Pray: that Jesus be exalted and that we would have certainty concerning the truths about Jesus and that this certainty would lead a bold and loyal allegiance to Jesus Christ

[Luke 1:1-4] “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.”

Tonight, is the beginning of a massive study of the longest Gospel in the Bible, Luke’s Gospel, and if we take Luke and Acts together as two-parts of a single book, what we have is the largest amount of material in the New Testament by any one author. Can you believe that? Paul has written more books of the New Testament but not more words, that alone goes to Luke, Luke and Acts make up 1/3 of the New Testament, and I say all this to say that Luke’s Gospel is vitally important to study and that it will take some time to complete this study. Most people would probably say that this is not a very smart strategy to grow a large youth group, “they’ll get bored” “it’s too much” “it’s too long” “they need practical help, etc.” well, they’re probably right that this will not grow a large youth group, but I don’t care about that! My desire is to have a deep youth group! I’ll take 1 or 2 true lovers of Jesus who will turn the world upside down, lit on fire by the truth of God and have a passion for His name to be magnified among every people group on the planet, than a thousand lovers of entertainment, experiences and social satisfaction! What a disservice it would be to you all, if I just went shallow, if we just kept serving up spiritual juice and cookies! I want you to feast on the meat of the Word and drink pure spiritual milk so that you may be wise and mature and deeply rooted and passionate disciples of Jesus. And studying through a Gospel like this, with the power of the Spirit infusing these words, will do just that.

I. Why This Series On Luke?

1) That We May Know Him: In Philippians 3:8 Paul says, “…I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” So for Paul, knowing this Christ was worth the loss of all earthly status and gain. Knowing Jesus was for him everything, surpassing worth, and it was his aim that he would know Jesus even more. You could say his soul longed for knowledge of Jesus, but where do we get this? Where do we get this kind of Pauline longing for the knowing Jesus? It comes from seeing Jesus, and the way we see Jesus is through the revelation of Himself in the Scriptures. So the aim of Luke’s gospel, you could say, is that we may know Jesus! Jesus is the theme of Luke’s Gospel, and it is Luke’s aim that Jesus be the theme of our lives. So this is the chief reason for this study…I want us to know Jesus! Now we could have picked any of the Gospels to do this, but Luke is the easiest Gospel to understand for those who have no prior knowledge of Jesus, it was written to a Gentile audience. Matthew’s Gospel was written to a primarily Jewish audience, so if we studied Matthew’s Gospel we would have to have a deep Jewish background. Mark’s Gospel is an easy Gospel and was probably written to a Roman audience, which would be easy to relate to, but Mark’s Gospel is bare bones and doesn’t give the detail we have in Luke, and Luke covers almost all of Mark, upwards of 98%, so if you read Luke, you knock out Mark too. Now John’s Gospel is not one of the Synoptic Gospels because John’s material doesn’t overlap any of the material in the other Gospels. John’s Gospel is a defense of Jesus deity and carries much of Jesus’ longer sermons and teachings, which carry many difficult concepts that would need a lot of explanation. So Luke’s gospel is a simple gospel that gets us straight to the Jesus we need to know, while taking us deep. So that’s the main reason.

2) That We May Have Certainty: The purpose of Luke’s letter, we’ll see, in a few minutes is so that Theophilus may have certainty; he wants Theophilus to be absolutely sure of the things concerning Jesus. So he writes that we may be convinced of the absolute nature of the truth of Jesus Christ. He doesn’t want there to be any doubting or wavering concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ, whether you’re a Christian or you’re just considering the truth claims of Christianity. At the end of this letter you should walk away knowing all you need to know to place your faith in Jesus and surrender your life to Him, swearing allegiance to Him and Him alone. As Christians you should walk away from this letter more convinced of who Jesus was and what He said and did and be able to spot false teachings about Jesus.

3) That We May Mature As Disciples of Jesus: The Great Commission says that we are to teach others to observe all that Jesus has commanded, and if we’re to learn what Jesus has commanded then we need to listen to Him, and the best way to listen to Him is to study one of the Gospels, and Luke is a great Gospel for this because 50% of Luke is Jesus’ sayings, and there is an overwhelming amount of material that the other Gospels do not contain. For example: there are 35 specific miracles recorded in the Gospels, 20 of them are in Luke and 7 are only in Luke. There are also 50 parables that Jesus taught, 35 of which are in Luke and 19 parables that are only in Luke. And on top of that there are 30 events in the life of Jesus that Luke records that no other Gospel does, so without Luke we miss 7 miracles, 19 parables and 30 events in the life of Jesus! That’s a lot! And by seeing this miracle working Christ, listening to His teachings, and observing these unique events we will inevitably, with the Spirit’s help, be mature disciples of Jesus Christ. So in the Gospel of Luke we will see our Master first hand and by reading this Gospel we will get as close to walking and talking with Jesus as we possibly can in this life, and there is one incredible section in Luke, 10 chapters (Luke 9:51-19:44), where we will walk behind Jesus on His way to the cross that awaits Him in Jerusalem. It is an amazing section and in it we will learn what it means to follow Jesus and the cost involved in this.

