Allen Jackson - The Cost of Silence - Part 1
I started a new series in the previous session. I wanna take a few sessions and talk with you about the Gospel of Luke. In fact, I wanna ask you, if you will accept it, to take a little homework assignment. I know we already do daily Bible reading and I can see the eye rolls, like, what now? You know that's a pretty minimal investment to be able to read through your Bible in a year, about a 15-minute-a-day commitment. I wanna ask you to take the Gospel of Luke with me if you will and read it a little more intensely for just a short window of time. I don't know how long, couple of weeks maybe, God willing, but if your schedule is such, I know our lives are very different places, we're in different seasons.
If you have some bandwidth in your life, maybe you wanna read the Gospel of Luke once a day. It's only 24 chapters. That sounds like an enormous lift, but really, you could read it in the time it takes to watch a football game. Now I'm getting personal. Maybe you don't have that kind of bandwidth and maybe you could read it over the course of a week. Just a handful of chapters a day would enable you to get through those 24 chapters in a week. Maybe that's still more than your schedule will permit in a reasonable fashion. I don't want you to do something unreasonable. Maybe you'll just have to say, you know, "I'll try to get it read this month," but the repeated reading of something changes what you read. It will move it from something that's kind of distant, and you'll be amazed at how it will become familiar to you.
Most of us have very seldom, if ever, given that kind of focused attention to any part of the Word of God. And so if you'll take a little bit of time with the Gospel of Luke, I'm gonna take some time in these sessions and what I really wanna do is try to highlight some threads, some thoughts, that are consistent throughout that Gospel. See, it's not like an abstract collection of cool little Jesus stories. I don't understand the Gospel of Luke or any of the Gospels, to be that. The person who put those narratives together are trying to make a point with you. You know, I was taught long ago, somewhere along the way, I was taught that if you read a book, you need to understand at the beginning what the objective of the book is.
I remember one professor says, "You need to know the ax that the author is grinding". And when you pick up the Gospel of Luke, if you told me you read it, I'm gonna say to you, "What was Luke trying to say"? And if the answer, "Well, he was talking about Jesus". You knew that from the first two verses. You really didn't need to read any further. Somehow we've been trained to read our Bibles, but we turn our minds off and we think about current events or our to do list or our families or something. But just the discipline we think of having our Bible in front of us, well, we kinda numbly look at the words as reading our Bible. It's not true.
So I wanna invite you to make a little heightened effort towards the Gospel of Luke. This is what I know biblically, that God said he's the rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And if we'll make a little bit of an effort, God will meet us in a unique way. And it seems to me we desperately need God to meet us now. So rather than say, "I don't know what to do," or "I don't know how to make a difference," what if we just offered ourself to the Lord and say, Listen, I'm interested. I would like to know you better. I would like to know how to live out what you've called me to be. All the time, people meet me and say, "Pastor, you know, I heard your sermon. Let me tell you what I think". Or "Pastor, you know, I read that scripture that you had in there. But let me tell you what I understand".
I'm like... You know, at the end of the day, what I think and what I understand is really secondary to what God said to us. And if you don't know the Word of God, you have no idea what God said. And it's easy to manipulate and deceive you. And there are lots of voices these days that will tell you what God wants you to do, what God's people should be doing. And if you don't know the Word of God, we are easy prey. So we're gonna focus a little bit on Luke. Just a couple of background ideas. Luke is not Jewish. You say, "Well, what's the big deal"? Well, he's the only New Testament writer that checks that box. He's a Gentile, he's a physician. He was Paul's attending physician.
Paul needed a doctor because he got the love of Jesus kicked out of him about everywhere he went. He needed a doctor or he'd have to stay home. I mean, that's The Living Bible, but that is the truth. A lot of scholars seem to think that the Gospel of Luke was written while Paul was a prisoner in Caesarea. He was there for almost two years, ultimately awaiting his transport to Rome. And Luke was with him. And they think while he was there, recognizing that it could be the end of a journey, that they put together the Jesus story. They still had access to interview many of the people.
