the best there ever was: Luke 1: 5-25

Almost 30 years ago I watched a movie called The Natural about an aging baseball player which starred Robert Redford.  And although I’ve never been much of a baseball fan, this movie made an impression on me for a couple of reasons.  One was Redford’s name in the movie was Roy Hobbs.  And I think that’s the only the second movie I have ever seen in my life that some guy named Roy wasn’t presented as some weird backwoods redneck in coveralls.

And secondly, the main tag line in the movie was the hero said that someday he wanted people to say about him that, “there goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was.”  And like a lot of young men, I guess, I too dreamed about doing something great one day.  I had no idea what it might be, but like Roy Hobbs, I hoped that I would find something in life in which I could excel, that people might say about me, “there goes Roy Harrell, the best there ever was.”

Well, thirty years goes by fast when you’re having fun, and looking back over my life I am afraid that I never reached that goal of greatness.  Life just seemed to slip away, and the opportunities for what the world considers greatness never seemed to materialize.

But in our study of Luke today, we are going to look at the life of someone that did achieve greatness, of whom it was said “he was the best there ever was.”  And his life I believe is a lesson for us here today as well - that true greatness is not measured by how far you can hit a baseball, or what sort of physical feat you may have accomplished, or what kind of financial fortunes you may have amassed, or what kind of fame you may have acquired.  But true greatness is measured by God, according to what God thinks is important.  And in that regard, I believe that this passage teaches us that as long as you still have breath in your body, you can achieve greatness in this life and in the life to come.

Now this man of whom it was said that he was the best there ever was, was none other than John the Baptist.  Jesus Christ himself said in Matt. 11:11 "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!”  And also in our text today we see that the angel of the Lord, Gabriel, prophesied in verse 15 before John was born that he would be great in the sight of the Lord.

So according to the example given here of John the Baptist, we are going to look at four characteristics of a person who is great in the eyes of the Lord.  A person that is great in the sight of the Lord will be number 1, Chosen by God.  2.  Filled with the Spirit of God.  3, Devoted to God.  4, Will proclaim the Word of God.

So first, Chosen by God.  True greatness comes from a godly calling.  In the  1960’s pop icon Andy Warhol once said one day everyone will achieve their 15 minutes of fame.  But just because you may become a celebrity, it’s not necessarily not worthy of being called great.  It seems especially true in our day and the age, this age of the internet.  We have celebrities that appear overnight and are gone and forgotten just as quickly.  Most of them achieved nothing, just a measure of fame.

But notice what Gabriel said, he said John would be great in the sight of God.  And  that indicates greatness is of eternal duration, it is of invaluable worth compared to fleeting, mortal fame or fortune.

Now let’s look at this calling of God in the life of John the Baptist.  Theologians tell us that this took place between 4BC and 37AD.  Verse 5 tells us that it was during the reign of Herod the Great, King of Judea.  He was an evil king, the same one that killed all the male children two years old and younger when he found out that Jesus had been born.  He killed three of his own sons, his wife and his mother in law.  He was an evil man, but he was known as a great builder.  He wanted to be great, to be known for achieving some great thing, and so he built many monuments in Israel, the best known of which was that he rebuilt the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.

Yet Herod was remembered more for being an evil man.  Imagine ordering the execution of thousands of innocent children because you wanted to preserve your power.  And yet one of the things we can learn in this that can be a comfort to even us here today, is that no matter how evil our rulers may seem, despite the evil that may be going on in the world, God is still in control.  God is sovereign over all earthly events.  And so we see God working providentially behind the scenes, through what seemed to be mundane, circumstantial ways, to bring about His will.

We sometimes expect God to work in miraculous, spectacular ways to bring about his will, but oftentimes, God uses daily, common events, even seemingly incidental events, to bring about His will. Theologians call that divine work through circumstances providence.  And I would suggest that providence is often a greater miracle than stopping and interjecting a miraculous event. For instance, here was this lowly priest working daily at the temple.  He was one of about 18,000 priests that were assigned to the temple.  He had become an old man, married faithfully to his wife Elizabeth, and they were now in their old age and yet were childless.

And due to the sheer number of priests, they cast lots to determine certain priestly functions. And Zacharias had been chosen to offer the incense for this particular week.  It would be the only time in his life that he would have that opportunity.  And so, I’m sure he was excited. He was able to stand before the veil in the holy place and present the incense, which represented the prayers of the people going up to God.

So as Zacharias is standing in the holy place burning incense, the attendants leave him there, and the people are standing outside in the courtyard praying.  And suddenly, an angel appears standing next to the altar of incense.  And Zacharias is frightened.  Now this is significant for a number of reasons.  One was it had been 400 years since there had been any word from God, from either an angel or a prophet.  And so this wasn’t a common occurrence.  I am amazed when I watch so called Christian television (which I try to avoid) and notice how many times people talk about seeing and conversing with angels.  The fact of the matter is, that it was a rarity in the Bible, not a common occurrence. This is the first time in over 400 years and so of course Zacharias was frightened, and that does seem to be a common occurrence when one sees an angel.  I believe the Bible teaches that angels can appear looking like people, and also they can appear in their glory, in which case the person to whom they appear are struck with dread and great fearfulness.  This would seem to be the latter case.

But the main point here is not the angel; the main point is the angel’s message.  That is what the word angel means, by the way;  a messenger of God.  So in vs. 13 the angel says, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.  You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.  It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

So what is evident here is that John the Baptist was chosen to be the forerunner of Jesus Christ before he was even born.  He was chosen to be a special instrument in bringing about the salvation of Israel and even the world.  That’s what Zacharias was praying for by the way.  He wasn’t praying for a child.  He may have prayed for that years before.  But I’m sure that wasn’t what he was praying for.  He was fulfilling the priestly duty of offering up the incense before God, that sweet smelling aroma of the prayers of the people who were waiting outside.  And the prayer of Israel at this time was the prayer for the salvation of Israel.  That God would send salvation for his people.  They knew that God had promised a Messiah and that He would save his people.  So that is what Gabriel is referring to when he says that God had answered their prayers.  John wasn’t necessarily the answer.  He was just the forerunner of the answer.  He was the one chosen by God to be a herald of the coming King, to prepare the hearts of the people by calling them to repentance.

Folks, before you can become great in the sight of God, you must be chosen of God for salvation. Rom. 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  29, For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30, and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

We don’t know exactly how election works.  But we do know from Eph. 1:4  “that God has chosen us before the foundation of the world.”  And we do know that Jesus said in Matt. 22:14 "For many are called, or invited, but few are chosen."  That’s why Peter in 2 Peter 1:10 says, “to make your calling and election sure.”  So we see that even though God chooses us, we must also choose Him.  We choose to believe in Him, to be obedient to Him, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in word and deeds.  We that are saved have been chosen for good works. (Eph. 2:10)

Secondly, not only was John chosen by God, but he was filled with the Spirit of God.  Note the end of vs. 15; “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from His mother’s womb.”  What is unique about John the Baptist is that he is the last of the Old Testament prophets, yet his story is found in the New Testament.  And in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would from time to time temporarily fill a servant of God or a prophet or one of the judges, and he would be able to do mighty works in that power.  But at that time the power of the Holy Spirit did not permanently indwell God’s people.  John is unique in that the Holy Spirit entered him before he was even born.  This testifies again to the sovereignty of God in regards to salvation.  It’s not something we can completely understand, but has to be accepted by faith.  At it’s root we must understand that salvation is a gift.  It is grace.  Salvation is dependent upon the grace of God, not upon the merit of man and God can give it to whom He wills. It’s God’s to give and therefore it is his prerogative to give it to whom He wills.

