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The twelfth chapter of Luke begins with a series of warnings. In 12:1-3, Jesus warned against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees clearly implying that his disciples should not be pressured to follow them. In 12:4-7, Jesus warned against fearing man and called his disciples to fear God, instead. Finally, in 12:8-12, Jesus specifically warned against giving in to pressure to deny Him.

In the sermon text for this Lord’s Day (Luke 11:37-54), the theme of opposition to Jesus and his message continues. Jesus directly assaults the false teachers who oppose him, exposing their hypocrisy, legalism, and pride. Most of all, he condemns them for leading others astray. Their words and works were directly antithetical to the message of Jesus, a message of grace and mercy.

In Luke 11:29-32 (last week’s sermon text), Jesus warned against the judgment that would fall on those who rejected him and his message. In the text for this Lord’s Day, Jesus compares his message to light and speaks of its value.

The sermon text juxtaposes two paragraphs that contrast blessing and cursing. Those who are blessed hear and keep the message of Jesus; judgment awaits those who do not. Luke presents Jesus as One wiser than Solomon bearing a sign greater than that of Jonah.

Luke 11:1-13 tells us about Jesus training his disciples regarding prayer. As we begin 2021, our study of the Gospel of Luke has slowed down so that we can savor Jesus’ teaching in this passage, thus making January a “prayer emphasis month.”

In the service this Lord’s Day, we will focus on the fourth request in Luke’s account of the Lord’s Prayer: “forgive us our sins . . .” (Luke 11:4). One question we will ask and answer is, since we receive forgiveness for sin once and for all when we come to Jesus in faith, why does Jesus teach that we should continually seek forgiveness of sins?”

“Teach us to pray,” was the request made by an unidentified disciple. Jesus’ response bequeathed to the church in every generation, requests to be offered and a pattern to be followed.The model prayer contains five petitions in proper priority, two that give priority to God’s interests and three that express our needs. Today we consider the implications of the third petition, “Give us each day our daily bread”(4).

This Lord’s Day, the last Sunday of 2020, we will resume our study of Luke. The text is a famous one, usually called the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1-4). The next paragraph continues the Lord’s teaching on the subject of prayer.

Each year we take a Sunday at the end of January to focus on prayer—a fitting tradition that helps us face the new year with renewed focus and reliance on the Lord. This year, we take our time, slowly working through Jesus’ teaching on prayer, savoring every word. This focus will take us through the month of January. The only exception will be January 3 when we will observe the Lord’s Table.

The sermon text for this Lord’s Day (1 Timothy 3:14-16) contains the echo of an ancient creed that explains the significance of Christ’s coming. We, the church, confess Christ. He is the anchor of our faith.

Throughout the tenth chapter of Luke, Jesus guided his disciples into a deeper understanding of what is means to follow him. In the final paragraph, Luke makes certain that we understand the devotion to Jesus and his teaching is a disciples’ one essential priority.