Certainty in Uncertain Times: Luke 1.1-4

Luke is writing to a people who are asking a lot of good questions.  Last Sunday we learned about taking a look for ourselves and sorting out for ourselves what happened.  Luke writes in a way that invites anyone form any background to explore what's happened.  Can we trust what we are looking at?  We can take a closer look at Jesus.  The Bible tells us who God is.  How can we trust the Bible?  Luke begins here and his audience does not have a Jewish background.  We can relate to this in a lot of ways because we have uncertainty every day.  How do you know what you know?  There's questions and uncertainty.  Yesterday I was faced with a dilemma, with uncertainty.  I was faced with a new flavor of ice cream.  I know what I like and it was available.  Do I stay with what I like or do I try something new?  How do I know if I should try a new flavor or not?  If you're wrestling with whether or not to believe all of this and you have questions, Luke addresses this.  How do I know I can trust these things?  The wise man builds his house upon a rock because storms will come.  What is our foundation?  Why did Luke write?  Can we trust this?

We are spiritually curious.

                        Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us,     Luke 1.1 (ESV)

Luke is writing to those who want to know what happened.  Verse one tells us the background.  Others have written as well and he's doing the same thing.  They've heard different stories.  They do not have a written Gospel yet, if they did they would have only had  Mark, but mostly people had already heard of Jesus.  They did not have the written Christmas story of the birth of Jesus yet.  They've heard Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead.  They weren't able to study this like we can.  This is a basic principle that's behind why we do small groups.  We probably take this for granted actually.  We do not think about this, but Christians haven't always been encouraged to study the Bible by themselves.  In a small group I was leading I encouraged the group to read over the passage before coming the following week.  A woman approached me and asked me if I really wanted her to study the Bible by herself ahead of time.  She grew up Catholic and had a master's degree and all her life was told she cannot understand the Bible by herself.  Historically we haven't always realized the Bible is here to be read.  The Bible is written for everyone to dig in and understand.  The Bible is for you and you can understand it.  Sometimes you might be here in church and you're still figuring out if you really believe all this Jesus stuff.  Sometimes you may have questions.  Sometimes we take for granted that everyone knows this.  We can search for the answers to our questions.  The Bible is meant to be studied.

Bible narratives are from people who experienced the events.

What we read about in Scripture is written by people who saw first hand what took place.  
                        just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,       Luke 1.2 (ESV)

The word "deliver," tells us how we got the Bible.  How did we get the Bible?  We buy our Bibles in English.  Luke gives us insight, an eye witness account.  Those who wrote the New Testament saw Jesus and lived with Jesus.  These writers were disciples of Jesus except for Paul who had an encounter with the risen Jesus.  All of the New Testament writers were face to face with Jesus.  For a book to be accepted into the New Testament it had to be an eyewitness account.  Luke wasn't a disciple, but Luke was part of a circle of people who associated with Peter and Paul.  Luke tells us the background in Acts.  In Acts the disciples are are restored and they go out preaching all over Jerusalem telling the stories of Jesus.  These are the early sermons by people who spent time with Jesus.  Many people heard these stories.  Luke writes and compiles these stories and as he does this moves from an oral tradition to a written tradition.

Years ago my grandfather took me to a wooded area where I grew up and he told me something I had no idea about.  He asked me if I knew what used to be there: train tracks, a train station, a hotel, a restaurant and a store.  He began to move around the dirt and I saw metal.  Back then the trains had steam engines and had to make frequent stops to get water.  As I looked around there was nothing there, just debris.  Without my grandfather I would not have known this.  If it isn't written down there's no way for others to know this.  That's how we do history.  Luke is explaining here how he took this from an oral to a written tradition, from just being spoken to being written down.  This is a historical and scientific process.  Here's what Peter says before the tribal council in Acts:

            We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.       Acts 5.32 (NLT)

Peter is on trial for preaching the Gospel.  He says we saw these things and the Holy Spirit backs these things.  He introduces another element when he says the different is not just a historical event but this was guided by the Holy Spirit.  

Biblical authors verified their accounts and were led by the Spirit.

Luke gives his credentials in verse three:
                        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,    Luke 1.3 (ESV)

I'm always amazed by the names in the Bible.  Theophilus is a cool name!  Theo means God and Philus means friend.  This name means friend of God. Theophilus was his donor, his patron, the one who paid for Luke to be in ministry.  Most of the people in ministry back then had someone who paid for them to do ministry, much like we do today.  Luke tells us about the certainty of how we got these things.  He followed these things closely.  Luke was a physician and was meticulous.  He carefully investigated the truthfulness so he could "write an orderly account."  He's bringing order out of chaos.  This is what God does in our lives; God brings order out of chaos.  God is not a God of confusion.  If these things weren't true they would have said so.  Most of the apostles were still alive when Luke was written.  The New Testament is verified by human authors and eyewitnesses.  We have verification processes today too, fact checkers.  Online we have to verify our identity.  One that I use even requires two verifications!  I have to put in a verification code every time I use it.  Verification proves we are who we say we are.  People testified these things were true.  The Bible is the most verified document in the world.  Many accounts back up the authenticity of the Bible and the Holy Spirit shows us these things are true.  

                        All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.   2 Timothy 3.16 (NLT)

The Bible instructs us.  We can trust what the Bible says.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit.  When we read the Bible the Holy Spirit speaks to us as we read these words.  

Scriptures provide certainty in uncertain times.

Luke lets us know the purpose of these writings:
                        that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.  Luke 1.4 (ESV)

Luke wants Theophilus to have certainty in what he's heard.  This is verified and true.  Certainty is defined as, "exact truth."  Truth is not common today.  People question if there can even be truth.  We question whether or not things are true.  I had a recent discovery: Fruit Loops all taste the same!  They're different colors but they all taste the same!  That was mind-blowing to me.  Can we even trust anything at this point?  Luke wrote to a people who were going through massive change.  Luke says he wants you to know you can build your life on the Word of God and on Jesus Christ.  God sent His son Jesus for us.  Jesus died on the cross and three days later he arose from the dead.  You can know for certain He is God.  

Sermon by Dr. Scotty Carpenter.   Sermon Notes by Jeni Martin Johnson.