Luke 14:7-11 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
 
PAUSE on Jesus’ remarkable words. He is the Savior of the world, Lord of Hosts, the King of Kings, the Son of Man and the Son of God. These are a few titles that describe his holy character. Peter sums Jesus perfectly in Acts 4:10-12 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 He is “‘The stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Surely, the Savior could properly walk into a room and say, “I’m here. Give me the top seat.”
    Yet, his life demonstrated how you are to humbly live for him. Humility marked his physical life: Matthew 8:20 “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Even more, humility marks Jesus’ death for our life: Philippians 2:7-11 he made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! 9 Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
    The Lord humbly came from Heaven’s glory for your sake. Praise the Lord for he loves you so deeply. He lived a servant’s life and died as a sacrifice. Think of it! Humility, servant and sacrifice are words that describe the Savior.
    Jesus’ humility glorified – honored, praised and exalted – God the Father. Be as Jesus. Faithfully use your gifts for his purpose. Look to others first. Forgive as he forgives you. Love others. In this way, you will be Jesus’ disciple, glorifying your Savior to a pride-driven world.
   
Prayer: Father, forgive my pride, strengthen me to a faithful humility. Teach me to remember how the King of Glory humbled himself for me. In his name I seek you, amen. 

Luke 14:1-6 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they remained silent. So, taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away. 5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?”  6 And they had nothing to say.
 
JUST six days ago, we looked at the Pharisees’ criticism of Jesus’ Sabbath healing. The focus then was to see the Sabbath as God’s benediction over his creation. To honor the Sabbath, we do rest from our work. And at the same time, we are to recognize the Sabbath blessing may come in special opportunities to care for others. Loving others is certainly an appropriate response to “Remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy.” (Exodus 20:8), a day given for our care.
    This is the third time Luke mentions a Sabbath conflict between the Lord of the Sabbath and his creation. Why do you think the writer Luke repeatedly records this argument?
    One reason could be very practical for Luke, who was a physician. Perhaps he sought to stress Jesus’ great, practical healing powers. Jesus was doing with one word what no physician could do. There was no scope of illness or death Jesus could not conquer. Records of his life-transforming miracles were more evidence of his deity. This, remember, is the main reason Luke wrote to his Roman friend Theophilus. Luke 1:1-2 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
    Luke wrote Luke and Acts to state the things that have been fulfilled among us. These are accounts of carefully interviewed eye witnesses to the evidence of God’s kingdom come to earth. These two books are the Bible’s most complete picture of Jesus’ earthly life leading to his heavenly life.
    Another reason for the repetition is to again demonstrate Jesus’ lordship. Jesus is masterful in his teaching. Instead of immediately preaching to his accusers or defending his actions, he often asked his accusers a question to discern how he truly needed to respond. The question, too, disarmed the Pharisees’ judgmental hearts.
    Their silence indicates they had no answer for Jesus. He had quickly shown them his law was given in love to protect the Jews’ physical and spiritual health. In response, we must obey his law with grace and love for one another.
    Celebrate the Sabbath. Rest in Jesus’ love. Help others do the same.
 
Prayer: Teach me, oh Lord, how good you are. Stir in my heart a desire and will to love others as you do. Amen.

Luke 13:34-35 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
 
A wayward child, one who has rejected his parents’ instructions, a Christ-centered life and loving care, is perhaps a father’s and mother’s greatest grief. At a child’s birth, no parent says, “I hope my daughter grows up to be negligent and disobedient.” Our hope and expectation is we will love our children; they will love us; and each one will love God. How sorrowful to look upon a resistant child and say, “I long to gather you to our household again.”
    Here is Jesus at the crest of his ministry. He has spoken repeatedly, Mark 1:38 “Let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” He longs for the Jews, “the children of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 14:1) to know John 5:36b “(The work) I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.” to “save the world through him.” (John 3:17b)
    At the “birth” of man and woman into the world, the pre-incarnate Son of God declared to God’s new son and daughter: Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  God gave to Adam and Eve a blessed purpose to fulfill creation and rule the earth.
    The blessing, though, was offered, not forced upon them. The Father also gave to the couple permission to decide their own direction – even when it was away from him. When they chose sin’s curse, the grieved Father passionately acted to restore his blessing to mankind. He came to us through the law, the prophets and his incarnation to establish man and woman into his blessed household once again. With longing in his heart, the now incarnate Son of God spoke once more to the Jews, “your house is left to you desolate.”  
    About 40 years after Jesus’ lament, the Lord God sent Rome to destroy Jerusalem, created to be God’s “house” on earth for his people. “The children of the Lord” continued to choose Satan’s curse. They missed God’s blessed love, even as he personally pursued them to come home.
    Are you in God’s house spiritually, dwelling in his blessing? Are you in God’s house physically each week to dwell with his people?
 
