Sermon Tone Analysis

> Formalities

> Name, Job

> Family, Ambitions

> Thankfulness to be here/on behalf of NETS and CMC, Excitement to Serve

Introduction

Opening Principle

There’s an old 19th century German phrase, Der Mensch ist, was er isst.

More commonly known to you and me as “you are what you eat!”

In our day, we usually use the phrase as referring to food...

If you eat crappy food, you feel crappy

If you eat healthy food, you’ll be healthy

…but it’s origins are much less literal.

More metaphorically stated, we might understand the phrase to say “you think what you read!” Whether that’s Facebook, favorite news app, or a more literary work, your mind becomes what you feed it.

Principle Illustrated

I remember in 6th grade when I transitioned out of cub scouts and into Boy Scouts.

It was such an exciting time.

I’m feeling more grownup and eager to get started on my merit badges.

And one of the first things we are given is the Boy Scout handbook.

Its filled with all kinds of information about scouting and camping and knifemanship, but our first assignment was to read and learn the

Scout Motto, the Scout Oath, and the Scout Law.

Scout Motto

Be prepared

the Scout Oath,

On my honor, I will do my best.

To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight

and the Scout Law.

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, an reverent.

You know, as a 6th grade boy, one, these were surprisingly hard to learn.

and two, these sayings didn’t really mean much to me.

As a 6th grade boy I didn’t really have helpfulness or cleanliness on my mind.

But you know what?, as time went on and I continued to read and recite them, is that I began to embody them.

By the time I entered Highschool, and some of my friends are thinking its kind of weird, maybe a little nerdy that I’m still a Boy Scout, I actually took pride in being a Scout.

Reciting these became a part of who I was.

I took pride in keeping myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

You are what you eat.

Transition

Over these next few months as myself and a few other guys share your pulpit, we are excited to walk through Luke’s gospel with you.

You see, Luke has written a work that ought to be eaten.

It ought to be devoured.

It’s a marvelous truth Luke has given us.

He wants you to know that Jesus came to save people from the entire world, forming them into a faithful people, and commissioning them to his global, redemptive mission.

And that when you read these words and you hear them preached, by God’s grace you might embody these words.

Luke didn’t write simply to inform you about Jesus, but that you might be transformed to be like Jesus.

He wants to ignite a spark within you that you might join with and take part in Jesus mission to proclaim the kingdom of God!

Without this transforming work… without the enlightenment that comes through the words of Christ… your mind will fill itself with ideas that dull your heart, close your ears, and blind your eyes to the only hope, the only salvation, and the only purpose that true in this life.

So listen in, fill your mind with these words, and pray that God might transform you into the likeness of his wonderful son, Jesus Christ, through the words of Luke’s gospel.

Pray now that God would be gracious to give us understanding of and love for his son, Jesus.

An Introduction to Luke’s Gospel

If you will, turn in your bibles to Luke chapter one and read the first four verses with me.

introdroduction.

There are a number of things we should say about Luke’s gospel as we are kicking it off.

Lukan Authorship

We do believe it to be written by the companion and fellow laborer of Paul, Luke the beloved Physician as he is called in Col 4:14.

if you are Nowhere in the gospel do we actually find Luke’s name, but based on the testimony of the early church we trust it to be true.

And I believe as you read the gospel and also the book of Acts it becomes more certain Luke is in view.

It’s a Volume One

We also believe it to be volume one of a two volume series.

Both volumes written by Luke and on behalf of the same man Theophilus.

If you read the first two verses of Acts, you’ll see Luke and Acts piece together nicely.

You might wonder why it’s split in two?

Why do we have Luke alone.

Why do we have Acts alone?

Why’d we put John in between them!? Well we don’t know for sure, but it seems likely on account of the sheer size of the work.

Together Luke-Acts is larger than all of Paul’s New Testament writings combined, making Luke the largest contributor to NT writing.

It’s a bit like my favorite work of Literature, J. R. R. Tolkien’s the Lord of the Rings.

When he originally set ought to publish his work in the early 1950s, publishers were not willing to publish the story as one collective work largely because the expense and risk of producing a book that large.

Today we know it as a trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

But no one of these books is complete in itself and they were never intended to be read apart from one another.

I believe Luke and Acts are the same way.

To really understand what Luke is trying to do, to really understand why hes writing, you’ve got to read them together.

Acts continues the same story.

The Gospel of Luke finds its outworking in Acts.

Written to Theophilus

We believe it was written to a man named Theophilus.

He was likely some sort of Roman official because Luke gives him the title “most excellent”, usually reserved for men of such rank.

You’ll find that in Acts.

Theophilus may have been a Christian, maybe he wasn’t, he may have been seeking, maybe he wasn’t, maybe he was Luke’s patron, meaning he paid for Luke to have the materials and the time to write this Gospel, but maybe he wasn’t.

The reality is we can’t say much about the man.

But he does likely represent a large group of people who are hearing things about Jesus and about his church who either aren’t fully convinced, or don’t fully know the whole story and need to know it.

The book is often dated to somewhere in the early 60s, so we are a mere 30 years after the death and Resurrection of Jesus.

That’s like 1988.

The story needs to be spread and told and preserved and that’s what Luke is doing.

For the sake of the church and for the sake of those who might find salvation in Christ.

Theophilus I want you to be certain about this message, I want you to know its true.

I want you to cherish this Jesus the way that I do.

It is a Trustworthy Account

We also believe that it is a trustworthy account.

It is an account of Jesus that ought to confirm for you the truth of his person and his mission.

This isn’t something written by a non-expert.

It’s the truth.

The truth about the most incredible man to ever live.

God himself, come to earth, to reveal himself to his people just 2,000 years ago.

Three things to see here about its truthfulness...

Look back at verses three and four with me...

First, Luke thought it good to write this orderly account as one who had followed the things of Jesus right up until the beginning.

That’s how I’m interpreting, “For some time past.”

And we we will find in his gospel.

Luke is careful to record even the childhood of Jesus, hist birth, and the happenings before his birth.

Second, Luke is joining in with many others who are writing down testimonies of the early church and the life of Jesus.

This isn’t something that one guy has dreamed up.