Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Men of the New Testament: "Luke" by Bill Dayton - Part 12

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Men of the New Testament: "Luke" by Bill Dayton - Part 12 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Good evening. Oh, we can do better
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than that, can't we? Good evening. That's like I say
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usually good morning, but this isn't morning.
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Number one, I am not Brother Clay Atkins. You probably figured
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that out. He wasn't able to do our last study tonight
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on the men of the Bible, and Neil asked
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me if I'd be interested in doing that, and we're going to look tonight at
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Luke. It was on Memorial
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Day of 1977 that I
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was first introduced to Luke,
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but it wasn't the Bible Luke, it was Luke Skywalker.
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If you remember him, may the Force be with you.
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In 1980, I was converted
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and became Christian, of course, and learned about
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Luke of the scriptures. May the Lord be with
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you. And Luke is a tremendous
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writer. He has given us so much
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that we can learn about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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You know, as Kevin last week, I believe, said that I
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hope that you interject some thoughts here, because when you look at Luke,
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you know, the 2 books that he wrote, of course, um,
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there's not an awful lot about him other than that.
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But as you get into the book of Acts, you see
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the wee passages in, uh,
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maybe perhaps starting in chapter 16 or so in the
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book of Acts, and then There are close to 97,
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close to 100 of those we passages. And of course,
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we means Luke and Paul. He was a companion
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to our brother Paul, so he was definitely acquainted
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with him as he traveled. We watched a documentary
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the other night of the book of Acts. I know Hyrum and Neil
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did a tremendous job going through that book on Sunday morning.
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The narrator was Luke, of course,
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and went through the whole book in the time that was
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allotted. The interesting point was there,
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um, he never really was with Paul. He was on
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a ship but never really accompanied him. So it
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was obviously just going through the text in the book of Acts, but it
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was, it was kind of interesting to me that he He really didn't see Paul
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much. But not only did Luke travel
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with Paul outside the land of Israel, he also
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visited Israel and perhaps may
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have been personally acquainted with the members
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of Jesus' family, obviously, which would
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have included his mother Mary and his brother
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James. And as you look at Luke and
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the Book of Luke, the Gospel of Luke, and of course the Book of Acts,
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they, they constitute about a third of the New Testament.
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When you look at the letters Paul wrote, it's about
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50% of the New Testament, which is again interesting.
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So let's go ahead, and we've got
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a lot of questions, but We're going to look at these questions in,
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in detail as we go through this lesson. But,
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you know, when you think of Luke— and we talked this morning at the men's
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breakfast about, uh, I told them, I encouraged them to read,
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read the book of Luke or study up on him— uh,
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what is the Bible, or where does the Bible refer to Luke?
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Now, these answers obviously, or questions, are rather simplistic,
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aren't they? Where would you look?
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The book of Luke and the book of Acts. I already said that.
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So we're going to look at these questions, and of course, if you
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have any questions or comments,
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please interject them at any point. But we're going
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to look at where the Bible refers to Luke, what are
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the key details of the background of Luke,
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and Who wrote the Gospel of Luke,
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the Book of Acts? Who did he write to?
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What are Luke's major contributions to the Bible?
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How does Luke's portrayal of Jesus— and here's an interesting one—
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how does his portrayal of Jesus differ from the other gospels?
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How has the Gospel of Luke influenced our
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Christian life? Christianity in general? And then the last
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one is, why is understanding Luke important
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for our Bible studies as we go through the book, go through
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the Bible? So let's look at the
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first question: where does the Bible refer to
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Luke? You thought you might go to the book of Luke,
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but 4 times he's found Um, is it
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4, 3 times he's found in, uh,
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Paul's letters. Colossians 4:14,
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Paul refers to Luke as the beloved physician.
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Now we know all about Paul. One of the guys got up here, the men
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got up here and taught about Paul. If Paul needed
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anybody, it would have been a doctor, and all the scourgings and beatings
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and things that he took. So, I'm just interjecting the thought that perhaps
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Luke went with him for that very reason.
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Philemon 1:24, Luke is listed along
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with Mark, Aristarchus, and Demas among
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the apostles' fellow workers.
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Both of these references occur in what we know, of course,
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as Paul's prison letters.
