Being certain - Midweek Message 2nd December 2020

 

Dear Friends,

 I do hope you may have received and have begun our Advent Booklet ‘The Radiant Dawn.‘   Yesterday I enjoyed and benefitted from spending some time reading and thinking on the first four verses of Luke 1 and then Tom Parsons’ reflection on them. I wonder if you noticed his title: ‘God wants us to be certain.’ He was taking that from the reason Luke gave the first recipient of his gospel, Theophilus, for writing it, namely : so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.  Theophilus obviously had some knowledge of, and acquaintance with, Jesus and his good news. He may have been a seeker or an enquirer when it came to Christianity or indeed he may have been a new believer but whichever, Luke wanted him to have an assurance a certainty about the things he had been taught. Why was that important for him, for us? I can think of a number of reasons but maybe before considering those, it’s worth answering a prior question – is it possible to be certain of the truth about Jesus?

I remember once being told by a lady, who was the wife of a bishop, ‘That’s the problem with these people who take the Bible too literally they want certainty’. She said it in such a manner that I was left in no doubt that to seek such certainty in matters of faith was neither healthy nor possible. If I had had the presence of mind, I should have asked her: How could she be so certain?!! But I’m afraid I didn’t and yet it does raise the question: IS certainty when it comes to what we believe about God about Jesus possible? Is it something we should seek?  Luke obviously believed such certainty was both possible and positively healthy. He tells us that is why he wrote his gospel. He wanted to lay before Theophilus and all his subsequent readers solid grounds, carefully researched evidence, for their faith in Jesus, as the crucified and risen Son of God and Saviour-King.  Consider also the author of the letter to the Hebrews defining faith in no uncertain terms: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1)  ; or Paul’s prayer for the Christians in Ephesus, I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.(Ephesians 1:18-19)  These two New Testament authors evidently shared  Luke’s conviction that certainty about whom we trust and what we believe  as Christians is possible and to be desired. That does not necessarily mean the answering of every question or immunisation against all doubt but what it does mean is: ‘Christianity is true and is capable of confirmation by appeal to what had happened’*

Why then would Luke, and more importantly, God himself, want us to be certain?  

1) Think of a fireman about to enter a fiercely burning building to look for anyone trapped there or a diver about to plunge into the ocean depths. Why, before they venture, are they checking their breathing apparatus, making sure its fully operational? We know why. Because the fireman entering the burning building, the diver the ocean, both know their life depends on it. So, it is with Christianity. As C S Lewis memorably expressed it: Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”  

For the Christian everything in this life and in eternity hangs on who Jesus is and what he did.  If you are about to be thrown to the lions for your faith ( as a number of Luke’s early readers might well have been) or if as a Christian you have just received a diagnosis of terminal cancer with a few months to live, whether Jesus really rose from the dead can never be a matter of indifference. God wants you to be certain which is why he has preserved the record of Jesus birth and life and death and resurrection in the gospels and the explanation of the significance of all this in the rest of the New Testament.

2)  Think of the person who is convinced of the truth of the Christian faith, but they are not sure if Jesus is for them. Perhaps they feel they are the wrong type of person. Perhaps they think they have been guilty of such serious or repeated wrongs that there can be no place for them in his Kingdom.   Or maybe they feel they are so lacking in love or zeal for Jesus they couldn’t possibly be numbered among his true disciples. If that resonates at all with you, then Luke wrote his gospel for you. He wanted his readers to know that Jesus was for all nations, all types and, in particular, he was for sinners – real ones as opposed to theoretical ones. When you hear the angels announce to the shepherds (who were often outcasts in Jewish society) I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; (2.10-11) or the risen Jesus saying to his first disciples The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,  and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (24.46-47) please make sure you pay close attention to the you’s and the all’s. Whoever you are, whatever you have done, you are in there, you are included. Whatever you do, don’t exclude yourself, when he is including you. Remember all God requires of you as you come before him is nothing, except an awareness of your need of his mercy (see 18.9-14) God wants you to be certain.

3) Think of the person who is thinking of walking away from Jesus and his church. Maybe because of pressure from friends or family. Maybe because you’re weary of the moral and spiritual battle raging within yourself. Maybe because you are looking for an excuse to commit yourself to a course of action that you know Jesus and the Bible would not condone. It looks simpler, easier, more attractive to walk away than to stick with Jesus. One thing you can be sure of reading through Luke is that he will never hide the cost of believing in and being faithful to Jesus. He is careful to record Jesus own words about the cost of discipleship: anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple (14.27)  (see also the surrounding verses 14.26-33). In the opening two chapter as Luke records the story of Jesus birth, all the men and women you meet are evidently familiar with pain and loss in their life but all the more reason to pay attention to the joy and hope they also experience and to which they gladly testify. Whenever, or however, we are tempted to turn away or turn back from following Jesus Luke wants us to know that we are turning away from such joy and hope. We are turning from truth and heading out into darkness. Of that, God wants us to be certain and not because he wants to spoil our life but quite the reverse, because he wants to save it.

Jesus is all about life - new life, true life, lasting life. Of that, God wants us to be certain. In him, something marvellous and momentous has happened that changes everything. He wants us to be sure of Jesus and sure of our place in his kingdom and his purposes as we put our trust in him. To that end God has given us Luke’s gospel (along with the rest of the New Testament and the Old Testament too).  As we then read Luke this advent may we all, like Theophilus, know the certainty of the things we have been taught. God wants us to be certain.

Yours in that shared desire,

David

* Ned Stonehouse’s summary of the main impact of Luke’s prologue as quoted in Leon Morris’s Tyndale commentary on Luke p67