Weekly Dose Of Lloyd-Jones

The starting point, the fundamental thing, is that Christianity is about Jesus. “I’ve written to you already about Him,” said Luke in effect, “and I’m going to tell you more about Him.” Christianity is not a teaching—it is a person. It is not merely a moral outlook that is to be applied in the realm of politics. You start with a historical person. Luke was a pure historian. He was giving an account of events and of facts.

The Lord Jesus Christ was the theme of the preaching of the early church. He is the theme of the Gospel of Luke. He is the theme of the Acts of the Apostles. This is the tragic thing that has been forgotten at the present time. “What we need,” people say, “is the application of His teaching.” But it is not. What you need is to know Him and to come into a relationship with Him. You do not start with His teaching—you start with Him. This is the message: “All that Jesus began both to do and teach.” Our Lord Himself said to his disciples, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:8). He was sending these men out to preach. He said, “You are not simply going to preach My teaching. You are going to preach about Me.”

As you read the book of Acts, you will find that our Lord’s disciples always preached “Jesus, and the resurrection” (Acts 17:18). They went to people and told them about this person. This was the whole of their teaching. You never find them starting with the political or social situations. They said, “Listen, we have something to tell you about a person whose name is Jesus.”

And what did the disciples say about Him? The facts are all-important. In the Gospel Luke gave facts, and here in Acts he gives them again. But he does not stop at that; he is equally concerned about the meaning, the significance, of these facts. And he expounds that. He writes not only about all that Jesus did, but also all that He taught. The two must always go together—our Lord’s acts and His teaching.*

Soli Deo Gloria!


*Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (2000). Authentic Christianity (1st U.S. ed.) (10–11). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.