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The letters that he wrote, obviously, while in prison. The 3rd reference
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is found in 2 Timothy 4:11,
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where Paul says about Luke, Luke alone is with
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me. So all 3
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of these references to Luke happened in letters
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that Paul wrote while he was in prison.
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And obviously what this suggests is that
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Luke was a loyal friend who shared a lot of Paul's
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convictions. Next, we can go to the
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key details of Luke, his background.
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Paul identifies him, as we just said, as a physician, as a
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doctor. And early Christian writers thought that Luke
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was probably a Gentile.
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His readers were Greek or Gentiles,
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and so that's where that comes from.
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Modern scholars think that Luke probably attended the
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Jewish synagogue where he became familiar with the Jewish
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faith and scriptures.
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And again, as we just read, he is looked at as a companion to
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the Apostle Paul. As well as— and here's the interesting part— when
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you start looking in the book of Acts, and I don't know if it starts
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in chapter 16 or not, but from that point on there are about
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97 references. We call them the we section,
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and that includes Luke and Paul. So he's
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obviously seen quite a bit in the book of
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Acts. I counted— well, I looked at about 97
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times, so Uh, any questions or
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comments up to this point? We can go through this, like I said, rather quickly,
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and we can get out of here in about 15 minutes like Kevin said.
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And I don't know if you want to do it. Yes, brother.
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Yeah, missionary journey started
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in what, Acts 13?
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Acts 13. And I'm not sure I see any reference
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there in the we section. I didn't
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look at the whole book, obviously, but it seems to me that,
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um, as Paul went on his journeys,
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his missions, you know, and of course later on, that he's
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really— I mean, it goes all the way to chapter 28.
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We see part of the wheat passages there. So it looks to me like the
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latter part of the book of Acts is where we see it. Neil?
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Separation there. Yeah,
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yeah, yeah,
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yeah. I didn't see that. Kind of something we might not
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know, but then again, we know what we know as far as that's concerned.
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Any other questions or comments? As far
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as all of a sudden he says we— yeah, yeah,
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yeah. Yeah, good point. Thank you.
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Thank you. Any others?
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Okay, let's go on to our next one. Of course, these are rather easy
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questions and simple answers, aren't they? Who wrote Luke?
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Who wrote Acts? And of course, the recipient.
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Church tradition has held that Luke the
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physician penned both the Gospel of Luke And
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the second volume that he wrote, obviously known
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as the Book of Acts. The great
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4th century church historian Eusebius said
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that Luke has left us 2 inspired
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books, the Gospel of Luke and of course the Book of Acts.
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I've kind of given that a second title, not going
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away from what the Bible says, but When you look at the book of Acts,
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and I'm studying that, I'm doing that on a program I'm speaking on,
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it's really more about Jesus. The whole book is
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just saturated with what
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Jesus, not only what he did, but what he continues to
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do. So as you read through that, you're going to see
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that quite a few times, okay? When you
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look at Acts chapter 1, verse 1, for example— okay,
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I'm in Luke. Let's go to Acts 1 if
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you have your Bibles with you.
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He says here in the first book, O Theophilus— and we're going to deal
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with that in a moment— I have dealt with all that Jesus began
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to do and teach, of course,
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until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands
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through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
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So, um, a late century Irenaeus
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and early 3rd century Tertullian brought
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that about. The oldest Greek manuscript of Luke
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which dates to about the 3rd century, ends with the words,
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the Gospel according to Luke.
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Okay, so go to, uh, we are in
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Luke, and of course at Luke 1 through 4,
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Luke chapter 1:1-4, and Acts chapter 1:1-2.
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Let's go ahead and read that at Luke chapter
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1:1-4. Inasmuch as many have under undertaken to compile
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a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us,
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just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and
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ministers of the word have delivered them to
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us. It seemed good to me, having also— having followed all things
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closely for some time past, to write an orderly
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account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
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that you may have certainty concerning the things
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that you've been taught. A lot of scholars
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believe that when Luke talks about doing these things in an
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orderly account or an orderly manner, that you could use
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chronologically as well, in chronological
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order. And I kind of believe that as you read through that,
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you'll see it. But then you go back, as I had said, to Luke— or
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excuse me, Acts chapter 1:1-2.
