Jesus often used parables to get his point across to his disciples. Parables are a window into another world and a mirror in which you see yourself. They are descriptive, not prescriptive—they reveal and conceal. As we walk through the parables of Jesus, use the resources, teaching, and study questions below to unpack each story and what it means for following Jesus.
WEEK 1: Receiving the Word on Good Soil
June 2 Matthew 13:1-23
WEEK 2: The Two Debtors
June 9 Luke 7:36-50
WEEK 3: The Rich Fool
June 16 Luke 12:13-21
WEEK 4: The Vineyard Workers
June 23 Matthew 20:1-16
WEEK 5: The Ten Servants
June 30 Luke 19:11-27
WEEK 6: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
July 7 Luke 18:9-14
WEEK 7: The Unforgiving Debtor
July 14 Matthew 18:21-35
WEEK 8: The Two Sons
July 21 Matthew 21:23-32
WEEK 9: The Good Samaritan
July 28 Luke 10:25-37
WEEK 10: The Wheat and the Weeds
August 4 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Our Great God | NewSpring Worship | iTunes
Psalm 19:1-4 • Psalm 107:29 • 1 Peter 2:24
No Greater Love | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
John 15:13 • Romans 5:1-11 • Ephesians 5:2 • Galatians 5:13
Once For All | CityAlight | iTunes
Romans 6:10 • Hebrews 10:19-22 • 1 Peter 3:18 • Revelation 4:11
I Surrender | All Sons & Daughters | iTunes
Romans 12:1 • Luke 22:41-43 • Matthew 6:19-21
More Like Jesus | Passion | iTunes
John 3:30 • 1 Peter 2:21 • Romans 8:29 • Ephesians 4:22-24
This We Know | Vertical Worship | iTunes
Isaiah 55:8-9 • Hebrews 10:23 • Colossians 2:15 • 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 • 1 Peter 1:3-7
Give It All | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
Psalm 101:1 • Romans 12:1 • Romans 5:8 • Galatians 2:20
In Your Presence | Elevation Worship | iTunes
Psalm 16:7-8 & 11• Deuteronomy 31:6 • Romans 8:31-34
Faithfulness | Hillsong Worship | iTunes
Lamentations 3:22-23 • Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 • Romans 15:13
Great Are You Lord | All Sons & Daughters | iTunes
Psalm 98 • Psalm 66:4 • John 1:3-4 • Genesis 2:7
No Greater Love | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
John 15:13 • Romans 5:1-11 • Ephesians 5:2 • Galatians 5:13
Great and Mighty King | Elevation Worship | iTunes
Psalm 47:6-8 • Revelation 5:11-14 • Isaiah 6:1-3
Overcome | Elevation Worship | iTunes
Romans 8 • Psalm 145:13 • John 16:33
O God of Our Salvation | The Village Church | iTunes
Psalm 29:1-2 • 1 Chronicles 16:29
I Will Look Up | Elevation Worship | iTunes
Psalm 57:7-11 • Isaiah 26:1-8 • 2 Samuel 22:26-31
Sing to the Lord (Psalm 96) | Grace Church Worship| iTunes
Psalm 96 • Isaiah 49:13 • Psalm 19:1-4
This is Our God | Hillsong Worship | iTunes
2 Corinthians 12:9 • Titus 3:5 • Psalm 48:14
O Praise the Name | Hillsong Worship | iTunes
Matthew 27-28 • 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 • Revelation 7:9-12 • Hebrews 9:28
Alive In Us | Hillsong Worship | iTunes
Ephesians 2:4-6 • 1 Corinthians 15:53-57 • Romans 6:11
Hope to Carry On | Grace Church Worship | Download
1 Thessalonians 3 • 1 Thessalonians 1:3 • 1 Peter 1:7
Build My Life | Passion | iTunes
Matthew 7:24-27 • Colossians 2:6-8 • Psalm 145:3
Christ Our Savior | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
Lamentations 3:21-26 • Ephesians 2:8-9 • Titus 3:5-6
Worthy, Worthy | Vertical Worship | iTunes
Revelation 4:8 • 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Exalted Over All | Vertical Worship | iTunes
Philippians 2:6-11 • Colossians 1:15-20 • Hebrews 12:2
Call Upon the Lord | Elevation Worship | iTunes
Psalm 18:3-2 • 2 Corinthians 3:17 • Hebrews 13:5-6
No Greater Love | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
John 15:13 • Romans 5:1-11 • Ephesians 5:2 • Galatians 5:13
Jesus Paid it All | Passion | iTunes
Romans 6:23 • 1 Peter 1:18-19 • 1 John 2:2 • Hebrews 10:19-22 • Psalm 49:7-8
