Luke 5:17-26 Bible Study

When we talk to people about Jesus, how do we frame Him?  How do we explain to people what it means to become His disciple? 

A lot depends on this.  How we set this up will determine how and why people become Christians, and what they anticipate will happen when they do?  Birth is a complex thing, and when things go wrong there can be consequences that last a lifetime.  The same is true spiritually.  How we are born can affect our whole experience of being a Christian, and even what we think that experience should or will be.  Many of the problems the Church is facing today is in fact the consequences of badly birthed Christians.  That isn’t to say we aren’t Christians, but speaking personally, I have faced many problems and difficulties as a Christian, and latterly as a pastor, that could easily have been avoided if we had been taught well about the Gospel before, as, or immediately after we became Christians.

For many of us, we may have heard a Gospel about the forgiveness of our sins.  That is true – gloriously true – as our passage this week shows.  ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven’ (5:20).  But if that is where our grasp of the Gospel stopped, it is fundamentally incomplete, and that inadequacy may never have been addressed (Please note: I am not saying that this isn’t part of the Gospel, but that it is only part, whilst many think it is the entirety).  We may have spent years hearing again and again that the Gospel is about the (once and for all) forgiveness of our sins.  We are told that over and over again, and we hear others told that, and it simply reinforces the idea that this is the full message of the Gospel of Christ.  It isn’t.  But it would explain why we struggle to understand why we need to grow as Christians, or to even conceptualise what that means...  It might explain why we find it so hard to believe the critical centrality of the Church to my spiritual vitality.  It might even explain why – as a generation of Christians – we value the kind of Churches we do...  the kind of worship we do... the kind of teaching we do...  and why we can’t for the life of us see why any of it might be a problem.  It certainly does explain why the British Church is haemorrhaging, and why so many young people simply walk away from the faith altogether. 

We might not be able to share the whole Gospel every time, but there are key facets of it that need to be communicated clearly, so that when people do become disciples of Jesus they understand what they are getting in to. 

Questions:

When you explain the Gospel to others, how do you describe it?

Based even on what we have seen of Jesus, and heard from him, so far in the Gospel of Luke, what would you say was the full message of the Gospel?

What do you think of when you think of ‘holiness’?  How has that view been challenged as we have watched Jesus over the last couple of chapters?

Do you think that this passage is teaching us that spiritual healing and care is more important (urgent?) that physical healing and care?  Is that the same as saying that caring for someone physically isn’t important?  How does Jesus keep balance in this passage?

In 5:21, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law think to themselves: ‘Who can forgive sins but God alone?’.  Are they right?  How does Jesus teaching that we must forgive sins (e.g. Matt.6:14-15) fit with this?   How would you help someone who was struggling to forgive (or to be forgiven)?

Look ahead to Luke 17:3-6 where Jesus teaches about forgiveness.  What are the conditions of forgiveness?  How does that challenge our thinking about forgiving and being forgiven?

Why does Jesus have authority to forgive sins?  Why do you need authority to do that?  Where does that authority come from?

This is the first time Jesus uses the title: ‘Son of Man’ (5:24)?  What do you think He is telling us about Himself in using that title?  How does the use of that title in passages such as Ezek.2:3-8 (and 93 times altogether in Ezekiel), and Dan.7:13-14 help us understand why Jesus chooses to refer to Himself in this way?

Why is the reaction of the people in 5:26 so hopelessly inadequate to what they have seen?  What should they have said and done?

Luke 5:12-16 Bible Study

If you really want to get a sense of the background to this event, you might want to read Lev.13-14.  Though by the time you get to this Bible Study, I’ll have tried to paint the background in for you during the sermon.  It remains to be seen how helpful that will have been!!

Everything about this moment speaks of the compassionate power of Jesus.  Obviously enough the ‘healing / cleansing itself’ demonstrates that.  The crowd will have collectively held its breath as Jesus reached out to touch this man.  Uncleanness – in the Levitical sense of the word – was contagious.  If you came into contact with it, it could claim you.  The Leprosy Mission’s website reminds us that:  Leprosy spreads through water droplets that have come from a person that is infectious. For example, when an infectious person sneezes or coughs.  Most people who develop leprosy have been in long-term contact with an infectious person, which means they live with or near them, or perhaps work with them.  In the world of Leviticus, the reality of the disease, is a kind of shadow-sacrament: an outward and physical sign of an inward and spiritual reality. 

And yet, ‘Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man’ (5:13).  That in itself is an act of incredible compassion for one who has been denied human touch for many years (judging by how far the disease has spread).  At a leper’s approach, people would have backed away, recoiling.  And yet Jesus comes towards, reaches out, touches.  Such compassion alone would be admirable.  But this is barely scratching the surface of what happens in that touch.  Jesus holiness is more powerful than the uncleanness of a fallen creation.  The leper becomes ‘contaminated’ by Him, rather than Jesus being ‘contaminated’ by the leper.  The man rises from the ground both healed and cleansed. 