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Of course, we just read it, but let's read it again. In the first book,
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O Theophilus, I've dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach
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until the day he was taken up, after he had commands— had given commands
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through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had
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chosen. These 2 passages, okay,
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These 2 passages are of great importance to help
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us with the authorship, obviously, and the relationship of
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these 2 volumes. Both address a man named
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Theophilus. Luke 1:3 as well as
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Acts 1:1. His name means loved
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by God. Did you notice something in Luke
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1 and Acts 1, something that was omitted?
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In one of those, one of them said Theophilus,
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and the other one said what? Most Excellent Theophilus.
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That title, Most Excellent,
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was a title given to
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Roman officials. Acts 23,
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dealing with Felix, Festus had the same thing.
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Okay, and, um, but Luke
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drops the most excellent from Theophilus in Acts chapter 1,
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verse 1. Now we don't know why.
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We really don't know why because it doesn't say. But it's interesting,
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isn't it, that he dropped that most excellent, which was a, a title
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given to some magistrate, perhaps Roman, you know,
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somebody in pretty high position. So Interesting
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point there. Any questions, comments?
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All right, let's go on. Going through these pretty quick.
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Luke's major contributions to the Bible.
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Okay, remarkably, Luke's 2 volumes,
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Luke and Acts, constitute approximately, like I had just said,
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one quarter of the New Testament.
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52 chapters in both of those books. All of
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them, both of them pointing, of course, to Jesus,
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who's mentioned in those 2 volumes close to
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200 times, whether it's Jesus or the Christ or
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Lord, so many different times.
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So we can see what the focus or who the focus
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was as you go through these 2 volumes.
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Again, the greatest contribution perhaps Luke gave
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us was the, um, his second volume,
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of course, the Book of Acts. We have 4 Gospels,
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we know that— Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John— that narrate the
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life and the teachings of Jesus. We have
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only one account of the first generation of the church,
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and this account spans perhaps from the early '30s
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to roughly the early '60s in that time frame.
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The key themes, the key themes, of course,
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in the parallel passages of Luke and Acts include
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Jesus. It includes the emphasis of the Holy Spirit.
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It includes the missionary journeys and the fulfillment
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of the Old Testament prophecies, especially regarding
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Jesus. As the Messiah, okay?
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Both highlight the unstoppable progress of
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the gospel. And of course, the establishment of
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the early church. And as again, Neil and Hyrum both brought out,
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in spite of opposition, which we saw over and over
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and over again, especially in the book of Acts.
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Questions, comments? Y'all tired or you just don't want to
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talk? Anybody?
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I'm not that thorough.
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All right, let's go on. Uh, gotta change
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here, don't we? How does Luke's portrayal
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of Jesus differ from the other gospel writers?
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All right, it seems to me that Luke's greatest
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difference though consists— excuse me—
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in how he presents our Lord and he presents his ministry.
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He presents it as relevant to all people,
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including the Gentiles. All right, and again,
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we see this especially in the book of Acts.
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The major portion of Luke covers Jesus'
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travels towards Jerusalem.
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Matthew and Mark devote one chapter,
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seems to me, one chapter to this part of the ministry of our
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Lord. Luke is divided into 4 different major
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sections. Chapter 1:1 through chapter 4:13
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talks about the early life. Of Jesus.
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Chapter 4:14 through chapter 9, verse 50 talks
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about the Galilean ministry. Chapter 9:51
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through all the way chapter 19, verse 27,
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we see the Jerusalem journey. And then of course
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chapter 19, verse 28, all the way
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to the end of the book, chapter 24, verse 33,
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we see the final victory.
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All 4 of the Gospels, all 4 of the
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Gospels teach the Great Commission, or some
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of them call perhaps one of them the Limited Commission.
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We know about it in Matthew 28:18-20.
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This is on— this is not on the slide, by the way, but you know
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where they are. Mark 16:15. We have
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Luke 24:44-49,
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and then of course John 20:21. So Luke
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seems to give much more detail about
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the commission that was given. Matthew will emphasize
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making disciples, baptizing, and teaching,
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and obedience. Luke, on the other hand,
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emphasizes preaching repentance and
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forgiveness, witnessing to the death and
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resurrection of our Lord, and of course the
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empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
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In the book of Luke, let's just do something here. Look at Luke 24
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for a moment.
