by Elizabeth | Sep 28, 2011 | Learning Story
This week’s Learning God’s Story of Grace lesson is on “The Fall: Wrecking Shalom.” On the Facebook page for the book, I posed the question, “Why study sin?” It’s truly astonishing to me to read the story of the fall and to see how it nails me and how I relate to other people. Kevin Twit has done a great job of summarizing thoughts on idolatry, and I copied in his summary of Tim Lane and Paul Tripp’s book, Relationships: A Mess Worth Making. Why study sin? To see how desperately we need a Savior and to see how amazing God’s grace is.
“God created us to be other-centered but sin traps us in the “inward curvature of the soul” (Luther’s phrase.) This can’t help but have a huge impact on our relationships. Tim Lane and Paul Tripp summarize the six ways sin affects us this way (see the chart on page 36 of their book “Relationships: A Mess Worth Making”)
1. Sin makes you self-centered – When you reject God you create a void that you try to fill with yourself.
2. Sin makes you committed to self-rule – When God’s wise and loving rule over you is replaced with selfrule, other people become your subjects and are expected to do your bidding and bow to your control.
3. Sin makes you self-sufficient – When you reject God, you believe that delusion that you are not dependent. And if you don’t believe you are dependent upon God you will rarely be dependent upon others.
4. Sin makes you self-righteous – When the holiness of God is not your standard you will set yourself up as that standard which makes you want to show other people their “sin” but never want to look at your own.
5. Sin makes you self-satisfied – When you fail to find satisfaction in God you will use everything else (material things or relationships) to try to find satisfaction. You will never live for something bigger than yourself – everything becomes a means to the end of you being satisfied.
6. Sin makes you self-taught – When you are you own source of truth and wisdom, you will never develop the humble teachable spirit that is vital for good relationships.” from Kevin Twit, http://homepage.mac.com/kevintwit/3%20Idolatry%20and%20Relationships.pdf
by Elizabeth | Sep 26, 2011 | Learning Story
When Monday follows a sweet weekend of rich feasting on and with family, it can feel a little dreary, even on a beautiful sunny day. But this morning I am choosing to rejoice and delight, egged on by a wonderful passage of Scripture it is my privilege to study and write about. Read it with me and be glad as God commands but also gives reason…
“Behold, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.
20 “Never again will there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
he who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere youth;
he who fails to reacha a hundred
will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
the works of their hands.
23 They will not toil in vain
or bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by theLord,
they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
but dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
For reflection: what stories in your life are you NOT rejoicing over today? How will the tears and sorrow of those stories be changed in the new heavens and new earth? Ask God to encourage your heart with patience as you wait.
by Elizabeth | Sep 22, 2011 | Learning Story
Teaching on Creation and Shalom today from Chapter 2 in Learning God’s Story of Grace, I thought of how all commercials sell shalom. What could a frizze-buddy do for you? (I was also thinking my kids are very creative. a little wacky, but very creative:)
by Elizabeth | Sep 21, 2011 | Learning Story
Bible study meets at First Baptist Pensacola Thursdays 9:15 - 11
“To understand God’s purposes, we need to return to the biblical story. One of the most important aspects of this story relates to God’s work relative to the presence of sin in the world. The biblical story has four unique chapters: Genesis 1–2 and Revelation 21–22. These chapters are unique in that no sin is present in the places and events described. Genesis 1–2 gives us a picture of God’s creation design, what the world was like before sin entered the scene.
Revelation 21–22 gives us a picture of God’s future intent, what the world will be like once redemption has been fully completed with the consummation of the judgment of sin and the evil one. These four chapters serve as bookends to the rest of the biblical story. The rest of the story is about the redemptive work of God in a sinful and fallen world. The story of re-creation relates the redemptive work of God to creation design by showing how he is restoring to right relationship that which was broken.” (Craig Van Gelder The Essence of the Church, 89–90)
by Elizabeth | Sep 20, 2011 | Learning Story
Check out this treasure on Sabbath
We are driven because our work brings us power and pride that dulls our deeper desire for delight.
We are far more practiced and comfortable with work than play. We are far better at handling difficulties than joy. When faced with a problem, we can jump into it or avoid it; we can use our skills or resources to manage it. But what do we do with joy? We can only receive it and allow it to shimmer, settle, and in due season, depart; leaving us alive and happy but desiring to hold on to what can’t be grasped or controlled.
Joy is lighter than sorrow and escapes our grasp with a fairylike, ephemeral adieu. Sorrow settles in like a 280-pound boar that has no intention of ever departing. One calls us to action and the other to grace. Which is easier: to work for your salvation with self-earned power of self-righteousness or to receive what is not deserved or owed, but freely given and fully humbling?”
Why not take two — or better yet, ten? Ten minutes of quiet — right now before you chicken out (or I — I always try to complete my own assignments:). Set your phone on silent; set your timer to go off. Close your eyes or keep them open. Remember, dream, enjoy — something — for surely if you are breathing, there is some single joy to contemplate. (I apologize for the preachy tone — it’s to myself:). P.S. This is going to totally throw my schedule off — just think — 10 minutes late for the rest of the day!
