Getting to know Luke, the author of twenty-five percent of the Bible.

Doyle Jackson: 00:59 I was so excited about this sermon, I almost walked out before I was allowed, so awesome. This weekend is the beginning of a series, and I hope you'll be a part of it. Because for me it is exciting. I want to go through, and we're going to pull out some real people from the Bible. And we're going to try to wrap them up in a bow for you, to help you understand the characters really, really well, and who the major players are. And I just think it's a lot of fun, and I never done this before, and so for me it's a lot of fun. It's something new, I hope you'll be a part of it.

Doyle Jackson: 01:33 This week I want to talk about Luke, and what's interesting about Luke is this, Luke is really a behind the scenes kind of person. See a lot of us, we look at ourselves and we think, no way, you know, I'm not that important or whatever. And Luke is totally a behind the scenes kind of person. He even is so self-deprecating that he doesn't even let you know that he's doing all that he's doing, and that may be your personality, and I want you to know that level of humility is wonderful. I asked God for that opportunity to be a behind the scenes person, and he chose no for me. So, I've now learned to get over my introverted ways. So what I want to do today, is I want to begin to expand Luke, and who he is. And this is really what I'm hoping will happen for you, I'm hoping he'll become a model for how you do your Christ following. And number two, I'm hoping as you open up the word of God, it'll just be like, wow, this makes sense to me now. Because of what I've done.

Doyle Jackson: 02:42 Whenever you open the Bible, whenever you go to read the Bible, there's, there's two aspects of the authorship. Okay? The Bible is made up of a series of books written by a group of authors. Okay? So the context comes out of those authors lives, but the Bible also has an editor, and that editor is the Holy Spirit. Because he's working in the lives of these very real, individual people, to bring their stories together into one story and it's so awesome. So when you open up the Bible and you read the Gospel of Luke, if you're reading with me right now on the church app, were going through the Gospel of Luke, okay? If you're reading with me, we're in the Gospel of Luke right now. Okay? And you're, you're hearing the story through Luke's life experience, and his voice, but the Holy Spirit of God is what has worked on him to say, tell them this, show them this. they need to hear this. And his unique personality comes through, as well as God's personality, and that's what you get.

Doyle Jackson: 03:59 So let's say you're new to church, let's say you're new to the whole God thing, and you're like, oh man, I'm just not sure. Well, this is a great place for you to begin to start, to understand the author, Luke. Because for me in my life, when I know the author, you know when I've met them or I've watched him on YouTube. I feel like, wow, I've got to read that person's book. You know? Well, that's what it will do for you. Now some of you, you are like, oh man, I've read through the Bible so many times, I've been to church so long, and so much Sunday school. Well, you are my challenge, because I want to get you. I want to give you some information you've never heard before, that you will go like, Oh man, I didn't know that. And so hang on, this is going to be fun.

Doyle Jackson: 04:42 Look, and let me tell you something about Luke. Luke wrote, it's the third of the Gospel in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Okay, so if you open up your New Testament, you get to look. Now, what's interesting about Luke is this, he tells you from the get go, I'm not the first Gospel ever written, okay? He says, there's others. He says, other people have written this account, but I'm telling you I'm writing this account, because I went and asked some people some questions. I just had to verify some things for myself. And he said, I've added some extra interesting tidbits, that were interesting to me, that I found out when I did a personal investigation. Alright? So when I read Luke, I kind of read it through this lens of NCIS, you know what I'm saying? You know how those guys, they look at it?

Doyle Jackson: 05:37 Because Luke, we're going to get to this in a second, but Luke was a doctor of the ancient world, and so he brings kind of that scientific mind from it. He brings this ancient world education to it, and it just it makes it pop. But what's interesting about Luke is this, because he put those extra tidbits in there, those little information and things, like they wrapped the baby in swaddling clothes. Luke is the one that comes up with that. Well, why did he do that? Well, because he was a doctor, and he went and interviewed the people, and he wanted to know for himself what was the... How on earth do you have a baby in a manger, that is just sick? Every doctor would say that, right? That is unsanitary. Alright? So how'd you do it? And then he throws out a little tidbit in there and it's like, oh wow, what a beautiful picture, he even makes a manger smell good. Alright. And that's because he investigated it, and because he did such a beautiful picture, in telling us that picture, something happened in history. Artists began to paint scenes that Luke very artistically described in such great detail. Alright?

