Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Book: Luke

  • Christ’s Journey, the Church’s Journey

    Christ’s Journey, the Church’s Journey

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Life of Elisha” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 5, 1989.

    About this sermon

    Luke’s Gospel keeps returning to journey, and the confusion over Christ’s route in chapter 17 clears once the church’s journey lies over his. Christ’s victory on the cross already guarantees the church’s own.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture reading is from Luke’s gospel, and first of all we will be reading from the ninth chapter. Our reading in the ninth chapter is from verse 51 through verse 56, and then we will turn over to chapter 17 and verses 11 through 19. Hear the word of God.

    And it came about when the days were approaching for his ascension that he resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he set messengers on ahead of him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for him. And they did not receive him because he was journeying with his face toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven to consume them? And he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village. And then turning over to chapter 17, beginning of verse 19, beginning of verse 11.

    And it came about while he was on the way to Jerusalem that he was passing through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a certain village, there met him ten leprous men who stood at a distance. And they raised their voices, saying, And when he saw them, he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priests. And it came about that as they were going, they were cleansed.

    Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at his feet, giving thanks to him, and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answered and said, Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine, where are they? Were none found who turned back to give glory to God except this foreigner?

    And he said to him, Rise, and go your way. Your faith has made you well. Our hope is in you, our God. With your word you come and by that word slay our pride. You review us, not just our actions but also our thoughts. Your word active to penetrate even to the thoughts and the intents of our hearts. O Lord, before you we stand, yet we are confident, not because we are found to have anything in us to commend us to you, but rather by your word, this very word that comes and scrutinizes us, there is that ministry, the ministry of your gospel whereby We are encouraged through Christ to come and present ourselves before you.

    Now, over the face of the earth, Lord, your elect are gathered, and you are assembling them out of the tribes of the earth so that they would praise you, not only presently, but forever. Lord, we would confess that you are our God, that Jesus Christ is Savior. Knowing these things and confessing them, we then, with confidence in your word, take our place in the assembly which you have convened. Lord, we pray that as we assemble we will hear, and in hearing obey, and that for your glory.

    Tonight we are beginning our consideration of a passage in Luke’s Gospel that takes us on a bit of a detour from our considerations of Elisha’s life and times. So we are moving from 2 Kings into the territory of the New Testament gospel of Luke. In turning to this specific gospel We come to a story that bears some connection to the story we have been presently considering about Elisha, and that is the one concerning Elisha and Naaman, the leprous Syrian. And this story in Luke’s gospel is joined to that story in 2 Kings, because in each we find a treatment of the subject of leprosy and those who are leprous. In Naaman, we have confronted one, or we have been confronted by one, who is a Gentile, one who stands at a distance by his race as well as by his disease. And in the story of the ten lepers, and specifically the Samaritan leper, we are likewise confronted with one who is at a distance not just because of his race, but because of his disease.

    This evening we will be setting the stage for our consideration of this very familiar story from Luke’s Gospel. And in that we will be thinking a bit about Luke, his mindset, his intention, and we will be looking specifically at the first verse of this specific story which we have read, that verse being Luke 17, 11. So let me set the stage for you.

    Luke, as a writer, Luke as a writer is quite taken with journeys, with trips. He has been described as the gospel writer, as that New Testament writer preoccupied with pilgrimage, sojourn. Now, as you think of Luke’s writings, there may be a number of journeys that he records that come to your mind.

    At the outset of the gospel, there is the journey of one Zacharias to Jerusalem to perform his duty, he being of the tribe of Levite, a Levite with a yearly office to perform in the house of God. There is as well the journey of Joseph and Mary from the territories of Galilee southward, past Jerusalem to Bethlehem. If we think of Luke’s other New Testament writing, the book of Acts, we are taken with that trip that trip of Philip’s as he moved southward from Jerusalem on the road to Gaza, there encountering the Ethiopian eunuch that recorded for us in Acts chapter eight. And there are a number of other little journeys sprinkled throughout the writings of Luke, be it his gospel or the book of Acts. But Luke records for us in these two narratives which he gives us, the narrative concerning Christ’s life and the narrative concerning the life of the Church. In these two narratives, he presents us with two specific journeys that dominate the landscapes. You might not have realized it, but a great part of the Book of Acts is taken up with the matter of a journey, a specific journey.

    And that journey centers in the figure of the Apostle Paul as he moves from the Jewish capital of Jerusalem to the Gentile capital of Rome. Through many episodes, through many lesser journeys, this one great journey unfolds, possibly beginning as early as Paul’s journey from Jerusalem to Damascus, but ending, of course, with the conclusion of his third missionary journey, as that finds its culminating point in Rome itself, moving from Acts 9 to Acts 26, taking in the majority of the territory covered in the Book of the Acts. The Gospel of Luke also tells us about a great journey. The great journey in this Gospel belongs, of course, to Jesus himself, as he moves from Galilee in the north. Keep in mind the geography, because the geography of the territory of Israel at this point is going to be very important for the development of this message. Jesus, in his journey moving from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem, the center of Jewish religious activity as well as the center of its political activity, of their political activity.

    Now this journey is marked out quite deliberately for us by Luke, and his account of it begins for us in that passage that we read tonight from Luke chapter 9, verse 51, which reads, “…and it came about, when the days were approaching for his ascension, that Jesus resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem.”

    That’s where the journey commences. Now, the description of the journey moves on through the next ten chapters. So you see, it’s a sizable portion of this gospel, and it progresses in three distinct phases as you move from chapter nine through chapter nineteen. Each phase of the journey is marked out for us specifically with a reminder that the goal is, after all, the city of Jerusalem. Each time we see that city mentioned in this narrative, it seems as if to mark out another phase of the journey.

    The first phase, then, moves from chapter 9, verse 51, through the 13th chapter, verse 21. That’s the first installment of the journey as Luke records it. The second Phase of the journey then moves from chapter 13, verse 22, where you will notice that Jerusalem is again mentioned as the destination. From the 13th chapter, verse 22, through chapter 17, verse 10. And now, the third phase kicks in, the final phase. Once more, verse 11. of that seventeenth chapter.

    Jerusalem is mentioned once more, and this section will culminate with the twenty-seventh verse of the nineteenth chapter of Luke. But the story of the Ten Lepers, then, is the first story in that final installment, descriptive of this grand and great journey taken by Christ. Now that’s somewhat the overview for us here. But now we want to look at the text specifically.

