Shalom,
I’d like to encourage all of us to always exalt God and worship Him. We can do this only if we are prompted by our faith that comes by hearing and reading the word of God. In other words, we won’t be able to worship Him if we have never listened to God's Word and read the Bible. Therefore, if we are still given the opportunity to worship Him, do not do it only in the light of the liturgy and church regulations because faith comes from listening to the Word of Christ (Rom. 10:17) not from other messages as well as world philosophy which does not have absolute truth and cannot provide guarantee of eternal salvation.
This year we will listen to, read and discuss one of the 66 books of the Bible: the Gospel of Luke to help our faith grow even more. What do Luke 1: 1-4 say? "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” The last phrase means the certainty or security or safety of those things in which Theophilus was instructed.
"The certainty" here also indicates an assurance and security which means that we who are in it feel safe and secure, thus we don’t necessarily run here and there to seek the truth.
Last year we studied the Gospel of John with our human’s finiteness; however, the Word of God is infinite – it is in eternity because the Word is God (John 1: 1). That is why, we should not stop, just studying certain verses and then forgetting other verses.
There are too many uncertainties in this universe that might bother us but we should stick to the Word of God, believing that everything preached and taught to us is truly true and certain. What is it that was taught? All things written in the Gospel of Luke are the truth of the Word.
The orderly recorded Gospel of Luke raises two possibilities:
- If the Gospel of Luke is truly the inspiration of the Spirit of God given to Doctor Luke, both the preacher who conveys this truth and they who listen to his preaching must surely be On the other hand, if the preacher would rather speak about the worldly philosophy and its wisdom than talk about the true Word of God found in the Gospel of Luke, neither the speaker nor the listeners will be saved because the topic of the preaching is not from the Bible.
- If Luke’s Gospel is not true because it is not inspired by the Spirit of God, the speaker will deliver a false message and the listeners will suffer a loss.
Please note, the Bible consisting of 66 books (or scrolls back then) aims to increase and strengthen our faith. If the Gospel of Luke were not the Word of God, the other books would also be untrue and not from the inspiration of the Spirit of God, because it is impossible for God to allow His inspiration to be combined with the philosophy of the world and human culture that are totally different from one another; otherwise, it would lead to chaos. If the Bible lies and does not tell the truth then God is lying too.
We must believe that the Gospel of Luke is the Word of God which was written by Doctor Luke in ± 60-63 AD after a careful investigation and Theophilus believed it and so should we.
What or who is "certainty"? There is only one who is true, that is Jesus Himself because He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14: 6a). Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:14) who has absolute truth.
It is very natural that before reading a book, first we want to know who the author is and whether he really has the knowledge of the material or topic he wrote. As an illustration: a Math book written by a very skilled teacher mastering in Math would definitely give a clear and practical explanation.
So, who is the author of the Gospel of Luke? Before the 66 Books were canonized as the Bible, the biblical scholars must have gone through an intricate investigation that included a deliberation with the critics and commentators to prove the truth of the 66 Books. Eventually it was approved then believed by the early church. Although the writer of the Gospel of Luke is not stated, the scholars found and believed that it was Doctor Luke who wrote it in 60-63 AD.
Who is this Doctor Luke? The Apostle Paul once delivered greetings to the Colossians from the beloved physician Luke (Col. 4:14). He was not a Jew but a Greek from Antioch. He was neither an apostle nor a disciple of Jesus. But after repenting he always followed the Apostle Paul in his ministry. Even when the Apostle Paul was imprisoned, Doctor Luke accompanied him (2 Tim. 4:11). Luke wrote two books: the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.
It turns out that not everyone believes in the Gospel of Luke even though Doctor Luke wrote it impressively intelligibly. In the early 19th century, some Bible critics questioned the accuracy of the history written in it. In addition, they claimed that the Acts of the Apostles was composed in the midst of 2 AD. At first an English archaeologist, Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, agreed with them. However, after conducting a thorough verification on the names and places, Ramsay finally admitted that Luke's record was very accurate, correct and detailed.
Introspection: If an archaeologist who investigates historical places and objects believes in the truth of Doctor Luke’s writing—although at first he doubted it, what about us? Do we blindly believe it only because it’s our pastor who is preaching to us? We ourselves need to investigate so that our faith does not depend on other people (pastors, husbands, wives etc.); instead, we are rooted in the word of Christ which has been canonized in the Bible.
Doctor Luke was not an eye witness or an apostle but he investigated earnestly and by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, he decided to write the Gospel of Luke.
Application: Likewise, we need to make a decision to have faith in the truth of God’s word regardless of the obstacles. That way, our faith will grow. While God is allowing this Covid-19 pandemic to happen, we are to become independent focusing on His word—the Gospel of Luke in this case; and thus keeping ourselves from being contaminated by the world.
Doctor Luke wrote to Theophilus (= one who loves God), a non-Jew. Let us read carefully and appreciate the Gospel of Luke which was written meticulously by a doctor. We surely know how a doctor works. During this pandemic, doctors and other medical workers serve as the frontline personnel who work hard and deftly treating Covid-19 patients while at the same time vigilantly protecting themselves from getting infected with the virus. As such, we must also keep our heart with all vigilance from getting infected with the world’s philosophies that do not contain absolute truth.
Apart from the archaeologist William Mitchell Ramsay, a French critics who was previously sceptical, eventually acknowledged the Gospel of Luke as the world’s most beautiful book written meticulously and eloquently. Claiming ourselves as believers, do we like to read the Gospel of Luke? It’s important to read the Gospel of Luke over and over again and have faith in it because God’s word is the Bread of Life. A child needs to have three meals a day to grow healthily; similarly we need to “eat” the Gospel of Luke more than once. If we think it’s enough to listen and read the word of God only once a week in church, what if our daily affairs make us forget about it?
Why is the Gospel of Luke not combined with the three other gospels: Matthew, Mark, John, which seem to have similarities to one another? A servant of God once sparked an idea of combining the four Gospels into one book to speed up the reading because he was lazy to read the whole Bible. His friend who was an expert in writing materialized his idea. What happened then? The more he read the compiled gospel, the “drier” his soul became. Having repented from his wrongdoing, he started all over again reading the Bible book by book as it should have been. While he found joy meditating on the whole Bible, he encouraged others not to cherry-pick the verses considering that all verses are related with one another.
Unlike the other gospels, Luke’s gospel puts emphasis on the humanity of Jesus in His godly characters: perfect, glorious, kind, loving, and faithful. Jesus was a perfect man who very well knew the condition of sinful men, including us.
Each gospel has its own emphasis:
- Matthew : Jesus as King
- Mark : Jesus as Servant
- Luke : Jesus as Man
- John : Jesus as the Son of God
The Gospel of Luke starts off with "certainty" about the birth of John the Baptist. Elisabeth who was five- month pregnant and hiding herself is only written in the Gospel of Luke. This shows Luke's thoroughness as a doctor who was very knowledgeable about the progress of a pregnancy. There are ± 300 medical terms found in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus came and was very aware of man's physical and mental needs. When Jesus died on the cross, the chief of the centurions said, "Surely this was a righteous man!" (Luke 23:47).
We should be grateful to study the Gospel of Luke which presents Jesus as a perfect Man who understands our condition as sinful men who really need His help. If we have been helped and delivered from the shackles of sin, we should testify and preach the truth of the Word so that those who haven’t known Him may hear this truth and be found righteous in His sight. Amen.