Certain Faith in Uncertain Times

Good morning. I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. As our minds turn to celebrating the birth of our Savior during this Christmas season, we are going to begin a series of messages that will launch us into the Gospel According to Luke. What we start today will take about three years to finish. We will take a few side steps along the way to cover some other areas of scripture but we want to gaze deeply into Luke and see who this Jesus was and is that Luke spends so much of the New Testament writing about. Just to give you a little map for where we are going: We will begin today with an introduction to Luke and then spend the advent season in the Christmas narrative in the first couple of chapters. In January we will step back into I Timothy to finish up the final chapter and then jump right back into Luke’s gospel account. I'm really excited to share this longer book with you and I hope you will read and study along with us during each week.

We live in an era where there is a lot of uncertainty. We look at everything going on in the world and sometimes it just feels like we don't know what is going to happen from one moment to the next. It seems like everyday we wake up to some new and shocking event. Things we once took or granted are no longer a given in our culture. It can, under certain circumstances make a person feel uncertain and unsettled.

Illustration: Story of HWL and son, “I Heard the Bells”

Charles Appleton Longfellow was the 18 year old son of Fannie and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He secretly left home in 1863 to join President Lincoln’s Union Army to fight in the Civil War. He had four younger siblings still at home, ages 17, 13, 10, 8, and another who had died as an infant. His mother, Fannie had died within the previous two years when her dress caught on fire. Henry, woke up from a nap and tried as best he could to put the fire out. He used a rug and eventually his own body. However Fannie had already been injured fatally and passed away the next morning. Longfellow’s face was so badly burned that he stopped shaving and grew a beard to cover the burns. This is why he is bearded in images of him. He was in such despair that he feared being put in an asylum.

On December 1st, 1863, Henry was eating at home when he received a telegram letting him know that Charles had been severely wounded four days prior. The telegram mistakenly said he had been shot in the face. However his true injury was that he had been shot in the left shoulder and the bullet nicked his spine as it was traveling across his back and out of his body under his right shoulder blade. This is a serious injury today and in 1863 you can imagine the fear. Less than an inch more and Charles would have been paralyzed.

As Longfellow sat on Christmas Day 1863 Henry, a widower and father of six children and observed the world around him, his son recovering from an injury in a war with his country fighting among itself, he wrote a poem. He was attempting to capture the dissonance and feeling in his heart and in the world during this joyful time of year. The bells around him in Cambridge rang and people sang of peace on earth but he looked around and didn’t see much peace in the world and didn’t see peace in his own heart. His words convey what he saw in the violence around him as mocking the message of peace on earth and the truth and hope therein. By 1872 the poem was put to music and you know likely know it as “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” This has become one of my favorite Christmas songs in the last several years.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, and wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom Had rolled along The unbroken song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, A chant sublime Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South, And with the sound The carols drowned Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent The hearth-stones of a continent, And made forlorn The households born Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head; “There is no peace on earth,” I said; “For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Over the years many have undertaken the search for certainty about Jesus and just what He was really like as He walked and ministered on the earth. Our culture has produced many erroneous versions of what Jesus may have been like. Some of these are just off enough to draw us in.

Now, as we get into the first four verses in Luke's Gospel we right away see in verse 3 and 4, Luke's purpose in writing this account down.

Luke is one of the Synoptic Gospels with Matthew and Mark. These are called synoptic because they "see" "together" the story about Jesus. At a basic level they tell the same story about Jesus. In fact, 60 percent of Mark is included verbatim in Luke. There are a few places where one of the synoptics will have a story that the others do not but mostly they tell the story of Jesus from much the same viewpoint. They "see" it "together".

Luke - doctor, detailed language

Proper greek language

Gentile

Companion of the Apostle Paul

Volume one of two volumes written by Luke.

Acts is the other.

Volume one and volume two.

Acts 1:1–2 (ESV)

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,

until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

Luke wants his audience to know that the promises that God made in the Old Testament were kept in the birth, live, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I. Promises Made, Promises Kept. (V. 1)

Audience - in verse one we find out who Luke is writing to. He addresses Theophilus whom he also addresses Acts to.

Theophilus means "lover of God."

Also named in Acts 1:1

Actual person or code name for the entire church

A Greek speaking nobleman of some kind

He writes to give Theophilus certainty about the things he had been taught about Jesus.

Christianity claims that what the Bible teaches about Jesus is true and certain. It can be believed and counted on.

It is a narrative about the things accomplished - fulfilled

OT - Promises Made

NT - Promises Kept

II. Delivered to him by those who knew what Jesus was like. (v. 2.)

People love a biography. They are still some of the most popular books published. People are interested in finding out what a famous person or historical figure was really like. I could point you to the popularity of the musical Hamilton, though some of the historical accuracy is questionable as well as current movies in theaters like Napoleon or the recent Oppenheimer. People love to get a glimpse of what someone in the past was like. We want to know what really happened as it happened. Dr. Luke sets out to do just that. He wants us to know what it was like to walk with Jesus and so he did faithful and careful research as a doctor would to find out what Jesus was like.

He - talked to eyewitnesses

- read other accounts

- compared stories

- compiled and investigated data

- and most importantly was inspired by the Holy Spirit in his writing.

True to this understanding of his careful research and the detail that Luke includes in his writing in both Luke and Acts, Luke is the longest book in the New Testament. It would take you two hours to read it silently straight through. Luke actually wrote more of the New Testament than anyone else. Earnst Renan called Luke's Gospel, "the most beautiful book in the world."

