Luke 1:1–4

The whole Bible…

• Our desire to is to teach through the whole Bible Genesis to Revelation – 2 reasons…
  • 1^st – The whole counsel of God…
    • If we only teach certain passages – or certain books – we miss out on all of God’s Word…
    • We will tend to teach on certain topics we ‘like’ and overlook ones we ‘dislike’…
    • Lots of teaching about ‘love’ / ‘family’ / ‘being good’ / ‘tithing’ / ect.
    • While harder topics that are just as important – ‘judgment’ / ‘holiness’ – get ignored…
    • When was the last time you heard a teaching from Leviticus or Habakkuk…
    • But every part of the Bible is God’s inspired Word – all of it is necessary…
    • By teaching through the whole Bible – book by book – chapter by chapter…
    • We learn ALL of God’s word – and we focus on the topics God deems important!
    • Acts 20:27 – “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”
  • 2^nd – Learn the Bible in context…
    • One of the most common ways to ‘teach’ the Bible is by picking out a few verses…
    • The danger of doing that is you don’t know the CONTEXT of those verses…
    • It is easy to change the meaning of a single verse when taken out of CONTEXT…
    • Most errors in Bible interpretation come from taking a verse out of CONTEXT…
    • II Corinthians 9:7 – “For God loves a cheerful giver…”
    • I have seen some churches hang that up as a sign to encourage people to give…
    • But that is only half of the verse – if you look at the whole verse – CONTEXT…
    • II Corinthians 9:7 – “You must each make up your own mind as to how much you should give. Don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure.”
    • The whole meaning of the verse changes – in context – only give if you want to!
    • One of the most important concepts in understanding the Bible is CONTEXT…
    • Interpreting a verse or passage in relation to the surrounding verses….
    • Understanding a verse in the context of the other verses before and after…
    • The context within the chapter / within the book / within the whole Bible!
    • That is why we study the whole Bible – teachings chapter by chapter…
    • So we learn the Bible in CONTEXT – have a right understanding of God’s Word!
  • The 4 Gospels…
  • We are working our way through the 4 Gospels – whole purpose of the Bible is Jesus!
  • John 5:39 – “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
  • We have finished Matthew & Mark – now move on to Luke (then John…)
  • 4 perspectives of the same event – the life of Jesus – all inspired by God – II Timothy 3:16
    • God used men with different backgrounds & personalities to accomplish His purposes
    • Each of the Gospel’s authors had a distinct purpose behind his Gospel…
    • Each emphasized different aspects of the person and ministry of Jesus Christ
    • Together they give us a complete picture of Jesus – the author and finished of our faith!

