In Luke 17:7-10, Jesus continued giving instructions to his followers that contrast with the attitudes and actions of the Pharisees. This time, the topic is their role as servants of God. Jesus reminds them that the LORD is their owner and master. Anything work that the servant does is mere duty and can never obligate…
In Luke 17:1-4 (last week’s text), Jesus gave the disciples difficult instruction regarding forgiveness. Their response (Luke 17:5-6) was a plea for greater faith. Jesus taught them that God can do great things in the lives of those who have faith—even a little faith.
In Luke 17, Jesus continued to contrast the path of those who trust him with the way of the Pharisees. The focus of Luke 17:1-4 is the Christian’s relationship to others. Specifically, we must “pay attention to ourselves” so that we do not sin against others, thus causing them to stumble, and we must quickly…
Luke 16:19-31 contains one of Jesus’ most famous stories, a tale about an unnamed rich man and a poor man called Lazarus. Jesus contrasted the two men in this life and the life to come. The climax of the story condemned the Pharisees for rejecting the Scriptures that point to Jesus, the Christ.
In Luke 16:1-13, Jesus spoke to his disciples, warning them against following the example of the Pharisees. Unlike the Pharisees, his followers must invest in the eternal good of others, display their character by faithfulness in little things, and resist divided loyalties, which is idolatry. The sermon text (Luke 16:14-18) tells us that the Pharisees heard…
The sermon text for this Lord’s Day is Luke 16:1-13. It contains the most puzzling parable that Jesus told: the parable of the “unjust steward.” We will retell the story but focus mainly on the clear principles that Jesus drew from it (vv. 9-13). A major theme undergirds the text, namely, that our choices reveal…
The sermon text for this Lord’s Day is Luke 15:25-32 which is the conclusion to the famed story of the “prodigal son.” This section focuses on the prodigal’s older brother. It turns out that this brother was the focal point in Jesus’ story because he represented those in Jesus’ audience that believed they, unlike the…
The sermon text for this Lord’s Day tells one of the best known and best-loved stories in the Gospels: the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). Close look at the text and its context reveals that is not just a story about son who went astray, but it is primarily about a second son…
The sermon text for this Lord’s Day is Luke 15:1-10. Jesus tells two parables to an audience made up of society’s moral outcasts (tax-collectors and sinners). The two parables combine to tell a single story: Jesus’ effort to save even a single lost one (sheep or coin) and the joy that takes place in heaven…
The sermon text for this Lord’s Day is Luke 14:25-35. In it, the Lord Jesus issues a serious call to count the cost of following him. He requires full devotion, without which no one can be his disciple. We tend to minimize of ignore Jesus’ call, but the text, rightly considered, does not allow half-hearted devotion.