Why You Should Study Luke’s Gospel (Lk 1:1–4) from South Woods Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Well, the last thing that most of us would want to hear is someone insisting that we study something. I’ve had that happen to me from time to time. A person has a particular interest, maybe some scientific or mathematic oddity, or some peculiar aspect of Old Testament sacrifices or questionable detail of eschatology, or some theory about James the son of Alphaeus or details regarding Philip the evangelist’s daughters. “You need to study that!”

Right!

Don’t count on it. Study, for me, while I enjoy it, still can’t be counted as mere leisure if it’s done properly. To study implies that we get below the surface, that we probe the subject to grasp its meaning and intent, and that we leave no stone unturned. Study is hard work. It requires time. It taxes our minds and imaginations. It demands that we search out sources and trace ideas and theories until we arrive at a clear understanding of our subject. Don’t count on me to do that with a mathematical oddity or some peculiar OT sacrifice. It just doesn’t move me; it can’t hold my attention.

But the Gospel of Luke is a different story. I want to study it because in it I find the words of life. Here is Luke’s account of Jesus Christ’s story. Here is the gospel of Christ written in one of the four Gospels of Holy Scripture. So it calls for my digging, investment of time, research, memorization, meditation, discussion, note taking, reading, rereading, and application. That application leads me to worshiping Christ, believing the gospel, repenting of sins, living the Christ-life, setting my hope on gospel promises, loving His people, declaring His good news, guarding my heart, and expecting His return.

Yet I don’t want to take this journey through Luke alone (I know that Matt is traveling with me!). I want you to join me. While Matt and I might take a more intense look at the Greek, considering the grammatical structure, read more from what others have written on Luke, we ask that you study along with us. We want to ask you to read and reread this Gospel. If you would, add a chapter of Luke each day to your daily Bible reading so that you read it through each month—giving you six or seven extra days each month for when things get too hectic. We want to invite you to memorize portions of this Gospel so that you hide God’s Word in your hearts—I’m working on the birth narrative in my own devotional time. We want to ask you to read the notes in a study Bible or a good commentary, if you have either, and to consider doing a journal of your study in Luke. We want to ask you to meditate on what you read and jot down insights or applications or questions or doctrines that you want to recall. We encourage you to talk with others about what you’re learning. Most importantly, we want you to read and study and pray through Luke so that you see Jesus Christ with fresh eyes and glory in Him.

As followers of Christ, we’re to be students of Scripture, and that includes studying Luke’s Gospel to know more clearly the way of Christ. But why should we study Luke’s Gospel? Let me identify five reasons for studying Luke found in his opening preface.

1. The obvious reason—Luke’s Gospel is God’s Word

But we might say, so are Nahum and Obadiah. They are part of the 66 books of the Bible, 39 OT and 27 NT that comprise Holy Scripture. These books don’t just contain God’s Word, as the neo-orthodox would say, but they are the Word of God. These books written by ordinary people were inspired by the Holy Spirit in an extraordinary way so that we hold in our hands God’s Word (but more on that inspiration later).

Yet out of the 66 books only four are called Gospels. That’s a unique genre in Scripture. By genre we mean a particular type of biblical writing unique from the style of others. So we have historical genre, prophetic genre, wisdom genre, etc. But Gospel genre is unique in that we have in those four writings wha[...]