Hello everyone. This week we will finish our sermon series through the Gospel of Luke. The “Gospel” genre is what we have come to call the four authoritative witnesses of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as authors of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The word “gospel” simply means good news. In a sense the gospel has transcended those historical documents, and the events described in them, to be applied as continually proclaiming the good news that Jesus has saved us from our sin and is restoring the world through His Kingdom. So, why do all the gospel writers end their accounts with Jesus returning to heaven? This is what we call the glorification of Jesus, or His ascension to reign with the Father in heaven for all of eternity. You might ask yourself, what about the on going Kingdom? Is it complete? Does the story end? The answer is that while Jesus has ascended to heaven, he has not left us bereft of His presence. He sends His Spirit to continue on Kingdom work through the lives of His people, the church. So, why do the gospel writers end where they ended?

In one sense, we might answer this question with saying, “The Holy Spirit led them in their writing so we cannot answer that question.” Ok, yes, I cannot fully answer why Matthew and Mark did not continue to write, (we do know they continued to minister), and John continued his ministry by the writing of 1,2,3rd John and the book of Revelation. He was also a local pastor/elder at the church in Ephesus. The good medical doctor, turned first church historian, Luke, did continue the story in the book of “Acts”. Some scholars refer to this book as the fifth “gospel”, because it answers the question of, “What will happen to this Kingdom of God?”, and, “What impact does the Holy Spirit really have?”

So why we come to the end of one story, we really are only half way through what Luke wants us to read. And in many ways, we are still in the Story of the Church, we still have the Spirit, and we still are obeying Christ’s instructions to spread the gospel til the end of time, to make and mature disciples of Jesus. Come this Sunday and let your souls be recalibrated to the mission He has given us, to the love with which He has redeemed us, and to the faithfulness which He shows us.