How well do you know Jesus?
Does that sound like a crazy thing to ask you? Well, consider the Apostle Paul’s great, but rather strange, prayer: “that I may know Him”–Philippians 3:10.
Of course, Paul knew Jesus! How could he not have known Him? But he still seeks to “know Him.” And this desire is clearly an all-consuming one! And even more remarkable is the fact that this supreme desire was both experienced and expressed while Paul was a prisoner for the Gospel, confined in Rome!
We could refine our question just a bit: How well do you know the purpose for the coming of Jesus into the world? Why did He take upon Himself a human nature? What was the reason for His birth in the manger? Why did He do and say the things he did?
Obviously, each of these questions is answered with great clarity and detail in that section of the Bible we call the New Testament Epistles. If one reads those inspired books, then there can be no doubt about why Jesus came, what He did on this earth, and why He said the things He said, and made the astounding claims He made!
But in the good providence of God, we have four other inspired books in our Bibles called The Gospels. And these four books do not read like the New Testament letters. Rather, they tell a story! And as we read these four accounts of the life of Jesus, we come to “know Him” in a way that is different than when we read the Epistles.
This coming Lord’s Day, we will begin a trip though one of these Gospels, the one written by Luke, the only Gentile who authored a book contained in Scripture. This man, a physician and historian by trade, will help us to come to know Jesus by traveling with Him as Luke tells His story.
And this week we are beginning at an odd place with our Lord’s life-history according to Luke. We will not start with His birth in Bethlehem, but with the beginning of our Lord’s public ministry when He was already about 30 years old.
Our sermon text will be Luke 3:21-38, and we will consider how He began His work. Or, more accurately, how He was prepared to begin His work on earth.