A lot of those same scholars think that the book of Acts which Luke also authored could have been written when Paul was a prisoner in Rome, another couple of years' stint. He steps out of our historical narrative at that point. We don't know if he was executed. But Luke gave us these narratives of the life of Jesus and the life of Jesus's followers, largely from the vantage point or the connection he had with the apostle Paul. So I'm gonna start, we started this in the previous session. I'm gonna pick our narrative up and I'll continue doing this when we kind of start to identify some of these threads or themes. And we're just gonna walk our way through. We can't look at every verse or every chapter. That would probably take more time than at least seems reasonable to me today.
I'll do whatever seems best, but we made it to Luke chapter 3, so I'm gonna start there and it's where Luke begins the story of John the Baptist as an adult. He already introduced us to John the Baptist's parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah, and the supernatural circumstances of John's conception. His parents were too old to have kids. Now, Luke was a little bit kinder than that. He said Zechariah was really old, but he just said Elizabeth was well along in years. Makes you think Luke might have known Elizabeth, that he's being a bit more gentle. But the truth was, biologically, they weren't gonna have any kids. And God sent Gabriel, an archangel, to Zechariah, he's a priest, while he's serving in the temple, to say, "You need to get a nursery ready".
And Zechariah said, "Well, that would be amazing. We have prayed for that. But how can I believe this"? It's a legitimate question. And Gabriel says, "Because you didn't believe it, you're gonna be quiet until the baby's born". There are consequences for not believing, folks. We treat believing in God as if it's a smorgasbord, as if we're visiting a cafeteria and we're trying to choose which dessert we want. "I'll believe this, but I'm not gonna believe that, and I'll take that off the shelf. But I don't want any of that". Understand when we refuse to believe God and his truth, we forfeit opportunities. Cultivate the habit of, in yourself, if you believe it to be true, "I will accept it. I will make it my own. I'll build that into my practice".
We get to Luke 3 and John is beginning his public ministry. Zechariah and Elizabeth have stepped to the background. You know, this wonderful thing we're living out, this Christian life, you know, we run for a while. We get a little season under the sun, a few days, a few turns of the calendar, carrying the baton, and then we hand that baton off to someone. Zechariah and Elizabeth are celebrated for their godliness, their faithfulness, their prayers. God entrusts them with this remarkable child. He knew John before John was even conceived. You don't have to be a biblical scholar to have an understanding of our assignment to protect the children. But now it's John's turn in the arena and John's gonna carry the baton for a while. But he says, "There's one coming after me. I'm just the forerunner".
He's gonna hand that baton off. I hope you're living with the awareness that you've got a baton today, but you're only gonna carry it so far. You and I are neither the beginning of the story nor the end of the story. We have an important role to play because if we fumble the baton and drop the baton, it breaks the momentum. It won't change the ultimate outcome, God is sovereign, but it could change the momentum, it could change the timing, it could change the suffering. If our nation falls, if the voice of Christianity, the values the biblical worldviews that this nation have held and shared globally, if we collapse because of the indifference of the Christians, there will be tremendous suffering globally. God's purposes will go forward. There have been other times in the history of the church, in the history of civilizations, when the church has failed and then when the church has failed, it has brought horrific suffering.
When the Roman Empire collapsed, a Christian Empire, it became corrupt and self-absorbed. When it collapsed, civilization or the western civilization stepped into the Dark Ages. When the church in Europe collapsed, we had a global war and a holocaust. I don't know that the outcome is quite clear yet, what's gonna happen. But please don't imagine that what you're doing is unimportant. You've got a baton. How are you doing with that? How you doing with that? John the Baptist, Luke chapter 3. We gotta go. Lord, help him stay on task.
"In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip..." We're getting all the political leaders for the land of Israel. It's not political, it's just whatever. "During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah in the desert". I think it's worth noting that Luke goes out of his way to say that John began his ministry when the Word of God came to him. It's a supernatural launch. It's not just that he graduated from school. Luke very clearly tells us it's a supernatural beginning to John's ministry and he puts it into context so that we remember it's in keeping with his birth.
And if you don't remember, or you didn't hear the previous session, the opening chapters of John are all about these supernatural birthdays, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and John the Baptist; Mary and Joseph, and Jesus. And now John's beginning his public ministry. It's the next chapter, it's the next step in this narrative, and it's a supernatural beginning as well. God is unleashing something with these supernatural births and now with the beginning of John's message. I hope you're living with the awareness that God is unleashing something in our generation. We're not just biding our time. We're not just waiting, we're not just pursuing all of our objectives for our scheduled life plan and hope we get to go to heaven.
