Allen Jackson - A Dimensional Life - Part 1
Now the title for this session is "A Dimensional Life". I'll come back to that in a minute, but what I really wanna begin is a study with you on the Gospel of Luke. Luke is written by the one author of the New Testament who's not Jewish. Two books credited to Luke, the book of Luke, the Gospel that bears his name, and the book of Acts. One tells the story of Jesus, his life, and ministry; the other tells the story of his followers after Jesus returned to heaven. A lot of scholars believe there's never a complete unity in those things, but the Gospel of Luke was written while Paul was a prisoner in Cesarea awaiting his trial and ultimately his transport to Rome.
Luke was his physician, and with him there, and they took the opportunity, it was almost two years he was imprisoned there, to put the Jesus story down on paper. And that the book of Acts was put together while they were in Rome, perhaps just prior to Paul's execution. Some have suggested that Luke and Acts were put together with Luke's assistance as a part of Paul's defense. There's really nothing in the text that would lead us to that, other than we know that he's repeatedly on trial in multiple settings. But in the Gospel of Luke, we have one of the four gospel narratives, and what I would like to do is take a few sessions, and pull some of the threads that are recurrent through that gospel.
There's a message that Luke is telling. He's not just reciting a history, he's presenting to us a message. And so often we read our Bibles in little short snippets, even in our Bible reading plan. You know, we'll read a couple of chapters a day, and sometimes you'll miss a day or two, and then you'll sit down and speed read your way through six or eight chapters, and it's easy to forget that there's really a narrative being presented. There is an objective that the author is trying to accomplish. You know, I learned long ago that when you pick up a book, the first thing you wanna try to establish is, what is it the author is trying to do. I had a professor that said, you know, what's the axe that this author is grinding? What's the point that's being made?
Well, it's my question with the Gospel of Luke. What is he trying to tell us about Jesus? What's he trying to tell us about Jesus's friends? What's he trying to tell us about the message that Jesus delivered? So with your endurance and, I hope your participation, we're gonna pull some of those threads for a few sessions, and look at the Gospel of Luke in a little more detail. We can't take it chapter by chapter or verse by... well, we could, but it would take us a while. But we're gonna take a few sessions and do this. So I wanna ask you if you will to accept a little extra credit reading assignment. Not in place of your daily Bible reading. We're reading through those historical books. I smile. You ever heard anybody say that, you know, "Christians shouldn't be political. The Bible is not political".
I've heard that once or twice. Well, my goal really is to be political. I do think we have to engage culture, but you're just completing the historical books. 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles. Anything in there about politics? If you took politics out of the Bible, you have to get rid of all those books. Then you have to get rid of all the prophets. Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and all the rest of those names you can't pronounce at the end of your Old Testament. You have to get rid of Exodus. That's the conflict between Moses and Pharaoh. You'd have to get rid of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, because that's all the rules and regulations God put in place so the children of Israel could function with the infrastructure of a nation. He gave them a hierarchy. So I don't think we can imagine that we can separate ourselves from the culture, and in the gospel Luke really doesn't, but that's my goal.
So here's the assignment if you'll accept it. And then this really is based upon your current life schedule and the amount of free time available to you, but let me frame it this way. Don't spend more time watching sports or participating in your hobby than you do reading Luke. It's just for a short window, a couple of weeks. If your schedule permits, read it once a day. It's 24 chapters. Couple hours, you can make your way through it. If that's way too much, your schedule just doesn't have that much bandwidth in it, maybe you can read it once a week. Twenty-four chapters, divide that by seven and you'll get something. Take off your shoes and work it out with your neighbors, you got enough fingers and toes.
