Luke 13 – 15 Questions and Answers
Q. What did Pilate do that horrified the Israelites?
A. Luke 13:1 = He murdered Galileans at the Temple as they were offering sacrifices.
Q. What did Jesus advise the disciples?
A. Luke 13:2–5 =
1) To take into account the horror of being murdered and to realize all who do not repent will perish likewise
2) That their deeds at the Temple had no power to save them
3) Only repentance saves.
Q. What is the meaning of the parable of the barren fig tree?
A. 13:6–9 = Fruit always means “benefits.” The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, etc. These qualities in us benefit others. We are the trees. People should benefit other people. The Israelites held the secrets of Heaven and were commissioned to be separate, holy and beneficial to the world. God is the first Teacher who trained doctors, artists, engineers, etc.
This knowledge went out to the world via the Israelites. God’s attributes, His love also went out via the Israelites. But by the time Jesus came, the world was no longer benefiting from the Israelites. So Jesus told them of God’s disappointment with them and gave them another chance to repent. Jesus was Himself the fertilizer on the Israelites, benefiting others and setting an example to follow. If the Israelites were lost before, Jesus set them straight now!
Q. Were there many synagogues in Jesus’ time? A. Luke 13:10 = Yes.
Q. Did godly Israelites run them?
A. Luke 13:14 = Not necessarily. They were legalistic and patronizing, even with Jesus.
Q. What is true about not working on the Sabbath?
A. Luke 13:15 =
1) Everybody does some sort of work on the Sabbath
2) Doing something good is not work!
Q. Why do people choose God? (Mustard Seed)
A. Luke 13:18–19 = Because His people bless the world. It is the Kingdom of God!
Q. Why do people choose God? (Yeast in Bread)
A. Luke 13:20–21 = The Kingdom of God teaches them wherever they are in life.
Q. How should we live as believers?
A. Luke 13:22–27 =
1) We should work hard for the Kingdom of God
2) We should know that all who seek after God are not all saved. Some pretend and want God only on their own terms.
Q. How so?
A. Luke 13:22–27 = By doing good works they think they save themselves, while ignoring God’s commandments.
Q. People work religiously and for nothing?
A. Luke 13:22–27 = Yes.
Q. That doesn’t seem fair! Explain?
A. Luke 13:22–27 = People are creative and use that creativity to “play house.” They think, “Jesus, your way is nice, but my way is more satisfying for me. I hope you don’t mind!”
Q. What is Jesus’ way?
A. The Cross.
Q. So when people play house, what are they really doing? Isn’t it harmless?
A. Luke 13:27 = No. It is evil! To decide that I can reach God apart from His Word is ridiculous and evil. Jesus came to save the only way we can be saved. His blood was not spilt for nothing! These folks feel it has! That is evil!
Q. What will happen to fake believers?
A. Luke 13:28–30 = They will see real believers in the Kingdom of God, but they will be thrown out!
Q. What else will fakes witness?
A. Luke 13:29 = People coming from all over the world to take their places in the Kingdom of God.
Q. What will amaze them about these believers?
A. Luke 13:30 = People they thought belonged to God will be despised at that time. People they despised before will be greatly honored.
👉Who really knows who belongs to God?
It looks like only Jesus really knows. Just be sure that you answer to God and His Word. The devil is a liar. Jesus is still onthe throne! The devil is on a single mission: To knock us off track as subtly as he can. He will use our weakness in unconfessed sin and fuel it with lies so that you will rise up against your brother and shame God’s Kingdom on earth.
Q. What are common chinks in the Christian’s armor?
A. 1) Lack of purpose
2) Judgmental spirit influencing me since my childhood
3) Lack of a consistent prayer life
4) Wounded inner child
5) Lack of knowledge
6) Lack of knowledge of God’s Word out of my own neglect
7) Superiority complex distancing me from God
8) Superiority complex causing dissention in the ranks
9) Discontent
10) Self–pity.
