Thoughts on Luke - Day 50

                                                           Luke 11:14-28

¹⁴ Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” ¹⁶ Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.
¹⁷ Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. ¹⁸ If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
²¹ “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. ²² But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder.
²³ “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
²⁴ “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ ²⁵ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”
²⁷ As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.”
²⁸ He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”


        In this passage I see 4 qualities of a true believer in Christ. Anyone not fulfilling these qualifications is susceptible to the onslaughts of Satan including oppression, ownership, and possession. The first is lack of division within the Kingdom (17) or positively put, oneness as part of a body and member of the Kingdom of God. This is what Jesus prayed for in His high priestly prayer for us in John 17 - "May they be one, as we are one..." Are you part of a body? Are you serving a body? Do you feel one with them? This is what happens when you are saved and if it isn't, you are in danger of getting picked off like the Amelekites picked off those Israelites who weren't part of the group.

       Second, a true believer "gathers with" Christ (23). What does that mean? (really, this is the first time I noticed this- isn't the Bible great!) The Greek implies a gentle, compassionate, kind collecting of  those stragglers or lost people - putting your arms around them, like an armful of wheat, and bringing them into the fold. This is what true believers, those with Christ, are in the business of doing - collecting the lost. I have been collecting more Pokémon then lost people lately. Satan will get especially mad if we are doing this but there is nothing he can do to us because we are under the protection of the strong man.

        Third, the Holy Spirit has come inside and taken residence (26). It isn't just an external change in appearance conjured up by human efforts of character improvement, but an internal transformation by the power of God, revealing a new external appearance. Any human effort is generated from selfish, prideful motivation if you look deep enough. A person shining the light of Christ is a target of Satan because he wants to put out the light of the real thing - but he can't because the strong man has put his bodyguards around you.

      Lastly, a believer is all about the Word of God - reading it, treasuring it, meditating on it, memorizing it, and obeying it (28). How do we know what behavior is acceptable to Christ without reading God's word? How do we get convicted of wrong behavior without God's word? How do we hear from God and therefore be in a two-way relationship with Him, without the Word of God? As we are studying the life of David in Sunday School, I came across a great verse that I never saw before, yesterday -"Then King David went in and sat before the LORD ..." 2 Sam 7:18  Do you have a time for that? Do you have a place for that? Is that an integral part of your life? (I can't stop my computer from typing in caps so until next time, i'm out!)