Entering the Home Stretch

Entering the Home Stretch Series: The Gospel Truth Text: Luke 13:18-35

Introduction: (What?)

Jesus now has His focus on returning to Jerusalem where He knows that the culmination of His earthly ministry will happen. En route He focused His teaching on the kingdom of God. His teaching is both instructive, dealing with what has happened, and prophetic, dealing with what will happen. Since we are further down the road than His original hearers, it behooves us to pay close attention.

Examination: (Why?)

1. The Kingdom is Like...

Lk 13:18-21 “He said, therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like, and what can I compare it to? It’s like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.” Again he said, “What can I compare the kingdom of God to? It’s like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.””

After the dramatic healing of the woman who had been oppressed by a demon for 18 years, and the controversy caused by the religious leaders over her deliverance, Jesus immediately got back to the “main thing”. I had a friend who is now with Jesus who used to say often, “We need to keep the main thing the main thing.” One of the primary tactics of Satan, that has been quite effective, is to get the church away from the main emphasis of Scripture, which is spreading the good news of the kingdom of God.

Both of these short parables emphasize that the kingdom of God started small, with the earthly ministry of Jesus and quickly spread over a short period of time. In Matt 4:17 when Jesus was just launching His earthly ministry He said, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The mustard seed was known at that time to be the smallest seed available. The picture that Jesus painted was that this small seed grew into the largest shrub in the garden (10-12 feet tall) and attracted many birds of the sky (which represents many nations of the world.) In the same way, the preaching of the kingdom of heaven started small, but has spread exponentially around the world.

The same idea is expanded in the next parable about a small amount of leaven, permeating 50 pounds of flour. By the same token, your small act of obedience in telling your story to one person may well result in thousands of people coming to Christ. In order for the mustard seed to grow into a large shrub, it had to be planted and tended. In order for the 50 lbs of flour to be leavened, someone had to knead a small amount of leavening into the dough. Our problem is that we become myopic, only seeing what is directly around us. The kingdom of heaven is advancing around the world in unprecedented numbers in places like China, India, and even in Iran. Yet, because it isn’t happening in Lake Placid, we are prone to think that it isn’t happening at all.

Your call, and mine is two fold. In Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.””

And in Matt 28:19-20 “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Our individual part in this is to be obedient where we are with what we have. Paul reminded the Corinthians in 1 Cor 3:6-8 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” You may have been called to be a “planter”. Or you may have been called to be a “waterer”. Both are equally necessary and through the work of both God causes growth.

2. The Way is Narrow

Lk 13: 22-30 “He went through one town and village after another, teaching and making his way to Jerusalem. “Lord,” someone asked him, “are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because I tell you, many will try to enter and won’t be able once the homeowner gets up and shuts the door. Then you will stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up for us!’ He will answer you, ‘I don’t know you or where you’re from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you’re from. Get away from me, all you evildoers!’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place, when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown out. They will come from east and west, from north and south, to share the banquet in the kingdom of God. Note this: Some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”

This is a part of the teachings of Jesus that most people don’t like and many pastors don’t preach. It is NOT easy to become a follower of Jesus. It cost Jesus a ton of suffering to make your salvation possible, and Jesus taught in two passage in Luke’s gospel that being His follower will cost you as well.

Lk 9:23Lk 9:23 “Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

Lk 14:25-27 “Now great crowds were traveling with him. So he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

True followers of Jesus must die daily to their own desires and must love Jesus more than they love their parents, spouse, kids and siblings. I’m sorry if someone mis-led you into thinking that you could be saved YOUR way. Jesus did not say that. Being a follower of Christ is costly. Look in the OT and see what it cost Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the prophets. Once again I’m reminded of a verse in the hymn “Am I A Soldier of the Cross”. “Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas? The door to salvation is NARROW.

3. The Beginning of the End

Lk 13:31-35 “At that time some Pharisees came and told him, “Go, get out of here. Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look, I’m driving out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work.’ Yet it is necessary that I travel today, tomorrow, and the next day, because it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See, your house is abandoned to you. I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’!””

As often happens when a subject hits a little too close to home, the Pharisees sought to change the subject. The woman at the well in Samaria did the same thing.

The Pharisees didn’t care about Jesus’s well-being. As a matter of fact they were already plotting His death. But that had become uncomfortable with His teaching and thought that they could scare Him into running away. Notice that Jesus didn’t back down. Instead He doubled down. He gave them a message for Herod. Basically He said, “I have my own time-table and I’m not deviating from it no matter what or who threatens Me. I know I’m going to die in Jerusalem, but it won’t happen until I have completed my assignment.”

Then Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, reminding the inhabitants that He had tried numerous times to get them to repent and follow Him, but they were not willing. Now, He said, “The end is near. Your time for repentance is growing short. Soon I’ll be gone and you won’t wee me until I come again to judge those who never surrendered to Me.”

Application: (How should I prepare for the Kingdom?)

Repent and keep on repenting

Surrender and keep on surrendering.

Obey what you’ve been commanded to do.