So there is much to look forward to in this Gospel, much as Christians that we all long for: a deeper knowledge of Him, a greater certainty in the truths of the Lord, and a maturing in our walk and obedience as disciples of Jesus. What about you specifically? Out of those three aims in this series, which one do you most need in your life? Do you simply need to know Him? Do you desire Him and Him alone? Do you want a deeper communion with Jesus? Or do you need certainty? Are you struggling with doubts and the truths of Scripture? Do you just not know enough? Are you confident in the face of objections and questions concerning Jesus? Maybe you need certainty. Or do you want to be more radical in your obedience and following of Jesus? Do you want to walk as He walked and live as He lived? Do you want to be more like those men who gave up their lives for the message of the cross than all the kids you know who are giving up their lives for a few cheap pleasures in high school? Maybe this is you, maybe you want to be a mature disciple. Wherever you’re at…this Gospel will meet you there, and I can guarantee that because these Words are inspired by the Spirit of God and testify to Jesus Christ. So this is they why behind this series….and now let’s get into this book specifically…and we’ll answer 4 questions tonight from the Luke’s prologue: 1) Who is Luke? 2) How Did Luke Write His Letter? 3) Who is Luke Writing To? And 4) Why is Luke Writing This Letter?

II. Who Is Luke?
Luke’s not the kind of guy whose going to write a lot about himself and who tries to help us get to know him…remember Luke’s aim is that we know Jesus Christ and the events surrounding His life with certainty, so don’t expect little windows into Luke’s personal life. What we know about Luke comes from other sources in the New Testament and from ancient sources. First, let’s look at what we see from the New Testament sources…

Philemon 23-24 Paul writes, “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke my fellow workers.” Here we see that Luke was a fellow worker with Paul, accompanying him in his journeys and working together with him to promote the glory of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

Colossians 4:14 Paul writes, “Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.” Here we see something of Paul’s affections for Luke and also Luke’s job. Paul calls Luke “beloved” and tells us that Luke is very dear to Paul.

2 Timothy 4:9-11 Paul writes to Timothy, “Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me.” Here Paul is writing in prison at the end of his life, we believe that 2 Timothy was Paul’s last letter and so at the end of Paul’s life when he has been deserted by Demas and everyone has left and moved on, right by his side is his fellow worker, and dear and loyal friend. This says a lot about what kind of guy Luke is, doesn’t it?

Next, some ancient sources give us a further picture of Luke…

We have to rely on these ancient sources because it is they that give us the assurance that Luke wrote this letter. Nowhere in the New Testament does it specifically say that Luke wrote this letter, probably because they didn’t think it was important, knowing that everyone in that day would have known who wrote it anyways, but later on, as the years went on they saw fit to make sure Luke was credited with authorship. The first and earliest evidence comes from around AD 125 when the four Gospels were assembled into a collection for the use of local churches, and they gave the title of the third Gospel “According to Luke.” The second evidence we have comes from the Muratorian Fragment written in 180 AD which listed books that belonged in the New Testament and in it this fragment affirms Luke as being the author and says, “The third book of the Gospel, according to Luke, Luke that physician, who after the ascension of Christ, when Paul had taken him with him as a companion on his journey, composed in his own name on the basis of report.”

Another early source coming from the Anit-Marcionite Prologue (160-180AD), gives us a deeper insight to Luke’s character and says, “Indeed Luke was an Antiochian of Syria, a physician by profession, was a disciple of the apostles. At a later date he accompanied Paul, until the latter’s martyrdom. He served the Lord blamelessly. Having neither wife nor children, at the age of eighty-four he fell asleep in Boeotia, full of the Holy Spirit.”

So this is Luke, the physician. He was a humble man. A man full of the Holy Spirit and dedicated to the spread of the gospel and the chronicling of the plan of God being worked out in history. He was a fellow laborer of Paul and a loyal friend. He also fell under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and through the investigation of eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life and death wrote an infallible Gospel and what happened as a result of that Gospel in the book of Acts.

III. How Did Luke Write His Letter?
“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished (fulfilled) among us, just as those who from the beginning (That’s why Luke begins with the birth narratives) were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered (orally and written) them to us, it seemed good to me also (not that the others were bad), having followed (investigated) all things closely (precisely) for some time past, to write an orderly (somewhat chronological, but always logical) account…”

The first thing we see from these verses is that Luke wasn’t charting new territory here with this letter. This obviously is not the first Gospel written. “Many have undertaken to compile a narrative…” so Luke is adding to the narrative compilation genre, which could by why his Gospel is much longer. He said that it seemed good to him also, since he had followed or investigated all things for some time past to write his Gospel.

The second thing we see is where Luke was getting his information. He describes the people he received his information from as eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. The people he got his content from were there when Jesus was teaching and performing miracles and being crucified and rising from the dead. They saw and heard all the events and teachings of Jesus.