Q. Why did Jesus reveal to the disciples the truth about genuine believers and fakes?
A. Jewish leaders oppressed them and Jesus did not want them to think their behavior was a God thing.
👉1) I will hurt with my brother
2) I will pray for his healing
3) I will repent on behalf of those who hurt him.
Q. What can doing this possibly do?
A.
1) It protects the Body of Christ with truth
2) It validates that person’s dilemma.
👉Ignoring those we intentionally or unintentionally hurt is breaking the second most important commandment that Jesus spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount: That I am to love my brother as myself. When hurt another believer, it hurts him more than anything else because he expects to be loved. Alas, nobody’s perfect. Just go to your brother and make it right—before you appear in church where he can see you worship God unconscionably and unrepentant. That is a nauseating sight for anybody to behold!
Q. In light of knowing now that fakes surround us and God allows this to happen for His own purposes, how should I deal with them?
A. Luke 13:31–32 = Don’t stop your ministry! Even if threatened harm! Just make sure you aren’t under attack because you break god’s commandments yourself and the attacks are really a discipline to teach you to obey. After clearing your own conscience, bless your enemy and continue with your mission. This should be an instantaneous action!
Q. But now my confidence is low!
A. Luke 13:32 = God will restore confidence. Just go forward!
Q. Is it okay to stand up to my enemies?
A. Luke 13:32–53 = Yes. Stand up for your ministry and tell your enemy (personally or by message) that you will not be affected by his attacks and are going forward.
👉Notice this confrontation contains no backbiting or accusation. Jesus took no offense. He simply stated His purpose and it would be finished. Remember, to take offense is sin!
Q. Why was Jesus killed in Jerusalem?
A. Luke 13:33 = All prophets are killed in God’s territory. If they were killed ouside of it, death would go unnoticed. Also, most persecutions and wrongful deaths occur within God’s territory, by God’s own people.
Q. Why?
A. Luke 13:34–35 = Oftentimes, God’s people refuse to accept the truth about themselves.
Q. Which is?
A. Luke 13:34–35 =
1) God saves people His way
2) All men are equal
3) And should be treated as equals.
Q. Why kill the prophets?
A. Luke 13:35 = Sinful men rage against the truth prophets bring them.
Q. Which is?
A. Luke 13:34–35 =
1) They need to repent
2) So God can gather them to Himself
3) And take care of them fully
4) Or else He will leave them to themselves
5) Until they decide to repent
6) And comprehend the blessing of the cross
7) And bless God for it!
Q. What did the Pharisees all agree on?
A. Luke 14:1–2 = They agree on their own addition to the Law of Moses, in which they declare that absolutely no deed will be done on the Sabbath.
Q. How did Jesus deal with them when an occasion occurred to heal on the Sabbath?
A. Luke 14:3 = Jesus asked them what the Law said about the issue.
Give no room to any writings that contradict God’s Word. Always bring up God’s Word as the final authority for dealing with any dispute.
Q. What do people do when you show them their biblical error?
A. Luke 14:4, 6 = Refuse to answer.
Note: When it comes to doing good anytime, no one can argue the validity of it. Restraining oneself from doing good at any time is sin. (To him who knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.)
All those caught up in false religion tire eventually of taking care of the poor. And they are dumbfounded by the believer’s consistency in his care of the poor, for he does it by the power of God’s heart for the poor. The vulnerable part of the unbelieving heart that can be reached is through witnessing a believer’s unfailing kindness to the poor around him.
Q. What is Jesus’ perspective on ambition?
A. Luke 14:7–9 = However important you think your ministry is in the Kingdom of God on earth, never presume to be closer to God for it. Take a backseat; let God decide your place in Heaven. He seats us there. We don’t!
Q. Does this apply in all of life?
A. Luke 14:7–9 = Yes. It is proper etiquette too!
1) The wedding planner makes the seating chart for the reception
2) You don’t know how people really see you, so let them be the judge of you.
3) If you scramble for position in church, chances are you’ll get a reputation for being competitive, even before they know you well. Let your new leaders place you as they will—in their time.
