Men of the New Testament: "Luke" by Bill Dayton - Part 12

Good evening. Oh, we can do better

than that, can't we? Good evening. That's like I say

usually good morning, but this isn't morning.

Number one, I am not Brother Clay Atkins. You probably figured

that out. He wasn't able to do our last study tonight

on the men of the Bible, and Neil asked

me if I'd be interested in doing that, and we're going to look tonight at

Luke. It was on Memorial

Day of 1977 that I

was first introduced to Luke,

but it wasn't the Bible Luke, it was Luke Skywalker.

If you remember him, may the Force be with you.

In 1980, I was converted

and became Christian, of course, and learned about

Luke of the scriptures. May the Lord be with

you. And Luke is a tremendous

writer. He has given us so much

that we can learn about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

You know, as Kevin last week, I believe, said that I

hope that you interject some thoughts here, because when you look at Luke,

you know, the 2 books that he wrote, of course, um,

there's not an awful lot about him other than that.

But as you get into the book of Acts, you see

the wee passages in, uh,

maybe perhaps starting in chapter 16 or so in the

book of Acts, and then There are close to 97,

close to 100 of those we passages. And of course,

we means Luke and Paul. He was a companion

to our brother Paul, so he was definitely acquainted

with him as he traveled. We watched a documentary

the other night of the book of Acts. I know Hyrum and Neil

did a tremendous job going through that book on Sunday morning.

The narrator was Luke, of course,

and went through the whole book in the time that was

allotted. The interesting point was there,

um, he never really was with Paul. He was on

a ship but never really accompanied him. So it

was obviously just going through the text in the book of Acts, but it

was, it was kind of interesting to me that he He really didn't see Paul

much. But not only did Luke travel

with Paul outside the land of Israel, he also

visited Israel and perhaps may

have been personally acquainted with the members

of Jesus' family, obviously, which would

have included his mother Mary and his brother

James. And as you look at Luke and

the Book of Luke, the Gospel of Luke, and of course the Book of Acts,

they, they constitute about a third of the New Testament.

When you look at the letters Paul wrote, it's about

50% of the New Testament, which is again interesting.

So let's go ahead, and we've got

a lot of questions, but We're going to look at these questions in,

in detail as we go through this lesson. But,

you know, when you think of Luke— and we talked this morning at the men's

breakfast about, uh, I told them, I encouraged them to read,

read the book of Luke or study up on him— uh,

what is the Bible, or where does the Bible refer to Luke?

Now, these answers obviously, or questions, are rather simplistic,

aren't they? Where would you look?

The book of Luke and the book of Acts. I already said that.

So we're going to look at these questions, and of course, if you

have any questions or comments,

please interject them at any point. But we're going

to look at where the Bible refers to Luke, what are

the key details of the background of Luke,

and Who wrote the Gospel of Luke,

the Book of Acts? Who did he write to?

What are Luke's major contributions to the Bible?

How does Luke's portrayal of Jesus— and here's an interesting one—

how does his portrayal of Jesus differ from the other gospels?

How has the Gospel of Luke influenced our

Christian life? Christianity in general? And then the last

one is, why is understanding Luke important

for our Bible studies as we go through the book, go through

the Bible? So let's look at the

first question: where does the Bible refer to

Luke? You thought you might go to the book of Luke,

but 4 times he's found Um, is it

4, 3 times he's found in, uh,

Paul's letters. Colossians 4:14,

Colossians 4:14

Paul refers to Luke as the beloved physician.

Now we know all about Paul. One of the guys got up here, the men

got up here and taught about Paul. If Paul needed

anybody, it would have been a doctor, and all the scourgings and beatings

and things that he took. So, I'm just interjecting the thought that perhaps

Luke went with him for that very reason.

Philemon 1:24, Luke is listed along

Philemon 1:24

with Mark, Aristarchus, and Demas among

the apostles' fellow workers.

Both of these references occur in what we know, of course,

as Paul's prison letters.