Our journey under the sun is so that we can be people of the kingdom of God. We're fulfilling God's purposes with our lives. Hebrews 12 says we're surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. The Roman world was filled with stadiums, much like our sport, athletic stadiums today. So the people were very familiar with the imagery and it's what the author of Hebrews borrows. And he says that the stands are filled with the people who have preceded us. This is our time in the arena. One day, you and I will talk to Saul of Tarsus, or Peter the fisherman, or Andrew or John or James or Elijah or Samuel. We'll say, "Yeah, I know a little bit about your story," and they're gonna say, "Yeah, I know a little bit about your story too". Are you living to be prepared for that? I hope so. I pray so.
Our enemy, the devil, wants you to believe that you're not significant. That to be important, you have to be an influencer. I would submit, you have influence with the Creator of all things. Let's decide the simple part of this, that our life objective, our life goal, is to please him, to represent him well. And I don't believe sitting in church from time to time when it's convenient is really the fulfillment of that commitment. Luke chapter 3 and verse 7, "John said to the crowds coming to be baptized by him, 'You brood of vipers!'" Vipers is a fancy word for snakes. Said, "You're a bunch of snakes. Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And don't begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'"
A lot of pride in religion. It's true in the 1st century, it's true in the 21st century. We get really proud of how we do it. We belong to the right group. We read the right translation. We worship the right way. We take Communion with grape juice that is the proper color. It really doesn't matter which group you come from, that kind of self-righteousness attached to religion is a unique challenge for religious people. And it was true in the 1st century, they said that they're Jewish, they have a covenant with God. All of those things are true. God identified himself with the Jewish people. He's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Imagine he said if he was the God of Rutherford County in Murfreesboro.
"Let us tell you about our God". I can't imagine. And John says to them: You really shouldn't put too much stress on your family tree. "'For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that doesn't produce fruit, he'll cut down and be thrown into the fire.' And the crowd said, 'What should we do?' And John said, 'Well, the one who has two coats share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.' And the tax collectors came to be baptized". The tax collectors were the most hated amongst the local citizens. Rome figured out pretty early that they could raise their tax revenue if they would use local citizens because the local citizens know who has the money.
So they would recruit somebody locally that was willing to betray their fellow citizens. "Tell us who the wealthy people are in the community, and we will give you Roman soldiers to be the muscle you need and you can collect the taxes and, by the way, you can collect whatever you want for yourself as well". That's how we get Zacchaeus in Jericho. He's the tax collector and Jesus stops at his house and Zacchaeus says, "If I have cheated anyone". He's cheated everyone. And now the tax collectors are coming to John the Baptist. "Teacher, what should we do"? The crowd could answer. "John says to them, 'Don't collect any more than you're required to.' The soldiers came," the bullies, the intimidators, the enforcers.
"'What should we do?' 'Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely, be content with your pay.' The people were waiting expectantly and they were all wondering in their hearts if John might be the Messiah. And John answered them, 'I baptize you with water, but there's one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie. He'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear the threshing floor, to gather the wheat into his barn. He'll burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.'"
He's telling him the same thing: Judgment's coming. "And with many other words, John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them. But when John rebuked Herod the governor because of Herodias, his brother's wife," the governor married his brother's wife, and John calls him out on it in public, "and all the other evil things Herod had done, Herod added this to the list. He locked John up in prison".
Now that's John's message. It's his core message. I believe it was a message that was repeated many times. John made a tremendous impact. He carried that baton for a season and then he'll hand it to Jesus. We'll look at that, I hope, before we're done today, about 3 o'clock. Yeah, but I just wanna, you know, if you could step back from that for just a moment with me, let's just try to think about what we just read. You don't need any theology or note, original language awareness. John used some very harsh language. "You bunch of snakes! Who warned you to avoid judgment? God has the ax already aimed at the root of this tree". That is not conciliatory. He's not building bridges. He's calling them names.
