Lechem Panim #113 "Luke The Historian" (Acts 1:1-3) Pastor Cameron Ury

Hello, and welcome to Lechem Panim. Last week we started a new series on the book of Acts, beginning first by taking a look at the life and ministry of the author (Luke), who had formerly been a physician but who left everything to follow Christ and come alongside and minister with the Apostle Paul. And (as we will see today) God used Luke in remarkable way and (as He so often does) redirects Luke in a way he himself probably could never have imagined, as he went on to become the historian of the early Church.

Our Historian— You know, it’s interesting; whenever we visit my Grandmother in Kentucky, she will often tell us various stories of when she and my grandfather (and their children, my father, aunts, and uncles) were missionaries in Taiwan. And those stories are fascinating to listen to. But more often than not, when she is telling these stories, she has sitting by her side my dear Aunt Faith, whose memory surpasses the memory of anybody I have ever known. She can remember many addresses and phone numbers not only from the current time, but can also tell you what they were at any given stage of their life. She can remember every fact and every detail. She is, without a doubt, our family’s personal historian. She catches the mistakes and (when necessary) points them out in order to make sure the story is accurately passed down. And so far (thanks to her) they have been.

Luke the Historian-- And so we see here (and really throughout the entirety of his Gospel) that Luke writes with the same kind of precision as any first-class historian. He had said back in his introduction to his Gospel (which is the prequel to the book of Acts written to the same recipient: Theophilus)…

Luke 1:1-4 (NIV)— 1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Three Atheists Converted— Luke wanted his recipient Theophilus and all else who would read this account to know the facts, so that (knowing the facts) they might reasonably place their faith in Jesus Christ. Three great men I would put Luke in the same category with are C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, and Lee Strobel. All three of them were unbelievers until they began investigating the reliability of the accounts given to us in scripture. C.S. Lewis said he was very reluctant to the idea of becoming a Christian, but eventually was dragged (in his own words) “kicking and screaming into the kingdom” because the evidence he found for Christianity was so absolute and irrefutable. Josh McDowell likewise was very cynical of Christianity, but was challenged by a group of loving friends of his who were Christians to actually look at the evidence. And so he set out on a personal vendetta to try to disprove Christianity. He ended up also becoming a Christian; because of the overwhelming amount of evidence. Lee Stobel, author of The Case for Christ was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune; and a devout atheist. And the worst thing he thought could happen happened; his wife became a Christian. And he was terrified that she was going to become some kind of religious prude, and so he decided to take all his skills as an investigative journalist and expose Christianity for the cult he knew it had to be and convince his wife to get out of it. And his book chronicles his journey, as he interviewed scholars and numerous experts and authorities on the issue. But he was surprised at what he found; and that was that there are mountains of evidence stacked in Christianity’s favor. And he says he finally sat down and wrote a list of all the positive evidences for Christianity and then another (what he perceived to be) negative list of the evidences against Christianity and put the lists side by side. And he said he found (to his amazement) that after comparing those lists it would actually take more faith for him to maintain his atheism. And so he also was compelled to become a Christian. 

Luke’s Desire for Proof-- Now I say all this because Luke would have been like these men; he would have wanted proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is why he investigated as thoroughly as he did. He wanted to be sure for himself; but he also knew that others were not going to believe unless they also had sufficient evidence. And so he became a historian; perhaps the greatest historian of all time. And as we move through the book of Acts, one of the things we will see is that Luke is a guy who (like in his Gospel) is very much concerned with the details; the facts in and surrounding the life and ministry of Jesus. This is why he is careful to give us the [details that helped identify the historical context of the events he described] He takes time to explain when they happened and what was going on during that time period. Phrases like In the time of…, In those days…, In the ____ year of.… Over and over again Luke ties his Gospel in with known history. And these details can be checked out.