    17 verse 11. It will help if you have that verse in front of you. The mention of Jerusalem you note, and then after that the mention of Samaria. and Galilee. This opening verse is phrased, constructed in such a way that with a careful reading of it, we are taken off guard. A careful reading of this text takes us off guard. And you might compare what you find in your version, if it in fact is a New American Standard or a New International, comparing that with the King James. This verse tells us that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem.

    But then, and that quite oddly, quite strangely, It says in the literal translation, which the King James preserves, I might add, he was passing through the midst of, those are the words, the midst of, literal translation here, the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Now, if you’re sensitive to the geography, and that’s why I wanted you to keep the geography in mind, have that map. Have that map of Israel in the time of Jesus and Moses. If you have a map in the back of your Bible, turn to it and look at it. You know how things were arranged. Galilee was to the far north, Samaria was in the middle, Judea was to the extreme south, and Jerusalem at half of the length. You got it? You have it?

    Galilee, Samaria, That is very important. But this verse, as it is phrased for us now, as I’ve been trying to say, presents us with a difficulty. And that difficulty is specifically the lay of the land which I have just described for Galilee, Samaria, Jerusalem, Judea. Moving toward Jerusalem from Galilee, one would move into or along the Samaritan territory, since it lay to the south of Galilee and to the north of Jerusalem.

    You see the problem that is beginning to arise. The point made by many critics as they’ve reviewed this text has been that in looking at Luke’s treatment of Jesus’ journey from the North Country to Jerusalem in the South, the most natural order would have been to mention Galilee first and Samaria second. You see? You see?

    He’s going to Jerusalem, but his point of departure is Galilee, then Samaria, and then after that he will arrive at his destination. But you note what is done by Luke in this 11th verse. He reverses the order. He speaks of Samaria first and Galilee second. The charge then by the liberal critic has has actually been laid at the feet of Luke, well, it’s obvious the man doesn’t know Palestinian geography. He’s a Gentile. Where did Paul pick him up, after all? Somewhere in Asia Minor, I suppose. Maybe in the territories of Macedonia. But, obviously, this man is ignorant of Palestinian geography. His statement here is evidence of his ignorance. He simply doesn’t know the lay of the land.

    Now, some translators of this verse have squirmed. It may not seem like a very important issue, a very pressing matter. But many translators, including the translators at work in the New American Standard Version, have squirmed under the scrutinizing eye and the critical eye of those who have raised objections and suggested that Luke didn’t know, after all, Palestinian geography.

    So they have come up with their own suggestions. They have suggested the following translation. If you have a New American Standard Version in front of you, you can follow along. Jesus was passing, this is what they had, between Samaria and Galilee. As if with the formulation of the words in this fashion, it wouldn’t make any difference which one you mention first. Okay?

    Now, the force of this statement could be read somewhat along the line which places Jesus in the company of those Jews of his time. And what was their attitude? Their attitude was to avoid at all costs any contact with or contamination through the Samaritans, who were judged to be unclean. They were not purebred Jews, they were half-breed. They had their own view of things, they had a truncated Old Testament, an abbreviated version, compressed, compact edition, and they had their own estimation of religious practice. You remember Jesus’ exchange with the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob? She gives voice to it. She says, we believe that it’s right for us to worship on Mount Gerizim. You Jews worship in Jerusalem.

    So they had their own approach to religious practice. And in all of this, they are judged to be unclean by the Jews. Thus, the Jews would make an extended trip. It didn’t matter how the prophets moved. It didn’t matter what the shortest distance was between their home and Jerusalem. they would make an extended journey just to avoid the territory of the Samaritans. They would move southward first, till they hit the boundary of Galilee and Samaria, then they would turn eastward towards the Jordan, cross the Jordan even, go down along the banks of the Jordan on the east side, and once they had passed the territories of Samaria, they would recross the Jordan, enter the territory of Judea, and belong to Jerusalem. All of that in order to avoid contact with the Samaritans.

    So it is suggested that Jesus here is passing between Galilee and Samaria along the lines of the habit of those Jews during his time. Now, all of this has added to it the fact that we gain, added to it the fact which we gain from our consideration of the outset of Jesus’ journey. Having read now from Luke chapter 9 and the story of the outset of the journey and his contact with the Samaritans there, not only is Jesus then suggested to be moving along this route that was frequented by the Jews of his time, But he had already entered the Samaritan village and the Samaritan territory, and when he did that, he was rejected, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem, and the Samaritans themselves would countenance that. Therefore, the route he chose took him back, backward, along the traditional road.

    This, then, is the explanation for this eleventh verse. So rather than reading the literal translation which is given to us, that he passed through the midst of, which means that he went right down through the middle Samaria, as well as through the midst of Galilee, we are told that he passed between the two territories on that approved route to the south. in salvaging Luke from the charge that he doesn’t know Galilean or Jewish or Palestinian geography has a certain logic to it. But as we pointed out, it skirts the plain reading of the text. For the force is in keeping with the literal presentation of it in the King James. Jesus is, in fact, going through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. But having said that, we still have our problem.

    For why would Luke mention Samaria first? I mean, does he really mean to suggest to us that first of all, Jesus went through the territory of Samaria, that is to the south, then he went back up north and went through the territory of Galilee? Why then does he mention Samaria first? should not the order be to pass through the midst of Galilee and Samaria on his way to Jerusalem?

    The answer to the problem presented here, though it may seem quite minor, actually introduces us into a world that is quite profound. and into the intricacies of the thinking of this gospel writer. The answer to the problem is not to question Lut’s knowledge of geography. It is rather to question our knowledge of salvation history. The answer to the problem is not to question Lut’s knowledge of Jewish geography than our knowledge of redemptive history. We are not to see here then some sort of boundary straddling by Jesus as he makes his way south to Jerusalem.

    The issue is resolved for us, when in fact we grasp hold of Luke’s dual purpose, his two-fold purpose. Now this is a complexity, and you’re going to have to stretch your mind a bit and hold on. On the one hand, you Luke is interested in telling us the story of Jesus. That’s plain to us, is it not? He gives us a gospel. But on the other hand, he is interested in telling the story of the church. That too is obvious, is it not? He gives us the book of Acts. But there is, you see, for both of these two stories which he tells.

    A common geographical point. A common geographical point. And that common geographical point, whether you’re talking about the life of Jesus or the life of the Church, is the city of Jerusalem. That city is both Jesus’ destination and the Church’s starting point. It is Jesus’ destination and the Church’s starting point.

