Luke 2:22-52
Summary:
In obedience to the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary brought their baby, Jesus, to the temple - to offer the required sacrifice. The Law and the temple were central to the Old Covenant. They provided access to God through obedience and sacrifices - mediated by priests. Day in and day out, God’s people entered His presence through the temple and offered sacrifices to cover their sins. On this day, Someone very different appears in the temple. A new Mediator. One who would fulfill the Law and open a new and living way into God’s presence. Simeon declares in 2:29-32 that Jesus is the Salvation prepared by God in the sight of all the peoples - Gentiles and Israel alike. For everyone striving under the insatiable requirements of the Law - for everyone excluded by sin from God’s presence… Salvation is here! Jesus has arrived, sinless, in order to carry all of our infractions - canceling them once and for all as our one, lasting Sacrifice.
Discussion Questions:
- Do you ever experience condemnation or guilty fear because of how you fall short of what God requires? What bearing does this passage have on you?
- Note the repeated usage of “Law” - especially at the beginning of the passage. The Law is the main character at the outset… but where is our focus by the end of the passage? Are we to remain “Law focused,” or is the person of Jesus the new centerpiece? Discuss this progression. Where do you tend to “drift back” to the Law in your way of relating to God, others?
- How is this passage “Good News” to your friends who are living apart from Jesus - who still live under the requirements of God’s perfect Law?
BootCamp2010 is a regional youth-day event being held August 21 in Richmond, VA. Registration is open to middle/high school
students and their parents. This event will be filled with games, fellowship, worship and great teaching on the topic of developing personal convictions. Lunch will be included.
DETAILS:
Event: Saturday, August 21, 2010; 10:00-4:00
Who?: Middle/High school students/parent.
Where?: KingsWay Community Church in Richmond, Virginia.
What?: Games. Fellowship. Worship. Great Teaching.
How much?: $35(regular) per family.
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This is a guest blog post from my good friend, Toby Kurth. Last year Toby planted ChristChurch in San Francisco. Toby is a great pastor, writer, and thinker. Enjoy his post.
“Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.” Proverbs 14:14
We are about a year into our church plant and have become increasingly convinced that a healthy church should be messy. If we really believe what the Bible teaches us about ourselves and others, how can it be any other way? Church is not just a meeting or an event; church is real people. Real people that have been saved by Christ and that are being transformed into his image. We all know that we have sin and struggles, but so many of us have gotten really good at hiding it.
The reality is that life comes with mess, mess that is produced by the work that God is doing in our lives. Work that can be painful and hard, but it is good. I think we are more or less resolved to accept that mess comes with our physical life, but what about spiritual life? Are you as quick to accept that? Do you believe that spiritual life is supposed to be messy?
God wants us to embrace the mess and work that comes with spiritual life because He wants to do real work in our lives. God calls us to acknowledge the mess of our own lives and the lives of those around us. He meets us in the mess. We grow in the mess. Christ redeems the mess.
We all face the temptation to present ourselves better than we are, to deny our sin and failure. We are often driven more by what people might think of us than reality. We slant stories to make ourselves look better. We hide our weaknesses from our friends and spend a lot of time reinforcing pretense. The more we do that, the more we drift from an active awareness of our dependence on Christ.
That is why we need the gospel. The gospel tells us the truth about ourselves and gives us the grace to embrace reality. The gospel tells us that left to ourselves we rebel against a good God and His ways, but that despite our rebellion God pursues us through Christ. The gospel is not a sales pitch. It is not a promise that everything will be neat and clean, that you can have your best life now. The gospel is grounded in reality. We all struggle to varying degrees and we are all desperately dependent upon the grace of Christ every moment of every day. God gives grace to us as we humble ourselves before Him and each other.
Living honestly is also a far better representation of the gospel to an unbelieving world. When we pretend that we are entirely with it and have no struggles, we make the gospel appear inaccessible to those that are not. When we live honestly we demonstrate that the gospel provides real hope for real people. If you are a follower of Christ you are not the way you are merely because you try to be a good person. It is because the Almighty Creator of the Universe is at work in your life to help you grow in the midst of the mess that is your life. A life without mess is a life without work. God is more interested in the fruit of your life than your comfort and reputation.
