- How Jesus Explains the Bible, Luke 24:44
-
Download MP3
How Jesus Explains the Bible
Luke 24:44
John Loftness
March 22, 2009Ever think about the role stories play in your life?
Stories make us who we are. Stories direct us. Stories explain the world to us. Stories allow us to make sense of our lives.
They may be stories our parents told us. Or stories in movies or in biographies or in romance novels, or urban legends or news stories—they all influence our lives.
The Bible is a story—one big unified story developed in 66 books written over 1,500 years. It’s the story of how God relates to mankind. It begins with the creation of a garden for a man and a woman to live in and it ends with the re-creation of that garden so that multitudes of men and women can live in it under the blessing and in relationship with God.
HOW we read the Bible makes all the difference. Because we live in a culture that reads stories differently, we can adopt the world’s methods of understanding. We begin to think that the Bible is primarily about us and so we look for ourselves in the stories and appropriate them for our own purposes.
We come to the Bible to take bits and pieces of the story and see how we can fit them into our life. They might be moral bits or inspirational bits or comforting bits. But in the end we read them as if the Bible is all about me.
And certainly we must apply what the Bible teaches, but not in the way I just described.
The first thing you must realize when reading the Bible is that the Bible is a book about God. It is his story. It reveals who he is. It’s not about me. It has implications for me, but I’m not listed in the credits at the end of the film.
So we must look at the Bible story from the right perspective. The Bible is a book about God. So the question for me is not how do I fit God’s story into my life but how do I fit my life into God’s story.
Most of us know the story of David and Goliath. The story is found in 1 Samuel 17. A nation called Philistia is at war with Israel. They have a warrior called Goliath. Goliath is literally a giant. Warfare in ancient times was primarily hand-to-hand combat and Goliath was invincible. He challenges the Israelite army to a one-on-one contest to determine who wins the war—better that one man die for only one side that to continue the carnage. But no one on Israel’s side is up to the task. The Israelite soldiers are cowering in fear.
Then David arrives—a kid carrying supplies to his brothers. He’s not even trained to fight. He tends sheep. And he’s incensed that this Philistine can taunt the armies of the living God and given his zeal and willingness, he takes on Goliath. And with his boy’s slingshot he kills the giant. Israel wins.
So what does the story mean? To me?
If I read it as if it’s about me, I try to fit it into my story. What are the giants in my life? Is it debt? Is it depression? A job I can’t stand? Boredom? How am I to kill these giants? How am I to be like David?
But that’s not God’s story. His story is that when his people had their backs to the wall with no hope of escape, when it looked like all was lost and they were to become the slaves of the brutal Philistines, God sent a king to save them. He didn’t look like a king. He was young and innocent but he had zeal for God and he trusted God to deliver him—not his own wits. So he used what he had and through his sling shot, God gave his people a great victory.
And as I think about it, I realize that this story of David fits into a larger story, the story of how God sent his king to his people desperate and oppressed. How he didn’t look like a king, he came from the wrong town and the wrong family and he had no credentials to save anyone. But he did, and he did it through a very unexpected means.
And that’s the story of our King Jesus.
Whether I’m reading my Bible or any other story, my first question should be: How is God at work here? How does he evaluate the situation?
If you attend this Sunday meeting for the rest of 2009, you will, God willing, hear how the story of the Bible comes together and how it explains you story and the stories of every human being who has ever breathed the air of this good earth.
We are going to see how the Bible forms one story and how that story has one message and how that message is focused on a man who is God, Jesus.
How do we know that?
Luke 24: 25-27
Luke 24:44
John 5:39
And here is how Jesus explains the Bible: He says, “It’s all about me.”
• “Adam bears witness about me.
• “And the promise given to Abraham bears witness to me.
• “And Moses bears witness about me.
• “And all those bloody sacrifices of lambs and goats and bulls bear witness to me.
• “And David
• “And the Temple
• “And Elijah and all those crazy miracles
• “And the people of Israel
• “And the Ten Commandments.”They are all about Jesus. Somehow Jesus fits into each story that starts at the beginning of this earth and runs through a universal flood and the founding of a nation and captivity and escape from Egypt and commandments and conquest of the land, and the repeated failures of this chosen people and the elevation of a king and his failure and his sons failures and prophets and the destruction of Jerusalem and it’s rebuilding and Solomon’s Temple and a rebuilt Temple.
It’s all about Jesus. He does more than fit in. Turn to Matthew 5:17.
He fulfills the stories. He’s the stories’ ultimate purpose.
The stories of the Old Testament point to Jesus, they anticipate him, somehow he fulfills them—fulfills them in the sense that he accomplishes the purposes that they point to.
The implication of what Jesus said in these three passages is that someone was controlling all of the history we read of in the OT—events that took place 600 years before Jesus and 1,000 years before, and 1,400 years before and 2,000 years before and all the way back to the creation of the heavens and the earth—someone was controlling it all so that when Jesus came his life—not just his teaching—but his very actions would explain everything that came before and was recorded in Scripture.
