“In the Fullness of Time”
(Luke 1:5-10)
Dr. Richard S. Koole
Chapel Pointe
May 3, 2009
I. Introduction
A. The setting
1. Israel in 3 BC
2. When Rome was at its pinnacle
3. Israel ruled by a king named “Herod the Great”
4. He did the Jews a huge favor….He built the Temple in Jerusalem
a. Spectacular
b. One of many grand achievements
5. But the Jews weren’t happy
a. “No good deed goes unpunished”
b. They wanted to be free of Rome
c. And King Herod wasn’t a Jew
6. Had been looking for the promised messenger
a. Malachi “Behold, I’m going to send my messenger and he will …”
b. Isaiah, “A voice crying out in the wilderness”
c. He would usher in the long awaited Messiah
B. Had grown weary of waiting for the Messenger
1. 400 years of mind numbing silence
2. Most had long ago stopped looking
C. Luke…the unique gospel
1. “The Bridge” between the Old and New Testaments
2. It breaks the silence
a. God said he would send the Messiah in the “fullness of time”
b. It’s show time!!!!
3. John was the messenger
a. And one day he would point to Jesus and declare,
*“Behold the Lamb of God…”
II. Text…..Luke1
A. The Kingdom
In the time of Herod king of Judea (Luke 1:5)
1. Old Testament ended about 400 B.C.
a. It’s now 400 years later
2. What happened between the Old and New Testaments?
3. 400 years in four minutes
a. The Jews had returned from Babylon
b. Persia (Iran) conquered Babylon (Iraq)
c. Greece conquered Persia (Iran)
d. The Roman Empire conquered Greece…and everything else
1. The Empire was reaching its zenith
2. Octavian has come to power
3. And somewhere in there….
e. The Jews had enjoyed a brief period of freedom
1. Led by Judas Maccabeus
2. But soon lost their freedom
3. Dreamed of a day when their Messiah would free them
4. This seemed to be the ultimate time to be alive
a. Rome ruled the world….and there was peace
b. But there was one troubling spot
B. The King
In the time of Herod king of Judea (Luke 1:5)
1. Herod, King of the Jews……v.5
a. Appointed governor of Galilee by the Romans
b. He was able to quell the terrorism
c. Eventually declared “King of the Jews” by Octavian and Antony
d. Insecure because he was an Edomite, not a Jew
e. Married a Jewish girl of Hasmonaean blood
*descendant of Judas Maccabeus
f. Ruled from 37 B.C. to about 3 B.C.
g. Died about one year after birth of Jesus
2. Why he is called “Herod the Great”
a. Because of what he built
1. Caesarea by the Sea
2. Masada
3. The Temple
3. A man gripped by fear and paranoia
a. Had the high priest drowned - his wife’s brother
b. Killed his wife to keep her quiet
c. His mother-in-law
d. His sons
e. The 1000 nobles in prison
f. The babies at the time of Christ’s birth
1. After visit from wise men
2. Might be a threat to his throne
C. The Couple (v. 5-6)
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. (Luke 1:5-6)
1. Zechariah and Elizabeth…..v.6-7
a. The parents of John the Baptist
2. Note how they are described
a. They were upright in the sight of God
b. They obeyed the Lord blamelessly
3. But what does that look like?
4. But first, I need to wrap up my thoughts from last week (v.4)
a. The life-changing importance of that sermon
5. The history of the church “chasing the pendulum”
a. Over-correcting errors
6. The current swing away from “certainty”
7. Nothing new…..Luke 1:4
(4) so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
a. Our’s has been called the “Postmodern Era”
b. Not certain about anything
III. Summary
A. Many churches have been chasing the pendulum
1. The book “Unchristian” by David Kinnaman
a. What do “outsiders” think of Christians
b. Especially those Under 30 years of age
c. Why have so many abandoned the church
2. I made my own list
a. Before I looked at the book
b. What does an “insider” think?
