#Luke13 - Not a People Pleaser

Click here to read Luke 13:

1. What stood out to me from this chapter?

Wow, this was not the most popular day in Jesus ministry in terms of pleasing people. I'm sure there were some people who stopped following him on Twitter and unliked his Facebook page that day. :) There were some hard words and hard teachings for those with hard hearts. For those self-righteous people who thought that the people who were killed must have been pretty bad sinners, Jesus reminded them that anyone could be taken from this life at anytime. We all must repent and trust God, or we will perish - not just death on this earth, but for all eternity (as he explains later in the chapter). For those who berated him because he healed on the Sabbath he called out their hypocrisy in saying that they would serve their animals but not their brothers and sister. In the narrow door section he teaches that it's not people who on the outside have a casual, reputation-increasing nominal relationship with God who will be "in" on judgment day. And to close things off, he compassionately and sincerely agonizing over Jerusalem because of the continual rejection of God's word and God's prophets throughout history. This is not a way to start a large following, but that's one of the things I like about Jesus. He taught the true, hard teachings and stuck with God's heart and word over making people feel good about themselves. He would rather preach the truth about God and be killed than teach something people would simply like.

2. How does this relate to any other Scripture I know?

When I read about Jesus healing on the Sabbath, it reminded me of a couple times that Jesus did that. It wasn't popular in any of those other instances either. The one I thought of first was of the man who was blind from birth in John 9. This is one of the accounts that received the most "press coverage", so to speak, from the gospel writers. It is from this account John Newton penned his famous line in Amazing Grace "was blind but now I see." This line is an amazing witness to the others, because nobody can argue with that. They asked him if Jesus was the Messiah, and he answered (in Jesus-like fashion) with a truth that couldn't be argued with and implied that they knew the answer but didn't like it. :)

3. What does this mean for my life?

I know that as a witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, I am to be winsome in my approach, so that I don't turn people away because of my own pride or self-righteousness. However, I know that if I teach and live out God's word, there will be people who will automatically reject what I have to say, no matter how loving my actions may be. Because I'm not Jesus, I will not stand in judgment over them, but rather with great patience continue to show them love and share the scripture with as much accuracy as possible. Following Jesus doesn't equal an increase of friends all the time. That wasn't part of the deal, and it becomes clear in a chapter like this.

4. What questions do I have about this passage?

What really is the meaning of the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast? They are seemingly two ways of teaching the same idea, but I don't quite get what the main point is? Is it within an individual that the kingdom of God will work itself through a whole process as it transforms them from the inside out? Is it in a community or the world that the kingdom of God will spread throughout the entire world? What are the birds that perch in the branches? I'm not totally clear on these.

Those are my thoughts for this chapter. I'd love to hear yours. God's blessings to you and KEEP DIGGING IN!

In Christ,
Dan

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