👉 God’s will is for His people to serve, according to their spiritual, God–given gifts and talents. Churches like this on dowse God’s fire because they are more interested in the things of men (like money, which is false power) than trusting God to orchestrate His purposes. Jesus is the Head of the church. Let Him be! Yield!
God, please orchestrate Your plan in Your church! Push me violently out of Your way and let me rejoice in Your perfect will!
Q. So Jesus wants us to wait on Him for our place in the church body?
A. Luke 14:10 = Yes. Let others decide where you fit best; they see better than you do!
Q. Who does God want me to celebrate with?
A. Luke 14:12–14 = People who cannot reciprocate.
Q. Who do people normally celebrate with?
A. Luke 14:12 = Friends, brothers in Christ, relatives and rich neighbors.
Q. Why?
A. Luke 14:12 = It is an investment in my well–off friends and family; I will most likely be invited to their celebrations as well, and that’s what I want.
Q. And that is pretty self–centered a motivation, isn’t it?
A. Luke 14:12 = Yes.
Q. But if I invite lowly folks, what comes out of it?
A. Luke 14:13–14 = God rewards me later at the resurrection of the godly!
Q. Who make up the lowly? A. Luke 14:13 =
1) Poor folks
2) Crippled folks
3) Lame folks
4) Blind folks
👉If you want real gratitude for your efforts in your celebrations, nothing can match the gratitude of lowly folks, whether mentioned or not. They will never forget your kindness and see the Kingdom of God in you too. This is true evangelism!
👉Being involved in church ministry that feeds the poor, clothes or houses them, does not replace everyday kindness to the por outside of church ministry. Needy folks make the very best party guests, are extremely vulnerable to the kindness of others and make up the best of what we call human. For whatever reason, Heaven has humbled them and the simplicity of life that is theirs will bless yours like no other. Lowly folks are as genuine as people can be!
Q. Jesus has prepared a great feast and the personal invitations to it are sent out. Are the guests excited about attending God’s feast?
A. Luke 14:18 = No. It’s almost as if they could care less about God.
Q. How do they respond to the inviters?
A. Luke 14:18 = They turn the invitation down.
Q. How?
A. Luke 14:18 = Making lame excuses as to why what they are busy with is more important than God’s feast.
Q. What excuses do they use?
A. Luke 14:18 =
1) Business is hopping right now and the workload is high (can’t you see I’m working right now?)
2) I’m still on my honeymoon!
Q. What is the point?
A. Luke 14:24 = God’s business is above all other activity, whether with man or tending to his property. People put thei cares above God and forfeit their salvation in the process.
Q. Do people really deceive themselves into thinking what they do on earth is more important than what God is doing all over?
A. Luke 14:24 = Yes.
👉 I know a man who is gentle and kind, but who lives for his work. All the consequences of putting work before God is blatantly obvious to all but him. Tragedy follows him, yet he marches forward, the suffering servant who has devoted himself piously to false priorities and will, if God doesn’t intervene, refuse God’s invitation to the Great Feast. So I think, “Why would he choose work over God?” The fact is, we are not all that complicated. The answer if found here: “If you seek Me [God], you will find Me.” Seeking is a lifelong quest filled with rewards and always brings more of God in one’s life. When God is real in your life,
1) The Scriptures come alive
2) What God is and wants for you is at the forefront of your existence
3) His excitement about the Great Feast is yours
4) You rush to the banquet table to be with God
The opposite is also true. When God is not real in your life
1) You don’t get squat ouut of the Scriptures you convinced yourself you don’t have much time for
2) You are ignorant about who God is and what He wants for you, and God has little or no place in your existence
3) There is no reason to be excited about the Great Feast
4) So you don’t care to go to the Great Feast or be with God.