The letters that he wrote, obviously, while in prison. The 3rd reference

is found in 2 Timothy 4:11,

2 Timothy 4:11

where Paul says about Luke, Luke alone is with

me. So all 3

of these references to Luke happened in letters

that Paul wrote while he was in prison.

And obviously what this suggests is that

Luke was a loyal friend who shared a lot of Paul's

convictions. Next, we can go to the

key details of Luke, his background.

Paul identifies him, as we just said, as a physician, as a

doctor. And early Christian writers thought that Luke

was probably a Gentile.

His readers were Greek or Gentiles,

and so that's where that comes from.

Modern scholars think that Luke probably attended the

Jewish synagogue where he became familiar with the Jewish

faith and scriptures.

And again, as we just read, he is looked at as a companion to

the Apostle Paul. As well as— and here's the interesting part— when

you start looking in the book of Acts, and I don't know if it starts

in chapter 16 or not, but from that point on there are about

97 references. We call them the we section,

and that includes Luke and Paul. So he's

obviously seen quite a bit in the book of

Acts. I counted— well, I looked at about 97

times, so Uh, any questions or

comments up to this point? We can go through this, like I said, rather quickly,

and we can get out of here in about 15 minutes like Kevin said.

And I don't know if you want to do it. Yes, brother.

Yeah, missionary journey started

in what, Acts 13?

Acts 13. And I'm not sure I see any reference

there in the we section. I didn't

look at the whole book, obviously, but it seems to me that,

um, as Paul went on his journeys,

his missions, you know, and of course later on, that he's

really— I mean, it goes all the way to chapter 28.

We see part of the wheat passages there. So it looks to me like the

latter part of the book of Acts is where we see it. Neil?

Separation there. Yeah,

yeah, yeah,

yeah. I didn't see that. Kind of something we might not

know, but then again, we know what we know as far as that's concerned.

Any other questions or comments? As far

as all of a sudden he says we— yeah, yeah,

yeah. Yeah, good point. Thank you.

Thank you. Any others?

Okay, let's go on to our next one. Of course, these are rather easy

questions and simple answers, aren't they? Who wrote Luke?

Who wrote Acts? And of course, the recipient.

Church tradition has held that Luke the

physician penned both the Gospel of Luke And

the second volume that he wrote, obviously known

as the Book of Acts. The great

4th century church historian Eusebius said

that Luke has left us 2 inspired

books, the Gospel of Luke and of course the Book of Acts.

I've kind of given that a second title, not going

away from what the Bible says, but When you look at the book of Acts,

and I'm studying that, I'm doing that on a program I'm speaking on,

it's really more about Jesus. The whole book is

just saturated with what

Jesus, not only what he did, but what he continues to

do. So as you read through that, you're going to see

that quite a few times, okay? When you

look at Acts chapter 1, verse 1, for example— okay,

Acts 1:1

I'm in Luke. Let's go to Acts 1 if

you have your Bibles with you.

He says here in the first book, O Theophilus— and we're going to deal

with that in a moment— I have dealt with all that Jesus began

to do and teach, of course,

until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands

through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

So, um, a late century Irenaeus

and early 3rd century Tertullian brought

that about. The oldest Greek manuscript of Luke

which dates to about the 3rd century, ends with the words,

the Gospel according to Luke.

Okay, so go to, uh, we are in

Luke, and of course at Luke 1 through 4,

Luke chapter 1:1-4, and Acts chapter 1:1-2.

Let's go ahead and read that at Luke chapter

1:1-4. Inasmuch as many have under undertaken to compile

a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us,

just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and

ministers of the word have delivered them to

us. It seemed good to me, having also— having followed all things

closely for some time past, to write an orderly

account for you, most excellent Theophilus,

that you may have certainty concerning the things

that you've been taught. A lot of scholars

believe that when Luke talks about doing these things in an

orderly account or an orderly manner, that you could use

chronologically as well, in chronological

order. And I kind of believe that as you read through that,

you'll see it. But then you go back, as I had said, to Luke— or

excuse me, Acts chapter 1:1-2.

