A Warning to Sign-Seekers

Sermon 49 in Series

Luke 11:29-36

[29] When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. [30] For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. [31] The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. [32] The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

[33] “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. [34] Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. [35] Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. [36] If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

DEEP SHEET: Sermon Study Questions
1.   What does it look like in practice to respond to the Word with hearing, receiving, treasuring, doing, and practicing, and what are the obstacles to each of these? What does it mean to say that there is a battle going on every Lord’s Day?
2.  What was wrong with the sign-seeking of Jesus’ hearers? What are the implications for us as we relate to God?
3.  What connection is drawn between Jonah and Jesus? How does Matthew’s Gospel help us understand “the sign of Jonah” (v. 29)?
4.  How are the Queen of Sheba and the Ninevites strongly contrasted with Jesus’ generation? What does this comparison, along with 10:12-15, say to us and our children who are regularly exposed to the Scriptures?
5.  What is Jesus referring to in v. 33? What is the logic between this verse and those that follow?
6.  How do these final verses on the topic of light offer a warning as well as hope? How does v. 36 bring us back to Jesus as “the only solution” from last week?

References: Jonah 2:10-3:10 (corporate reading); Luke 8:15; 11:16; Matthew 12:38-40; Luke 16:30-31; 1 Kings 10:6-8; Luke 10:12-15; 8:16; Matthew 6:22-23.