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Excuse me. Luke 24, and let's begin
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at verse 44. Someone like to read that?
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Luke 24, verse 44 through 49.
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Christ should suffer and on the 3rd day rise from the dead,
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and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name
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to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
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Uh, beginning from Jerusalem, you are witnesses of these
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things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you,
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but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.
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Okay, now go over to Acts chapter 1, verse 8.
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Many feel that this is the conclusion of
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what Luke was talking about as he not only concluded the book of Luke,
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his— this gospel, but concludes the commission with
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this verse, Acts chapter 1, verse 8.
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He says there, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has
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come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem in
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all Judea and Samaria and to the end of
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the earth. See how that fits? Really fits
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well, doesn't it? So he continues
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the commission going into his second,
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second letter. Okay,
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comments, questions?
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Mark, with his struggles perhaps on the first missionary journey,
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he emphasizes faith. He believes and is baptized in
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his Great Commission account. Luke is a
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Gentile, and you think about how much the Gentile world had to overcome in
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order to come to Christ. He emphasizes, not just in the commission,
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if you go all the way through Luke, there's this huge emphasis on repentance and
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changing the mind and leads to a change of action. Yeah, it's interesting how their
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own backgrounds, that they emphasize a portion of
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the essential part of the Great Commission, a different part that gives us that composite
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picture of faith, repentance, and baptism. Yeah, good point. Thank you, Neil.
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Yeah, good point.
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I think it's kind of neat. One thing I love about
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Luke is he tells things about Jesus that no other gospel I
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love the story of Jesus as a boy.
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Yeah, amazing the elders and the scholars and
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in the temple. And we went to Jerusalem and that he was 12,
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so that was a year before he basically entered adulthood.
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That, that's the only place that's in the Bible.
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Yeah, he's much more detailed in a lot of areas than Matthew,
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Mark. Of course, John You know, it's more of a narrative.
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The synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are much
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different than the Gospel of John. But good point,
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because when you look at Luke chapter 1, verse 3,
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it seemed good to me, having followed all things closely
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for some time past, to write an orderly account.
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So he didn't leave out a lot of details.
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Anything you wanna— more you wanna find out about Jesus or the or
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anything like that, Luke is a good place to look.
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Yeah, it is. And just think, yeah, just thinking accompanying him,
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you know, as he went through what he did,
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what he saw where the others didn't,
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you know, it dates him to what, the Prison Epistles are written what,
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in the '60s, late '60s, early '60s? So that puts
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him in that timeframe. So that's kind of interesting.
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Yeah, good point, thank you. So,
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not the last question, but close to it. How Luke's
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Gospel has influenced Christianity.
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All right, the Gospel of Luke
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and Acts has had and will continue, in my
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opinion, to have an enormous impact on
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Christianity. Why? Why would you say so? Why?
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How would you answer that question or answer that comment? Why does it
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make such an impact on our Christian life,
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Christianity in general? All right, certainly.
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Excuse me, he talks about the certainty
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of those things. Certainty, yeah. Because not only
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does it take away— you may have a seed of doubt
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But if that gets thrown away, you have certainty, you know,
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guaranteed, certified, bona fide, you know,
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squared away, no mistake. And how was that
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important to the Gentiles? You know, when you think
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about it, how was that important to them? They needed that. They needed
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the certainty that Luke could give.
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Yeah, right. Things that
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they never were accustomed to ordinarily. So they
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were getting educated too. Yeah, yeah, they were for sure.
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Laura, I'm sorry. I was just thinking about comments made.
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Luke to me in many ways gives
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me a portrait of the humanity of Christ.
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He was the Son of God, he was the Messiah, he was the Savior,
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and we know who he was, but I think knowing his humanity
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gives an added layer of appreciation and love for him.
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And I think maybe that contributed somewhat to
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what the Gentiles were in because they could see, they could relate.
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As far as we know, Luke was not an apostle.
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He was a— to me, I would claim that he'd be a disciple.
