A Brief Introduction to Luke

Posted on April 26, 2022 by Don Merritt

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 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,  so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Luke 1:1-4

Luke opens with a formal introduction in the best ancient Greek style, and certainly along with Acts, Luke is written in the most elegant formal Greek, standing out from all other New Testament writings. As he says in his introduction, it is organized along the formal lines of a Greek historian, and in that sense compares favorably to any of the ancient Greek historical texts.

The most important thing for us to take from the introduction is the reason Luke is writing this book; it was so the reader would be certain about the things they were taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, and in this there is a bit of apologetic in Luke’s writing that differs somewhat from the other Gospel authors.  The idea of being “certain” about the things of God is not really a modern idea, for in our times we prefer to say that one cannot ever be entirely certain about anything other than science.  Of course, science has found certainty in a great many things which were wrong, although we don’t like to talk about that. If we were to be entirely honest with ourselves, we would have to acknowledge that science sometimes continues to be certain about things which aren’t quite right today, especially when politics enter the picture.

In any case, Luke wants his readers to be certain, we will be reading, and I hope that our level of certainty will have increased greatly by the time we are finished.

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This sounds familiar… doesn’t it?

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Don Merritt

Why do the nations conspire
    and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up
    and the rulers band together
    against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
“Let us break their chains
    and throw off their shackles.”

Psalm 2: 1-3

Whether you follow the international scene closely, or if you prefer the study of history, these words are likely to sound familiar to you. It seems that the things that nations are doing today are at least as old as the Scriptures; there’s nothing new under the sun.

Yet the machinations of Men aren’t the only things going on out there:

The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
    the Lord scoffs at them.
He rebukes them in his anger
    and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
“I have installed my king
    on Zion, my holy mountain.”

Psalm 2: 4-6

Although the kings and rulers of this earth feel pretty sure of themselves in their plots, schemes and pointless struggling and striving, they are being watched by Almighty God, who isn’t all that amused by their misdeeds. It would seem that He favors an altogether different King. Perhaps the next few verses will sound most familiar of all:

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;
    today I have become your father.
Ask me,
    and I will make the nations your inheritance,
    the ends of the earth your possession.
You will break them with a rod of iron;
    you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

Psalm 2:7-9

In these verses, quoted by the Hebrews author, God is speaking to the King of kings and Lord of lords, who also happens to be God’s own Son. While these verses were prophetic when they were first written, we know that He, the Son, has indeed come. He reigns even now at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, heir to all things in the universe. We also know that we, His followers are His co-heirs to everything, and that in the fullness of time, He will put an end to this fallen world and redeem all of Creation, putting away sin, rebellion, war, suffering, pain and tears. Every human will receive their just due, whether it is a positive or a negative reward: Justice will prevail in this universe― of that we can be certain.

What amazing promises we have; what a great hope we possess. Hold on to these, and this will no doubt be a wonderful week.

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Sunday Sermon Notes: April 24, 2022

Posted on April 24, 2022 by Don Merritt

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

1 John 1:1-4

John has a way of telling the story of Jesus from a lofty, heavenly viewpoint, and this is surely one of those instances.  His Gospel begins in a similar way, (see John 1:1-4) it provides a perfect parallel passage in fact.  Of course, in Revelation, John’s vantage point is so lofty that most misread it entirely. Here in this short letter, John is setting forth two basic and wonderful facts:  First, that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed One of God.  Second, He is setting forth the fact that he, himself, is an eyewitness of Jesus, and Apostle who lived and walked with Jesus for over three years, consequently he is able to give eyewitness testimony about Him.

In verse one, John is letting us know that he saw this Jesus with his own eyes, touched Him with his own hands, heard Him with his own ears, and that now he (John) is proclaiming as the Word of Life, the Word that was with God and that was in fact God from the very beginning, a beginning that predates time itself.

I hate to be crass after such lofty statements, but to put it in the simplest possible modern American terms, John is saying something like:  Hey!  I’m about to tell you something important; listen up. Hey dummy, I know what the heck I’m talking about here!

Back to lofty: In verse two, John takes a step further, as he did in John 1:2.  This Word of Life really appeared, and John saw Him, John was there.  This eternal life that came from the Father Himself John is now going to proclaim to us. John will proclaim this great news of the Word of Life so that we may have fellowship with John and with Jesus, the Son, as well as with the Father. And in doing so, our entry into fellowship will make John’s joy complete.

Fellowship is an interesting word, from the Greek word koinōnia meaning “association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse; the share which one has in anything, participation.” This participation is not only in relationship, but in purpose, for we really cannot separate the Person of Christ from the purpose of the Father.  John’s joy will be complete, because by the proclamation of the Word of Life, we will be in relationship and purpose with John, our fellow believers, and with the Lord Himself.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 1:5-7

Here, we enter the first section of the letter which begins at verse 5 and continues through 2:14. This section is given context in verse 5: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. Thus, this section is all about John’s declaration of light versus darkness, and it contains comparisons and contrasts.

