Saved?

Luke 13:22-14:35

Dec.28

"Another new group has come to our area, attracting scores of disaffected members of other churches. The leaders have convinced them that they alone have the right interpretation of “who are really saved.”
People in Jesus’ day also wanted to be sure about salvation. They asked the question in different ways—”What must I do to inherit eternal life?” “How can a man be born again to enter the kingdom of God?” “Who then can be saved?” Even secular people ask, “Which life goal is right?” No matter the form, it is still an essential question for anyone to ask.

1. Which form of this basic question has expressed your own searching?

2. Read Luke 13:22-35. Luke’s repeating that Jesus is journeying to Jerusalem gives the setting of our title question (vv. 22-23). What in Jesus’ parable answer would startle his Jewish listeners or perhaps you?

3. Based on this parable, how would you respond to a skeptic’s criticism that God’s conditions for salvation are too narrow?

4. The Pharisees’ motive for warning Jesus is not clear. They are now allied with the Herodians, their political enemies, against Jesus. But he is fearless (vv. 31-33). Then he expresses another emotion. Why do you think Jesus is so deeply passionate about Jerusalem?

5. Read Luke 14:1-24. What explains the Pharisees’ double silence to Jesus’ questions (vv. 4, 6)?

6. The Pharisees have been watching Jesus at this dinner party. But he also has been observing them! So with two parables he teaches the guests about true honor (vv. 7-11) and his host about true hospitality (vv. 12-14). How should Jesus’ lessons affect your social life?

7. But these two parables also lead up to the one on the Great Messianic Banquet (vv. 15-24). How does this third parable climax Jesus’ answer to our study question of who ultimately will be saved?

8. Read Luke 14:25-35. From addressing national leaders Jesus now turns to the growing crowds. First, he lays down his conditions for discipleship by calling into question powerful loyalties—to family and to self. What would be a contemporary example of Christians “hating” their family?

9. Travelers nearing Jerusalem passed old wooden crosses along the way. Everyone knew their use—for criminal execution. So how would Jesus’ fellow travellers understand his words in verse 27?

10. Second, he tells the crowd to count the cost of discipleship (vv. 28-33). The two parables seem to make the same point about this. But in the second parable how is Jesus’ challenge different?

Try counting the cost of not following Jesus on his terms. What to you is most sobering?