RAP SHEET Luke 3:31-38

SERIES: Fulfilled: The Chosen King

SERMON: The Firstborn

SCRIPTURE: Luke 3:23–38, Colossians 1:15–20

REVIEW

This week, we came to the end of Luke’s genealogy of Jesus. The list takes us all the way from Joseph through David, Abraham, Noah, and Adam—finally ending with God Himself.

On the surface, these are the great names of the Old Testament. David fought Goliath. Abraham became a great nation. Noah built the ark. Adam was the first man. But Luke doesn’t just give us the highlight reel. Scripture shows their failures, too.

• Adam’s sin broke the world.

• Noah ended his story drunk and disgraced.

• Abraham doubted God’s promise and took matters into his own hands.

• David’s later years were marred by adultery and violence.

And it wasn’t just them—every name in the list represents someone broken, sinful, and falling short. The genealogy is a parade of failures…until we reach one name: Jesus.

Jesus is the only one who never failed. Where Adam fell, Jesus stood. Where Abraham doubted, Jesus persevered. Where David sinned, Jesus walked in righteousness.

That’s why Paul wrote in Colossians 1 that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation and the firstborn from the dead. He is both the Creator at the beginning of history and the Redeemer who makes all things new through His cross and resurrection.

The genealogy starts with Jesus and ends with God—and that’s no accident. Jesus is God Himself, the one who made the world, the one who holds it together, and the one who has remade it through His blood.

APPLY

Take some time to reflect together:

• When you look at the stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham, and David, which of their struggles feels most relatable to your own life?

• What voices or failures try to tell you that you’ll never be more than your past? How does Jesus’ victory reframe your story?

• Paul says Jesus is “before all things” and also “the firstborn from the dead.” What does it mean for you to live right now as part of His new creation instead of being stuck in the old one?

What is ONE AREA of your life where you need to stop living as part of the old creation and start walking in the new life Jesus offers?

PRAY

• Thank Jesus that He broke the cycle of sin and failure that none of us could escape on our own.

• Praise Him as the firstborn of creation and the firstborn from the dead—the one who made us and the one who remakes us.

• Ask the Spirit to help you live not in the old creation of shame and sin, but in the new creation of freedom and victory.

• Pray that our church would live as people of the new creation—walking in hope, holiness, and confidence that the best is yet to come.