Wednesday Evening Bible Study

November 22, 2000

Introduction

The Pharisees had trouble seeing how John the Baptist and Jesus could be cut out of the same cloth.  John was a crazy guy living out in the desert, wearing burlap clothes, eating grasshoppers and honey, and fasting.  Jesus, on the other hand, seemed to be gaining a reputation as a “party animal”.

(Luke 5:27-39 KJV)  And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.

The “publicans” were Jewish men who worked as tax collectors for the Romans.  They were required to collect so much from each person, but were also allowed to collect more than just the minimum.  Whatever they collected over and above what they had to, they were able to keep for themselves.  They were despised greatly by the Jews.

{28} And he left all, rose up, and followed him. {29} And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. {30} But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?

For a Jewish person, eating with another person was a way of expressing friendship.  They saw it as becoming “one” with another person.

{31} And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. {32} I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. {33} And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?

They had trouble seeing how Jesus and John could be from the same God.

{34} And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? {35} But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

Jesus was saying that His disciples ought to be partying because He was with them.  He was the guest of honor, the reason for the season.

When we’ve gotten to Luke 7, John the Baptist had again become a topic of conversation.  John had been imprisoned by King Herod, and had begun to express doubts as to whether Jesus was the Messiah or not, sending some of his disciples to Jesus to talk to Jesus.  Jesus answered John’s questions and then went on to talk about how important John’s ministry had been.

:31-35  Jesus talks of John

:31 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?

liken – homoioo – to be made like; to liken, compare; illustrate by comparisons

generation – genea – fathered, birth, nativity; that which has been begotten, men of the same stock, a family; the whole multitude of men living at the same time; an age (i.e. the time ordinarily occupied by each successive generation), a space of 30-33 years

:32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.

children – paidion – a young child, a little boy, a little girl

marketplace – agora – any assembly, especially of the people; the place of assembly; market place, street

calling – prosphoneo – to call to, to address by calling; to call to one’s self, summon

piped – auleo – to play on the flute, to pipe

dance – orcheomai – to dance

mourned – threneo – to mourn, to lament; of singers of dirges, [to wail]; to bewail, deplore

wept – klaio – to mourn, weep, lament

The picture is that of children in a public area running around and playing with each other. 

Have you ever seen a group of kids trying to decide what to play?

One group of children says, “Let’s play wedding party!” and they begin to play happy music, but the other group of children doesn’t want to play that.  Another group of children says, “Let’s play funeral!” and they begin to pretend crying, but the other group doesn’t want to play that.

Sometimes when we decide to go out to eat, I think my children purposely each choose something different, just to make sure that their brothers don’t get their way.

:33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.

devil – daimonion – the divine power, deity, divinity; evil spirits or the messengers and ministers of the devil

People had been critical of John for his lifestyle.

:34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!

gluttonous – phagos – a voracious man, a glutton

winebibber – oinopotes – a winebibber, given to wine, a wino

friend – philos – friend, to be friendly to one, wish him well

Jesus is saying to these people, “Nothing satisfies you!  John the Baptist lived a life of denial and fasting, and you said he was possessed.  I came and ate and drank with people, and you’ve called me a drunkard!”

:35 But wisdom is justified of all her children.

justified – dikaioo – to render righteous or such he ought to be

wisdom – sophia – wisdom, broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters

Solomon talks about wisdom (Prov. 8:1 - 9:12) and foolishness (Prov. 9:13-18) and describes both as being like women calling out to men to come and live with them.

Jesus is saying that both He and John could be considered children of “wisdom”, and their own unique lifestyles showed that they were wise men.

They each lived different kinds of lives, but they were both wise because they were both living the way they ought to.

The wise thing to do is the thing that is appropriate for the moment.

God in His wisdom has planned that John the Baptist and Jesus live two different lives.

We’re not all the same.  In a sense, we don’t all have to act alike.

Lesson

Be what God wants you to be now.

Sometimes we give in too much to being what others want us to be, when God might want us being something different.

God has given each of us a different set of gifts, talents, experiences, and personality.  We need to be comfortable being what God has us to be.

(1 Cor 12:14-20 KJV)  For the body is not one member, but many. {15} If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? {16} And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? {17} If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? {18} But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. {19} And if they were all one member, where were the body? {20} But now are they many members, yet but one body.

We are all parts of the body.  We all have different functions.  No function is better than any other.  All are important.  But we need to learn to do what we are designed to do.