Before we take a look at it, keep in mind what John wrote in John 1:4 “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” All through the Gospel story, John used “light” as signifying the presence of Jesus, contrasted with “darkness” denoting His absence.  Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at our text. After proclaiming that God is light, John gets down to his explanation claiming that if we claim to be in fellowship with God, but walk in darkness, we lie, and are not in the truth.  This is a rather easy statement to understand, for if we are in darkness, then we aren’t in His presence, and if we aren’t in His presence, we couldn’t possibly be in fellowship: There is no half-way.

The contrast is that if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship… because we are with Him in the light.  If we have this fellowship in the light of His presence and truth, then His blood purifies us from all sin.  The reality of the statement is that we can’t be in fellowship with Him until our sins have been forgiven by His sacrifice on the cross.

Sometimes, we may walk a bit in darkness, and by this I mean that we may stray from time-to-time.  John doesn’t suggest that our errors kick us out of fellowship as we will see a little farther through this text, but that there is a way to return to the light of His presence, by confessing our sins., as we see in the next paragraph:

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:8-10

I think we all would agree that a claim by any one of us to have never sinned would be little short of crazy.  John seems to think it’s worse than that− all have sinned, but take heart, for there is a way out, confess your sins and He will forgive; this is our covenant promise.  There is simply no need for us to wring our hands and carry around a burden of guilt and shame before God, for when we confess our sins (acknowledge them) He will forgive; we have His Word on that.

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Active Love

Posted on April 21, 2022 by Don Merritt

People love to talk about love. Love, love, love; all we need is love. Love is the answer. Love conquers all… God is love.

I love pizza!

Maybe it’s all true; I won’t argue against it. Yet if we stop and think about it, don’t we sometimes reduce the whole subject of love down to the level of a slogan, a cliché even? We all might be familiar with what love feels like, but what does it look like in practice?

Not surprisingly, the Scriptures have much to say about love. In fact, Jesus Himself had some things to say on the subject, as did His Apostles. We know that God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son to die for us. We know that the greatest Commandment was that we should love the Lord our God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength, and that the second greatest was that we should love our neighbor as ourselves.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul said a great deal about God’s grace, and how He showed us His love through His grace. Then, he went on to discuss our response to God’s grace, and once again, he wrote about love; this time of our love for one another. Here’s a sample:

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Romans 12:9-13

Notice he begins by telling us that our love must be sincere. Sincerity is much more than a slogan, and it is never cliché. From what follows in these few verses, it would also appear that our love is active in nature, something that can be observed to be put into action. We mustn’t waste love on things which are evil, rather we should love only what is good, wholesome and true. Out of love comes service to God, and service to God is seen when we hold others up as being more important than ourselves, when we meet the needs of others without worrying about our own desires and pleasures. Love isn’t about pleasing ourselves― it’s about serving others.

Many people talk a good game, but when love is put into action, the love of God in us can be seen by everyone to His glory, and no slogans are needed.

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Photo of the Week: April 20, 2022

Posted on April 20, 2022 by Don Merritt
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Priorities

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Don Merritt

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,  and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Colossians 1:19-20

Leading up to these verses Paul gave a list of attributes that he attributed to Christ, and here, as a way of summing up he goes the next step and puts all of the fullness of Jesus Christ into perspective.  Notice that God was “pleased” to have His own fullness residing in Jesus, and to have Jesus reconcile all to Himself. If you think about it, if there was reconciliation, there must first be a conflict…

We know that there was indeed a conflict, a conflict that engulfed all Creation the moment that Adam entered into sin way back in Genesis 3. It’s a funny thing, but for most of us, we don’t really think of sin the way we should, for we tend to think of it as a violation of some sort of rule or ordinance. Yet sin is much more than a simple violation; it’s rebellion, rebellion against God. So here we are, God was pleased indeed to place all of His fullness in the Person of Jesus and to have Jesus establish reconciliation on the cross, for in doing so He paid the entire cost of the rebellion: There is now peace between Man and God.

Why should He do that?

Love.

His love was so great that He placed His fullness into His Son and sent His Son to make peace with humanity; that’s quite a thing to ponder wouldn’t you say? I realize that this statement doesn’t pay the bills, nor does it solve all of the problems we encounter in this life, but it does something much greater than simply taking away problems and circumstances. Instead it transcends the problems of the day-to-day and empowers us to see greater things, to set higher aspirations so that the complications of the here and now are put into their proper perspective.

When you come right down to it, what God has done for us through Jesus Christ puts the hassles of life where they belong… on the low priority list.

