Category Archives: Luke

A Great Idea for Christmas

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Gather the kids and read the Christmas story.

Here it is in chronological order.
If you have young listeners be sure to choose an easier to understand version like The New International Version or New Living Translation. If you have really small, or impatient listeners, read only the sections listed in bold.

A tradition we enjoyed when the children were small was to have them use the pieces of a non-breakable nativity set to act out the action while Dad read. (See the video below to see that this does not have to be some high and holy experience.  Have fun with it.)
Print this out and store it with your decorations and you’ll be ready to do it again next year.

Have fun and a Merry Christmas.

THE BIRTH OF THE SAVIOR
John 1:1- 5, 14 (Eternal Word made flesh)
Luke 1:5-25 (Zechariah’s vision)
Luke 1:26-56 (Mary’s vision and trip)
Matthew 1:18-25 (Joseph’s first dream)
Luke 2:1-20 (Bethlehem & Shepherds)
Matthew 2:1-12 (Magi)
Matthew 2:13-23 (To Egypt and Nazareth)

Want to see how this works?
Jonathan dug up an old home movie of one of our Christmas readings while we lived in Guatemala, Central America.
Check it out here.

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What will people think?

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Luke 7:31-34 – “What can I say about such men?” Jesus asked. “With what shall I compare them? 32 They are like a group of children who complain to their friends, ‘You don’t like it if we play “wedding” and you don’t like it if we play “funeral'”! 33 For John the Baptist used to go without food and never took a drop of liquor all his life, and you said, ‘He must be crazy!’ 34 But I eat my food and drink my wine, and you say, ‘What a glutton Jesus is! And he drinks! And has the lowest sort of friends!’
—–
Though it was not His main message this reminds us of the futility of trying to please people. No matter what you do some will complain you did too much and some will criticize you for doing too little. “You should have danced when you were mourning” or “You were mourning when you should have been dancing.” You can’t please all the people all the time.

“What will people think?” You can’t control that. “What will people say?” You can’t control that either. Even if you always do the right thing people can still think and say you are a scoundrel. So should we just live for ourselves and not be concerned with others or what they think? No, that is the most self-centered choice of all.

Instead, live to please the Lord. Live your life for an audience of One. Constantly trying to please man, the fear of man, is a snare (Proverbs 29:25) but “the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death”. (Proverbs 14:27). Ultimately, when we stand before Him, it is only His opinion that will matter for all eternity.  So live for that day.

Live to bring a smile to His face and let the chips fall where they may.
_________________________
Psalm 147:11
The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Proverbs 14:26-27
He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.

Proverbs 16:7
When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.

How to beat the devil

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Luke 4:13 – When the devil had finished every temptation, he left (Jesus) until an opportune time.
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You know Satan wanted to stay on top of Jesus 24/7 tempting and attacking Him.  But after a period of intense temptation Satan left Him alone.  Clearly Satan didn’t want to leave Jesus alone but the Bible promises that if we will do two things the devil has to get out of our face – 1. Submit to God and 2. Resist the devil (James 4:7)  . Certainly he doesn’t do that by choice but he must flee.  If the devil is constantly knocking at your door and never goes away, something is wrong – either on the submission side or on the resisting side.

Yes, there will be seasons in our life when we will be under greater demonic assault. Note that though only three short temptations are recorded in the story in Luke it says Jesus was tempted the entire 40 days. But as Jesus submitted Himself to God and resisted the devil he eventually had to flee.

If you are in an intense time of temptation don’t forget it will not last forever and there is a bright hope at the end of it all. Matthew 4:11 tells us that after this time of temptation, when Jesus was victorious over the devil, angels came and ministered to him.  That is cool because it tells us that God was watching the whole time.  Jesus did not go through this alone and neither will you.  He is watching, cheering you on.  Submit to Him.  Resist the devil.  Reach out and find friends to help you fight the old serpent.

When the devil flees you will find a new power in your life, too.  Luke 4:1 tells us Jesus went into this time of testing filled with the Spirit but He came out in the power of the spirit (v. 14).  This testing will result in new power to glorify God with your life.  Like lifting weights, resistance builds muscle so resist the devil!

