BiblicalMastery Buddy's bible blog

Lesson 40

Focus on the Narrow Way

Luke 13:22-35

Probably one of the most difficult things that I do is to focus on any one task for a very long time.  That is one reason I find myself reading three or four books at one time. Even magazine articles are usually longer than I would like.  To stick with anything very long I almost have to make a conscious decision to follow through until whatever I am doing is complete.  As you would expect this sometimes leaves projects half done because I move on to something else.  Variety is kind of the name of the game with me.

There is one area of my life that cannot be treated in this way.  It is my daily walk with the Lord.  Paul said it best in Philippians as he spoke of the relationship that each of must maintain with Christ. He wrote that we are to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” (Phil. 2:12)  This relationship is not to be treated haphazardly but with all seriousness and every fiber of our being.  This is difficult but the reward in the future is certainly worth it.

Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger wrote a book some time ago called the “Simple Church.” The theme of the book was to point out how bogged down churches can become by trying to be everything to all people.  They concluded that it is impossible to accomplish that task.  What happens over a period of time is a church starts and never stops programs trying to satisfy the needs of those in attendance or those it is trying to attract. Eventually, it no longer has a clear idea of the reason it even exists because everyone is too busy trying to maintain the organization it has created.  It loses the focus of sharing and living out the gospel in a world that is chaotic at best and lost at the worse.  Rainer gave a clear picture of how to address the issue.  They were to:

• Clarify the vision
• Move everyone along the path to accomplish sharing the gospel
• Align everything it does to carry out the vision
• Focus on the ministries that fulfill the vision of the church.  Add only those ministries which allow for this to occur and eliminate those programs that become barriers to serving God.

The danger for the church is that even trying to remain as a Simple Church may cause to expending all of our energy on doing so and still miss the reason God started the church in the first place.  We can become so busy doing our works that we forget that what is truly important is the salvation that God has given to us through the work of His Son.  Unless everything we do is to glorify Him and now bring attention to ourselves we are wasting time.  The church is all about the gospel, the event of Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection.  This is the narrative that the world so desperately needs to hear.

Luke 13:22

Jesus was making His way to Jerusalem for the last time.  As He had done ever since He began His ministry He continued to teach as He passed through each city and village along the way.

1. Why was this time so important to Jesus? (He was heading towards Jerusalem and His crucifixion.)
2. Why did He not just go straight there? (People still needed to hear the message He had to share?
3. Who was audience? (Both those in the city and village.)
4. How would His message vary?  (Those in the different environments would have different needs.)

Luke 13:23a

Luke does not give the nationality of the individual who approached Jesus.  In all likelihood it was a Jew.  On the surface his question would appear to be from one concerned about his own salvation.  What he was really asking was there going to be any others saved besides Jews and their proselytes. The few to which he was referring were of course Jews. They were not sure that any Gentile would have the opportunity to be saved.

1. Why did it make any difference who the man was who approached Jesus? (The Jews held and an exclusive attitude about salvation.)
2. How much was his question life what we might have asked Jesus? (At that point the only salvation that was available was the one to come at the end of time for the Jews.)
3. What would have been his attitude about Gentiles? (Gentiles were not candidates for salvation.)
4. Who are those we might view as being like the Gentiles?
5. Why was the man’s approach completely different than that of Jesus?

Luke 12:23b-24

The answer Jesus gave him would have been totally unexpected. It was not the clear response that would have affirmed the man’s understanding of salvation.  It was not just a matter of belonging to a particular people that guaranteed eternal life. If fact even went way beyond any idea that the man may have had.  First, Jesus indicated who would be found in His kingdom.  It was those who agonized over the decision to follow Him.  Each man must come to the place where he understands that the narrow way is a metaphor for Jesus, Himself.  He truly is the only way to salvation.  In John 14:6 He told His disciples, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life and no one come to the Father but through Me.”  In or to enter each person Jew or Gentile would have faced the reality of his sinful life and the need for forgiveness.  From Jesus’ answer it is clear He was not talking about a onetime event but a continuing growing in the faith.

Secondly. There are those who think they have salvation who have never been saved.  They have done all the right things and may even have been members of a church for a long time but have never made the decision to follow Christ. Jesus was talking specifically about the Jews and Jewish leaders who kept all of the laws externally but who had never had a change of heart. 

