Set Your Mind on Christ Challenge – Day 5

Well, we’re coming down the home stretch! Those of you that are still with us, congratulations — don’t let up now! We’d still love to get your comments and thoughts on what you’ve learned in Luke 17-21.

A resource that you might find helpful related to chapter 18 is this excellent Modern Parable video, “The Widow and the Judge.”

Observations:

• Leading others into sin is one of the worst things a person could do (17:2).
• Jesus views obedience as a normal and expected part of life (17:10).
• Jesus knows that real life doesn’t consist of the temporary pleasures of life (17:33).
• Jesus views prayer as a natural part of what it means to be the elect (18:7) and the evidence of whether we have faith (18:8).
• Jesus never minimizes the cost of following him (18:18-30).
• Jesus sees radical repentance as evidence of salvation (19:9).
• Jesus expects his people to bear fruit until he comes again (19:11-27).
• If we don’t worship Jesus, the natural creation will (19:40).
• Jesus teaching was irresistibly engaging — “all the people were hanging on his words” (19:48).
• Jesus fearlessly speaks against those he knows are seeking to destroy him (20:9-19).
• Jesus is wise and refuses to get trapped by the crafty evil of his opponents (20:20-26).
• Jesus is thrilled when we give out of our poverty. Sacrificial generosity most reflects his character (21:4).
• Jesus is coming back. Get ready! (21:25-36).

How would I be different if this truth were explosively alive in my innermost being?

• If I believed that Jesus was coming back at any moment, I would live with a greater sense of urgency and desire for radical holiness (That is actually what the focus of our upcoming Advent season will be). As Jonathan Edwards once resolved, “Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.”

What about you? How is God using this passage in your life? Questions or Comments?