But there remains two further moments of compassion in this short account.  The first is Jesus sending him to pronounced clean by the Levitical Priests.  That is a public declaration that the man is clean and is to be welcomed into the life of the Church.  It is also a powerful testimony to the Priest(s) about the reality of who Jesus is (but that’s a sermon for another time!).  The second is Jesus’ refusal to use the man as a PR stunt.  ‘Don’t tell anyone…’.  Not that Jesus is afraid of publicity or profile.  But he will not, and does not want to exploit those who have come to Him in desperation. 

Questions:

What has this leper had to overcome in order to get close enough to fall to the ground before Jesus?   What does this teach us about what we need to be prepared to do as we come to Jesus?

I’ve suggested this miracle has an almost ‘sacramental’ element, where the physical dynamics (amazing in themselves!) are pointing us to deeper spiritual realities.  Do you agree?  why / why not?  If you do, what do you think those deeper spiritual realities are?  What are we learning here about Jesus?

What would you say to someone who said that Jesus will always heal those who come to Him like this?  …or that there are those in the Church who have a ‘gift of healing’ (e.g. I Cor.12:9), and through whom Jesus works by His Spirit to consistently heal?

Why has convinced the leper that Jesus is able to cleanse him?  And why has that not served to convince him that Jesus would be willing to do so?  How would you use this insight to help someone who wasn’t sure that Jesus would cleanse them?

When Jesus tells the man to ‘offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing…’ (5:14), he is referring to Lev.14:1-11.  As you read through the ceremony for cleansing, can you explain how each element is helping us to ‘see’ what Jesus achieves on the cross?  Can you think of NT passages that build on this ceremony?

…if you’re stuck, here’s a freebee to get you going: I John 5:1-8. 

Why does Jesus not use his miracles into spectacles for His own publicity?  What does this teach us about how we should treat those who become Christians? …or who experience Jesus doing something miraculous in them or for them?  How should we view people who do use the miraculous to publicize their ministry, or their Church; or to give themselves standing amongst God’s people?

5:16, ‘Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed’.  Do you follow Jesus’ example in this?  What do you think is the connection between Jesus’ exercise of His ministry, and His habit of prayer?  What can we learn from this?

perhaps as a focus for your time of prayer as a group, you could visit the Leprosy Mission website.  If you click on ‘Get involved’, then in the drop down menu, on ‘Pray with us’, there is downloadable PDF with news, stories and prayer requests.

Luke 4:31-44 Bible Study

Authority: power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behaviour; an influence exerted on opinion or behaviour because of recognised knowledge or expertise.  Luke identifies this ‘amazement’ at or near the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, and characterises that ministry in terms of Jesus’ authoritative teaching and preaching (4:43).  This was going to be a distinguishing, indeed a unique feature of Jesus’ engagement with the people. 

I wonder how often we consider Jesus’ teaching to be in this category?  As one whose words had authority ... whose words had power to influence, or command thought, opinion or behaviour.  Specifically, our thought, opinion or behaviour.  Throughout the Gospel Jesus gives evidence of His authority.  To recognise it would hardly be the proverbial leap in the dark.  We see His authority over many facets and consequences of the fall.  Where creation – including the human sized and shaped pieces of creation – is subjected to His authority, brought under its sway, we find he Kingdom of God (4:43).

We tend to get a bit cynical about those in positions of authority.  We’re used to seeing authority abused and misused.  or perhaps simply used incompetently.  That might prejudice against the idea of recognising Jesus as an authority figure.  The only way to overcome that prejudice is to consider carefully how Jesus utilises the authority He has as ‘the Holy One of God’ (4:34).  Consistently throughout the Gospels, His authority is used to the advantage and restoration of those who are the beneficiaries of His goodness, love and mercy.  Our experience makes us wary of accepting someone else’s authority over us.  The language of submission is problematic at best, inherently abusive at worst.   But not all authority is the same... or at least, not all those who have authority are the same. 

And at the end of the day, our commission (the ‘Great’ Commission as we call it) is to teach people to ‘obey’ everything that He has commanded us. 

Questions:

Do you think of Jesus as One who has authority?  How does that shape your discipleship?  How would you help someone who said they were a Christian, but who didn’t recognise that they had to accept Jesus’ teaching as authoritative?

What is the connection between the reading from Is.61:1-2 (see Lk.4:18-19) and the way that Jesus’ ministry begins to play out in Capernaum?

