#IYKYK (Luke 12)

It has been around much longer than the current #IYKYK social media trend, and you’ve probably seen the acronym if you have been anywhere near the Internet or a social media account. As early as 2016 urbandictionary.com had a pretty good bead on its meaning being not only an explanation for why you might not “get” what is being discussed as well as one that excludes those not “there” as being out of the loop, not being “in the know”—essentially it is a new generation’s reprisal of the “You would have had to have been there” that my generation often used. A few years later, the definition morphed a bit to include the rather juvenile aspect of the saying when used on social media as well as its potential for inciting drama and fear of missing out (fomo for the uninitiated) the use of it tends to create.

Luke 12. Jesus’ words to His disciples about life and ministry, about anxiety and readiness and thriving in this world.

The backdrop is set. A crowd so numerous one cannot move so much as be pressed upon by elbows and knees and stepped-on feet—Pharisees thick as thieves watching Jesus lest one word fall they might be able to gather and use to condemn Him, to rid themselves of Him—and Jesus leaning into His disciples and teaching them about Pharisaical leaven, about hypocrisy. A paring down of big ideas from the passage follows:

1. Know ahead of time it will all come out, every thought, every whisper, every deed done, so don’t live a life spent fearing what might come as a result of following me and  don’t fear them—fear God instead! Hell (an eternity spent apart from God) is a far worse fate than death at the hands of such as these. (1-5)
2. God values you even more than the birds He provides food for . . . (6-7)
3. Don’t fear speaking openly of Me or even think about denying me before men (like these Pharisees who may want to kill or actually succeed at killing your body), but know that God sees all; trust Him. (8-10)
4. God will give you words to say when you need them. DON’T worry about words! (11-12)
5. Guard yourselves from every form of greed; instead be rich toward God. (13-21)
6. Life is more than the food you need to eat or the clothes to put on your body. (22-24)
7. DON’T worry, have faith in God. (25-28)
8. DON’T have an anxious or unsettled mind while chasing after what to eat or what to drink (29)
9. God knows what you need, so actively seek His kingdom and trust Him to care for you. (30-31)
10. DON’T worry about your kingdom work either—He WANTS to give you the kingdom so He will make a way. (32)
11. Don’t be so attached to your stuff: sell it all if there’s need around you; compassionately give it away; store up your treasure in heaven instead of on earth knowing that your heart follows your treasure. (33-34)
12. Be continually ready (watching, dressed, lamps lit, not hanging out in dark places). (35-46)

So much of our world is consumed with worry today, and Jesus addresses worry because it is very real and it can easily consume us. Jesus says not to be anxious or have an unsettled mind, and He gives the inverse as a command: trust God. There’s so much in the OT and NT about worry, and God is compassionate (but that’s a rabbit trail today). 

So, I couldn’t help but think of IYKYK when I got to the end of this section of Luke 12 (AMP): 

And that servant who knew his master’s will, and yet did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will be beaten with many lashes [of the whip], but the one who did not know it and did things worthy of a beating, will receive only a few [lashes]. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

IYKYK, and there’s no escaping the knowing and not doing. It’s a far different concept, and it is sobering. How much of what we know as Christ-followers are we not living out, instead play-acting or neglecting or minimizing as unimportant the way we live our lives? There’s no excuse for us NOT to know. He has told us what is important. It is there in black and white, yet we numb ourselves to the truth and live insignificant, weak lives full of everything but Him. THE Word has left us the word that is full of treasure and instructions and revelations of who He is and who God is and who we are to be in Him. The word is full of the how-tos for living a spiritual life in a dry world, for walking out what we have been called to do. There is no excuse for NOT knowing. (I’m telling myself again: There is NO excuse for not knowing!) 

If you know, you know, and there is no excuse (new hashtag? #TINE). If you don’t know, it is there to know, easily found, easily seen, and there is no excuse, which Romans 1:20 makes abundantly clear:

For ever since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through His workmanship [all His creation, the wonderful things that He has made], so that they [who fail to believe and trust in Him] are without excuse and without defense.

If there is no excuse for any who should be able to clearly

 see God’s hand at work in creation, there is absolutely no excuse for us who have His Spirit within us or His words to read, for those of us who claim to be walking in Him. 

If you know, you know, spun a different way without the drama, without the leaving behind, just clear. Jesus’s words tell us that if we know the master’s will and willfully defy it, there is no escaping the discipline, the judgment to follow.

Here are some other urgings the scripture offers us from beginning to end to know God and act in accordance with His words:

Early in the Old Testament there is Leviticus 20:7: “Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.”

Later in the Old Testament there is Isaiah 35:8 looking forward to Christ: “And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it--only those who walk in the Way--and fools will not stray onto it.”

In the New Testament, there is 1 Peter 1:16 urging us on, and the message is the same: “because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY (set apart), FOR I AM HOLY.”

At the end of the book in Revelation 4:8-11 (AMP) there is this beautiful picture that urges us to fully know:

And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes all over and within [underneath their wings]; and day and night they never stop saying, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY [is the] LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all], WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME [the unchanging, eternal God].” Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanksgiving to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and they worship Him who lives forever and ever; and they throw down their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they exist, and were created and brought into being.”

#IYKYK, ‘nuff said!