9th Sermon in Series
Series on the Book of Luke
March 2, 2014
“All In A Family!”
Luke 3:23-38
SERMON BASED STUDY GUIDE
Introduction
Family Histories - Complicated, Conflicting, Confusing…..
Spend some time discussing your own family history (if you are in a study group
and as much as you feel free to talk about). If you spend any significant time on
this you will certainly find out something ‘interesting’ and maybe more about
someone’s family of origin. We are all products of our past and we cannot
change that. However, in Christ, we can overcome the very negative influences
that our upbringing has had on us. In Christ we are FREE!! Jesus’ family history
with all its “skeletons in the closet” is an encouraging thing.
(Note: This is not an “outline” of the passage – more like “observations” on it)
1. Beginning of Christ’s Public Ministry
-It was A.D. 29 & Jesus was 32 years old
PTK mentioned Harold Hoehner’s book, “Chronological Aspects of the Life of
Christ”. If you want to be a serious student of the life of Christ, you will need to
purchase this book. It is an excellent resource. Well worth the money. Do you
consider it important to have an understanding of the ‘historical’ people, events
and culture of the Bible? If so, why? If not, why not? What can having a good
understanding of the Historical background to the Scriptures provide for you?
2. Luke’s Genealogy or Matthew’s Genealogy of Jesus?
-Luke’s genealogy takes Jesus’ lineage back to Adam, the Son of God
-Matthew’s genealogy focuses on Jesus being the Son of Abraham & of David
Most of the time we simply skip the genealogies. Those hard to pronounce
names hold no interest for us. But, there are many things to consider here.
Some of them are more important than others but it is obvious that God
intended for both Matthew and Luke to provide a genealogy of Jesus. What
have you heard in the past on this subject? No one seems to know why
Matthew (the more Jewish Gospel) would include the names of 4 women but
Luke not mention any. Use the genealogy to see how much OT history you
remember. If course, Matthews genealogy covers about 2000 years of history
(back to Abraham) while Luke’s genealogy covers twice that long – about 4000
years of OT history.
3. Who is “Heli/Eli”?
-Matthew says Joseph was the son of Jacob
-Luke ‘seems’ to say Joseph was the son of Heli/Eli
-Law of Levirate Marriage perhaps?
-Mary’s genealogy – PROBABLY!
9th Sermon in Series
Series on the Book of Luke
March 2, 2014
This is obviously a very significant ‘issue’ in the study of Jesus’ genealogy.
Restate in your own words what the issue actually is. Make sure you
understand the concern and the implications of Luke saying “Heli/Eli” was
Joseph’s father. FYI, the majority of scholars, even evangelical ones, do not take
Luke’s genealogy to be that of Mary. There is one technical reason for this. It
has to do with the masculine pronoun that Luke used to refer to Joseph as the
son of Heli. They say that if this were really Mary’s genealogy, Luke would have
used a feminine pronoun here. This is difficult to know for sure, but there are
lots of good reasons to think this is Mary’s genealogy.
4. Why Nathan?
-Nathan was Solomon’s full brother – son of David and Bathsheba
-Solomon’s line includes Jeconiah, Nathan’s does not!
This is a huge issue too. It is just so amazing that Jesus “qualifies” perfectly in
every way to sit on David’s Throne.
5. What about Jeconiah (aka Coniah or Jehoiachin)?
-Jeconiah and his line of descent was cursed – by Jeremiah the Prophet (Jer. 22:24-30)
-Joseph, Jesus’ legal but not biological father was in the line of Jeconiah (Mt. 1:11)
It is obvious that if Joseph had been Jesus’ biological father Jesus would have
had a sin nature and there would be a whole new set of problems. But in this
context, had Joseph been His biological father, Jesus would be disqualified from
ever being seated on David’s Throne. This is such a thrilling thing to note.
Spend some time praying and thanking the Lord for WHO HE IS and how
perfectly God’s PLAN has fit together.
Living Lessons:
1. God’s Word is Trustworthy, Accurate, Credible and TRUE – Absolutely True.
Never be intimidated by human effort to discredit it. Never shrink back from
defending it. Let Jesus’ High Priestly prayer be true in your life: “Sanctify
them in Your Truth. Your Word is TRUTH.” (Jn. 17:17)
2. Jesus came and died for the whole world – for all people – everywhere.
There is no one who is beyond His love or outside of His mercy.
Spend some time developing at least 2 or 3 Living Lessons of your own.