    It is important to remember, however, as you take stock of this dual purpose of Luke’s, that the story of Jesus and Jesus’ journey are not irrespective of Luke’s consideration for the church itself, nor is the church’s journey devoid of Jesus, her Lord. Although the stories are told separately, one in a gospel, one in the account we find in Acts, these stories are unavoidably bound together. And at this point, here, Luke 17, 11, lest we should forget the Church while reading the story of Jesus, Luke literally, literarily jolts us with what appears to be a geographical mistake, error. The foundation, the ground, The foundation of and the ground for the Church’s journey, which will be described for us in the book of Acts, as the Church moves away from Jerusalem, is Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem.

    Therefore, at this juncture, Luke overlays his account of Jesus’ journey from Galilee through Samaria to Jerusalem with an anticipation of the Church’s journey from Jerusalem through Samaria into Galilee. That’s why the notations It is even more astounding than that, you see. With the anticipation of the Church’s journey from Jerusalem through Samaria into Galilee, there is brought to mind those classic words from Acts chapter 1 verse 8. and ye shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.”

    The reverse direction is anticipated in the direction that Jesus is moving. The Church’s mission is included in the journey which Jesus is taking. The foundation for the Church’s mission and the accomplishment of her mission, the certainty of that, is already established for us as Christ moves southward from Galilee to Jerusalem.

    Here then is the setting of the story, rather the setting of the stage for the story that follows. For just as the story of Elisha and Naaman previewed the coming day of blessing and redemption for Gentiles, so the story of Jesus and the lepers anticipates the same day. The same day. But there is one more thought here for us before we close.

    Jesus in his journey to Jerusalem and to the cross carries within him his church And thus, in the success of his journey, he guarantees the success of the Church’s journey. Just as he has arrived at his destination, so the Church shall arrive at theirs. Just as he has fulfilled his mission, so the Church will fulfill her mission. But, that being true, There is also this to consider.

    The picture is only completed as the church in her journey then carries the significance of Jesus’ journey with her as she goes to the ends of the earth. And what is the significance of Jesus’ journey? the cross. And that marvel illuminates and defines for the church her message and her life. Is it any reason then that that apostle who was so close to Luke should say, I am determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified.

    There is a depth here. There are riches to be mined. A glory to perceive. A magnificence to acknowledge. Yes, Jesus in his journey literally moving from Galilee to Samaria to Jerusalem. But he lived his journey imbibing and anticipating the movement of his people from Jerusalem, through Samaria, through Galilee, to the very uttermost part of the earth. Is it not true? Are you not sitting here tonight because it is true? You are. You are. You are the testimony to the success of the Saviour’s mission and the very big success of the Church. All I believe…

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Gabriel Comes to Nazareth

    Gabriel Comes to Nazareth

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Christmas” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, December 13, 1987.

    About this sermon

    The birth of Christ answers the first creation with a new one. Gabriel, the ‘man’ from God, comes to Nazareth, and Mary carries in herself both the sorrow and the joy of Judah. The angel names the child’s attributes, and Mary submits: ‘be it unto me according to thy word.’

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are reading from Luke’s Gospel chapter one. We are reading verses 26 through 38. Hear the word of God. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin, espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.

    And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured. The Lord is with thee.” And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.

    And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said under her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon the in the power of the highest shall overshadow the.

    Therefore, also that only thing which shall be born of the shall be called the son of God. And behold, my cousin Elizabeth. She have also conceived a son in her old age. This is the sixth month with her who was cold and barren, for with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

    Father, you send forth your word and there is life. That which was dead is brought to life again. And Lord. That life should show for. Your great grace. Father, throughout the world today. Your word is proclaimed, and life is coming to those who were dead, and freedom to those who are captive. The eyes of the blind are being opened, and those who are lame are leaping for joy because of the word of God. Do strengthen your servants who bring it, that they in truth would preach uprightly. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

    It was six months since the angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias in the temple. Those six months were like six days. The six days that pressed on to their appointed conclusion in the original creation of God. On that sixth day, the goal was reached and man was created.

    Now, the angel appeared The angel Gabriel appears, and oddly enough, his name means man of God, a strange name for an angel. But this one comes as that angel from God’s presence specifically, as he has said to Zacharias in verse 19 of this first chapter of Luke. Gabriel, then, that angel who comes from the Lord’s presence, that one who stands seemingly perpetually in the presence of God as a reminder of God’s man-directed agenda for his creation. Gabriel is dispatched in the service of salvation and the ultimate blessing of those who are ordained to inherit that salvation. The six months like the six days.

    The scene here changes. not only from the original creation, but also within the land of promise, this time not to Jerusalem, nor to its temple as previously in the case of Zacharias, and in the case of his barren wife Elizabeth, but to Galilee, the circuit of the Gentiles, and to the city of Nazareth, the site fifteen miles to the west of the southern extremity of the Sea of Galilee, a sheltered valley well guarded among the southern ridges of the Lebanon Mountains, very fruitful and always abounding in the glory of the flowers for which that area was known.

    From the hill behind the town, an extraordinary view. From the massive majesty of Mount Hermon to the north, to the steps of Samaria to the south. From the sweet reaches of Gilead to the east, to the mighty expanse of the Mediterranean to the west. You could see it all from Nazareth.

    A beautiful world, a beautiful world set like a gem in the creation, and set far away from that world which seems to have had its center in Herod’s courts. a world of contrivance and manufactured graciousness. Nazareth, something of a land-bound harbor, preaching the measure of creation and the widest range of that creation’s glorious future, Gentile regions lapped by Jewish rank and file, Naphtali, Asher, Zebulon, Issachar, and this family from the tribe of Judah.

    A patrimony of hope, a veritable garden as if a bit of Eden still were in the earth. And this garden adorned, adorned by a virgin whose posture proclaims a patient godliness, yet Despite that patient godliness, her name, her name proclaiming sorrow and grief. She is Mary. Her name means tear or teardrop.

    With her betrothed, Joseph, both of royal blood, they reflect a lost dominion, a lost dominion for the tribe of Judah, an abdicated and an abandoned throne, and the sorrow of a people whose lives have been submerged in futility, if not into the blindness of iniquity.

    But now, the six months like the six days, and Gabriel, coming on by God himself, enters into Mary’s life, his greeting a consolation, a consolation beyond the hardships and the tragedies of a fallen creation, which she, too, endured. Gabriel, once before, many years before, had visited the earth in a different setting. He came to Daniel in exile with a message about fire, fire directed against empires that had set themselves against God. Gabriel had come with a message for Daniel, a message about an anguish for and a rejection of the Lord’s Messiah.