How can someone who is possessed by a demon be found amongst the gathered people of God at worship (4:33)?

What do you think is going on when someone is ‘possessed by a demon’?  Does this still happen today?  ...or was it something that only happened in Biblical times?

Why does Jesus not allow demons to declare His identity (4:35 & 41)?  What has to be in place before anyone can confess Jesus as the Messiah, or as Holy One of God?  What do these titles for Jesus mean to you?

Should we expect to be able to cast out ‘impure spirits’ and heal diseases in the way Jesus does?  What is the place and meaning of miracles in the ministry of Jesus?  Should they be reflected in the ministry of the Church? 

How would you define or describe ‘the kingdom of God’ (4:43)?  What does it mean to be part of that Kingdom?  Why does Jesus frame the reason for His being sent as to ‘proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God ... and so He kept on preaching’?  Why does He define it in these terms, rather than performing miracles of healing and exorcism?

Luke 4:14-30 Bible Study

There is a profound degree of pride characterising the synagogue at Nazareth.  It seems that they have allowed the wonder of God’s grace to slip through their fingers, and have grasped instead a harsh legalism, that demands they prove themselves worthy of God’s grace.  And in their own eyes at least, they have.  This, in part, explains their murderous fury when Jesus reveals the true nature of God’s grace as reaching beyond those who consider themselves good enough for God to justify it.  In reality grace is only grace when it reaches past the self-righteous, who seem themselves as good, and extends to those who know themselves to be unworthy.  Luke will draw out this clash of spirituality again and again in his Gospel, highlighting it in Jesus’ teaching (see e.g. 7:36-50; 14:15-24; 15:11-32; 18:9-14 etc.).

Their pride also find expression in their presumption to stand in judgment of Jesus.  their whole posture demands that Jesus prove Himself to them (4:23).  If He does in Nazareth what He has done elsewhere, if He offers proof and subjects Himself to their scrutiny, then they might deign to believe Him, and to entertain His claims.  Until then, they’ll take an attitude of staying coolly aloof.  Although cool aloofness descends into blazing fury with breath-taking speed.  We might play along with such seekers...  they can seem genuine.  ‘Of course I am open to believing in Jesus’ they might say, ‘if I find the evidence sufficiently compelling’.  And on cue, well-meaning Christians offer the evidence, only to be confused and crushed when it is judged inadequate to elicit faith. 

Jesus is not so naïve.  Those who retain to themselves the right to judge Jesus are blinded by sinful arrogance, and Jesus always leaves them to their perpetual seeking.  He warns us that even if such people see the most extraordinary miracles they will not believe.  They are like the celebrated atheist, Bertrand Russell (pictured), who stood before the Voltaire Society, and in a staggering moment of hubris explained what he would say should he find himself before the Almighty on Judgment Day: ‘Not enough evidence Lord, Not enough evidence’.  Even then he would seek only to justify his refusal to believe.

We either humbly submit to Jesus Word and thus accept His authority; or we stand in judgment over it, and remain in spiritual poverty, enslaved to sin, blind to the truth, and oppressed by the god of this age (Lk.4:18).  There is no middle ground.  We engage Jesus on His terms, or not at all.

Questions:

Much is made in sermons and commentaries of the fact that Jesus went into the Synagogue ‘as was His custom’ (4:16).  Do you think Luke is making a comment about the importance of frequenting the public gathering of God’s people?  ...or is this reading too much into the text?  How should we follow Jesus example here? 

Go back and read Is.61:1-2.  Why does He stop part way through a sentence?  What is this teaching us about Jesus’ incarnation and his ‘earthly ministry’?  How is it different from the Day of the vengeance of our God?  How do you account for the difference in emphasis?  What else do we learn about the Lord in Is.61?

How does Jesus use of Is.61:1-2 shape his ministry going forward?  Can you think of examples when He does each of these things?  What about when Jesus uses similar language in e.g. Rev.3:17? 

Jesus – both in Isaiah and here – is drawing on the imagery of the Year of Jubilee (Lev.25, the year of the Lord’s favour).  How should we relate to statutes such as this in the OT?  What do they have to teach us about Christian discipleship and ministry today? 

How much should expect to experience the freedom and recovery of sight, and the favour, of which Jesus is speaking?  What does that look like in our experience?  how would you help a Christian whose experience fell short of what Jesus is here promising?

How do you account for the sudden and extreme change in the people’s response to Jesus (see 4:22 & 28-29)?  What can we learn here that might help us next time we find ourselves getting angry because of what someone is teaching us from the Bible?

What does Jesus’ teaching in vv.25-27 teach us about the heart of God?  How should that shape our priorities as individuals and as a Church? 