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Perhaps not chosen the way the others were, but he was definitely a
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follower, a student of Jesus. There's no doubt in my mind
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about that. So that's kind of interesting too,
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isn't it? Yeah, these 2 books
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have made and will, again, they'll continue to make an enormous impact
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on the way we study the scriptures and look at our Lord.
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Both of them motivated The Gentile
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mission, definitely. Matthew primarily addressed
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the synagogue and the Jewish membership, all right?
27:19
Mark challenges, of course, the Roman Empire and
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its misguided faith in Caesar. And who does Caesar claim to be?
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Yeah, God. He claimed to be God, all right?
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An occasion of the good news for the world,
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all the world. We still use these, 2 books,
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especially the book of Acts, when we're trying to sit down and talk to someone
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about the early church and what it meant, what it took for
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it to be established. And that'll never change,
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never change, okay?
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The Gospel of Luke and Acts underscored the openness
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of the church to the Gentile. And as you read through the Gospel—
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excuse me, you read through the epistles, the letters, that Paul wrote,
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you can see the problems that he had with the
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Jewish people and the Gentiles. The Jewish people
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didn't have any love at all for them.
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You know, it was a mess. But Paul
28:23
was given that mission to the Gentiles. And of
28:27
course, outsiders and those who are outcast,
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we see that. Luke focuses
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on Jesus as the compassionate Savior who
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came to bring salvation to all people.
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Acts focuses on,
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again, more about Jesus and how the early Christian church
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spread after our Lord's resurrection and
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obviously his ascension that we read about. In the early part
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of the book of Acts as well. And again,
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as was already mentioned, Luke says that he made a careful
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investigation, a chronological order that we
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might see that occurred here. I believe
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we should do the same, don't you?
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If it was good for them, it needs to be good for us,
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for sure. Okay, any other comments?
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Bill, I don't know if you're going to mention this in your next slide,
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but you talk about how Luke's Gospel influenced Christianity.
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When you state people, places, and things,
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and you say that it's historically accurate, then you put yourself
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in a vulnerable position. And I think
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what Luke did is he gives us some Christian evidence
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proof that we need. He mentions historical people like Caiaphas,
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or he'll mention the proconsul Gallio, or the Emperor
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Claudius expelling the Jews from Rome. All these things
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contemporary writers outside of the Bible were writing about. And if he's wrong,
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if it's erroneous, then the Bible's discredited, and one-fourth
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of the New Testament's discredited. But as it is, You continue to see these things
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verified, and it builds our faith. I wonder
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how many people have become Christians because they have seen this evidence
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from Luke's hand. He's so precise that it creates
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faith in the hearts of people, much more than, than Mark,
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Matthew or Mark, for sure. Yeah, good point,
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good point. All right, last question.
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Understanding why Luke is is important for studying
30:43
the scriptures? Of course, goes along with really the last question that
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we gave. Although written obviously almost
30:51
2,000 years ago, the study of these 2 books
30:55
are still very relevant today. We've made that point over a few times.
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Luke and Acts teaches the church to remember so
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many things. What, what does it help us to
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remember when you look at these 2 books?
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What would you say? The church is unstoppable.
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Okay, church is unstoppable. Also that,
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that old classic story about the Good Samaritan,
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uh, not being a respecter of persons. Yeah.
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And you know, it's a story. Yes, it's a story,
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but it's, it's a good lesson. Yeah.
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Very good. Anybody else? What else? Reminded of the mission of,
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you know, seek and save the lost.
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Yeah, we see active participation of women,
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you know, following Jesus,
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you know, at the cross and other places.
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So it's full of compassion, full of mission,
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full of When you think about the mission of the church,
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and I know we've got a lot of different answers for that,
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but when I personally, when I think about the mission of the church,
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I think of transformation.
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Transforming men and women into
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the likeness of our Lord and Savior. If it's not
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about that, then I don't know what else we can add to it.
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The goal, obviously the goal of our Lord was to do
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what? What was the goal of Jesus?
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If you've ever read John 17, it's looked many times.
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Okay, that's what we usually say, and I obviously, I wouldn't go against
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that. But was it not to glorify his Father so
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he would be glorified? Glorification is
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something that is his alone,
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the Father's. He wanted to glorify his
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Father, to exalt him.