    But now his greeting of Mary addresses the furthest extent that her name, in all of its significance, could reach. the frailty, not just of her position, but of her well-pavilioned garden, her harbour, its eventual superficiality, betrayed by her name, but then transcended by Gabriel’s greeting. favored one, the Lord is with you.

    Not since Eve had there been a woman so richly blessed, the old creation’s first mother, and now the new creation’s first mother. And Mary with nearly a child’s simplicity, a naivete, baffled, surprised, stunned, yet her response is not, well, of course, who else but me? The Lord’s favor, His grace, overtakes her at the cross-section of the ages. Yet her experience, not unlike that of the most inconspicuous of God’s children, the charm of her astonishment, the same that glows from each child of God, truly humble before Him.

    She says, Why should you, an angel of the Lord, say such things to me? For who am I? Not that she wasn’t afraid. She was, but not terrified. She was reverent, awestruck. Yes, fearful. Nevertheless, she was bold in receiving the angel’s soothing words. Mary, don’t tremble. He tells her. I bear you the message of God’s benevolent look. His favor shines out upon you.

    God’s regard grounded in his grace catapults her past the ordinary, even the ordinariness of Eve. Past also the extraordinary women of the Old Testament who received miraculous visitations, and children out of their barren wombs, out of their private wildernesses, out of their private and individual cursed captivities. She passes even Elizabeth, her cousin, whose conception of John the Baptist predates her own conception of a child. And how fresh she is, and how far beyond the extraordinary. Her womb, the scene of humanity’s new birth. By grace, she centers the new creation, the child.

    He will be named Salvation of Jehovah only. The significance of his name, Jesus. But this one has a greater name yet. So says Gabriel. He is the son of the Most High. In the naming of that child by the angel, the angel himself indicates then that this most unique woman Herself gives way to the more unique child. He is the son of glory. He is the fountain of grace and salvation, not her.

    He is the one to whom the throne belongs, that throne that counters throne. that have raised up their power and their pretense against him. He shall recover then the throne, the ancient throne, that throne that was promised to the forefather, the And in so doing, he shall lay bare that throne’s eternal and transcendent significance. No end for this throne, no end to the reign of the one who sits upon it, says the angel.

    Creation’s cause and Israel’s destiny coalesce. This child sets both right. and even Gabriel, and all the angelic host will worship him. The mother, so informed about the child, forms her words with shaking, bewildered credulity. the miracle children of the Old Testament. Isaac, think of him, born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. Joseph, born to Baron Rachel. Samson, Samuel, the child of Hannah. They all had fathers, fathers of this world. And Mary says, whose child will this be, seeing that I have known no man intimately, not even my betrothed.”

    But remember, remember the God with whom we are dealing. His breath shot life into a man of clay at the beginning. of all things. And now, says the angel, the Holy Spirit shall visit Mary with life for a new beginning. And as he speaks these words to her, the names that he has already given, they are now transcended. For he tells her that the one she bears will be none other than the Son of God. The Virgin shall conceive and bear a son. The child given, the son appointed. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

    Impossible impossible. Beyond the wildest dreams of Israel’s most pious. The impossible bursts upon the stage of a simple and dead world. Nothing shall be impossible for God. Nothing shall be impossible in wiping the tear out of Mary’s name. Nothing shall be impossible in wiping the tear from the eyes of redeemed womankind. In restoring a fallen humanity, in restoring a fallen and buried dynasty, In setting creation right, in forgiving sins, in raising the dead, in bringing glory into focus, and bestowing its wealth upon us, nothing shall be impossible for this God. A new creation, a new world then. announced by an angel, announced by Gabriel. Into that new world, Mary steps.

    And how do we find her? Hesitant? Possibly, but not resistant. Reflective? Possibly, but not calculating. strained, possibly, but not like many an Old Testament saint with disobedient uncertainty. Instead, her words become the model for this new creation affected in the child she bears. the literal translation. Behold, the bond slave of the Lord. Be it done to me. According to the word. She then.

    In that submissiveness speaks of the submissiveness which is to characterize all God’s children who dwell in the new creation through Jesus Christ Gabriel leaves and she’s alone alone in a world which to her looks little different, but in her body is conceived that which is wholly new, the world’s Pope, Jesus, the Son of the Most High, the Son of God. that one through whom sins will be forgiven, that one through whom life from the dead shall be granted, that one through whom there shall be granted life in the paradise of God, and that by root of certain promise. For this one who is conceived by the Holy Spirit shall mature and accomplish the mission given him from heaven, and in his last hours he will hang upon a cross, and he will be taunted by the crowds, and he will be taunted by the thieves who are crucified with him, until that point that one of them will come to himself, to his senses, and to God, and say to the one hanging there beside him, when thou comest into thy kingdom, and Jesus’ response to him is, This day you shall be with me in paradise. In the true garden of God, in the better Eden, reserved for those who put their trust in that one who was a child. but became the man who died, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification. All who live for him in his kingdom, in this new creation that finds itself only in him, will say then, and do say with Mary.

    Her motto becomes their motto. Behold, the bond slave of the Lord. That is what I am. Be it done unto me according to your word. O God, for that is my life. The Lord the angel comes as an emissary from glory into a fallen world and addresses a humble virgin and speaks to her about impossible things. Things that seem truly impossible from the vantage point of this creation. But Lord Truly you have made it plain to us, we who believe, that nothing shall be impossible for you, that by your gracious love you shall put then in motion all of those things, all of that energy by which the new creation shall take shape, at the center of which is Christ. that one by whose blood we have been forgiven, that one by whose resurrection we ourselves have been granted newness of life. Father, in light of this, may we not be disobedient, but may we be found bond slaves of our God. And may we welcome your word. May it be unto us according as you have spoken.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Jesus and the Word of God

    Jesus and the Word of God

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Luke sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, October 18, 1987.

    About this sermon

    Jesus’ own relationship to the Word of God is close enough that Luke can describe him simply preaching ‘the word of God’ in 5:1, language that echoes 4:4 and 4:22 deliberately. Luke’s narrative keeps its focus tightly on Jesus alone, resisting distraction even from otherwise interesting side characters. That singular focus is itself part of Luke’s argument for who Jesus actually is.

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    Sermon transcript

    We are in Luke chapter 4. It would be wonderful to read the whole chapter, but I’m not going to do that. I think that you know the story of the temptation of Christ at the beginning of this chapter well enough, so I’m going to begin with verse 14 and read on from that verse to the first verse of the next chapter.

