Confidence that what you were taught is true.

Luke 1:1-4

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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 was a great writer. He was educated. He was a Doctor/Physician.

Luke’s background is greek.

The gospel of Luke caries a joyful tone. Provides details that interest us as humans.

You will notice in this gospel that Luke focuses on Jesus concern for poor people, sick people, women and children.

v. 1 - fulfilled = “surely believed” among us.

Luke states that many have undertaken "to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled."

v. 2 - These stories were handed down to Luke by “those who from the first (Mk 1:1; Jn 15:27; Ac 1:21,22) were eyewitnesses (Heb 2:3; 1 Pe 5:1; 2 Pe 1:16; 1 Jn 1:1) and servants of the word (Mk 4:14).

Luke then states that he has carefully investigated everything from the beginning...SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW THE CERTAINTY OF THE THINGS YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT.

These are people who had direct contact with Jesus. Who walked with him. Who heard him preach. Who saw him perform miracles.

This is investigative reporting. So many atheists like to throw the Bible out as proof and evidence of Jesus. However, the Bible contains written accounts, just as we may turn to Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC to gather news and data. Or we may enter a google search to get more information. Luke is written to be an investigated historical document.

v.3 - Luke wrote the book of Acts and the book of Luke. He was a companion of Paul. These are documents written to a man named (Ac 1:1 - Addresses Theopholis. The purpose of Luke was to share all that Jesus did and taught) Theophilus. (Ac 11:4 - Peter told them the entire story. Perhaps this is where Luke got his information).

v. 4 - “So that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” Is what you’ve been taught true? How do you know? Are you certain of it.

Everything in Luke is written with the goal of proving who Jesus is and that the things that Theophilus was taught are correct.

One thing that I am confident of is this.

When you know without a shadow of any doubt that something is true, you will not back down lightly. That’s one of the reasons why so many disciples went to death over the claims of Jesus.

Barna “Gen Z”

From the book Barna “Gen Z: The culture, Beliefs, and Motivations Shaping the Next Generation. Copyright 2018 by Barna Group and Impact 360 Institute.

Gen Z Still mostly holds on to traditional Christian beliefs.

60% believe “Jesus was a real person who was crucified by Rome and was actually physically raised from the dead.”

70% believe “Jesus is the divine Son of God.”

52% believe “Faith in Jesus is the only way to God.”

42% believe “The Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.”

How sure are they in their beliefs?

60% (of the above percentage) are very convinced “Jesus was a real person who was crucified by Rome and was actually physically raised from the dead.”

58% (of the above percentage) are very convinced that “Jesus is the divine Son of God.”

62% (of the above percentage) are very convinced that “Faith in Jesus is the only way to God.”

25% (of the above percentage) are very convinced that “The Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.”

Worldview

We’ve been talking in our church about world view.

Can you define a worldview?

A worldview is the lens that we filter life through. It informs our beliefs, which impacts our decisions and actions. Everything that you do flows from your world view.

There are several different worldviews. But we will thin it out to two for tonight:

A secular (post-modern) worldview and a Christian (Biblical) worldview.

The secularist believes that man is intrinsically good, masters his own fate, determines on his own the boundaries of his achievements and knowledge, and is unconstrained by moral standards - apart from those that he chooses at his sole discretion.

The Christian, on the other hand, believes that an all-powerful God created the heavens and the earth. This living, omnipotent God possesses all knowledge, and because of His great love for us, He established absolute moral standards for our protection. He is holy, loving, and personal. The Biblical part of the equation comes in that God has given us His word to reveal himself to us and guide our lives.

Gen Z = 4% Biblical Worldview

According to Barna, Many in Generation Z, more than in generations before them are a spiritual blank slate.

Gen Z is drawn to things spiritual. But their starting point is way different from previous generations.

Gen Z is truly post-Christian. They are not born into a Christian culture.

While a majority of todays teenagers self-identify as “Christian” (58%), only 43% have recently attended church.

And, only 1 in 11 qualify as an “engaged Christian” with beliefs and practices that put faith front-and-center in their lives.

My counterfeit $10 bill

For our first house, Heidi and I bought a little 2 room house with no insulation in Minnesota. One day while cleaning out the house and doing some work in the house, we found a little hidden pull out panel in the back of one of the closets. When we opened the panel, we found a few things, but nothing more interesting than a ripped $10 bill. Sweet! Who doesn’t celebrate when you find money.

I took the ripped $10 bill to the bank to see if I could replace it. To my surprise it was a counterfeit. We had counterfeit money tucked away in a hidden compartment of our house. The bank confiscated my $10 bill and turned it over to the FBI. The only thing I was left with was a cool story.

I had no idea that that $10 bill was counterfeit. I remember that it felt weird, flimsy even. But I could not tell.

Do you know how bankers can tell if a bill is counterfeit? It’s not by studying the counterfeits. It’s by knowing what the real thing is.

CLOSING

I would propose that we are being presented with all kinds of things today that look and feel like the real thing, but they are not. They are counterfeit.

To know the real thing, we need to study the “REAL JESUS”.

Luke says, “That you may have full confidence in everything that you’ve been taught.”

Most people have not carefully chiseled out their worldview by a personal search for truth and obedience to God.

Spiritually, too many of us are just playing church going through the motions.

We show up for worship, we sing our songs, we listen to the message, but most of us will go away unchanged.

Why do we think the things we think, say the things we say, and do the things we do?

It’s easy to buy into the counterfeit that our culture has created rather than knowing the truth.

Colossians 2:8 NIV

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 2

Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.

We need to learn to examine our thought process. Why do you think the things that we think? What influences are playing into them.

Pastor Roger made a claim on Sunday that if we had a choice between truth and happiness, 99% of us would choose happiness.

That’s a scary place to be.

Freedom comes from knowing the truth.

Identity Crisis

Most of us are a walking identity crisis. We are one way at school. We are another way with our sports teams. We are yet another way when we go to church. And then we are yet one more way when we are home, by ourselves and no one is around.

There are two you’s. The visible you and the real you.

The visible you is what you let everyone around you see. This is never the real you. You learn how to say and do things that allows you to cope in life and fit in with those around you.

The real you is the person that God knows.

We are who we are in our minds first, before we speak or act. Our speech or actions are the result of our thinking. To protect our self-image, we kid, trick, and fool ourselves into believing the visible you is somehow the real you. To see ourselves as we really are, we must acknowledge our inability to do so without God’s help.

Ephesians 6:12 NIV

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

What if we were to center ourselves around the truth of the gospel, the person of Jesus Christ, and allow our life to be shaped by that. What if you could walk through life knowing why you are here?

Prayer / Challenge