Misconceptions about who Jesus was or what He was like:

- a man's man, set to build up the self esteem of the oppressed males in Jewish society

- a culture shaper trying to redirect Israel's thinking in social areas and public policy

- people savvy, a populist, born and bred blue collar who could inspire change that the people needed

- a nationalist who would inspire politically charged shouts and celebrations

If you have entertained that Jesus was any of these things, you might find the next few years that we spend in Luke's gospel quite surprising. You may find out that some of your conceptions about who Jesus was and is will have to change to conform to what the Bible says He actually is like. When that happens, are you willing to take Him at His Word, even if that means giving up your preferred way of looking at Jesus?

Why would he take such care in compiling this account? He tells us in verses three and four as part of a very long sentence.

But he did this for a specific purpose.

III. Luke writes to give certainty about the things taught about Jesus. (v. 3-4.)

A. A Biblical Faith

The word fulfilled has a sense of something having been accomplished.

Not just something that happened but what had been done was specifically to fulfill that which was foretold about Jesus.

Luke keeps on referring to the OT.

What was accomplished - the gospel - God’s plans were accomplished and humans saw it happen among them.

Luke reads the Old Testament like Jesus did.

Luke 24:44–48 (ESV)

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,

47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

48 You are witnesses of these things.

B. A Historical Faith

Luke points to evidence outside the bible for believing what is in the bible. His account of the life of Jesus is rooted in evidence. He uses historical markers (dates and figures) for when these things occured. It helps place and verify the historicity of his account.

ILLUSTRATION: Islam - there is not much historical evidence for the claims of Islam regarding Mohammed. But the things done in Christianity were done publically in space and time and not in secret where only one person witnessed it.

Luke’s account can be historically verified.

Luke 1:5 (ESV)

5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

Luke 2:1–2 (ESV)

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Luke 3:1–2 (ESV)

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

Both history and archeology verify Luke’s account.

C. A Verifiable Faith

You can have certainty because Jesus has fulfilled everything spoken and written about Him in scriptures.

Luke uses a carefully investigated and organized sequence and structure for his account.

Chronological -

Simple structure of the order that things occured in Jesus’ life.

Geographic -

Dramatic -

Theological -

Certain special focuses in Luke:

Modern scholarship:

- Acceptance of Gentiles as true believers

- focus on women

- Jesus' mercy and compassion

- Our position in response to this compassion should be repentance (Luke 18:9-14)

Certainty is a special and truly rare gift.

There are two dangerous ditches people fall into in their search for certainty.

- They get so certain that they know the truth because of their deep study of science or materialism that they won't entertain the belief that there is something else out there.

- The other ditch is to so question everything that they develop a belief that nothing can be known for certain and there is not sure truth to grasp onto that holds firm.

We want to avoid both of those and Luke wants us to have true certianty in that which has proven to be true.

Luke writes so that Theophilus and all of us who love God may be certain that what the Bible writes of Jesus is true and real.

Big asks:

1. Investigate this man who is God with us.

2. Don't relegate your knowledge of Jesus to what you see on movies, tv, or the internet.

3. As you live through this Christmas season, will you take the opportunity to point people to the certainty they can have in Christ? We have opportunities for you to do this. - Christmas Walk - Christmas Eve - Every Sunday Service

Finally, let me share with you a danger in our gospel study that I want to avoid and want you to avoid.

There is a danger in reading each of these gospel accounts and seeing Jesus’ life and saying, “this is a good example of how we should life.” If we take Jesus as only an example and thereby the purpose of the book that we would know how to live like Jesus, then we have not fully understood the point. This is not just a book about how to live like Jesus. Part of the issue is that you can’t live just like Jesus because He was perfect and perfectly fulfilled the law in the place of sinners like you and me. He lived the perfect life we could not. But as we study the gospel of Luke we should not simply be seeing Jesus as an example. That is not enough.

Martin Luther addressed this when he wrote, “ Therefore, you should grasp Christ —his Word, works and suffering —in two ways. One way is as an example that you should follow and act like...

As you see him pray, fast, help people and show love, so you should also do for yourself and for your neighbor. But that is the least part of the gospel —by which alone it cannot even be called

"gospel," for in this way Christ is of no more use to you than any other saint. His life remains with him and does not help you at all. In short, this way does not make any Christians but only hypocrites. You must go much higher than this — though now for a long time this has been regarded as the best way, even an extraordinary way to preach.

The main point and basis of the gospel is that before you grasp Christ as an example, you first receive and know him as a gift and present given to you by God to be your own. When you see or hear that he has done something or suffered something, do not doubt that Christ himself with his deeds and suffering is yours. You can tely on him no less than if you had done it— indeed, as if you were Christ. See, that's truly knowing the gospel, that is the super abundant goodness of God, which no prophet, no apostle, no angel has ever fully expressed, which no heart can ever sufficiently be amazed at and comprehend. That is the great fire of God's love for us by which the heart and conscience become happy, certain and at peace.”

HWL found the certainty and hope he was seeking in his despair. He found it in Jesus. If you are familiar with the carol I mentioned in the introduction, you know I stopped early. The final verse of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day say,

“Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail,The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

We can have certainty and peace with God because of this Jesus, revealed in this gospel, crucified in the place of sinners, bearing the wrath of God for sinful man, died, and risen to life again. This Jesus we invite you to meet and fellowship with.