Jesus, the Passover Lamb, Luke 22: 7-20

Today we find ourselves looking at a passage of scripture which is the basis for a ceremony which is part of one of the most controversial doctrines in the history of the church. It was one of the primary points of dispute in the Reformation. Consequently, it has the distinction of being a major contributing factor in the separation of many denominations. I’m talking, of course, about the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. For hundreds of years, many theologians and preachers a whole lot smarter than I am have debated this issue, and so I don’t pretend to have solved every

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The plan to kill Jesus, Luke 22: 1-6

Every year a certain website publishes the most popular baby names. It’s interesting to see how that changes from year to year. One hundred years ago the most popular boy’s name was John, and the most popular girl’s name was Mary. Not all that exciting. In those days people tended to name their children from the Bible. According to baby center dot com, in 2014, the most popular boy’s name is Liam, and the most popular girl’s name is Emma. You might imagine that Bible names might have fallen out of favor somewhat, but a surprising number are still in

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How to live in the last days; Luke 21: 28-38

At the beginning of the hippie movement in 1965, a rock and roll band by the name of the Who wrote a song called, “My Generation” that helped define the age. If you were part of that generation, then you knew at the time who the band was talking about. It meant anyone younger than the age of thirty. One of the most famous lines of the song was, “I hope I die before I get old.” I guess thirty was considered old at that time. But I doubt the band members feel the same way today. But even though

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The end of the age, Luke 21:8-28

It seems to be a characteristic of the human condition that people are more interested in knowing the future than knowing the past. People might line up at a carnival in front of a fortune teller’s tent, but not many would line up for a show about ancient history. Yet there is an old adage which should be very familiar to all of us; “those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Actually, I learned while researching that quote that the original statement was made by a philosopher named George Santayana, and it goes like this:

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God has left the building, Luke 21: 5-7

Today in our popular culture there seems to be a fascination with apocalyptic themes. Movies and books like Hunger Games or Maze Runner are set in a post apocalyptic world. All sorts of movies have been made which feature an end of the world scenario, where atomic blasts, or great floods or swarms of zombies end life on earth as we know it. It’s a popular topic right now. And it’s happening on the religious front as well. Harold Kamping of Family Radio caught the world’s attention with his prophecy that the rapture would happen on May 21, 2011. Some

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Rebuke against mindless religion, Luke 20:41- 21:4

Recently, my brother in law, who had been a missionary for 37 years passed away from an illness. And of course, he left my sister as a widow who is going to have to figure out a way to support herself now without a husband. His death made my wife and I think about the fact that I should get some life insurance in case something should happen to me. And so last week I contacted a man in this church who sells insurance and he helped show me some of my options. From what I gathered I could lock

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The hope of the resurrection, Luke 20: 27-40

Today we are looking at the third in a trilogy of trick questions asked of Jesus by the religious elite in the last days before His crucifixion. The first one was a question of where Jesus got His authority to do the things like clean out the vendors from the temple.   That act had really got the religious leaders upset because He was messing with their income. Fraudulent income, but nevertheless, they got away with it. And this was the second time in His ministry that Jesus had come into the temple and cleaned it out. So they were steamed.

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Render unto Caesar, render unto God, Luke 20: 19-26

Today’s passage is one that is probably familiar to many of you here today. It’s been used in a variety of contexts, not the least of which is to augment the idea of the separation of church and state. However, it does not teach that. Neither Jesus or the apostles ever taught separation of church and state. That is not a Christian doctrine, but it is decidedly an anti-Christian doctrine that has been foisted upon us by an anti-Christian government, and fortified by a misinterpretation of this passage. God is sovereign over all the world, and as such is sovereign

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The rejection of the cornerstone; Luke 20:9-18

As I’m sure you realize by now, it is imperative that as we study each passage in Luke’s gospel, we must always consider the context in which it is found in first of all. And so today we must remember that this parable comes as a result of the religious leaders of Jerusalem indignantly demanding to know what authority Jesus was coming into the temple and throwing out the vendors and money changers, and teaching and preaching to the people. They wanted to know who or what was His authority. But instead of answering them directly, Jesus asked them a

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Deus Ex Machina, Luke 20:1-8

Preaching through Luke has been a journey which began almost two years ago, and many of you have made that journey with me. I hope that for those of you who have been able to attend regularly, that this study has provided you with insights into the gospel that you had never realized before. Perhaps some of you may have really come to understand for the first time the truth of the gospel, the specificity of the way of salvation, and the necessity of sanctification. My hope is that you have not just added some historical knowledge concerning the life

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