Worthy of it All | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
Psalm 51:16-17 • Psalm 139:23-24 • Amos 5:21-24
The Rock Won’t Move | Vertical Worship | iTunes
Psalm 62:5-8 • 2 Samuel 22:47 • Matthew 7:24-27
Fully Devoted | Life.Church Worship | iTunes
Romans 12:1 • Ephesians 4:16 • Ephesians 3:20
You Reign (Psalm 146) | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
Psalm 146 • Psalm 47:5-9 • 1 Chronicles 29:10-20
Nobody Like You | Red Rocks Worship | iTunes
Psalm 33:6-7 • Exodus 15:11 • Phil 2:5-11 • Jeremiah 10:6
Whole Again (Wondrous Cross) | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
John 6:53-54 • Mark 14:24 • Ephesians 1:7 • 1 John 1:7
To the Cross I Cling | The Village Church | iTunes
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 • Ephesians 2:4-6
What a Savior | Hillsong Worship | iTunes
John 9:35-39 • Psalm 71:14 • Psalm 149:4
Who You Say I Am | Hillsong Worship | iTunes
1 Peter 2:9-10 • John 8:36 • Romans 8:14-17
I Am Not The Same | Grace Midtown | iTunes
John 16:33 • Psalm 107:13-15 • Mark 13: 24-26 • 1 John 5:4-5 • Philippians 1:20-21
Yes I Will | Vertical Worship | iTunes
Psalm 130:5-8 • Philippians 2:9-11 • Isaiah 28:30
Hope of the World | Hillsong Worship | iTunes
John 3:14-17 • 1 Chronicles 16:23-25 • Psalm 33:20-22 • Ephesians 2:4-7
I Surrender | All Sons & Daughters | iTunes
Romans 12:1 • Luke 22:41-43 • Matthew 6:19-21
Singing in the Victory | Austin Stone | iTunes
John 14:27 • 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 • Romans 8:35-39
Never Be the Same | People & Songs | iTunes
John 4:13-14 • 2 Corinthians 5:17 • Romans 8:11
Trust You (You are Good) | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
Mark 9:24 • Luke 12:27-32 • Psalm 107:28-30
Found | Aaron Ivey | iTunes
Philippians 3:8-9 • 1 Corinthians 15:43
Glory to You | Emmanuel Live | iTunes
Philippians 1:9-11 • 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 • Psalm 115:1-3
Unfailing (Psalm 5) | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
Psalm 5
All Creatures of Our God and King | David Crowder Band | iTunes
Psalm 66:1 • Psalm 148 • Revelation 5:13
Yes I Will | Vertical Worship | iTunes
Psalm 130:5-8 • Philippians 2:9-11 • Isaiah 28:30
The Name of Jesus Christ | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
Philippians 2:6-11 • Isaiah 45:22-23 • 1 Corinthians 6:11
I See the Lord | Vertical Worship | iTunes
1 Chronicles 29:10-12 • Psalm 99:1-3 • Isaiah 6:1-3 • Psalm 19:1-4
Yes I Will | Vertical Worship | iTunes
Psalm 130:5-8 • Philippians 2:9-11 • Isaiah 28:30
Once For All | CityAlight | iTunes
Romans 6:10 • Hebrews 10:19-22 • 1 Peter 3:18 • Revelation 4:11
More Like Jesus | Passion | iTunes
John 3:30 • 1 Peter 2:21 • Romans 8:29 • Ephesians 4:22-24
This We Know | Vertical Worship | iTunes
Isaiah 55:8-9 • Hebrews 10:23 • Colossians 2:15 • 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 • 1 Peter 1:3-7
These daily readings will help prepare you for the upcoming teaching you will hear this weekend at Grace Church. These passages will create some context for the sermon by showing you Scriptures the teacher might be quoting and some passages that contain related ideas. Our hope is that as you follow this reading plan, it will help you become more defined and directed by Scripture.
1 About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
2 Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. 3 Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Matthew 18: 1-4
25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"
28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
- Luke 10: 25-28
10 His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”
11 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. 12 To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. 13 That is why I use these parables,
For they look, but they don’t really see.
They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.
- Matthew 13: 10-13
WEEK 1: Receiving the Word on Good Soil
WEEK 2: The Two Debtors
WEEK 3: The Rich Fool
WEEK 4: The Vineyard Workers
WEEK 5: The Ten Servants
Jesus describes four types of soils that represent us as we receive him and his Word. Which soil are you?
The gospel seed will produce fruit. We know which soil we are not by our own opinion or of others but by the fruit we produce. What fruit do you see in your life? Where have you seen life change in yourself in the past year? Where do you need to turn the soil over and make it softer?
As a church, we tend to lean towards the “crowded soil”. We are distracted. What is distracting you? What do you need to remove from your life so that you are less distracted and the seed can take deeper root?
Jesus wants us to understand that most of the soil will not sustain the gospel and that means we should expect to be in the minority in our culture and in the world. How does this idea comfort you?
Parables are a window into another world—the Kingdom of heaven, a mirror to see ourselves, descriptive not prescriptive, and both revealing and concealing.
When we don’t know the Word, it’s because we don’t want to know—not because of a lack of information.
Jesus loves us enough to tell us we have to receive him the way he offers himself—on his terms, not ours. If we continue to harden our heart against Scripture, there is a point at which we lose our ability to respond (Matthew 13:10-17).
It is possible to get yourself in such a position that God’s Word can no longer be a benefit to you and that the gospel brings judgement rather than blessing to you.
While the power and the progress of the Kingdom is unstoppable and victorious, in our hearts it is a fragile, delicate thing that can easily be choked out by petty things that are passing away.
Jesus wants his disciples to see that as his followers we will be alone. We are the minority. While our country values autonomy, we know the opposite to be true as Jesus says in his Word, “deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24-26).
After we profess faith in Christ and start following him, the cross should always be getting bigger to us as we become more aware of our sinfulness and more aware of God’s holiness. Over your life as a follower of Christ, how has this been true or not true of you?
What is a specific way that you are currently growing more aware of one or the other—God’s holiness or your sinfulness? Why do you think that is?
There are six ways we minimize sin: defending, faking, hiding, exaggerating, blaming, and downplaying (refer to key points for definitions of each one). Which one do you struggle with the most? With what sin has this recently happened, and how did you do one of these things? Who in your community will you talk to about this, and how will you work towards thinking of your sin rightly?
While everyone expected Jesus to reject the prostitute, he instead publicly encourages her that her repentant faith and love is actually stronger than the self-righteous Pharisees.
Jesus knew he would willingly take on greater pain and greater humiliation on the cross for us than in any possible circumstances here.
We will love God only to the degree that we are aware of how completely holy and loving he is and how completely undeserving and sinful we are.
After we profess faith in Christ and start following him, the cross should always be getting bigger to us as we become more aware of our sinfulness and more aware of God’s holiness. Our sin should become more serious and weighty to us as we increasingly recognize and experience God’s holiness.
There are six ways we minimize sin:
Once you are clear on ways you minimize sin, now what?
If Christ is your focus and that is your routine, your love for him will grow.
Read 1 Timothy 6:9-10. What words are associated with money? How does this apply to your own experience with money?
Greed is an issue in our worship; we expect possessions to do what we should trust and turn to God to do. How might you be worshiping something other than God by seeking comfort, happiness, fulfillment, etc. from it? Based on what you depend on for those things, what are you actually worshiping?
Read Colossians 3:5 and Ephesians 5:5, and pay close attention to the comparable sins surrounding greed in the Bible. How do you think our culture has taught us to put greed in a separate category from other sins? What are some greedy motives that are disguised by cultural sayings like “climbing the corporate ladder”? How can you begin to identify where emotions rather than wisdom drive your financial decisions?
How have you seen greed, or your perspective on possessions, change over time? Has your pleasure or satisfaction level gotten bigger or smaller as you recognize everything you have is from God? Does it take more to satisfy you or less? Where can you be generous to acknowledge that everything you have been given by God is not for you?
There are two indicators of a greedy heart: Like the rich fool from the parable, you have an individual focus and a self-indulgent goal. How does this compare to your view of the possessions and resources you manage? What step can you take to increase your understanding of money from a biblical perspective to reorient your view?
For further application, click here to download 10 questions to help diagnose your money motivation from The Money Challenge by Art Rainer.
God gives and grants wealth to people to bless others.
Greed is an unhealthy desire to gain more possessions or status with the objective of owning, having, and getting.
The threat of losing possessions or status produces fear which can lead to greed.
The desire for more is the ultimate renewable resource.
