Luke 16:19-31

For many ‘hell’ is a word merely to be used in a turn of phrase. For some, ‘hell’ is a place where really bad people go when they die and definitely not a place for good people like them. For others, the concept of Hell is just plain comical or repulsive or altogether non-existent. But if we scour the four gospels we discover that Jesus has a lot to say about the existence and experience of Hell. One such place is the parable before us. Having seen heaven’s joy over one repenting sinner in the lost sheep & lost coin (15:1-10), and having seen a perfect picture of true repentance in the lost younger son (15:11-32), and then having seen what a hardened un-repentant heart looks like in response to Jesus’ salvation agenda (16:14-18), the time has come to wrestle with the question—Where does un-repentance lead? Jesus warns that the highway to hell is paved with un-repentance. Main Idea—Jesus stresses the reality of Hell.

Luke 16:1-18

Money, serving God, ridicule, God’s law, marriage/divorce. What is Jesus doing?!? This section seems so out of place in connection with our theme question—Will those who are saved be few? But nothing could be further from the truth. Turning to the disciples, Jesus invites His disciples into heaven’s joy over a sinner repenting by using their possessions to serve God’s agenda. Main Idea—The Savior’s people use God’s money for God’s work.

Luke 15:1-32

Jesus just said in Chapter 14—“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And we know people are paying attention to Jesus because Luke says in 15:1, that—“the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.” This makes the Pharisees grumble leading Jesus to teach some parables. These stories with a spiritual point are not only designed to shed further light on why the Pharisees and scribes are at risk of missing salvation in Christ, but they also reveal another truth about the people who are finding salvation in Him. The Savior’s people are the lost who are found. Main Idea—God seeks and receives the lost in great love.

Luke 14:25-35 & John 15:9-11

Who are the Savior’s people? They are not only those who respond to His invitation to enter through the narrow door of salvation, but they are also those who count the cost of being Jesus’ disciple. Jesus’ command—Strive to enter through the narrow door—is obviously a command. But it’s not a command for our drudgery, it’s a command for our joy. Combining our two texts we learn that striving looks like whole-hearted following and it’s all for our joy.

Luke 14:12-24

Luke 14:1-11

Luke 13:22-35

Will only a few be saved? Who will enter Jesus’ kingdom? As Luke takes us deeper into His gospel, these questions point to the new discipleship theme that grabs our attention. Luke wants us to deal with is the number and identity of those who will be saved. Since the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed and leaven (vs. 18-21) [ starting small but growing huge as people enter in ] a natural question to ask is, “How many and who will enter Jesus’ kingdom?” A question from the crowd prompts Jesus to answer and in His answer we find our Main Idea—Strive to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom.

Colossians 4:2-6

Everyday life is ripe with opportunity for intentional confession. Your heart of worship, your spiritual family heritage, your acts of service, your Christ-abiding obedient followership—all these are legitimate forms of intentionally confessing Jesus and we need to be careful to not de-legitimize them. But we must also not forget one last gospel-shaped identity—I am a WITNESS. A witness is someone who proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ with their words. And it’s this WITNESS identity which brings biblical balance to the Everyday Disciple.

Luke 14:25-33

Who am I in Christ? This is the question that we’ve been answering over the past couple of weeks. In Christ while I’m a worshipper, in a family, and a servant…I’m also a FOLLOWER of Jesus. There’s a cost to following Jesus and our Savior makes this clear in some very punchy language found in our text. Praise be to God that it is possible to walk as a follower, not in our own strength but in the strength of our Savior who calls us to abide in Him.

John 13:1-17

Working through our gospel-shaped identities, we must also recognize that an Everyday Disciple is a SERVANT. According to God’s Word, true WORSHIPPERS in God’s FAMILY are SERVANTS. A servant has been created, saved, and called to serve, AND their service is all about the gospel. But as we know all too well, a heart disposition of servanthood doesn’t come naturally to us. Sin turns our servanthood hard-wiring into self-service. Thus we need Jesus, the Savior Servant to not only save us from our sin, but also transform us so that our servant identity looks like His example as we serve others.