lord will not answer favorably for us. Our motives, intentions and attitudes may not be right, like this man in Luke 12. The Lord sees the whole planet and we see things from our tiny spot. What bothers us, may be things that shouldn’t bother us. Maybe what’s bothering us is a heart that isn’t right and we do not see it nor realize it.

Third, some people use Christ for personal gain. They use religion to oppress others. They use the church to get money when they ought to get a job. I’ve seen it all too often. A person has been given money time and again by the church and when it stops, so do they. You never see them again. It’s as if the church was buying their attendance and faith. Once the money dried up, so did their interest. It seems that they came around for only one reason, money. They were not interested in what was being said. They were not engaged, connected nor helping out. There are times when the needs are legitimate and a family needs help. Transparency and honesty makes this a wonderful blessing. But when things are cloudy, suspicious, vague and bordering on dishonest, it becomes clear that some are only interested in money and not the Lord.

Finally, with this man in our passage, as with so many today, they miss the real issues of life. Suppose the Lord had given this man what he wanted. Supposed the Lord told his brother to split up the inheritance evenly. The man in our passage would have walked away with a pocket full of money and a smile on his face. He got what he wanted and now he no longer had a need for Jesus. The money would have been spent and a generation or two later, it would have all been gone. And, to this day, that money would not had made much difference. But what would have made a difference, even down to today, would be if this man became a follower of Jesus. Then, his soul may have been saved, his sins forgiven and eternity would have been with God.

We must make sure that we are not missing the big picture in life. Cars, homes, jobs, pets, vacations, retirement, all have a place, but none of them have a place before our souls and before eternity. You can be poor and go to Heaven. You can have been cheated by your family and go to Heaven. You can struggle through life and go to Heaven. But you can’t go to Heaven without Jesus. Our days can be filled with the things that do not matter. We can allow these things to bother us, occupy us and control us.

I wonder whatever happened to the man in our passage today? Did he go home upset and disappointed in Jesus? Did he think Jesus wasn’t much help? Did he discourage family and friends from listening to Jesus? Whatever happened to him? More importantly, what happens to us? We hear the words of Jesus but are we any different than the man in this passage? Are we so occupied with things that the words of Jesus do not mean much to us? Do we expect Jesus to do things that are really the wrong expectations?

A man from the crowd said to Him…

Roger

Jump Start # 1610

Luke 12:13 “Someone in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’”

  Family problems, they can be one of the greatest causes of heartache, stress and sleepless nights. I know so many people who are experiencing great turmoil in their families right now. There seems to be no getting away from the problems. They bother you at work and you are interrupted with phone calls about family matters. You go home and it’s immediately before you. At night, you can’t rest because your mind is filled with “what should I do?”

It doesn’t make your situation any easier, but our passage reminds us that family problems are nothing new. All the way back to Cain and Able, we find families in the Bible that were in turmoil.

In our passage today, Jesus was teaching the multitudes some very important topics such as His role in deity and blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Confess me before men is something Jesus had just said, and then comes a shout from the audience. Our verse. “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” Jesus has not been talking about money, sharing, families, inheritance. This man’s request had nothing to do with what Jesus was talking about. So typical, he probably didn’t hear a thing Jesus had just said. He was only thinking about himself.

Several things to note here:

First, there is no indication that this man’s brother was in the audience. Jesus was getting one side of the story. Jesus was being pulled into something that may not have been fair and right to start with. Maybe the brother followed the law and this man got what the law required. Maybe this man wanted more than his share. We have a way of twisting the story to our favor.

Second, this man was anticipating Jesus siding with him and being able to go confront his brother with the news that “Teacher Jesus” said to give me more inheritance. His brother may not even know who Jesus was. Obviously, the brother was not listening to this man. Maybe now, with Jesus on his side, he will. He was using Jesus to his advantage.

Third, this man took a private family squabble and made it public. The text reads, “Someone in the crowd said to Him.” We don’t get the impression that he talked to Jesus privately. Now, everyone knew this man’s family problem. Did he do this to win support of the crowd? Was he so steamed with his brother that he didn’t care what others thought? It seems that some things ought to remain private.

Fourth, this man’s share of the inheritance seemed more important to him than the subject of forgiveness which Jesus was talking about. Did this man have a love of money?