Our biggest problem is a worship problem, and a major contributor that that problem is greed.
Like the rich fool, you can have a strategically sound plan but totally morally mismanage the situation.
A person is a fool to store up earthly wealth and not have a rich relationship with God.
God’s economy tells us that our debt is so great that he has to send Jesus to pay it—not that I can earn it in some way on earth and pay it at the door of Heaven.
Money is a way to grow in that rich relationship with God as we use money to serve and help grow the kingdom.
Wealth toward self (greed) = poverty before God.
We need accountability in our lives to think biblically, live appropriately, save wisely, and give generously.
Understand that we make financial decisions based on emotion. We need to ask ourselves, “How much of my self-worth is tied to what I have?”
When circumstances don’t go the way you think they should, how do you engage with God? What is your first response, and how have you moved forward in the past?
In God’s Kingdom, the way to life is death, the way to glory is humility, and the way to reward is dependence. Where do you need to change perspective in your own life about what actually matters (eternal perspective)? What would death to self, humility, and dependence look like in your current circumstances?
True grace does not take our performance into account. How might you believe your performance is earning you favor with God? In what area of your life are you believing that your confidence and hope comes from what you do?
If we are living with ourselves at the center, we will grumble, be envious/jealous, discouraged, and discontent; if we are living with Christ at the center, mission, dependence, obedience, and worship will flow out of our lives. Which of these attributes is most characteristic of you? Which of them do you not see very often in your life? Why?
What parts of your life are you constantly complaining about? What does this say about what you believe about God? What will it look like for you to repent?
God's Kingdom is founded on the basis of God's grace, and God's grace confronts and exposes our self-centeredness, self-righteousness, and pride.
We are in need of and dependent on God for everything since we are powerless to do anything about the measure of evaluation in God’s Kingdom.
Envy, jealousy, and comparison make us so fixed on ourselves that we miss what God is doing in others’ lives.
Self has no place in God’s Kingdom.
In God’s Kingdom, the way to life is death, the way to glory is humility, and the way to reward is dependence.
God’s grace does not discriminate on the basis of our performance.
We say we believe Christ died on the cross for our sins but often we act like he died on the cross to make us happy.
The gospel is the great equalizer. True grace that leads to salvation does not take our performance into account.
In what area of your life are you still living like a rebel—like Jesus is not your king—convinced you are qualified to run your own life? What do you need to surrender?
Like the wicked servant, how is fear paralyzing you from acting on what God is asking you to do? Of the fears listed below, which do you struggle with the most, and in what real way does the gospel free you from it?
We evangelize around the things that we care about. If we aren’t talking about Jesus, it is a value problem in our own heart. What do you talk about or get excited about the most? If it’s not Jesus, what does that reveal about what you value above all?
There are many people who need Jesus and discipleship—starting with those in front of you whom you may be overlooking. Who has God put right in front of you as your responsibility? Who might you be overlooking because you are overly concerned for people you are not responsible for?
We are not qualified to run our lives better than our own Creator.
How we move towards fear is what deepens our faith. As we move and obey, even as it creates tension, every step we take is an opportunity to find more life.
It is in the face of fear that we discover Jesus is actually enough for us.
We evangelize around the things that we care about.
Dealing with their fear, the faithful servant orients and structures their life around helping others trust and obey Jesus.
If your life is in Christ and you are hidden in him, because of his death there is nothing left for you to fear. Even death itself gives us more life in Jesus.
Don’t overlook the people right in front of you for the people you are not actually responsible for.
What are the things in your life that make you feel worthy? What is your version of a righteousness resume? What gospel truth covers this lie?
The more we think we have to offer, the harder it will be to feel our need for God. How might you be experiencing this in your life now? If not, what are you doing to stay dependent on God to fill every need?
If you find yourself to be prideful:
The gospel frees us to expose ourselves through confession (see the last key point). Who in your life are you regularly confessing to who points you back to the gospel? How has this brought you freedom?
When we put our trust in ourselves, we make God transactional.
We all have some version of a righteousness resume that makes us feel worthy; it is a list we use to determine our worth outside of Jesus. We have to surrender that list to God daily and trust that we do not need a list.
Where there is pride, there is judgment of others (Luke 18:9).
If we continue to think we have anything to offer, our pride will prevent us from humbly coming to God for everything.
Life in God’s Kingdom is about the posture of our hearts, not our earthly accomplishments or admiration.