But the important thing to consider here is that without the Holy Spirit there can be no conversion.  You cannot be saved, called, chosen of God, granted the grace of God’s righteousness, and yet still be wandering around looking for the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the means of salvation.  He is the giver of life.  Jesus said in John 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

You see, once we are chosen of God, we are granted righteousness as a gift of God, and then once we are holy and righteous before God on the basis of His grace, we are given the Spirit of God who gives us eternal life.  Not only is He the giver of eternal life which begins at conversion, but once saved He is our Helper, He is our strength, He is our guide so that we might know the will of God, we might understand His word and so that we might be able to do His will.

The essence of salvation is that Jesus Christ became a man in order for God to possess men, in order to enter man, to restore him to what he was designed to be.  God created man in His own image.  We were made like God, in His image.  But the fall changed that.  Man became sinful, rather than godly, and the spirit of man died.

A good illustration of fallen man is the temple. We are the temple in which God was intended to dwell. We have an outer court like the temple, a body, which is made of the earth, and which connects us to the material world. We also have a Holy Place, or the soul, the place of will, where the intimate functions of our being take place; the functions of mind, conscience, will and emotions.

Then there is that other place, the Holy of Holies, behind the veil, impenetrable. Yet we cannot enter there. We know there is something more, something deeper, something eternal and yet we can’t quite grasp it. It is behind the veil. That is the place where God intended to dwell in us, and which is the intended center of human life. It is the spirit of man. In  Luke we trace the coming of one who at last penetrates into the secret place, who enters the spirit of man, the place of mystery, and rends the veil, opening it up so that man might discover God and the mystery our design, and find the fulfillment that he was designed for in God.  Too often today the Holy Spirit is treated in many churches like some sort of addendum, an appendage to our salvation that allows us to experience other worldly emotions.  But the Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the agency of our salvation, the means by which God rules and reigns in our hearts, which is the purpose of salvation.

So to be truly great, one must be chosen of God, be filled with His Spirit, and thirdly, devoted to God.  Gabriel said that John the Baptist would not drink wine or strong drink.  It’s possible John was a Nazarite. This was a condition of someone who had taken a Nazarite vow.  Remember Samson?  He was a Nazarite.  They didn’t cut their hair.  They did not touch unclean things.   But we don’t know if John was or not.  However, we do know that Matt 3:4 says, “John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.”  We know that he lived in the wilderness for 30 years before the start of his ministry.

And so what we can learn from this is not some sort of weird asceticism like some monks used to practice in the Dark Ages when they went and lived in a cave,  went around naked for years or took a vow of celibacy or a vow of silence for the rest of their lives, hoping to earn some sort of piety.  But what we see here is a man completely devoted to the calling of God to the point that the comforts and pleasures of modern society were nothing to him.  He wasn’t concerned about fashion.  He wasn’t concerned about eating good food.  He didn’t care about what kind of house he lived in or what kind of car he drove.  He was consumed and devoted to just one thing.  To be completely committed to the calling of God and the mission that God had given him to do, to preach the gospel of the kingdom.

Oh, ladies and gentlemen, the church desperately needs people today that will commit their lives wholeheartedly to the work of the kingdom.  That will accept the calling of God on their lives unreservedly.  We have far too many people today that want to straddle the fence.  That are trying to hold onto what they think is important and at the same time give a token of their attention to the Lord.  That want to hold onto the vestiges of religion but let go of the truth of God’s word.  But God is looking for people that will give everything to serve Him.  Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and Mammon.”  He said in Matt. 10 that unless you are willing to leave even your family for my sake you are not worthy of me.  He told the rich young ruler who wanted to know how he could have eternal life, Jesus told him he must sell all that he had and come and follow Him.  And the man went away sad, because he had many possessions.  We like to think of that parable as something like Aesop’s fable.  It applied to that guy, but it doesn’t apply to me.  I get to keep all my stuff because I’m special.  But folks, Jesus said, if you’re not willing to take up your cross, that is die to the world, you aren’t worthy of Me.

So a truly great man or woman in the eyes of God is chosen by God, filled with the Spirit of God, devoted wholly unto God, and fourthly, he will proclaim the Word of God.  Gabriel said about John the Baptist in Luke 1:17 "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

The proclamation of the gospel is nothing less than the message that men’s hearts are sinful, depraved and wicked and that repentance towards God is necessary before reconciliation.  Luke says in chapter 3 that John came preaching a baptism of repentance.   And our text makes it clear that repentance is a matter of the heart.  We have to recognize our sin in order to need a Savior, and we have to be willing to turn from our sin in order to be saved.

Note the word there in verse 17, disobedient.  See, the Jews knew God. They believed in God intellectually. They knew what God required.  They had the Law and the prophets to teach them what God expected of them.  They were very religious and yet they were disobedient.  Obedience is always tied to conversion.  There is no salvation without conversion from being disobedient to obedient.  By their fruits you shall know them.  Many will say “Lord, Lord, did we not do many miracles in your name,” and yet He will say, “depart from Me you who practice lawlessness.”  That’s disobedience.  Knowing the truth, having the truth shown to you, and then rejecting it in favor of your own brand of religion that suits your tastes better is nothing less than rebellion against the truth of God.

Did you know the Bible says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft?  Samuel said to Saul who had been disobedient in 1Sam. 15:23 “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected you from being king. And Samuel said, Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”  God isn’t interested in rituals, or traditions, or religious ceremonies.  He said I’m tired of your solemn assemblies.  God wants broken and contrite hearts that are willing to repent of their rebellion and disobedience, and turn and become obedient through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

You know, the sad truth is, that John’s message attracted a lot of attention for a while, but most of the people didn’t repent.   John was a crazy, wild character standing out on a mountainside somewhere.  He had a intensity about him.  He spoke with the authority of God’s word.  He sure was different, wasn’t he?  But it wasn’t long before the people began to fall away, little by little.  After all, John didn’t have a very good praise band.  He didn’t have a nursery or a children’s church. He didn’t even have a building.  But the church down the street that they had been going to for years had a kickin’ kid’s church and that drew them all back there sooner or later.

Eventually, John ended up in prison, all but forgotten. The crowds looking for the latest religious fad had moved on.  And eventually John was beheaded for all his trouble.  Folks, I’m afraid that even if Jesus Christ Himself would start a church today there would be very few people that would commit to it.  We like to think that we are so much more informed today, we’re so much more intelligent than those silly Jews were.  And yet, I’m sure that very few people would be drawn to the church of Jesus Christ today.  Because I’m sure that Jesus would require a 100% commitment to follow Him and very few people in my experience are willing to give up their lives for the sake of the gospel.

See, the Word of God is not designed to be a feather duster, that gently tickles away the cobwebs of unsuccessful living from our lives, but it is designed according to Hebrews 4:12 to be “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  It’s designed to reveal the sins of your heart, and then to change your hearts into the image of Jesus Christ, engraving his laws upon our hearts, that we might do His will.

