Today’s passage: Luke 4:1-13

Helpful thoughts:

• After all the proof of the first three chapters, Satan tries to bring doubt, “If you are the Son of God…”
• Jesus responded to each of the temptations with the truth of scripture.
• Satan also used Scripture, out of context, to push Jesus toward sin.

Questions to consider:

1. How should Satan’s mishandling of scripture be a warning to us?  Is everyone on TV, online, or writing books who uses a Bible teaching the truth?
2. What would have happened if Jesus had fallen to these temptations?  What was Satan trying to accomplish?
3. What did Jesus accomplish for us by denying Satan’s attempts and fulfilling righteousness?

Today’s passage: Luke 3:23-38

Helpful thoughts:

• The final piece that Luke adds to Jesus’ credentials as the Messiah, prior to the telling of the story of Jesus’ earthly ministry, is this genealogy.
• This genealogy has significant differences from the one in Matthew.
  • It is most usually understood that this genealogy is that of Mary, not Joseph.
  • As a result, several of the names in this genealogy and the one in Matthew are different between David and Joseph.
  • Joseph is listed here as the “supposed” father of Jesus since Jesus is not Joseph’s biological son.  Luke omitted Mary’s name according to custom (Something that Matthew did not do).
  • Jesus was a son of David through Mary, and legally through Joseph.
  • Matthew was written with the Jewish people in mind, Luke wrote his Gospel for a larger intended audience.  This may have been the thinking behind taking the genealogy all the way back to Adam and not just to Abraham.
• God had declared that no one descended from Jeconiah could sit on the throne (Jeremiah 22:24-30, 36:30-31).  Joseph was a descendant of Jeconiah and Jehoiakim.  Any biological son of Joseph’s could not be king.  Jesus’ miraculous virgin birth fulfilled this promise.

Questions to consider:

1. With all of the prophecy fulfilled, how many people ever on the face of the earth could have been the promised Messiah?  (I’ll give this one to you…there’s only one!)
2. Looking back through the first three chapters of Luke, what were the evidences that Luke has given about Jesus’ background that point to His identity as the Son of God?
3. With the evidence clearly outlined, what keeps people from believing that Jesus is the Christ?  Why can we be encouraged even if others choose to respond in disbelief?

Today’s passage: Luke 3:10-22

Helpful thoughts:

• Loving God first will be followed by loving your neighbor.
• Herod’s attempt to lock John up (To shut him up) didn’t change the truth that he was teaching.
  • Choosing to ignore consequences doesn’t keep them from coming.
  • John 15:18-25
• Jesus was not baptized as a sign of repentance.  In His baptism, He was fulfilling all righteousness (Matthew 3:15).

Questions to consider:

1. Who did Herod seem to think his issue was with?  To whom does Herod (And all others) truly have to answer?
2. Since this event marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, why would it make sense for the Spirit to visibly descend on Jesus and for the Father to audibly announce His Son to the world?  What did the Trinity accomplish in this instance?
3. In what ways should this passage encourage us to share the good news with others, even if they reject it?

Today’s passage: Luke 3:1-9

Helpful thoughts:

• John the Baptist was making straight what man had made crooked:
  • The Jews were not “good to go” with God simply because of their genetics.
  • Followers of God follow God.  Repentance was necessary.
  • God is just.  The children of Abraham by blood who are not the children of Abraham by faith will not escape judgment.

Questions to consider:

1. Why is repentance a necessary component of conversion?  What happens when a person is saved? (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:8-10)
2. In what way did John the Baptist “prepare the way of the Lord”?  What did John make straight?  What was becoming apparent through his teaching?
3. How might we fall into this same trap/false doctrine today?  How does anyone become a child of God?

Today’s passage: Luke 2:39-52

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus, fully human, fulfilled all righteousness, even in the growing up years.  He was without sin.  He always did what was right in his childhood, teen years, as as an adult; He was perfect.
• This episode would have served as a reminder to Mary and Joseph (And to the reader), Jesus was not going to follow the path that other boys followed.  And, Joseph was not His father.  Jesus had come to do the will of His Father.
• Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God as a 12 year old boy didn’t get Him into much trouble with those who heard.  The same would not be true when we was an adult (Matthew 26:63-66).

Questions to consider:

1. How do you think Mary and Joseph felt when they realized Jesus wasn’t in their traveling party?  How would you have responded if you thought you had lost the Messiah?
2. How would things have been different in our youth if we had not sinned?  How would things be different today if we had never sinned in our youth?  How many reasons are there to fight for purity and righteousness?
3. What is the most significant reason to fight for purity?  Whose business are we to be about now as the children of God?  What has Christ done for us, on our behalf, concerning our sin?

Today’s passage: Luke 2:22-38

Helpful thoughts:

• Simeon and Anna are used by God to reaffirm and expound on truths concerning this baby boy.
• When faced with the truth of why the Messiah came and what He had come to do, many hearts would be exposed/revealed.
• Not only would Mary have to watch Jesus suffer and die on the cross, but she would also know, “It was my sin that held him there.”  It would certainly feel as though a sword had pierced through her very soul.

Questions to consider:

1. How many assurances have Joseph and Mary seen and heard?  What must this have done to encourage their hearts, while also giving them plenty to think about?
2. Why did many in Israel want the Messiah to come?  What was their opinion of the Gentiles?  What kind of “redemption” did they hope the Messiah was going to bring against the Gentiles? (Think: The period of the judges, their desire in 1 Samuel for a king “to fight our battles”…)
3. How are hearts revealed still today at the hearing of the good news/the gospel?  What must I believe about God and about myself before I can trust in Christ’s sacrifice on my behalf?