Luke – Grace Evangelical Society

You Get What You Give (Luke 6:27-38)

November 19, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Judgment, Luke, Mercy, sermon on the plain

In Jesus’ sermon on the plain, He gives some extremely demanding commands: “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also.

Don’t Let Go and Let God (Luke 6:47-48)

November 6, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Christian living, Luke, Sanctification

Each spring, I have the very best intentions of raising a bountiful garden. But by each fall, all I have is a tangled weedy mess and barely a handful of cherry tomatoes to show for it. Any idea why? I recently heard two folksy illustrations comparing the Christian life to farming and gardening that shed

A Gospel Coalition Council Member Says You Need Good Deeds for Salvation

October 29, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Gospel Coalition, Luke, Repentance, works salvation

I recently saw a quote attributed to Martin Luther that said, “Every week I preach justification by faith to my people because every week they forget it.” One of our ministry’s unpleasant but necessary tasks is to point out when popular authors and preachers have forgotten about justification by faith apart from works. Instead, they

The Good in Nazareth (Luke 1:26)

October 21, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Luke, Nazareth

Although Theophilus had been instructed about Jesus, he needed certainty. That is, he needed a more stable understanding of who Jesus is and what He did (cf. Luke 1:4). For example, maybe Theophilus heard rumors about Jesus’ unusual birth. What really happened? Luke tells the story. Sometime after Gabriel’s appearance to Zacharias, he had a

Mary’s Virginity in Messianic Prophecy (Luke 1:27)

October 19, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Isaiah, Luke, Mary, virgin, virgin birth

In Luke 1:27, we read that God sent Gabriel to a virgin named Mary. At this time, Mary was probably a teenager. But despite her young age, as was customary, she was betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph. Betrothal meant they were legally promised to each other in marriage, but the wedding ceremony itself,

Zacharias’ Disbelief and Divine Discipline (Luke 1:18-22)

October 14, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - discipline, Doubt, Luke, Zacharias

Did you know that even the oldest, godliest believers can doubt God…and be disciplined for it? If you were a member of the clergy, a priest of God, and a blameless man who had served the Lord for many decades, and an angel appeared to you announcing that God heard your prayer and would answer

John the Baptist’s Seven Spirit-Empowered Services (Luke 1:8-17)

October 13, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - John the Baptist, Luke

So it was, that Zacharias was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, when his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the Temple of the Lord. There were approximately 18,000-20,000 priests in Israel (Bock, Luke, p. 48; Swindoll, Luke, p. 33), who served in rotation. Even with the subdivisions,

In What Sense Were Zacharias and Elizabeth Righteous and Blameless? (Luke 1:5-6)

October 8, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Luke, righteousness

During the days of Herod, there was a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. Presumably, Luke had verified this detail, as could Theophilus, emphasizing the historicity of these events. Why did it mean for Zacharias to be in the division of Abijah? Israel had thousands of priests, but only one temple, which created a

In the Days of Herod (Luke 1:5a)

October 6, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Herod, Luke, Prophecy

Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities opens with the memorable line, “It was the best of the times, it was the worst of times…” Some periods are infamous for their difficulty. Merely naming the age evokes the hard times that people experienced, as with the Irish Potato Famine, the Holodomor, the Great Depression, Vietnam,

Luke’s Method (Luke 1:1-4)

October 5, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - apologetics, history, Luke, Theophilus

In the last blog, we explored Luke’s purpose in writing his Gospel, and I suggested it was quasi-apologetic—meant to stabilize or to reinforce faith in Christ. Now we can ask a second question: what was Luke’s method in writing his Gospel? The prologue gives us five clues. Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to