Stand strong soldier! This temptation will pass.
………………………..
James 4:6-7 
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” [7] Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1 Peter 1:6-7
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. [7] These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Jesus permits failure

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Luke 22:31-32
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
____________

Put yourself in Peter’s place. Jesus tells you that Satan has asked to “sift you” – translation, “beat the snot out of you”. That is worse than hearing the school bully is waiting for you in the parking lot. But surely God said “no” to Satan’s request, right? Wrong.

Jesus tells you He has prayed for you. Whew! That’s a relief. Jesus prayed so now the bully won’t be able to touch you or maybe you’ll even beat him up, right? Wrong again.

He only prayed that your faith would not fail – translation, that while the bully is beating you up, you won’t give up. What?! Jesus didn’t pray to keep you safe?!

The news gets worse. He says, “when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Translation, after you have regained consciousness from the beating, encourage others. Jesus knows you are going to fail this test yet He still gives Satan permission to attack!

So let’s get this straight: Jesus, you are saying that Satan has asked to kick the snot out of me and You gave him permission to do it. You prayed for me but only that I would survive the beating.   You already know that I am going to get my tail kicked and lose the battle. But once I pick my bleeding body up off the pavement You want me to go and encourage others that even though they may get their tails kicked by Satan, they can get up, get back in the fight and still be used by God. That is what You are saying?

OK then, let’s do it!
—
Isaiah 55:8-9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

2 Corinthians 12:10
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

1 Corinthians 1:25
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

Jesus did NOT come for everyone

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Luke 5:32 “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
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Jesus makes it clear here that His coming was not for all mankind, just for sinners. Of course, all are sinners so what was he talking about, “I have not come to call the righteous”.

While it is true that all are sinners, many of us aren’t willing to admit it. If you are one of the “good people” then you really don’t need a savior. Oh, none of us would claim to be perfect but most of us think, all things considered, that we really aren’t that bad. If we had to check a box saying we were either a “bad person” or a “good person”, most of us would, rather humbly of course, say we are not perfect but, we are definitely a good person.

Jesus is saying here that unless we are a sinner, unless we recognize our spiritual bankruptcy before God, we aren’t ready to hear His call. He didn’t come to give His life for “good people”, if there were such a thing. The first requirement to being found is to realize you are lost. So, Jesus only came to call the lost, the sinners, those who recognize their desperate plight apart from God.

So let’s get real.  I am a sinner, you are a sinner and, as they say in the hood, so’s yo mama. We need Jesus. He is our only hope and that is why He came.

PS – If you really are a good person, here is a fun way to show the world just how good you are – CLICK HERE take the Good Person Test.
_____________________
Romans 3:22-23
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

But he doesn’t deserve it!

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Luke 21:1-5
Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.  3 “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God.
__________
It is interesting that right after the story of this widow comments are made on the accumulated wealth of the temple. This widow gives her food money to an institution that can build gold and jewel encrusted buildings. Something does not seem right about that.

I’ve seen it throughout Latin America. Dirt poor peasants bring their precious pesos or quetzales or centavos or perhaps all they can bring is an egg or some corn and they present it to an institution that has untold wealth in land, gold, jewels, paintings, statues, on and on – literally immeasurable wealth. I see injustice, Jesus did not. He commended this widow. Obviously He was seeing something I am missing. Continue reading →

Aggressive Agape

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Luke 10:25-29
An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
_____
What was this expert in the law asking?  Who is my neighbor? In other words, just who do I have to love? I certainly don’t want to be wasting any love on anyone I don’t have to. The law seeks to limit liability and responsibility. “According to my contract I have to do this and no more.” “Just who am I obligated to love to fulfill the command? I will love my neighbor but no one else.”  Do you sense the straight jacket of legalism in this?

To answer the question Jesus told the story of the Samaritan who reached out to a robbery victim laying by the road and acted like a neighbor to him.   Though the Samaritan had no idea who this man was, his background, nationality or even whether he was “deserving” of his help he even risked his own safety to aggressively demonstrate unconditional love to a stranger.  No limited liability here.  Just aggressive, inclusive love. Who was the neighbor? The one who showed mercy.  Jesus then instructed the law expert to go and do the same, show mercy to everyone. In other words, Jesus said, you go and take action to make every person your neighbor and then love them.

I am eternally grateful that is the heart of God. By the law’s standards, I was not a neighbor of God. I was far from Him, a victim of the Evil one left without mercy to die. Though not deserving of it, Jesus showed me mercy, picked me up and paid the price Himself, no matter what the cost, to see me healed and restored.

