If you could describe the condition of your heart today, what word would you use to describe it? Is your heart angry, bitter or resentful? Is your heart indignant, rebellious or hard? Is your heart fearful, wounded or depressed?
Is your heart lazy, stressed, lonely or disconnected? Is your heart rushed, anxious, busy or distracted? What word bubbles to the top when you think about the condition of your heart? Why is your heart in that condition today? What significant events have lead to the current condition of your heart? Take a few minutes to ask the Spirit of the Lord to speak to you through his Word and reveal to you what needs to happen to change the condition of your heart.
Look at Luke 23:39 – 43…
39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
What’s happening in this passage?
Philip Ryken in his commentary on this passage explains that there are four basic movements in these verses. You can think of these four movements like four short scenes in a movie clip where the camera shifts its focus or point of view from one scene to the next with each scene revealing something new. And I think that what Luke wants to show us here could be summed up with four words that describe each movement or scene. Those four words (or scene titles) are: rage, rebuke, request and reward.
Scene #1: The rage of a criminal… (39)
In our previous verses we saw Jesus being crucified between two other criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And now one of those criminals unleashes a rage filled torrent against Jesus. And in the midst of his rage we see the condition of his heart as he questions Jesus’ identity and demands a show of power. This rage filled criminal doesn’t believe that Jesus is the Savior nor does he really want to be saved in the biblical sense of being saved from the penalty, power and presence of his sin. This rage filled criminal is only ticked because of the immediate pain filled circumstances that he’s stuck in. He’s not interested in the reward of eternal life. He’s only interested in the reward of immediate gratification. He’s in an immense amount of pain and he wants his pain taken away.
Let’s not forget that this rage filled criminal has been crucified just like Jesus. He’s paying the immediate consequences for his sin. He’s in deep agony and he can’t do a thing to get himself out of the predicament he’s in and he’s not only ticked about that but he’s filled full of rage against the man, Jesus, who says he has all the power in the universe at his fingertips but doesn’t lift a finger to relieve the momentary pain of his suffering. I also think its helpful to notice that this rage filled criminal isn’t broken because of his sin. He’s mad because he’s been caught and now he’s paying the price. If he was broken because of his sin he would have cried out to Jesus in broken repentance rather than rage filled demands.
This is the picture of a rage filled criminal. Can you identify with this dude? Are you ticked at God deep down inside? Disappointed in God for some reason? Blind to your sin because of your anger towards God? Is this your heart’s condition?
Scene #2: The rebuke of another criminal… (40 – 41)
As criminal number one is unleashing his hate filled demands at Jesus, criminal number two unleashes a sharp rebuke at criminal number one. And his sharp rebuke is simply this, “Hey… you and I have been sentenced rightly and we are receiving the proper reward for our crimes… but Jesus hasn’t done anything wrong and yet here we are hanging on crosses on the same hill of death. You should fear God in these moments because you’re about to meet him.” This rebuke from criminal number two is full of repentant language. He’s not excusing his sin. He’s not playing the blame game. He’s not ticked at God. He’s not demanding that God perform parlor tricks for him and he’s not seeking to be entertained or relieved from his momentary pain or immediate circumstances. In his sharp rebuke we see his repentant heart in that he acknowledges his sin, he accepts the consequences for his sin, he recognizes Christ’s innocence, he assumes a posture of God-fearing reverence and he proclaims these truths to the raging criminal next to him. In short… criminal number two has trusted in Jesus and the proof of his trust is found in the way he rebukes criminal number one with the gospel.
Have you acknowledged your specific sin against God? Are you living in the momentary consequences of your sin right now? Have you trusted in Christ’s innocent sacrifice to remove your shame and guilt? Are you walking in a posture of God-fearing obedience? What does this criminal’s rebuke reveal about the condition of your heart?
Scene #3: The request of a changed man… (42)
You can tell a lot about the condition of a man or a woman’s heart by what they ask for when they’re experiencing tremendous pain or facing death. At first glance it would appear as though both criminals asked for the same thing but the reality is that the first criminal didn’t ask for anything, he demanded momentary relief from his suffering and the second criminal became a changed man when he asked for Jesus to remember him in eternity. The first man hoped for a momentary quenching of the thirst that his pain was creating. But the second man hoped and asked for a different eternal identity.
This second man was a criminal dying to pay the penalty for his own crimes and in eternity he could either continue being that person who paved his own way straight to hell or he could ask Jesus to save him and trust Jesus to pave his way to Heaven. And that’s exactly what the second criminal does. He asks Jesus to save him in eternity and by doing so he proves that he is in fact a man who’s been changed on this side of eternity because he’s trusting in Jesus to save him.
What is the condition of your heart right now in regards to your eternal destiny? Trying to pave your own way? Trying to prove Jesus is a failure while demanding a show from him? What is the condition of your heart in regards to eternity?