Luke 3:21-23 Bible Study

Every Gospel records the baptism of Jesus by John.  It is an incredibly powerful moment, with many layers of meaning and significance.  Some of that we looked at in our sermon.  But one thing we didn’t touch on there was Jesus’ entering into His High Priestly ministry.  Behind His baptism lies a number of OT passages, including Lev.8:1-12, where Aaron is ordained – a process that involves both washing and anointing (Christ-ing).  Of course, when Aaron is ordained he himself is subject to weakness, and as such has to offer sacrifice for his own sin (Heb.5:2-3).  By contrast Jesus need offer no such sacrifice...  and of course, whereas Aaron is anointed with oil (the symbol), Christ is anointed with the Holy Spirit (the reality).  Jesus – the true High Priest is consecrated to His ministry (see Num.4, for the stipulation that a Priest must be 30 before he can serve in the work of the Tabernacle!). 

This is important to realise.  It’s obvious that Jesus has always known the presence of the Spirit.  That has been the case since His conception in Mary’s womb (Lk.1:35).  This descent of the Spirit is about Jesus’ being equipped and empowered for His ministry, specifically His (High-) Priestly ministry.  This is something that Luke really focusses on and draws out throughout His Gospel.  Luke loves the idea of Jesus as Priest, fulfilling so much of the Levitical foreshadowing, and it is a recurring theme throughout his Gospel.   The Priest is tasked with keeping uncleanness in any form out of the camp, and for leading the people in their offering sacrifices.  The High Priest is uniquely responsible for the annual sacrifice of atonement, and is the one person who is able to enter the Holy of Holies.  It is images such as these that frame Luke’s biography of Christ.

This is why Luke introduces Jesus’ genealogy at this point too.  When Ezra brings the priests back from exile there is a problem surrounding some of the descendants of Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzilla.  ‘These searched for their family records, but they could not find them, and so were excluded from the priesthood...’ (Ezra 2:61-62).  As Luke is presenting Jesus as the (High-)Priest, it is no surprise that he would be keen to show Jesus has the required genealogical credentials.  For modern readers, the second half of chapter 3 is a tedious interruption, likely to be skipped as we read through the Gospel.  For Luke, it is critical, and he wouldn’t dream of going any further in the biography without showing us that Jesus is qualified to do all that He will be seen to achieve.  And so Luke traces Jesus’ family tree back to His true Father.  Jesus is ‘the Son of God’. 

Questions

How would you sum up the ministry of a Levitical Priest?  Have you ever thought of Jesus in these terms?  Can you think of events in Jesus’ ministry that have a ‘priestly’ feel in Luke’s Gospel?

What other Old Testament passages can you see lying behind Jesus’ baptism?  What is Luke teaching us as he weaves these images together (think for example of you’ve seen a dove over water before... or where you’ve heard the Father speaking from heaven before)?

Why does the Spirit descend in the form of a dove, and not as fire, or wind or any of the other images that are associated with Him in the OT?

Luke shows us the full Trinity in operation.  What do we learn about God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in these few sentences?   Have a read of Is.48:12-22.  What insight does a passage such as this give us into the heart of our God?

We are so used to speaking of God as love (I Jn.4:8), we might be unsurprised by the Father’s declaration of His love for the Son.  Why does the Father choose this moment to open heaven to proclaim this deep truth? 

How is the Father’s love for the Son, different from the love He has for His creation?   Does God love everyone the same?  Does He, for example, love unrepentant people the same way He loves repentant people?  Does He love them the same as He does His Son?

How can we experience the love of God as Jesus does?

Do you think it is right to say that God hates the sin but loves the sinner?  To what passages from the Bible would you turn to back up your answer?

Do you think it is right to say God loves us unconditionally?  To what passages from the Bible would you turn to back up your answer? What is the connection between the Father’s love for Jesus, and His being well pleased with Jesus? How can we experience that love?

Luke 3:10-20 Bible Study

In basing himself at this point along the Jordan, John takes the Church back to its roots...  to square one.  The story of Joshua leading the Church of his own day into what should have been a life that was compelling to the nations echoes in the background.  The stones John refers to (v.8) weren’t just the debris of a river bank, but those lifted out of the Jordan by the elders of Israel (Josh.3-4) that bore testimony to the Lord’s powerful working to deliver His people into the New Creation.  Everything about the way Luke tells this story is meant to evoke this sense of new beginning.  We are being invited into the life of God... to re-learn all it means for us to be created in the Image and Likeness of God.  We are standing on square one.

But as we gaze into that future, we realise we can’t see anything!  Not because there is nothing to see, but because we don’t have the categories, the spiritual imagination to see what is there.  The life of God is so breath-takingly different to anything we have experienced that we actually can’t envisage what it’s like.  We’ll see that increasingly as we watch the life and listen to the teaching of Jesus in the chapters ahead.  How much of Jesus simply doesn’t make sense to us? 

