Book of Luke

Tonight we read from chapter 8.

At verse 4 we read the parable of the sower--I love the parable of the sower!  But I'm not going to talk about that today.  Jesus explains this parable to his disciples in the verses that follow.

When we got to verse 16 there is a passage that doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense on it's own.

This beautifully illustrates a principle I just told my son the other day.  He asked if some people are confused when they read the Bible.  I said there are a lot of people that are confused by the Bible.  I told him that the best way to understand scripture is to read more scripture.  I left it at that, he's almost nine, I will elaborate on it more as he grows.  I also told Him that when Jesus left, He said He was sending the Holy Spirit and that one of the reasons was so that He would teach us what the scripture means.

So 1) If you don't understand what you've read, pray and ask God to reveal the meaning to you.  I have heard Dr. Chuck Missler say that you should write it down in a journal, because when God reveals the meaning to you later you will probably have forgotten that you didn't understand it.  This way you can go back and write down the date that God revealed the meaning to you and see a record of all the times the Holy Spirit taught you.

And 2)  The more you read, the more you will understand.  The pieces of the puzzle will start to fit together.  I tell you, it wasn't too many years ago that I would feel guilty for not doing any regular Bible reading, but each time I opened up the Bible, I didn't understand much of what I had just read.  This, of course, discouraged me from further reading.  Then one day I decided I was going to do a Bible reading schedule (one-year schedule).  I was faithful with that schedule for 3 or 4 months.  Each day there was a selection from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Proverbs.  I did not complete the Bible in one year, but after a while it was starting to make sense to me and the desire to read more and learn more was growing.

So the reason this passage illustrates this is because each verse in this passage is related to other verses.

Luke 8:16-18

No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.  For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.  Therefore take heed how you hear.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.

Verse 16 makes me think of Matthew 5:14-15.  Jesus says that we are the light of the world and we are to let our light shine.  The works that we are doing are supposed to bring glory to God.

Verse 17 (nothing is secret) brings to mind the passage we read a few weeks ago about our works being tested by fire (I Cor. 3).  You can read more about that here.  I explained to my son that a lot of people do things that they know are wrong (their conscience tells them), but they justify that no one will ever know, no one sees, but God sees.  Those secrets will be revealed in the end.

Verse 18 points to the same passage.  Whoever has, more will be given--that hardly sounds fair!  And whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken away?  Go back and read the passage in I Cor. 3 about the fire.  If your works are eternal they will withstand the fire and you will receive rewards (the more that is given you), but if your works were worthless (career, house, car, money, etc.), they will be burned up and what you seemed to have is taken away by the fire.  The things that matter here on earth will not matter in heaven.