You know, look, you say this is a crazy busy season of my life. That's not possible. Then just read the Gospel of Luke with us this month. But let's put a little bit of effort in it. And then I trust the Holy Spirit to help us begin to see the things I'm gonna share with you. They're not sacred. They didn't come down the mountain with Moses. I'm not suggesting they're more right than somebody else's perspective, but I do believe there are some themes and perspectives that Luke is giving us that are a very important part of the narrative. We'll do it with another gospel soon, and you can see the contrast perhaps in the way John tells the Jesus story. But I wanna start in Luke chapter 1, what a thought. And I label that first couple of sections just birthdays, because it really is about birth announcements, and birthdays, and all the celebrations.
Somebody on our team had a baby this week. The whole staff was, it was the daily question multiple times a day. And do we have a baby yet? Big deal. Human life really is sacred. It's biblical. But in Luke chapter 1, it says, "The angel said to him". Him is Zechariah, He's a priest. He's serving in the temple while it's his time to serve. He's actually doing his priestly duties. They rotated. I'll spare you that rotation. We can actually know which month of the year it was by the information the Bible gives us about when the different priestly groups served in the temple. But Zechariah is serving. He's actually in the temple, and the angel Gabriel comes to see him. An archangel.
One of the most powerful of all the angels has an assignment to deliver a message to Zechariah, "And the angel said to him, 'Don't be afraid Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son and you're to give him the name John. He'll be a joy and a delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.'" Now, Zechariah and Elizabeth, many of you know, they are childless, and they are beyond the time when having a child seems likely. That's a gentle way of putting it. The scripture is not always so gentle. What I think is noteworthy at this point is that God selected the name for the child they're going to conceive before the child is conceived. God selects a name and has a very clear assignment for John before conception.
That's a very relevant point to make in the midst of our current cultural discussions. If you can't sort that out, you're not really paying much attention. Same chapter, verse 18, "Zechariah asked the angel, 'How can I be sure of this? I'm an old man.'" Now, he's also a wise man because he doesn't say his wife is old. He simply says, "My wife is well along in years". "And the angel answered, 'I'm Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I've been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you'll be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you didn't believe my words, which will come true at the proper time.'"
That is a remarkable little segment to me because Gabriel says to Zechariah, a godly man, a man being rewarded for the way he's led his life, for the prayers that he is offered, and yet there is a consequence to his unbelief. Even in the midst of this angelic announcement from one of the most powerful of all the angels, an announcement of both honor and reward, when Zechariah is hesitant to embrace fully what Gabriel is saying, there is a consequence. You'll be mute. You and Elizabeth aren't gonna get to talk about this. I'm gonna disrupt your routine. You need both of these things in place. Gabriel says, "Your prayer has been heard. I am here in response to your prayer". But then he also says to Zechariah, "Because you didn't believe my words". Shut up. Living Bible.
See, I don't think we really believe with much sense of a consequence, when we refuse to believe. I believe we should add greater value to both obedience and belief. How casually do we say things like, "Well, that's not how I believe. Well, I don't believe that. That's not how me and my people believe. Well, I don't know, you know, I'm just, I don't know, well, no, no". As if we're the arbiters. And I think that one of the things, particularly by the time we get a little further into Luke's narrative, that's gonna become abundantly clear is that you and I are making choices daily, multiple times a day, on what we will believe, and what we won't believe about Almighty God, and there are consequences attached to those choices.
The same angel is sent some months later to Nazareth, the village farther north in Israel, to see Mary, and to tell her she's going to conceive a child. Mary's a teenager. Zachariah is an old man. He's a priest with a great deal of service under his belt, a lot of God experience. Mary's a teenager. She has a wedding planned. They've been looking at, you know, the shades for the icing on the cake, and announcements, and all the stuff. And Gabriel rolls in and Mary, and he says, "You're gonna have a child, and you're gonna name him Jesus, and he's gonna be a really big deal". And Mary says, quite appropriately, "How will this be, since I'm a virgin"? And the angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you".
And we read that as if, oh, that explains everything. "So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God. 'I'm the Lord's servant,' Mary answered, 'May it be unto me as you have said.' And the angel left her". Mary believed what Gabriel said. You can easily read past it if you're trying to get your three chapters pounded out for the day. But I would point out to you that both of those stories are in Luke chapter 1, and they're abutted next to one another. Luke is making a very stark contrast between Mary's attitude and Zechariah's.
