First Peter: Part 10

Luke reveals Jesus’ desire that we enter His Kingdom!

A Brief Overview Luke’s Highlight of the Kingdom of God:

It is ruled by Jesus Christ and it is eternal (Luke 1:32-33)

It is Good News (Luke 4:43)

It is for the Poor (Luke 6:20)

It demands faithfulness (Luke 9:62)

It is growing before our eyes into something immensely powerful (Luke 13:18-19)

It has requirements for entry (Luke 13:28; & Luke 14:33 & Luke 18:17)

It spiritually realized and established by the presence of God (Luke 17:21)

It is diminished in our eyes when we desire lesser kingdoms (Luke 18:24-25)

It is BOTH spiritually present now, and ultimately realized late (Luke 19:11 & Luke 21:31)

Massively Significant Concepts from Jesus Found in Luke:

If we call Jesus Lord, we must obey Him(Luke 6:46)

If we are not offended by Jesus, we will be blessed by Him (Luke 7:23)

If we wish to follow Jesus, we must sacrifice all we have (Luke 9:23)

If we are not actively working with Jesus, we are actively working against Him (Luke 11:23)

If we do what God says, we are blessed (Luke 11:28)

If we do not repent, we will die as enemies of God (Luke 13:3-5)

If we do not voluntarily and sacrificially follow Jesus, we are not His disciples (Luke 14:27 & Luke 14:33)

If we have not entered into serving God, we are still serving our former master (Luke 16:13)

If we do everything the Lord commands, we have only done what we should have (Luke 17:10)

If we disregard Jesus, He will destroy us (Luke 20:17-18)

Q: Why Bring this up? Why look at this over Christmas?

A low view of Jesus will destroy us, and the Devil orchestrates the world so that we maintain a low view of Jesus?

We are tempted to turn a High-Holiday of the church into a pagan ritualistic worship of a fictional character that we ascribe the attributes of God to!

We are tempted to idealize the child Jesus over the resurrected Lord.

We are tempted to restrict Christianity to mere intellectual concepts that should be kept private.

We are tempted to look for help outside of Christ and His church—if we actually experienced the power of Christ, we’d never look elsewhere.

A Lofty and Exalted View of Jesus is not optionally, it is necessary!

Our hearts are too wicked and deceitful to lead us to the truth—we must have Jesus reveal and apply the truth to us!

Our natural predisposition and being is that of enemies towards God—we must have Jesus mediate and make peace for us!

Our flesh is too weak and corrupt to submit to God—we must have the indwelling Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit) empower us to do so!

Our lives are characterized as rebellious—we must have Jesus demonstrate godliness to us!

Our lives are too difficult to survive—we must have Jesus give us life!

Whenever and wherever we have a low or diminished view of Jesus, we have weakness, defeat, sin, and death!

Luke shows us a Jesus that is not only the king, but a King that ushered in His kingdom and brought about our salvation!

Luke shows us a King that is working, and commands us to join Him in His work.

Luke shows us a King that is powerful, and invites us into the blessings of His power.

Luke shows us a King that is compassionate, and invites us into His mercy.

Luke shows us a King that is effectuating His rule, and invites us to marvel in awe over Him.