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Four Stories--One Truth |
- Some people having an amazing knack for attention to details.
- At our staff Christmas party, one of the spouses commented on how the lights on our tree were so evenly spread, and there was a pattern between the ones that were flashing and the ones that stayed on.
- Sandy has an amazing eye for detail. I put the lights on the eaves of our house. I am only good at following a straight line.
- We have been looking at the different accounts recorded in the four stories that record the life, ministry and teaching of Jesus: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
- Week 1 we looked at Mark’s matter-of-fact way he begins his story.
- Week 2 we looked at the plan that Matthew recorded.
- This week we are looking at the account that was written by Luke.
- It is traditionally thought that Luke was a physician and more than likely Greek, not Jewish.
- He was probably the most educated of all the writers of the Gospels.
- His writings are the most articulate and poetic.
- His medical background more than likely influenced his keen attention to detail.
- He was used to recording data, analyzing it and then prescribing and applying treatment.
- The audience that he wrote for was probably for the more worldly and non-religious Greek world.
- It was important for him to record detailed accounts so that the non-Jewish world would be able to hear and understand the message of Jesus Christ.
- His introduction tells us a lot: Luke 1 (NRSV) Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, {2} just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, {3} I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, {4} so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.
- Note his choice of words
- orderly account: Attention to detail
- eyewitnesses and servants of the word: He wanted credibility, people who had seen Jesus and were actively involved in sharing the message.
- investigating: He is the CSI Gospel writer.
- orderly: He is so meticulous in his attention to detail he is redundant, and let’s us know for a second time that he is presenting an orderly account.
- Utlimately he is concerned about presenting the truth. Four Stories, One truth. Even with all the details, it is all about Jesus.
- In case you haven’t really figured it out, this series really is about how each writer begins his account of the Gospel.
- There is more material than just the story of the birth.
Luke’s Story
- Actually, Luke’s first chapter is 80 verses.
- Usually I cut and paste the Scripture into my notes and it takes up about half a page, sometimes a little over a page.
- When I did that, Luke 1 filled over four pages.
- He is so detailed I am going to have to give you the Spark Note version to get two what I think is the real details he is recording.
- God’s Promise to Zechariah
- Verses 5-25 records the encounter of Zechariah with an angel of the Lord who informs him that his wife Elizabeth who, after many years of infertility, is going to become pregnant
- {16} He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.{17} With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
- God’s Promise to Mary
- v 26-38 records Mary’s encounter with the angel Gabriel who tells her that she is going to conceive God’s child.
- {32} He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. {33} He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
Elizabeth and Mary compare notes
- v 39-56 record Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth. Mary has left her home town of Nazareth, because she is an unwed mother engaged to a man who hasn’t had sex with her.
- When she and Elizabeth greet, Elizabeth feels her baby jumping in her womb and knows that Mary’s pregnancy is from God and that the baby in her womb is already getting ready to be the one who will prepare the way for the Son of God.
- . {41} When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit {42} and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. {43} And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? {44} For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45} And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."
- The birth of John the Baptist
- v 57-80 records the birth of Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son, John, who will prophesy about the coming of God’s son and will call Israel to repent and turn back to God and to be ready for the Messiah, the Savior.
- {76} And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, {77} to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. {78} By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, {79} to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." {80} The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.
The Divine in the Details: The Magnificat
- You have probably heard the phrase the Devil is in the Detail. Luke uses Details to show the Divine Plan that He is birthing in Mary.
- After Mary receives the assurance and confirmation from her Cousin Elizabeth that she really is pregnant with God’s son, she offers a Prayer of Praise.
- {46} And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, {47} and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, {48} for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; {49} for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. {50} His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. {51} He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. {52} He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; {53} he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. {54} He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, {55} according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
- Tradition has named it the The Magnificat, the latin word for Magnify
- Sometimes we can miss the details. There are great musical works that have been inspired by the words of the Prayer of Mary, but let’s not get lost in the details.
- Mary’s prayer of praise is directed towards God, but it is also prophetic and details the ministry of Jesus Christ, the child she bears in her womb.
- In the prayer, she magnifies the details of God’s Kingdom and how revolutionary and counter to the Kingdom he settled for on Earth.
- William Temple an Anglican Archbishop in the 1930s and 1940s warned his missionaries in India to never read it in public.