1. What answer did the man expect?
2. How did the answer of Jesus shatter any false security the man may have had? (Salvation comes only by the act of repentance and willingness to follow Jesus in a new relationship.)
3. What did Jesus mean when He stated that to find salvation one must strive for it?
4. What did the metaphor of the narrow door mean?
5. In what way was the answer the man received different than he expected?
6. What did Jesus mean by striving to enter the narrow gate? (It is agonizing over your sinful life and making the decision to follow Him.)
7. How have we watered down what Jesus was saying?  (Many do not wrestle with the decision as He was calling man to do.)
8. How have we weakened this idea of the struggle it takes to come into a relationship with Jesus? (Because our lives do not often reflect the momentous decision of coming to Jesus on His terms.)
9. What are the characteristics of those who think they are saved but are not?

Luke 13:25

There is going to come a time when man will no longer have the opportunity to find salvation. For many it will be the day when the church is raptured.  For others it will be the second coming of Christ.  Jesus was saying that man must make the decision to follow Him while there is still time. His next words should have struck fear into the hearts of those who heard them.  Those who choose to reject Him will be treated as complete strangers.

1. What is the importance of not waiting to make a decision to follow Jesus?
2. What happens when the door of opportunity is shut?
3. When is the door closed on those who have not become followers of Christ? (One’s death, the rapture, the second coming of Christ and the final day of judgment.)
4. What have you done to be assured that you are not found on the outside of the door looking in?
5. Why was Jesus giving the warning? (He wants all to be saved)
6. How will Jesus view those who reject Him?
7. How does that statement make you feel?

Luke 13:26

With His next words Jesus anticipates that the people will try to justify why they are worthy of salvation.  He indicated that all of His teaching had not changed their lives at all.  They heard what He had to say and was in His presence during times of celebrating the fact that He was in their towns. It may seem like a play on words, but they knew of Him but did not truly know Jesus and why He came into their lives.  He may have taught what they needed to hear but their hearts were still wrapped up in the fact that they did not need what He taught because they had the Law of Moses as the directive for their lives. 

1. How did cut off any argument they might have in response to His words? (He told them what they were thinking before they had a chance to argue with Him.)
2. What was at the core of the way they would have answered Jesus? (They did not need to follow His teachings because they had the law.)
3. Why was that type of reasoning not good enough? (Salvation is based on grace and not works.)
4. How was it possible for the people to think they knew Jesus when they really did not? (It is easy to know facts about someone but never really know the person.)
5. How can we be in church or around true followers of Christ and miss the heart of the gospel?
6. Why do so many who attend church miss the heart of the gospel message?
7. In what ways can we get caught up in the belief that we are good enough to be saved or are self-sufficient?

Luke 13:27

There is but one verdict to be issued against those who reject Jesus.  He sends them away from Him.  Even though they thought they were righteous because of their status as Jews, Jesus condemned them as evil doers.  Their fate rather than the paradise they expected was to be in place of eternal separation and punishment.  Many today that death brings the end to consciousness.  Jesus however indicates that all who suffer the judgment He described will be aware of those righteous men like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in their rightful place in God’s kingdom.  The acute awareness of their own failings will cause weeping and gnashing of teeth.  They will realize that there is no place in God’s kingdom for them and they will be thrown out.

1. What is the verdict that will be handed down to those who reject Jesus?
2. Why did Jesus proclaim those Jews to be evil doers?  (The law cannot justify any man.)
3. What did Jesus make clear about what will occur in the future for evil doers?
4. What do you say to those who think that death will bring about the end of consciousness?
5. What does it say about eternity? (Each person will spend eternity either in heaven or hell.)
6. What will be the worse punishment for those who reject Jesus? (They will be aware of what they missed.)
7. What examples did Jesus give of those who are enjoying the fruits of God’s Kingdom?
8. What does it say to us today? (God is the Father of the living both past and present.)

Luke 13:28

The very people that the Jews thought would be fuel for the fires of hell will be those who will be welcomed into God’s kingdom.  Of course He was speaking of the Gentiles who would be from every land and every people.  They will enjoy the fellowship with Him for eternity.  Jesus spoke of two categories.

• The Gentile who were originally excluded from God’s kingdom will find a rightful place there. (See Ephesians 2)
• The Jews who were given every opportunity but because of their rebellion and disobedience found themselves on the outside looking in. (See Romans 11) 

1. Who were those who were last but would find themselves first?
2. Who were those who were first but would become those who found themselves last?
3. What is your place in the kingdom of God?
4. What has provided you with possibility of finding yourself there?
5. What kind of attitude would move you to the back of the line?
6. In what ways were the Jews to be excluded?

