Luke & Acts: From Bethleham to the World; Week 2

Announcements:

After church today we are going to celebrate the life of Jeanette, everyone is invited to participate

This Tuesday, the 11th, we are having small group…it is at 6 PM, I hope to see you there.

This morning we are in the 2nd week of our series on Luke-Acts. During the Summer months we will be exploring these two book written by a companion of Paul, whose name is Luke…or, at least that is who we strongly believe wrote the books. Last week was largely an introduction to the series, as we covered the first 3 or 4 passages of both books-what is normally the introduction. In the case of Luke and Acts, these first few passages let us know who the author was writing to and (at least in part) why the author was writing. If you recall, Luke was writing to a man named Theophilus.

This week we are going to dive headfirst into the narrative that Luke wrote. We will be looking at 3 separate sections, 2 in Luke’s gospel and one from the book of Acts. This weeks message is designed to be an encouragement to you and a reminder that, as a follower of Christ, you carry with you something very special....something that the world desperately needs, even if some of them might not know it yet.

PRAY!

We are going to go through our passages as they are written by Luke. Meaning, We will begin with Luke chapter 1, then move on to 2, then we will finish up in the book of Acts. All 3 of these passages have something in common, which we will talk about at the end.

Let’s begin with:

Good News to Zechariah & Elizabeth

In Luke chapter 1, the author tells the story of the birth of John the Baptist. John was a pretty central character in the first few chapters of the 4 gospel accounts. These passages detail the circumstances behind John’s conception.

Luke 1:11–19 (CSB) An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified and overcome with fear. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.” “How can I know this?” Zechariah asked the angel. “For I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.” The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and tell you this good news.

Imagine that you are at your job, minding your own business and all of a sudden someone just appears, scaring the breath out of your lungs. Zechariah was a priest…during this period of Israel’s history, there were twenty-four divisions of priests. Each division took a turn to serve for one week per year. Only one priest at a time had the honor of burning the incense at the altar, an important task since the smoke from the incense was the symbolic representation of the prayers of God’s people rising up to God. There were so many priests that this special honor might come just once in a lifetime or perhaps not at all. On this occasion Zachariah was chosen to be the one to burn incense before God. While he was performing this super important job, the angel appeared. It’s clear that Zacharias and his wife had been praying for a child, yet they were now old, so they had likely given up hope of it ever happening. Thankfully for them, God had other plans. The angel appears to Zechariah and tell him that his wife would, indeed, bear a son…but not just any son, and they were to name him John. The angel said that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit and would prepare the people of Israel for the Messiah. Of course, there is much to this story that we do not have time to cover today…I want to quickly focus our attention on verse 19. When Zechariah asked how any of this could be possible, the angel responded:

“I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and tell you this good news.

There are only 2 named angels in the entire Bible, one is Gabriel, and the other is Michael. In this instance, Gabriel responds to Zechariah’s doubt by saying that God himself has given him the authority to speak this good news. While we don’t have time to read it…if you were to continue reading this story, you will find that when Zechariah came out of the temple, he couldn’t speak. He was mute....but the people around him could tell something miraculous had happened while he was at the altar of incense. You see, the good news that the angel came to deliver that day really wasn’t about Zechariah and Elizabeth. God was simply using them as vessels to bring about something much greater. You see, way back, hundreds of years before the Angel appeared to Zechariah, God had promised to send someone to prepare the people of Israel for the Messiah.

Malachi 4:4–6 ““Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.””

The angel Gabriel was quoting from the book of Malachi....the good news that the Angel was bringing was that the Lord had not forgotten His promises. So, what was a great blessing for Zechariah and Elizabeth, was, in reality, good news for all of Israel, and as it turns out, the entire world. Let’s move on to our 2nd story, found in the very next chapter of Luke.

Good News for Israel!

As we progress through Luke, we now come to chapter 2, where we will see another angel make an appearance…although we do not know his name this time. Let’s go ahead and read:

Luke 2:8–12 (CSB) “In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.””

Most of us are familiar with this story, even though we rarely hear it outside of the month of December. This is the story of when the angel appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Christ. Much like our previous story, when the angel appeared, the immediate reaction was fright…the shepherds were frightened. Yet, the angel tells these shepherds to not be afraid, as the angel is there to proclaim good new of great joy. The angel brought word of the birth of the Messiah…something that Israel had been waiting for for thousands of years. If you know anything about Israel’s history, you know that they were constantly being conquered by foreign enemies…then they would turn to God and he would send someone to free them. At this time in Israel’s history, they were under Roman occupation. For the typical Israelite living under Roman occupation, the arrival of the Messiah was the best news they could imagine.

