“The Silence is Shattered”
(Luke 1:1-4 pt 1)
Dr. Richard S. Koole
Chapel Pointe
April 26, 2009
I. Introduction
A. Impatience
1. The Detroit Lions in my lifetime
2. Graduating from high school
a. Four years seems like forever to wait
3. Can you imagine waiting 400 years?
B. The 400 years between the Old and New Testaments
1. The very last words of the Old Testament
a. Malachi 4:5 See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. (6) He will turn the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.
b. People had been waiting and watching for God’s messenger
2. Promised elsewhere
a. Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”
b. Malachi 3:1 See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple;
3. A messenger would announce the Messiah
a. They kept searching for the messenger
4. 400 years of mind numbing silence
a. Had God forgotten?
b. Had they missed his messenger?
5. ….but then the silence was shattered
C. Why The Book of Luke is so Special
1. Luke is the bridge to the prophecies of the past
a. There are four gospels
1. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
b. What is a “gospel?”
1. They all tell the story and teachings of Christ
a. A “divinely inspired biography”
2. But Luke is special
d. Luke is the gospel that bridges the Old and New Testaments
1. Shows us what happened when the silence was shattered
a. When God started speaking to man
2. The story of the one who would announce the Messiah
a. The greatest man to ever born to woman
b. John the Baptist
2. Luke tackles the struggles we face today
a. Lunch at Leo’s
1. Two Reformed, two Pentecostals, a Wesleyan, and a Baptist
2. Working on a joint “statement of faith” for Mel Trotter
b. The discussion that erupted
1. “What in the world is happening to our churches?”
2. We talked about churches “chasing the pendulum”
a. From one extreme to the other
b. Correcting the errors of one generation with the errors of the next
c. One of the central controversies is hit head-on in the first 4 verses
3. Luke shows us how Jesus lived and what Jesus taught
a. Mike Witmer in his book “Don’t Stop Believing”
The history of the church is a series of pendulum swings, and right now the momentum seems headed toward Christian practice and away from Christian belief
b. Summarize the current problem
c. Luke will teach us how to do both….live and believe
d. Will be practical and prophetic
1. How Jesus ministered to the hungry, homeless and helpless
2. How he wants you to pray
c. Prophetic details of his return
d. The powerful life lessons of the parables
e. How to grow a strong marriage
f. Conquering anger, temptation, and much more
E. Will break the book into “mini-series”
1. The first will be “After the Darkness”
a. Today: “The Silence is Shattered”
b. May 3: “In the Fullness of Time”
c. May 10: “The Greatest Child Ever Born”
d. May 17: “There’s Something About Mary”
e. May 24: “Saving the Baby from the Bathwater”
2. But today, we need to answer some questions…
II. Text: Questions???
A. Who wrote the book of Luke? (v. 1-4)
(1) Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, (2) just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. (3) Therefore, since I myself have fully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, (4) so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
1. That didn’t help
a. No mention of the author’s name
2. Never mentions his own name in the entire book
a. Humble man
b. Wanted the focus on Jesus
3. Everybody in early church tradition acknowledged it was Luke
a. Has always been attributed to Luke
b. The earliest Greek manuscripts attribute to Luke
4. Can figure it out from book of Acts
B. What do we know about Luke?
1. He was a doctor
a. Colossians 4:14
“Our dear friend Luke, the doctor”
