Luke 1:1-4

Greg Key

Luke • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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This evening we are going to start a series based on Luke’s gospel. We’ll start with an introduction. I don’t want to give too much useless information though I’m sure I’ll give some. Also, this will be more of a lesson than a sermon.

Turn with me to first chapter Luke and then I want to read the first three verses from the Book of Acts.

1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (Acts 1:1-4)

Now flip over to the Book of Acts.

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:1-3)

As you can see from the verses we read, Luke also wrote the Book of Acts. They were both written to the same person.

We say they were written by Luke but Luke didn’t give his name. We assume it was written by Luke for two reasons. First, all of the early church leaders attributed the books to Luke. And second, we know Luke traveled with Paul and he’s the only one who isn’t mentioned in Acts.

Paul tells us that Luke was a physician. Paul concludes his letter to the Colossians writing:

Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. (Colossians 4:14)

Because Luke was a doctor, I tried to think of a medical font to use for the slide. This was all I found. “A wise doctor once wrote. . . .” If you can read that you just may be a medical doctor.

At that time there was an important medical school in Antioch. You may remember that after the stoning of Stephen, many of the believers left Jerusalem and spread out through Samaria and Galilee. Some went to Antioch which was located in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea. The two arrows will give you an idea of the distance from Jerusalem to Antioch.

When the news of the church in Antioch reached the apostles they sent Barnabas to help them and Barnabas sent for Paul. It was from Antioch that Paul and Barnabas were sent on their first mission trip. It may well be that Luke met Paul in Antioch.

What we do know is that Luke began traveling with Paul in Acts 16. Luke tells us about Paul’s desire to visit the Roman province of Asia but was prevented from doing so. Luke then writes:

9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:9-10)

We’re not told what led Luke to start traveling with Paul, but considering the physical problems Paul had having a doctor on the team couldn’t hurt.

It’s estimated that Luke wrote his gospel in the 60s (not the 1960s) while Paul was in prison Caesarea. After Paul was arrested in Jerusalem (under false) charges he was transported to Caesarea for protective custody. He was in Caesarea for two years before being sent to Rome. Some believe that Luke began writing during this time.

One commentator refers to Luke as “the orphan gospel.” He contends that of the four gospels Luke gets the least attention even though:

Luke wrote more of the New Testament than any other writer. He has the largest number of words. The Gospel of Matthew has more chapters than the Gospel of Luke, but Luke is longer than Matthew. Paul has more books or letters but the books of Luke and Acts are longer than Paul’s books. Luke wrote 28% of the New Testament.

Luke covers more topics than any of the other gospels.

Half of the parables we have of Jesus are found only in the Gospel of Luke. And,

Luke’s gospel contains more of the ethical teaching of Jesus than any other gospel.

There’s more about money, stewardship, and how we handle our possessions in Luke than in any of the other gospels. In Luke we see a concern of Jesus for the marginalized and the poor. Luke shows how Jesus reached out to women as well as men. Luke often follows a story about a man with a story about a woman. For example, after the story of an angel appearing to Zechariah there’s the story of an angel appearing to Mary. When Jesus was eight days old Mary and Joseph took him to the temple for dedication. There he was seen by Simeon and then by Anna. Luke has more material about prayer than any of the gospels. And Luke tells us more about the Holy Spirit than any of the other gospels.

As I’ve mentioned, Luke wrote both the gospel and the Book of Acts. We think of Hollywood inventing the sequel but Luke had a sequel long before Hollywood ever existed. Because of the way Acts ends some wonder if there might have even been a third book.

Luke addressed both his books to Theophilus. In his gospel, Luke refers to him as the most excellent Theophilus. The term “most excellent” would indicate that he was of a high social rank or had some role in the government. While Luke calls him Theophilus (which means “Friend of God”) we don’t know if that was his real name or a nick-name. We don’t even know who he was. Some have speculated that he was a judge or judicial clerk who would review Paul’s case before he saw Caesar. If so, Luke would have written the two books as a part of Paul’s defense. Others believe Theophilus was a wealthy man who paid to have the books written in order to preserve the biography of Jesus and the early history of the church.

Luke was intended to be a lead into the Book of Acts and the story of the early church. We need to remember that Luke, like the other gospels, is an ancient biography. Ancient biographies were not so much interested in telling the events of a person’s life chronologically but thematically. Acts, on the other hand, is describing the origins of the church.

Luke seems to order his material to flow geographically.

Luke

Jesus starts his ministry in Jerusalem when he was baptized

There’s a ministry in Galilee

Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem where he is crucified

Acts

The church starts in Jerusalem on Pentecost

It spreads to Samaria

And then goes to the ends of the earth

Each of the gospel writers wrote with a specific purpose in mind. That purpose dictated how they wrote and what they included. For example:

Matthew wrote to prove that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. As a result, he includes lots of references to the Old Testament. And Matthew often says: “as it was written.” He’s showing that Jesus was fulfilling those prophecies about the Messiah. Do you remember where one of the prophets wrote this about the Messiah? Here is how Jesus fulfilled that prophecy. Matthew then, was writing to Jews who were looking for the Messiah. Matthew includes lots of Jewish customs and genealogy.