Prayer: Lord God, your love is unstoppable; your justice is true; your salvation is forever. Turn mankind’s hearts to dwell in your blessing. In Jesus’ name, amen.  
 

Luke 13:31-33 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day — for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” 
 
THIS passage has caused me to ask, “Were the Pharisees, who ‘plotted how they might kill Jesus’ (Matthew 12:14) suddenly on his side?” It seems they would welcome Herod’s attempts to kill Jesus.
    We learn the answer to this question in Jesus’ response. When he says, “Go tell that fox.” our Lord connects the Pharisees to Herod as his messengers. Their desire is to spur Jesus to leave their presence, even Galilee, so he will no longer disrupt their authority over the Jews. Jesus’ wisdom often made them appear foolish. Our Lord’s rebukes urged them to repent. Their hard hearts did not relent. They wanted the Truth out of their lives.
    Sin is that way. It always wants the Savior gone from its presence. What is your response to Jesus’ truth? Do you want the Lord gone from your life? Or do you sit down, invite him in to learn more? Or do people want you gone from their presence because you stand on the Bible’s truth?
    Be encouraged then to know and follow Jesus’ example to “drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow.” Or, in other words, be as Jesus to passionately pursue God’s purpose for your life. As Jesus, you must be prepared to defend the Lord’s calling. You must move away from sin. You “must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day” into the future he has prepared for you.
    Too easily we are detracted from God’s work. Unbelievers cast doubt into our hearts. Temptation says, “Stop! You aren’t worthy.” People who say they speak in your interests will often frighten and discourage you to reject the Lord’s call.
    Be firm then, to walk deliberately forward to follow Jesus. God’s story is about individuals making a difference in their family, their nation and even the world. This is kingdom living. Joshua 24:15 “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” 
 
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for using my life for kingdom purposes. With the Spirit’s strength, keep my heart focused to walk in Jesus’ footsteps. In his name I pray, amen.

Luke 13:22-23a Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
 
DO you think this is an odd question to as Jesus? Wouldn’t a better question have been, “Lord, how many people are going to be saved?” Let’s be optimistic!
    What are your thoughts, though, when you consider Jesus’ church today? Does it seem that only a few people in your community, village, city, state, nation and the world will be saved? Too few are in church. Even fewer have an active faith, living into Jesus’ commands. Yes, the kingdom looks minimal in our world, doesn’t it?
    Perhaps the questioner is correct in his negative approach. He’s not seeing people faithfully receiving Jesus’ teachings. He’s wondering, “Will only the Twelve with you and some few others you have sent out be saved? Will the several women who care for you and your disciples be in your kingdom?”
    What would have the questioner asked if he (likely a Pharisee) was in Jerusalem on that Pentecost Festival when the church began. Acts 2:411 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Or did he see the Spirit’s work empower Peter’s teaching several weeks later? Acts 4:4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand. 
    Did he possibly see or hear what happened in Samaria? Acts 8:5-7 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.
    Yes, perhaps one would still classify these numbers as “few” in contrast to the general population. But those who were saved would certainly rejoice in the Lord’s work! This was the church’s small, unstoppable beginning in the manner Jesus had taught. The Twelve became thousands. The thousands became millions and now estimated to be billions of souls God has welcomed into the Kingdom of God. Many expansive ministries in the world exist today when God faithfully began with a few.
    Please, then, do not look at Jesus today and say, “Too few are in your church, Lord. Why would I want to be part of something so small? Maybe it’s not worthwhile for me to spend my time with you.” Instead, consider each person saved is God’s miracle into the human soul. Each kingdom citizen carries a restored, revived and resurrected image of God into Heaven.
    Our lessons on Luke these past months have drawn us to learn of revival through the Spirit’s power to transform churches, universities, cities and even nations. God will act when he determines to act. No such word as “few” exists in the church. All who are saved have been purchased with Jesus’ blood in the Father’s grace. Rejoice if you are one of those. Be diligent to pursue the unsaved and pray for kingdom growth.
 
Prayer: Father in Heaven, you are sovereign over all lives. Draw many into your kingdom. In Jesus’ name and the Spirit’s power I pray, amen.