So not only is this a narrative of events, this is a historically verifiable narrative of events. Luke wasn’t sitting in the woods someday and an angel came and gave him golden tablets…no Luke checked all the statements out. He interviewed sources, checked records, talked to people who saw Jesus first hand, and then after following things closely for some time wrote his Gospel under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And I don’t know about you, but this gives me great confidence in the Scriptures and if you’re in here tonight questioning the reliability and authority of the Bible, I want you to think about who is writing this letter.

Luke is a doctor. Not like “Trust me, I’m a doctor.” From the Dr. Pepper commercials, but a real doctor, a scientist, a studied man, who probably at one time was skeptical as well. Luke’s no idiot, so don’t expect him to just make something up out of the blue or put together something he doesn’t believe in or hasn’t researched. Luke has devoted his life to caring for people and in his profession he must have exact and perfect knowledge of a disease in order to properly treat it, and we can expect Luke to take the same care in his Gospel in order to treat the greatest sickness of all: a sin-darkened soul.

Another thing that gives us confidence is in this letter is that the person Luke was writing to was no idiot himself. This man wouldn’t have bought anything thrown at him. We need to learn about this man…number 4…

IV. Who Is Luke Writing To?
“…for you, most excellent Theophilus…”

Luke’s letter, as well as Acts, is addressed to the same individual named Theophilus, whose name means “Lover of God.” Kind of weird, but would be great for a name! Some commentators think that the name Theophilus is a name that refers to a group of people, those loved by God, and so the letter is written to a large community of Christians, but the evidence is against this view, and so we believe it was a certain individual and the reason being is the modifying words that come before the name: “most excellent.” 9 times out of 10 when you’re talking to your friends or a teacher or your parents you don’t call them “most excellent” even though I expect you to do that for me…just kidding…the point is that, in that day this was an uncommon greeting for ordinary friends and family, this was addressed to a important individual, such as a government official. For example, in Acts there are two times that this modifier is given and both are in relation to government officials such as Felix and Festus who were both governors. Therefore we can conclude Theophilus was someone in the government, most likely wealthy, and of an important status in society.

I want you to think about something for a moment, and I want you to see something about Luke…Luke is writing this letter and Acts to one person! Now we know that it was obviously God’s plan that this letter be read by many, but for Luke, he wrote this letter to an individual either for the strengthening of his faith of that he may come to know Jesus in a saving way. Let me ask you a question: when was the last time you wrote something like this for one of your friends? What kind of friend are you? Are you willing to risk time, for Luke, it is believed to be two years, he spent investigating and interviewing people for this Gospel, for the sake of your friends soul? Luke was! He thought it every bit worth the effort for sake of Theophilus eternity, and may God give us the same kind of heart for our friends.

So we’ve found out what kind of man Luke was, and how he wrote his letter and who he was writing to, and lastly, we come to the most important question of why? Number 5…

V. Why Is Luke Writing This Letter?
“…that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”

So here we see that the reason why Luke is writing to Theophilus is so that Theophilus may have certainty concerning all the things he has been taught about Jesus Christ. Now I don’t know if you noticed, but this word “certainty” is a bold truth claim is it not? Luke’s not writing a Gospel in hopes that he might philosophically or argumentatively win Theophilus to the Christian camp…he’s giving him facts “exact” information; truths about events that took really took place, and it is the telling of these truths that will give Theophilus absolute certainty concerning the truth of Jesus Christ. Now we don’t know if Theophilus was already a Christian and was struggling with false teaching and Luke wanted to make sure Theophilus knew the whole truth or if Theophilus was seriously considering the Christian faith and needed to be sure of the message and then paid for Luke to go and investigate this matter for him. Either way, whether Theophilus was a Christian or considering becoming one, Luke wrote that Theophilus and anyone else for that matter may have absolute certainty concerning the Christian message of the good news of Jesus’ life and death.

But there’s a certain kind of certainty that Luke is aiming for in his letter…it’s the kind of certainty that filled his own life, it’s the kind of certainty that made Luke give up a safe career in a safe medical practice making lots of money and living comfortably. It’s the kind of certainty that made Luke not want to marry or have children so that he could devote the whole of his life to the understanding and spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the kind of certainty that makes a man forget about making a name for himself when the opportunity arose. He saw Jesus and that was the end of the matter for Luke. He was certain of this Christ and wanted Him alone to be magnified and exalted, and Luke was happy just being a fellow laborer of Paul in the background of perhaps some of the most excited days on earth. Luke wants us to have the kind of certainty that compels you to write letters to people with doubts and people young in the faith, and know that even if it’s not graded or no one sees it, it is worth a friend’s eternity to do so. It’s the kind of certainty that when everyone else deserts the mission for the love of this present world, you stay put and stay focused for sake of Jesus’ name! It’s the kind of certainty, that makes you stick beside your brother in Christ in prison and through all kinds of physical dangers because you’re committed to the mission, and because you are enamored by the Christ whose aim in coming to this world was to seek and to save the lost!

Is this the kind of certainty you have? If not, this is the kind of certainty studying this Gospel will give. May God bless our time here looking to His Son.