3. The lists looked remarkably similar
a. Abuses that irritate me
b. Good people who have taken things too far
*correcting one error with another error
c. Will address them in detail in coming months from Luke
4. Why so important
B. When good people swing too far
1. Doctrine
a. Some Christians took what we believe too far
1. Started adding a bunch of manmade rules
a. Hair and beards
b. Movies and music
c. Short skirts
d. What you do on Sunday
2. Expanded to things not even in the Bible
a. Christianity became a set of rules
b. “Don’t do the following and you’re okay”
3. Called “legalism”
a. Appeared harsh and lacking the mercy of Christ
4. Their kids ran away from it
b. The Postmodern Correction
1. “How dare you claim to have all the answers”
a. “The arrogance of certainty”
b. The attack on all certainty
2. Threw out the baby with the bathwater
a. Said “All religions are equally true”
b. Lack of a doctrinal statement
3. Can’t know the truth
c. We’ll see what Jesus had to say about “Doctrine”
2. Separation
a. Took the command to be separate from sin too far
1. The value of “separation”
2. But took it to “secondary” and “tertiary” separation
*criticism of Billy Graham and others
3. Led to isolation from all sinners
b. The Postmodern Correction
1. Tore down all walls of separation
2. Churches made up of unbelievers
3. No difference in life-style
4. Failure to discuss “sin” from the pulpit
5. Pastors swearing from the pulpit “to relate”
c. We’ll see what Jesus had to say about separation
3. Politics
a. Some took the need to have a voice in politics too far
1. Got deeper and deeper involved
2. God must be a Republican
3. Pastors preaching politics
4. Talk show hosts became larger than life
b. The Postmodern Correction
1. Avoid all politics
2. Don’t offend anyone
3. Politically correct at all costs
4. Pastors refusing to take any stands….abortion
5. Blend in
*cultural chameleons
c. We’ll see what Jesus had to say about politics
4. Women
a. Some took the biblical role of women too far
1. Refusal to allow any involvement
a. Freedom’s school board
2. The day we had women help take the offering
a. And lead in worship
3. The church appeared “anti-women”
b. The Postmodern Correction
1. Anything….including pastors
2. Failure to honestly address what God clearly said
c. We’ll see what Jesus had to say about the role of women
5. Homosexuals
a. Some began to condemn the sinner as well as the sin
1. Appeared to be “anti-homosexual”
a. Degrading them as people
b. Unwelcome
2. Confused the sinner with the sin
c. Some churches became “country clubs for the holy” instead of “hospitals for the hurting”
3. Yet seemed to ignore other sinners
a. Seemed to be picking and choosing
4. Failed to acknowledge that “life is messy”
b. The Postmodern Correction
1. Love the sinner….but they often ignore the sin
2. Failure to call sin, sin
c. We’ll see what Jesus had to say about homosexuality
6. Hypocrisy
a. Too much inconsistency between the talk and the walk
1. Lots of information without much transformation
2. Tolerated lots of sins
a. Gossip and backbiting
3. Kids saw different face at home
4. Failure to engage the culture with a transformed life
a. Feared being accused of holding a social gospel
5. The kids fled
b. The Postmodern Correction
1. Authenticity at all cost
2. All out blitz to engage the culture
3. But too little of the clear teachings of Jesus
4. Live like Jesus….believe like?
c. We’ll see what Jesus had to say about hypocrisy and authenticity
7. Salvation
a. Too much emphasis on the act of “conversion”
1. “The prayer” but no fruit
2. Information without transformation
*what does it mean “to believe in Jesus?”
3. Trying to explain “backsliders”
4. Kids who walk away
5. The “Lordship” question
*”Savior and Lord”
b. The Postmodern Correction
1. Too little emphasis on conversion
2. Services designed for the unsaved
3. Failure to mention “sin”
c. We’ll see what Jesus had to say about true salvation
D. My vision
1. Getting the balance right
2. It’s not always one extreme or the other
3. “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee”