Thursday, February 09, 2012
What
kind of kid are you?
There is a conclusion to all of this in verse 35 – “But wisdom is proved right by all her children.” What does that mean? It means that true wisdom is vindicated by its consequences – by what it produces. It means that the gospel is producing results. It means that there are some people who are dancing and enjoying the joy and the grace of Messiah. Wisdom’s children are believers who have been brought out of darkness into the light of Messiah.
So I guess you can say there are two types of children – spoiled and wise. Which are you?
Luke
7:29-35
29 (All the people, even the tax
collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was
right, because they had been baptized by John. 30
But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves,
because they had not been baptized by John.) 31 “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What
are they like? 32 They are like children sitting
in the marketplace and calling out to each other:
“‘We played the
flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not cry.’
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not cry.’
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine,
and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man
came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a
friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”’ 35 But
wisdom is proved right by all her children.”
These
are interesting words from Jesus. There
is actually no break in his monologue from verse 22. A parenthetical statement is added to give us
some clarity about the direction of Jesus’ words.
To
whom are the words addressed? To the religious elite. To the people who didn’t
think they needed cleansing from their sins. They were addressed to the
Pharisees and the experts in the law who rejected God’s purpose in their life.
These are people who relied more on their own efforts than the grace of God.
They loved self-righteousness over God’s righteousness. Anyone who loves their
own righteousness will always reject the grace of God. So these are people who
were rejecting the Good News of God’s grace.
There were two preachers in the world at this time – Jesus and John the
Baptist. The twelve disciples had not yet been commissioned and sent out to preach
at this time. So these religious elite were rejecting both messengers of God –
therefore they were rejecting God’s message.
How
does Jesus describe these people? What does he compare them to? Jesus employs a
short parable to describe people who reject the plan and purpose of God. He compares them to spoiled children who can’t
be satisfied. He compares them to
children who are playing games and when they don’t get their way go home. Now
when children play games, historically, they imitate their parents, don't they?
They see their parents do certain things and that's what they do in their
mimicking childish way. Little girls like to get dressed up like their mothers
do for special occasions. Children will
play like they are going to the store or the bank or the gas station – pretend stuff. We used to play church when I was a kid. Of
course, I was always the preacher. Jesus
says that these people were like kids playing funeral or wedding games. “We sang a dirge and you didn’t cry.” So
instead of playing a sad game the kids played a happy game. They played
wedding. “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance.” No matter what
kind of game was presented; the kids wouldn’t play. Remember the name we called someone who
wouldn’t play? Spoiled sport! Basically, that’s what Jesus is calling these
people. John the Baptist came with the
funeral game. The nature of John's ministry was judgment, fire, wrath,
vengeance. John preached to make people sad. John preached to make them weep
and wail over their sins. There was a sad tone to John’s message and these
people rejected it. They called him a demon.
Jesus
came with a glad message. He came eating and drinking and loving people. People
came out to the wilderness to hear John preach. It was an isolated
ministry. Jesus came to the people. He
ate with them. He drank with them. He included all in his ministry of joy and
grace – the least and the last. Jesus
came playing happy music but the religious elite wouldn’t dance. They called
Jesus a drunkard and a glutton. Wow – spoiled brats!There is a conclusion to all of this in verse 35 – “But wisdom is proved right by all her children.” What does that mean? It means that true wisdom is vindicated by its consequences – by what it produces. It means that the gospel is producing results. It means that there are some people who are dancing and enjoying the joy and the grace of Messiah. Wisdom’s children are believers who have been brought out of darkness into the light of Messiah.
So I guess you can say there are two types of children – spoiled and wise. Which are you?
Prayer:
Father, your words bring us to a very clear and definitive conclusion. We are
either a child of wisdom or a spoiled child.
I pray that you will bring many to wisdom – the wisdom of salvation and
that many children will bring glory to your name. Amen.
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