Mark’s is the shortest of the gospels and was most likely the first of the gospels. Mark wrote to show that Jesus was the Son of God. As a result, he doesn’t spend much time on background information. He didn’t have any need for a genealogy to show Jesus was a descendant of Abraham. That’s also why he didn’t include anything about Jesus’ birth. Mark starts out with Jesus’ baptism saying:

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

This type of writing would have appealed to the Roman way of thinking more that to the Jewish way of thinking. He doesn’t include all the Jewish references that Matthew did. Though Mark is the shortest gospel it is the one most copied from. Luke uses 350 verses from Mark. Mark also includes the most miracles. He does this to prove how Jesus is the Son of God. It’s a great gospel for a new believer. You don’t have to understand all the Jewish references.

John wrote to show how Jesus was God and man. John was the last gospel to be written. By the time he wrote the Romans had destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70. All the other gospels were written before this. By that time the big distinctions in the church between the Jews and Gentiles had largely disappeared. John wrote when some false teachers were beginning to say that Jesus wasn’t really God. That’s because they taught that the flesh is evil and since God is holy he couldn’t become a human. Instead, the man Jesus was filled with God’s spirit at his baptism and the Spirit left him before the crucifixion. John wrote to counter that teaching. Jesus was fully human and fully divine. So John describes event where Jesus displays his divine glory and then events where he shows his humanity. And then, John gives the reaction of those who witnessed them. It’s a cycle of Jesus doing something or teaching something and the how the people reacted.

Luke’s purpose was to explain to Theophilus the truth about what people had been saying about Jesus. He wanted to show that Jesus was a real person. As such, Luke contains many details the other gospels omit. He gives the names of local rulers as well as historical events. He mentions the names of those Jesus interacted with. If you wanted to go check this out for yourself, here is the name of someone who saw Jesus or was healed by Jesus or interacted with Jesus. He is very careful to give these details about when and where the events took place. This is not some myth but took place in history.

Luke is the only gospel writer not to have known Jesus. Matthew and John were disciples, but Mark would have seen Jesus before and after the crucifixion. Luke, as a gentile would not have known Jesus. So where did Luke learn these things about Jesus to be able to write a gospel? First, he traveled with Paul. Paul had probably seen Jesus before his crucifixion. Paul had also seen Jesus when on route to Damascus. Paul had some firsthand knowledge he would have shared with Luke. But too, Luke did some investigating on his own. Remember what Luke wrote to Theophilus at the beginning of his gospel:

I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning. . . . (Luke 1:3b)

Perhaps because of his medical training, Luke is very detailed oriented. For example, while the other gospels just say someone was sick, Luke will describe the illness.

It is this eye for detail and Luke’s desire to fully investigate things that make him so valuable to us today. It would be impossible for us to go back and talk to Mary, but Luke probably did. We can’t ask Zechariah or Elizabeth and questions, but Luke could have. We can’t interview the apostles, but Luke did. He talked to people who saw Jesus. He got first hand information that we can’t get two thousand years later.

I chose this picture because it shows Jesus looking out over Jerusalem. It reminds me of the passage in Luke 19.

41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (Luke 19:41-44)

We know what would have brought them true peace – Jesus. The Messiah was there in front of them and they refused to believe. Jesus told the disciples that Sodom and Gomorrah would be better off than the people of his day because of their refusal to believe after the miracles they had seen. They had all the evidence they needed but wouldn’t trust him.

Sometimes people say that to be a Christian you have to check your brain at the door. You can’t think or ask questions because there are no answers. But that’s not true. Luke would have asked lots of questions in his quest to present the facts to Theophilus. And we need to ask questions. If we are going to grow in our faith and understanding of the Bible we need to ask questions. That’s why I love when Jacob Deal comes by my office and asks questions. I don’t know all the answers, but it shows he’s thinking.

It is hard to imagine what those families in Texas are going through this morning. It’s also hard to imagine what was going through that young man’s mind that he thought acting out in that way was a good idea. When you think about that situation, what’s happening in Ukraine, and similar atrocities it’s easy to wonder where God is and what he’s doing.

It is not unusual though, to ask questions about what we believe and why. We find examples in the Bible, especially in Psalms, of people asking similar questions about where God is when bad things happen. However, many use these incidents as reasons to question, doubt God’s existence, or simply deny there is a God.

If you’ve never seen the movie “The Case for Christ,” I would encourage you to do so. It’s based on the book by the same title written by Lee Strobel. Since I’d never read the book I wasn’t sure what to expect. Basically, it’s Strobel’s testimony. In it Strobel describes how he came to faith by doing just what Luke did. He investigated the facts. He wasn’t able to interview eyewitnesses like Luke was, but he investigated the claims of the gospel writers and of the Bible. In the end, he couldn’t help but place his faith in Jesus.

Lee Strobel is not the first to have done this. There have been countless others. And the overwhelming result is those who look in to what the Bible the Bible says come to believe the claims of the Bible.

We don’t have to check our brains at the door. Christianity isn’t a leap of faith into the dark. We don’t know everything about God that we would like to know. We have lots of questions we’d like answered. But we’ll never know everything. If we did we’d be equal to God. But God has given us enough evidence to trust in him and in his word. Luke is just one example of that.