Can you imagine the response of the man who had been beaten the next time he sees someone lying helpless beside the road. Surely he would stop and offer any help he could. Because he received mercy he would surely be one generous to give mercy also. If we have been forgiven then we must be those who forgive. If we have been shown mercy then we must show mercy – aggressively, inclusively, where it is not deserved nor can be repaid.  So who is your neighbor?  or rather, who can you make your neighbor today?
_____________
1 Peter 2:10
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

Who knows WWJD?

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Luke 9:51-56
As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. (Samaritans and Jews disliked each other based on their religious pasts.  Samaritans felt true worship should be at a location in Samaria so anyone going to Jerusalem was not welcome.) When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”  But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.
_____

While I love the idea behind the WWJD concept (in every situation ask yourself “What Would Jesus Do?” and then do that) I find it interesting that the very men who walked with Him, talked with Him and lived with Him were often clueless as to what He was going to do. James and John were following a Biblical precedent of calling fire down on those who oppose the Lord (2 Kings 2:12-14) but they were rebuked for their suggestion.  Perhaps they asked, “WWJD when insulted like this?” and, based on Scriptural precedent, they decided He would destroy these evil people.  They accurately understood the Word of God but they totally missed the Heart of God.

Like a bird needs two wings to fly, if we are to WWJD (can I turn that acronym into a verb?) we need to understand not only the Word of God but also the Spirit of God.  They aren’t in opposition but balance requires both. Truly understanding our Heavenly Father requires both insight into the Word but also insight into the Spirit of God.  Those heavy into just the Word can tend toward harshness and legalism as James and John demonstrated. Those who lean on  sensing the Spirit but neglect the Word can veer into gushy sentimentalism and trying to follow God based on every fleeting emotion.

As has often been said:
If you have the Word without the Spirit you’ll dry up.
If you have the Spirit without the Word you’ll blow up.
But if you have the Word and the Spirit you’ll grow up.
_____
John 16:13; 17;17
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. … your word is truth.

Rude Jesus

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Luke 8:19-21 – Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”  He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”
—
What kind of son would not even help his family get through the crowd to be able to talk to Him? Sounds pretty rude and inconsiderate, doesn’t it. But this didn’t come as a surprise to the original readers. They knew something that Luke doesn’t record here. We have to go to Mark for the surprising explanation.

Mary and the brothers of Jesus thought he was crazy!  They had come to take him by force and get him out of the public eye. He was an embarrassment to them. Later Mary and at least some of his brothers became believers (the book of James and the book of Jude were both written by his brothers.)

If you have unbelieving family that think you are crazy, be encouraged. Those that saw Jesus grow up, saw His life and saw His miracles thought He was crazy, too. But eventually God was able to change their hearts and they became believers. Keep living faithfully for the Lord, love them, bless them, pray for them and let God work on their hearts.
_________________________
Mark 3:20-21
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

John 7:5
For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

 

What will people think?

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Luke 7:31-34 – “What can I say about such men?” Jesus asked. “With what shall I compare them? 32 They are like a group of children who complain to their friends, ‘You don’t like it if we play “wedding” and you don’t like it if we play “funeral'”! 33 For John the Baptist used to go without food and never took a drop of liquor all his life, and you said, ‘He must be crazy!’ 34 But I eat my food and drink my wine, and you say, ‘What a glutton Jesus is! And he drinks! And has the lowest sort of friends!’
—–
Though it was not His main message this reminds us of the futility of trying to please people. No matter what you do some will complain you did too much and some will criticize you for doing too little. “You should have danced when you were mourning” or “You were mourning when you should have been dancing.” You can’t please all the people all the time.

“What will people think?” You can’t control that. “What will people say?” You can’t control that either. Even if you always do the right thing people can still think and say you are a scoundrel. So should we just live for ourselves and not be concerned with others or what they think? No, that is most self-centered choice of all.

Instead, live to please the Lord. Live your life for an audience of One. Constantly trying to please man, the fear of man, is a snare (Proverbs 29:25) but “the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death”. (Proverbs 14:27). Ultimately, when we stand before Him, it is only His opinion that will matter for all eternity.  So live for that day.

Live to bring a smile to His face and let the chips fall where they may.
_________________________
Psalm 147:11
The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Proverbs 14:26-27
He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.

Proverbs 16:7
When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.