Jesus’ Ministry in Luke
A. Covenants of God fulfilled by Jesus Christ for Christians.
1. Luke 1:31-33, 69; 2:4, 11; 3:31, 33. “He will be the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him (Jesus) the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” See Jesus’ coronation entrance into Jerusalem in 19:28-44.
2. 1:54, 55, 73; 3:34. “He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”
3. 2:32; 13:28-30. “A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory to your people Israel.”
4. The promise of the power of the Holy Spirit.
a. 1:15. John, the Baptist. And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
b. 1:35. Mary. The Holy Spirit will come upon you.
c. 1:41. Elizabeth. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
d. 1:67. Zechariah. Filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied.
e. 2:26. Simeon. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.
f. 3:16. Jesus Christ. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.
g. 4:1, 14, 18. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit.
h. 12:10. No one should blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
B. Jesus Christ, the protagonist, was tempted by the devil, the antagonist (4:1-13). Jesus simply responded to the devil with, “It is written,” and then He quoted scriptures.
1. Man does not live on bread alone. Luke 4:4; Deut. 8:3.
2. Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only. Luke 4:8; Deut 6:13.
3. Do not put the Lord your God to the test. Luke 4:12; Deut. 6:16.
C. The following scriptures are about the teachings of Jesus with a few added comments. They may serve as a guide through Luke’s gospel; however, they are teachings we will want to remember as we read Acts. What Jesus taught is what the preachers in Acts taught to convert multitudes of people from both Jews and Gentiles. What Jesus taught became the foundation on which Jesus built His church. We will want to keep these in mind in order to fully comprehend Jesus evangelism program in Acts.
1. Jesus taught the law of life of the new covenant (Heb. 8:10). “They were amazed at His teaching, because his message had authority.” 4:32. He taught the word of God with authority because the context of His teaching was how and why God created mankind ( 5:1). The heart, mind and behavior of mankind is the spiritual context of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. Jesus’ heavenly commission: “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” 4:43. Jesus inspired His disciples with the spirit of evangelism. “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” 5:10.
3. The Pharisees’ negative reaction to Jesus’ teachings gave His audiences several serendipitous tidbits of information. That is, they received some extra powerful messages like they did in the following encounter. “Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” Jesus had the authority to both heal and forgive sins. 5:23, 24. “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” 5:32. He could name a person’s sin and He could forgive the sin if they repented. He had this power before He gave himself as a sacrifice for the very sin He named (Heb. 9:14; 11:39, 40). Before Jesus became the “sacrifice of atonement” faithful repentant sinners received forgiveness as on a “credit card.” Today faithful repentant sinners have our sins prepaid.
4. “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?” Jesus used a parable to show that an “all new” administration of God’s kingdom was in transition. 5:36-39. Some transitional points:
a. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. 6:5.
b. Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy life? 6:9. Jesus’ ministry is “real life.” It is not a religious ritual. See 13:10-17.
5. Matthew tightly organized some of the teachings of Jesus into what is often called the Sermon the Mount. Luke applied these same teachings throughout his gospel and slightly altered some to favor the poor. 6:20-49.
a. 20-23. Encouragement for the poor and downtrodden.
b. 24-26. Woe to the rich and haughty.
c. 27-36. Producing fruit is loving others. Jesus raises the “bar” to “love your enemies.” The reward: “And you will be sons of the Most High.”
d. 37-45. Don’t become a condemning judge, rather forgive. The way you deal with other people is the way God will deal with you. Make judgments about a person based on his or her fruit.
6. “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 7:28. God’s reconciliation program in Christ changed the status of God’s children from children under guardians and trustees to sons of God with full rights (Rom. 5:11; Gal. 4:1-6). John did not live long enough to enjoy reconciliation. The baptism of John became the dividing line between those who accepted Jesus and those who rejected him. 7:29, 30; 20:3-8.
7. Jesus’ evaluation of the “outlook” of the people: Adults are often just little children in adult bodies. 7:31-34. Who is the mature person? “But wisdom is proved right by all her children.” 7:35. By their fruit you will know them.
8. Jesus gave a parable to teach the relationship between love and forgiveness. The principle: Forgiveness stimulates love. 7:40-50. This is what God did and is doing today.
9. The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God was revealed by Jesus in parables to those “who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering, produce a crop.” ( Soil # 4). These are the kind of people John the Baptist was warning that all of God’s people must be. People live in one of four categories: 8:10, 15. “The seed is the word of God.” Luke 8:11. “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom.” Matt. 13:19. Jesus’ family members are fruit producers. “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” 8:21.
10. After being healed by Jesus, Legion became a preacher in the region of the Gerasenes. Jesus’ preacher training course for him was summed up in one sentence. “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” 8:39. Do we get it? See I Pet. 3:13-16. Jesus established the “shake the dust off your feet” principle of evangelism when people do not welcome the message of the kingdom of God. 9:5. The only method for making converts is to “preach the kingdom.”
11. Jesus ask, “Who do the crowds say I am?” Peter gave the correct answer – “The Christ of God.” 9:18-27.
a. Jesus then spoke of the literal physical cross He would bear. V.22.
b. Jesus charged His followers with the need to take up our spiritual cross so that we might save our “self.” Vs. 22-27.
c. Be proud to be a disciple of Jesus. V. 26.
12. Jesus, Moses and Elijah appeared together in glorious splendor. Peter wanted to treat them as equals; howbeit, God spoke from a cloud, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen, listen to him.” 9:35. No man on earth represents Jesus Christ.