There were many listening who were offended, the tax collectors and the soldiers specifically, Luke tells us, two of the most hated groups amongst the people. Some of the wealthiest and most powerful, certainly the ones that could enact something punitive. You don't want to make the IRS mad. Luke specifically calls them out. They are convicted. They say, "What should we do"? It's worth noting. We just read it. John publicly calls out their poor behavior. He said, "Don't collect any more taxes than your due". He looks at the crowd, said, "You should stop stealing". And the soldiers ask the same question and John, just as unflinchingly, says, "Don't extort money. Don't accuse people falsely. Be content with your pay".
John is warning them of unquenchable fire, judgment. John is speaking to the covenant people of God, and then John does something that really is bizarre to us from a contemporary church standpoint. He takes on the political leader. Says, "You're immoral, and you gotta stop". And talks about his evil behavior. Now, I have a question, and it really is for you to process more than it is just me. But it seems to me that John's message is very different from the messaging that has described our journey through church. We talk about Bible studies from antiquity. We wanna study the character of people in the 1st century. What were the voices in their lives?
If we start to talk about current culture, we get really anxious in the contemporary American church. I have to consistently come back and say, listen, I'm not really trying to talk about political issues. I want to talk about current cultural issues. Marriage is not a political issue; it's a biblical worldview issue. Human sexuality is not a political issue; it's a biblical worldview issue. Telling the truth is not a political issue; it's a cultural biblical issue. And if we're not gonna talk about what's happening in our world, we don't have a real faith. We have a theoretical faith. I don't want to eat a theoretical lunch. I want real food. And in order to arrive at that place and defend those positions, we have to ignore the scripture.
Now in Luke's narrative and we're gonna look at this, we're gonna pull some of these threads pretty consistently. We have 24 chapters to pull these threads through. There's some things I'm gonna warn you, you're gonna see repeatedly, particularly if you get to read ahead, you can make some notes in your own Bible. I just completely blew up the Gospel of Luke. Mine's almost illegible at this point, but Jesus and his associates are going to consistently deliver some very uncomfortable messages to the people of God. Secondly, there's gonna be significant resistance and rejection of the message. Everybody's not gonna cheer. And quite surprisingly, if you're trying to read Luke's narrative with just a little bit of perspective, it's really surprising who responds.
The people you would expect to respond, have little interest or they respond in a way you didn't anticipate, and the ones you think would want nothing to do with it, raise their hand and say, "What can I do? How can I get in"? In this particular case with John the Baptist, it's the tax collectors and the soldiers. That's not who you would expect. John has a message from God that's been overly emphasized from the nature of his conception, to when Luke just says to us plainly, the Word of God came to John. And then we get to read the message that Luke presents to us and the people who are religious, the people who are biblically grounded, the people who are serving God in professional capacities, want nothing to do with it. But the thieves and the bullies, the thugs, say, "We need to be baptized".
The fourth thing in Luke's narrative that you'll find is this dimensional life. I chose some words that are weren't religious. Throughout the Gospel of Luke, we're gonna be introduced to these forces that shape our lives that are not about the physical world in which we live, that you're not going to fully engage with your five senses. Zechariah and Elizabeth conceived because of the supernatural intervention of God, biologically not possible. Maybe we could say it was a fluke, you know something happened, but you get to Mary and Joseph in the same chapter. And what happened to them?
We don't have an explanation for it, but God. And Luke is going to continue to push us into this narrative, asking us to consider leading a dimensional life where we imagine that spiritual influences and spiritual forces are every bit as powerful in your life as the diet you choose to eat. And for most of us in the American Church, we've just tried, you know, we've treated spiritual things as if they were make-believe. We don't want to talk about that. We would rather have a study. We would rather memorize some names. We would rather learn to spell Nebuchadnezzar, maybe.
There's a lot of fear in the church these days because we recognize intuitively, if we haven't recognized it consciously, that the world has changed. The way we practiced our faith two or three years ago isn't sufficient for what's before us right now. Don't be frightened by that. Ask the Lord to give you an understanding heart. We've gotta learn to see in some new ways so we can respond with boldness and courage. Let's pray:
Father, I pray you'll give us new courage, new eyes to see, new understanding hearts, that we may respond with great faith to what you're doing in the Earth. I thank you for it, in Jesus's name, amen.