Luke 20
March Memory Verse: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:10 NIV
Read: Luke 20
Today I want us to look at verses 19-26 and focus on how easy it is for us to say and do things that appear honoring to God, but to have selfish desires and motivations in our hearts. Remember that Jesus just entered Jerusalem and is on his way to the cross. Chapter 19 talked about the triumphal entry and ended with Jesus cleansing the temple. The preceding verses in chapter 20 are seeing the Jewish leaders attempting to trap Jesus; they are already on the attack.
Verses 19-26 show the religious elite sending spies to try to “catch him in something he said” (which must be hard to do to the person who created both speech and the ability to reason). The spies approached Jesus and said, “Teacher we know that you speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” They give Jesus an insincere compliment followed by a question designed to trap him.
Jesus was not oblivious:
“He saw through their trickery…” (NLT)
“He perceived their craftiness…” (ESV)
Jesus was not fooled—he saw past the outward appearance and understood the heart.
Many of us will not have hearts that are that blatantly against God like those of the religious leaders, but we can still be prone to say and do the “right” thing while the desires and motivations of our heart are not honoring or pleasing to God.
When I was in college, I remember being really frustrated after a failed evangelisitc experience. I had gone to the student center and was praying for God to direct me to someone who didn’t know Christ to sit down and eat lunch with for the purpose of getting into a gospel conversation. I got my Chick-Fil-A (for the added spiritual benefits, obviously) and sat down with a guy and quickly realized that he was already involved with another campus ministry. Instead of rejoicing that I had met another brother in Christ, I was frustrated. Why? Because in my pride I was more focused on getting credit for winning someone to Christ than I was actually concerned with being used by God to share the gospel for His honor and glory.
Be careful to be just as concerned with the desires and motivations of your heart as you are about your actions.
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9
Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23
For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7
In what ways are you prone to do “good” things in a way that might be more focused on your self than on God?
By: Graham Withers
Read: Luke 20
Today I want us to look at verses 19-26 and focus on how easy it is for us to say and do things that appear honoring to God, but to have selfish desires and motivations in our hearts. Remember that Jesus just entered Jerusalem and is on his way to the cross. Chapter 19 talked about the triumphal entry and ended with Jesus cleansing the temple. The preceding verses in chapter 20 are seeing the Jewish leaders attempting to trap Jesus; they are already on the attack.
Verses 19-26 show the religious elite sending spies to try to “catch him in something he said” (which must be hard to do to the person who created both speech and the ability to reason). The spies approached Jesus and said, “Teacher we know that you speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” They give Jesus an insincere compliment followed by a question designed to trap him.
Jesus was not oblivious:
“He saw through their trickery…” (NLT)
“He perceived their craftiness…” (ESV)
Jesus was not fooled—he saw past the outward appearance and understood the heart.
Many of us will not have hearts that are that blatantly against God like those of the religious leaders, but we can still be prone to say and do the “right” thing while the desires and motivations of our heart are not honoring or pleasing to God.
When I was in college, I remember being really frustrated after a failed evangelisitc experience. I had gone to the student center and was praying for God to direct me to someone who didn’t know Christ to sit down and eat lunch with for the purpose of getting into a gospel conversation. I got my Chick-Fil-A (for the added spiritual benefits, obviously) and sat down with a guy and quickly realized that he was already involved with another campus ministry. Instead of rejoicing that I had met another brother in Christ, I was frustrated. Why? Because in my pride I was more focused on getting credit for winning someone to Christ than I was actually concerned with being used by God to share the gospel for His honor and glory.
Be careful to be just as concerned with the desires and motivations of your heart as you are about your actions.
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9
Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23
For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7
In what ways are you prone to do “good” things in a way that might be more focused on your self than on God?
By: Graham Withers
10 Comments
In our responsibilities to God and man, it is in our duty to man that our heart can comfortably hide what is really going on inside our hearts.
Thankfully, this is not so, with Christ. And aren't we also thankful that He is patient and compassionate toward us throughout our trials and errors? In today's passage Jesus provided yet another opportunity for us to consider our motives and does so in equal measures of grace and truth.
Very thankful! Good thoughts.
39 "Well said, Teacher!" remarked some of the teachers of religious law who were standing there.
For some reason this made me chuckle this morning. These so called "Teachers" complemented Jesus like he was a good student with the right answer rather than recognizing Him as the son of God.
Early in my career just out of college I worked in fundraising for a national nonprofit organization. My job was to help organize a fundraising campaign to raise $3 million to build a new HQ building. I worked with an older gentleman who was very accomplished businessman in Houston, TX. I learned quickly that fundraising for a new building was all about appealing the men's egos. A person could have a room or wing of the building named after them or their family with certain levels of giving. There's nothing inherently wrong with that unless it becomes the sole motivation for giving. When is the last time you passed a building on a college campus called The Anonymous Cancer Center or The Anonymous Law School? This never happens! There's always a name attached to it. All believers must check their hearts and motivation when serving the Lord or His Church. It's NEVER about us. Jesus is the sole reason for everything we do.
Man good example Mike!
It's a wonder to me that we humans ever do good things in a way that is NOT tainted with selfishness, actually. I take a lot of comfort in the passage that talks about our works being tried by fire at the end and burning up-unless they were works of gold or precious gems. God can surely change us from producing hay and stubble with our lives to building with material that lasts. Verse 18 is a good one:
18 Everyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.
Either we fall on him and let him do his work in us so we can live this life rightly, or he falls on us and it all comes up dust. Until we make that choice to fall on him, the default mode is dust for everyone-and good works that come up empty. :(
Grateful today that we have a choice in the matter and it doesn't have to stay that way!
Yes praise God for his transforming grace!
We can all fall into the trap of selfish motives. I think we can get prideful when God uses us to serve in the church. We can feel like we are really accomplishing something by serving in whatever area, that the job couldn't get done without us. The truth is that God will find a way to accomplish his will, and we are just the vessel he chooses to use sometimes. There are times when I have to remind myself of this. It is a privilege that we get to serve, and we should be humble and thankful for that, not letting the job go to our heads.
Really important balance to strike!
At college connect we just read through Philippians 2:1-11 and Paul talks about having a perspective shift on Jesus and not focusing on yourself. This really got me thinking of how I tend to live a 'me' centered life and how I need to practice that heart change. I think for my specifically, I serve at my campus ministry doing social media and sometimes I get too focused on the 'aesthetic' and how good the pictures look instead of the purpose behind what I do. God has really worked in my heart over the past school year and has helped change my focus on what really matters: expanding His kingdom and sharing the gospel with others!
That's awesome Tabor!