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And when I look at that goal, what a goal it is for
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us today. Same, same situation, to glorify him, to glorify
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the Father, to transform lives into the likeness of his Son.
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Romans 12:1-2. Too many people are still
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conformed to the pattern of the world. And they need to be transformed in
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the likeness of Jesus Christ.
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Okay, so, but there's some other things, you know, when you think about
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what helps us to remember. What about the poor? When you look
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at Acts 2 and Acts 4, what did the early church do?
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You know, they helped out those who had need, the sick,
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those who were disregarded, those who felt
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they have— you know, when you read the book of Ephesians, you see that Paul's
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letter speaking to them says, you have no hope
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without Jesus in this world. They had no hope.
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Man, when we don't have hope and all of a sudden we've got it,
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that's an eye-opening experience. It surely is.
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The Jesus of Luke rebuked his
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religious contemporaries. He had no problem
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doing that. Brood of vipers, hypocrites,
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whitewashed tombs.
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They were neglecting the poor, and that's one of the reasons he said it.
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In contrast, the early church, as portrayed
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in the book of Acts, cared for the poor and made great gains in Jerusalem
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as a result. Again, Acts chapter 2,
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Acts chapter 4, they gave generously to anyone who had need.
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Nothing There was nothing that was off the table.
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You know, they gave their possessions.
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Thousands professed their faith in Acts 2:47.
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And you see that as you go through the book of Acts, the earlier
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part especially, Acts 4:4-5,
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and also chapter 6, verse 7. It just kept rolling.
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The gospel chariot rolled. And thousands
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came to a saving knowledge and obeyed the gospel.
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They were convicted of their sins and they
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were converted and became God's house
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in the kingdom. So as
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Luke records the good news of Jesus the Messiah to
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be proclaimed in Jerusalem and in Judea,
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and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts chapter
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1, verse 9. And I really like the point that Hiram brought out Sunday
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about Acts 28. Let's look at Acts 28
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for a moment. Acts 28, looking at
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verses 30 and 31.
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I've heard this before, but not the way he said it.
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I told him I really appreciated that.
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Acts chapter 28, verse 30 and 31.
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He lived there 2 whole years at his own expense
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and welcomed all who came to him proclaiming the kingdom of
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God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness
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and without hindrance. And that does not end
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the book of Acts. As Hyrum brought out,
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chapter 29 is us. We continue to do
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that same thing. So as any book
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that we read and we study and we immerse ourselves in, meditating upon
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the verses, chapters that are before us,
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we see a Savior, we see
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our Lord, and we see why he did
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what he did. And why we should do the same.
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Seeking and saving the lost, glorifying the Father, that's our
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mission. That's our mission, and I pray that we never lose
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sight of that. Never.
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All right, we've got a few minutes before, I'm sure, the bell.
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Any other comments? Anything I missed? I'm sure I did.
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Yeah, you know, you know, when you're studying about Jesus, don't you want the most
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orderly account that you can get? Don't you want it to be concise?
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You know, every detail that we can get.
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Yeah. You know,
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studying the books of the letters of John, I did
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that recently. Of course, dealing with the Gnostic heresy
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that was there, so many times, especially in 1 John, it talks about we
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were eyewitnesses. We touched Him. We were there.
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We heard Him. And the brethren needed to hear that because
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of the Gnostic heresy. How much more When Luke
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brings that out, even in the book of Acts as well as Luke,
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how much more did they need to hear that? You know,
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that's the good news. That's the good news for
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Anything else?
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Let's have a word of prayer. Father God,
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as we come before you, we're so thankful, Father,
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for your word. So thankful for Luke
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and, and so many writers of the New and Old Testament,
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Father, that point to your Son. Help us always
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to live lives that glorify you. Help us always,
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Father, to live lives that show others what it means to be
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a follower of yours and a follower of your Son.
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Help our hearts to burn, Father, within with a message like
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Jeremiah. He couldn't hold it in, and I pray that we
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can't either, that we can help others learn
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the saving knowledge of your Son, our Lord
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and our Savior. And we wait so patiently yet expectantly
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for his return. Can't wait for that, Father, one day to
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be with him in eternity. Help us to take as many
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as we can with us. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
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All right, thank you.