The Study of Luke
Posted December 13 | Pastor Jess Smith
Luke’s remarkable insight into the historical material and his depth of theological understanding give us an astounding portrait of the life of the Lord Jesus. The very narratives themselves set the canvas for the dramatic unfolding of the drama of redemption. This is a hard-hitting gospel that confronts the church with the radical claims of Christ Jesus upon our lives. His mandate and mission for the church is centered in the cross and bids each believer to go hard after God forsaking all for the sake of the Lord.
There are a couple of questions that must be considered as we make our way through this glorious gospel. The first question comes from David Platt’s book Radical. Have we in the West, especially in America, confused the pursuit of the American dream with the gospel? The American dream may be defined or at least described by self-advancement, self-esteem and self-sufficiency, by individualism, materialism and universalism. (1) The second question, that naturally follows the first, is what does the gospel call us to be and do?
In our culture we have certainly dumbed-down the gospel and re-created Jesus in our own image. We have made Christianity comfortable, convenient and stylish. Instead of making much of God we have fallen deeply into a deadly pattern of making much of ourselves. The gospel’s radical claims upon our lives have been tweaked in a way that allows us to indulge in our selfish pursuits while allowing just enough exposure to the gospel to make us feel good. Go to church, give a little money, do a little something as Christians and we are good to go. All the while the world sits in darkness, 24,000 die daily of starvation, 20 million children in Africa are orphaned due to HIV/AIDS, thousands are persecuted daily for the faith and approximately 4.5 billion have never heard the name Jesus. Add to that the overwhelming numbers of church leaders in the world who are begging for training and help as we are confronted with a gospel that demands that our allegiance and affections be shifted from living the American dream to living in the cross.
The great hymns of Luke 1 and 2 from Mary and Zechariah which set forth the majesty and greatness of the Lord Jesus remind us of an upside down kingdom which is the antithesis of the American dream. There is no question that God has highly favored and blessed this great nation. But to what end? In our narcissistic culture we have spun the gospel so that it is about us and not about the glory of God. Too much of our time is spent thinking about ourselves and our wants rather than storming the throne of God praying urgently and fervently concerning the overwhelming needs of the world. The Lord Jesus came down into this broken, sin-saturated world not to be the focus of entertainment and our best life now, but to redeem wretched sinners by His strong arm and mighty hand from the power and penalty of sin. This redemption is not isolated to a religious experience so that we might feel good about ourselves, but it bids us come and die and to take up the cross and live as soldiers of the cross in a state of war. We are to be instruments of righteousness and healing in the Potter’s hand so that we might address the extraordinary suffering of people here and around the world. The radical claims of the gospel call us to preach this gospel to the ends of the earth and to dirty our hands in helping to relieve the suffering of humanity. In all of this our primary responsibility is to glorify King Jesus by living in the reality that all of life is worship. Whatever your vocation it must be defined by this calling and mandate.
Zechariah’s hymn (Luke 1:68-79) declared what the Lord has done by His great mercy to redeem sinners. The mercy of God described in Luke 1 and 2 as mega-mercy, done mercy and tender mercy lays the foundation for the impetus of our going hard after God as we live out the gospel. It is this mercy that brought Christ down to us and it is this mercy that brings us to Christ. This mercy which is wrapped around these two hymns does not give the church carte blanche to live haphazardly in a self-centered way. It is the sweet persuasion of the Lord, as He breaks into history like dawn over those who sit in darkness that calls for the church to follow Him in the way of peace. This way of peace is brought with the sword of the gospel as it slays the sinner and raises him up in newness of life so that he may war against sin and live to the glory of God.
David Platt, the Pastor of the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama states it well in his book Radical:
If you were to ask the average Christian sitting in a worship service on Sunday morning to summarize the message Christianity, you would most likely hear something along the lines of “The message of Christianity is that God loves me.” Or someone might say, “The message of Christianity is that God loves me enough to send his Son, Jesus, to die for me.” As wonderful as this sentiment sounds, is it biblical? Isn’t it incomplete, based on what we have seen in the Bible? “God loves me” is not the essence of biblical Christianity. Because if “God loves me” is the message of Christianity, then who is the object of Christianity?
God loves me.
Me.
Christianity’s object is me.
Therefore, when I look for a church, I look for the music that best fits me and the programs that best cater to me and my family. When I make plans for my life and career, it is about what works best for me and my family. When I consider the house I will live in, the car I will drive, the clothes I will wear, the way I will live, I will choose according to what is best for me. This is the version of Christianity that largely prevails in our culture.
But it is not biblical Christianity. The message of biblical Christianity is not “God loves me, period,” as if we are the object of our own faith. The message of biblical Christianity is “God loves me so that I might make him—his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness—known among all nations.” Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around him. We have received salvation so that his name will be proclaimed in all nations. God loves us for his sake in the world. (2)
This is the high calling placed upon our lives. God has blessed us richly and fully so that we might make much of Him by living all of life as worship. Worship will erupt in our hearts and minds as the desire to take the gospel where there is no worship. Contrary to the American dream, we are not entitled to anything! Everything we have is given to us by the grace of God. It is all of grace, all of God!
The Lord Jesus is the centerpiece of Luke’s Gospel. He demands nothing less from us than our deepest affections, complete allegiance and the full acceptance of His work and Word. Mary summed it up magnificently in her response to Gabriel after his announcement to her, “I am the slave of the Lord, be it unto me according to your word.”
My prayer for us in these good but tough days is that we will not fall prey to the shallow superficial fallacy of an elusive American dream but that we will go hard after God in the gospel, living for his glory and honor.
Thank God for Luke and his Gospel. But even more thank God for the Lord Jesus who is revealed to us in the gospel. His mega mercy, done mercy and tender mercy is certainly good news. May we sing with the angels, “Glory to God in the highest”!
1. David Platt, Radical, Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream, Colorado Springs, Multnomah Books, 2010, page 19.
2. Ibid, p. 70-71.