b. Likely knew Paul before Paul’s conversion
1. Luke may have been Paul’s doctor
c. Likely came to Christ under Paul’s ministry in Antioch
2. He was a Gentile
a. And not a Jew
b. Col. 4:11
3. He was the best friend you could ever hope for
a. Left his practice to travel with Paul
b. Paul’s physical challenges
1. Trying to keep him alive!
c. At the end of Paul’s life
1. Paul facing death
a. All the others had deserted Paul
2. II Timothy 4:11-16
“Only Luke is with me”
3. Luke stayed with Paul to the end
d. History says Luke died at age 84
4. He also wrote the Book of Acts
a. Acts, the history of the church
1. Our roots
b. His mention of Theophilus in both introductions
1. Acts 1:1
“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach…”
c. Same author must have written both books
1. A two-volume set
a. “Luke” recorded the life of Christ
b. “Acts” recorded the life of the Church
d. Wrote these two books for “Theophilus”
a. Knew that it would also go to others
b. We know practically nothing about Theophilus
c. “most excellent Theophilus”
1. Only other time used was to two governors
2. Theophilus was a very important person
3. Probably a believer…a need of growth
5. He always did his homework…and did it well
a. He consulted with the “eye-witnesses”
(1) Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, (2) just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
1. Luke knew the Apostles and others
a. Mary and the brothers of Jesus
2. He was one of Paul’s companions
b. He fully investigated
(3) Therefore, since I myself have fully investigated everything from the beginning,
1. He undoubtedly knew and talked to Matthew and Mark
c. He sought to give an orderly account
it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
1. Analytical, systematic, and logical
2. The other gospels were not intended to be so chronological
3. The eastern mind focuses more on the “what and why” than the “when”
d. He was certain of what he wrote and believed
(4) so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
C. Why did we need another gospel? (v. 3)
1. The short answer…he was directed by God
2. The most comprehensive of all four gospels
a. 40% of the material in Luke is just in Luke
b. Seven miracles, 19 parables, and 30 events from the life of Christ
3. Luke actually wrote 1/3 of the entire New Testament
a. Equal to that of the Apostle Paul
4. Covered the greatest time span with Luke and Acts
a. A two-volume history
b. Covered 60 years
1. From the birth of John the Baptist
2. To the growth of the church in Rome
5. Had read the other accounts
(3) Therefore, since I myself have fully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
a. Every resource he could find he investigated
b. Talked with the Apostles
c. Likely he met and questioned Mary about the birth
D. What was Luke’s motive for writing? (v.3-4)
(3) Therefore, since I myself have fully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, (4) so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
1. A pastor’s calling
a. To carefully share the truth
b. To share the “exact” truth in a systematic manner
1. Discussion with Ray regarding a pastor
2. Twisting the truth to achieve his goals
c. “So that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught”
1. The importance of teaching the words and life of Jesus
d. If the pastor lacks “certainty”
1. The source of current problem in America
2. My job is not to:
a. Play to your emotions
b. Make you feel good about yourselves
c. Get off on my five favorite topics
3. My job is to tell you the truth in an exact and orderly fashion
a. No truth more critical than the words of Jesus
b. Luke is the gospel that attempts to “persuade”
(4) so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
4. “certainty”
a. “asphaleia” (as fal’ i ah)
b. reliable, exact, precise, complete, persuasive
5. The importance of me having certainty in what I teach
B. Chasing the Pendulum of Certainty
1. The swing toward “Modernism”
a. 1600’s to the 1800’s
b. Went by many names
1. The Age of Reason
2. The Enlightenment
c. Reaction to “faith alone”
1. Wanted to prove everything true or false
2. Wanted certainty
d. Sought to prove everything through…
1. Scientific method
2. Rationalism
2. The swing toward “Postmodernism”
a. Many threw out the baby with the bath water
b. Attacked the “arrogance of certainty”
1. “There is no absolute truth”
2. “Skepticism authority”
3. “Toleration for all claims to truth “
*all claims are equal
4. “Do your own thing….it’s all good”
c. Especially applied to religion
1. “How do we know we are right?”
2. Inclusive
d. That’s the world you live in today
C. When churches get caught in the swing
1. The swing toward “Theological Modernism”
a. Friedrich Schleiermacher in the late 1800’s
1. Tried to make the church compatible with modern science
b. What they believed
1. Couldn’t prove the supernatural in the Bible
a. So they reduced the Bible to a work of men
b. The Jefferson Bible
2. Discarded the virgin birth and deity of Jesus Christ
3. Taught that Christ saves by providing a high (but human) moral example
4. Denied the physical resurrection of Jesus
5. Didn’t believe in the return of Christ
c. 100 years ago churches were being decimated
d. Called “theological liberalism”
e. The battle in the seminaries and pulpits
f. Pastors who no longer believed with certainty
1. But didn’t want to lose their jobs
2. Referred to as the “loyal liars”
3. Slowly moved their people away
2. The swing back toward “Certainty”
a. The pendulum started to swing the other direction in the 1920’s
1. Some great champions stepped into the battle
b. Leaders such as Charles Hodge, B.B. Warfield and Gresham Machen
c. Agree on “the fundamentals of the faith”
1. The inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture
*against liberalism’s attempt to reduce the Bible to a work of men
2. The virgin birth and deity of Jesus Christ
*against the liberal view that Jesus was only human, and not God
3. Christ’s substitutionary atonement
*against the liberal position that Jesus saves by supplying a moral example
4. The literal, physical resurrection of Jesus
*against the liberal position that dismisses the supernatural events in Scripture as mere symbols of a spiritual truth
5. The literal, physical return of Jesus
*against the liberal position that dismisses it as a reality
3. Some took the swing too far
a. Professed “certainty” in just about everything
1. Including how to cut your hair
b. Developed into something called legalism
1. Haircuts
2. Music
3. Movies
4. How you dressed
c. Many failed to live and love like Jesus
1. The word “hypocrite” was used
d. Became known for “harshness”
*appeared to hate the sinner as much as the sin
e. The doctrine of “separation” got taken too far
1. Primary, secondary, and tertiary separation
2. “We four, no more, close the door”
f. Attacked those whose differed on secondary issues
g. The embarrassment of TV preachers
1. Building empires instead of the kingdom
2. Money, money, money
3. Women with big hair and preachers in fancy suits
4. Scandals
5. Healing services
*Peter Popoff
h. The “affected style”
*Randy Henry and Billy Graham
j. Spoke with certainty regarding every subject
1. Afraid to admit they didn’t have all the answers
2. Preachers were afraid of being called soft
l. Many of their kids saw through it
1. And many walked away as soon as they could
m. And started to swing too far away from certainty