Of course, we just read it, but let's read it again. In the first book,

O Theophilus, I've dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach

until the day he was taken up, after he had commands— had given commands

through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had

chosen. These 2 passages, okay,

These 2 passages are of great importance to help

us with the authorship, obviously, and the relationship of

these 2 volumes. Both address a man named

Theophilus. Luke 1:3 as well as

Luke 1:3

Acts 1:1. His name means loved

Acts 1:1

by God. Did you notice something in Luke

1 and Acts 1, something that was omitted?

In one of those, one of them said Theophilus,

and the other one said what? Most Excellent Theophilus.

That title, Most Excellent,

was a title given to

Roman officials. Acts 23,

dealing with Felix, Festus had the same thing.

Okay, and, um, but Luke

drops the most excellent from Theophilus in Acts chapter 1,

Acts 1:1

verse 1. Now we don't know why.

We really don't know why because it doesn't say. But it's interesting,

isn't it, that he dropped that most excellent, which was a, a title

given to some magistrate, perhaps Roman, you know,

somebody in pretty high position. So Interesting

point there. Any questions, comments?

All right, let's go on. Going through these pretty quick.

Luke's major contributions to the Bible.

Okay, remarkably, Luke's 2 volumes,

Luke and Acts, constitute approximately, like I had just said,

one quarter of the New Testament.

52 chapters in both of those books. All of

them, both of them pointing, of course, to Jesus,

who's mentioned in those 2 volumes close to

200 times, whether it's Jesus or the Christ or

Lord, so many different times.

So we can see what the focus or who the focus

was as you go through these 2 volumes.

Again, the greatest contribution perhaps Luke gave

us was the, um, his second volume,

of course, the Book of Acts. We have 4 Gospels,

we know that— Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John— that narrate the

life and the teachings of Jesus. We have

only one account of the first generation of the church,

and this account spans perhaps from the early '30s

to roughly the early '60s in that time frame.

The key themes, the key themes, of course,

in the parallel passages of Luke and Acts include

Jesus. It includes the emphasis of the Holy Spirit.

It includes the missionary journeys and the fulfillment

of the Old Testament prophecies, especially regarding

Jesus. As the Messiah, okay?

Both highlight the unstoppable progress of

the gospel. And of course, the establishment of

the early church. And as again, Neil and Hyrum both brought out,

in spite of opposition, which we saw over and over

and over again, especially in the book of Acts.

Questions, comments? Y'all tired or you just don't want to

talk? Anybody?

I'm not that thorough.

All right, let's go on. Uh, gotta change

here, don't we? How does Luke's portrayal

of Jesus differ from the other gospel writers?

All right, it seems to me that Luke's greatest

difference though consists— excuse me—

in how he presents our Lord and he presents his ministry.

He presents it as relevant to all people,

including the Gentiles. All right, and again,

we see this especially in the book of Acts.

The major portion of Luke covers Jesus'

travels towards Jerusalem.

Matthew and Mark devote one chapter,

seems to me, one chapter to this part of the ministry of our

Lord. Luke is divided into 4 different major

sections. Chapter 1:1 through chapter 4:13

talks about the early life. Of Jesus.

Chapter 4:14 through chapter 9, verse 50 talks

about the Galilean ministry. Chapter 9:51

through all the way chapter 19, verse 27,

we see the Jerusalem journey. And then of course

chapter 19, verse 28, all the way

to the end of the book, chapter 24, verse 33,

we see the final victory.

All 4 of the Gospels, all 4 of the

Gospels teach the Great Commission, or some

of them call perhaps one of them the Limited Commission.

We know about it in Matthew 28:18-20.

Matthew 28:18–20

This is on— this is not on the slide, by the way, but you know

where they are. Mark 16:15. We have

Mark 16:15

Luke 24:44-49,

Luke 24:44–49

and then of course John 20:21. So Luke

John 20:21

seems to give much more detail about

the commission that was given. Matthew will emphasize

making disciples, baptizing, and teaching,

and obedience. Luke, on the other hand,

emphasizes preaching repentance and

forgiveness, witnessing to the death and

resurrection of our Lord, and of course the

empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

In the book of Luke, let's just do something here. Look at Luke 24

for a moment.

