Gospel – Luke: An Orderly Account – Part 6

Luke: An Orderly Account A Gospel Identity Luke 4:1-13 January 7, 2017

I. CHALLENGING Jesus’ IDENTITY… (v.3-11)
A. You NEED to PRODUCE. (v.3)
B. It’s ALL about POWER. (v.5-7)
C. You have to MANAGE other’s PERCEPTIONS. (v.9-11)

Luke is showing Jesus to be a new take on Israel, the people of God. After “crossing” the Jordan (in baptism), He heads off into the wilderness for forty days. Forty days of being challenged in regards to who He really is and what He is called to be. Forty Days of learning what God the Father has planned for Him. The Jews in the exodus only grasped a small piece of the story, but Jesus gets it fully.

1. How do you define yourself? If you had to say, “This is who I am” in 2 sentences, what would you say?
2. Which of the three challenges that Jesus faced is the hardest one for you to resist in your own life?

II. How JESUS stands FIRM. (v.4-12; Ps 119:89)
A. He TRUSTED the WORD of God. (v.4,8,12)
B. Both WRITTEN and EXPERIENCED. (Lk 3:21-22; Lk 1:38)

Jesus stands as a model of obedience for us all to follow when we encounter temptation. But what we don’t often see is that his faithfulness wasn’t just an act of a strong will to resist temptation. It was a trusting faith in what God had said, both in the Hebrew Scriptures and in His own recent experience.

3. How important is the Bible to you personally? Do you find it to come easy to read and apply or more of a challenge?
4. What are some ways you could increase your exposure to and interaction with the Bible in your own life?
5. In what ways would you say that you have “experienced God” in your life?

III. Letting the GOSPEL define your IDENTITY. (I Cor. 15:21-22)
A. BELIEVING what seems UNBELIEVABLE. (Col. 3:1-4; Mk. 4:40)
B. Giving God the LAST WORD. (2 Cor. 5:17,21)
C. Living INTO the TRUTH. (2 Cor. 4:16-18; Gal. 2:20)

Our ultimate goal is to be like Jesus, that is what God has promised to do in those who surrender to His call. If we are to be like Jesus in resisting the temptations of the world it starts by following His example of trust and faith in what God declares to be true. It seems counter-intuitive, knowing God loves you shapes your behavior, not the other way around.

6. How would you restate Col. 3:1-4 in your own words? Why is that important to life today?
7. What are you afraid of? What insight does that give you in regards to what you are basing your identity on?
8. Where do you need to give God “the last word” in your own life right now?
9. What is one step you can take to “live into” the truth this week?