Luke 17.1-37 – Faith that Saves

Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God is at once both a future expectation and a present reality.  And the way to enter that kingdom is by responding to Jesus with acceptance, trust, gratitude and praise; in other words, with faith.  Faith however which doesn’t need to be great.  No, what matters to Jesus is the great God that that faith is looking out on; the God of life and death, who is now at work in and through his son Jesus Christ establishing his kingdom.

• What does faith look like for you today?

• What are you trusting God for, both now and in the future?

• ‘He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him’ (v.16).  Take some time to count the many things God has blessed you with, naming them before him, and giving thanks.

• What do you understand ‘the kingdom of God’ to mean?

Luke 16.1-31 – Money Matters

Some things in the kingdom of God are black and white – you cannot serve both God and money.  Jesus is challenging his disciples about their priorities when it comes to handling material wealth and possessions.  And the key to it all is whether or not they are faithful.  For God entrusts money and property to people as his ‘managers’, on the basis that it is to be used wisely and generously to the benefit of his children and to his glory.  In the kingdom of God, money is not a possession.

• How do you think about the material wealth and property that you have?  As a gift that you hold on ‘trust’ for God, or as a ‘possession’ that you own and control?

• ‘You cannot serve both God and money’ (v.13).  In what ways do you know this to be true?

• How might you be more faithful to God with all that he has given you?

• What can you give away today that will bless someone else and so bring glory to God?

Luke 15.1-32 – The Father’s Heart

In a series of three parables Jesus reveals the radical nature of God’s love; a love that doesn’t have to be earned.  A love that cannot help but go looking for the lost – to look for them as a shepherd would a lost sheep, a worker would her lost savings, or a father would his lost son – and then rejoice and lavishly celebrate upon finding them.  This is a picture of God’s heart and joy, of the party that goes on in heaven every time a single sinner turns to the good news of Jesus Christ and begins to follow God’s ways.

• How should a love like this impact the way you live?

• Is your life so marked by a celebration of the good news of Jesus that it provokes opportunities to tell stories about finding something that was lost?

• In the parable of two lost sons, who do you identify with most – the younger son, the elder brother, or the father?  Why do you think that might be?

• What is your attitude towards those who don’t know Jesus? 

Luke 13.22-14.35 – In, Out, Shake it all About

Jesus holds open the gate to the kingdom of God and offers an urgent but costly invitation to enter in; not least to the people of Jerusalem.  But in the kingdom of God things are not as they might first appear.  For there will come a time when those who thought they were automatically in God’s kingdom will find themselves thrown out of it, and many who thought themselves to be out of God’s kingdom will instead be drawn in to it.  Those who sit down and eat the feast of God’s kingdom will indeed be a surprising and perhaps even ‘shocking’ group of people – people with all kinds of moral, social, ethnic, cultural, ethical and physical backgrounds.  And this is simply the result of the strange workings of God’s grace.

• ‘All those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted’ (14.11).  Why do you think the kingdom of God operates on principles like this?

• In your experience what reasons do people give for not accepting the invitation to share in God’s kingdom?

• How could you help people to accept God’s invitation?

• In what ways is the invitation to enter God’s kingdom a costly one?

Luke 12.22-13.21 – Be Prepared

Jesus prepares his followers for the events to come after his death.  He encourages them not to worry, and to be watchful and discerning of all that is going on around them.  From Roman occupation and the oppressive regimes of Pilate and Herod, to the arrogant and hypocritical leadership of the Jewish religious authorities – and then, in the middle of it all, Jesus himself; a young prophet proclaiming the coming of God’s kingdom, healing the sick and calling people to live a fruitful life of repentance.  Can the people not see that this is the moment that all of Israel’s history has been waiting for?  That the time for her to respond is therefore short?  

• Can you sense the urgency in Jesus’ voice here?  And if so, what does that urgency have to say to you about the way in which you live out your faith?

• In what ways are you (and/or your Life Group) bearing fruit for God’s kingdom?  

• In what ways are you anxious today?

• Can you bring those anxieties to God in prayer, in the knowledge that you are subject to God’s care, and that he knows what you need even before you ask? 

Luke 11.37-12.21 – Kingdom Priorities

Jesus challenges the hypocrisy and pride of the Pharisees and lawyers, accusing them of neglecting the justice and love of God in favour of a detailed outward observance of religious piety and practice that leaves the heart untouched.  The warnings are stark and dire.  There is talk of judgment, hell-fire, of being disowned and being cut-off.  And the warnings are not just for the Pharisees and the lawyers, but for anyone who might think that life is to be found in material comfort or an abundance of possessions.
    
• Who do you think the ‘Pharisees’ and the ‘lawyers’ are in today’s society?

• Is your understanding and practice of the gospel leading you into a confrontation with the agendas of our world?

• Where and how can you stand up for God’s love and justice?

• What are you ‘storing up’ on earth that you might need to surrender in order to live more by kingdom priorities than by worldly ones? 

Luke 10.38-11.36 – Spiritual Life

Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray and assures them of his provision and the presence of God's kingdom.  In doing so he announces that God’s ways and God’s timing is best.  Yet in those ways and in that time, Jesus continues to reveal something radically new – God’s grace knows no boundaries.  For by sitting at the feet of Jesus, Mary crosses an invisible yet strictly demarcated social and familial boundary; only men would meet in the public room of a house, with quarters unseen by outsiders belonging to the women.  So Mary is behaving as if she were a man!  But Jesus affirms her right to do so.  God’s kingdom is simply boundary-breaking.

• In what ways is your relationship to Jesus leading you to be a boundary-breaker?

• What is it that you’re currently asking God for?

• Imagine what it will be like when God’s kingdom is fully here on earth as it is in heaven?  How might this help you pray today?

• Can you commit to praying the Lord’s Prayer each day for the rest of Lent?