Excuse me. Luke 24, and let's begin

at verse 44. Someone like to read that?

Luke 24, verse 44 through 49.

Luke 24:44–49

Christ should suffer and on the 3rd day rise from the dead,

and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name

to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Uh, beginning from Jerusalem, you are witnesses of these

things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you,

but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

Okay, now go over to Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

Many feel that this is the conclusion of

what Luke was talking about as he not only concluded the book of Luke,

his— this gospel, but concludes the commission with

this verse, Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

He says there, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has

come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem in

all Judea and Samaria and to the end of

the earth. See how that fits? Really fits

well, doesn't it? So he continues

the commission going into his second,

second letter. Okay,

comments, questions?

Mark, with his struggles perhaps on the first missionary journey,

he emphasizes faith. He believes and is baptized in

his Great Commission account. Luke is a

Gentile, and you think about how much the Gentile world had to overcome in

order to come to Christ. He emphasizes, not just in the commission,

if you go all the way through Luke, there's this huge emphasis on repentance and

changing the mind and leads to a change of action. Yeah, it's interesting how their

own backgrounds, that they emphasize a portion of

the essential part of the Great Commission, a different part that gives us that composite

picture of faith, repentance, and baptism. Yeah, good point. Thank you, Neil.

Yeah, good point.

I think it's kind of neat. One thing I love about

Luke is he tells things about Jesus that no other gospel I

love the story of Jesus as a boy.

Yeah, amazing the elders and the scholars and

in the temple. And we went to Jerusalem and that he was 12,

so that was a year before he basically entered adulthood.

That, that's the only place that's in the Bible.

Yeah, he's much more detailed in a lot of areas than Matthew,

Mark. Of course, John You know, it's more of a narrative.

The synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are much

different than the Gospel of John. But good point,

because when you look at Luke chapter 1, verse 3,

Luke 1:3

it seemed good to me, having followed all things closely

for some time past, to write an orderly account.

So he didn't leave out a lot of details.

Anything you wanna— more you wanna find out about Jesus or the or

anything like that, Luke is a good place to look.

Yeah, it is. And just think, yeah, just thinking accompanying him,

you know, as he went through what he did,

what he saw where the others didn't,

you know, it dates him to what, the Prison Epistles are written what,

in the '60s, late '60s, early '60s? So that puts

him in that timeframe. So that's kind of interesting.

Yeah, good point, thank you. So,

not the last question, but close to it. How Luke's

Gospel has influenced Christianity.

All right, the Gospel of Luke

and Acts has had and will continue, in my

opinion, to have an enormous impact on

Christianity. Why? Why would you say so? Why?

How would you answer that question or answer that comment? Why does it

make such an impact on our Christian life,

Christianity in general? All right, certainly.

Excuse me, he talks about the certainty

of those things. Certainty, yeah. Because not only

does it take away— you may have a seed of doubt

But if that gets thrown away, you have certainty, you know,

guaranteed, certified, bona fide, you know,

squared away, no mistake. And how was that

important to the Gentiles? You know, when you think

about it, how was that important to them? They needed that. They needed

the certainty that Luke could give.

Yeah, right. Things that

they never were accustomed to ordinarily. So they

were getting educated too. Yeah, yeah, they were for sure.

Laura, I'm sorry. I was just thinking about comments made.

Luke to me in many ways gives

me a portrait of the humanity of Christ.

He was the Son of God, he was the Messiah, he was the Savior,

and we know who he was, but I think knowing his humanity

gives an added layer of appreciation and love for him.

And I think maybe that contributed somewhat to

what the Gentiles were in because they could see, they could relate.

As far as we know, Luke was not an apostle.

He was a— to me, I would claim that he'd be a disciple.

