Eyewitness accounts in the Gospel of Luke show how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecies relating to the covenant between God and Israel.
Luke documents how Jesus expands God’s kingdom and covenant by creating a new Israel that includes the poor, outcasts and others to whom Jesus brings restoration and reverses their life circumstances as He gives them freedom and release from the tyranny of evil and sin.
Throughout the book, we see that Jesus is indeed the messianic king, but He will reign over Israel by suffering. His actions usher in an upside down kingdom marked by self-giving love, and He challenges his disciples to follow His example and share in His ministry.
Before Jesus was taken into heaven where He was enthroned to share God’s rule over the world, He instructed His followers to be a witness for Him. The book of Acts details their witness.
Jesus’ followers received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and became filled and equipped to spread the good news that would restore God’s kingdom over the world. Through persecution, the believers were scattered. They continued to preach, and the church at Antioch was born.
It grew into the first multiethnic, international church from which missionaries were sent throughout the world to preach about Jesus, the messianic Messiah and risen king of all nations. Paul even continued to preach despite imprisonment and wrote important letters to the churches.
The Book of Romans is a four-part explanation of the Gospel message written by Paul to the Church in Rome. Since Adam, humans chose to live sinful and selfish lives.
The people of Israel tried to obey God and follow the Law, but they didn’t succeed. Only faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection can justify humanity and fulfill God’s promise to create a covenant relationship with His people, the descendants of Abraham.
Through Jesus, God creates a new covenant family that includes Jews and gentiles who are unified as they love and forgive each other. Even though people continue to reject Jesus, God uses their rejection to expand His family and grow the Church.
1 Corinthians challenges believers to examine every area of life through the lens of the gospel. Specifically, Paul addresses divisions, food, sex, worship gatherings, and the resurrection.
He reminds believers that the Church is not a popularity contest, followers of Jesus cannot compromise when it comes to sexual integrity, the core principle of worship gatherings is love for others, and the resurrection gives us a reason for unity, motivation to maintain sexual purity, ability to love other people more than ourselves and ultimate hope for victory over death.
Our belief that Jesus was raised from the dead makes the gospel more than moral advice or a recipe for private spirituality. It opens a whole new reality for every area of our life.
Paul addressed problems in the Corinth church in 1 Corinthians, but many rejected his advice. This grieved Paul as he had spent a great deal of time with the Corinthian church.
He followed up with a painful visit and then sent them 2 Corinthians, a letter that assured them he forgave and loved them. After reading the letter, many church members repented and embraced the letter’s message.
Essentially, it challenges believers to see life through the paradox of the cross. Because of the cross and God’s Spirit, Jesus’ followers receive power to live transformed lives. They become equipped to take up Jesus’ cruciform life and make it their own.
Through the cross and resurrection, believers may live differently and model the values God desires, including generosity, humility, and weakness.
The Book of Galatians reminds the Church to embrace and follow the gospel message of the crucified Messiah. The requirement for non-Jewish Christians to become Torah observers and be circumcised or eat kosher misses the point. Jesus alone fulfills the laws of Torah and justifies believers.
When people trust in Jesus as Messiah and put their faith in Him, His life, death, and resurrection become theirs. They are new creations, free from the requirement to follow the laws of Torah.
They now join a new multi-ethnic covenant family of Jesus, thus fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham. Because of Jesus and the Spirit, believers learn to love God and others.
In the book of Ephesians, we see how the gospel story affects believers’ everyday lives. God the Father planned throughout history for Jesus to create a multi-ethnic community of followers. Comprised of Jews and non-Jews, these followers form the covenant family God promised to Abraham. They live in unity as one body in their families, neighborhoods, and churches because of God’s grace.
Scripture, prayer, and their relationships with each other equip them to put off their old humanity and put on new humanity that mimics Jesus and marks them as mature followers of Jesus.
Energized by the Holy Spirit, believers also stand tall against the spiritual evil that threatens their unity as a Church family and maturity as followers of Jesus.