Luke 13:22-30 Knocking at the Door
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: September 20, 2018 Luke 13:22-30
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
(Understanding the Text) Jesus is making his way toward Jerusalem, but slowly, stopping at the various towns along the way. At each place He teaches about the kingdom of heaven. This prompts one person to ask whether there would only be a few saved. As usual Jesus does not simply answer yes or no. I think this is because the answer is not as simple as a few will be saved or many will be saved. Jesus wants to emphasize that the ones who will be saved are not necessarily the ones that people expect. He actually implies that many will be saved by saying that people would come from the east, west, north, and south. However, among the expected (the Jews at that time/people claiming to be religious in later times), Jesus implies that the number saved will be comparatively few.
(Revelation of God / Understanding the Text) Why? The Lightbearers say it this way: Religion is the best place to hide from God. Jesus said that He himself was the door. “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (Joh 10:9). Jesus is telling this person to strive. If the problem is that the door is narrow, how do we strive? For me the striving comes with focusing on the door. With our sin-drunk unsteady steps, it is easy to miss the door. The door is the connection to God through Jesus. Jesus opened the portal for us to enter in or more importantly for God to enter into us through the Spirit. The idea is to enter in and be safe. It is the ones on the outside who are called evil doers.
In the immediate setting Jesus is referring to the Jews of His day who will claim connection to Him because they listened to Him speaking and dined with Him. However, it is not enough to be in Jesus’ presence; they had to accept the kingdom of heaven inside them and let it grow. They could not hold back from Jesus while paying lip service to Him. To stand next to Jesus is not enough. We have to enter into Him and allow Him to enter into us. In modern applications, just going to church and/or listening to sermons about Jesus are not enough. We have to accept the message. We have to let Jesus into our hearts. The people’s answer to the Master of the house reflect why they could not enter in in the first place. They talk about eating and drinking, satisfying their own appetites, in His presence, but not about actually doing anything WITH the Master. They talk about what the Master did in their location, but they don’t say anything about interacting with the Master themselves.
Jesus says that many will seek to enter but will not be able to. How are they seeking? I guess they want the goal of being in heaven without wanting the God who is the kingdom of heaven. Maybe it’s like the Jews who wanted a Messiah with all their hearts, but they did not want The Messiah who was in front of them. The rejected people want the kingdom of heaven on their own terms without surrendering their broken selves to the Spirit to be healed. Even though the truth is right in front of them, they cannot accept that it is the truth and keep choosing false ways to enter the kingdom of heaven rather than allowing themselves to be transformed by God into His image, the original design plan that we were made in. They cling to their warped and misshaped character rather than in faith open themselves to Jesus’ teaching. They insist on making their own way to heaven rather than submitting to Jesus’ way.
In several places, Jesus’ answer for rejecting humans is “I do not know you.” Here it is “I do not know where you come from.” Being inside the door means that God knows us. How does He know us? He lives inside of us. We are connected to Him through His Spirit. We are part of Him. The worst fate we can have is for God, our Creator, to not know us. When He stops knowing us, we will simply be gone. We are only here because He knows us, but the day will come when God stops allowing evil to be part of His knowing. In that day, evil will be gone forever and sin will be no more.
(Application/Prayer) My application for myself is that Jesus said to strive to enter the narrow door. My striving is to know Him. I need to spend time with Jesus to know Him. It is not about how much I do, or how “religious” I am. It is about opening myself up to God and being willing to allow Him to transform me. The way to enter the door is by allowing Jesus into me. I need to refuse my stubbornness and accept Jesus’ help and healing. That’s hard to do because I tend to be a proud and stubborn person. Please transform me into Your image.