Doyle Jackson: 06:55 So they painted the pictures, and then they told people when they took it to the gallery to sell it, Luke painted this. And it got carried down from tradition that Luke painted it. Now I want to be honest with you, I do not believe that that Luke traveled the world with, you know, canvas and an easel under his arm and brushes. He didn't have time for that. Okay. But I do believe this, I believe that he made such a beautiful picture, he inspired these artists. And they drew it with such detail, they didn't want to take credit for it, because they could have never imagined it without him. And so when I open up the Bible, and I open up Luke's Gospel, I just let him paint the picture. And I just like, oh wow, this is beautiful. I can see that, I can see that in my mind's eye, and see, that helps me. And so I look at Luke, and I think, man, this guy, he's more than a historian, he's an artist.

Doyle Jackson: 08:01 Listen to the picture he paints. Luke 2:10, "But the Angel said to them, don't be afraid. I bring you good news, that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be assigned to you. You will find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger." What's he doing? Luke, He didn't grow up in a Jewish home. He didn't grow up in the hill country of Judea like the other disciples did. He grew up in Antioch, in Syria, and he was writing this with fresh eyes of someone who didn't know the context. And so he paints this beautiful...I mean Luke, when you, when you read the Gospel of Luke, joy comes up all the time. Angels are everywhere, because Luke had this unbelievable fascination with the people, and the surroundings and everything about it. Because this was a new world for him. He grew up in the Greek culture. He grew up in a world that was brutal and evil and self-centered, and the gods that he knew about were gods that were vengeful and angry and mean.

Doyle Jackson: 09:40 And then one day he meets Paul, and a team of missionaries from Jerusalem, and he finds out about a God born in a manger. and they said he's the savior of the whole world. And so when Luke paints this picture, it's not just for a Jewish world, it's for all humanity, it's for everyone. Throughout Luke's Gospel, and the Book of Acts that he also writes. He keeps using this ancient Greek word sozo, which means to save or to preserve or to make whole. It's really interesting, because the word sozo carries with it a similar idea to the Hebrew word of peace to make you whole. And he wasn't a Hebrew speaker, so he doesn't use the word Shalom, he uses the word sozo everywhere. It's like his salt and pepper on every incident. Because he wants you to know, God loves you and he wants to make you whole, he wants to preserve life, not take it away. He wants to give. and he wants to bless you, and that's the mindset that Luke has, it's powerful, it's energetic, it's loving, and joy filled and kind. See Luke, he was a doctor in the ancient world, and he saw the brutality of medicine. You've got to realize in his age of medicine there was no antibiotics. He had no ability, to really help you. He could, oh man, he could hold your hand, and he could love you, and he could make a few suggestions. But most of the medicine that they had at that time was still very, very rudimentary. I mean, he would love. He would love to have the first aid kit you've got at your house. Man, some Neosporin, that would have blown his mind. In the ancient world when you went to the doctor, you didn't have a good chance.

Doyle Jackson: 11:55 And so as he begins to paint the picture of Jesus, he sees someone as so much better than the doctor of the ancient world. Because, see Jesus, he had the ability to change not just your physical condition, but he could heal your soul. He could change the course of your life. He could give you hope for your sin, for those bad habits that keep tearing you down and taking you back in that spiral. See, that's the Jesus that Luke heard about. He heard about it, and he put it in his gospel. He said that the, the religious leaders of his day were complaining about Jesus, because he's giving people all this hope. You know? He's hanging out with sinners you know, people that drink and smoke and dance and run around, you know, and they're complaining. Look what it says here it in Luke 5:31 says, "Jesus answered them, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." See, the doctoring that Jesus brings to your life is more than just a physical touch. But please know this, we have people in this place, we have people in this room right now with you that are alive today because of a physical touch from God. A doctor gave them a diagnosis of cancer and death and the end of life, and Jesus showed up. But more than that, more than that, the majority of us in this room, we've known the Jesus that heals the broken places in our soul, and gives us the courage to continue to deal with, our foibles, our faults, and that old nature that really tries to rise up and have its way with us.

Doyle Jackson: 13:47 Still to this day, we're far from perfect like Peter in and Martha. We know Jesus, but he's not done with us yet. You know Martha, she was the one that was so worried about the party details, that she missed Jesus. And Peter, he was busy being a follower that he lost sight of who he was following, and he struck a man with a sword. So you and I, we need a healer. Luke speaks of healing the most of all the gospel writers. He has more accounts of people being healed, but he doesn't limit healing just to physical healing. He talks about a healing that can impact your soul, cleanse your sins, and give you new life. Powerful picture. We know he's a doctor because in the book of Colossians Paul speaks of him. Paul's writing the Church of Colossae, and he says, my team greets you, and he starts listing off all the people on the team, and in the midst of that greeting, he says, our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send you greetings. Now, why is that important? Because in Luke's mind of what it meant to be a Christ follower, it's not a single individual that's following God, it's a team of us. We're all working at this together, we're doing life together. We're sharing life, we're sharing Jesus, and we were all rolling up our sleeves.