Those listening to John are having the same sense of destabilisation.  time and again they come to John with the simple question:  What should we do?  They can’t see for themselves what this life of repentance and forgiveness of sins could look like.  It is something that goes far beyond simply the best of the fallen life of sin and death that we are trapped in.  Far beyond it. 

Stepping into an unknown future is a frightening prospect.  It’s easy to step back from the precipice, and retreat into simply being the best at the life you already know.  But that whole way of life is simply ‘chaff’.  John is relentless in his call not simply to elevate that life as high as you can, but to turn away from it in its entirety.  Turn away from death to life.  That’s repentance.  Anything less simply falls short of Christianity.

Questions:

Do you do follow either of the directions laid down by John in 3:11?  Why / why not?  Is this still relevant to Christians living today?

Why do John’s examples revolve around financial issues? 

What do you think John means when he says Jesus will baptise with ‘The Holy Spirit and fire’?  Do you have anything in your experience of being a Christian that corresponds to this? 

How do you feel about Jesus’ coming with His winnowing fork in His hand, and the prospect of separation this image captures so powerfully? 

What does the parable mean?  Who is ‘chaff’?  Who is ‘wheat’?  How are they separated?  What is the barn? ...and the unquenchable fire?

How does an image like this constitute ‘good news’ (3:18)?

Why did John attack Herod in this way?  How could he have justified staying quiet?

Should Christian preachers call out public figures and leaders on questions of immorality today?

Is it a tragedy that John’s ministry is cut short by his imprisonment in this way?

Luke 3:1-9 Bible Study

You’ve got to love the way Luke introduces all these political and cultural and religious figures; this litany of those who are seen to be – and who see themselves to be – the ‘great’ ones.  Here all the movers and shakers and power-brokers are lined up for us in a veritable hall of infamy.  Like John, onto whom the spotlight will turn, these Emperors, Governors and Tetrarchs are all historically verifiable figures, several of whom pop up in other historical documents. Everything we know about these guys is bad news.  They are without exception immoral, corrupt, self-serving, violent, proud and arrogant.  Between them, they comprise a ‘hive of wretched scum and villainy’.

It would have been a trial to have lived under their rule, and more so to live as the Church during their reign.  These were dark and dangerous times in which to wait for the Messiah.  But as is so often the way, when things are bleak, God – the king over all kings - acts, and all the political and cultural power that a few moments ago seemed so intimidating, is rendered redundant.  Where does greatness lie?  Where is the actual power in the situation?  Where it always is: with the prophet of God who faithfully declares God’s Word.  In these months of AD 26/27, it lies with John: the greatest of those born of women (Luke 7:28).

It is a dangerous mistake to think we have to be ‘onside’ with the rich and the powerful and the influential.   And it is a sick Church indeed that seeks or takes validation from an association with them.  It isn’t just strange, but dangerous, to looks for endorsement from political / cultural leaders as if that somehow legitimizes, or enhances the Gospel.

In fact, for all their pomp and ceremony as they parade through Luke 3:1-2, most of these guys are utterly irrelevant to what God is doing, and are barely footnotes in the history of the region, let alone the Kingdom.  And those who we know from later in the Gospel do oppose John and then Jesus, can do nothing to frustrate the purposes of God; and when they try, they end up serving its advance!

Questions:

Why do we think it helps the cause of the Gospel if it is supported by someone we deem influential or ‘powerful’?  What does this reveal about our understanding of power?

Read I Cor.1:25-29.  What does this reveal about the ways of God’s power?  

How does John’s baptism differ from the Christian baptism we have undergone (Matt.28:19-20, see also Acts 19:1-5)? 

Can you know forgiveness of sins without repentance?  How would you define or describe repentance?   How does this feature in your own experience of being a Christian? 

How does the picturesque language of Isaiah 40:3-5 represent the dynamics of repentance? 

What does ‘fruit in keeping with repentance’ look like today? 

Why does John call those who aren’t willing to repent a ‘brood of vipers’?  What spiritual point is John making here?

How would you feel if this kind of language was used in our preaching at MIE?  Would you bring people to hear someone who preached in these terms?  Why do you think people went out to the wilderness to hear John? 

In 3:9, John warns about the inevitability of judgement.  In fact, it has already begun in his preaching of the good news i.e. Gospel (3:18).   Do you see the proclamation of judgment as a necessary part of the preaching of the Gospel (see e.g.Rom.2:16)?

As we come up to our Alpha-launch, who can you bring to hear the Gospel over the next few weeks?  Spend some time praying as a group for them.