    And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through all the surrounding districts. And he began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he opened the book and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him.

    And he began to say to them, “…today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” and all were speaking well of him, and wondering at the gracious words which were proceeding out of his mouth. And they were saying, Is this not Joseph’s son? And he said to them, No doubt he will quote this proverb to me, Position, heal thyself. Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, due here in your hometown as well.

    And he said, Truly, I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown, but I say to you in truth, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. And yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. And all the synagogue was filled with rage as they heard these things.

    And they rose up and cast him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went his way. And he came down to Capernaum, the city of Galilee, and he was teaching them on Sabbath days. And they were continually amazed at his teaching, for his message, his word, was with authority.

    And there was a man in the synagogue possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, What do we have to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet and come out of him.

    And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he went out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon them all, and they began discussing with one another and saying, What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. And the report about him was getting into every locality in the surrounding district. And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they made requests of him on her behalf. and standing over her, he rebuked the fever and it left her, and immediately she arose and began to wait to serve them. And while the sun was setting, all who had any sick or various diseases brought them to and laying hands on every one of them, he was healing them. And demons also were going out of many, crying out and saying, You are the son of God, and rebuking them, he would not allow them to speak because they knew him to be the Christ. And when they came, he departed and went in a lonely place.

    And the multitudes were searching for him and came to him and tried to keep him from going away from them. And he said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose. And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. Now it came about that while the multitude was pressing around him and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. Lord, in this day, your church has gathered and you have been present. Your people have come in faith, knowing that you are there, that you are present indeed to bless faith directed towards you.

    Encourage us in our faith and with that confidence that our God is present to bless and strengthen us, Lord. in that conviction. After all, we are your children, called by your name. You have owned us, and we, by your grace, have owned you. Now, Lord, encourage us through your word to the praise of your glory. For Jesus’ sake, amen.

    Through the passage like this, Luke chapter 4, it is very easy for us to be sidetracked by the many things that we encounter here. I think that you have a feel for what I am saying. Take, for instance, the opening of the chapter, the first thirteen verses. These verses are familiar to us, they recount for us the story of Jesus’ encounter with the devil and Satan’s temptation of our Lord. Invariably, when we deal with this passage, What happens to us is that we are not so much concerned about the struggle between Christ and Satan, but what the passage can teach us about the nature of temptation. And therefore, because of that, we easily slide past the original and foremost intent of the text to something however important, is not the main consideration.

    Also, as we move through this fourth chapter, we next encounter Jesus’ preaching activity, his teaching ministry, specifically as it unfolds in his hometown. Note verse 16, he’s returned to Nazareth, where he grew up. And our interests here are basically the response of those who should have been closest to him, should have known him best. We are interested in the responses of these people from his hometown.

    Next, in verses thirty-three through thirty-six, we are faced with Jesus’ encounter with the demon-possessed man in the synagogue in Capernaum. And our interest here is in Jesus’ power, or even more particularly, the phenomenon of demon possession. how that may well relate to circumstances that the Church faces today.

    And once more, as important as that matter may be, we are led by it past the main consideration of the text. The interests here throughout this chapter are not temptation generally considered, nor the response of hometown folks to profits in their midst, nor to the phenomenon of demon possession. And as you go through to the conclusion of the chapter, neither is the interest here simply Jesus in his relationship to sickness and disease. as that is spoken of in verses 38 and following. You can see that all of the things that have been mentioned here are seemingly important. In fact, they can be made to be so important that they reach out and grab us and grab for our attention, asserting themselves as the most important thing, the most important consideration in this chapter.

    Yes, temptation, my temptation, the temptations that come to me, those that you know and experience, and how we might gain strength from the word and even from the experience of Jesus in that regard. what it means to be an outcast, to speak the truth and then be held accountable for it, for speaking the truth, to be the odd man out in your own community. The phenomenon of the devil’s work in the world, the question of whether or not there is still demon possession in the world presently.

    The whole matter of Jesus, the gospel’s relationship to illness. We all have experienced illness, disease. Our families, if not we ourselves, having contracted diseases, sometimes tragic diseases, debilitating Well, with all of these things, again, as you move through the fourth chapter of Luke, as I say, it’s very easy for us to be sidetracked.

    But this chapter really has a single focus. It is a focus that is found in Jesus. himself. In Jesus himself, and the significance of the word in relationship to him. First of all, with regard to Jesus, this chapter is consistent with what Luke has been developing thus far in his So far, he has been interested in presenting to you, Jesus, that unique figure. Yes, one who is experiencing common things. Things in common with the rest of humanity. But yet, in the midst of all of that, he is an utterly unique individual. So unique that he is solitary. He stands alone. I think that you can grasp this understanding, then, the opening of the Gospel of Luke, its progression through Jesus’ baptism by John into the temptation. Yes, we see things here that are in common, experienced commonly by us all. We are all born.

    There is this unique birth, this one who is born as no one else, and he even is contrasted with one like John the Baptist. We think of the uniqueness of the birth of John the Baptist, but Jesus, his birth, is so extraordinary that it is set off over against the birth of John the Baptist. is virgin-born, joined then to humanity in common in that all are born yet unique, unique, utterly unique, this one virgin-born. The great heroes of the Old Testament, their births, we first recited We think about the birth of Isaac and the miracle involved. We think about the birth of Samuel and the miracle involved, and others. But in the midst of this common experience of birth, there is that birth that is utterly unique, the birth of Christ. Not just another Old Testament hero, not just another Old Testament figure, heroic in stature, but one utterly unique. Notice also what is said about Jesus in the twenty-first verse of the third chapter. this dealing with the baptism of Jesus by John. Notice the way in which Luke puts the case.

    Now, it came about that when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also was baptized. You see how he puts it It came about when all the people were baptized, as if the entire ministry of John is complete. Everybody else has been baptized. Then, after everybody else had been baptized, Jesus comes and he is baptized. Baptism is a common experience, truly, but Jesus baptized in a way in which it sets him off, distinguishes him, in which his uniqueness comes to expression.

    We think of the temptation, too. Yes, temptation is the common experience of humanity and all of God’s children, but the address of Satan to this one is, if you are the son of God, the uniqueness, then, of the temptation as it pertains to Christ. And I might say, you see, the uniqueness of that temptation is brought out as you go down through those temptations and you realize the objective of Satan is to get Christ to forego the cross, that which was his unique, distinct calling as the Son of God. I think the point is made clearly.

