Luke, The Inspired Historian
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Luke, the Inspired Historian
Luke, the Inspired Historian
Since the beginning of this year, we have been steeped in the first chapters of Deuteronomy. By now you have learned that I believe in the value of preaching methodically through chapter and verse of scripture, and indeed many of us have seen great reward in being challenged by our study of that sometimes difficult book.
And certainly, I plan to return to Deuteronomy at some point, but I have found in the past that sometimes both the preacher and the congregation can find it refreshing to study a new area of scripture as well for a while. So this morning marks the first Sunday where we will be departing from the book of Deuteronomy and entering into the gospel of Luke. By beginning today in the book of Luke, we will in a sense also be preparing in advance for the Advent season, since I have planned the preaching out through Christmas so that we will arrive on Christmas week at those wonderful verses that tell us about the birth of Jesus.
And what a book of the Bible the gospel of Luke is! RC Sproul said:
I am sure that every Christian has one gospel that stands out as his or her favourite. If I were forced to choose, I would have to select Luke’s. I have studied and taught it in various settings. It seems that the more I read it, the more excited I get about it.
Sproul, R. C. A Walk with God: An Exposition of Luke. Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 1999. Print.
So let’s get right into the book of Luke. But let’s begin by considering a concern that most believers, or probably all believers, have at times. The concern that most of us face at various times is one of faith. To be blunt, our faith is often lacking. We believe, but we need help with our unbelief, as the man who asked Jesus to heal his son admitted.
Perhaps we believed in Christ for salvation, but often do not believe he cares about us in this life. Maybe we feel he doesn’t care what is going on in our lives, or that he has left us with a sort of faith that must be hung on to without any further encouragement or evidence of the truth of the gospel. Of course, none of this is true, but let us admit, at least to ourselves, that sometimes we do question, sometimes we do wonder.
In order to help those who may have believed to have a more certain faith, Luke wrote this gospel. Today we will look at the introduction to the gospel of Luke, keeping in mind that hearing and reading the Word of God helps us grow in confidence that the gospel is true.
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us,
just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,
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,
that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
Whenever we begin the study of a book of the bible, it is worthwhile to take a few moments to better understand the historical context of it, who the author is, who it was written for, and what the purpose of the writing was. In the case of the gospel of Luke, it is in these first 4 verses that we get the last part of that, the purpose of the writing, and also who it was written for.
The general consensus of when this letter was written is in the early 60s AD. The gospel of Luke is a little different from the other gospels in a few ways, but one way is that the gospel of Luke is written by a Greek; the other gospels were written by Jews. So Luke offers a different perspective than the others. Additionally, the other gospel writers were personal witnesses to the events of Jesus’ life, but Luke was not. He was a witness of the events of the early church, as he wrote about in the second volume of his account of the history of the ministry of Jesus and the early church, the book of Acts, makes clear. In fact, Luke writes some of the narratives in that book in the first person, indicating he was there for some of it.
However, the gospel of Luke is based not because he was a first-hand witness, but because he carefully researched the history of Jesus’ life, which we will talk more about as we go verse by verse in a bit. So Luke wrote this gospel and also Acts. These can be considered as a matching set, or a 2 volume series. Some have believed that Luke was planning or perhaps had begun work on a third volume, but this is not certain by any means.
One thing that is certain is that between the gospel of Luke and Acts, Luke wrote the largest chunk of the NT in terms of words written. This may surprise many of you. We often talk about Paul, who wrote 13 of the books of the NT, and this out of 27 books total. So it may seem like Paul wrote half of the NT. However, since many of Paul’s letters are short, it turns out that Luke wrote far more words than Paul. In Fact, only two bible writers have written more words than Luke. Moses and Ezra. Moses is credited with the first five books of the Bible, and Ezra wrote the book named for him and also 1 &2 Chronicles.
By the way, out of all of those words Luke wrote, two of his favorite phrases were “preach the gospel” and the word salvation.
So who was Luke? Well, it really was not debated for much of church history, but Luke was the beloved Physician Paul wrote about in Col4.14
Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.
Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
And further, in Acts, written by Luke, he shows his closeness to Paul: Acts16.10
And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Let’s look at this letter’s introduction verse by verse:
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us,
Here Luke notes that already there exist some written accounts of the ministry of Jesus. In fact, many. Many have given accounts, and apparently many people had heard and believed through this.
just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,
These accounts were delivered by eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. While these eyewitnesses were still available, Luke diligently gathered the information. The idea here of ministers of the word does not necessarily imply some sort of official like a pastor or apostle or something. Luke most certainly included in this phrase “ministers of the word” those who had believed and lived out their faith by sharing the gospel with others.
The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 26: Luke Chapter One: Communicating One to One
The story is told about a man who was so intrigued by a Christian friend at work that he came to him one day and asked how he could find God. His friend said, “You need a theologian. You’d better talk to my pastor.” When he talked to the pastor he was told, “I’m not a theologian, I’m just a poor preacher who learned some things in seminary. I suggest you see my seminary professor.” Undaunted, the man made an appointment to see the seminary professor. At the start of the visit, he asked, “Are you a theologian?” “No, no,” was the reply. “I am just a teacher. I get my material from all these theology books in my library. You’d better go and see some of the authors of these books.” When he finally arranged an interview with one of the important authors, his first question again was, “Are you a theologian?” “No, no,” answered the author. “I’m just a scientist who observes life and who writes about what I see. If you want a theologian, talk to somebody who is living out the faith day by day.” I think this points up what Luke is implying. He got his story from the authentic theologians of his time. Beyond being eyewitnesses, they were living out their faith day by day.
And really, the word theologian only means one who studies God. Therefore, every Christian is called to be a theologian.
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us,
just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,
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,
Luke was not saying none of these other people did a good enough job getting the information together, so I had to go and do this; No, he is recognizing the validity of their work, and seeking to put together a sort of compilation of other gospel accounts, along with his own research, which involved interviewing the eye witnesses. And he is doing this work for someone he is referring to as the most excellent Theophilus.
Theologian means one who studies God? Do you wonder what Theophilus means? Lover of God. Oh, that all of us could be called Theophilus and Theologian! Pray that God would grant you and I to be known as people who know him and love Him!
This same Theophilus was the one Luke addressed the book of Acts to: Acts1.1
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,
And I’m not preaching from Acts this morning, but I did preach through Acts years ago, and when I did, I noted that in the first verse of Acts, it says all that Jesus began to do and teach, the implication being, that the work of Christ continues, He began to do and teach, and we are privileged to continue His work today!
So who was this Theophilus? Most likely he was what we would call a patron. He may have provided income to Luke, the means for him to work on these accounts. So he wrote an orderly account for Theophilus after having followed all things closely for some time past.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Specific Person)
The honorific “most excellent” (Luke 1:3) might indicate a measure of power or wealth. This expression is used elsewhere to describe Roman government officials (Acts 23:26; 24:3; 26:25), which suggests that Theophilus could have been one himself. Streeter speculates that he might have been Titus Flavius Clemens, the Emperor Vespasian’s nephew (Streeter, Four Gospels, 559). Marx provides some evidence that Theophilus was none other than Herod Agrippa II (Marx, “A New Theophilus,” 17–26). It’s possible that he was simply a literary sponsor, since “most excellent” could designate anyone with a position of means.
So Luke writes for Theophilus, whoever he was,
that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
Now we get the the main point of why he wrote. Theophilus, whoever he was, was someone who had heard the gospel, and Luke wanted to provide a very thorough historic account or narrative of the ministry of Jesus, so that Theophilus may have certainty. But in addition to Theophilus, Luke certainly was aware that this account would be widely published, so his purposes were to increase the confidence of the gospel in not just one person, but for anyone who may read and study it, including us.
John said his gospel was written so that those who read it would believe: John20.31
but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
And Luke’s reason to write was pretty much the same, although it seems to me he is considering his audience as someone who has already been taught, where John seems to be considering his readers to include unbelievers. I have often heard people say the Bible is for believers, and unbelievers won’t understand it. There is a bit of truth in that. Until the Holy Spirit opens our hearts to receive the Word, we won’t believe it. Yet we must be careful that we don’t think to ourselves, “Unbelievers can’t understand the Bible, so we should not invite them to a Bible Study or show them passages of scripture, for they will not understand it. No, we must not think that.