God doesn’t count greatness the way man counts greatness.  Man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart.  But I want to leave you today with the encouragement that if you want to achieve greatness in the eyes of God it is still possible for you.  In Luke 7:28 Jesus said “I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

That means from an human perspective, up until John no one had been greater.  He was chosen by God to be the forerunner for the Messiah.  He was filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb.  He was devoted to God all his life.  And he fulfilled his mission by proclaiming the Word of God faithfully till he was decapitated by Herod.  But Jesus offers us a chance to be even greater than John was.  He said, “He who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  In other words, in human terms John was great.  But in spiritual terms, we can be greater than John was in the flesh.

So how do we achieve this spiritual greatness in the kingdom of heaven?  Well, one we make our calling and election sure, that we are chosen by God.  We have been born again into the kingdom of God.  Secondly, we are filled with the Spirit and learn what it means to walk in the Spirit. Third, we are wholly devoted to God in all we do.  The Bible warns that without sanctification no one will see the Lord.  We learn obedience and we practice godliness.  And fourth, we proclaim the gospel, the word of God.  There is no higher calling.  No greater mission.  God’s word is the standard for life and godliness.  It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.  And we have been tasked to proclaim this good news to every living creature.

One day Jesus will return for His church.  And the Bible says blessed are those who are found faithful when he returns.  Who are found doing the will of God, obedient to His will. For those found faithful, there will be an exaltation into glory that will be beyond all human greatness.  Eye has not seen and ear has not heard all that the Father has prepared for those that love Him.  I hope you will be found faithful, that when He comes you will be found to be great in the kingdom of heaven.

Introduction to Luke: Luke 1: 1-4

Well today we have the distinct honor and pleasure of introducing to you a new book which we will be beginning here this morning and continuing verse by verse, chapter by chapter for probably quite some time in the future.  Even if I could manage to condense it down to two messages per chapter, we would be looking at 48 weeks, so we can be certain that we will be in this book for at least a year if the Lord permits.

If you were here last week, you may remember that I encouraged you to incorporate a systematic reading of Luke in your own personal devotions.  I encouraged you to become Bible scholars and that one way to begin that process is to start with Luke. I suggested that you could read 4 chapters a day for 6 days and finish the book in a week.  Or you could read a chapter for 6 days over a 4 week period and have the book read in a month.  Or, you could even read it in one or two sittings.  Then once you have read it through, start back again.  Reading the Bible shouldn’t be a chore.  And the nice thing about Luke is it is laid out in chronological order in story form, so it really is an easy read.

So I was happy to get some feedback from some of you last week that you were in fact reading  the book.  Some of you had finished and were already on the second trip through.  And so I would encourage you to continue.  Reading the Bible is like uncovering another layer of insight every time you study it again.

Last Wednesday evening we were continuing in our study of 1 Timothy and we were in chapter 4.  And for those of you that weren’t there I would like to just highlight what we learned there in Timothy because I think it is applicable to our introduction today.  Paul was advising Timothy that bodily discipline is only of a little value, it’s temporary, but what he is really talking about is not just physical exercise but external religion.  He references a bodily discipline type of religion in 1Timothy 4:1 saying “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”

He makes the same reference to bodily discipline/external religion earlier in 1 Timothy 1: Paul tells Timothy to “instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.  For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion.”  In other words, one may attempt to appear spiritual by exercising external religion, but they won’t produce true fruit. True fruit is godliness, a love from a pure heart and a sincere faith.  A genuine faith.

So Paul says bodily discipline/external religion is of very little value,  but spiritual discipline has eternal benefit, because it is not external but internal, it’s a matter of a changed heart and the benefit of a changed heart is godliness.  In other words, being saved should result in godliness, which is becoming conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  That means we start talking like Christ, acting like Christ, serving like Christ, conducting ourselves like Christ.  That is what it means to be godly.  We’re not just learning a bunch of facts about God but continuing to live and operate the same way we always have.  But we are being transformed into his image.  And we do this according to Ephesians 5:26 by our hearts being the washed by the Word, so that Christ may present us holy and blameless.

One characteristic of the disciples was that after hanging out with Jesus 24/7 for 3 years, they began to be recognizable as one of those people who followed Jesus.  They began to talk like him and act like him.  That should be the characteristic of a follower of Jesus.  He begins to look like Jesus.  That’s why Paul tells Timothy in chapter 4 that he needed to live in such a way that he was an example.  As I’ve said before so many times, you’re either being an example or an excuse.  And Paul gives Timothy 5 areas of his life that he was to be an example of godliness in:  his speech, his conduct, his love for others, his faithfulness, and in purity.

Then Paul said and “especially give attention to the public reading of scripture, exhortation and teaching.”  That’s what church is supposed to be about, by the way, reading and studying scripture, exhortation, and teaching doctrine.  And exhortation is just a polite word for urging someone to do what they are supposed to be doing.   And he said, if you persevere in these things and take great pains to do these things and pay close attention to these things, then your progress will be evident to everyone who is watching you and you will ensure salvation for those who hear you.

And folks, that should be the goal, shouldn’t it?  Our goal should be to become godly examples and have people listen to our message that we are saying either by our words and by our actions, so that they will be saved.  And the implication there is that if they just hear our claim of Christianity and maybe see us go to church on Sundays,  but they see very little else about our lives that reflect the godliness of Jesus Christ, then they will write us off as hypocrites and we’ve become just another excuse why they don’t need to take the claims of Christianity seriously.

So as we begin this book today, I just want to emphasize why we are studying the Bible in this way.  Why we plan on laboring for over a year to study just one of the four gospels.  And the reason is that we might learn what Jesus expects from us in terms of our conduct and behavior.  Not just following blind tradition, but following Jesus instructions as written in the Word.

The admonition in Hebrews 5:12 is true for far too many people today that consider themselves to be evangelical Christians and yet have never really read the word of God for themselves.  It says, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.”  The average person in church today cannot provide a Biblical reason why they are here on a Sunday as opposed to the Sabbath.  They cannot provide Biblical proof texts of elementary principles such as grace, sanctification, the second coming, hell and heaven, the deity of Christ and so on.  They are going on blind faith that the religion they are following will be good enough to get them accepted by God, and yet they don’t know what they really believe or why they believe what they do.  We love to claim that if necessary we would lay down our lives for our faith, and yet if our faith is founded on very little substance, then I’m doubtful whether or not they would in fact be willing to die for something they aren’t sure of.

God speaks to those who come with the offerings of external religion in Isaiah 1:12 which says "When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.  I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.  So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.  Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.  Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.”  Obviously, God requires godliness, not just lip service.  He calls us to reason, to know, to study God’s requirements.

So let us come today with clean hearts to apply our full attention to the authoritative word of God.  To be painstakingly diligent in this study of the gospel of Luke.  Since this book was written, thousands and thousands of people have died over the centuries as martyrs, being tortured, burned at the stake, thrown in prison, suffered untold torment, so that we might have the privilege of having this book in our hands today, so that we might be able to read this gospel of Jesus Christ for ourselves, so that we might know the truth of the gospel.  Let us then come here with reverence, giving our complete attendance, paying close attention to the reading and teaching of the word of God, so we might know that which produces the fruit of godliness.

In the short time that I have left I am going to introduce to you as best I can the gospel of Luke.  First, we should say that it is almost universally accepted that Luke is the author of this gospel.  Though he never names himself in this book, it was widely accepted and corroborated as early as the second century that Luke was the author.  Additionally, the scrolls  had a label that were attached to them in such a way so that the author’s name was readable even though the scroll was rolled up. So even though Luke never wrote his name on the book, his name as the writer was tagged on the earliest scrolls, attesting that his peers acknowledged his authorship.