Zechariah said, "Whoa, big fella. Hang on a minute. How can I be sure of this? If I go home and tell Elizabeth, I'm opening a can of worms". And Mary, in a very different response, with something that is beyond imagination, beyond experience, it's beyond hope, It's beyond any peer group she can go talk to, it's beyond the realm of imagination or possibility. Mary simply says, "What you said, I'm in". I believe Luke is inviting us towards something, and he's gonna highlight that as we push through these next few chapters. Please don't miss the contrast. I wanna come back just a moment to a point we've already made about John the Baptist. Prior to his birth, God had a plan and a name for him.
Well, in Luke chapter 1 in verse 31, this is what Gabriel says to Mary, "You'll be with child and give birth to a son, and you're to give him the name Jesus". He hasn't been conceived yet. You're gonna have a male child and this is his name. "He'll be great," excuse me, "and he'll be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David". Before Jesus was even conceived, before he drew his first breath, before he made his first noise, in a pattern very similar to what we heard about John the Baptist, God said, "I know that child. I have ordained a plan for that child".
I believe that's true for every child. And I believe one of our assignments biblically is to stand on behalf of those who don't have a voice to stand for themselves. Now, I believe there's forgiveness. Abortion has touched everybody, folks, directly or indirectly. More than 60 million children, we don't need to sit in some pristine ivory tower and imagine we know nothing about this. Directly or indirectly, it's influenced multiple generations. And it may be we have to start with repentance, and forgiveness, and the deliverance that would come with that. But because of our own sense of guilt and shame, let's not perpetuate the destruction of our children because of our own poor choices, and our own bad behaviors, or the behaviors of those that we've cared about. Let's not forfeit our assignment as watchmen on the walls.
I believe what Luke is introducing us to is a point and a principle that is very relevant in the 21st century. It's not a uniquely American issue. It's a global issue. Children are being sacrificed throughout the earth. This happens to be where God has planted us, and we have the greatest influence. The values that our nation chooses influence the globe. I believe our guilt will be greater. In Luke 2 in verse 21 it says, "On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise Jesus, he was named Jesus. The name the angel had given him before he'd been conceived".
Again, God's plans preceded conception. Obedience in Luke as he's telling us this story highlights that they used the name that Gabriel delivered. In John's case, it was a bit of a moment of great emotion. They expected them to name the child after John. Long awaited, long hoped for, that has a son, and John writes because he's not saying much those days. His name is John and his tongue was loosened. It makes me smile when I see all these kids that fill our stage, or all these babies that we dedicate, I step across and I see all the children when they're here throughout the week or whenever it may be to know that God has plans for those young lives. We're not just random clumps of cell colliding with eternity.
That there is an Almighty God, a Creator in heaven and earth, that he's the Creator of our spirit. We may contribute DNA, but God is the one that gives us a spirit. It's that spirit that makes us the image bearers of Almighty God. It's a principle introduced to us in the opening chapters of Genesis. But Luke is telling us something. In fact, Luke opens his narrative in this Gospel with seven instances. It's kind of the introduction to this much broader remarkable story he's gonna tell us. He introduces it with seven instances of people who choose to believe. In fact, in all seven cases, they really believe the unbelievable. They stepped beyond what would be logic, or ordinary, or just kind of a small step beyond what was comfortable. They really believe the unbelievable.
Zachariah and Elizabeth did when it was too late biologically for them to have kids. Maybe they didn't believe it with great enthusiasm. Maybe Zachariah didn't, but they accepted the assignment. Mary and Joseph, they believed what was unbelievable, inexplicable. They had to live it out. They couldn't explain it to their friends. It doesn't stop with the shepherds. You know the shepherds, you know them from the Christmas narrative. I just put a sampling of the verses. I think you really are familiar with them. But it's birth night. Jesus and Mary and Joseph are in Bethlehem. He's arrived in the stable, and the skies in the shepherd's fields outside of Bethlehem are lit up by the heavenly host, the angels from heaven. It's as if heaven cannot contain their enthusiasm.