    Jesus, then, at the center of things for Luke, as that unique and solitary figure, that one who virtually stands alone, so long does he stand at this point in Luke’s gospel that the disciples as a group. Now, I know that Simon is mentioned in verse thirty eight and his mother-in-law brought into the picture in chapter four, but the disciples as a group are not introduced to us until the fifth chapter. So these first four chapters have been for the purpose of setting Fourth, Christ as that solitary, unique figure, that one distinguished by God, different from all others. But Jesus in his uniqueness now, as we read into the fourth chapter. It’s considered from a particular point of view. For it isn’t simply his person that concerns Luke now.

    It is his person in relationship to the word, and once more we will see as we move through the fourth chapter. that there are the common experiences of God’s people with the Word, but yet, while Jesus is dealing with the Word, he is set out uniquely as that one to whom the Word belongs, that one in whose power is the Word, that one whose Word is nothing less than the Word of God.

    You see how Jesus responds to Satan. First of all, he answers the devil, the temptations that are thrown at him by Satan, with the word, with scripture. That word, which is called later on by Paul in Ephesians 6, 17, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And you note what Jesus is doing.

    It is Jesus that seemingly has total recall and makes no mistakes about the He has an infallibility about him in terms of the circumstances that he faces, and he not only infallibly interprets the circumstance, he infallibly applies the scriptures, the appropriate scriptures, to the case, to the situation at hand. that one who has this intimate relationship to the word.

    We would hope that we would all respond to temptation from the word of God. But we, in our sin, fail oftentimes to remember the word, oftentimes to apply the word properly, oftentimes failing to cite the proper scripture in the appropriate situation. But Jesus never failed. And our hope for meeting temptation, for facing that temptation with the Word of God, is found in the infallibility of the Christ to whom the Word belongs.

    Now, this Christ, this Son of God, this One called Jesus, is also that One who appears in such a unique way, and setting in his hometown of Nazareth, in the synagogue. He then, quoting prophecy, and once more, going beyond anything that we might well imagine out of that beginning account of his encounter with Satan, going far beyond that, actually taking those scriptures from the Old Testament, not simply applying them to the situation, but applying them to himself. He is saying that the expectation of the prophet was really an expectation that centered in him. Why, there is a day coming when one will arise who says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me. He has sent me. He has sent me to set free the captives. He has sent me to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

    And then down in verse 21 of that fourth chapter, Jesus says boldly, today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Why, there are many who are tempted, and there are many who preach, but none have dealt with temptation like this, and none have preached as this one. And so it is that preaching and teaching gain a predominance in this chapter. The teaching is mentioned in verse fifteen, verse thirty-one, verse thirty-two. The preaching is referred to in verse forty-three and forty-four.

    And with what authority does it come? It is a unique authority. You note verse thirty-two. The response of those in Capernaum. They were continually in a teaching for his word was with authority. You remember how that sentiment is filled out in Matthew’s Gospel at the end of Matthew seven, where it says that the multitude were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one having authority, not as one of the scribes and Pharisees. the unique authority that sets him off over against all others who are teaching and preaching. You’ll note verse thirty-six.

    After he has healed the demon-possessed man, the amazement comes upon all. They began to discuss with one another, saying, What is this word or this message? With what authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. the uniqueness of the authority of this one, vaguely perceived by those who heard, yet he is utterly unique. What of his power over disease and demons?

    A special word is used with regard to his healing ministry here in verses 35 and 39 and 41. That special word is rebuke. He rebukes the disease, he rebukes the demons. Others might pray, others might beseech, others might intercede, but this one rebukes.

    Jesus, then, and the Word, his relationship to it, yes, in his experience He is touching us in that we, too, are related to the word and have contact with it. But yet in his relationship to that word, he is utterly unique, and there is a unique authority and a unique ability with regard to it.

    But as I said, There’s something even more amazing here about his relationship to the word. You know, the beginning of the fifth chapter. That’s why I read that first verse of the fifth chapter. Now it came about that while the multitude was prepping around him and listening to the word of God. Now you could say that that reference to the Word of God there has in mind the fact that Jesus is quoting Scripture or preaching upon it, or that preaching in some way is equal to the Word of God. Or you can conclude from that that what is intended is to equate the Word of Jesus with the Word of God, and that is exactly what I believe is intended by the writer of this gospel. And there’s a reason why I think that that is why.

    I think that is what Luke intended. Note the fourth chapter, the fourth verse. This is the account of the first temptation. Jesus said here, in answer to Satan, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone. Now, you might think that that is a bit strange. In fact, that quote of Jesus at that point is incomplete.

    You know how the rest of that scripture which he is quoting, Deuteronomy 8.3, continues. It doesn’t simply say, man shall not live on bread alone.

    It goes on to say, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. But Luke, in recounting the story of this temptation, omits those words at this point. Now, if you go back to Matthew chapter four, verse four, you note that Matthew does not make that omission. There you read, But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. There the complete quotation appears, but not so in Luke. Not in Luke 4 verse 4.

    Now you might think that you’re losing something. that something has been left out, and sadly so, until you get down to the twenty second verse of this chapter. For here you read, and all were speaking well of him and wondering at the gracious words, and if you have a new American standard you can read in the margin, how the Greek is to be translated literally at this point. all were speaking well of him and wondering at the gracious words that were proceeding out of his mouth. There’s the rest of the quote. You see what was done.

    He is deliberately left off the end of Deuteronomy eight three in the fourth verse of the fourth chapter, so that he can allude to it in the twenty second But here he applies it to the word of Jesus. Equating the word of Jesus with the word of God, and that is why I am contending that when you get to the first verse of the fifth chapter and Luke says that the people were listening to the word of God when they were listening to the preaching of Jesus, he means nothing less than that.

    They are listening to the word of God. The word of Jesus is. the Word of God. There are many preachers. The Church has a plethora of preachers. But when he is preaching, is it as so many have sadly concluded an equation with the Word of God, as if that one who stands before you declares to you infallibly the will of God. No, you see, preaching is a witness. It is a witness to the Word of God. It is a witness to that one who speaks and preaches and teaches the Word of God. It is a witness to Jesus Christ, who is the veritable Word of God Himself.

    Why would it be that Luke would wait until the fifth chapter to introduce the disciples to you? What possible purpose could he have? He doesn’t want the church to make any mistake. You see, the foundation stone is Christ. It’s not Peter, it’s not any other apostle, it’s Christ. It’s not their word, it’s His word.