Luke also was the author of Acts.  If you look at the first verses of Acts, you can see that it is a continuation of Luke as it is addressed to Theophilus as was Luke, and Luke references the earlier writing and that his second volume is a continuation of his history of the gospel.  It is a testament to Luke’s humility that though his two volumes are larger than any other writer’s contribution to Scripture, he never mentions himself by name.  In Luke and the first part of Acts Luke speaks in third person, but about midway in the book of Acts you begin to notice that Luke starts using the personal pronoun “we”, indicating that he was there at that point of the story.

But before I go on with Luke, let me say a few things in general about the gospels.  There are four gospels.  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Gospel simply means the good news of Jesus Christ.  And each gospel presents a unique perspective on the life of Jesus Christ.  They each have some overlapping elements, but some present certain historical events while others may not.  Matthew, Mark and Luke are what are known of as the synoptic gospels, meaning that they share a lot of the same information about the life of Christ.  But they each have a different theme, a different perspective, and so they each tend to highlight  or present events that are  of particular interest to their perspective.  For instance, Matthew emphasized the Jewishness of Jesus, especially that He was the promised Messiah of Israel, and to that end he emphasizes Jesus is the King of the Jews.  He goes to great lengths to give the genealogy of Christ from both Mary and Joseph’s family trees which can be traced back to the throne of David. So the perspective of Matthew is Jesus is King of the Jews, the Messiah. Matthew, by the way, was one of the 12, an apostle.

Mark’s gospel doesn’t start with the birth of Christ, but with the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus coming to him to be baptized. His audience is basically those people in the Roman Empire who are unfamiliar with the religion of the Jews.    Mark presents Jesus as a Servant.  Mark, by the way, was not one of the 12, but rather he was the protégé of Peter. Earlier in his ministry he was known as John Mark.  And so he learned from Peter who was of course an eyewitness to the life of Christ.

Luke presents his gospel from the perspective of the humanity of Christ.  He presents Jesus as the perfect man, the perfect example for mankind.  So Luke stresses the humanity of Christ.  A Christ who was tried in all points like as we are, yet without sin.  Luke wasn’t an apostle either.  He was a companion of Paul.  And even more interestingly, Luke was the only writer of Scripture that is believed to be a Gentile.  He was most likely from Antioch, in Syria and so his introduction is written in classical Greek.

John, of course, was an apostle, so therefore an eyewitness of the life of Christ.  He says in 1 John 1:  “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”  John’s perspective was the deity of Jesus Christ.  He says in chapter 1 that Jesus was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  So he emphasizes the fact that Jesus was God in the flesh.

And real quickly, you may be interested in the dates for the gospels.  Contrary to a lot of false information out there it can be verified rather conclusively that all the gospels were written relatively soon after Jesus death.  There were people still alive who were eyewitnesses at the time of their writing.  They were able to give testimony and corroborate, or if something were to have been claimed that didn’t happen, they could object.  At the time of Jesus resurrection the Bible says that 500 people witnessed it.  So there were plenty of eyewitnesses around for the next 50 years or so.

Matthew is generally thought to be the earliest written book of the gospels, though there is some who think it was Mark. An examination of Matthew, Mark and Luke show that each gospel has Jesus predicting the destruction of the city of Jerusalem as well as the temple. However none of these writings records the fulfillment. Since the city and temple were both destroyed in the year A.D. 70 there is good reason to believe that these three gospels were written before this destruction took place. The same is true with the gospel of John. It is written from the perspective of the city of Jerusalem still standing. This would make all four gospels written during the period when eyewitnesses, both friendly and unfriendly, were still alive.

There is also possible evidence from the Book of Acts as to the early date of the gospels. Acts is the second part of two books written by Luke. There is internal evidence from Acts that it should be dated before the death of Paul. If this is true, then it was composed before A.D. 68. Since Luke's gospel was written before Acts that would place it in the early 60's of the first century or earlier. Add to this that Luke may have used Mark as a source we have an earlier date for Mark. Finally, the early church unanimously believed Matthew was the first gospel written. This places the writing of the first three gospels within thirty years of the resurrection of Jesus.

There is another fact about Luke that is not evident from the text and that is that he was a physician.  Colossians 4:14 Paul sends greetings from “Luke, the beloved physician.”  We know he was with Paul in at least three imprisonments, one in Caesarea, two in Rome. We know about his faithfulness because he traveled with Paul over thousands of miles and would have been exposed to the same terrors and the same robbers and the same hostilities and the same illnesses and the same deprivations of travel in the ancient times that Paul was.

And perhaps doctors in that day didn’t make as much money as they do today, but I would imagine that it still was an incredible sacrifice for Luke, having spent years being trained as a doctor, then becoming saved, perhaps at the preaching of Paul, and then leaving his practice and his source of income to travel with Paul for years, possibly right up to Paul’s execution.  At the end of Paul’s life, as he is waiting trial with the emperor Nero, he says in 2 Timothy 4:11, “only Luke is with me.”  Everyone else had deserted him, having loved this present world.  But Luke is still with Paul, ministering to him, being his companion, as well as his personal physician.

It’s believed by some that Paul suffered from a condition in his eyes that was something like a running sore, perhaps caused from the blinding light on the Damascus road.  It caused him not to be able to see clearly. Or to write very well.  And so I can just imagine Dr. Luke, tending to Paul in this prison, putting salve and medicine on his eyes, reading the scriptures to him, and perhaps taking dictation from the mouth of Paul.  And that closeness to Paul undoubtedly afforded Luke many opportunities to converse not only with him but with visitors and people Paul met through the years who had been eyewitnesses of Christ.

We’re told this highly educated man writes the prologue, the first four verses, using  very formal, highly refined Greek, which would have put it on par with an important treatise or historical document.  He had an analytical mind, a mind trained in the languages, in the sciences, and was able to speak to an intellectual audience.  But then we are told that in the rest of the book, Luke writes in the more common Greek vernacular so that any person could understand him.

Greek, by the way, was the English of the first century.  It was the universal language, the way English  today is taught around the world.  The Jews spoke a mixture of Aramaic and Hebrew, mostly Aramaic.  It was probably the language Jesus spoke most often and certainly the disciples.  Aramaic was the language the Jews learned when they were exiled in Babylon and they continued it’s use in Jesus day.  Though the Romans were in charge, very few people spoke Latin, mostly the Roman elite.  But Luke writes in Greek, and he writes with a style that is born of education in the arts and sciences.

Finally, let’s look at the prologue briefly which is actually one long sentence in the Greek.  Luke points to the fact that others have already written or attempted to write an account of the gospel.  It’s likely he is talking about Matthew and Mark whose works preceded Luke’s.  It’s possible also that there were some spurious accounts floating around and that became an impetus for Luke to get the truth out.  But as  we already pointed out, Luke knows that Matthew and Mark’s accounts did not include everything, and some things in particular Luke feels the urging of the Holy Spirit to write down so that we and they might have a full account, a consecutive account from before Jesus birth to the time just before the death of Paul, by which time the gospel had spread throughout all the known world. And all of this happened in the span of his lifetime.  And Luke had been a witness to that part where the gospel was taken throughout the known world. So Luke, with his analytical mind and his meticulous attention to detail, says in the second verse that his sources are eyewitnesses and servants of the Word.  2. “just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.” Verse 3, “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.”

