That You May Have Certainty

If the Lord is willing, CrossPoint will study the Gospel of Luke in 2010.  I will kick off the series the first Sunday in February.  And it is my plan to preach all twenty-four chapters through the last Sunday in November.

I have spent hours laboring over Luke’s Gospel.  I will spend many more hours in prayer, research and study.  I am elated about the Lord’s leadership in this direction.

Check out the way Luke introduces us to his gospel record:

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 1:1-4

Verse four will be the theme of our study:

…that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

French philosopher and theologian, Ernest Renan called Luke’s Gospel account “the most beautiful book in the world”.  Darrell Bock’s introductory thoughts on Luke in his IVP New Testament Commentary provide additional insight on this great gospel:

The Gospel of Luke is about life and God’s plan. It is a story written to a man, Theophilus, who in all likelihood was a believer who needed reassurance (1:4). A Gentile in the midst of what had originally been a Jewish movement, he seems to have been asking whether he really should be a Christian. Had God really called all nations to enter into life with God? Was a crucified Messiah the beacon of hope for both Jews and Gentiles? Would God really save through a ministry that ended with crucifixion? What about the endless obstacles the church was suffering in getting its message out into the world? Might the obstacles not be a sign of God’s judgment on a message gone awry, rather than evidence of blessing? Questions like these probably haunted Theophilus. They are not unlike questions we might raise as we contemplate what God has done and imagine how we might have done it differently.

This is why Luke wrote his Gospel: to explain how the God of design and grace works out his will through Jesus, the ascended Messiah-Lord. Luke wishes to make clear how Jesus is Lord of all, so the gospel can go to all. He also wishes to explain the journey that is salvation. To be saved involves coming to Jesus in faith, but the act of faith is only a first step in a journey that many others do not understand. How does the salvation-traveler face life in the midst of great opposition? In sum, Luke’s Gospel, as his preface makes clear, is a reassurance that through Jesus one can know God and experience life as God designed it.

In these uncertain times, I cannot think of a better message for CrossPoint – certainty concerning the things you have been taught.