SERMON SERIES: “The Gospel of Luke”
SERMON #1: “Dear Theophilus…”
TEXT: Luke 1:1-4
OPENING JOKE: “The candle of quiet” When asked to explain what the four candles of an Advent wreath represent, seven-year-old Luke began to explain, “There’s love, joy, peace, and . . .” His six-year-old sister piped up, “I know!” She then finished her brother’s sentence by proclaiming, “Peace and quiet!”
INTRODUCTION: This is the beginning of a new series which will be the longest that I have ever attempted in my ministry.
I am going to attempt to preach a series of messages through the entire Gospel of Luke, taking it as much as possible, verse by verse.
Why attempt this type of series?
Because I believe that expositional preaching, where the whole counsel of God is exposed and taught, is being lost today and being replaced with a “pick and choose” method of preaching.
For centuries great Bible teachers did not make it their business to jump from “this” passage to “that” passage week after week searching for the parts of Scripture that they “liked”. They preached concisely through a whole book of Scripture so as to better understand the full content and context of the writer’s affirmations.
Illustration: “Didn’t miss a beat” There is even a true story of a 16th century pastor and theologian who was preaching through a certain book of the Bible, verse by verse, when he was asked to leave his church over a town dispute. Three years later the church called him back and his notes show that he never missed a beat. He picked up his preaching from the very verse he had stopped on when he left.
This type of biblical exposition is rarely heard from the pulpit today
The reason for this is simple: When a pastor preaches concisely through the Word of God he is bound to come across subjects that “step on toes”
Jumping from one passage to another allows many preachers today to be “ear ticklers” because they are able to avoid subjects that they consider as better left “unaddressed”.
And by ignoring the deep things of God, we have become a people who do not truly understand the nature and attributes of God.
Why choose to study the Gospel of Luke?
Matthew’s Gospel focuses on Christ the King of the Jews, Mark focuses on Christ the suffering servant, John focuses on Christ as the Son of God, all of which are necessary traits of the “Messiah”
But Luke’s Gospel is different from the other Gospel writers in the sense that, while he fully affirms that Jesus is divine and is the Messiah, Luke focuses more on Jesus’ humanity
We know that Jesus is the God-Man, fully divine and fully human, being perfect and impeccable
But sometimes this overshadows our understanding of His humanity and causes us to forget that the Bible says that He “was in all points tempted as we are” Hebrews 4:15
Luke’s objective in writing was so that we could see Jesus, as if He were walking right next to us – and that is the picture of Christ I hope that we can see during this study –
A Christ who came to earth as a poor carpenter, never owned property, never wrote a book, never established a monument – but He with His ragtag group of fishermen and social outcasts turned the world on its ear
That is the Christ I want us to see in this study
***Today we are going to study the prologue to Luke’s Gospel to see what the writer says about his own work.
Important Note: Luke goes to great lengths to stress the authenticity of his writing
This is probably due to the fact that he is the only “Gentile” writer to ever pen a book of the Scripture.
He wanted his reader to understand that his writing was…
1. An Accurate Account (1-3a)
a. Luke was a man of God who was meticulous in his writing
i. His is the most detailed of all of the written Gospels
ii. It contains the longest and most comprehensive picture of the ministry of Jesus Christ in the Bible
iii. In fact, most of the narrative found in Luke 9:51-18:35 is not found in the other three Gospel records
iv. The general vocabulary and diction show that the author was an educated person, which fits with Luke’s character as he was a physician by trade
v. Colossians 4:14 calls Luke “…the beloved physician…”
b. It is important to note, however, that his research and style used by the Holy Spirit to produce this Gospel does not deny its inspiration
i. For some the opening words of Luke may seem confusing
ii. He mentions other “narratives” and “eyewitnesses” as sources of his writings
iii. But this does not steal away from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
iv. QUOTE: Macarthur says, “By acknowledging that he had compiled his account from various extant sources, Luke was not disclaiming divine inspiration for his work. The process of inspiration never bypasses or overrides the personalities, vocabularies, and styles of the human authors of Scripture. The unique traits of the human authors are always indelibly stamped on all the books of Scripture. Luke’s research is no exception to this rule. The research itself was orchestrated by divine Providence. And in his writing, Luke was moved by the Spirit of God”
2. An Orderly Account (3b)
a. Luke’s account is not strictly chronological, but it does show the fullest progression of events in Christ’s life among the other Gospels
i. In fact, like we call his second book “The Acts of the Apostles”, this book could rightly be called “The Acts of Jesus Christ”
ii. Luke goes to great lengths to expound upon the characters leading up to Jesus birth, his life and ministry and His death and resurrection.
