Luke - Next Steps

Behind the Scenes Part 1
September 19, 2021

Message Summary
The New Testament was written by many different authors over the course of the first century AD. These individuals recorded their accounts about Jesus, the apostles, the early church, how we now should live in this new relationship with God through Christ Jesus and Jesus’ anticipated return. Today we focus on Luke. This week, we learned a little about Luke, his background, and saw how his writings can shape our lives today.

1) When you read, do you prefer fiction or nonfiction? Why?

2)Who is your favorite author? Why?

3) What is your favorite thing they wrote?

A Little Bit About Luke

Luke was not one of the apostles. In fact, to our knowledge, Luke was never face to face with Jesus. Luke enters the scene in the early church as a companion to Paul on several of his missionary journeys (Acts 16:6-10, do you notice the change in person in Luke’s writing? (they to we) Some say this was where he joined Paul). Paul saw him as a friend and co-laborer (2 Timothy 4:1, Philemon 1:24) Luke’s first career was as a physician (Colossians 4:14). As he turned his focus to writing the stories of Jesus and the early church, he was focused on establishing historical details that could be verified. Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts (Luke 1:1-4, Acts 1:1-2). If he were around today, he would have made a great investigative journalist or podcaster.

4) Why is it important for us to know the relationship Luke had with Paul?

5) Why do you think it was important for Luke to focus on historical events that could be verified in his writings?

6) Luke wrote to Theophilus, which means “Lover of God.” Why did he write the books of Luke and Acts?

Below are several selections that highlight some of the themes that were important in Luke’s writings.

Read Luke 8:1-3

7) What do these verses describe?

8) Who is called out by name in these verses?

9) Why is it significant that these women are mentioned by name?

10) What was the role of these women in Jesus?

11) How should their inclusion, a group that was not seen as equals by the mainstream culture of the day, shape how we interact in this world?

Read Luke 19:1-10

12) What was significant about Zacchaeus?

13) Why did he climb a tree?

14) How did Jesus address him?

15) How did Jesus’ interaction with Zacchaeus show him his value?

16) How should Jesus’ care for one rejected, shape how we see and treat others today?

Moving Forward
Spend some time reviewing these verses and how they help us understand our responsibility to help those in need.

Luke 1:57-62
Acts 9:36-43
Acts 12:6-19
Acts 16:11-40
Acts 17:16-34
Acts 18:1-28
Galatians 3:26-29
Ephesians 3:1-13
Colossians 3:15