Perhaps not chosen the way the others were, but he was definitely a

follower, a student of Jesus. There's no doubt in my mind

about that. So that's kind of interesting too,

isn't it? Yeah, these 2 books

have made and will, again, they'll continue to make an enormous impact

on the way we study the scriptures and look at our Lord.

Both of them motivated The Gentile

mission, definitely. Matthew primarily addressed

the synagogue and the Jewish membership, all right?

Mark challenges, of course, the Roman Empire and

its misguided faith in Caesar. And who does Caesar claim to be?

Yeah, God. He claimed to be God, all right?

An occasion of the good news for the world,

all the world. We still use these, 2 books,

especially the book of Acts, when we're trying to sit down and talk to someone

about the early church and what it meant, what it took for

it to be established. And that'll never change,

never change, okay?

The Gospel of Luke and Acts underscored the openness

of the church to the Gentile. And as you read through the Gospel—

excuse me, you read through the epistles, the letters, that Paul wrote,

you can see the problems that he had with the

Jewish people and the Gentiles. The Jewish people

didn't have any love at all for them.

You know, it was a mess. But Paul

was given that mission to the Gentiles. And of

course, outsiders and those who are outcast,

we see that. Luke focuses

on Jesus as the compassionate Savior who

came to bring salvation to all people.

Acts focuses on,

again, more about Jesus and how the early Christian church

spread after our Lord's resurrection and

obviously his ascension that we read about. In the early part

of the book of Acts as well. And again,

as was already mentioned, Luke says that he made a careful

investigation, a chronological order that we

might see that occurred here. I believe

we should do the same, don't you?

If it was good for them, it needs to be good for us,

for sure. Okay, any other comments?

Bill, I don't know if you're going to mention this in your next slide,

but you talk about how Luke's Gospel influenced Christianity.

When you state people, places, and things,

and you say that it's historically accurate, then you put yourself

in a vulnerable position. And I think

what Luke did is he gives us some Christian evidence

proof that we need. He mentions historical people like Caiaphas,

or he'll mention the proconsul Gallio, or the Emperor

Claudius expelling the Jews from Rome. All these things

contemporary writers outside of the Bible were writing about. And if he's wrong,

if it's erroneous, then the Bible's discredited, and one-fourth

of the New Testament's discredited. But as it is, You continue to see these things

verified, and it builds our faith. I wonder

how many people have become Christians because they have seen this evidence

from Luke's hand. He's so precise that it creates

faith in the hearts of people, much more than, than Mark,

Matthew or Mark, for sure. Yeah, good point,

good point. All right, last question.

Understanding why Luke is is important for studying

the scriptures? Of course, goes along with really the last question that

we gave. Although written obviously almost

2,000 years ago, the study of these 2 books

are still very relevant today. We've made that point over a few times.

Luke and Acts teaches the church to remember so

many things. What, what does it help us to

remember when you look at these 2 books?

What would you say? The church is unstoppable.

Okay, church is unstoppable. Also that,

that old classic story about the Good Samaritan,

uh, not being a respecter of persons. Yeah.

And you know, it's a story. Yes, it's a story,

but it's, it's a good lesson. Yeah.

Very good. Anybody else? What else? Reminded of the mission of,

you know, seek and save the lost.

Yeah, we see active participation of women,

you know, following Jesus,

you know, at the cross and other places.

So it's full of compassion, full of mission,

full of When you think about the mission of the church,

and I know we've got a lot of different answers for that,

but when I personally, when I think about the mission of the church,

I think of transformation.

Transforming men and women into

the likeness of our Lord and Savior. If it's not

about that, then I don't know what else we can add to it.

The goal, obviously the goal of our Lord was to do

what? What was the goal of Jesus?

If you've ever read John 17, it's looked many times.

Okay, that's what we usually say, and I obviously, I wouldn't go against

that. But was it not to glorify his Father so

he would be glorified? Glorification is

something that is his alone,

the Father's. He wanted to glorify his

Father, to exalt him.

And when I look at that goal, what a goal it is for

us today. Same, same situation, to glorify him, to glorify

the Father, to transform lives into the likeness of his Son.