If you feel like a failure, find encouragement in the fact that God’s grace is not based on you, it’s based on him. Your eligibility in God’s Kingdom is based on the finished work of Christ not the finished work of you.
The same gospel that frees you to be exposed is the same gospel that draws you back in after telling on yourself. You can know you are living in the freedom of the gospel when you allow yourself to be exposed—when you have someone who fully knows you who you can regularly confess your sin to.
Forgiveness is in a separate category from fellowship or trust. You can forgive someone without the restoration of fellowship or trust, but you cannot restore fellowship or trust without forgiveness. How does this help you understand forgiveness differently? In what ways does this allow you the freedom to forgive?
We don’t need to think about forgiveness, pray about it, or work through it any longer—there is nothing for you to do. As believers, forgiveness we share with others is drawn from an eternal bank that cannot run out; we don’t draw our ability to forgive from our own bank. Who have you written off thinking they don’t deserve your forgiveness because you are drawing from your own bank? What does it look like for you to forgive them?
Read 1 Peter 1:18-19, and reflect on the statement: “The debt of my sin requires the blood and life of the infinite, eternal God.” It is in a category we cannot meet, and it is only through the cross that our debt is paid. Have you trusted in Christ by recognizing that your debt is too great for you to handle? Does this change anything about the way you have been thinking or living? What do you need to focus on this week?
We can’t forgive on our own; it has nothing to do with our own ability and everything to do with Jesus’ finished work on the cross.
Just like the forgiven man who “couldn’t pay” (vs. 25), we too are unable to pay for any of our debt on our own. Our hope for the forgiveness of our own sins is in Jesus alone.
It does not matter what people have done to you, it only matters what Jesus did for you.
We often deceive ourselves into thinking we can manage our debt on our own by reducing it in our minds to a level we think we can handle or by elevating ourselves to think we are powerful enough to manage it.
When someone has been forgiven debt as big as ours, they are no longer bound to a high sense of justice. Our need to protect ourselves, our reputation, or our fragile, easily wounded feelings is significantly lowered when we fix our eyes on the cross. We can be merciful and overlook things.
This parable is a warning not to be the person who receives forgiveness from God but does not extend forgiveness to others.
We are called to forgiveness from the heart. This does not include faking it, fantasizing about hurting the people who have hurt you, or holding onto bitterness.
Stop looking at the people who have hurt you and dwelling on what they owe you, but instead, look at Jesus and dwell on what you owed him that he paid for you—you can fund the forgiveness of others with the forgiveness given to you by God.
You can be gracious and kind to those who have offended you because of the work Jesus has done for you.
In Matthew 21, Matthew reveals to us the spiritual blindness of a religious person who fights for moral rules and demands God justify himself to them based on their own terms. In what ways do you identify with the religious person? How might you take the posture of demanding God justify himself to you?
The point is not that Jesus loves immoral people more than moral people; it is that he does not see things the way we do. God desires for us to be desperately aware of our brokenness and humbly willing to repent. What has repentance looked like with your sin struggles? Is there anything you currently need to repent of?
How have you contented yourself with religious form and image over the power of God? What types of religious structures or customs do you uphold in order to count yourself in good relationship with God? What steps of obedience do you need to take to move away from that and towards an authentic, personal relationship with God?
“For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” —Romans 14:17
When we commit willful sin and then refuse to repent and be comforted, we are being prideful because we want to be good enough without Jesus. If God said to you, “What my son did on the cross was enough for me, why is it not enough for you?”, what would that change about your life? In what ways can you preach the gospel to yourself rather than listen to yourself?
We don't need to be about a form of religion. We need to be about an authentic relationship with God that is personally transformative.
How we react to circumstances that do not go our way will reveal whether or not we truly meet God on his terms.
God desires for us to be desperately aware of our brokenness and humbly willing to repent.
This parable reveals to us a tragedy, a warning, and hope—we have to recognize the tragic nature of the human condition, the warning that settling for religious form will not sustain us if we are content apart from the power of God, and the hope that we can receive the message of Jesus as offered to us and depend on it no matter who we are or what we have done.
The good is what God is responsible for, and the bad is what we have done to the good that he has given us.
The hope of the gospel is not that those who live the “right life” will inherit the kingdom of God but that the revolutionary nature of Jesus’ words are that the prostitutes and tax collectors get to the front of the line ahead of people who follow all the rules and customs. Those who receive the message as offered, have a willing heart that is constantly repenting and moving towards holiness, and depend on Jesus for everything are those who are living in the freedom of Christ.