Sir William Ramsay-- In the [Late 1800’s/early 1900’s Sir William Ramsay was a well-known archaeologist and historian…{and} was considered to be the world's most imminent scholar on Asia-Minor, and it's geography and history. He read the book of Acts and said,“the book of Acts is a highly imaginative and carefully colored account of primitive Christianity” (in essence, “of my knowledge of history, I have no respect for Luke as a historian”). {But} Then he went to the middle east for the express purpose of proving the Bible wrong in its history. He came home and wrote the book, “Luke, The Beloved Physician” in which he proclaimed Dr. Luke to be one of the worlds foremost historians. Here’s a quote from Sir William Ramsey…this was after looking carefully at the evidence: “I take the view that Luke’s history is unsurpassed in its trustworthiness. You may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian, and they will stand the keenest scrutiny, and the harshest treatment.”] [Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements trustworthy . . . this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians”]

Pretending The Bible Was True-- Now what is fascinating about the story of Sir William Ramsey is that he had decided (almost as a joke) to pretend that the Bible was true and to start using the Bible as the basis for his archeological digs. And what ended up happening is he made discovery after discovery after discovery using the Bible as his starting point. And he came to this conclusion (and we don’t know if he ever became a Christian or not). But this is the conclusion he came to (and I paraphrase): “If the Bible (Luke in particular) can be trusted at every single point that it can be checked out, I wonder if I shouldn’t take more seriously those areas that can’t be checked out.”

An Accurate Habit of Mind-- And this was his reasoning. He said: “There is a certain presumption that a writer who proves to be exact and correct in one point will show the same qualities in other matters. No writer is correct by mere chance, or accurate sporadically. He is accurate by virtue of a certain habit of mind. Some men are accurate by nature; some are by nature loose and inaccurate.” 
And so his conclusion was that Luke was this kind of accurate person; consistently accurate.

Why Luke Wanted To Get The Details Straight-- Luke was trustworthy in his investigation; and the reason was because Luke didn’t want have a false picture of Jesus (remember his own salvation was on the line); rather he wanted to know for certain who this Jesus really was. And he had to be thorough in his investigation because, unlike Matthew and John, he was not an eyewitness of the events of Christ’s life. And so he had to get most of that information second-hand.

Positioned to Examine Witnesses-- And Luke is in a fantastic position to gather information about Jesus because he was (as we said before) a close friend and traveling companion of Paul, which allowed him to come into contact with and interview those who were eyewitnesses; not just the disciples, but the many others as well. Jesus touched a lot of people and therefore there were a lot of witnesses. Think about all the people He touched; all the miracles He performed. It says in John’s Gospel…

John 21:25 (NIV)-- 25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Many Witnesses— And so we see that there would be many accounts because there were many witnesses of all these events. Even just the number of those who were witnesses to the Resurrection (to whom Jesus appeared to after He rose from the dead) is staggering. Paul writes in…

1 Corinthians 15:5-8 (NIV)-- 5…that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Eyewitness Records-- And Paul was a reluctant witness as well. He didn’t want to believe. But then he encountered the risen Christ and had to change his beliefs based on what he saw. But all this to say, there was a multitude of witnesses to all these events and therefore there was a multitude of stories and accounts. And many endeavored to write them down, as we see in verses 1-2 of Luke chapter 1.

Luke 1:1-2 (ESV)— 1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,

​A Reasonable Faith-- Now I say all this because sometimes we need to be reminded that the Bible is unlike other religious works in that (by giving us specific historical details) it puts kind of puts its neck on the line and says “come and see”; come and check this out; come verify that this is true. Are we to accept what it says by faith? Yes. But what we must always remember that it is not a blind faith (believing not having any real reason to) but rather we have a faith in Christ and His Word that rests on the sufficiency of the evidence. It is a reasonable faith. We can trust the scriptures and find in them solid reason to believe that Christ is who says He is. And consequently (because of that) we can also have assurance that He can do for us what He says He can do; and that is to redeem us from all our sins. And so let us give Him thanks for that today. Amen.