1. Meet Luke

Luke 1:1-4

Many have undertaken to blog about Jesus so why another one?

I am a pastor and a teacher. I am not a trained theologian or recognised Bible scholar. I love Jesus, I love teaching people about Him and I love the church. I want people to have a clear understanding of who Jesus is, based on Scripture. Jesus is incredible beyond words, and the more clearly people understand who He is the more they will want to follow Him.

I am not presenting any new ideas – a lot of my thinking is shaped by the teachers I have had (see below) some of whom I know well, others I have met once, and some I have not met and won’t meet in this life.

Luke was likely a doctor who travelled with Paul and may well have helped to establish and pastor the young church in Philippi. He actually wrote two volumes of one book that could maybe be better referred to as ‘Luke-Acts’. Both were addressed to someone called Theophilus (God-lover) who may have been a wealthy man who funded Luke’s research and writing. The first volume (Luke) is about all that Jesus began to do and teach while physically among people in first century Judah. The second volume (Acts) is about all that Jesus continued to do and teach. So, basically, all of Luke-Acts is about the ministry of Jesus.

I don’t have a Theophilus (applications invited) but I have reasonably carefully investigated what Luke wrote about Jesus. I preached 76 sermons through Luke’s gospel at Table Church (Tandragee, Co. Armagh) over several years and I reckon there might be someone out there who wants to know Jesus and just needs a guide to walk you through a gospel in an orderly way so that you might have more certainty about who He is.

I’ll try to be that guide. I won’t comment on everything Luke wrote but I’ll try to cover most of it. I won’t present profound new theological insights – plenty of others do that really well. I won’t get everything right and I won’t engage in arguments so don’t bother emailing.

I feel it’s really important to acknowledge some of my sources who have written/taught on Luke or who have just deeply impacted my understanding of who Jesus is. In no particular order, thanks to Eugene Smith (Dwelling Place Church, Ballymena), Rikk Watts, Darrell Johnson and Gordon Fee (who all taught at Regent College, Vancouver, from which I have purchased many audio lecture series) and Darrell Bock (who wrote a crazy good commentary on Luke).

Thanks to the awesome people of Table Church who stuck with me throughout the longest sermon series ever.