13. Who is the greatest? Everybody wants to know. Jesus’ answer; “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all – he is the greatest.” 9:46-48.
14. A life principle: “For whoever is not against you is for you.” 9:50. With this attitude a person would have a lot of friends. 9:50.
15. Three characteristics of a disciple of Jesus who is carrying our cross. 9:57-63.
a.. Physical ease is secondary. V. 58.
b. Preaching the kingdom is top priority. V. 60.
c. “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” V. 62. There is no retirement program for Christians this side of the grave. Heb. 4:10, 11.
16. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his field.” 10:2. The reality of an evangelist under the kingship of Jesus Christ. Please note the absence of the promise of financial support.
a. “I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” V. 3.
b. Satan will be present. V. 18.
c. “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” V. 20.
d. “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” V. 23.
17. Who is my neighbor? Jesus answered this question by presenting a parable about a person in distress and how people responded to him. 10:25-37. The answer is “the person who is merciful.”
18. “Lord teach us to pray.” Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.” Some manuscript add, “May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” 11:1-13.
19. Jesus laid bare the mentality and motive of “chief seat leaders.” 11:37-54.
a. Three woes on the Pharisees:
1). “You neglect justice and the love of God.” V. 42.
2). “You love the most important seats … .” V. 43.
3). “You are like unmarked graves.” That is, your lives are not productive. V. 44.
b. Three woes on the “experts in the law.”
1). You load the people down but will not help them. V. 46.
2). You are killers of God’s prophets. V. 47-51.
3). “You have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering. V. 52.
20. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 12:10.
21. Jesus’ “points of faith” that will help us solve our problems with greed. 12:13-48.
a. “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 15.
b. A parable. A rich man’s two choices.
1). Store up riches and die with the goal to “ Take life easy; eat drink and be merry.”
2). Or, pursue a path of getting rich toward God. To stay on the path we will need faith in the following teachings of Jesus. V. 21.
22. Spiritual growth is similar to a mustard seed and yeast in their natural function. Once the word of God is accepted by faith, the inside/out sanctification process begins in our spirit – our “self.”
23. “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? 13:23. Jesus’ answer for the Christians who will not be saved: “I don’t know you or where you come from.” 13:25. Jesus welcomed the Gentiles to take our place in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob along with the prophets. 13:28-30. See Eph. 2:11-13. O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem. Mankind has been granted choice. God waits for people to subjugate our wills to His will. The locks for our hearts are on the inside. 13:32-35.
24. Mankind has an innate need for glory, honor and peace. Faithful Christians’ inheritance will give us eternal satisfaction for all three. 14:12-14. This is eternal life (Rom. 2:10). Jesus explained to the Pharisees how to attain partial satisfaction for these needs now. In fact, if we do not make Jesus’ principles our goal for attaining satisfaction for these needs, we will never attain satisfaction.
25. Jesus’ teachings about what it means to repent as a process of being “born again.”
a. The kingdom of God must be valued above family. 14:26.
b. Every disciple must carry his or her own cross. 14:27.
c. We must give up every thing in order to function as salt. 14:33, 34.
d. Jesus presented two parables to say that we should consider the foregoing cost before we decide to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. 14:28-32.
26. The following is the response in heaven when the churches of Christ accept the responsibility of Jesus’ commission to take the gospel to the world. 15:1-32. See II Cor. 2:14-17.
a. “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” V. 7.
b. “I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” V. 10.
c. “But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” V. 32.
27. “You cannot serve God and money.” 16:1-15. This principle is worked out by Jesus in a parable – plus the following straight forward statements:
a. “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” V. 9.
b. “And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you your own? V. 12.
c. “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” V. 15.
Point: This stuff we have “legal title” to belongs to God. People do have a habitat in heaven. What is being worked out here is how we go about getting there.
28. The story of the rich man and Lazarus. 16:19-31. Facts we learn:
a. When people die they go to the place the rich man went, which is hot – agony.
b. Or we go to the comfortable place where Abraham has his abode.
c. There is no crossing over from one to the other.
29. Woe to that person who causes another person to sin. 17:1-3a.
30. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 17:3b.
31. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed. 17:6.
32. The kingdom of God is within you. 17:21.
33. The Son of Man” will suddenly come again. 17:24. Just as in the days of Noah and Sodom people will be going about their business. 17:26-37.
34. Two choices when suffering injustices: Pray or give up. 18:1-8.
35. Let the little children come to me (Jesus). 18:16.
36. How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 18:24.
37. All who serve Jesus will “receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life. 18:30.
38. For the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost. 19:10.
39. The people thought the kingdom of God would appear at once. Therefore, Jesus gave a parable to show how His disciples would serve as stewards in His kingdom until He returned. 19:11-27. In His parable Jesus established the three variables for Christians judgment.
40. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection will neither marry or be given in marriage. 20:36.
41. The destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the return of Jesus. 21:5-36. Jesus promise. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never. 21:33.
42. 22:19. This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance if Me.
43. 22:20. This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
44. 22:69. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the Mighty God.
45. 23:34. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
46. 23:46. Father, into your hands I commit My spirit.
47. 24:26. Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?
48. 24:48. You are witness of these things. I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.
49. 24:51. While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven.
The ministry of Jesus in these “one liner” quotes from items 29-49 are all great thoughts we will want to keep utmost in our minds as we read Acts. We don’t have space in this lesson to say more. May the Lord bless us as we continue to follow Jesus’ exciting evangelism of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria “and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8.
This document was developed for your reference; therefore, there are no questions or items for discussion paper.