And this is because it is through the Word that the Holy Spirit regenerates the hearts of those who will believe. No one comes to Christ unless the Father draws Him, and this is done through the reading and hearing of the scriptures. Since the Scriptures were written with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we can be certain that there is value in studying them. For the believer, to increase our faith and know God better. For the unbeliever, that perhaps the Holy Spirit will draw you to the Father by doing a work in your heart that causes you to believe the gospel of Jesus.
So to sum up what this introduction says: Luke wrote this book to offer a narrative of the ministry of Jesus, having consulted eyewitnesses and ministers of the gospel. He desired to write this orderly account so that his patron, Theophilus, and others would have certainty about what they had already been taught about Jesus.
This passage shows us that for those who may at times feel their faith is weakening, they may increase their assurance of the truth of scripture by reading it, listening to it, and meditating on it. We need constant reminders of what is true and good. We need to increase our own certainty of the truth of these things, and hearing the Word of God helps us grow in confidence that the gospel is true. Christians must hear and read God's Word so that their faith will grow and their love of God increase.
As we study the gospel of Luke together, may our faith in our Lord and King Jesus the Christ increase! The first section, leading us into the Advent season, will bring us through those glorious events leading up to the birth of Jesus. We will begin with the marvelous experience of Zechariah the priest, who encountered an Angel of the Lord during his duty in the temple, and was told of the son that would be born to him. His son would be named John, and he would be the one to prepare the way for Jesus.
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
After that we will look into another angelic encounter, when Mary is greeted by the angel Gabriel, who would give her the amazing news about her role in the salvation of people that God had foreordained before the foundations of the earth were laid. And we will see the example Mary set for each of us in her humble obedience and acceptance of her role in God’s Kingdom.
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
We will review the occasion when Mary Visited Elizabeth, who was carrying John the Baptist, who leaped in the womb when Mary spoke.
And we will see the beautiful outpouring of praise Mary offers in the Magnificat, which begins like this: Luke1.46-48
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
Then we will learn about the birth of John the Baptist, whose birth was so extraordinary that people couldn’t help but wonder what this all meant.
And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea,
and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
Then we will learn of Zechariah’s prophecy, that he poured out when his mouth was opened by the Lord, which ends this way: Luke1.78-79
because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Finally Christmas week we will arrive at the great narrative of Luke 2, where Jesus is born, and the Angels sing to the Shepherds, and the Shepherds make an immediate trip to Bethlehem to see this child, and after this, Luke2.20
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
In short, friends, we are going to be led by God’s Word into the Christmas season, and may we cherish this time and the encouragement of God’s Word. May our faith be increased as we, like Theophilus, read the careful accounting of these things that Luke, after much research and careful investigation, wrote down for the benefit of all who would read it. May our hearts be filled with even more joy as we consider the astounding truth that God sent Christ into the World to save sinners.
May we, with Mary and Zechariah, bring songs of praise to our God and Savior, for he has looked on us who believe with everlasting compassion and favor. The long and short of it is this: That God planned this great salvation from before time began, that those who he has chosen to be his would be saved. He worked out His marvelous plan of salvation throughout human history, and even to this day his plan continues.
You see, he planned salvation long ago, and began the plan throughout history. Before Adam had even sinned, the plan was in place to bring salvation to each that God would save, those from every generation. Those from every ethnic group. Salvation for the slave, salvation for the humble, but even salvation for the proud who would humble themselves. Ahead of time, God was showing glimpses of what He would do. He showed the seriousness of sin when he expelled the people from the garden, and when he flooded the entire world in the days of Noah. He showed his power and might and desire to save the people he loved in the account of Joseph, and in the Exodus, and through the desert and the bringing his people into the promised land.