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I was Just Thinking…

Posted on April 18, 2022 by Don Merritt

The sun is soon coming up and here at my kitchen table the coffee is fresh and the day is young, but alas, my mind is flying all over the place. This seems to be one of those mornings when I start to wonder if anything in this world can be trusted. People seem to have lost touch with reality, down is up, right is wrong and wrong is right.

Or maybe I’m not quite awake yet, still half dreaming. Yes, maybe it’s just me.

Then it came to me…

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3

Our world may have lost its grip, institutions may have slipped, injustice may seem to prevail all too often; logic itself may be under attack.

Whatever happened to those ‘good old days’?

Yet back in the good old days when the world seemed so much more sane than it does to me right now, my father longed for another set of good old days when things were sane. I remember saying to him one time, “Weren’t those good old days the Great Depression?”

OK, that didn’t go over all that well, as you might imagine. Of course, my good old days are the days of Vietnam, Watergate, stagflation…

Maybe it’s just a matter of perspective, who really knows?

There is one thing I do know for certain: No matter what this old world of ours is up to, God is trustworthy, faithful and true; we can always depend upon Him. We can choose to focus on everything we think is going badly, we can even choose to be part of the problems if we want to, but we can also make a better choice.

We can make a choice to focus on the things of God, we can choose to value our relationship with God and to be like that tree planted by streams of water. Yep, that’s what I will do this day, safe in the knowledge that whatever may come, He is my rock and my salvation.

Yes indeed, this is going to be a great Monday!

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Sunday Sermon Notes: April 17, 2022

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Don Merritt

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

It would seem that then, as now, certain elements within the church were challenging the resurrection− Paul is using a persuasive outline, and this is his thesis statement in which he points out that our entire faith is based upon the proposition that Jesus was raised bodily from the grave.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 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. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

His first point is that Jesus has been seen by hundreds of people post resurrection− there are many eye witnesses who can still tell you that they saw Him. In the old Law, truth was established on the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses− Paul has hundreds of witnesses… and oh yes, he was also a witness. You might also note that he twice said “according to the Scriptures” in this paragraph. It should not have surprised anyone that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again on the third day since this had all be foretold in the Scriptures.

This is actually a very compelling argument because it might be possible to get a few people to conspire together to perpetrate a fraud, but the more people who participate in a lie, the higher the likelihood that someone will recant their story under pressure, and many of these had been under pressure. In fact, many had been pressured by Paul himself…

For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

1 Corinthians 15:9-11

Paul himself had persecuted the Church, had put serious physical pressure on people to renounce their faith, even to deny that they had seen the risen Christ, I would suspect. Yet they did not do so. Then he had been approached on that Damascus road by none other than the risen Christ Himself, and somehow, by God’s amazing grace, Paul had been not only saved from his egregious sins, but he became the Apostle to the Gentiles: He has given reliable testimony to the Corinthians about the resurrection of Christ, and it is because of the resurrection of Christ that they have a foundation of faith.

From here, Paul takes an unusual approach as he continues his case for the resurrection…

As Paul continues to make his case for the resurrection, he makes a point that should be self-evident: If Christ rose from the dead, then a Christian cannot say there is no resurrection of the dead, because if they do, they negate their own faith in Christ. It would appear from 15:12 that certain elements in the congregation were saying just that:

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. (15:12-16)

Yes, it should be self-evident that there either is resurrection or there is not; there is no cherry picking in the matter of resurrection. He continues…

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (15:17-19)

To put it in its simplest form, you can’t really be a Christian and deny the resurrection, for denying resurrection of the dead entirely negates being a Christian.

 

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (15:20)

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then the gospel would be a lie; but He did rise from the dead!

In these verses, Paul gives a gospel “refresher course” to the Corinthians, reminding them that Jesus has risen, and that in due course, so will we. He was the first, having risen to reign over the kingdom of God. He reigns today as well, in anticipation of that Great Day when He will return at the consummation of the kingdom, to put an end to all evil on the earth and to raise all who have “fallen asleep” over the centuries (15:20-25).

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. (15:26-28)

God has put every enemy under Christ’s feet; He will be the one to judge evil and death, and when this has been accomplished, God will reign over the consummated kingdom forever.

This short summary of the end of this world wasn’t placed in this chapter so that we might indulge in speculation about the details of The End. Rather, it is the conclusion of Paul’s point in the prior passage (15:12-19) in which he made the point that if there is no resurrection, our hope is all in vain. Remember, he is correcting misunderstandings about the issue of the resurrection of the dead, as well as any contentions about the resurrection of Christ.