Luke 2:41-52 Bible Study

There is a lot riding on this passage.  It is, after all, the only insight into the decades of Jesus’ incarnate life prior to His being baptized by John.  It’s as if Luke thinks everything e need to know about Jesus’ preparation for His public life and ministry is contained in these handful of verses. 

Put yourself in Mary & Joseph’s position.  How would you go about raising the ‘Son of the Most High’, the One who would inherit the throne of David, and whose Kingdom would never end (Lk.1:32-33)?  Some might assume they wouldn’t need to do anything.  He is after all the Son of God, and one would assume, quite capable of preparing Himself?  Others perhaps would want to enroll Him in high octane theological studies?  Mary & Joseph (and herein we see the wisdom of God) take neither extreme.  They simply raise Him in accordance with God’s vision for family life.  Nothing more, nothing less.

To be fair we’ve already had the sense of their commitment to the Lord.  They’ve been introduced as ‘faithful to the Law’ (Matt.1:19); obedient (Matt.1:24, 2:24; Lk.1:38 etc.); students of God’s Word (see Lk.1:46-55).  They are willing to suffer and sacrifice in order to be part of what the Lord is doing.  They have already presented Jesus to the Lord, ‘as it is written in the Law of the Lord’ (Lk.2:22-24).  and in the passage before us we see they continued this pattern of simple observance of what God had decreed in the Law.  They celebrate the Festivals (2:41, see e.g. Deut.16:16), immersing Jesus in the history of God’s dealing with His people, and in the Church’s worship.  They live in Nazareth (the town associated with the Nazirites, Num.6:1-21).  There is something beautifully simple about their faithfulness to the ordinances of God.  They know what they are called to, and with utter lack of ostentation, they follow it. 

Perhaps the only thing more beautiful in the passage before us, is that Jesus Himself also submits to the structures of life and worship that are distilled from the Law of God.  If anyone could have excused themselves from such observance, it might have been Jesus.  And yet in life and worship, He was obedient.

Questions

How much of a priority is celebrating the festivals of the Church for you?  How do they shape your year, and the rhythm of your worship and devotion through the year?  …or do you think that things like Festivals belong to the OT in a way that doesn’t affect Christian worship?

Do you think it was sinful of Jesus to behave as He does?  If not sinful, then what..? 

At 12, Jesus is already leaving the ‘teachers’ and indeed ‘everyone’, ‘amazed at His understanding and His answers’ (presumably to the questions He Himself set in v.46 as well as the questions the teacher put to Him).  How much of Jesus’ identity and mission do you think He understood by this stage?  How had He come to this understanding?  What should we learn from this?

This isn’t the last time Jesus will question and be questioned in the Temple.  Luke 20:1-44 is Jesus’ last public teaching.  Everything after that is directed to His disciples.  What is Luke teaching us as He brackets Jesus’ adult life with these two accounts of Jesus in the Temple?

Why do you think Jesus ‘had’ to be in His Father’s house (2:49, the first words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel)?  What does it tell us that Jesus understood God to be His Father?  Do you think we should still talk about buildings as the ‘House’ of God in this way? 

One of the things that grips me in this passage is Jesus’ humility.  His humility in submitting Himself to His own Law, to His parents, and to the limits of His humanity.  What does this example of humility teach us (maybe have a look at Phil.2:1-11)?  How can we foster this humility in our own experience of discipleship?

‘And He is our childhood’s pattern’.  What example does Jesus give here that should shape the attitude and lives of children growing up in Christian families?   How can you support children growing up through MIE to follow His example? 

What would you say to someone who objected that it wasn’t realistic to expect children & teenagers to be characterized by such obedience today, or that some kind of ‘pushback’ against a Christian upbringing should only be expected?

How can you better support the parents you know in MIE as they seek to raise their children in the training and instruction of the Lord?

Luke 1:39-45 Bible Study

As we are reading through the events we celebrate at Christmas, I am struck by the humanness of those involved…  and with that humanness, the very real fragility of their discipleship.  We saw last week Zechariah’s unbelief and rebuke; and his spiritual growth.  And we’ve seen Elizabeth, herself no spiritual slouch (1:6), remaining in seclusion whilst she took 5 months to re-imagine her life as she responds to God’s call to a different kind of discipleship than she had grown accustomed to.  Having shaped her life around her pain and disappointment she needs time to process and adjust, and to emotionally commit to her unexpected role.  Both are filled with the Spirit, both prophecy and both are folded into the unfolding of God’s purposes.

And John, who we are perhaps used to lionizing, and who here leaps for joy in the presence of His Lord and Saviour – even in utero.  Yet he spends a lifetime under the strictures of a Nazirite vow, isolated in the wilderness, as the Lord patiently prepares him for his ministry and martyrdom.   

