HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1308
LU KE 1 5
10 “Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of
the table. Then when your host sees you, he will
come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for
you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the
other guests. 11 For those who exalt themselves
will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
12 Then he turned to his host. “When you put
on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t
invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich
neighbors. For they will invite you back, and
that will be your only reward. 13 Instead, invite
the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
14 Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God
will reward you for inviting those who could not
repay you.”
Parable of the Great Feast
15 Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with
Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to
attend a banquet* in the Kingdom of God!”
16 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent
his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and
must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another
said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and
I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
21 “The servant returned and told his master
what they had said. His master was furious and
said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of
the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the
• Commitment
LU KE 1 4 :2 6 -2 8
Could Jesus really be telling us to turn
our backs on our families? Of course not!
We can understand the apparent harshness of his words only when we grasp the
nature of commitment. Jesus wants us
to see that commitment is exclusive and
costly. People fully devoted to developing
their musical skills cannot also be fully
devoted to becoming great athletes. In
the same way, Christ must become the
central and dominating commitment of
our lives, and all other loves must take
place through him. Think about your
Christian commitment. Is it diluted by
overcommitment to other things or other
loves? We must evaluate all commitments by asking, “Is this activity worthy
of my time and affection in light of my
commitment to Christ?”
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blind, and the lame.’ 22 After the servant had
done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for
more.’ 23 So his master said, ‘Go out into the
country lanes and behind the hedges and urge
anyone you find to come, so that the house will
be full. 24 For none of those I first invited will get
even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”
The Cost of Being a Disciple
25 A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned
around and said to them, 26 “If you want to be
my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate
everyone else—your father and mother, wife
and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even
your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27 And if you do not carry your own cross
and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
28 “But don’t begin until you count the cost.
For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if
there is enough money to finish it? 29 Otherwise,
you might complete only the foundation before
running out of money, and then everyone would
laugh at you. 30 They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’
31 “Or what king would go to war against
another king without first sitting down with
his counselors to discuss whether his army of
10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? 32 And if he can’t, he will send
a delegation to discuss terms of peace while
the enemy is still far away. 33 So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything
you own.
34 “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its
flavor, how do you make it salty again? 35 Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the
manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with
ears to hear should listen and understand!”
Parable of the Lost Sheep
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.
2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with
such sinful people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has
a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost,
what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine
others in the wilderness and go to search for
the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when
he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home
on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call
together his friends and neighbors, saying,
‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost
sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in
heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who
are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
15
14:15 Greek to eat bread.