Doyle Jackson: 15:26 So how did. How did Luke become a part of the team? Well, it's an interesting story. It says that that Paul, and he had a team with him at the time, he was part of the team that Barnabas took out. He was part of the team, but somehow in the process, Paul becomes the lead in the team. John Mark is with them, and they make their way to a city called Antioch. Because see, that's where Luke was from, and in Antioch, they experience a revival. That revival is still impacting your, and my, life to this day, because it was in Antioch that those that followed Jesus were first called Christians. Please know this, it wasn't a compliment. They thought we were crazy believing that God would come in the human form, and be a Messiah Christ to save the world. That's crazy, those Christians are meeting over there. And you and I both know there are still people who feel that way about us to this day, that's okay. It was in that culture, in that city in Antioch, that Luke first heard the good news of Jesus. And like you, and like me, at first he was just a listener. He listened to the Gospel, and he absorbed it, and he began to take it in. Word about all these new Christians that Paul was reaching, made its way back to Jerusalem, and they recalled him. They said, Paul, you need to come back, there are too many gentiles coming to know Christ.

Doyle Jackson: 17:04 And then they have this council in Jerusalem. If you want to read about it, it's all right here. And Luke tells you the story, it's in the Book of Acts, in Acts 15, 16 and 17, it outlines this unbelievable story. Paul gets recalled, he's brought before Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, and all the top dogs in Jerusalem. You know? And as he explains the story, they come to one conclusion. James, Jesus's brother's, the one that stands up, and really seals the deal for him. He says, who are we to make it difficult for the gentiles to come into the Kingdom of God? Who are we? The Jerusalem committee comes to the conclusion, they say, don't make it difficult for the gentiles to enter the kingdom. All they need to know is that Jesus' blood on the cross is enough for them, that he died for them too. And if you're going to give them any instruction, tell them two things. One, don't eat food sacrificed to idols, and do not be involved in sexual immorality. Other than that, don't worry about all the laws. You need to know, they had hundreds of laws. Some of the Jews had felt like they wanted to make sure that the law was really met, so they made laws beyond the laws, to make sure you never got close to the laws. So that they like build guard rails, with guard rails outside the guardrails, to protect you, alright? And they gave us two. Well, Paul takes their letter, and he runs back to the mission field. He goes to every place he's already been, and he says, Jerusalem says that your faith is just as valid as theirs. If you've call upon Jesus to be your savior, to be the lord of your life, you're just as saved as a Jewish person who was born into Jewish home, lived all their lives worshipping Yahweh, but you are just as good, because you believed on Jesus. Keep going in the faith.

Doyle Jackson: 19:18 Now on this trip he has this ache. Paul has always got this ache. I know this ache, I feel this ache. He says, there's one more place that needs to know about Jesus. There's more people that need to know about Jesus, and he's aching to go into Macedonia, and he's been praying. He's like, God, can we go to Macedonia please? God, we need to plant a church there. God, we need to reach the people of Macedonia. And God keeps saying to Paul, wait. A new young man comes on his team, his name is Timothy. Paul begins to prepare him as a disciple, and then it says right there in Acts chapter 16, Paul gets a vision. And in this vision he sees a Macedonian man saying, come, come on, come. Paul goes to the team and he says, guys, we got the green light. God says we can go to Macedonia.

Doyle Jackson: 20:25 And suddenly the language changes in the Book of Acts, and it goes from what Paul and Peter and James and John did, and suddenly it says, we. We, we, that's my prayer for you. Hear this, it's my prayer for you, that you would become part of the "we" part of the story. How you began to share what Jesus has done in your life, and how you participated in the kingdom going out through you, that's my prayer for you. Luke was part of the early church mission team, he was an evangelist. He was probably educated, like all the physicians for the 400 years prior to him, on the proper methods of medicine. And like most physicians, still to this day, he was probably pretty skeptical. When you tell a physician that you put on blue socks, and it healed your cold. They're like, yeah, right, prove it to me. That's the way Luke was when he heard the stories about Jesus. He saw the healed people, he saw the changed lives, and he just had to investigate it. He was a little bit skeptical. And can I say something? If you've been a little bit skeptical of God things, you'd make a great disciple. Ask your questions, I'm a little bit that way myself.