Which, in this week’s reading, leaves only Mary amongst the mere humans mentioned.  Christ of course appears, hidden in Mary’s womb…  but we can’t really describe Him as ‘mere’ human.  Mary too is this beautiful combination of the faith-filled and the fragile.  With incredible courage and humility, she has bowed her head: I am the Lord’s servant.  May your word to me be fulfilled’.  She steps into a life of slander and rejection, suffering and sorrow (see Lk.2:35).  Yet she hurries to Zechariah and Elizabeth’s home, craving the support, encouragement and affirmation only they can provide.  Imagine the relief as she – and the Child she bears – are called ‘Blessed’.  After all that has been said about the her… and the Child she bears.

Christians are an amazing blend of dust and glory.  When lifted by the Spirit into the purposes of God we are capable of incredible acts of faith and obedience.  Yet we remain so very human, redeemed sinners at best.  We need time, rebuke, encouragement, affirmation, preparation.  I wonder if remembering this might help avoid much of the pain we endure through our involvement in Church life.  We can easily develop unreasonable and unrealistic expectations of our brothers and sisters in Christ…  and of ourselves.  Yet we remain an intermingling of dust and glory.  We are redeemed, but redeemed sinners, and we do well to extend the same tender patience we see in God’s dealing with us.

Questions:

How much should we expect, and expect others, to grow as Christians and to behave in ways consistently shaped by God’s call on our lives?

Have you been guilty of having too high expectations of other Christians… and been hurt when they didn’t meet those expectations?

How can we have ‘realistic’ expectations of others and ourselves without condoning sinful behavior, or perpetual spiritual immaturity?

How can we develop a culture of patience and tenderness as we wait for people to grow as Christians, and to respond to God’s call on their lives?  How would we have to change the way we engage with MIE to contribute to that culture?

What encouragement can Zechariah and Elizabeth give Mary that no-one else can?

I’m always impressed by Elizabeth’s humility.  She has so much I’m sure she wants to tell of God’s dealing with her, and yet she puts that aside to celebrate first Mary’s experience.  How can we learn to imitate that kind of humility?

Read Lk.1:42-45.  How can we honour Mary’s place in God’s bringing His Son into the human race, without attributing her a place in our worship that would be inappropriate?  What do you make of other traditions within the Church praying to and venerating her?

Is Mary ‘blessed’ in a way that puts her in a different category to other Christians?

Both the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church celebrate the uniqueness of Mary’s worship and love for Jesus as His mother and as the theotokos (God-bearer).  Should we reflect something of that in our liturgy and preaching?

Based on Elizabeth’s song, how much of the mystery of the Incarnation do you think Zechariah and Elisabeth understood? 

What is your experience of being hospitable?  Have a look at passages such as Heb.3:1-3, or I Peter 4:9.  How can this become a more significant place in your discipleship?

Luke 1:5-25 Bible Study

We saw last week that God writes history in advance.  This happens on the macro-scale, covering centuries and the lives of nations, and it happens on the micro-scale, shaping the lives of individuals over months and weeks and even days.  Zechariah is a priest who has been chosen by lot (Lk.1:9, see Prov.16:33).   He had been chosen to offer incense on the altar that stood against the Curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies.  It was a moment that visualised the people of God at prayer (Ps.141:2, Rev.8:4, hence Lk.1:10). 

The whole passage focusses on this great question of prayer.  Not in the way we might expect.  For us the question of God’s ordaining history raises the question of why bother praying then?  In the Scripture that’s not a question at all!  Prayer isn’t seen as us trying to get God to do stuff...  it’s about how He catches us up into what He is doing.  In prayer, as in so many other aspects of discipleship, our thinking tends to run backwards! 

Zechariah has been praying (Lk.1:13).  In this moment he is both a public and a private person.  As a public person, he is offering incense, and is acting in a way that shadows the Mediator, the one through whom (in whose Name) prayer can be offered to God.  But he is also a private person, a man with hope and dreams, some of which it turns out have remained bitterly unfulfilled.  In the wisdom of God, both the public prayers of the people for the coming of the Messiah, and the private prayers for Elizabeth to bear a child, are answered in the same act.  This intervention by God will be both a joy and delight to Zechariah and Elizabeth AND many will rejoice because of his birth (Lk.1:14).  Both histories are written in advance, and collide on this moment of incredible grace, on this unknown couple who live in an unnamed town in the hill country of Judea (Lk.1:39).  John will be born.  And history will be fulfilled.

Questions:

What do you make of Lk.1:6?  Do you think Luke is exaggerating, or is it in fact possible to live like this?  How do you think Zechariah and Elizabeth’s experience of observing the Law of the Lord would have been different from Saul’s (see Phil.3:4-6)?