Summary:
In Jesus, God has given us a great gift! Jesus came as Light into our darkness. Jesus is a Savior, who is Christ the Lord… God Himself visited us, to redeem us from our debt of sin. Jesus also came humbly - laid in a manger - lowlier than a servant. Jesus is ready to welcome anyone. The shepherds were undoubtedly astonished and relieved that they didn’t have to go to a palace or even the temple to receive Jesus. They were unclean men, probably wearing smelly clothes. And in order to seek and save people mired in sin, Christ the Lord was born into an unclean, smelly place. Luke 2:1-20
- From this passage, are you more certain of the grace of Christ? Why?
- What do we see of the “reach” of Jesus’ grace? Does He meet us in the middle or go further than that? How far?
- Unclean, lowly shepherds were invited to the “manger of grace” 2000 years ago, and they went confidently, with haste, honestly and without cleaning up first. In Hebrews 4:16, God invites you to approach the throne of grace with confidence. Are you confident in God’s grace? Do you go to Him with haste - as soon as you know you need mercy? Do you go honestly - just as you really are - telling Him everything? Or, unlike these shepherds, do you try to clean up first? How do the shepherds help us understand approaching Jesus with faith, or “confidence?”
- Most people assume that God, Jesus and church are for “good” people. What does Luke say, through the manger and these shepherds? What sort of people are ready to hear this good news of great joy? Who, among your friends?
Message Summary
Luke 1:1-80
Birth announcements are always exciting. Luke begins his Gospel with two birth announcements that combine to drive home one amazing truth: “God is near!” Whoever you are, whatever you’ve done, whatever darkness or sorrow you’ve known, even in the face of your guilt, God concludes the chapter by announcing the arrival of “knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (v.77-79)
Discussion Questions
- In 1:74-75, we read that one of the purposes of Christ’s coming is “that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.” Trying to establish our own holiness and righteousness through obedience leads to slavish fear. Where do you see Jesus’ provision in these verses? How do these birth announcements move you from fearful obedience to grace?
- In Malachi 4:2, we read prophecies pertaining to these birth announcements. Malachi’s prophecy includes the imagery of healing / making us whole, and leaping like calves out of a stable. What connection is God making between grace and our response?
- Luke makes this very clear, after a 400 year wait, “God is near!” Do you believe this? Gene talked about waking up and not “feeling” God’s particular nearness. He mentioned being encouraged by this chapter because it reminds us that regardless of how we’re feeling, God has made emphatic, historical, objective announcements that we can stake our lives on. In Jesus Christ, God is near! Discuss how this objective truth might encourage you on particular kinds of days or in some particular circumstance you’re struggling with right now.
Summary
In the overview to Luke’s Gospel, we considered two main ideas. First, we can believe what we read - this is what Luke wrote, and this is what really happened. Luke wrote to fill in the details surrounding Jesus, so that we may have certainty about who Jesus is and what He has done. Secondly, we considered who it is that Jesus came for - what kind of person does He accept, and what kind of person accepts Him? Luke’s Gospel makes clear that no one is out of Jesus‘ reach. Why pretend to be better than we really are? Luke makes it so clear that only Jesus is truly good, and He came to seek and save messed up sinners. The ones who are honest about their need for mercy are the ones who find mercy. The “good people” routinely go away empty-handed. How about you: how are you responding to Jesus?
Discussion Questions
1. Discuss some of the reasons we can have certainty that what we read in Luke’s Gospel is reliable / trustworthy
- What difference does that make in how you approach reading / listening / study?
- What is a specific way you are hoping God will meet you this study?
- Is God prompting you to share this News with someone in your life? Who?
2. Discuss some of the “underdog” stories in Luke, where Jesus redefines who is truly acceptable. (Shepherds; Levi & his friends in ch.5; the sinful woman in ch.7; Zacchaeus in ch.19; etc.)
- What do these surprising stories teach us about God? Grace? Jesus as Savior?How do the “bad” people respond to Jesus
- How do the “good” people?What kind of people find mercy? Why?
- Do you still come to Jesus as one who needs mercy or are you trying to be “good” on your own? What does that look like in your daily life? (Heb. 4:14-16)
