WEEK 23
THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE | Axiom 4
Jesus led a life filled with the Spirit. Luke points this out more clearly than any other gospel. Jesus’ whole life was lived out under the power of the Spirit. Notice in Luke what the Christian life can look like as it is propelled by the Holy Spirit.
WEEK 24
THE RESURRECTION | Axioms 3, 8 and 10
As you finish your readings in the NT, remember the centrality of Christ and the cross. But Jesus didn’t stay dead. No, he came back from the dead to demonstrate that he really is the Son of God. As such he grants authority to his followers to carry out his mission to the ends of the world, empowered by his Spirit, glorifying the Father.
Are living out this mission in your life?
Weeks 23-24 | Questions for Discussion
1. List all the times in Luke the Spirit is mentioned in connection with Jesus’ life. What kinds of things did the Spirit help Jesus to accomplish?
2. What does it mean that as Christians we have the same Spirit living in us that lived inside of Jesus?
3. Read Luke 24:45-49. What does this teach us about Jesus’ mission? How can we help fulfill Jesus’ mission?
COMMENTARY
The Book of Luke
Luke wrote this book to describe the amazing life of Jesus Christ. Luke was an educated man and the only non-Jewish author in the New Testament. As a Gentile, he must have felt like an outsider looking in. As you read this book, take note of the other “outsiders” in the story, and how Jesus invited them in.
Luke 1:35
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” The birth of Jesus was miraculous. The Bible makes clear that Mary was a virgin, and would stay that way until after she had Jesus. The coming and power of the Holy Spirit anticipates the coming of the Spirit at the day of Pentecost. The Spirit that would propel the birth and expansion of the church would also make possible the birth of Jesus.
Luke 2:52
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Jesus’ childhood was apparently fairly normal. He grew up like any other Jewish kid of his day, learning his adopted dad’s trade. But even at this young age Jesus had a close connection with God the Father. And, of course, he was without sin.
Luke 4:17-22
This is a powerful passage that points to the deity and unique identity of Jesus Christ. His coming was planned from long ago and He was prophesied about many centuries before His time on Earth. The fact that Jesus was so bold as to tell the people that He was the fulfillment of the prophesy in Isaiah shows that He was aware of His own deity as well. This passage also tells us the mission of Jesus – to set us free. This is primarily speaking to our spiritual bondage and freedom rather than temporal freedom.
Luke 6:12-15
You may have noticed some variation in the names of the disciples given in the different gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). People often used secondary names or nicknames, especially in the case of distinguishing between the two Simons and Judases in the list of 12. “Bartholomew” is probably Nathaniel (from John), and “Judas son of James” is probably “Thaddaeus” (from Mark).
The importance of prayer
The importance of prayer is clearly seen in his adding to the parallel account that Jesus went to a mountainside “?to pray?” and his intensifying this by stating that Jesus “?spent the night praying to God.?” Within this one verse (6:12) Luke made two references to Jesus’ having prayed before choosing the twelve apostles. This prayer, furthermore, lasted through the whole night. We already have noted the general importance prayer played in the life of Jesus and the early church (see comments on 3:21 and Introduction 8 [7]), but prayer by Jesus before his selection of the church leaders was being portrayed consciously as the normative pattern for the later selection of church leaders. This is evident from Acts 1:24; 6:6; 13:2–3; 14:23. Luke was seeking to teach his Christian readers that prayer should be made before church decisions concerning leadership. (Stein, R. H. 2001, c1992. Vol. 24: Luke. The New American Commentary. Broadman & Holman Publishers: Nashville)
Luke 7:1-17
Jesus’ picture of the believer’s way of life in Luke 6 portrays a counterculture. All that Jesus teaches goes against the grain of the ways men live in our world, and the values most men hold. Where do we find the resources to enable us to move upstream; to be different in a world that demands conformity? Jesus was done with His public teaching. As He entered Capernaum, the next two recorded events provide the divine answer to our questions about sources of strength. (Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. 1987. The teacher’s commentary. Includes index. Victor Books: Wheaton, Ill.)
Luke 8:25
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” It’s interesting to note at this point that the disciples didn’t really understand who Jesus was. As we see in Luke 9:20, they understood that he was the Christ. But they didn’t appear to understand all that it meant. They definitely didn’t expect Jesus to die on the cross. And they didn’t even expect him to raise from the dead. Don’t worry if it takes you a while to really understand who Jesus is. The key is to keep pursuing him.
Luke 15
Over three parables in this chapter, Jesus shows us vividly how much God loves us. These parables show us the great lengths that God will go to in order to find us and save us. They also give us a taste for the joy God experiences when people come to him for salvation. And the parable of the lost son reminds us that none of us are too far gone from experiencing the love and forgiveness of God.
Luke 22:19
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” This passage tells us about the beginning of communion. Communion was instituted by Jesus as a way to remember and proclaim his death for us. The bread represents his body and the wine represents his blood. He left communion for us as a living symbol of what he did for us on the cross.