Culture of the Kingdom
Today’s Topic: Revelation of Mysteries Part 3: Ignorance vs. the Truth
Scripture: Luke 10:25-29
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
Now this is the encounter Jesus had with the lawyer and I want to show you that Jesus does not accept ignorance as an excuse. In the next message we will look at the second half of this interaction to reveal a mystery (Luke 10:30-37). Now a lawyer stands up and asks Jesus, of course in the company of a few of his friends to try to trap Jesus, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life”. Now the question is, is this man being sincere and really wants to know how or is He trying to trap Jesus? Well if you read Luke 10:25 it says he is tempting Jesus. Now remember Jesus is fully submitted to the Father so the words coming from Jesus are those of the Father. In verse 26, Jesus answers the question with a question, “What is written in the law? How readest thou? Now was Jesus ducking the question? No, but because the man really did not want to know Jesus sent Him to what they already had which was the Law. The lawyer then states what the law says: “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself”. Now Jesus tells him that you have answered right, now go do this and thou shall live (Luke 10:28). What was Jesus saying? This man knew the Law but whatever he knew, in the eyes of the Lord, Jesus, he was not doing it. This is evident by Jesus giving him the command to go do this. Now in this first part was to see a lawyer trying to trap Jesus. There are people as Kingdom citizens that just want to entrap us in a silly philosophical discussion, better yet, argument and try to make us look silly. Jesus did not have to worry about that because He allowed Holy Spirit to show Him the truth about this man and his motives. We need to take more time out to discern motives and allow Holy Spirit to give you the words to say. For example:
I was reading my Bible at work outside and a man walked up to me and said what are you reading and I told him and he asked where do I attend church and I told him. Then he asked me the question: “What happens when you die?” I proceeded to answer and before I can even get to the scriptures He cuts me off and and goes on a tangent talking about how wrong I am and how I have no clue about the scriptures and he is a biblical scholar and all of this other stuff. Now as he was sounding off, Holy Spirit said be quiet and let him talk. After his sound session, I said to him in a calm and quiet way, “you asked me a question, so allow me to answer without interrupting, if you want to interrupt then I will be quiet and not say anything else.” The guy agreed to hear me out and before I could get started he started cutting me off again, so I went quiet and Holy Spirit, said say no more. So I let him talk and after he finished I told him that I have nothing else to say because you do not want to hear or listen but to argue. He apologized and at that my wife pulled up to pick me up and I left. The point of the story is that the devil loves to get you to waste breath and energy on things that do not matter. Do not get trapped but let Holy Spirit guide you to be the change and make a difference in someone’s life so that they can see Christ in you. Now how does God not accept excuses and I want to use the same situation to show you that ignorance will not be accepted. Now Jesus has already told him that he should love the Lord with all his heart, soul and mind and love his neighbor as himself. Now the lawyer tries to kind of plead ignorance and Jesus takes the rug from under him and let’s get a small glimpse of it. After Jesus commanded the lawyer to do what he requested in Luke 10:27,28. The lawyer comes with another question in Luke 10:29: “Who is my neighbor?” Now this is crazy but think about it. If he does not know who his neighbor is then he can plead he could not fulfill the law because he did not know out of ignorance. Jesus tells him the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-36. Now we will look back at this parable in the next message but let’s jump to verse 36. Jesus asked the lawyer “Which now of these three thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?” The lawyer being placed in a unique position with an obvious answer. The lawyer said in Luke 10:37: “He that showed mercy on him”. So now the young lawyer is clear about who his neighbor is and Jesus gives him the same command “Go and do thou likewise”. So Jesus left the lawyer with no question what it meant and made him aware that he (the young lawyer) was not doing none of that.
Jesus does not allow us to make excuses about what we know about Him and the Kingdom. He has placed ample teachers and Kingdom citizens around you to teach and instruct you. He in turn has also placed spiritual fathers in your lives to teach you the ways and character of Christ. Now the question is whether you choose to follow. It is a choice that you have to make for yourself just like when you made your confession to come into the Kingdom and Household of God. Ignorance is not an excuse. God’s people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (Hosea 4:6).
At the Father’s Service,
Elder Calvin Calhoun Jr.