God is far more willing to forgive us than we are to be forgiven.
A few weeks ago, we identified what our own righteousness resume would say, or in what things we find a false sense of security and significance. How has this same sense of righteousness come up since you were able to identify it? What patterns have you noticed? How are you moving away from your resume and into God’s grace?
Jesus tells the story of two characters who are deeply religious in order to expose the powerlessness of the knowledgeable man’s “righteousness resume”. What would the story be like that Jesus would tell you?
Jesus calls us to a love that is inconvenient, personal, sacrificial, purposeful, and responsible. What does it look like for you to love in this way? Who are you on the hook for? (e.g. Senior Honor, JumpStart/Prison Ministry, Foster & Adopt, Mosaic, Care & Recovery)
For many of us the structures of our culture insulate us from people with long-term, difficult problems. Part of the reason it’s hard for us to love like Jesus is that we are surrounded by people just like us. What are you going to do to move towards people who are different than you?
We equip and motivate our members to get involved in someone else's life, meet their needs, and help them grow in their relationship with Christ.
Jesus often uses parables to remind us that his standard for us is unattainable in our own strength, and only by his grace and through dependence on him can we love as he does.
Our righteousness resume can never empower radical obedience.
We have had a dramatic increase in economic segregation as we have insulated ourselves with comfortable neighborhoods and comfortable lives. How did we get here? What do we do about it? Watch the video on our Parables series page as David Delk dives deeper into this topic specifically.
If we live and love others by self-reliance, we might be nice, appropriate, respected, and maybe even successful but we will never be spiritually powerful.
Jesus calls us to a love that is inconvenient, personal, sacrificial, purposeful, and responsible.
If Jesus rebuked religious people who walked by on the other side of the road from the needy man, then what would he say to people who built entirely different roads so they would never have to see them in the first place?
If we do short-term nice things for relatively well-off people and ignore the people who are hurting in our culture, can we really say that we love like Jesus?
If we don't love with great love, maybe it's because we don't realize how much we've been forgiven.
"Many of those most in need of our care are facing chronic issues and demands, troubles that won’t go away, or wounds which take a long time to heal. Insufficient kindness in those circumstances is mere salt to the wound, and ultimately brings grief to the recipient.
Costly, covenantal kindness makes the return visit, it engages in follow-up—it withstands rebuffs, it can listen to frustration, it knocks the door when the blinds are drawn, it carries the broken until they are whole, it nurses the dying until they are gone, it feeds the hungry until they can provide for themselves, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, it never fails."
—Andrew Roycroft
The irony of our difficulty with God’s judgment is that we are constantly judging whether or not we are being treated fairly. We can’t do anything without judging, cutting, or separating. What are some of the judgmental thoughts you have had just today alone?
We love getting justice for us, but we don't want justice done to us. However, the question we have to ask is, “Do we want a God who evaluates, judges, and rids the world of evil, or do we want a God who lets it all go?” How does this resonate with you? How can that be a comfort in the midst of what we can think of as unjust circumstances?
This whole passage is a warning for us not to evaluate God but to recognize that as the Creator of the universe, he has a right to and will evaluate us. How do you need to respond to this warning from Jesus?
Read 2 Corinthians 13:5. According to Jesus, there are many non-believers in our church, and since not all are believers yet look like they are, we will see some people fall. How does this truth sober you and encourage you to take Paul’s direction seriously?
The parable explained:
The irony of our difficulty with the word “judgment” in terms of the almighty God is that we, as humans, sit in judgment about everything. We are constantly measuring whether we are being treated with fairness.
We love getting justice for ourselves, but we don't want justice done to us. Do we want a God who evaluates, judges, and rids the world of evil, or do we want a God who lets it all go?
When we tell God we don't think he should judge, we are making a judgment; we critique God for doing something we are doing ourselves.
From what we understand, for those who trust in Jesus, judgment was poured out on Jesus instead of them, and their name is written in the Book of Life. For those who have not, they will have to stand on their own merit and deal with their own sin, as their names are written in the Book of Deeds. In other words, if you have trusted in Jesus, you are judged according to Jesus’ deeds. If you trust in yourself, you are judged according to your own deeds.
If you have ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to understand, you should incorporate this truth and respond.
According to Jesus, there are many non-believers in our church. Since not all are believers yet look like they are, we will see some people fall. We should be sobered by these words and examine ourselves regularly according to 2 Corinthians 13:5.
1 Part Parables
2 Part Parables
3 Part Parables