The CERTAINTY of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

I began a new message series yesterday at CrossPoint entitled CERTAINTY.  During these times of uncertainty I will be preaching about the certainty of Jesus Christ through the eyes of the Gentile physician named Luke.  I am excited about the adventure that awaits us for the remainder of the year.

Our theme for the series is found in the last phrase of the opening sentence of Luke’s Gospel:

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 (bold & underline added for emphasis)

Luke wanted his friend, Theophilus – as well as the many other readers – to have CERTAINTY concerning the things they had been taught.

And what is certainty?  Certainty is inevitability.  Certainty is faith in action.  It is a knowledge based on fact, history and truth.  Certainty is unwavering conviction that something is true.

And on what did Luke base this certainty?

With the precision of a doctor, Luke lays out for us his research plan for writing his Gospel account.

First, check out Luke’s THOROUGHNESS:

1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us,

Next, note Luke’s ACCURACY:

2  just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,

Also, consider Luke’s ORDERLINESS:

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,

Finally, Luke compiled his Gospel for a specific purpose – CERTAINTY:

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

So, for 2010 we are going to examine the longest and most concise of the four Gospels.  Fifty percent of Luke’s account is unique to his Gospel writing.  Ten stories from the birth and infancy of Jesus are found in his writing, which are not found anywhere else.  Luke is responsible for 28% of the New Testament in the books of Luke and Acts.  In other words, if we took Luke’s writings out of the Bible we would not know much about Jesus or the first century church.

If you live elsewhere in the world, you are welcome to follow along in this series through our weekly podcasts.  If you live in the Birmingham area, we invite you to be our guest each Sunday morning at 8:15, 9:30 & 10:45.  Join me as we develop CERTAINTY concerning the things we have been taught.