Now, the shepherds are the lowest rung on the social ladder. They're the least welcome. They're certainly never gonna be invited to the palace. Herod doesn't want them in Jerusalem. You know those signs, "no shirts, no shoes, no service," you could put "no shoes, no shirt, no shoes, no shepherds, no service". And God chooses them to give them an announcement. It's in your notes. It's Luke 2:15: "When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.' So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in a manger". They've got a job to do. They've got an assignment. They see something in the sky.
Do you think it's easier for them to believe that than it would be for you or me? Do you think, because they were first century people, they were just more inclined to believe that angels were gonna show up in the skies and said, "I want you to go check something out". We have Bibles, and communities, and all sorts of learning opportunities, and we have all sorts of tools and resources that weren't available. They believed it. They went and found the baby. They went and saw Mary and Joseph. They were the most comfortable in the place where Jesus was born. But they didn't stop there. When they take Jesus to be circumcised when he's eight days old, which is the custom according to the Mosaic Law.
In same chapter, chapter 2, it's verse 25: "There was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him". Now, Luke is gonna give you this perspective repeatedly. The presence of the Holy Spirit and the power of God. For Luke, they go together. Jesus will return from his baptism at the Jordan River in the power of the spirit after the Holy Spirit has descended upon him, and he introduces us to this character that we haven't heard of before, Simeon. Except he says the Holy Spirit was upon him, and "It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he wouldn't die before he'd seen the Messiah". Wow, "And moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts".
Are we prepared to lead lives that are engaged enough with the purposes of God, listening to God, aware enough of what God has said he would do, that it might actually dictate the behavior of our lives? Moved by the Spirit, he went to the temple. And he has enough discernment, there's lots of children being presented that day. Jesus wouldn't have been the only one there. "Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God". Listen to what he says, "Sovereign Lord, as you've promised, now dismiss your servant in peace". I'm done. You kept your promise to me. "My eyes have seen your salvation". It's a baby. I've been a pastor for a bit. I've been called on lots of baby calls. I've seen lots of babies, I've looked at lots of baby pictures.
Now, I've looked at lots of baby pictures of grandparents. The most brilliant child that has ever drawn a breath. Don't doubt it. Simeon has the ability in the midst of many children to say, "This is the one". "A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel". The child's father and mother, Mary and Joe, marveled at what was said about him. "Simeon blessed him and said to Mary, 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.'"
Wait a minute, I prayed for lots of babies. I've never prayed a prayer like that. This baby is gonna be a pain for your whole life. This child is going to bring tremendous division. Did you hear what he said? First of all, he said, "God, I know you keep your promises". It's a very important affirmation for Joseph and Mary. They've been through a lot. A lot of trauma. A lot of drama. And now they're just trying to keep their commitments to obey the Mosaic Law, and Simeon steps up and says, "This is the child I've been waiting for". Don't you know that... I can see the glances between Mary and Joseph. "Maybe we're not crazy".
But then Luke gives us a great deal of insight into the presentation of the gospel that we're about to look at over these next few sessions. He says, "Jesus is gonna be a point of great division". See, we have a false gospel that says Jesus is only about love. Jesus is one big group hug. That's the predominant message in so many places where I listen. And when Simeon acknowledges the child, he said, "This child is destined to bring division. There'll be many voices against him. The content of people's hearts will be revealed". You see, there is a God and we have a choice to make, folks. Not a singular choice, but a choice that we make on a daily basis about our relationship with Almighty God.
When the Spirit of God begins to move, one of the most important things we can do is to continue to say yes to him. No hesitation, no reluctance, we're all in. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, yes, yes to you. We wanna cooperate in obedience, and faithfulness, and steadfastness, to serve your purposes. In Jesus's name, amen.