Passages: Luke 1-5
Big Idea: We can be absolutely sure God’s promised Saviour has come.
Ages: 5-7
Ten lessons on Luke chapters 1 to 5.
Doctor Luke wrote two books about Jesus. The first volume, the Gospel of Luke, is a careful investigation, through eyewitness testimony, of Jesus’ life - what he said and did from his birth till his death and resurrection (Luke 1:1-4).
The second volume, the book of Acts, is the continuation of the first. ‘In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven…’ (Acts 1:1-2) The book of Acts is the continuation of the work of the risen Lord Jesus.
Unlike the other gospel writers, Luke was not an eyewitness to Jesus. Instead he carefully investigated the eye witness accounts and then organised them in an orderly fashion, so that the reader can be absolutely sure that everything written about Jesus, what he said and did, is absolutely true.
In the opening verses (Luke 1:1-4) Luke outlines his purpose in writing. Jesus does not come out of nowhere. He steps into this world and is the fulfilment of all that was promised. He is the Messiah - God’s forever King, the Saviour of the world. His birth is miraculous, is announced by angels and is celebrated by both a choir of angels and an insignificant group of shepherds.
Luke is the only gospel writer to record Jesus’ childhood, before jumping to John the Baptist’s introduction of him to the world and God’s declaration, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22) Luke then traces Jesus' lineage back to God himself in a genealogy in chapter 3.
In chapters 3 to 9 Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee. Jesus comes with power to heal the broken, release the captives and restore the poor. We see this in the collection of stories Luke records. He heals a bedridden woman, releases a man possessed by a demon, makes an unclean leper clean and restores the legs of a paralysed man. He calls the outcast and lowly, a tax collector and fisherman, to drop everything and follow him.
His ministry immediately receives opposition. He is forcibly removed from his hometown synagogue and is accused by religious leaders of mixing with tax collectors and sinners, and even blasphemy.
In the book of Luke we see the compassion of Jesus as he ministers to the broken and rejected. And we see the power of Jesus. He is the powerful one who comes to save his people from their sins.
The unit comes complete with stories, pictures, suggested songs/memory verses, games, drama activities, crafts, large and small group activities. A resource pack full of crafts and activity sheets is also included.