    And that is what’s so utterly important. Before any other issue or matter is considered, that must be set in ground. The uniqueness, the utter uniqueness of the Son of God, Jesus, and His Word, and you must live by it. Oh, you see, if Israel in the Old Testament was told that they must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, the New Testament Church now is told, you must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth. of Jesus. That is what has authority. That is what has power. That is what brings healing. That is what brings comfort, direction, clarity, That’s what brings life. The word of Jesus. Are you tempted? Do you struggle over modern day prophets? Are you questioning sickness, disease, distress?

    The church in any age finds her help in Jesus and his word. Amen. Our Father, may we not forget the cornerstone. Oh, there may be things that come along, experiences in our lives, things that become even patterns for our lives, that push, shove aside the true consideration. It may well be the temptations that assault us It may well be that prophets’ claims may well be disease, may be distressing circumstances that appear almost demonic in our midst. But O Lord, in the midst of it all, may we be drawn to Jesus and to that one who has the authority over the Word, that one whose authority is expressed in the word, that one whose word is the word of God. May we live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Jesus Christ. Here, the foundation of our existence, the foundation of the life of the Church, the foundation of every believer, those who call upon him.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Luke’s History: Suffering Before Glory

    Luke’s History: Suffering Before Glory

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Luke sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 3, 1976.

    About this sermon

    Luke writes history as a believer, and that makes him an honest historian, not a weaker one. Across Luke and Acts suffering always comes before glory, never the reverse. Barren Elizabeth and the virgin Mary bear children because nothing is impossible with God, who brings real glory out of real humiliation through his grace, not human strength. Theophilus, waiting in the second-generation church while glory seems delayed, stands for every reader who needs that same assurance.

    More sermons from Luke · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    Looking at Luke 1 this morning, I would like to read as a text the first four verses, and then also verse 37 once more. As much as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished or fulfilled among us, Just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word have handed them down to us, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, Most Excellent Theophilus, so that you might know the exact truth about the things you have been taught. the angel Gabriel said to Mary, for nothing will be impossible with God. There is no strength in the flesh, there is strength in the Spirit, however, and in the power of the Spirit, the apostles of the Lord have proclaimed the truth. and shown to us that there is to be no boast in the flesh, there is only to be glorying in the cross of Jesus Christ, the proclamation of that cross to the salvation of sinners. We ask this day, our Lord, that we would understand, that we would not move away from the truth, and when the heat of the word becomes intense, May we be intent ourselves in bearing that heat so as to know the truth about ourselves and our God. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    I’ve debated in my mind what gospel to pick, but I recognize that since I have been here with you, I have not preached on a gospel in its entirety. I am familiar and have preached through Matthew in my former pastorate. I preached through John in that pastorate as well, but Luke’s gospel I always shied away from. I was frightened by the gospel of Luke. I don’t know why that is, maybe because it’s the longest, but at any rate, I have decided at this time to tackle the gospel of Luke and to preach on that gospel for our benefit.

    Luke is unique, as are all the gospel writers, and he is deserving of some preliminary remarks this morning before we jump into the angel visits, the visits of Gabriel. Luke comes to us as an historian, as a biographer, if you will, of Jesus, but not in an ordinary sense.

    Yes, he tells us that he is here to write to us in order those things that have been fulfilled among us. He is concerned with historical sequence and order. He is not an eyewitness himself. He is one who has had things handed down to him by those who knew Jesus Christ and who walked with him. But he is one who has committed himself to careful investigation, investigating those things that have taken place from the very beginning.

    He tells us this in verses 2 and 3 as he opens up this first chapter. He is one who is using secondary sources. Many have undertaken to compile an account, he says, as he opens up his gospel, and certainly Luke is aware of these records and has read them himself. But he is also one who is using primary sources. He is using the witness of those who saw Jesus Christ, eyewitnesses. He is using those who were originally the servants of the word for his gospel record.

    He is also, as an historian, one who is committed to the truth. He is interested that this individual, if we can say he is an individual, Theopolis, He is interested that this person, or that we, be aware of the exact nature of those things that we have been taught. is not just an historian, and I might say historians in general might learn a great deal from this man and his approach to history. For Luke does not merely write as one who is merely interested in the sequence of events, dates, numbers, etc. Luke writes as a believer. he comes to his data, not impartially, but prejudiced. This man is biased. Here he is, right in the Word of God, right within the context of the Scriptures, a biased, a prejudicial individual, and prejudicial to the viewpoint of faith.

    He speaks of his inclusion amongst those who have been affected and have themselves embraced the word of truth. Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished or fulfilled among us, he includes himself there. He doesn’t set himself over against this company as some sort of neutral observer. He is involved himself. He has been in contact with the eyewitnesses and servants of the Word, which have handed down to us those things which were accomplished among us. Again, he includes himself. And he himself is committed to that truth which Theophilus, or the lover of God, if you will, is instructed in. He is committed to that truth, and it is from the perspective of that commitment that he runs. Luke is therefore not neutral about the facts. He doesn’t come to them impartially. he comes to them with the eyes of faith as a believer. This doesn’t weaken Luke’s value as a historian, it just makes him an honest one.

    Are you so naive to think that when you were going to school and had to wade through those history books that the authors of those books were only giving you the bare facts, apart from any faith commitment on their part? Not so. Not so. They had a condition of heart as surely as Luke did, did they not? And when they decided to cast aspersions on these foolish, pious Christians who are vestiges of primitivism in our day and age, do they make such statements? apart from some kind of commitment of heart on their part? No, of course not.

    Luke is an honest historian. And oh, that we had historians who were honest amongst us. who at the very outset were going to tell us about the condition of their hearts, about their presuppositions, their axioms for scholarship, their axes to grind. It’s only after we’ve waded through page after page, chapter after chapter, that the perspective of the author begins to dawn upon us. That his own heart commitment begins to make itself apparent. That we know whether, yes, we have a heart commitment like his or not. But here, in the Gospel, an honest historian tells us his heart commitment at the beginning.

    He acknowledges it. I’m prejudiced. I’m prejudiced for the gospel, and I’m biased for the truth that has come out of heaven. Upon that I take my leave. I might even say that here are the foundations of any responsible scholarship and historical inquiry.

    Luke, the historian, Luke, the honest historian, the believer. who comes with a heart of faith to the material that is before him. But Luke is more than that. Luke is a preacher, and as a preacher, a theologian, or if you will, he is an interpreter of the facts, and that by the work of the Holy Spirit within him.

