Preview - Luke 3

Preview – Luke 3

Pastor Shane Walker

My preliminary thoughts on the passage to be preached this Sunday

John the Baptist is a prophet who is the subject of previous prophecy himself: Isaiah 40:3-5! Jesus was also the subject of much prophecy.  Both John and Jesus were announced by angels and were prophesied in the Old Testament.  

In Luke ch 3 we have one of the main thrusts in the book of James emphasised in v9b, "Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." We are shown to be true Christians (justified) by our works and not only by faith, James 2:24. You don't show yourself to be saved when you don't do good works and bear fruit consistent with the type of tree that you are.  Reading James 2 in light of this is helpful and can help with understanding the faith/works tension.

Be content with your wages. Share with those who have none.  These things seem like common sense. Sometimes it takes a compelling and respectable person to challenge us in our areas of sin for us to finally deal with them.  John the Baptist was just such a person calling people to repentance in areas of sin that were no secret. These are still areas of sin in our lives that need to be dealt with.

Jesus is here presented as the Son of David. There are differences between the genealogy presented by Matthew and Luke.  Perhaps Matthew focuses more on royal succession and Luke more on actual physical lineage.  The point is that Jesus is of the line of David (and Adam).

Tetrarch:

1. A subordinate ruler.

2. A governor of one of four divisions of a country or province, especially in the ancient Roman Empire.

3. The commander of a subdivision of a phalanx in ancient Greece.