The Doctor's Report Series

Grace Community Church

Winchester, VA

www.GraceCommunity.com

Rev. Bradford Reaves, Sr. Pastor

Watch this message at: https://youtu.be/s-261UnKZCA

Introduction

I heard on the news of a woman who was on an overseas flight. She called the flight attendant over to her and told her she was having a heart attack. The flight attendant asked, "Is there a doctor onboard?" At that point, 67 heart doctors stood up. They were all headed to a convention for cardiac surgeons.

Imagine her joy when she saw the doctors. They were ready, willing, and able to effectively diagnose her problem and prescribe the correct treatment. They had the knowledge, expertise, and desire to take care of her and meet her needs. Remember the joy we have in Christ who is completely capable of carrying us home!

Doctors are remarkable people. They are studious, methodical, caring, and people who give others hope. So I find it fitting that God would use a physician in first-century Palestine to give an account of the life of Jesus. We need it; our faith needs it; our world needs this Gospel because it answers doubting questions that can lead to unbelief. The mysteries of the birth, death, and resurrection of God the Son appear so certain in Luke.

So it seems fitting that today we embark on a major journey as a church. If the Lord should tarry and we’re still here, I estimate that we’ll be concluding this series around 2024. Yes, 4 years.

During this time, I want us as a church to closely examine the Scriptures. Not only Luke’s Gospel but the relationship of Luke with the rest of Scripture. I want us as a church to become better students of the Bible. I want to see us as a church dig in deeply.

It is important - imperative for churches to move through Scripture exegetically together for several reasons. First, it allows us to not get focused on our own agendas or preferences in Scripture but keeps us well-rounded. We must examine the themes and topics that we enjoy and the one less popular.

The Christian faith is popular and easily abandoned at the same time. Today, we are seeing so many attempts to add something to Christianity. It’s not surprising in this postmodern culture that rejects truth. And so Christianity and our worship service are more about our feelings than facts.

Here’s what we’re going to learn today: Build your faith on facts, not feelings.

Grab your Bibles and let’s read this passage together:

1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4)

I. The Writer of Luke

We don’t know too much about Luke, but we have some interesting biblical facts about him. He is universally accepted at the writer of this gospel even though he doesn’t name himself in the book. Here’s what we know about him:

• Luke was a respected doctor. Colossians 4:14 refers to him as “the beloved physician.”

• He was personally acquainted with firsthand eyewitnesses.

• Luke was the human author of the Gospel of Luke as well as the Book of Acts. That adds up to 52 chapters, making him responsible for about one-third of the New Testament.

• This prologue is written in the most polished Greek of the New Testament, which would make it appealing to the highly educated reader.

• Luke devotes more space to the birth and infancy of Jesus than any other gospel.

• He goes out of his way to show the gospel is for every class, nation, race, generation, and gender.

• Luke uses the word “sinners” 16 times, more than the other gospel writers combined

• He refers to Jesus as “Savior” twice.

Luke was a people person. You can tell by the way he describes people in his gospel that he related to them. He saw them more than characters in a story, but they were real people who experience a real-time that literally changed the course of history. Luke was also a historian. He recognized the significance of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as more than an event, but of eternal significance. This brings me to his purpose of the Gospel.

II. Luke’s Purpose of Writing the Gospel

Verses 1-4 are one long sentence in Greek and in it we learn a few things. First, there were many accounts of Jesus’ life. The four Gospels in our Bibles are not the only manuscripts we have of Jesus’ life. There are many, Like the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Judas. The problem was that there were many pseudo-authors, altered manuscripts, and inaccuracies.