{"id":2597,"date":"2019-07-15T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=2597"},"modified":"2022-04-22T09:45:34","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T15:45:34","slug":"fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Flashback Episode &#8212; Your Most Important Year: Luke 13:1-9"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_6315\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-2597-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/rbs-ga-y3-28-fb_mixdown.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/rbs-ga-y3-28-fb_mixdown.mp3\">http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/rbs-ga-y3-28-fb_mixdown.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/rbs-ga-y3-28-fb_mixdown.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?powerpress_pinw=2597-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/rbs-ga-y3-28-fb_mixdown.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"rbs-ga-y3-28-fb_mixdown.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/256-reflective-bible-study-gos-31078545\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_iheart\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe on iHeartRadio\" rel=\"nofollow\">iHeartRadio<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p><hr class=\"powerpress-player-divider\"><div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Read the Transcript<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\">\r\n<p>Part way through Jesus\u2019 ministry, He hears some news that would make for a good teaching point. As I read the gospels, it seems that Jesus loved teaching themes from the events and culture of the world which He lived in. Our passage for this episode is a perfect example of Jesus teaching based on the events of the world at that time.<\/p>\r\n<p>To learn what happened, let\u2019s look at Luke\u2019s gospel, chapter 13, and let\u2019s read from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us:<\/p>\r\n<p><strong><sup>1\u00a0<\/sup>Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.\u00a0<sup>2\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus answered, \u201cDo you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?\u00a0<sup>3\u00a0<\/sup>I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.\u00a0<sup>4\u00a0<\/sup>Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them\u2014do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?\u00a0<sup>5\u00a0<\/sup>I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>Let\u2019s pause reading for a moment to touch on what Jesus has just shared. On hearing the news about a group of Galileans who were tortured and likely killed, Jesus senses the opportunity to share about the importance of repentance \u2013 and repentance as a continual habit.<\/p>\r\n<p>Because of the rhetorical question Jesus asks, we can conclude that in the first century culture, the belief was that the way a person died was an indication of their life. If someone died a horrible, painful, or humiliating death, then they must have been bad, while someone who died of old age, painlessly, in their sleep must have lived well and close to God.<\/p>\r\n<p>Stating this belief in this way draws out the fallacy of this belief. Someone who is very vocally for God may be singled out and tortured, but this wouldn\u2019t be because they were living apart from God but for God. Jesus\u2019 key idea here in the first half of our passage is that <em>the death someone faces doesn\u2019t determine their life \u2013 but while one is alive, repentance is crucial.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>The two events Jesus includes in His teaching bring out the point that we don\u2019t know when our lives will end. While most everyone hopes for a long life and a painless death in their sleep at the end of a full and rewarding life, this is not practical in all cases. Disease, sickness, accidents, violence, and natural disasters all can end life before it was meant to end. It doesn\u2019t matter if you have 30 days to live or 30 years, what matters is what you focus on today \u2013 because with rare exceptions, no-one knows what day will be their last day alive.<\/p>\r\n<p>To help push this point further, Jesus continues in verse 6 by sharing a parable:<\/p>\r\n<p><strong><sup>6\u00a0<\/sup>Then he told this parable: \u201cA man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.\u00a0<sup>7\u00a0<\/sup>So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, \u2018For three years now I\u2019ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven\u2019t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong><sup>8\u00a0<\/sup>\u201c\u2018Sir,\u2019 the man replied, \u2018leave it alone for one more year, and I\u2019ll dig around it and fertilize it.\u00a0<sup>9\u00a0<\/sup>If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>What amazes me about this parable is that it has no ending. We don\u2019t know if the servant taking care of the vineyard was able to spur the tree into producing figs in the coming year.<\/p>\r\n<p>However, what we do know is that unknown to the tree, that fourth year, was a very important year for it. If it wasn\u2019t fruitful during year four, it would be cut down.<\/p>\r\n<p>When I read parables like this, I begin to imagine what each character represents. For this parable, God is probably the vineyard owner, and Jesus or the Holy Spirit would be top contenders for the vineyard manager. This leaves the fig tree to represent us as God\u2019s people.<\/p>\r\n<p>If this is the case, and we are represented by this fig tree, then the discussion we can see surrounding the time we have been given directly relates to how fruitful we are being. Not only does this imply that we develop a character that includes the fruits of the spirit, but it also implies that we must be doing something with what God has given to us. In other words, we should be using the talents that God has given to us in order to glorify Him.<\/p>\r\n<p>I don\u2019t want to take this parable too far and state that you only have one year to accomplish what God has placed you in this earth for, but echoing Jesus\u2019 earlier remarks, no one knows when their time on earth will be up \u2013 which makes every day the most valuable day we have to live. While we can predict that if we are living today we will most likely be alive tomorrow, for many this won\u2019t be the case, and it is wise to remember this truth.<\/p>\r\n<p>However, while I include this disclaimer about not wanting to take the parable too far, I also want to restate Jesus\u2019 key idea that <strong>how a person dies does not determine the life that person lived. There will be a point in time when our lives on earth will end, and at that point, the only thing that will have mattered is how our relationship with God is.<\/strong> If we have placed our belief, trust, hope, and faith in Jesus, then our eternal lives are guaranteed, but if we have lived only for ourselves and have rejected God\u2019s offer through Jesus, our lives will be eternally lost.<\/p>\r\n<p>As we come to the end of another podcast episode, let me challenge you on the positive side of this discussion instead of leaving us thinking of the negative:<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Always intentionally seek God first and place Him as first in your life. Live each day with the attitude of forgiveness, repentance, and with the peace that knowing when our lives end, the next face we see will be Jesus.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>As we seek to place God first, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself, because when we open our eyes after death and see Jesus, only those who have grown a personal relationship with God will be pleased to look into His eyes. It is the people who know Jesus and the people who Jesus knows who will inherit eternal life and live forever with God.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!<\/strong><\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p><strong>Flashback Episode:<\/strong> \r\nYear 3 &#8211; Episode 28: When some people bring Jesus some bad news wanting an explanation, discover how Jesus&#8217; response is very different from what they, or the first century culture, expected. Discover how Jesus&#8217; response might be different from what we expect as well.\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Flashback Episode - Your Most Important Year: Luke 13:1-9 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flashback Episode - Your Most Important Year: Luke 13:1-9 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-15T09:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-22T15:45:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@godstruthhisway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@godstruthhisway\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cam\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\"},\"headline\":\"Flashback Episode &#8212; Your Most Important Year: Luke 13:1-9\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-15T09:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-22T15:45:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1293,\"articleSection\":[\"Audio Journal Entries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9\\\/\",\"name\":\"Flashback Episode - Your Most Important Year: Luke 13:1-9 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-15T09:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-22T15:45:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/fb-your-most-important-year-luke-13-1-9\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Flashback Episode &#8212; Your Most Important Year: Luke 13:1-9\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\",\"description\":\"Your Life. 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