Sermon Notes from November 26

Sermon Text: Luke 1:1-4

On Sunday we looked at Luke 1:1-4 and saw two things about the introduction to this book.

1. What Luke wrote was history (1-3a).

By the time this book was written, there was ample eyewitness testimony—written documents, oral tradition, etc.—about what Jesus did and said. 

I find this interesting for a couple of reasons. 

a) In part, because some conclude that Luke didn’t intend for this book to be taken literally.  Instead, they argue that even though Luke wrote in this very detailed manner, he intended this book to be nothing more than an inspirational myth or a legend. 

This argument is difficult to maintain because the genre of the novel or the short story (in which we get the subgenre of historical fiction) didn’t originate until the 18^th century.  In ancient times myths or legends were never written like this: “I’ve looked into these things myself and verified them with eyewitnesses, and here’s what I’ve found.” 

b) Additionally, it’s interesting that Luke didn’t claim to be one of these eyewitnesses. 

If I were trying to convince people about some new religion that I was inventing—as some say these early Christian leaders were—I’d make the claim that I’d seen everything myself, but Luke didn't do that.  Rather, he said, “I’m not an eyewitness, but I gathered my material from those who were” (30 year gap between Jesus’ death/resurrection and Luke writing this book in the early AD 60’s).    

2. What Luke wrote was personal (3b-4).

This book was personal.  Luke wanted this real person, Theophilus, to know for sure that the things he wrote about were true. 

What does this mean for us?  How should we respond to this? 

Application for Head: We need to understand that Christianity is historical.  It’s more than simply a philosophy or a set of ideas.  It matters that Jesus really was and that Jesus is who He claimed to be because If He didn’t die or if He didn’t come back to life, it destroys our faith and it stands that we can’t be forgiven. 

Application for Heart: A theme in the gospel of Luke is amazement.  There are five words in the original language of the NT that can be translated as “amazed,” and Luke uses everyone one of them.  This month, I challenge you to spend time in this book and, as you do, ask God to give you eyes to see and heart to feel the amazement that we’re supposed to have when we see Jesus rightly. 

Application for Hands: Live for Jesus.  Just as it’s important that Luke was careful and thoughtful in putting together the details of this book, it’s important that we’re careful and thoughtful in living like this book calls us to. 

Conclusion:

This Christmas season would you do more than simply look within or simply have a nostalgic, warm and fuzzy emotional experience?  This Christmas season would you, as Luke calls us to in this book, look to Jesus?