A couple of points:  eyewitness accounts are the basis in a court of law for being able to render a just verdict.  And so this account of Luke is something that we should really rejoice over as Christians.   It means that we have facts upon which to found our faith.  God never asks us to just have blind faith in the sense that we are to just hope for something, and then leap from that to believing in it, and then if the size of our faith is sizable or strong enough, then somehow God will make it a reality.  Such nonsense is commonly being taught in many churches today as what it means to have faith.  But what we have here is the careful documentation, the careful investigation, eyewitness accounts that could be verified by hundreds of people at the time of their writing, so that we might have faith in the facts of the gospel.

There is a passage in Matthew 13:58 that says Jesus could not do many miracles in his hometown because of their unbelief.  And people take this out of context and teach that the size of their faith is the reason for the lack of miracles.  But the problem wasn’t that they had only a little faith, but not quite enough faith.  The problem was that they had no faith.  They rejected Jesus out of hand. They tried to throw Him off a cliff.  The point is, we’re not required to muster up some sort of hyped up blind belief or blind faith, but we have been given the word of God, the testimony of the Apostles and prophets, written down for us that we might believe the truth.  Our faith is founded on the Word of God that we might know as Luke said, the exact truth.

Finally, who is Theophilus?  Who is Luke writing to? By his title (most excellent), we gather that Theophilus was probably a Roman government official. It is entirely likely that the books of Luke and Acts make up Paul’s defense brief for his trial before Caesar, since Acts leaves Paul waiting for that trial.  We know from Paul’s writings that many of Caesar’s household had become saved. And Theophilus, Luke says in verse 4, had been taught the truth, and now this treatise would be the historical record that was needed, perhaps because Theophilus would be representing Paul in court.  We don’t know.  But we do see Acts continued as an addressed to him as well, so we can assume that he would have been reading this treatise about the time of Paul’s trial, which is where Acts leaves off.

Well, we will continue next week.  I encourage you to continue in the study of God’s word.  I hope that you will commit to being here for every message as we go through this book.  And I believe that if you will do that, then God will be faithful to accomplish His word, and transform your mind to the image of Christ Jesus. 2Ti 2:15 “Study to show yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

the Spirit of grace

Phil. 4: 13-23

Before I get into this passage this morning, I just want to share my heart with you about a couple of things that have been on my mind lately.  About 30 years ago I was living in California in a kind of prodigal son type of existence.  I had been raised in the church, I believe I was a child of God, my father was a pastor, and the environment that I had grown up in was very strict,  conservative Baptist background.  But I had reached a point in my early 20’s when I rebelled against all of that and basically ran as far away from the Lord as I could.  The end result was after several years of heavy partying and living in the world, I reached a point where I wasn’t sure what I believed anymore.  To make it worse, I had been dating a girl who was a Seventh Day Adventist, and she had all these books about keeping the law, which really confused me and caused me to question why I believed what I did.

Bottom line was, I found out I wasn’t really sure what I believed anymore.  But through a sequence of divine appointments, one day after walking the beach all day wrestling with conviction, I locked myself in my garage that evening and called out to God for forgiveness and reconciliation.  And one of the things that I very specifically prayed for was that no matter if it meant that everything I had grown up accepting as true was proven to be false, I wanted to know the truth. I prayed to God that He would give me the truth.

Afterwards, I went upstairs and realized the first sense of peace and joy that I had known for several years, and I found a little New Testament and began to read the gospel of John.  I believe I read the whole book that night.  The scripture just seemed to come alive.  But one verse in particular stood out to me and seemed to be in answer to my prayer.  It was in  John 16:13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”

This verse and others like it became a guiding factor in my life.  I began a lifelong quest for the truth which I believed that the Holy Spirit would disclose it to me through the Word of God.  And so I have been on a journey for the last 30 years to understand as much as possible the truth of God’s word. For quite a number of years in my studies, I took the approach of the sufficiency of scripture; that is that if I was stranded on a desert island without anyone or anything other than a copy of the Bible, then by the help of the Holy Spirit I could  learn all essential doctrine necessary if I faithfully studied only the Word.  To that end I avoided reading even the notes at the bottom of the page of my Bible, because I did not want to jeopardize the sole authority of the Holy Spirit speaking through the written word of God.  I was encouraged by other verses such as John 14:26 which says, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”  Likewise what it says in 1John 2:27 “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”  And John 8:31 "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

Now I say all of that not so that you will think I’m some sort of guru, but because I want you to know why I believe the way I do, and why I preach the way I preach.  I put an absolute premium upon the Word of God as the sole authority, sufficient for all doctrine. As 2Tim. 3:16 says,  “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

Therefore, I preach in a style known as expositional teaching.  I go through the Bible, word for word, line by line, verse by verse, chapter by chapter.  I believe that God’s Word should be the primary emphasis of the church.  I don’t study current events or cultural issues to determine according to what is trending right now in the culture what I should speak on, and then try to find some verses or some illustration from scripture that supports my view.  I don’t particularly care what the culture believes, or what is politically correct, or what is currently the hot topic this week.  I want to know the truth, and I want to teach you the truth – eternal truth, not just my take or other’s take on things.

This culturally relevant, topically based theology that is being taught and widely accepted today in the church is very disconcerting.  As I look around on the internet, on TV, on Christian websites and listening to sermons by many pastors and teachers out there, I hear so many times a type of common worldly knowledge from these teachers which is presented as watered down truth and yet they have very little real Biblical scholarship to back up what they are espousing.  As a result this same type of attitude has filtered down to the people in the congregations as well.  We don’t have Bible studies so much anymore, as much as we have “sharing” times.  We talk about what this means to me.  What experiences we have had and how we have interpreted them.  We hear how people see symbols and find truth in cloud shapes, or hear how the wind changed at just a certain moment which must be divine confirmation of some random thought they had.   We have all sorts of weird, ecstatic experiences that we attribute as the confirmation of the Holy Spirit of some truth.  We find a verse that strikes our fancy in the Bible and pluck it out of context and paste it on facebook and hang our whole theology for the time being on this one verse.  Until, of course, the wind blows us in another direction. And I could go on, but hopefully you are getting the point.  There is a critical lack of scriptural scholarship in the church today. I said Wednesday night the 21st century church instead of as Peter called us “a spiritual house for a holy priesthood offering up acceptable offerings to God,” instead has created a race of spiritual dwarfs.  Our congregations have doctrine which is a mile wide and an half inch thick.  We believe everything, yet can validate nothing and as Ephesians said, we’re “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine.”

And as a shepherd, I am duly concerned about my flock in regards to these things as well.  I want you to know first of all that I don’t come by truth lazily.  I don’t receive messages in my mailbox written by some team in California that have come up with a whole series built around the theme of the latest television sitcom.  I have come about the truth the hard way, but I think the only reliable way, through studying the Bible and studying the whole gospel, and being shown by the Holy Spirit how it all works together.  By interpreting scripture by scripture, and not by the paradigm of either denominational distinctives or current cultural opinion.