Luke 13:20-21 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
 
THIS kingdom description may have been especially difficult, even confusing for the Jews. For centuries, they had been taught that the Lord had commanded the Passover to begin with the sweeping of all yeast (leaven) from the home. This was to symbolize sin’s removal and hearts prepared for celebrating the Lord’s deliverance from Egypt’s evil. A flat bread made without yeast is the bread of the Passover. In the Old Covenant then, bread without yeast represented remembering God’s grace to deliver the Jews from sin. Additionally, the daily manna God delivered to them for 40 years was a flat bread without yeast. No yeast was a remembrance of God’s grace. Why then would Jesus compare the Kingdom of God to yeast?
    Jesus, remember, had come to fulfill the law and to establish a new covenant – a new testament – of God’s grace to deliver his people from sin’s evil. God’s plan for your salvation was moving forward. With unleavened bread in his hands, he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19) As yeast courses through the dough, Jesus’ blood will spiritually to raise up souls to Heaven. As yeast once begun, God’s New Testament of grace and the forgiveness of sins is unstoppable.
    Now consider this. How do we benefit from a yeast’s rising actions? The bread becomes greater. So it must be with the Kingdom of God. Daily we must eat of Jesus, the Bread of Life, as we partake of God’s Holy Bible. Pray for the Holy Spirit to stir in you a hungry soul to receive his truth and to live into his New Promise.
    Regularly, you must consume the Lord’s Supper to remember God’s covenant to deliver your soul from sin’s deadly prison. Be hungry to receive and consume what God has prepared for you.
 
Prayer: You are my life-giving strength, Jesus. I remember your body is broken for me. I pray my life is given to you. Amen.

Luke 13:6-9 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
 
WHAT do you think is a very frustrating reality for parents, teachers, coaches, pastors and business leaders? A common task of each position is to instruct someone to live and work more effectively. But frustration comes, doesn’t it, when some are unwilling to change habits and attitudes.  
    As a result, their presence in a family or organization can become an irritation. You may love another with all the goodness God commands, but they simply add nothing to the family, business, church or team. Even worse, their influence is can detract and subtract from the common good. In business, such people are often released from their work. In families, they are mostly tolerated with hope for change. In the Kingdom of God, a day comes when they are, “cut down”.
    Does this shock you. This is a difficult truth for the world to believe. The Lord God, though, is the Supreme Holy Authority of the universe, including your life. Yes, he is the authority of your life. In his love, our Lord God is graciously willing to fertilize – to feed – your soul in need of instruction and change. But this time of teaching lasts for only a time. If you receive the food of his Word and are watered with his Living Water, your life must be rooted to bear kingdom fruit. But if you do not demonstrate new growth in your heart, mind and soul, a day will come when he will say, “Why should (he/she) use up the soil?”
    In his love, God teaches you to adjust your life to his uncompromising teachings. This is the only way to unite with the Holy One, who establishes life and the way to life eternal. Show God and show the world the ways you are “rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:7)
 
Prayer: Holy Spirit, I pray you grow my spiritual roots deeply into your Living Water, so I will bear fruit for you and your church. In Jesus’ name, I praise you for your lifechanging power. Amen.

Luke 13:1-5 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
 
JESUS uses a mass murder and an accident to teach us, “You are all guilty.” The first account a horrible massacre the Roman governor Pilate ordered against some people in Galilee as they sacrificed to God. The second is of an accident that killed 18 people.
    We may sometimes (and I stress the word “sometime”) consider one’s fate as a sign of his spiritual standing. If he was murdered, for example, perhaps this was God’s punishment. If he perished in an accident, perhaps the accident was God-directed to end his sinful life.
    But Jesus’ point is that we are all guilty of a great offense against God. The Bible repeatedly frames our lives in the truth Paul defines in Ephesians 2:1-3 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
    In God’s holy view, even a “little” sin makes you guilty. No human being is any purer than another unless the Spirit of God gives us new life.
    Remember, this life is a gift. Then hear Paul’s words of wonder in Ephesians 2:4-6 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions –  it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”
    Yes, it’s true. Earthly harm and even a difficult death may come to you. Certainly many, many fervent Christian men and women have died horrible deaths for Jesus’ sake. Keep foremost in your mind the one glorious truth: As you are born again, the Judge declares you, “Not guilty!” And you will live forever with Jesus.
    Yes, life on earth is very short. Life in Heaven is forever. Repent of your deadly guilt. Rejoice in God’s life gift to you.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Father, my past life is now past in Jesus’ blood and the Spirit’s baptism. I rejoice I am secure in you. Amen.