Doyle Jackson: 22:12 He's the author of the Book of Luke, and Acts, do you realize that he authored 25 percent of the New Testament. He was a fellow prisoner with Paul, so he wasn't just a hanger on, he was not just a crowdy. He was fully committed. He was a Gentile, a greek speaker, and a writer. He's the only Gentile to write part of the Bible. Now, why is that important? That's important because it pulls you and I in as Gentiles, it means we can be a part of the family. We're just as important, we're viable. But it also reminds you and I that our faith is rooted, and established, in a tradition that goes well beyond, and deep into the Jewish history and we can never take that lightly.

Doyle Jackson: 23:05 Lastly, he was an adventurous soul of the ancient world. He was part of Paul's shipwreck on Malta. Huh? Imagine that. It tells us the story that they're on a ship, and it's dashed into the shore, and Paul and his team are helping the Roman soldiers not drowned. So they're like Baywatch of the Bible, I don't know. It sounds like a sermon for youth group, doesn't it? They're bringing them in, and then they're building a fire. Alright? And somehow a viper comes out, and bites Paul, and everybody's like, he's going to die, he's going to die. We've got a doctor there, Luke. He shakes it off, and they go on, and miraculously Paul is alive. How can that be? We serve a different master, God had a different plan, people got saved through that. This is why you and I, like Luke, have to tell our testimony. We have to tell what we've seen. If you will tell your story, it will bring other people into the story. That's what he does for us.

Doyle Jackson: 24:36 Listen to what it says in Luke 1, it says, "Many have undertaken to drop an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us. Just as they were handed down to us by those who, from the first. were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you. Most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught." How did that come about? Well, on one of these journeys with Paul that Luke was on, they go to Jerusalem, a riot breaks out. Because there are people that do not like Paul inviting all us Gentiles into the faith. He had done more to bring Gentiles into the Jewish tradition than anyone else, and let me tell you, it was stirring things up in Jerusalem. They arrest him, they carried him to Caesarea, and Caesarea is the city by the sea that Herod the Great built. I've taken several of you there, many of you have traveled with me to Israel, and it's one of my favorite places to go to. Because Caesarea by the sea, it shows us where Paul was held in chains, before the most excellent Felix. He was held there for two years, right here is the foundation of the Palace to Herod, that later Felix would have used as the governor of that region.

Doyle Jackson: 26:14 It's one of the ways that we know that Paul was an accurate historian, because he named the right people, and then we find these ancient governors on [inaudible] and different things. Paul, his life is part of the ancient world, and Luke records it. And you know what's interesting? He's never, ever, been found to be wrong. Now for years, people used to say, we can't trust Luke, he gives us details that no one else gives. There's no way, he's making this stuff up. And then you know what happens? Someone's walking along, and they dig up another piece of history, the next thing you know Luke was right again. Right down to the quotations in the Book of Isaiah, that were found in the 1948.

Doyle Jackson: 27:03 Let me tell you what, when Luke tells you the certainty of what he knows, this is what happened to him. This is the way I imagine it. Luke is there in Caesarea by the sea, Paul is in chains, his mentor. And he knows that he's headed to Rome, and that Caesar is going to see him, and more than likely it will be off with his head. What can I do? This man has changed my life, he has taught me about Jesus, he's told me that my life is valuable. My sisters, and my mother, and everyone that I know has been transformed by the truth of Jesus, and I would've never known that if it wasn't for Paul. And he is here, Luke is here in Caesarea, he is just miles from the hill country. He gets on a horse, and he goes up in there and he says, I need to know is the centurion, whose servant was healed, is he still alive? The woman by the well, I've got to know. And he went throughout the country, investigating all those people. When you and I read the Christmas story, we read it from Luke, I believe with all my heart that Mary was still alive when Luke was there at Caesarea. And he ventured up to Jerusalem, and he sat with her and he said, you got to tell me how does a woman give birth to a baby in a barn? That's why you know he was wrapped in swaddling clothes. It's also why he tells you the story of Jesus, from all the women that gave birth. The birth of Jesus through their mothers. Why? Why is that important? Because doctors know one thing for sure, he can say he's your daddy, but we know who mama is.