But neither do I expect you to swallow everything I say hook, line and sinker.  Rather, I hope you would be like the Bereans, of whom it is said of in Act 17:11 “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”  But what I hope you won’t do, is remark how appreciative you are of my preaching, and yet say, “but I don’t agree with him on everything, of course,” and thus casually dismiss those parts you don’t like.  I don’t expect anyone to agree with me on everything, but I would simply encourage you to be able to prove, at least to yourself, why you believe what you believe.  Be able to provide sufficient scripture to be able to back up what you believe.  And not just one verse, or one passage taken out of context, because you can prove anything you want with just one verse.  But be able to show from a complete Biblical perspective, why the Bible supports what you believe.  Not because it’s culturally accepted, or because it’s politically correct, or because you heard it somewhere, or even experienced something. But to take the same care that you would take in preparing a thesis for a master’s degree in college, or the same care in preparing evidence as if you had to go to the Supreme Court to argue your case.   Because, folks, what we are dealing with here is a case which one day will be heard before the  Supreme Court of the universe.  And one day  you will have to give an account for what you did with what you were given. “To him who has been given much, much shall be required.”

There is view today that is popular in the world and sadly has also found it’s way into Christian theology as well.  It’s “I believe, therefore it is true.”  I’m sorry, but that isn’t what the Bible teaches.  Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”  But what we can say with all confidence, is that “The Bible says it, therefore I believe it.”  So I encourage you to become Bible scholars.  And my goal is not to necessarily teach you what to think, but to teach you how to think, by teaching you the truth of the  whole gospel.  So I urge you to become serious students of the Bible, that we may not be ashamed when we are called one day before God to give an account of our stewardship.  We have been entrusted with the oracles of God.  We will not be judged simply according to the  sincerity of our beliefs, but by whether or not we were obedient to the truth revealed in God’s word.

Now, that’s enough meddling, let’s get to today’s passage.  I have titled today’s message the Spirit of Grace.  We hear a lot about grace today in the church. It is foundational to our doctrine.  And yet what I would like to emphasize to you today is that grace does not stop at salvation.  The classic verse that helps us understand grace and defines grace is found in Eph. 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (9) not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  This verse makes it clear that grace is simply a gift.  That is the  definition of grace;  it is a gift of God.  That is how we are declared righteous.  We believe God, and God declares us righteous on the basis of our faith, by His grace.  It is a gift.

But unfortunately, many of us want to stop right there.  Call out over our shoulder, “Thank you Jesus!”  and then scamper off about our business.  But look at the next verse following in verse 10 of Eph. 2. ”For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Grace therefore is not a license to go on sinning, or so we can indulge ourselves in fleshly pursuits as Jude warns.  But rather it says we are created in Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So then, we that have been given grace, this great gift from God, have been created to be vessels of grace to be used in service to God.  Therefore, Eph. 4:8 says,  "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN."  Now these gifts that God has given us then are to equip us to be able to do the good works that He has created us through Christ to do.  We are not created to be merely self serving, but to be serving God by being obedient to what He wants us to do.  Gifts are given by God for you to use for Him, not for your own benefit.

I’ve said before that spiritual gifts are not a toy box, but a tool box.  God equips you with spiritual gifts to be used for the good works that we were created for according to Eph. 2.  In 1 Cor. 12, Paul says, “concerning spiritual gifts,” “that to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”   Gifts are given not for our good, but for the good of Christ’s body. He goes on to give an illustration of a body, and says all the parts of the body are necessary, because all benefit the other and depend upon one another.  And of course, the church is being pictured as a body, the head of which is Christ, and we are individually members of it, each with our work, our part to perform, so that there will be no lack, that all may benefit.

Now in  our passage today we see couched within the immediate message to the Philippians,  five principles of gifts which are presented by Paul. Five principles of gifts that we can apply to our lives today. Five ways that God’s grace to us results in our grace to others.  Number one, the strength of the gift, 2, the sharing of the gift, 3, the surplus of the gift, 4, the sacrifice of the gift, and 5, the supply for the gift.

So number one, the strength of the gift is found in verse 13 of our text;  “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”  Obviously, this verse has to be taken in context.  Otherwise, I could take that to mean that I can go to the gym and bench press 500 pounds.  I can assure you, that’s not going to happen, no matter how much faith I have.  This verse does not give me license to do anything I want and find the supernatural resource to do it.  However, it does give me the strength to do anything God asks me to do and have Him supply the supernatural resource necessary.

So it’s important to see what Paul is talking about here.  He just said in the prior verses that he had learned the secret of being filled and being hungry, of having abundance and suffering need.  No matter what the circumstances then he found himself in, he is saying that God will provide the strength to get through it.  Paul makes this principle clear in 2Cor. 12:9 when God said to him, "’My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Principle #1,the strength for giving is found in the spirit, not in the flesh.

Number two, as the Holy Spirit shares with us, so we are to share with Christ. So #2 is the sharing of the gift.  Vs. 14 he says, “Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction.  You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs.”

This word sharing is so important to understand in reference to the purpose of gifts.  They are given to equip us to serve the needs of others. The word sharing in the Greek means to partner with someone, to have fellowship with someone.  To partner means that you are going to shoulder part of the burden.  Sharing is a way to invest in the kingdom of heaven, to lay up treasure in heaven.  Consider what it says  in 2Cor. 8:12 “For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality—at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality; as it is written, "HE WHO gathered MUCH DID NOT HAVE TOO MUCH, AND HE WHO gathered LITTLE HAD NO LACK."

James said in chapter 2 of his letter, “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.” In other words, grace is not just for your personal benefit. “If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF," you are doing well.”  So principle #2, we are given gifts to share with one another according to their needs.

And thirdly, such sharing produces a surplus.  Number 3, the surplus of the gift.  Vs. 17 Paul says, “Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.”  The surplus is the profit that comes as a result of employing your gift in the Lord’s work.  Now we need to understand that our profit is in heaven.  If we are spiritual people, then we should be investing in spiritual things and reaping a spiritual profit.  There is a lot of false teaching out there which claims that godliness is a means of financial gain here on earth.  The snake oil salesmen on television tell you that if you send them money, God will multiply it in your bank account 10 fold.  And so they rob pour people desperate for earthly profit.

But our profit is in heaven.  Our sowing here, produces a surplus in heaven.  Look at the well known statement by Jesus found in Mat 25:34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Principle #3, using your gifts for the kingdom produces a surplus in heaven.

Fourthly, you can’t have a surplus without a sacrifice.  Number 4, “the sacrifice of the gift.” Paul says in vs. 18, “But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.”   What Paul understood was that these Philippians had given sacrificially out of their deep poverty.  Listen to how Paul describes their gift in 2 Cor. 8:1 “Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints.”

In 2 Samuel 24 there is the account of David who wanted to buy a threshing floor and oxen so he could offer up an offering unto God in order to stave off a plague.  And the man told David, listen, you’re the king. Why don’t I give you the oxen and the yokes and the threshing floor so that you can build an altar and offer up a sacrifice.  And David said, “"No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.”  There is a principle taught throughout scripture that sacrifice is costly.  That which really doesn’t cost you anything is not a sacrifice.  But we are encouraged as the church of Philippi showed us by example, to give sacrificially, to give beyond our ability.  See, when we give beyond our natural ability, then we are giving according to our spiritual ability, the spiritual gift which God supplies, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. Principle #4, spiritual gifts require sacrifice.

Finally, such sacrificial giving requires a supernatural supply.  Number 5, the supply from the giver of gifts.  Vs. 19, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  What needs is he talking about?  Well, it’s whatever the needs are that you are sharing in as you partner with the body of Christ.  And it’s whatever needs you have after giving sacrificially to the Lord.