Let’s take a quick look at verse 10: which is the announcement of good news:

“But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:”

This angelic announcement has many similarities to the first one we looked at…as I pointed out earlier, there was some initial fear, which I don’t we could blame the men for that. Then the angel sought to calm the fear by announcing that they are bearers of good new. Although we are not looking at it today, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, she too was afraid, just like Zechariah and the Shepherds. Also, the angel calmed Mary by assuring her that she was going to be apart of something much larger than her. It is not difficult to see that the same person wrote all 3 accounts, as the writers focus was on the same thing, every time. Luke happens to use the term “Good News” in both of the stories we read. Also, the phrase Good News is used by Luke multiple time throughout his entire gospel account, not just in the first couple of chapters. In your handouts I’ve listed many of them, but we will quickly look at just a couple.

Good News:

Luke 3:18; Luke 4:18; Luke 4:43; Luke 7:22; Luke 8:1; Luke 9:6; Luke 16:16; Luke 20:1.

Luke 4:43 “But he said to them, “It is necessary for me to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose.””

Luke 8:1 “Afterward he was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him,”

Luke 20:1–2 “One day as he was teaching the people in the temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the scribes, with the elders, came and said to him, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority?””

After Luke chapter 2, the phrase “Good News” is always used to describe the Gospel of Christ…the “good news” that Christ came to reconcile humanity to God. Compared to Matthew, Mark and John, Luke spends the most time talking about these birth announcement, he is unique in the amount of detail that he shares…they were obviously very important to the narrative that Luke was trying to put together.

Let’s now take a look at our last story. For this one we will be turning to the book of Acts chapter 13.

So, we started off by looking at the Good new delivered to Zachariah and Elizabeth, Then the good news delivered to the Shepherds. In both of these cases, the Good news is really focused on the nation of Israel and the long awaited Messiah. As we look at Acts, the good news is going to have a much wider scope. First I will give you some context to what we will be reading.

Good New to the World!

If you did not know, and some of you might not, the book of Acts begins after Jesus had risen from the grave. Shortly after Jesus resurrection, he instructed his disciples and closest followers to go to Jerusalem. Acts 1 talks about Jesus’s ascension, meaning, after Jesus rose from the grave, Luke records that he appeared to many people, including his disciples over the course of about 40 days. It was during this 40 days that Jesus told his followers to go to Jerusalem and told them to “wait there.” Then, after the 40 days, Jesus literally ascended, meaning, went back to be with God the Father…but, he did this for a reason. Jesus left, so that the Holy Spirit, the comforter could come. We will talk more about this in detail in a few weeks. For now thought, know that in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit makes a grand entrance and the church is born…if it were not for the events in both Acts chapter 2 and the events in Acts chapter 15, we would not be here today.

So as the book of Acts continues, the Apostle Paul comes on to the scene and the church continues growing, despite the fact that the Roman government is trying to stamp out and eliminate Christians. The number one issue in the early church was the acceptance of Gentiles into the fold, as it were. Many Jews who believed in Jesus as the Messiah wanted it to continue to be just another faction of Judaism…after all, Jesus was “their” messiah…but, like all of our stories today, God had much grander plans. Slowly, the Gentiles began putting their faith in Jesus and the gospel begins to spread like wildfire. Then, beginning in chapter 13, Paul and his traveling companion Barnabas embark on their first missionary journey…also, the narrative of the book of Acts begins to shift. I’ll read an excerpt from one of my sources.

MAP OF PAUL’S first journey.

Acts 13–14 narrates Paul’s first missionary journey, describing his travels as far as Galatia. Paul begins in Antioch and travels to Cyprus and Perga before continuing on to the Galatian towns of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe and then backtracking to Perga and Antioch. The pattern of evangelism followed by discipleship, seen in the first part of Acts, is now well established. In fact, Paul will return to these same places in his next journey. His strategy is to begin in the synagogues of each new town, which, ironically, will be a means of setting the Gentile mission in motion. Although they gain many Jewish converts, Paul and Barnabas meet great resistance to the proclamation of the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.