iii. And he does so in an orderly way, so that his narrative like reading the unfolding events of an epic novel
3. A Dedicated Account (3b)
a. According to early Christian writings Theophilus was a Roman acquaintance of Luke
b. A more profound purpose for the dedication is held within the name of its recipient, however
i. The name “Theophilus” means “one who loves God”
ii. Luke’s writings, though dedicated to this one man “Theophilus” have been preserved for all generations of people “who love God” to read and understand an orderly and accurate account of Jesus’ life
c. QUOTE: The Gospel of Luke, just like all of the other 65 books in the Bible, is really dedicated to the benefit of anyone who loves God
4. An Authoritative Account (4)
a. Here we see Luke’s own understanding of his Holy Spirit inspired authority
i. He says that his writings are to give “exact truth” or “certainty”
ii. This word indicates that what he was writing was “firm” and “stable”
***An important point should be made that all of these things could be said about the whole Bible.
The whole Bible is accurate, orderly, dedicated to believers and authoritative
Luke’s desire to make this clear in his opening statement just solidifies the fact that he knew that he was writing Holy Scripture, under the inspiration of the Spirit, and that it would be considered as such by all who read it.
Application: You might be thinking, “All this is great, but how does this affect me?”
Luke was writing on behalf of God – he was, in a sense, an ambassador for Christ
Likewise, we are all called to be ambassadors of Christ in the world
2 Corinthians 5:20 “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ…”
So what responsibility do we have as ambassadors? The same as Luke…
I. We need to have an accurate view of Christ
a. Listen friends, with Christmas right around the corner, we are about to see many who are confused about Christ
i. It is sad, but the majority of those who celebrate Christmas have no idea about who Christ really is
ii. QUOTE: They are clueless to the fact that the “Babe” who was once in a manger is now the “king” who sits upon His throne in heaven
b. The Jesus Christ that the majority of Americans picture is not the Jesus of the Bible
i. Many believe in a Jesus who was not born of a virgin
ii. Others believe in a Jesus who did not live a fully sinless life
iii. Still others believe in a Jesus who did not really die on the cross
iv. And many believe in a Jesus who did not literally raise from the dead
c. Brothers and sisters, these are not accurate views of the Jesus Christ of the Bible
i. And if we expect to be His ambassadors, we must first understand and embrace who He really is
ii. He is the eternal Son of God, born of a virgin. The only person to ever lead a sinless life. He died on the cross and rose again on the third day
d. This is the view of Jesus that the Bible portrays…and it is the only accurate view
II. We need to have an orderly understanding of the Gospel
a. It does no good to have faith if you don’t know what you have faith in
i. God has not called any of us to a “blind faith”
ii. He has called us to understanding and wisdom in discerning His truths
b. To truly be God’s representative to a lost world, we must be able to articulate His message
i. This does not mean that we are all to be seasoned preachers
ii. But it means that we should have an orderly understanding of His Gospel
iii. Did you know that barely one third of all adults (31%) know the meaning of the expression “the gospel” and even less can actually put it into words
c. What is the Gospel?
i. Man is lost in his own sin and is under God’s condemnation
ii. No work he does can ever erase one of his sins
iii. God, in His infinite love, sent His Son to die on behalf of sinners
iv. Jesus took God’s condemnation of sin on Himself
v. And all who trust in Him will have their sins forgiven and will receive the gift of life everlasting
d. That is an simple understanding of the Gospel that is necessary for all of us to understand if we are to be God’s ambassadors
III. We need to be dedicated to those “who love God”
a. Our greatest witness to the lost world is our love for and dedication to one another
i. The apostle Paul said, in his letter to the church at Corinth, that absent of love the Christian has nothing
ii. 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 (NKJV) “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
b. QUOTE: Before we can make a difference in a lost world with the love of Christ, we must first exercise it among each other
IV. We need to be certain about the truth of God’s Word
a. I firmly believe that one of the great strengths held buy the first century apostles was their undying commitment to the truths of God’s Holy Word
i. When those men preached, they preached from the OT Scriptures, which was their Bible at the time
ii. And they truly considered the words of their Bible as words they should “live by”
b. People today are consumed with the practice of twisting the Scriptures to what they want God to say, rather than just believing what He says
i. They cut whole sections out of Scripture in the name of inclusiveness and tolerance
ii. And they end up with a marred understanding of God’s character, because they have only learned to appreciate one side of His personality
c. QUOTE: We need to be committed personally, and as a church, to being absolutely certain about the truth of the Word of God and of our responsibility to proclaim it as ambassadors to a lost and dying world
CONCLUSION: As we begin this season of advent, let us do so with a new sense of purpose
We have been called of God as His people
We are ambassadors for Christ, His representatives in the world…and with that comes a great responsibility
QUOTE: A responsibility to proclaim the true Christ, the true Gospel, and the true Word while loving each other more than we love ourselves