Paul said in 2Cor. 9:8 that “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; 10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.”  God supplies the seed for sowing, which will produce a harvest of your righteousness.  He doesn’t promise that if you give the church or someone in need 10 dollars he will multiply it to $100.  But what he does promise is that the God who supplies you with seed will multiply that seed as you sow it, and the harvest is righteousness.  Not a righteousness that saves, but the works of righteousness that is the result of sanctification, of being obedient to what God has called you to do.

Look back a couple of verses to 2Cor. 9:6 “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, "HE SCATTERED ABROAD, HE GAVE TO THE POOR, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS ENDURES FOREVER."  Principle #5, God is our supply in all things, in all circumstances, in all our needs, in all that He has called us to do.

Today we finish this mighty little book called Philippians.  2000 years ago a little band of people who were in deep poverty, sacrificially sent a gift to Paul for the ministry, not once, but over and over again over a ten year period.  And because of their continual sharing with him in his ministry, they left a legacy that has endured long after their homes turned to ruins, and their bones to dust.  Their partnership resulted in Paul, though in chains, being able to write this gospel which has brought millions of souls to salvation through the years.  They made a pretty good investment, don’t you think?  Though they sacrificed a little convenience here, they stored up a great treasure in heaven.  I hope that you are encouraged today to use your gifts that God has graced you with for the kingdom of heaven.  He will be your strength to give, and as you share your gifts, it will produce a surplus stored in heaven, and though it requires some sacrifice here, God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.  May “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” Let’s pray.

the secret of contentment

Phil. 4: 10-13

Last week I shared with you a message about overcoming anxiety and depression.  And in so doing I also ended up sharing with you some of my personal testimony.  I did so, not to try to elicit some sort of sympathy, but because I felt that having gone through these things, it qualified me to be able to speak to you not just from a theoretical point of view, or even a scholarly point of view, but from the voice of personal experience.

As we discovered last week, the opposite of anxiety and depression is peace.  And in Philippians 4 we find that the God of peace offers us the peace of God, which passes all understanding, to those who have learned to put their trust in God, in spite of whatever circumstances they may find themselves.

So today is really just a continuation of that message.  But what we are going to look at in more detail is how the peace of God is achieved on a practical level.  And Paul tells us here that the peace that God provides is called contentment.

Now, contentment is almost a foreign word in American society today.  We are programmed from birth to be anything but content.  In fact, in our society we tend to look down on people who are content as non achievers, as being practically delinquent.  We are expected to be ambitious, to be climbers, to be striving to get ahead.  That is the American way.

I can remember a couple of job interviews I went to back in my younger days, when I was working in the luxury hotel market.  And during the interview with the general manager or VP of a hotel chain, invariably they would ask the question;  “Where do you see yourself in the next five years?”  And you were expected to give them some sort of answer that showed that you were ambitious, that you had aspirations of climbing to the top.  I found out the hard way that they used that mentality to offer you a carrot on stick and get you to work 6 days a week, 80 hours a week for what amounted to slave wages, in the half promise that if you did a good job you would get a promotion and start your climb through the corporate ranks.

But this is the American way.  Being discontent has become a way of life. Our materialistic culture basically is trying to keep us dissatisfied, so they can sell us a new product.  We haven’t managed to even learn how to use our iphones yet and they are already trying to sell you on a better one.  And unfortunately, we buy into it.  We have created an environment in which we live our lives in expectation of tomorrow.  We buy and borrow and live today in expectation that we will be able to pay for it tomorrow.  Because we are told we really need it today, and so we borrow or put it on credit cards, financing our discontent on the promise of a better tomorrow.  We are bred in discontent, so we leave our wives or our husbands in search of the perfect mate.  We sacrifice homes and families to fulfill our unfulfilled desires that are set aflame by what Hollywood and crass commercialism tells us is necessary for happiness and fulfillment.

Our parents somehow made do with a tiny 3 shoebox houses with one bathroom and yet raised five kids.  They got by with just one car and just one job.  Dad worked 5 days a week, Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, and had time on weekends to take us fishing or camping or something.  Mom stayed home and took care of the house and found time to actually keep her own house and cook 99.9% of the meals from scratch.  We had one phone that was tied to the wall.  We had one black and white tv with only 3 channels.  And yet in spite of such deprivation, life wasn’t all that bad.  Today, Dad works 60 hours a week, and also Mom works a 40 hour week because they are convinced they need two incomes.  So they need to hire a maid to come in and clean the house.  They need child care for the kids and put them in every after school program that they can find because they need to work later.  To compensate for all of them going helter skelter in every direction they need to buy a cell phone for everyone in the family.  They need 3 cars, all of them less than 5 years old.  They need to live in a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house with a two car garage, yet they only have 2 kids.  Family dinner is a thing of the past, now it’s in the fridge or on the stove when you get in. They have four tvs and 100 channels and nothing good is on.  They need an average of three computers.  And yet in spite of meeting all these needs, they are still dissatisfied.  The divorce rate is higher than 50%.  Drunkenness and drug addiction among our children is rampant, and as a society we are like a runaway train that is careening off the tracks.

It’s no wonder depression and anxiety are at epidemic proportions.  It’s no wonder that anti depressant anxiety medication is the most commonly prescribed medicine in this country.  It’ no wonder the divorce rate is going through the roof.  And as Christians  we are not immune to this, ladies and gentlemen.  Because we have bought in to the message of the world, which is no less than the message of the devil. Ephesians 2:1 describes this world force that works to bring discontentment.  “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”  This “course of the world” that Paul speaks of the way of the world, being controlled by  thoughts and pursuits designed by the devil to rush men headlong after fleshly gratification which can never satisfy, like a raging river that courses along sweeping everything in it’s path towards destruction.   And as Christians we are not impervious to this current.  It is the nature of this world.  It’s end is destruction, it results in unfullfillment.  There is no real satisfaction that can be found in either our circumstances or in our acquisitions or our indulgences.  It is a rat race, a course designed by the prince of the power of the air, that is Satan, catching us up in a headlong rush to futility and ultimately destruction.

Now that is the way of the world.  It promises happiness but brings distress, dissatisfaction, despair and depression.  But the Bible says the way of godliness brings the peace of God which is contentment. 1Timothy 6:6 says, “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.”

So Paul gives us in this closing passage of this letter the secret to contentment.  Contentment is something that eludes the world because they are told the wrong way to achieve it.  They are told that it is through acquisition of the latest thing, through acquiring something new, to making it to the next rung on the ladder. But Paul tells us the secret to contentment is contrary to human wisdom but is something that is learned from godly wisdom.  Contentment is learned behavior.

Look at verse 11; Paul has just commended the church at Philippi for sending him a gift, probably a monetary gift and he thanks them, but then he adds, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.”  Contentment, Paul is saying, can’t be acquired at the mall, it can’t be ordered, it can’t be bought.  It is learned.

The way of the world teaches us that contentment is earned by acquiring - through addition.  But godliness teaches us that contentment is learned through subtraction.  Giving rather than getting. Godliness teaches us that it is better to give than to receive.  The world tells us that we somehow have to live life more fully, to go for it all, to grab everything we want.  Godliness tells us that for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Phil 3:8 tells us that godliness counts “all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.”