As the commentator points out, many Jews were not happy with Paul. As we pick up Paul talking in Acts 13, he is in a Jewish synagogue, preaching a sermon about Jesus to both Jews and Greeks to follow God. Paul is trying to convince the Jews that the Jewish leaders had gotten it all wrong and rejected Jesus…not only that, but Jesus died for all, not just Jews. Starting in verse 16, Paul runs down a brief review of Jewish history, Paul shows that the succession, or the line of authority went from Moses, Samuel, Saul, David and John the Baptist (these are the men that Paul mentioned) led directly to Jesus, who came “from this man’s [David’s] seed, according to the promise” The promise being the Messiah. This was a declaration that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. This is where we pick it up in verse 26.

Acts 13:26–32 (CSB) “Brothers and sisters, children of Abraham’s race, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the word of this salvation has been sent. Since the residents of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize him or the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath, they have fulfilled their words by condemning him. Though they found no grounds for the death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him killed. When they had carried out all that had been written about him, they took him down from the tree and put him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and he appeared for many days to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we ourselves proclaim to you the good news of the promise that was made to our ancestors.

In Paul’s sermon, up to verse 26, nothing Paul said would have been shocking to the audience..but then comes our passages.

Why would our passages be so shocking to the audience? Paul was claiming that in God’s new plan of salvation, not only are the Jews included, as would be expected, but the Gentile God-fearers are also included: “those among you who fear God.”

The nonnegotiable theological position of the Jews had been that, as the chosen people of God, they had been given an exclusive channel to God through the Mosaic law. Gentiles who also wanted to find God could do so only by becoming Jews through agreeing to adhere to the law and get circumcised. Right before verse 26, as Paul was going through a brief history of Israel, Paul mentioned John the Baptist, who was respected among the Jews.

Acts 13:24–25 “Before his coming to public attention, John had previously proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. Now as John was completing his mission, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the one. But one is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet.’”

By bringing up John the Baptist, who preached that all Jews should repent, not only was Paul suggesting that Gentiles no longer had to become Jews in order to be reconciled to God…not only that, and even worse, is the fact that Jews would need to repent and accept Christ as the messiah in order to be in right standing with God. This would have been outright heresy to the Jewish rabbis. Naturally, because Paul is speaking with a largely Jewish audience, he uses the very same O.T. that the Jews studied so faithfully to remind them of God’s promise that He would be a God to all people, not just Jews. This is the good news that Paul was proudly proclaiming, according to verse 32...

And we ourselves proclaim to you the good news of the promise that was made to our ancestors.

Let me give you a quick example to help us understand how the Jews were probably feeling. Imagine if you are the oldest son or daughter. You are about 5 years older than any of your siblings. Naturally, you would be given certain responsibilities, and privileges that your younger siblings would not have. Let’s say that, as long as you do all of your chores and homework, you are allowed to stay up until 9, while your siblings have to go to bed at 8. During that hour, that is your chance to be with your mom and dad, without anyone else around. Being able to stay up later makes you feel special and more grown-up. Then, for whatever reason, your mom and dad decide to let your younger sibling stay up until 9 as well…even though they are quite a bit younger than you. Now, instead of having that special time with just you and your parents, your younger sibling is there to annoy you. You no longer feel special.

In essence, what Paul was doing in the Synagogue in Acts chapter 13 was telling the older brothers that they no longer had any special privileges…that their younger siblings would now be able to have all of the same responsibilities and privileges. This of course is a trite example, but it may help you visualize why the Jews had such a hard time accepting Paul’s message. Instead of celebrating that God had now made a way for all people, the Jews were jealous and didn’t want to loose their “exclusivity” to God. In other words, the good news wasn’t very good to them

Let’s go ahead and wrap things up this morning by tying these 3 stories together, and apply them to our lives.

In all 3 of the stories written by Luke, the central theme is that of Good New. Zacharias and Elizabeth received the good news that they would bear a son; the shepherds recieved the goon news that the Long Awaited Messiah was about to be born, and lastly, Paul delivered the good news that the O.T. prophesies about the Messiah were fulfilled in Jesus. Furthermore, the good news that was given in each of these stories was much further reaching than the people at the time could have imagined. We can look back now and see the impact of the good news in each of these stories. All of these stories point directly to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ…in other words, the good news in these stories points to the ultimate good news, the only news that matters…which is the Gospel of Christ, otherwise know as

“The Good News.”

