#disciplemaking
#adventcalendarday3
#willyoujoinme

Hi everyone, if you haven’t already, read Luke chapter 3

First thing to notice is that Luke places the life of Jesus squarely within history, again reminding his readers that his account is accurate. (NB the Herod mentioned here is the son of Herod the Great, who was king at the time of Jesus birth).

John the Baptist bursts on the scene (and makes me look like a rose petal!) and his message is clear – “everyone needs to repent to be forgiven their sins”.

“Repent” means to stop doing things your own way and start doing things God’s way
“Sin” refers to the same thing. If we do things our own way we become independent or separate from God which is what the Bible calls sin.

His message is so strident he ends up in jail but prior to that he is literally preparing the way for Jesus’ own message of salvation. Note that being born into the faith is no guarantee of belonging to God. Each individual must live an accountable life to God. To John, repentance looks like fairness and generosity because that matches God’s own heart and character.

Luke then carefully points out that John was not the long expected Messiah . . . But Jesus was, because he was born of not just of Royal lineage (note v 31 & 32 – “Son of David”) but also from God.

Here’s a question or two: if John had such a good effect on so many people, why did Jesus need to come? Is living a good life (ie fairness and generosity) enough? Is repentance enough?

How can you “prepare the way” for other people to meet Jesus?