Overview of the Book of Luke (5 thigns)…

• 1^st – Outline …
  • The Book of Luke is the longest of all 4 of the Gospels…
  • 24 Chapters / 1,151 verses – the Book of Luke is also the most chronological of the Gospels
  • Matthew took us a year to get through / Mark took us about 9 months…
  • It will take us well over a year to go through the book of Luke
  • Simple outline:
  1. The birth and preparation of Jesus – Luke 1:1 – 4:13
  2. The ministry of Jesus – Luke 4:14 – 21:38
  3. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus – Luke 22:1 – 23:56
• 2^nd – Who wrote the Book of Luke…
  • 1^st – Internally anonymous, the authorship has been traditionally credited to the Luke…
    • The surviving testimony of the church fathers is unanimous in this view…
    • Christians have accepted the tradition as early as the 2nd century up to modern times
  • 2^nd – Luke is only mentioned by name three times in the New Testament…
    • Colossians 4:14 – “Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you.”
    • II Timothy 4:11 – “Only Luke is with me…”
    • Philemon 1:24 – “…Luke, my fellow laborer…”
  • 3^rd – Luke was a gentile – the only non-Jewish author in the Bible (except for perhaps Job)
    • Acts 1:19 – Luke refers to the Jewish language as ‘their’ language – not his…
    • Thought to be the author of both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts…
    • Together ‘Luke’ and ‘Acts’ make up 28% of the entire New Testament…
    • More than that of any other author – including the Apostle Paul, John, or Peter!
    • Making Luke – a gentle – the most prolific author of the New Testament!
  • 4^th – Luke was a physician – Colossians 4:14
    • When we think of a doctor today – we think wealthy – well educated…
    • That was not necessarily the case in the times of the Romans Empire…
    • Wealthy men had many slaves – often one of those slaves would be a doctor…
    • He would pay one of his slaves to go to school – to become his doctor…
    • Luke uses many ‘medical’ terms in Luke and Acts…
    • Luke the beloved physician – used a lot of medical terms in his writings…
    • His education and vocabulary makes him the most detailed and descriptive Gospel writer
  • 5^th – Luke was a traveling companion of Paul…
    • Acts 16:10-11 – “After they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia… and after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia…”
    • Also in Acts 20:13-15, Acts 21:1-6, and Acts 27-28
    • Notice the pronoun ‘we’ – suggesting the writer of ‘Acts’ joined Paul on his trip…
    • Luke joined Paul on his 2^nd missionary journey – stayed with him to the very end!
• 3^rd – Whom was it written to…
  • 1^st – Written to ‘most excellent Theopholis’ – 3 possibilities…
    • Theos – Philos – ‘friend of God’ – general rather than a specific person…
    • It is possible Luke was writing to anyone who wants to be a ‘friend of God’…
    • A less likely possibility because of the title ‘most excellent’ before Theopholis name
    • Theopholis could have been judge…
    • A 2^nd possibility is Theopholis was the judge presiding over the Apostle Paul…
    • The Book of Acts ends with Paul imprisoned in Rome – waiting his trial…
    • More than ½ of the book of Acts focuses solely on the life of Paul…
    • Luke could have written both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts as Paul’s defense…
    • Theopholis doctor – Luke could have been his rich master’s personal doctor…
    • The introduction of Theopholis as – ‘most excellent’ is thought to be a title…
    • When Luke is presenting the Gospel (1^st book) to Theopholis – there is the title…
    • But when Luke writes the Book of Acts (2^nd book) – no more title…
    • Perhaps suggesting that his master – Theopholis – received Jesus upon reading the Gospel!
    • The Gospel has the power to change hearts and lives – Romans 1:16-17
  • 2^nd – Luke wrote his Gospel to the Greeks – the intellectual Gentiles…
    • Where Matthew was written to the Jews – showing Jesus as the Messiah – King
    • Mark to the Romans – showing Jesus as the perfect servant…
    • The Gospel of Luke was written to the Greeks – to show Jesus as the perfect man!
    • The genealogy in Matthew began with Abraham – the 1^st Jew….
    • The genealogy of Jesus in Luke goes all the way back to Adam – the 1^st man!
    • Luke gives the most information about the childhood of Jesus than the other Gospels…
    • John shows Jesus as God almighty – showing His deity
• 4^th – What is the key theme...
  • The focus is on the humanity of Jesus – showing Him as the perfect flawless man…
  • Philippians 2:7-8 – “Jesus made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross.”
  • The key phrase in the Gospel of Luke is – ‘the Son of Man’ – speaking of Jesus’ humanity…
  • Key Verse – Luke 19:10 – “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
  • God loved us so much – He was willing to come down and live as a man – die on the cross!
  • All because we were lost – we had no hope – we were destined for death and hell…
  • Jesus came to bring us back – give us the hope of salvation and heaven!
• 4^th – Where and when was it written…
  • Where – uncertain – perhaps from Rome while Paul was imprisoned there…
  • When – uncertain – but possibly between the years 60-61 A.D.
  • There is no mention of the great persecution of the church by Rome – 64 A.D.
  • There is also no mention of the destruction of the Temple – 70 A.D
• 5^th – Why is the Gospel of Luke important…
  • Luke is the longest and most detailed of all of the 4 gospels…
  • Not in number of chapters – but in total length – chapter 1 alone has 80 verses!
  • Some of Luke we will have heard before – giving us needed reminders of great truths…
  • Teachings we have heard in Matthew and Mark – but likely need to hear again!
  • Luke being a physician is very detailed in his account of the life of Jesus…
  • Chapters 10-19 – almost ½ of the Book of Luke – is unique – not in the other Gospels…
  • There are 6 miracles recorded in Luke – that are not in any of the other Gospels…
  • There are 10 parables recorded in Luke – that are not in any of the other Gospels…
  • There are 22 conversations recorded in Luke – that are not in any of the other Gospels…
  • Much of Luke will be new to us – teachings only recorded in this Gospel…
  • Giving us new insight into the life of Jesus – greater understanding of our salvation…
  • Whether review – or new – it promises to be an incredible journey into the life of Jesus!
  • That you might know… vs. 1-4
  • One long sentance…
  • Verses 1-4 are broken up by commas and periods in our Bible – but no so originally…
  • Luke wrote them as one long sentence – because they represent one idea…
  • The purpose for writing the Book of Luke – to confirm the life and ministry of Jesus!
  • Confirming the hope of Jesus (4 things)…
  • 1^st – The writings of others…
    • Luke was not the 1^st person to write about the life of Christ…
    • He notes that ‘many’ have taken the responsibility – namely Matthew and Mark…
    • Confirming that the only way to get to heaven is through Jesus Christ!
  • 2^nd – Those who were ‘eyewitnesses’ to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus!
    • Men with a 1^st hand account of Jesus life – saw everything – death to resurrection!
    • These men who had seen everything – delivered the Gospel to us…
    • We can have confidence in the Gospel message because of those who saw Jesus!
    • They were ‘ministers’ of the Word – huperetes – ‘under rower’…
    • A slave who worked a Roman ship – under the deck – hard working – driving an oar
    • No one would ever see and ‘under rower’ – it was a humbling position – no prestige
    • Sad to say the church has lost sight of that today – ‘Minister’ has become a title…
    • Rather than working hard for God – it describes one who tells others what to do
  • 3^rd – Luke was not a 1^st hand witness to the events in the life of Jesus…
    • He could only record what he had heard from others…
    • But Luke had taken the time to thoroughly investigate the life and ministry of Jesus…
    • One of the Gospel writers – was someone who never even met Jesus Christ!
    • We did not have the opportunity to see the life and ministry of Jesus…
    • That does not mean we cannot know everything about His life and ministry…
    • We should dig into God’s Word – study the Bible – confident in our hope in Jesus!
    • * II Timothy 2:15 – “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
    • Having investigated it – Luke now desired to pass it on to others…
    • If we are unsure ourselves about the Word of God – the hope of Jesus…
    • We are not going to be very effective in sharing that hope with others…
    • But as we grow in our faith – are strengthened by reading God’s Word…
    • We will have the answer when others question us – when they see Jesus in us!
    • * I Peter 3:15 – “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.”
  • 4^th – That you may know for certain (to have a solid foundation)…
    • Luke wanted Theopholis to be confident in the simplicity of the Gospel…
    • Salvation by grace alone – through faith alone – in Jesus alone!
    • There is nothing else we can add to the work of Jesus – He did it all on the cross…
    • Jesus took away all of our sin – and gave us His righteousness!
    • We study the Word – the Book of Luke – so we can know for certain…
    • So we have that solid foundation – confidence in the finished work of Jesus!