Illustration

A Fable by Aesop:

One day it occurred to the members of the body that they were doing all the work and that the belly was having all the food. So they held a meeting and after a long discussion decided to strike work until the belly consented to take its proper share of the work.  So for a day or two the hands refused to take the food, the mouth refused to receive it and the teeth had no work to do. But after a day or two members began to find that they themselves were not in very active condition. The hands could hardly move, the mouth was all parched and dry, while the legs were unable to support the rest.  Thus they found that even the belly in its dull quiet way was doing necessary work for the body and that all must work together or the body would go to pieces.

Even us “bellies” are important.

Illustration

Captain Kirk and Mr. Scott decided to take a ship out on the ocean one day and started arguing over who was most important to the ship.  To prove their point to each other, they decided to swap places.  The Mr. Scott, the chief engineer ascended to the bridge, and the captain went to the engine room.  Several hours later, Captain Kirk suddenly appeared on deck covered with oil and dirt.  “Scotty!” he yelled, waving aloft a monkey wrench.  “You have to get down there: I can’t make her go!”  “Of course you can’t,” replied the chief. “She’s aground!”

We all have our specialties.  We all have things that only we can do best.

It’s okay to try new things.  But when you find that it doesn’t work, learn to move on, find the things that are just specially made for you.

Illustration

When little David came into the camp of Israel to check on his big brothers, he found that the entire army was paralyzed with fear at the threats of the giant Goliath.  David knew that God was big enough to handle Goliath, and he believed that God could use anyone to bring defeat to the Philistines.  After talking with King Saul, and convincing Saul that since he was able to defeat a bear and lion, that he was surely able to defeat this giant with God’s help,

(1 Sam 17:38-40 NLT)  Then Saul gave David his own armor--a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. {39} David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. "I can't go in these," he protested. "I'm not used to them." So he took them off again. {40} He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them in his shepherd's bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd's staff and sling, he started across to fight Goliath.

David was young, but he was wise enough not to try and fight in armor that he wasn’t used to, trained in, or ready for.  It’s not that he couldn’t one day use armor like Saul’s, but this wasn’t the time.

He knew that the best way to fight the giant was to just be himself and let God use him.

Questions to ask yourself

1.  Are you trying to be something you shouldn’t be, or you’re not ready to be?

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re doing the right thing.

You can be on track doing exactly what God wants you to do, and you’re going to have difficult times.  Difficulty isn’t a sign that you’re doing the wrong thing.

But if you’re in the wrong place, it will also be difficult.

There are two kinds of people.

There are some people who are constantly questioning everything they do.  They need to come to a place where they stop questioning and just move on to serving.

But there are others who tend to jump into places they don’t belong or aren’t ready for.

Sometimes this isn’t any big deal.  The things they are doing don’t really cause much harm.  I don’t think a person has to be specially gifted to help pass out cookies in Sunday School.  They just have to love kids.

But sometimes it can be a big deal.

A long time ago we let a guy play bass in the worship band at Calvary Anaheim.  We let him play bass because we didn’t know anyone any one else who could play bass, and well, he had a bass. But he couldn’t play.  And some of us didn’t take the time to find that out up front. We would hear comments from some of the musicians in the church that things didn’t sound right, but we kind of just didn’t want to deal with it because we all liked the guy.  After a couple of years, he eventually learned to play bass, but I’m not sure the place to learn to play bass is on stage in front of the whole church.  I’m not sure it was worth hurting the ears of the church for a couple of years just so we didn’t hurt this one guy’s feelings.

Do you have a friend who can really be honest with you and who is able to say to you, “I think you’re doing the wrong thing.”? 

What if they say to you, “Yes, I think you’re doing the right thing”, will you stop questioning yourself and just serve?

2.  Are you reaching the people you’re with?

Sometimes we get starry-eyed ideas about certain kinds of people we ought to be ministering to or being with.  And we sit around and daydream about these ideas when there is a group of people surrounding us right now.

I can sit and daydream about being at church with my Christian friends on Thanksgiving, when I’m sitting in an easy chair surrounded by my family.  Surrounded by my kids.

I can sit at work and daydream about being in another job or doing some sort of ministry when there’s a person sitting next to me that is going through a divorce and needs to connect with Jesus.

I can go out on a date with my wife and sit and daydream about doing this thing or that thing, talking to this person or that person, when my wife is sitting right in front of me, and she’s the one I need to be talking to.

I used to have a home Bible Study and I would worry about all individuals that had phoned that day to say they weren’t going to show up.  I’d worry about all the people that weren’t there and not focus on the people who WERE there.

Jesus ministered to the people He was with.

There will be times when He is with “holy” Pharisees. 

There will be times when He is with filthy rotten sinners. 

He will minister to both (just wait until next week!).