#49 Lu. 6:40 MORE LIKE THE MASTER

Introduction:

    In our previous text Jesus said that if the blind lead the blind, they
would both fall into the ditch.  In that statement He warned the people of
His day against following the Pharisees and Sadducees and other false
religious leaders of that day.  What He said is also a warning of people
today not to follow false religious leaders.  Each individual person is
responsible for making sure that he is following the kind of spiritual
leadership that is true to God's word.
    In our text today Luke's quote from Jesus follows up on that same line
of thought.  He sets forth two premises in our text.

I.  The first premise, V. 40 a

V. 40, "The disciple is not above his master..."  I think you know that the
word, disciple, basically means "A learner, a student, one who sits under
the teaching and training of another."  In that sense, it can mean "A
follower, one who learns from another and follows him and his teaching."
    The word, master, as used in this verse does not  mean "A master of
slaves"  Rather it means "A teacher, an instructor." He is one who leads and
guides another in his efforts to learn.  He imparts to his students things
that he, himself, has already learned or, at least, things which he believes
to be true.
    Now Jesus says, "The disciple is not above his master..."  The student
does not know more than his teacher.  At least he does not know more than
his teacher about the subject at hand.  Neither does he fare better than his
teacher.  If his teacher is spiritually blind then he, too, will be
spiritually blind.  If his teacher is a heretic then the student will be a
heretic.  If his teacher falls in the ditch in spiritual matters then he
will fall in the ditch in spiritual matters.  The student is not any better
off than his teacher.

II.  The second premise, V. 40 b

    (V. 40)  "...but every one that is perfect shall be as his master."  The
word, perfect, as is used in this verse does not mean "sinless perfection."
No person has ever lived a sinless life in human flesh except Jesus Christ.
Jesus here is not talking about His own perfection.  He is talking about
those disciples, those students who go on to perfection.  But again let me
stress that He is not talking about sinless perfection.  The word, perfect,
as used here means "complete or mature."
    Thus, Jesus, here is talking about the student who completes his course
of study.  He is talking about one who has learned well what he has been
taught.  In our modern terminology we would say that he has been an "A"
student.  He has learned well.
    Jesus said that this disciple will be "as his master."  That is, he will
be like his master.  He will be like him in what he knows.  He will be like
him in what he believes.  He will be like him in what he does.  Ones actions
are, to a great extent, a result of what he believes to be true.  Of course,
that some of man's actions are a result of his physical and/or spiritual
nature.  But to a large measure, one's actions are guided by what he
believes.  One's whole lifestyle is a affected by what he believes to be
true.
    But this likeness to his teacher could come about only through growing
in knowledge and understanding of what the teacher teaches.  The more one
knows about the things that his teacher teaches, the more he will be like
his teacher in what he himself believes.  The more he believes like his
teacher, the more he will be like his teacher in his ways.

III.  The text as it applied to the early disciples

    Now let us see how this applied to those disciples of Jesus.  Let us see
how it applied to Peter and Andrew, James and John and all the others.
First of all, Jesus was warning them not to follow the teachings of the
Pharisee and Sadducees.  Now Jesus knew that as far as the salvation of the
soul was concerned, His disciples were saved except one.  That is, at least
all of the apostles were saved except one.  Judas was not saved.  But all of
the others were saved and there was no one who knew this better than Jesus.
Jesus is the One who had saved them.  So Jesus was not warning His disciples
against the Pharisees and Sadducees for fear that they might go to hell.
    Why then did He warn them?  He warned them because of the danger that
even though they were saved they could go astray doctrinally.  Even on other
occasions Jesus warned them against following the teaching of the Pharisees.
For instance on one occasion He warned them saying, "Beware of the leaven of
the Pharisees."  He said, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."
    There was one source and one source only from which the disciples of
Jesus should draw their religious beliefs.  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is
that source.  Jesus was their teacher and He should be their only teacher.
    Now let me point out to you that this does not mean that they were to
disregard the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.  They were not to disregard
the teachings of the Old Testament writings.  The teachings of the Old
Testament writings would be in perfect harmony with the teachings of Jesus,
because they said just exactly what Jesus would have them to say.  The
writers of the Scriptures wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God and
that was exactly in keeping with what the Son of God would have them write.
But the disciples were not to base their religious beliefs on what the
Pharisees said.  If they should take in even just a little bit of the leaven
of the Pharisees then there was the danger that in due time the whole lump
of their religious beliefs would be leavened. Their whole thinking would be
clouded by the Pharisees taught.  Likewise, in due time, their whole manner
of life would be guided by what the Pharisees taught.
    But not only would their own thinking and their own actions become
affected. In due time they, themselves, would be teachers and would be
responsible for teaching others.  Now the disciples of Jesus were truly
saved and nothing could change that.  But if the they should teach the
people the same heresies which the Pharisees teach, then the people would be
in trouble.  The Pharisees did not teach God's way of salvation.  It was
impossible for anybody to get saved who truly believed what the Pharisees
taught.
     It was important that the disciples of Jesus teach what Jesus taught.
It was important to the oncoming generations of people that the disciples of
Jesus teach the same plan of salvation that Jesus taught.  It was important
that they teach the same thing about how a Christian should live and conduct
himself that Jesus taught.  It is important that they teach the same things
that Jesus taught about the work of a New Testament church.  It is important
that they teach to others all of the truths that Jesus had taught them.
    Furthermore, they had no business teaching even one single thing
contrary to what Jesus taught.  The disciple is not above his master.  The
disciple does not know more than the Master.  Those disciples did not know
more than Jesus did.  Jesus was their Master.  Jesus was their teacher and
they ought to teach just exactly what Jesus taught to them.
    There would be no excuse whatsoever for any of those disciples who sat
under the teachings of Jesus to ever become a blind teacher leading the
people astray.
    It was also important that these men pattern their lives after the life
of Jesus Christ.  They were to learn to live like Him.  They were to have
ways like Jesus.  They were to be like Him in their attitude and in their
action.