How can we help each other in our learning to obey the commands of the Lord (see e.g. Ps.119:34, 44 & Matt.28:20)? 

What do you believe about Angels (v.11)?  How does the reality of such beings affect your life and faith?

What does Gabriel mean when he talks about John as going ‘on before the Lord, in the spirit and the power of Elijah’ (Lk.1:17)?  How will John fulfil the prophecy of Malachi 4:4-6, given four centuries previously?

What does it mean to say that the hearts of parents and children are not ‘to’ each other?  How would you recognise that in a family today?  What are the consequences of that?

How does Zechariah’s response in v.18 demonstrate his lack of faith?  Can you relate to the idea of praying without faith that God will answer?  How do you think God sees such an attitude?

Gabriel’s response gives us a sense of the import of words that come from heaven.  How does that shape your engagement with the Bible?  If disbelieving the words of an angel is a serious error, how much more serious would it be to disbelieve the words of God (I Cor.2:12-13).  Yet how do Christians commit this sin frequently?

How would you help someone who said they were a Christian, but who struggled to believe what the Bible taught?  When is it OK to have questions and doubts?  ...and when does it become sinful?

Does Zechariah’s experience of answered prayer reflect your own experience of prayer?  Can you give examples of answered prayer that might encourage the rest of the group?  Or is your experience of prayer more ambiguous?  Should we expect God to answer prayer (see e.g. Jn.14:13-14, 15:7, 15:16, 16:23)?  If our experience is of unanswered prayer, what might be wrong?

Are there times when nothing is ‘wrong’?  What is going on in those times?

Why do you think the monthly Prayer Meeting at MIE is so poorly attended?

Luke 1:1-4 Bible Study

In our sermon this week, we looked at Luke’s stated purpose in writing his Gospel.  We don’t have to try and guess why Luke wrote what he did, and why he wrote it the way he did.  He is seeking to nurture a confidence in our faith.  He is writing ‘that [we] may know the certainty of the things [we] have been taught’ (1:4).  He is a Doctor (Col.4:14), and bring his training to bear on the spiritual virus of insecurity that is threatening the Church.  His prognosis is to present a detailed, carefully researched, verifiable account of the event of Jesus.  These are things that happened in history.  Christianity is not a ‘spiritual’ thing – if by that we mean something that doesn’t necessarily touch the reality of life in the ‘real’ world.  All of Christianity is found in the arena of the ‘real’ world.  And in the history of that ‘real’ world.

I love how Luke talks about history.  It isn’t a series of events that simply happen...  events that may or may not have purpose or significance.  History is ‘the things that have been fulfilled’.  History is not the pursuit of a secular utopia.  It is not driven by issues of money and class (Marx); it is not reducible to a single, all-encompassing equation (Hawking); it is not about power (Nietzsche); neither can it be explained in terms of nationalism, or expansionism.  It is not the quest for justice (King); or the endless reactions of new generations against what has gone before (Hegel).   Still less is it the result of social evolution, or the outworking of a struggle between genders...

History is what has been fulfilled among us.  It is about Gods’ ordaining and oftentimes revealing what will happen in the outworking of His creation, and then bringing that to pass.  He is the God who ‘works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will’ (Eph.1:11).  This isn’t some kind of fortune cookie wisdom:  an unexpected event will make your life more exciting.  No, it is specific, clear, verifiable statements about what will happen.  And for Luke, that is a powerful tool in building our confidence.  His stated aim is to show us that his account of Jesus is the fulfilling of what God has foretold.  It is the result of God’s engagement and involvement in history.  Everything that Jesus says or does has been prophesied, foretold, sometimes centuries before it came to pass.

Questions:

Does it matter if things didn’t happen the way Luke says they did?  If someone could prove Luke had made an error, would it cause problems for the Christian faith?

Periodically, someone tries to tell us that the virgin birth didn’t happen, and that it doesn’t matter whether it did or not?  Do you agree?  Why / why not?

How confident are you in what you believe and why you believe it?  

How much does it matter that we are confident and informed in our faith?  Is spiritual insecurity and uncertainty a problem?  Have a look at Heb.6:17-18.  How important is your spiritual security to God? 

How would you help someone who lacked confidence and security in their faith?

Can you think of anything in the Gospel accounts of Jesus that isn’t prophesied in the OT? 

How do you feel about the idea that everything that happens is ordained by God (Eph.1:11, see above)?  As you read through Eph.1, can you identify the purpose to which His will is shaping history?

How does that impact the way you live as a Christian?

Theo-Philus: lover of God.   What would characterise someone who loved God with all their:

...heart?

...soul?

...mind?

...strength?

How can we cultivate love for God?