Fifth, now that this man let everyone around him know about his brother not sharing the inheritance, the relationship between this man and his brother was further strained. People knew each other in those small villages. Word gets around. People talk. This was certainly going to make matters worse.

Sixth, this man never indicated that he wanted his share of the inheritance so he could give it to Jesus. That would have been a nice thought. Doesn’t happen here. He wanted it for himself. He only needed Jesus to help accomplish that.

Seventh, some only want to be around Jesus, His people, the church, the Bible, so they can get what they want. Some are looking for happiness. Some are looking for a solution to deal with their teenagers. Some are wanting a pat on the back. Some are wanting approval and acceptance. Using Jesus to get what I want isn’t a good idea.

Finally, Jesus turned this man’s request into a short lesson about greed. Jesus wasn’t the one to solve this issue. Jesus was not about to let His mission get side tracked into solving personal issues people had with one another. The line would have been long with other complaints to solve if Jesus had granted this man’s request. Disputes about property lines. Family disagreements about who is supposed to take care of mom. Fussing and arguing about stuff and things that in a decade wouldn’t really matter. Jesus wouldn’t go there. That’s not why He came to earth. We can miss the whole point of Jesus by being so stressed with family troubles.

This man lost his focus. He came to Jesus but he left none the better. Our family troubles can take our eyes off of the Lord. They can fill our hearts with such turmoil and grief that we forget who we are. I read a great story recently about the reformer Martin Luther. He was known to have bouts of depression. In one of his dark moods, he came home and his wife was wearing all black. It was what someone would wear who was in mourning. Luther asked, “Who died?” She said, “God did.” He fired back, “God isn’t dead.” His insightful wife replied, “Then why are you acting like He has.” Point being, why are you not praying? Why are you not casting all your anxiety upon Him as the verses teach us? Why are you carrying these burdens alone? Why do you not seek Heaven’s help? Why are you so gloomy and dark? If God remains on the throne, act that way!

That is what we must see concerning our family problems. Don’t forget who you are. Don’t forget what God is expecting from you. Don’t let others keep you from the Lord. Continue to be strong and spiritual. Continue to be the influence for good within your family. Pray. Follow Scriptures. None of those things change, even if our brother doesn’t share the family inheritance.

Many family problems are the result of people not living as they ought to. Some of these are nothing more than relationship problems. Unable to let go of the past. Unable to forgive. Unable to apologize. Unwilling to be kind, compassionate and thoughtful. Unwilling to include God in their lives. Unwilling to forgive themselves. Spiritual issues spill over into relationship issues. Some don’t carry their load. Some don’t want to. Some need a swift kick in the pants, but that still wouldn’t bring lasting results. You talk to them. You point things out to them. You show them. You try to help them. And nothing changes. It frustrates you. It angers you. Dysfunction runs deep in families. Troubled parents. Siblings that don’t like each other. Crazy cousins. Mental issues. Relationship issues. Spiritual issues. And all we want is to tell Jesus to tell my brother…

The man in our story really missed it by thinking he could say to Jesus, “Tell my brother…” No one tells Jesus what to do. Have we forgotten who is God? Ask Jesus, but do not demand, command and expect Jesus to do what you say.

Family feuds is more than a game show on TV. It’s everyday reality for too many homes. Do what you can. Never give up. Set the tone and the temperature to keep attitudes from becoming too hot. Breath deep. Say a prayer. Jump in and influence the best you can.

Someone said if family life was so easy, the whole process wouldn’t have started with a word called “LABOR.” It is a labor. You fight for those people because you love them. You may be their only connection to what is right and to the Lord. Hang in there. Don’t quit. Don’t lose your cool. And certainly don’t lose your focus.

Roger

Jump Start # 855

Luke 12:13 “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”

This week, we are taking a look at weddings. There are many interesting concepts the Bible draws from weddings.

• Samson found a Philistine woman that was good looking to him. He told his father to get her for him. His parents pleaded with Samson to marry someone from Israel. He wouldn’t listen.

• We remember Jacob wanting to marry Rachel and being tricked by his father-in-law and actually marrying the older sister. He had to work more for Laban so he could marry Rachel.

Those two examples illustrate that in many families there is a lot of drama. Our passage today has nothing to do with weddings, but it is an example of drama in families. Most families have some. Usually we deal with it and it isn’t noticed very much until something big comes up. A wedding, a funeral, a move to a new house and all the issues and drama surfaces. It can make stressful times even more stressful. It can turn happy occasions into sour events.