While I was studying for this sermon I will always look at multiple sources for definitions and such. So, just for fun, I typed in “Good News” to an AI prompt…here is what came back:

The term is used in the New Testament to refer to the news of salvation, or liberation from sin, brokenness, and estrangement from God. Christians believe that Jesus brings good news for all people, including being loved by God and forgiven for bad things. The gospel is also the message of who Jesus is and what he did, and how his benefits can be applied to people. The gospel is considered good news because it addresses a serious human problem. For example, the gospel can provide resources to help people overcome temptations, such as anger, and experience the joy that comes from righteous behavior. The gospel also includes the message that through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, people can be saved from the penalty of sin and receive eternal life in Heaven with God.

Now, I’m not typically a fan of AI generated content, but I’ve got to admit, it’s pretty spot on, minus a word change or two I would make.

Romans chapter 10 describes this good news quite well:

Romans 10:8b–15 This is the message of faith that we proclaim: If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame, since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”

Paul says to the Romans something similar to what he was saying in Acts chapter 13; Even though certain Jews could not see it, the Messiah came to give his life so that mankind can be united, not only with God, but also with each other. Furthermore, Paul says that followers of Christ are, indeed, bearers of this good news. Therefore, we have a responsibility to share this good news in a way in which people can understand it. Too often I think we have the tendency to approach the gospel from the wrong angle. We view the gospel as a means to keep people out, rather than bring people in. We want people to stop being sinners before they surrender their lives to Christ.

Think for a moment about how badly the world needs some good news! All we have to do is turn on the news for 5 minutes. Things that used to be shameful are now openly celebrated as being good and heroic…we take an entire month to celebrate one of the 7 deadly sins....the world is in dire need of some good news. It is easy to look at these things and allow our hearts to become hardened and turn away from the very people that need this good news the most.

On Saturday evenings, before I go to bed, I will usually go into the bathroom and do all of my personal grooming, in preparation for Sunday morning. Not that anyone wanted to know that…but I’m building to something, I promise. Well, in our bathroom at home the ceiling light is beginning to go out. I know this because it will flicker on and off, repeatedly. I was in there getting ready to shave my head, but the light is constantly flickering on and off. It is very annoying, so much so, if you are in there too long it can give you a headache. I do not recommend trying to shave your head in a dark room, it usually won’t turn out too well. It reminds me of a scary movie where a person is walking through a room with a light bulb or a flashlight that is flickering on and off, which makes the scene more intense. One moment you can see well, but the next moment you are in complete darkness. To be honest, being in a room with a flickering light is worse than being in a dark room, because at least your eyes can adjust over time. Of course, the only way to remedy these situations is to check the bulb, perhaps it’s just come loose a bit, or it might need replaced. Either way, no one likes to operate in the dark.

In the book of Matthew, Jesus describes those who carry the message of Christ, or the good news as a light.

Matthew 5:14–16 ““You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Let me encourage you today, if you are a follower of Christ, you carry the good news within you. That good news is a bright shining light which makes all things visible…it has the ability to dispel even the darkest of rooms. Jesus reminds us that we are responsible for this good news, we are responsible for the light. We must not hide the light, we must not allow the light to get to the point were it begins to flicker on and off....one moment the holy spirit is visible and working, but the next moment, the light is snuffed out, due to our actions and attitudes.

If you are a follower of Christ, then, just like Paul in the book of Acts, you have been placed on this earth to proclaim the good news....Jesus says that you are the light of the world. We can’t control how people will react when presented with the good news, in two of our stories today, the people had fear, in Acts, the Jews became angry at the good news. No different than when we turn on a bright light after being in darkness for a long time, the light can cause us to cover our eyes for a moment. You can not control, nor are you responsible for how other people react…as long as your light is shining. We do not want to be a super bright halogen light, where no one can look at you, but you also do not want to be so dim that you are one turn of the knob from being in complete darkness. In other words, we are called to be set-apart…different than the world, but we aren’t called to be weirdos that are either so worldly that we can’t be a witness or so “spiritual” that no one can relate to us.

If you are here today and you have never made a decision for Christ, or it was so long ago and you really have never taken it seriously…then I some really good news for you. If, as you sit there, your heart if feeling pressed on all sides....that is the Lord speaking to you. Be grateful for that, because He loves you enough to draw you to Himself. There is nothing magical or mysterious about anything I’ve talked about today. To be honest, it is a matter of surrender on our parts. It is a matter of admitting that we are incapable of doing this thing called life on our own. The Bible says that everyone has sinned, and needs to be set-right with God, through Christ. Without Christ, there is no good news, He is the good news. If that is you today and you feel the Lord speaking to your heart…just like I read before in Romans 10, all we must do is believe on Christ and repent or turn away from the sin which keeps our light from shining.

PRAY