Romans 12:1-2. Too many people are still

Romans 12:1–2

conformed to the pattern of the world. And they need to be transformed in

the likeness of Jesus Christ.

Okay, so, but there's some other things, you know, when you think about

what helps us to remember. What about the poor? When you look

at Acts 2 and Acts 4, what did the early church do?

You know, they helped out those who had need, the sick,

those who were disregarded, those who felt

they have— you know, when you read the book of Ephesians, you see that Paul's

letter speaking to them says, you have no hope

without Jesus in this world. They had no hope.

Man, when we don't have hope and all of a sudden we've got it,

that's an eye-opening experience. It surely is.

The Jesus of Luke rebuked his

religious contemporaries. He had no problem

doing that. Brood of vipers, hypocrites,

whitewashed tombs.

They were neglecting the poor, and that's one of the reasons he said it.

In contrast, the early church, as portrayed

in the book of Acts, cared for the poor and made great gains in Jerusalem

as a result. Again, Acts chapter 2,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 4, they gave generously to anyone who had need.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Nothing There was nothing that was off the table.

You know, they gave their possessions.

Thousands professed their faith in Acts 2:47.

Acts 2:47

And you see that as you go through the book of Acts, the earlier

part especially, Acts 4:4-5,

Acts 4:4–5

and also chapter 6, verse 7. It just kept rolling.

The gospel chariot rolled. And thousands

came to a saving knowledge and obeyed the gospel.

They were convicted of their sins and they

were converted and became God's house

in the kingdom. So as

Luke records the good news of Jesus the Messiah to

be proclaimed in Jerusalem and in Judea,

and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts chapter

Acts 1:9

1, verse 9. And I really like the point that Hiram brought out Sunday

about Acts 28. Let's look at Acts 28

for a moment. Acts 28, looking at

verses 30 and 31.

I've heard this before, but not the way he said it.

I told him I really appreciated that.

Acts chapter 28, verse 30 and 31.

Acts 28:30

He lived there 2 whole years at his own expense

and welcomed all who came to him proclaiming the kingdom of

God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness

and without hindrance. And that does not end

the book of Acts. As Hyrum brought out,

chapter 29 is us. We continue to do

that same thing. So as any book

that we read and we study and we immerse ourselves in, meditating upon

the verses, chapters that are before us,

we see a Savior, we see

our Lord, and we see why he did

what he did. And why we should do the same.

Seeking and saving the lost, glorifying the Father, that's our

mission. That's our mission, and I pray that we never lose

sight of that. Never.

All right, we've got a few minutes before, I'm sure, the bell.

Any other comments? Anything I missed? I'm sure I did.

Yeah, you know, you know, when you're studying about Jesus, don't you want the most

orderly account that you can get? Don't you want it to be concise?

You know, every detail that we can get.

Yeah. You know,

studying the books of the letters of John, I did

that recently. Of course, dealing with the Gnostic heresy

that was there, so many times, especially in 1 John, it talks about we

were eyewitnesses. We touched Him. We were there.

We heard Him. And the brethren needed to hear that because

of the Gnostic heresy. How much more When Luke

brings that out, even in the book of Acts as well as Luke,

how much more did they need to hear that? You know,

that's the good news. That's the good news for

Anything else?

Let's have a word of prayer. Father God,

as we come before you, we're so thankful, Father,

for your word. So thankful for Luke

and, and so many writers of the New and Old Testament,

Father, that point to your Son. Help us always

to live lives that glorify you. Help us always,

Father, to live lives that show others what it means to be

a follower of yours and a follower of your Son.

Help our hearts to burn, Father, within with a message like

Jeremiah. He couldn't hold it in, and I pray that we

can't either, that we can help others learn

the saving knowledge of your Son, our Lord

and our Savior. And we wait so patiently yet expectantly

for his return. Can't wait for that, Father, one day to

be with him in eternity. Help us to take as many

as we can with us. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

All right, thank you.