Our verse is very revealing. Jesus is teaching. A man in the audience isn’t listening. His question has nothing to do with what Jesus has been saying. Jesus was not talking about families, sharing, money or inheritances. The man is stewing in the audience. This is high on his list of important things. It is bothering him. It gets to a point that he interrupts Jesus, in front of others. In an instant, he brings a family squabble to the forefront and in front of everyone. Most probably didn’t know anything about this. Now they did.

In Jesus’ time, a father willed half of his possessions to his eldest son. The rest of the sons had to divide the other half between them. It seems that the man interrupting Jesus is not the eldest in the family. He would have been in charge if he was and this would not have been a problem. Possibly this man wanted more than his share or perhaps his older brother was being a pain and was not giving him what he should have. Either way, he felt cheated. He felt cheated by his own brother. Family problems.

This is not the only example of this in the Bible. Remember Martha? Martha, Martha. Her sister was sitting at the feet of Jesus, and Martha was busy serving. She was worried and bothered, not so much that she had to cook and serve. She would do that later on in the Gospels. She was bothered that she was serving and her sister was sitting. She was bothered about someone else. That someone else, was her sister. Family squabbles.

It seems that weddings and funerals bring out the best and the worst in people. Drama queens rise to the surface during those events. They fuss about who they have to sit with, where they are staying and how things are being done. Drama folks generally do little to help but they sure have an opinion about how things should have been done. Drama folks are long on talk and short on doing. They complain and can turn a happy occasion into a stressful ordeal.

It seems that every party has a pooper and every church has a jerk! When people get together, you can almost always count on someone being unhappy, someone complaining and someone getting their feelings hurt. It happens in church services. It happens at weddings. It happens at birthday parties. Someone feels slighted because another got more attention than they did. They get upset at the kids ballgame because their child sat on the bench more than another kid did. They get upset at the choir concert because their kid didn’t get the solo. Drama. We can take a good event and ruin it because of all the drama.

Back to our passage, this man who interrupted Jesus was wrong on several occasions.

First, it was not Jesus’ place to settle legal issues. He referred to Jesus as “teacher,” not, “Lord,” or “God.” Teachers, or rabbis, were not the voice of the land. His problems would have to be settled in court, not on the streets.

Second, no one tells Jesus what to do. Notice the language. “Teacher, tell my brother…” Excuse me. You don’t talk that way to Jesus. Martha did the same thing. “Jesus, tell my sister…” He didn’t ask, he demanded. Drama folks are like that. They expect. They demand. They want and they want it now. Drama people do not have much patience.

Third, had Jesus given in to this man and settled things the way he wanted, every little dispute that people had would be taken to Jesus. His mission would have been hijacked. He would be solving land disputes, family problems and everything about a bunch of nothing. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He didn’t come to deal with drama. He didn’t come to settle inheritances. Jesus refused to get involved in that mess.

Why do some thrive on drama? You see it at work. You see it in the church. You see it in the family. The drama folks really unnerve everyone around them. If you get two drama people in the same room, look out, there will be more fireworks than at the fourth of July.

I think we all have a bit of drama in us. Some have one scoop, others two. We all can feel hurt when things do not go as we feel they should. Preachers can be involved in the drama scene. The Bible doesn’t use the word “drama.” It uses the word, “self.” That is what drama is really about. It is about self. Too much of self. Too much of thinking of only self. Why else would someone get their feathers ruffled at a wedding, taking away from the bride’s day? The only reason can be is that they were thinking only of self and not the bride or anyone else. The same can be true of a birthday party or even a church service. Someone gets a little attention, a shout out, a compliment, and the SELF in all of us begins to think, “what about me?” Why don’t I get some attention? Look what I have done. What makes them so special? We let those thoughts stew just a few minutes, it doesn’t take long, and then we are really upset. We get mad. We are ready to walk out of the wedding before it’s over. We are ready to walk out of a church service and never come back. DRAMA.

The solution to all of this is to quit thinking so much of our self. Jesus said the fist step in following Him was to “deny self” (LK 9:23). Deny. If you apply for a loan and it is denied, that means you were turned down. If you went for a job interview and was denied, that means you didn’t get the job. To deny self, is to push back on self. Don’t let the drama rise to the surface. Think about others. Put others first. Let others have their day. Don’t be a jerk.