Doyle Jackson: 29:06 See, when you read Luke, you get someone who has a heart to know the truth, and to make sure when you open it, wow, this is the way it really was. When I read it, when I read Luke's now, I look at Luke and I'm like, he was like an investigative reporter. He was like, Dateline, he was like CSI. He had to see it with his own eyes, he had to feel it, and you know what he does? He writes it down for you and I. Why? Because he wants you to know this is real, this is real, this is not people caught up in fantasy. This was not people caught up in the heat of the moment. I went back years later, and they told me, this is real.

Doyle Jackson: 29:55 So what should you and I take away from this? I want to give you three things. Number one, I think you should be more like Luke, and that you should look at the scripture, and know the scripture. I know a lot of people who say they're just skeptical, alright? They're like Luke, they're skeptical, but they never read the scripture. Can I be honest with you? You're not skeptical, you're lazy, you're also ignorant, and if you've just been offended, well you're guilty. See, Luke investigated. Why? Because he said, I cannot give my life to a sham, I cannot go to prison for a sham. The problem with too many Christians today, they're living a sham. They say they believe, but they're not willing to put all in. See that the moment that Paul went from sitting, to we, he was all in for the rest of his life. History records that he was in his eighties when he finally passed away. His mentor Paul had been executed, but he was still sharing the faith, and he left you and I a model. He left us a model for missions, that the church has grown on. If we did not have Luke and Acts, the church would not have known how to pull off what Paul pulled off. Where would we be, if this behind the scenes man, had not participated? Luke gives us a great model of discipleship. This is his model of discipleship, it's simple, it's the same one that Jesus did. It goes something like this. Watch me, then help me. Then I'll watch you while you do it, and then I'll watch you. See that's what Jesus does. He said, come follow me, and then he said, help me do this. Okay, then Jesus said, okay, you do it, and I'm going to watch. How did that go when you cast out demons today? It was so cool. And then what did Jesus do? He said, I'm going to heaven now, take over. That's the model for discipleship that we try to apply, in this place, all the time. Watch and help, then do.

Doyle Jackson: 32:36 Luke gives us a great method of testimony too. In Acts 1, he says, in my former book, Theophilus, I read about all that Jesus began to do and teach. So what's he saying? In this book, I'm going to tell you what Jesus did after the resurrection. Now this is why this is important to you and I, and know this clear in your heart. As Christ followers, we believe that when you invite Jesus into your life, when you say, Jesus, I need you. I finally have become honest about the fact that I'm a sinner, and I need a savior. Would you come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior from this day forward? When you do that, that's your first step. It is just like AA, you got to admit you need God, but that doesn't mean it's over. The book of Acts, the book of the New Testament, is always showing you the continual, transformed life that God brings after that. Because you see, he talks about how they were transformed in knowing him, the renewing of your mind. See, God's not through with you just because you said a prayer several years ago, or a couple of weeks ago, he's working on the character of your heart.

Doyle Jackson: 33:47 Last week, can I tell you how much I love you? I'm so proud of you. Last week I'm reading the prayer requests, and one of you shares an honest prayer. Please keep it up if it was you, this is the prayer, it says, God, please help me with my mouth. See, just because God has saved you, doesn't mean you don't need help with your kids, doesn't mean you're not going to have trouble in your marriage, doesn't mean that you're not going to face...Gosh, man, listen, last night I had run out, jumped in the truck to come to church, and it won't start. I'm like, well, thank you Lord .Jennifer, I've got your car now.

Doyle Jackson: 34:30 Why is that? We're real people, we need a real God, and that's how we're going to do this, Amen. I hope you will read Luke with me, I hope that will inspire you, I hope it'll give you a little bit more energy. This is our confession this week, this is what it says, Father in heaven, help me paint a picture of the hope of knowing Jesus as savior. Help bring to my memory, all that you have done. Show me ways to share, and disciple others. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Doyle Jackson: 35:01 If you're willing to say that, that confession, I invite you to stand. If your neighbor is willing to hold your hand, go for it, but please no wrestling in church. Okay? The reason I like holding the hands in church is I just feel like I know I've been here, and then I know that I'm not alone, and that there's other people on the journey with me. Okay, let's go, let's say this together. Father in heaven help me paint a picture of the hope of knowing Jesus as savior. Help bring to my memory, all that you have done. Show me ways to share, and disciple others. In Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you. Thank you for coming. If you want to say hello, I'll be here. Hey, if you want to learn some more tonight, we're going to do Deeper Life, we're going to do seven pictures of the church at 5:00 PM. God bless you. There's always a prayer team here.



Recorded in Columbus, Ohio.