Learning contentment then requires that I retrain my thinking from conformity with the world view to conforming to godliness.  As it says in Romans 12:2 to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, and when I have retrained my mind according to godliness, and no longer trying to  conform to the standards of this world, then comes about the offering I give to God, the sacrifice of my body to be used for His glory and not mine.  This is a radical, life changing departure from the worldly view of life.  But this is the secret of contentment.

Unfortunately, some modern day Christians don’t get this.  They want their cake and to eat it too.  They want the pleasures and treasures that this world offers and they want a God that is nothing more than a genie who is going to help them accomplish all that they wish for.  This isn’t true Christianity. This is little more than idol worship, and you are the idol and God is serving you.  This is the kind of man talked about in 1Tim. 6:5,  “men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.”  In other words, these depraved men who are still looking at their lives from a world’s point of view, who think that godliness is a means of gain.  God is just some genie who guarantees our financial  and material success.  But the next verse says, no, but godliness is of great gain when combined with contentment. “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.  But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.”

Listen, sanctification is one of those Bible words that are tossed around in church and nobody seems to know what they mean.  But I’ll tell you simply what sanctification means.  It means growing up, maturing.  Salvation is the new birth.  But once you are born into the family of God, the idea isn’t to stay an infant, but to grow into maturity.  And sometimes that can be painful.  One thing for sure, is it is a process.  It’s a process of learning.  Learning to trust in God, learning not to trust in your own understanding of how you think things should be, and learning to accept and embrace the way God wants you to be.

Psalm 131:2 illustrates this idea of maturity.  It says, “Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me.”  And the illustration is that of a child who has come to a point where he no longer needs milk and is able to rest upon his mother without needing milk anymore.  Now there is nothing sweeter than a baby who suckles his mother’s breast for milk.  But there comes a time when it is time for the baby to grow up and mature, and milk isn’t going to be enough for him anymore.  The baby doesn’t understand this.  He cries and cries and throws a tantrum wanting more milk, and yet the mother knows what is best for him.  If he was able to get what he wanted, his growth would be stunted.  He would never attain the usefulness of an adult.  So his mother weans him off the milk.  It is a painful time for the baby, but it is necessary if he is to grow and mature.  And how necessary is it for us, that when God brings about changes in our lives, many times by taking away something that will keep us from growing and maturing, we cry and cry, thinking we know best.  But God knows best.

I can tell you from my own experience, that my meltdown and descent into depression and anxiety coincided with a process of God taking away things I depended upon.  I don’t know if it always has to be that way, but I’ve found that it often is the way God brings about maturity in a believer.   God takes away  our crutches, things that we lean on, that we have counted on to define ourselves, to measure ourselves by.  God takes them away, one by one, until we learn to lean totally on Jesus Christ.

When I went through the meltdown phase of my depression, I was at the top of my profession.  I appeared regularly on television as an expert in the antiques field.  I was recognized nationally as an authority and someone that had a gift for coming up with what we used to call national treasures.  I had a good career, I made a comfortable six figure income, I had a beautiful house on 8 wooded acres, I had furnished it with all sorts of nice things, I sent my kids to the best private schools, and I had nice new cars.  But when my anxiety reached the point where I couldn’t work anymore I began to see my bills start to mount up.  Debts that I thought I could handle, I couldn’t handle anymore. I began to have serious financial problems on top of all my health problems.  And I can assure you that the first 20 times or so I read through most of the Bible, I was looking for promises from God that He was going to restore my fortunes.   Godliness I thought should have brought about financial gain, not loss.  And I couldn’t understand why God would allow me to lose all that I had worked so hard for.

In my case, it took a few years, but eventually I lost my house that I had built with my own hands.  I lost my career.  I had a lot of very specialized knowledge that wasn’t able to do me any good anymore.   Eventually everything I had was either sold or repossessed.  In five years I went from a six figure a year income to living in a two bedroom crummy apartment that defies description and living below the poverty level.

But I let me tell you what I gained through that loss.  I gained contentment.  I gained the peace of God that passes all comprehension.  I lost a career but I gained a ministry.  I lost my house but I gained a mansion in heaven.  I lost my valuable antiques but I gained treasure in heaven.  I learned contentment from what I lost, what I went through, which taught me that I could trust God in all my circumstances.  That when I reached the end of my extremity, God was sufficient for my needs.

Paul said in vs. 11, that I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  Whatever circumstances I am, God is faithful.  God is my resource.  I have learned I can trust in his providence, and learned not to trust in my resources.

Listen, I don’t think my situation is all that unique.  One way or another, God’s purpose in saving us all is to conform us to the image of Christ.  And that means that if it pleased God to crush His own Son according to Isaiah 53,  so that He might learn obedience from the things He suffered, as it says in Hebrews 5:8, then it stands to reason that no servant is greater than his master, according to John 13:16 and He will use the same suffering to conform us to His image.

Look at Paul’s words in the next verse of our text, Phil. 4:12;  this is the curriculum that we are to learn; “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.”  Paul can say I know contentment because he had come to know Christ.

We looked at what Paul had to say about knowing Christ earlier in our study of  Phil. 3:10.  Paul said, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”  Knowing Christ means knowing the power of his resurrection;  knowing that He lives so that we might have life in His name.  But it is predicated on knowing the fellowship of his suffering, being conformed to his death.

And for Paul and for me, knowing the fellowship of his suffering meant that he learned how to get along with humble means, how to live in poverty, how to be hungry, how to rejoice while suffering need.  We don’t have to learn how to get along in prosperity so much, do we?  We don’t have to learn how to deal with abundance so much do we?  But having had those things, we do have to learn how to deal with not having them.  And I can tell you that it is painful.  We cry why Lord?  Why not?  Why can’t I have this thing?  I liked it so much.  I want it so much.  What’s wrong with it?  And maybe the answer is that there isn’t anything wrong with it.  Maybe it was good for a while, but now it is time to move on.  To grow.  To mature.  To get on with the business that we have been called by God to do.  And that is where being conformed to his death comes in.  We have to die to our desires, and learn to accept His will for our lives. His plan, his purposes.

So what’s the secret to contentedness?  It’s found in Phil. 4:13.  But only after we have come to know Phil. 3:10. Because I know Him, I can do all things through Him. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  That is the secret to being hungry, to suffering need, to living in poverty, to being humbled, I can deal with any circumstances I may encounter because I know Him, I have learned to suffer with Him, and I know that when I don’t have any resources I can trust Him to provide for my needs according to his plan for my life.

My suffering teaches me the difference between my needs and my wants. 1Tim. 6:8 “If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.”  Because Phil. 4:19 promises that “my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  Therefore, I suffer the loss of all the extra stuff gladly, and consider it but rubbish for the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ.

In 2Cor. 12:9 Paul said he was given a thorn in the flesh, to keep from exalting himself.  And through the suffering of this thorn in the flesh Paul finds the secret of contentment.  God said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

But I haven’t learned contentment, until I have reached the end of my resources, the end of my strength, and found that his supply is sufficient for all my needs.  That I can do all things, I can endure all things, through Him who strengthens me.  He supplies just what I need when I rest in dependence solely upon Him.  When I learn that I can trust him no matter what the circumstances, then I have contentment.  That’s the secret to contentment.  Knowing that my efficiency is not dependent on my proficiency, but on His sufficiency.

I leave you this morning with the words of Jesus in John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”  But let us compose and quiet our soul, like a weaned child on it’s mother’s breast, knowing that God knows best.