- These were the days that Gandhi and others were working to liberate the poor of India and end the caste system. (Bruce Larson: Commentary on Luke 1)
- E. Stanley Jones, who spent a lot of time in India in the 1940s and 1950s and traveled all over the world sharing his faith stated: The Magnificat is the most revolutionary document in the world. (Barclay. Commentary on Luke 1)
- Let’s not forget that detail as we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ at CrossRoad 2007!
Detail 1: God shows favor on the lowly and mercy to those who fear Him.
- {48} for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; {49} for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. {50} His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
- Mary is from a little town in the northern region of Palestine, Nazareth.
- Nazareth was not necessarily the most cosmopolitan area. You were sort of redneck, blue collar Jews.
- The further you lived from Jerusalem, the Holy City, the less favor you supposedly had with God.
- In that region, Jews had intermarried with the surrounding cultures. They weren’t purebred. They were second-class Jews.
- For God to chose a woman from Nazareth was an amazing outpouring of mercy.
- It is one of the signs of the Kingdom of God breaking into the Kingdom of the World.
- When Christians miss this detail, we sin in a way that grieves the heart of God.
- The birth of Jesus Christ announces that God wants to show his favor to all, God has poured out His mercy through Jesus Christ.
Detail 2: God is not impressed by our strength
- {51} He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
- There is a story about the great football coach Vince Lombardi. Climbing into bed with his wife, Marie, she said, "God, your feet are cold!" The coach answered, "Dear, in the privacy of the house, you may call me Vince."
- At the very core of our faith is the understanding that God is God, and I’m not.
- In Charles Colson's book, Born Again, which is about his experiences during Watergate, he shares one of President Nixon's problems. Colson writes, “he could never admit he was wrong in anything.” In fact, Colson wrote that even when Nixon obviously had a cold -- nose running, face red, sneezing, all the symptoms of a cold -- he would never admit it.
- C. S. Lewis called pride "spiritual cancer," which eats up love and contentment. It is actually a sign of our own insecurity and feelings of inferiority.
- Charles Spurgeon, the great British preacher from the 1800s, warned poetically not to be proud of race, face, or place.
- It is a slippery slope, we are given freedom and strength to use, but pride often tries to steal the glory from God.
- There is no room for pride in the Kingdom of God.
Detail 3: Kingdom Power is manifested in Humility
- {52} He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and (he has) lifted up the lowly;
- Lee Strobel quotes historian Mark Nool in his book, Case for Faith (306f): Power nurtures the idolatry of self. It corrupts and almost never apologizes. He states “Over the long course of Christian history, the most remarkable thing—because it is such a miracle of grace—is how often believers have acted against the pride of life to honor Christ. Of all “signs of contradiction,” the most completely Christ-like have been those occasions when believers who are strong—because of wealth, education, political power, superior culture, favored location—have reached out to the despised, the forsaken, the abandoned, the lost, the insignificant, or the powerless.
- God’s greatest act of power was shown in His lowly, humble birth.
Detail 4: Only God can satisfy
- {53} he has filled the hungry with good things, and (he has) sent the rich away empty.
- Henry Blackaby writes in his devotional Experiencing God Day by Day, p 234: Hunger and thirst are the body’s way of telling us that we are “empty.” Our natural response to physical hunger and thirst is to seek food and water to satisfy our need. Each Christian has an inner longing that only Christ’s righteousness can satisfy. But we cannot be filled with righteousness if we are filled with self….Pursuing righteousness means that we value the opinion of God far more than we treasure the opinions of people.
- Matthew 5:3 (NRSV) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 5:6 (NRSV) "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Detail 5: Humanity needs a Savior
- 54} He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy
- People who don’t want help, can’t be helped.
- Perfect people don’t need mercy.
- Mary recognized her need for a Savior.
- Her humility, her powerless nature, her weakness, her hunger and thirst are what qualified her to birth the Son of God.
- What area in your life needs a Savior?
- What detail are you controlling?
- Sometimes we need to be convinced that we have worth to God. Sometimes we have to come to grips with the fact that we desperately need God.
- Mary got the details. She rejoiced. She sang. She prayed. She praised God that without regard to her weaknesses or her strengths, the only way her hunger and thirst could be satisfied was through God.
- That is the Divine Detail!
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