A man who thinks he knows God apart from the Scriptures is a fool. He will naturally put God at his level and apply human, faulty attributes to God, believing that:
1) God is too busy running the universe to bother with people’s mundane problems
2) What matters is being busy, just like God
3) My creations are pretty much like God’s
4) Thanks to Jesus for coming to earth as a man, so He can be counted on man’s level, by my own standards
5) Look at my goodness! How does it compare with yours, God? Pretty awesome?
6) If God were me, how would He design this building? I like to compare creativity with others.
Se the problem? God is not holy to this man. Yet God is above all. His Word teaches all about Him. First and foremost, God IS. Do you live like you know it? Will you drop everything for Him? When people come to you for counsel, do you steer them right? Do you mentor darkness to them instead of light? What you do speaks of what you believe. If you fail this test, you need to live up to God’s Word and tell your deceitful heart the way it is to act:
1) Treat God is first
2) Remind myself that God’s Word is true
3) That I will not see myself as God’s equal
4) I will humble myself and seek after God daily
5) I will obey Him
6) The fruit of my life speaks truth about what I believe.
Q. What do I need to do to honestly follow after God all my life?
A. Luke 14:25 =
1) Love God above myself and others
2) Carry my own cross and follow Him daily.
Q. What does it mean to carry my own cross and follow Him?
A. Luke 14:28 = Before beginning, count the cost. Are you willing to pay the price? Or are you willing to follow thus far and no more? There are plenty of believers out there with good foundations. But they gave their all at the beginning only. Part of the price is accepting scorn from your family because they now see you as a fool. This scorn can follow for a lifetime, unless God intervenes and they are saved.
Q. So I should be ready to serve to influence and “flavor” this world with a life sold out to Jesus?
A. Luke 14:34–35 = Yes. But I must remember why I gave up everything for Jesus or I may become useless to God’s purposes.
Q. What should I remember? A. Luke 14:23 = That I gave up everything for Jesus.
👉When trials come, the devil moves in to tempt. He did it to Jesus as an example to us of the devil’s nasty and subtle schemes.
An example from my life is in our choice to homeschool our kids, which is still a scorned choice, though it has resulted in a wondrous thing: solid kids, who stand out for Jesus, so that even other Christians label them as “antisocial” when temptation and trial are near them and they choose right. But then I remember why we chose to homeschool. As a mother, I gave up a rich social life amongst believers, who left the education of their precious children to mostly non–believing teachers in a non–believing system. I did this so that I could teach them God’s ways, according to Deuteronomy. In that book of the bible, parents are instructed to teach their children. As soon as believers decide to forfeit that commission to others, they disobey God. The world “certifies” teachers to quell our fears, apprehensions and seared consciences. Next, mothers leave children to go to work elsewhere. I would rather my tax dollars go to keeping moms home than anything else! Women abandon households they are entrusted with by God because they are bored. Their consciences are seared yet a second major time.
Our women aren’t volunteering at church. They are busy and tired from serving their bosses. So their churches open up evening ministries so they make up for a church social life, exhausted as ever. Children are left day and night to fend for themselves. Who is teaching them how to be human? Who is waking their spirits?
The most successful countries, the US and abroad, are on their third generation of lost souls. They deserve the beating they are getting from their children.
The world needs parents who are willing to nurture our lost generations. Homeschooling has provided a solution to this terrible dilemma mothers find themselves in. The good news is that with whatever career choices our homeschooled generations take, they have been equipped with the tools to help fix what is broken. Thank God for His great mercy! Though homsechooled kids are welcome in all colleges, now they get to attend quality, certified colleges started by homeschoolers, to train in legal fields and whatnot, along with others who will also be nurturing parents to our lost generations.