Luke 13:31

It is almost as if Jesus had hardly gotten the words out of His mouth condemning the Jews when some Pharisees brought a warning to Jesus.  Luke wanted his readers to understand that even before the resurrection there were some of the religious leaders who had accepted His teachings. John affirms this truth in chapter 12:42 when he spoke of a number of the Pharisees believing in Him. In contrast Herod expressed the sentiments of most of the other leaders with his threat to kill Jesus.

1. What does the response of the Pharisees tell us about the power of the teaching of Jesus?
2. How did their feelings contrast with others like Herod?
3. Why would Herod desire to have Jesus killed? (He may have seen Him as a threat to his own power and to please the Jews.)
4. How did
5.  John 12:42 affirm what we have seen here in Luke?

Luke 13:32

Jesus had some strong words for Herod. He called him a fox. William Barclay wrote in his exposition on Luke that the word fox carried with it three ideas, all of them negative.  He said that one with those characteristics was:

• Sly
• Destructive
• Worthless and insignificant

This man with his threats would not deter Jesus from completing His mission.  His goal was to arrive in Jerusalem and be crucified as He and His Father had planned from before creation.  Like those who had gone before Him He must be perish in the vicinity.  Until that moment he would continue to cast out demons and heal those in need.

1. By going to Jerusalem what did it show about the character of Jesus?
2. What was Jesus’s feeling about Herod?
3. What characteristics defined Herod Antipas?
4. Why was it important for Him to travel to Jerusalem? (A prophet must be killed in Jerusalem.)
5. What did Jesus plan to do until His crucifixion?
6. In what ways have you shown courage in the face of adversity?

Luke 13:34-35

This lesson started with a man asking about eternal life.  Jesus gave a clear picture of those who would be saved and those who would spend eternity separated from Him.  Most of the Jews had chosen to hold on to the idea that only they were worthy of salvation because of their status as the chosen people of God.  It had to be pointed out to them that to reject Jesus would bring the judgment they did not expect to receive.  Luke finishes with Jesus lamenting over the fact that the Jews as represented by Jerusalem had killed prophets and stoned those sent with a message of warning from God.  Now the Son of Man was there and they were about to do the same to Him.  Rather than gathering themselves under His care they were rejecting the One who had come to give them Life. 

Their future, because they rejected God’s Son would be filled with desolation and exile.  About forty years after Jesus spoke those words His prophecy came true.  In 70 A.D. the Romans came to Jerusalem and destroyed it.  Most of the Jews were dispersed throughout the known world.  They would not return in great numbers until 1948 when the present state of Israel was established.  Jesus did, however, as Paul had in Romans, ended with a promise for the people.  When Jesus would return they would acknowledge Him and proclaim, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.  Godly is not through with His people.  They will in the end times once again fulfill their role as God’s chosen people and become the priests He originally intended them to be. 

1. What was Jesus’ final words concerning the Jews as represented by Jerusalem?
2. What do you see that what was really in the heart of Jesus as He prophesied about Jerusalem?  (There was a deep sadness in His heart.)
3. What would Jesus say if He were to stand outside of Chesterfield County?
4. Even closer to home what would He say about our relationship to Him?
5. How have we carried out the mandate He gave in the Great Commission?
6. What kind of judgment will He pronounce against the church today?
7. How about every level of society? 

• Look at Scriptures that speak of the ongoing battle in which you find yourself against the domain of the devil?
• What do you understand about the word striving to enter the narrow door?  Have you experience that kind of wrestling in your personal walk with Christ?
• Pray that you will not be one on the outside looking in when the Day of Judgment comes.
• Understand that Christ has called you to witness to all types of people.
• Read about the history of the Jews to see how God has dealt with those who have rejected His Son.

The church is both inclusive and exclusive.  We have a mandate to reach the lost so that they will be included in God’s kingdom.  The exclusion comes when people try to say they are Christians without truly believing in Jesus Christ as the only way to eternal life.  We hear false teachings that have deceived people into a false sense of security.  Jesus said that those individuals will be left outside of His kingdom.  Sadly, many today believe that the person ends at death and is no more.  The Scripture is clear that each of us will spend eternity somewhere.  Life is a struggle against an evil and perverse world.  Jesus said He is the only way to life and victory over evil.  Let us work at understanding what salvation means for each of us and work at it with fear and trembling as Paul wrote in Philippians.  Thankfully we are not in the battle alone.  For greater is He who is with us than he who is in the world.