
Luke 11:37-54 (New Living Translation)
37 As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. 38 His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. 39 Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! 40 Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? 41 So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.
42 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.
43 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces. 44 Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”
45 “Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”
46 “Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden. 47 What sorrow awaits you! For you build monuments for the prophets your own ancestors killed long ago. 48 But in fact, you stand as witnesses who agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you join in their crime by building the monuments! 49 This is what God in his wisdom said about you: ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them, but they will kill some and persecute the others.’
50 “As a result, this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world— 51 from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will certainly be charged against this generation.
52 “What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”
53 As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke him with many questions. 54 They wanted to trap him into saying something they could use against him.
I. People as gifts from the Spirit provide revelation (vv. 37-41)
• A
• A
• People are gifts from God to bring
• Disagreement is not
• A lack of revelation attempts to
• A lack of revelation fails to account for
II. Spiritual gifts in people provide revelation (41-46)
• Gift-giving collapses the sins of
• The
• Sanctification is obstructed by
• Striving to be pure through individualism creates
• Thoughtful and caring people
• Every disagreement is an
III. All gifts require complementarity for accountability (47-54)
• Prophets and teachers are
• Every spiritual gift is in need of complementarity for
• God will only give us revelation that our current level of
•
•
• Dead teachers obstruct revelation with a veil of
• Hyper-spiritual prophets obstruct revelation with a veil of
1. Read Luke 11:37-42. Does it surprise you that Jesus called people and their perspective “foolish?” What is a “foolish” perspective according to Jesus and what does this have to do with receiving revelation from God? Why is it foolish when Christians universalize personal convictions that are not universally commanded in the Bible? What are examples of this in America?
2. Read Luke 11:43-46. How and why does Jesus offend the Pharisees and Bible teachers in these verses? Why is it impossible for thoughtful and caring people to not offend others and what does this have to do with revelation? What is it about every disagreement that offends? What is the difference between righteous and sinful offense?
3. Read Luke 11:47-54. Jesus illustrates the importance of the complementarity nature of spiritual gifts in these verses. Why is it necessary to remember that the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit exist for the purpose of Christians providing revelation for others? For example, how do the gifts of teachers and prophets complement one another and how do they help to unveil revelation for others?
4. According to the words of Jesus in verse 52, how does focusing on rules lead to “removing the key of knowledge,” rather than helping to unveil divine revelation for others? What does this look like today?
5. What else stood out to you in the sermon that you have questions about in this passage of Scripture?