    So that when he comes to deal with these facts, yes, he comes to them with the heart of faith, but by the ministration of the Holy Spirit in him, for God is at work in him, he works with those facts in order that those facts might render a certain tone and produce a certain talent. so that we might gain a certain perspective on the truth of Jesus Christ, and see things from that vantage point, because indeed, that’s precisely what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. To fill out our understanding of this Christ, not just seeing him from one perspective, but seeing him from many perspectives. in the light of the fourfold perspective of the gospel, and Luke, therefore, has a certain vantage point, given him of the Holy Spirit, by which we then are to appreciate the Savior. We shouldn’t pass over the minutest detail of the gospel in order to understand the richness of what our God has for us here to grasp.

    Luke doesn’t write like Matthew, nor does he write like Mark. And there’s a reason for that. And the reason, if we can grasp it, is for the benefit of your spiritual life. It is for the benefit of your own walk in the light of Christ. Well, what might be this particular vantage point, or the interpretive edge of Luke, the Gospel writer, His facts don’t stand there mutely, they speak a rich message. In order to understand Luke as an interpreter, it might be well for us to try to sort out exactly where he stands in the history of redemption. As he says, he wasn’t an eyewitness. He’s depended on them for much of his information. And it says, if he stands then at a distance from those events, and if you will, he stands in the company of a second-generation church. And the problems of the second generation church are rather complicated.

    For here you have this Jesus who has come and proclaimed the gospel of glory. And here I am sitting here in this church somewhere in Asia Minor, and glory isn’t exactly apparent to me. I’ve been given the promise of redemption and salvation, which I take to be universal, and that there’s going to be one day the renewal of the heavens and the earth in the perfect society. All of it promised to me by Jesus Christ, and here I find myself, Jesus gone, the apostles dying out, and what’s happening?” God, maybe, has forgotten, or maybe there was something wrong with that promise at the beginning. Or maybe, I haven’t quite understood what that gospel was, and it is in need of some other kind of interpretation.

    Problems of the second generation church link us very much with Luke, though do they not? For here we sit, still waiting. Luke is interested in resolving this problem. And the way in which he resolves it is in terms of poverty and then glory. You remember Jesus at the end of Luke’s Gospel, the beautiful story that is told only by Luke, Jesus, after he had been raised from the dead, walking down the road with the two people who didn’t recognize him. They were hardly expecting to see him. And they were troubled, and Jesus asks them what their problem is, and they said, well, we had hoped that this prophet from Nazareth was the Messiah, but now he’s been crucified and he’s dead. And Jesus, says Luke, went on to explain to them how it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer in order to enter into his glory.

    Later on, in the book of Acts, Luke wrote Acts as well, the 14th chapter, he’s telling us about Paul and his missionary trip to Lystra. Here he is at Lystra preaching the gospel, and some of the unbelievers rise up, carry him out of the city and stone him.

    Paul is certainly asking the question, where is the glory, Lord? If I am being stoned, why do I have to go through this? Well, he makes his way eventually back through Lystra. with one message for them. He tells them in Acts 14 verse 22, through many sufferings we must enter into the kingdom of God. The structure then that Luke wants us to understand is the process from suffering and humiliation to glory and exaltation.

    And as it was for the Christ, so it is for us. For we are united to him. The second generation church must be reminded of that fact. that it is from suffering to glory, and glory comes in the time and by the power of God. Now this is not to say that for Luke, glory hasn’t made its appearance in Jesus Christ and His work. That is certainly true, and we can find evidences of that throughout the entire Gospel. In fact, Luke sees Jesus Christ as the second Adam, as the beginning of a new creation, already in process, of which we can become participators, in which we can become participators through faith in him. All of this is well. These things are worked out by Luke, as he tells us the story of the angel of visits.

    Here is the angel that stands beside God, closest to that glory, who has come to earth. And to whom does he come? He comes to a man and a woman advanced in age who have never had a child, and in that a symbol of poverty to be sure. It is God in His power, by His might and His grace, who relieves Elizabeth of her reproach. How shall the poverty and the humiliation be overcome by the supernatural power and visitation of God? By His marvelous grace, that’s how. And if the granting of a child to a barren couple, advanced in age, isn’t difficult enough for you, The angel Gabriel then visits a virgin who knows no man, and proclaims to her that by the power of the Holy Spirit she shall conceive and give birth to a child, and that child shall be the very Son of God. to the poverty, to the suffering, to the reproach of God’s people is the marvelous power and work of grace by God Himself, not the inventions of men, not the strength which they have in themselves. How is it possible for Zacharias and Elizabeth to produce a child?

    It’s impossible. How is it possible for Mary to give birth to a child without knowing a man? It is not possible. It is impossible with men. But as the angel Gabriel says, for nothing will be impossible with God, and as it has been with them who are poor and suffering as symbols of the humiliation of God’s people, so shall it be for us who are united to them as the poor of the earth, we who have nothing and have no strength in ourselves, must receive of the visitation of God’s power and His grace if we are to be delivered of our humiliation and our suffering, which is our loss because we belong to Christ.

    And how timely this message is. You see, the problem that Luke is addressing is not just because people get tired of waiting. Where is the promise that is coming? Things get a little bit trying, and the situations become strange, and life at times becomes unbearable.

    It’s because, you know, that Luke opens up his gospel by addressing this individual named Theophilus with a title, Most Excellent Theophilus. Are we to assume then that this man was of high standing in society as a member of the Church? And now being removed from that point in time when the power and the grace of God was so much evident, men like this, who are trained in power and know the ways of the world, are so tempted to bring those ways into the Church and think that by that method they can accomplish the purposes of God. To Theophilus, to the man who is most excellent, to the man who has the title, to the man who has prominence in the world, comes the message of Luke.

    Your company is the poor. Don’t you forget that. Your lot has been passed to the poor, to those who have no strength. And it is amongst them, whose company you keep, that God shall manifest His will in the birth of His Son. How we need to be. You see, the poor are our best friends. They were the ones that God came to. And they are the ones that we should go to.

    Lord Father, we know that we face a two-fold problem. One, the wait. We pray that we might wait in faith, with bold confidence. But also, Father, we face the problem of prominence, prestige, affluence. arrogance, self-sufficiency, thinking that the Kingdom of God comes by our power and our invention, and by our striving. Remind us in the Gospel of Luke that you came and visited the poor, And our lot has been casted in. Oh, we ask that we would remember this. Because in sharing their humility, in sharing, Father, their suffering, we shall also share their glory.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.