Luke 12:57-59 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”
 
THIS is a very appropriate way to conclude this section on Jesus’ pressing kingdom teachings. Have you decided about Jesus for your eternal life?
    This is Jesus’ urgent teaching here. The writer Luke has recorded in several verses how the Teacher has pointedly taught the Jews they must be accountable as true believers. Jesus has also urged the Jews to pay attention to him as God’s sign form Heaven. The day of reckoning before God’s Judgment Seat is approaching. 
    Thus, Jesus comes to this illustration to tell us all, “Decide now. Settle matters with your Plaintiff before you face the Judge.” In the Roman legal system of that day, one who owed money could be jailed and judged to remain imprisoned until the last penny – the least, smallest amount of money –  was paid. The debt must be totally cleared! Sometimes the debtor would become a slave to the one he owed. Other times, his friends and family might help him pay his debt. Potentially he would be imprisoned or be a slave for a very long time.
    In the Kingdom’s judicial system, Jesus is the Plaintiff. He is pointing to the Jews as his debtors to say, “Be reconciled to (the Father) on the way (to the day of Judgment).”  He passionately reminds them, “You owe your obedience and faith to your Father in Heaven. Settle your debts of disobedience now. Do not wait to stand before the judge. This will be too late. You will be imprisoned forever.”
    Mercifully, in the Roman system there was a way for one to settle his debt before he reached the judge. Graciously, in the Kingdom of God, our Lord has given you the way to reconcile your debt to him before you stand in the Father’s court.
    Jesus, the urgent Teacher, has become the Loving Savior. No plaintiff would die to settle the debts owed him and the court of law. But that is what Jesus has done. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. You and I are born in debt to God. We have no release from judgment and prison, into freedom unless the Judge makes a way. And so he did.
    Jesus was urgent then. He remains urgent now. Here is how you settle the matter with your Lord. Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
    If you hold back to take your sins to God, this will be your sentence: Revelation 20:14-15 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. 
    Repent and confess. Settle the matter now. Be reconciled, free of sin’s debt in Jesus’ reconciling blood. Live in the Father’s kingdom freedom forever. Revelation 22:3-5 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
 
Prayer: Forgive me my debts, Father, against you. Grant me freedom from sin through Jesus’ saving blood. Amen.

Luke 12:54-56 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?”
 
“HYPOCRITES” is one of Jesus’ harshest judgments. Perhaps my own greatest spiritual fear is that Jesus would charge me with this sin. To be a hypocrite is to say, “I believe God.” But then you say, “I can live in my way.” A hypocrite’s life demonstrates little or no sign of God’s Word.
    Our Lord uses this strong condemnation to continue his kingdom warnings. Jesus has spent much time among the Jews. He is quite aware they correctly respond to the weather’s physical signs, and they ignore signs of God’s rule. As people of the earth, the Jews attended to the signs of the seasons. They knew when to plant and reap. They understood when the fruit was ready to harvest. Their physical lives responded to the natural environment. Wisely, they could prepare for the next day’s weather and seasonal changes, and they responded to them. In other words, they knew the signs and did the signs of nature.
    But they did not do God’s Word and believe his clear signs of his rule and authority. Repeatedly, Jesus pointed the Jews to the Father, but still they grumbled, “We don’t believe you.” In ignorance and hard hearts, they wanted something else. “Give us a sign.” was their common challenge to God’s greatest sign, Jesus Christ. But still they stubbornly negated Jesus’ signs of physical and spiritual healing, even resurrection.
    How do you respond to God’s signs – his teaching, his knowledge, his correction, his judgment, his healing and his salvation? In my own life, there are too many moments, even this day, when I act as if I don’t know and believe the Bible’s teachings. Do you have the same challenge? What are we to do to avoid the charge, “You hypocrite!”?
    We are to diligently seek after God’s Word. Even as we fail – especially as we fail – to do what is true, we are to recognize our sins, humbly repent and then faithfully receive the Lord’s forgiveness. A hypocrite pridefully and regularly neglects God, claiming a self-righteousness based on his own view. As in all matters of our faith, God desires our hearts to be broken for him. He knows who is false and who is true.
    What do you think when you see the cross and recall the empty tomb? How do you act when you hear the gospel preached, a hymn sung or a prayer lifted up? Do you pridefully ignore these sings of Heaven to live as you desire? Or do you submissively respond in awe and wonder at God’s amazing grace to unveil his kingdom signs to you? I pray you are eager to follow God’s sign: Welcome to My Home.
 
Prayer: Father, thank you for the Bible, the sign of your love for me. Let (me) then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that (I) may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) In Jesus’ name I submit to your wisdom. Amen.