Scene #4: The reward of a dying Savior… (43)
Jesus rewards both the repentant person and the unrepentant person. To the unrepentant, rage filled criminal who made demands, Jesus is silent. Painfully silent. The first criminal wasn’t interested in listening, he was more interested in making Jesus meet his demands. But to the second criminal who was now a changed man, Jesus responded graciously and mercifully when he said “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” In other words, Jesus rewarded the second criminal’s change of heart with a promise of everlasting life in the presence of God. His promise was true. His promise was his Word. His promise was immediate & relational. His promise was filled with the hope of Heaven. This is the reward of a dying Savior given to a repentant man who’d been changed on the right side of the cross.
What reward is your heart seeking after right now? Are you seeking the momentary pleasures of this life? Or are you seeking the eternal rewards of Heaven in the presence of Jesus? This is a picture of the reward of a dying Savior.
How does this passage help us?
We’ve examined the four movements of this passage from a rage filled criminal to the rebuke of another criminal to the request of a changed man to the reward of our Savior. But the question still remains… How do these four scenes impact the condition of our hearts? How do we properly apply these four scenes to our lives? Let me propose four questions that I pray will expose our hearts and create a thirst and a hunger for Jesus.
Question #1: Is your heart filled with rage?
Children get ticked when they don’t get what they want. Married people get angry when their spouses let them down. Single people get filled with disappointment that turns to anger over loneliness. Parents explode in anger at disobedient children. Ministry leaders get consumed with rage, bitterness and resentment when they don’t see the results they desire. Friends live in the angry aftermath of destructive relationships. Employees walk around with chips on their shoulders because their employer treats them unfairly. People angrily demand that God does more for them because they are uncomfortable with their life circumstances. Is this you? Does this describe your heart’s condition? Is your heart filled with rage?
Question #2: Does your heart ignore rebuke and correction?
Typically our hearts turn a deaf ear to rebuke and correction because we are consumed with other voices. Like the first thief on the cross we become consumed with our circumstances and we turn a deaf ear to the voices of rebuke and correction in our lives. Proverbs tells us that smooth words from the enemy lead to death but cutting words from a friend lead to life. We need to listen to the rebuke of our friends who seek to expose our sin, speak loving correction, remind us to fear God and encourage us to hope in Christ’s innocent sacrifice at the cross. Is your heart open to rebuke and correction or is it turning a deaf ear to the discipline of the Lord?
Question #3: What request is your heart crying out for?
Our hearts cry out for immediate satisfaction just like the first criminal. Our hearts long to be safe, loved, respected, desired, accepted, admired, powerful, comfortable, or successful. We pursue relationships, we spend money, we read books, we engage in hobbies, we posture ourselves at work, we pursue sex and we pursue a plethora of other really good things to feed or nurse the requests of our hearts. What request is your heart crying out for right now? Are you crying out for acceptance? Are you crying out for comfort? Are you dying to be loved by someone? Are you consumed with chasing your version of success in marriage, parenting or vocation? What is your heart crying out for that you ultimately believe Jesus alone doesn’t satisfy?
Question #4: What reward is your heart seeking?
The criminal who changed… he came to a point of desperation where he realized that only Jesus satisfies eternally. What more reward could we want than the eternal rewards of trusting in Christ? Why would we trade an everlasting reward and hope of Heaven for the perishable rewards of immediate gratification here in this life? Our marriages won’t satisfy us eternally. Our kids won’t satisfy us eternally. Our vocations won’t satisfy us eternally. Our friendships won’t satisfy us eternally. You see? If immediate reward is what we seek then immediate reward is what we’ll get. If eternal reward is what your heart longs for then eternal reward is what your heart will get. Jesus offers us eternal safety. Jesus offers us unconditional love. Jesus offers us total acceptance. Jesus reveals to us that our Father desired us so much that he gave Jesus at the cross for us. Jesus offers us everlasting peace and comfort in the hope of Heaven. What reward is your heart seeking? Are you seeking the reward of momentary pleasure? Or are you seeking the reward of eternal satisfaction in Christ alone?
Concluding Thoughts…
In summary, the rage filled criminal, the rebuke of another criminal, the request of a changed man and the reward of our dying Savior all work together like four scenes from a single movie clip to reveal the condition of our hearts. We are either like the first criminal, who never changed, or we are like the second criminal, who did change. Both men had the same opportunity to encounter Christ but the conditions of their hearts were vastly different.
Rage… Rebuke… Request… Reward… Four movements. Four scenes. Four heart conditions. Which side of the cross are you on today? Are you full of rage? Ignoring rebuke? Pursuing worldly requests? Pursuing eternal requests? Seeking worldly rewards or eternal rewards? What is the condition of your heart today?