Q. How do homeschool kids parent lost soul adults?
A. Homeschooled kids certainly don’t go looking for them! A lost soul adult is very lonely. If he is a believer, he is also ashamed of his life. He suffers in silence until a homeschool child emerges. Perhaps he is watching his small grandson and discovers that your child is the perfect playmate for him. They begin to play together. The adult also seeks the safety of a confidante who doesn’t know his peers and proceeds to dump on the child. The child feels awkward, but because he has been nurtured, he listens to a barage of things, some of which he should never hear at his age. The adult craves more and more time with the nurturing child. Soon, the homeschooling parent hears how “special” his child is, and requests for more time is asked of him. The homeschooling mother thinks the children are playing well together! Then, surprise, guess who wants to adopt her child? Coveting begins. The sin is real. The lost soul adult suddenly is convinced that you don’t know your child’s potential and tells you that you are holding him back! What a phenomenal fantasy the adult lost soul has created! Instead of realizing his lack, he rationalizes that his new inner filling of his own vapidness (nurturing) is in fact a reflection of the needs of the child. That’s what psychology calls projection. His own needs are exposed and he labels them all as belonging to the nurturing child, to the confusion of the surprised homeschool parent. Suddenly, the child is the victim who needs to be rescued by the adult lost soul! Sin wants its way.
This is not an isolated case for my children. It has happened many times across three states over a period of 25 years. My children have been sought out by people who need nurture in order to finish maturing into adulthood. It is a part of their existence and ministry and they are always baffled by new instances of it. Unless one really isolates his family in this world, it will happen. Isolation is not the answer. We are to be a part of the world, medicine for sick people, salt and light. But we need to be aware of the needs of today and not be unwilling to finish the nurture our children are exposed to.
Q. Will adult lost souls eventually let go their attachment to a nurturing child?
A. No. Having brought his own undealt with problems to the surface, he finds the need to keep them surfaced. He tries to work his problems out through the child.
Q. So he has discovered his need?
A. Yes. He needs a good counselor. As stated earlier, a counselor needs to be completely pure in heart. All his hurts should be dealt with before qualifying himself as a counselor for others. “Before removing the speck from your brother’s eye, get rid of the log in your own eye, so that you may see clearly…” The homeschool mother may be sufficient!
Jesus knows we all have a self–created masterpiece of sin we have nurtured since conception. He invites us to deal with it, rid ourselves of it, and then volunteer to help others—or else shut up until we do! Even an adult lost soul is granted mercy with the provision of a nurturing child. How gentle God can be!
Q. What are you saying, in a nutshell?
A. Luke 14:27–35 = Count the cost of discipleship. You must prepare in order to do the work of the Kingdom. That means learning how to manage your psyche and God’s Kingdom correctly. Otherwise, your ministry won’t last.
You must be prepared for what God will bring you and your family. Be prepared for anything! If you have healthy minds and nurturing family members, you will definitely be nurturing others! Trust Him for the variety of people and ways God brings them into your life.
Q. How should I treat people who would otherwise repel me?
A. Luke 15:1–7 = As special and loved by God; worthy of even sharing a meal with.
Q. Why?
A. Luke 15:1–7 = This is how we convince them to reconcile with God.
👉 Beingt a witness beats out taling your head off about Jesus. Even with disciples, hands–on testimony is better; it is mentoring.
Q. What is a lost sheep to Jesus?
A. Luke 15:8 = As valuable to God as believers.
👉God doesn’t love me more or less than any other. We are valuable because He made us.
Q. What is the lesson of the prodigal son?
A. Luke 15:11–14 =
1) = You cannot stop your children from sinning
2) = Parents are not obligated to pull thier prodigals’ butts out of the fire
3) = Necessity is the mother of invention. The prodigal will work at any job if it means food
4) = Negative circumstances are good for bringing you backto reality; returning to common sense.
5) = Negative circumstances show your follishness, which gives you a reason to repent
6) = Which leads to humility and repentance and letting go of control of your life
7) = God anticipates our return
8) = God never says, “I told you so.”
9) = An apology is very sweet when it happens
10) = God only wants to restore us
11) = And celebrate our return to Him
12) = God yas a special place in His heart for prodigals, especially when they return to Him.
👉Prodigals return with a portfolio of rich lessons that only they can use to minister to others. There is noother way to learn God’s ways than through sinning and repenting.
✍️🌷Mrs. Kalaiselvi Balakrishnan in Jesus Christ 🌷✍️