We have two cats in our house. One is named Abby. She is 100% cat. I tell people that her first name is “Crabby.” Crabby Abby. Some people are just like that. We are not cats. We choose to be the way we are. You don’t have to be ugly around others.

Much of hurt feelings comes not from poor treatment by others, but from the drama within. We feel slighted. We feel overlooked. We want attention. We want…Tell my brother, is what the man in the passage said. He was thinking of self. He never heard what Jesus said. He was stuck on self. If he really was bothered by the inheritance issue, why was he interrupting Jesus? Why was he not before a judge? Maybe he wanted sympathy more than settlement. Maybe he liked playing the victim card. Maybe he wanted to take some cheap shots at his brother. Maybe he was a master in drama.

Will there be drama at my daughter’s wedding? Probably. I hope it’s not me! It’s hard anymore to get a group of people together and someone not get their feelings bruised. I wonder if God looks at us and thinks, “Oh, grow up and get over it! It’s not about you!”

I have found that the less of myself that I talk the better things seem to be. Be a listener. Be quick to hear and slow to speak is what James said. God knows. God understands. The drama folks are always around, especially where there is a crowd. They will find things to complain about. They will point out the mistakes. Bless their hearts, they just don’t get it. You do your best not to be one of them. And if you’re a drama queen at my daughter’s wedding, I’ll still love you, although I’ll probably be gritting my teeth.

Roger

Jump Start # 74

Luke 12:13 “Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”

  Here is a man with a problem. He has one of the worst kinds of problems, money. And it’s not just a money problem, but it’s complicated by the fact that he has money problems with his family. Some things never change! He comes to Jesus and wants Jesus to fix his problem.

  There are several obvious and even troubling things we find in this man’s request. First, he says, “Teacher, tell my brother…” Excuse me? We do not tell Jesus what to do. We do not order Jesus, command Jesus, authorize Jesus, or even expect Jesus to do anything we want. It’s the other way around. Jesus tells us. Jesus commands us. Jesus expects us. And the reason is, He is God. He has proven that, demonstrated that and man needs to realize that. His first mistake was in thinking He could tell Jesus what to do. That makes us rethink some of our prayers and even our attitudes from time to time. Job repented of the way he talked about God.

  A second problem here, Jesus was not in the position to divide family inheritances. Yes, He is God, but this man, as well as most of the multitudes, did not grasp that yet. Jesus was not the legal voice of the land. If there was a dispute, he needed to take it to the courts. There are proper channels to solve disputes. This man, like so many others, want a quick and easy solution without having to put much effort into it. Have Jesus do all the work. Have Jesus take care of things. Sometimes we forget after the “amen,” our effort is not done. Just pray that God will make my kids turn out right. Just pray that the church will grow. Just pray that the lonely will not be lonely. Amen!

  After the amen, we need to raise those kids, spread the word and visit the lonely. Just going to Jesus doesn’t end our responsibilities.

  Thirdly, and maybe the most important, Jesus didn’t come to earth to solve all of our disputes, issues and problems. He came to save our souls. He was on a mission. His mission was spiritual. If Jesus had solved this man’s problem, before long, people would have lined up with land disputes, tax issues, neighbors whose dogs bit someone and on and on the list would go. The mission of Christ would have been sidetracked and derailed. He would not do that.

  Modern times are no different. Some expect religion, the church, or even God to just fix all their problems. Troubled kids? Take them to the church, folks think. When the kids don’t change, blame the church. Leave. Find another church, and loudly proclaim, the church didn’t do anything. Were they supposed to? Same goes for broken marriages, or out of control debt, or addictions. We’ve gotten within us this thought that the purpose of religion, the church, is to make my life easier and happier. Wrong. It is to help me get to Heaven. It is not a social club, free baby sitter, or an end all to the mess I have made. There is an old expression that says, ‘you made the bed, now sleep in it.’ We don’t like that. We want to do as we please until life gets messy, and then run to Jesus with demands on how He or his church ought to make things better for us.

  What should have happened in our passage is this man falls to his knees and says, ‘Lord, please save my soul.’ That would have stopped Jesus. That is what Jesus is looking for. What are you expecting from Jesus? How about the church? Are you thinking that Jesus ought to fix all of your problems? Better spend a few more moments in the Gospels and check your thinking. Jesus wants to save your soul. That’s far more important to Him than inheritances.

 Roger