Spurgeon on Abraham’s Journey

by | Aug 2, 2011 | Learning Story

“Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

“The journey is a long one,” say some timid ones. “It is so,” said Abraham, “but God will help me on the way.” “The end of your journey may be doleful,” they say. “No,” saith Abraham, “it cannot be doleful; it may be disappointing to my worldly ambition, but not to my faith. I believe that God will be with me, and that take me where he may, I shall lack no good thing.” So Abraham went on his way along alone and weary journey, and God did not desert him, but graciously provided for him.

Sermon by Charles Spurgeon

Learning God’s Story: Justification by Faith

by | Aug 1, 2011 | Learning Story

Can you believe, the first Bible study in the Living Story series just came out, and it’s already time for me to write the next one?! Cool! Writing studies doesn’t leave a lot of time for writing blogs, so I’m doubling up today. I know it sounds like a dry topic, but I challenge you to read this one before you decide — this is REALLY GOOD NEWS!!

Theological Theme:  Justification by Faith

“Abram believed and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

In the first chapter of the study, we asked the question, “What does faith do?” One of the most important byproducts of faith is “justification.” To understand the word justification, consider this story:

I had spoken impulsively, reeling off some sarcastic remark sure to draw peals of laughter from my daughter’s friends. Immediately I felt chagrin. My joke came at the expense of my daughter’s dignity. I wanted to justify my action, saying I was only trying to be funny, but it was clear there was no excuse – I had traded my daughter’s reputation for a moment of fame among a group of 13-year-olds. In a court of law, I would have been declared guilty.

As sinners, which we all are (Romans 3:23), there is no justification for our sin. In a court of law, we are declared guilty. That is why Genesis 15:4 is such a radical statement. Abraham is declared “righteous,” that is, “not guilty,” just because of his faith. Abraham’s righteousness does not come from his moral rectitude or good actions – it comes from his faith, which comes from God.

Faith in Christ brings an even more astounding reality to our stories. We receive the credited righteousness (see imputed righteousness in Learning God’s Story) by transferring trust from our own efforts at being good to Christ’s finished work on the cross (Romans 3:23-26). When a person confesses, “I believe Christ has fully paid the price I owe for my sin,” we are credited with Christ’s righteousness (Romans 4:23-24).

The radical concept of justification by faith should humble and astonish us. One of the great old hymns asks, “How can we keep from singing?” Indeed, when we understand that the holy God sent his holy Son as the only adequate substitute for our sins, how can we keep from living a life of loving God and loving others?

On making the same mistake twice…

by | Jul 28, 2011 | Learning Story

this is totally cool -- using legos to illustrate Bible stories: www.thebricktestament.com

Genesis 12: 10-13

10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

20 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.

If you’re not familiar with these two stories in Genesis, I encourage you to click to biblegateway right this minute and read them. I was reading a commentary on Genesis 20, and the writer explains that many scholars believe this is a duplicate of Chapter 12, on the “ground that a man does not repeat a lapse of this kind.”

WHAT??? Do these scholars not understand the nature of sin?!!! Of course men — and women — all of humankind repeat mistakes of this kind. Have they read Romans 7? Yes, we should be smarter than to get into the same argument with our husband, drive at the same speed that got us the last ticket, or, certainly, visit that same site that took us down the road of destruction before. But sadly, the nature of our sinful flesh is insanity. It’s not logical.

The only thing that makes sense and makes us make sense is the gospel. So not only do I vehemently (i just love to say and write that word:) disagree with critical scholars, suggesting perhaps that they leave the library for a bit and try life for a while (sorry, now I’m getting harsh), but I am so grateful for the craft and skill of the Holy Spirit’s editing of the Bible — this story needed to be in the text twice to show us how desperately moronic we can act when we try to do things our own way.

The Father of Counter-Culturalism

by | Jul 27, 2011 | Learning Story

” ‘all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Genesis 12:3b)

Just read this from Tim Keller, on Abraham. I rarely see how truly astonishing the story of Abram being chosen as father of all nations is. It makes me wonder how counter-cultural I am.

“This is of course, astonishing. We have seen that the word ‘blessing’ is a very strong word, entailing God’s shalom, the well-being and peace of God’s kingdom. This promise indicates that God’s purpose in a)making Abram a personal friend, and b)making Abram’s offspring into a new human community is all for the ultimate aim of c)bringing salvation to the whole world. God is going to save the world through Abram’s family. God will bless Abraham with personal intimacy so he can pass the true faith on down to his children. He must pass on this faith so that his children will become an alternative society, a counter-culture, a new humanity in the midst of the world. And then, in some way, the healing of the nations and the salvation of the world will come out of that faithful community.

In summary, God says, ‘I’ll give you a special relationship with me. I’ll make you into a new, faithful human community. I’ll use you to save the world from the downward spiral into self-destruction.” Tim Keller, “What Were You Put in this World to Do?” (Genesis study).

Is God’s Story Really Redundant?

by | Jul 25, 2011 | Learning Story

learn all about God's Restoration Story in this excellent book!

One pitfall of writing — going looking for a good quote…I have been wandering in and out of good quotes for the past 20 minutes, tweeting and clipping, but far far away from the chapter of my Bible study I was writing. Nevertheless, you may as well benefit from my lack of productivity. Here’s a quote on story from one of my favorite books on story, Restoring Broken Things, by Steven Curtis Chapman and my dear friend, Rev. Scotty Smith. If you haven’t read this book, I dare you:) :

“God’s Story has a certain redundancy to it. His family is consistently revealed as Cinderella with amnesia, Frodo with cataracts, and Robinson Crusoe with ADD. We forget our privileged identity, lose sight of our amazing destiny, and wander into all kinds of self-defeating calamity.

More importantly, this story has a most certain redemption to it. By documenting the failings and foibles of his children, God has made his Story all the more authentic, beautiful, and believable. Much more significantly, he has magnified the glory and grace of his Son, Jesus, who by his life, death, and resurrection has secured a never-ending ending to God’s Story—an ending more wonderful than anything we could ask or imagine. This book is committed to surveying and savoring this certain redemption and its magnificent fruition.”