IV.  The text as it applies to us today

    Now let us see how this affects us today.  First of all let us
recognize that we should let Jesus be our teacher.  Jesus is the Master.  He
is the Master Teacher.  What He taught those disciples in that day is right
today.  What He has, by the Holy Spirit, inspired them to write is right.
He is the Master and we are His disciples and He is right.
    There is no way in the world that we are going to know more about what
is right and what is wrong than Jesus does.  Whenever we differ from the
teachings of the word of God on anything then we are wrong.  What we need to
do is to recognize this and make up our minds that we are going to study the
Bible and look to Jesus to help us to rightly understand the word of God.
Through prayer let us ask the Lord to teach us His truths from the pages of
His word.
    But do not expect God to open up your head pour knowledge down into your
brain through a funnel.  Jesus will be your teacher, but He will use certain
means by which He will teach you.  First, He will use the pages of His Holy
word, the Bible.  All of the Bible is inspired of God and is profitable for
our study, II Tim. 3:16-17.  Therefore we are to study the whole Bible
including both the Old and the New Testaments.
    However, we are told in Scripture that we are not under the Mosaic Law.
We are under grace, Rom. 6:14-15.  This means then that we are not under the
specific rules and regulations of the Old Testament.  The Old Testament sets
forth certain truths and certain principles that are still true today and
these are profitable to us today, but we are not under the strict rules of
the Old Testament and its Mosaic Law.  We are under grace.
    We are under the New Testament.  As Christians we under the teaching of
Jesus as the have has been set forth in the New Testament.  As members of
New Testament churches we are under the rules and regulations that have been
set forth in the New Testament.
    We are never to substitute the teachings of some other man for the
teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ as set forth in the New Testament.  We
are never to substitute our own ideas for the teachings of the Lord.  We are
not above the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are not superior in knowledge to Him
and we are not to substitute our word for His.
    As members of New Testament churches, we are to follow the instructions
of the Lord Jesus Christ as set forth in the word of God.
    We are to live our lives in keeping with the teachings of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.  Not only are our beliefs to be in accord with His
teachings, but our personal lives should be guided by His teachings.
    We need to be more like Jesus in love for God the Father.  Jesus loved
God the Father to the point that He wanted to obey Him and honor Him in
everything He said or did.  Everything that He did and every word that He
said was 100% in keeping with the will of God the Father.
    We need to be more like Jesus in godly living.  We need to stop doing
those thing we know to be wrong.  We need to seek the will of God in the
thing we are in doubt about and let Him show us what is right and what is
wrong.
    We need to be more like Jesus in love for lost souls.  He came into the
world to seek and to save the lost.  He went to the cross of Calvary to
provide a way of salvation that they might be saved.
    We need to be more like Jesus for the local New Testament church.  The
Scripture says that Jesus loves the church and that He gave Himself for it.
    We need to be more like Jesus in our faithfulness in attending worship
services at the house of God.  Jesus was brought up in a day when they
worshipped at the local Jewish synagogue.  He was faithful to attend those
services every week.
    We need to be more like Jesus in forgiveness toward others.  Even when
men crucified Him, Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them for they know not
what they do."
    We need to be more like Jesus in doing the work of God.  Even at the age
of twelve, He said, "I must be about my Father's business."
    We need to be more like Jesus in our willingness to put in long hours
for the Lord.  I can understand people finding it difficult to get around to
everything that needs to be done in the Lord's cause.  I have that
difficulty myself.  But I do not understand how those who claim to be saved
by the grace of God never have time to join in the work of God.
    But let us keep in mind that the first step in becoming more like Jesus
is learning more about Jesus.  We need to learn more about Him and learn
more from Him and His great book, the Bible.
    As we study the Bible more, as we apply the teachings of the Bible more
to our lives, we will become more like Jesus in our lives.