Before we continue, I wonder how we react when people speculate in our midst about such things. To be clear, I am not referring to unbelievers, I mean people who say they follow Christ. Quite a few Christians question whether or not Jesus actually rose from the grave in bodily form, suggesting that His resurrection was more a spiritual thing, something mystical perhaps, but not physical. Even worse, some even suggest that the whole resurrection is sort of a myth, an oral tradition… or maybe something figurative.

How would we respond to that?

Paul’s reaction is found here in chapter 15− and he isn’t quite finished yet.

 

Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”  Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

1 Corinthians 15:29-34

Reading this passage, one might have the impression that Paul is going for the kill in dealing with the issues relating to the resurrection that he has been discussing in this section. We might even detect the presence of a bit of ad hominem here. An argument is said to be ad hominem when a person attacks another person in stead of that person’s position on an issue. In our time, we should be quite familiar with ad hominem attacks, for the entire political world is engaged in such tactics. Just turn on any cable news station this afternoon, and you will see examples of this. If someone attacks you for your faith, saying you are “deluded, deranged and dangerous”, you have just received an ad hominem attack.

An ad hominem argument is a logical fallacy, and if this paragraph was all that Paul wrote on the issue in 1 Corinthians, it would’ve been a fallacious argument. However, in this case, after having addressed the actual issue very thoroughly, Paul is really using it as a sort of wake-up call for any remaining holdouts to really consider how poor their arguments against the resurrection are.

He begins with a practice of being baptized for the dead. Read his words carefully and ask yourself if he was endorsing the practice.

Hardly!

We might even infer that whoever was doing this was also promoting the no resurrection point of view: It sounds an awful lot like ridicule to me.

Look at vv. 30-32 in which Paul puts forth a comparison and contrast between his constant danger of being arrested and/or killed for preaching the gospel, and the whole notion of “eat, drink and be merry”. If there were no hope of a resurrection, why would he and those with him expose themselves to such danger? If there is no resurrection, there could be no judgement or eternity, and if that were true, why not eat, drink and be merry?

He winds up this part of the discussion by calling on everyone to set aside such nonsense and to be sensible on the subject. Instead of spreading such ridiculous thinking, they should be spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, and just to be clear about everything, yes, he was trying to shame them.

I can’t help but wonder how our reactions to such teaching would compare to Paul’s.

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Harmony and Love

Posted on April 11, 2022 by Don Merritt

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.

1Peter 3:8

A person who is always right carries a great burden with them; even more so if they know everything. Do you know anybody like that ― no matter how wrong they might be they are always right? Even when they don’t know something, they have an opinion and you’d better agree; I don’t know about you, but folks like that just wear me out!

Harmony, compassion, sympathy, humility; these may not always come naturally, but they are empowering. These attributes will set you free from always having to know everything, of always having to be right, not to mention the arguments that follow.

The older I get, the more I come to realize that having the approval of others in everything that comes up is really not that important. What does matter is whether or not I am a person who enables others to find the way of love, to build relationships of respect and trust, relationships that build the Body of Christ. Indeed, what really matters comes down to one simple question: When I encounter other people, can they see the love of Christ at work in me?

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Life Set Apart

Posted on April 7, 2022 by Don Merritt

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

2 Timothy 1:9-10

I must confess that there was a time in my life when I would have cringed at the use of the word “holy” in a passage like this. Am I “holy”? Do I have my act together, my life all sorted out and squared away? Am I more righteous that my friends and associates?

I have a very long way to go before I am perfect!

How can I really answer God’s call to live a holy life if I’m not perfectly righteous? You see, if that’s what is meant here, then my life is just another train wreck, and I think that I would have quite a bit of company at that particular crash site.

Yet, that is not what it means to be called to a holy life.

This is an occasion where we find a great deal of confusion between the actual meaning of a word, and the way it is commonly used in contemporary American culture, and for all I know, it may be used the same way in British or Australian English- I’m sure some of you who know might want to let us know about that. Here in the US, the word “holy” is frequently used more as a pejorative as in “So what are you- holier than thou or something?” In that sense the person is saying they think that you are lording your righteousness over them, which of course, wouldn’t be all that righteous.

The word “holy” does not mean a self-righteous hypocrite, it means set apart, and in a New Testament context, it means set apart for God’s service.

When we accept God’s offer of grace through faith in Jesus Christ we receive salvation from sin and death, eternal life in Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and are set apart from this world to serve God’s purpose in building His Kingdom on this earth. This life has been there since the beginning of time, it was present in the Garden of Eden, yet it was forfeited through human rebellion. Yet Jesus came to the earth in the fullness of time and revealed it once again to humanity, and we have accepted it for our own lives through Him.

Another word for this is “gospel” or Good News.

My life is in better shape than it was 40 years ago, but I’m still a work in progress, just like everyone else. From where I’m sitting, this is very Good News indeed, for even though we may not have achieved perfection, we can still serve His purpose, imperfections and all.

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