Advent Day 1

"In as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught." 

    ~Luke 1:1-4

The book of Luke does not start with the Christmas Story but, much like other books, with an introduction. This introduction is easy to rush through, but it actually sets up the rest of the book. Before He is ever introduced, this passage reveals who God is.

From the very first verse we see that God wants to give us evidence for what we believe, but He's more than a historian. He's a storyteller. 

Each gospel, and with it each story of Christ's birth, has a different author, audience, and intention (though ultimately, they are all to spread the Good News). Different accounts are included and different nuances and themes are given to overlapping stories, which shows God's care for us. He made us differently, He put us in different circumstances, and He gave us multiple gospel accounts, which means both that we will relate to the books differently based on how we receive information but also that we can see the account of Jesus's life through different perspectives and focuses to increase our understanding of Christ and His work. 

The stories included and the paths taken in each gospel serve God's purposes uniquely. The historical facts are not the point, but they are essential for receiving the gospel. Facts and records cannot transform us any more than baseless myths lacking in any physical evidence, but God gives us the spiritual reality grounded in the physical. He provides evidence after evidence--never asking us to bestow our belief blindly--to give us confidence in our faith (which must be our foundation). He wants us to have the truth, but the historical truth always serves the spiritual truth. 

No amount of evidence can penetrate an unbelieving heart because real Truth will always be both tangible and intangible, but God created our reasoning minds and never asks us to discard them. What is contained in His Word, He will confirm. 

We serve a God of certainty. And yes, at times we have to surrender to God in the midst of unknowns or embrace the mystery of our faith, but He doesn't want us to live in confusion. He delights to make Himself known to us. And so we can press in during moments of confusion and seek clarity. While our understanding is finite, this passage shows me that God wants to give us understanding and to make our feet feel firm in Him. These physical details lead us to greater spiritual realities.

And when our hearts are tuned toward seeing and hearing Him in everything, we uncover so much more than we ever would have before.

Like how God will pour enormous resources into pursuing each one of us. 

God has used the gospel of Luke to save countless souls. He's done so much more beyond what Luke saw in his purpose for writing, but it still matters that Luke wrote this gospel for one man. Even knowing it would be a resource for others, it's because of Theophilus that we have this book.

The one doesn't discount the many just as the many do not discount the one. But in both God pursues us relentlessly and extravagantly.

In our hyper-individualized culture, it can be hard to see how God's working in one person's life is used to impact person after person, but Luke's account to Theophilus is a great example. We see time after time in the Bible that one man's salvation led to that of his entire household, and in a culture that doesn't hold the impact of community in the same light, that fact doesn't always make sense. We see our lives and our salvation as independent from others. But whether through the proximity of faith or intentional witness, whether through a prolonged process or a quick one, one person pursuing Jesus impacts other hearts to do the same. A book written for Theophilus is God's tool for saving lives today. In the pursuit of one person, an endless number is saved.

 

Christianity is never a numbers game because we are not the one who creates our numbers. The Holy Spirit might move us to undertake time and effort consuming work to pursue and care for many, or He might call us to the same effort for the sake of one. These differing calls are equally worthwhile, and we can rest knowing both that God pursues us specifically and intentionally but also that one is never just one in His hands. We are a community of believers, and our faith put on display will always affect those around us whether to bring edification or or to plant seeds for salvation. 

 

As we step into the Advent season, I pray that our hearts may be tuned to see God's care in the smallest places. I pray that we are drawn into community and that we may see our faith impacting each other. And I hope today, as we begin the Christmas Story and meet the God Who cares about the details, that you see God's love and intentionality in every word we read. 

 

This is the God who became man for us.