He showed his continual calling of people to repentance through his many prophets. He shared about his loving character in many of the narratives of the Bible, like Ruth, and Esther, and in the life of David. He was always calling his own people to himself, even when they were going after idols and when they turned their backs on them, he worked through many means to turns them back.
And then we find this narrative of the birth of Christ. How meticulous the planning and foresight of God! He knew when the best time to cause Jesus to enter the scene was: Gal4.4
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
In that fullness of time, the perfect timing of God, Jesus came into the world. God’s timing is perfect, and He calls each of those whom he will save in his own good time. When we wonder why the timing seems so different with each believer, let us never forget that God knows the perfect time for every part of his salvation, and this includes each individual. Remember that He is the Sovereign Savior. He chooses whom he will save and how He will save and when He will save, and it is all for his glory.
Could it be in the fullness of God’s time that your time to believe is today? Perhaps you have heard of Jesus before, perhaps you even would say you know much about him. Yet you haven’t believed for salvation. Perhaps you think the time isn’t right for you, but today is the day for salvation! 2Cor6.2
For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
My friends, Jesus is the Savior for all who put faith in Him. He calls you to believe today! Do not let your heart harden against this pleading of our Savior. And yet, He does not only call you, He commands you. Belief in Jesus is not an invitation, it is a command. He says to you Believe!
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
The gospel of Luke is a long gospel, and to preach to it will not happen quickly, and in between we will return again to Deuteronomy as well. But let us for a moment look to the very end of the gospel of Luke:
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.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Oh God, would you open our minds to understand the scriptures, would you, Lord, grant salvation to us! If anyone hears his voice, do not harden your hearts as Israel did in their rebellion! He is a saving God today! Do not delay, come to Christ! He compels you to come! He commands you to believe! You may be here today and say, I will believe when I understand it a little more clearly! Do not delay, believe what you can understand in this moment, and then strive to know Him more. You may say, I want to enjoy my sin a little more, and then I will come. Do not take the risk!
Not only does your sin cause God’s wrath to increase against you, you by no means can guarantee your life will still be in you before this day is over! You must believe today! You may say, if only I had a more supportive family, then I could believe. Jesus calls you to love him, even if that causes your family to hate you. You may say, let me find a spouse and have children, then I will come. What spouse, and what children, can bring you the satisfaction, and the peace, and the fulfillment that only comes from knowing Jesus! Do not wait, believe on Him this very day!
If you are not fulfilled with Jesus, nothing will fulfill you! Jesus is Lord and King, and He is the Lord and King of salvation. He is the One this is all about. The gospel of Luke was written so that the one who reads it may have certainty Luke1.4
that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
And yet, this certainty comes not from the words alone, but by the Spirit of God who wrote the words, and who opens the minds of those who believe, and calls them to faith in Jesus, and draws them to everlasting life! Yes, today is the day! Do not delay in believing in Jesus! He is here to save.
I have prayed and will continue to pray that in these coming weeks, as we look at this fantastic gospel together, and the events leading to the birth of Jesus, that the Lord would open hearts and cause minds to comprehend, and that in this very place, we would be privileged to be first-hand witnesses as God’s kingdom is built as people come to faith in Christ, and those with faith in Christ may have that same faith increased through the Word of God, and that we all may have the certainty of the things taught increased as we God.
I make this commitment. Not one sermon is going to lack a call to come to Christ. I will preach the word for the building up of the saints, but you can always feel it safe to bring unbelievers along and they will be given the gospel message, whether it is the book of Deuteronomy or Luke, or a letter of Paul we are studying, I will call men, women and children to put faith in Christ. This is the privilege I have, to proclaim this gospel, given by our Sovereign Savior, and to call people to put faith in Him.
Luke wrote this book to offer a narrative of the ministry of Jesus, having consulted eyewitnesses and ministers of the gospel. He desired to write this orderly account so that his patron, Theophilus, and others would have certainty about what they had already been taught about Jesus. We can have assurance the gospel is true when the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, confirms that our faith in Jesus is well placed. We need constant reminders of what is true and good. We need to increase our own certainty of the truth of things. Hearing the Word of God helps us grow in confidence that the gospel is true.