The Old Testament is one huge prelude to the main event—the coming of Jesus.
So if you want to understand the Bible, the best place to start is not with Genesis 1:1 but to start with the Gospels and then go to Genesis and then read of the history of Israel and then read the prophets about Israel’s failure and God’s plans dealing with his wayward people and then read the New Testament letters to see how we should put it all together as a new people of God who are joined to Jesus.
Here is how to read the OT. Here is Jesus’ method:
He says, “Look for me.”
• Look for how God rules people and how they respond.
• Look for the promises he makes to people and how they respond
• Look for how God responds to his people when they rebel against his rule.
• Look for how God how God keeps his promises when his people responded to him faithlessly.
• And then, look at Jesus. How did he fulfill God’s purposes for the world and for his people? How does he respond to God’s promises and to God’s rule?To do this you have to realize that the Old Testament is largely a book of God sustaining a failed people so that through this people he could send his Savior.
It’s a book of failure:
• Adam failed in the garden, yet God sustained him even as he removed him from the Garden.
• Abraham failed in Canaan, yet God still sustained him in the land with a son to inherit what God had promised.
• The 12 sons of Israel failed, yet God sustained them despite his leading them to Egypt where they became slaves.
• Israel failed in the wilderness, yet God sustained them and brought them into the promised land.
• Aaron failed as priest, yet God still provided a way for Israel to approach him.
• The kings failed—even great king David failed—to obey God’s law, yet God sustained the nation.And when it looked like the people of God would become just another corrupt Roman province lead by an illegitimate king and a corrupt priesthood, Jesus came.
And as he said in Matthew 5, he came to fulfill the Law—he came to fulfill the purposes to which Israel points.
• He’s the new Adam, who doesn’t sin when tempted.
• He’s the fulfillment of Abraham who trusts God without fail.
• He’s the new Moses perfectly mediating between God and his people—giving them a new a perfect law.
• He’s our high priest bringing a perfect sacrifice for sin.
• He’s the fulfillment of David—he’s the sinless king who leads his people into a perfect righteous kingdom.
• He’s the Temple where God makes his presence known.
• And he’s the Lamb who dies in the place of his people.So what is the point of this message? There is only one story that can make sense of this life. It’s the story of the Bible. But you have to read the story as the author wrote it and not try to mold it into your story. The Bible—from Genesis to Revelation—is a story about how God created the world through Jesus and how God loved the world—despite its rebellion against him—by sending Jesus to save God’s people from the penalty for their rebellion and bring them into a new land where life and love and righteousness never fail forever. That’s the core of the message. That’s the core of the book.
And by God’s grace we’ll see it in the details as 2009 progresses.
Some questions:
1. How do you look at the Bible? Is it about you or about God? Do you read it looking for ways to make the Bible fit your life or do you read it to see how to make your life fit into the story of the Bible?
2. How do you allow other stories to influence your life? Do you carry family stories or movie stories or any other stories to feed your pride?
3. Are you willing to do the kind of study to deepen your understanding of the Bible, to see how the entire book points to Jesus?
- Posted on Mar 22 2009 at 05:55 PM
- Fret Not Yourself, Psalm 37:1-9
-
Download MP3
Fret Not Yourself
Psalm 37:1-9
Bob Donohue
March 15, 2009 - Posted on Mar 15 2009 at 05:02 PM
- Resources for One Book / One Message Sermon Series
-
There are now resources available for the study of the Bible’s message that span the ages, from toddler to adult. I can highly recommend what I’ve listed below. You can find them in our bookstore beginning March 22, 2009 or order them from this site—http://www.wtsbooks.com/
David Helm. The Big Picture Story Bible. (Crossway, 2004). This is an excellent introduction to the Bible for young children.
Sally Lloyd-Jones. The Jesus Storybook Bible. (ZonderKidz, 2007). A “biblical theology” for kids with great content and outstanding artwork. You can read it to pre-readers and get your new readers to read it to you. Adults will learn much from this simplified yet comprehensive outline of the Bible’s message.
Vaughn Roberts. God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible (InterVarsity Press, 2003). This book is short and does a great job of painting the big picture. It’s written simply and is useful for any reader teenaged or older.
Graeme Goldsworthy. According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible—An Introductory Biblical Theology. (InterVarsity Press, 2002). Goldworthy was one of my introductions to biblical theology and all his books have been very helpful to me. He’s a seminary professor who knows how to teach without technical language. This book began as a course that he taught in his local church. I highly recommend it for anyone high school and older.
- Posted on Mar 13 2009 at 01:58 PM
- Introducing One Book / One Message: How Jesus Explains the Bible
-
March 12, 2009
Dear Church,
On March 22, we will embark of a journey from the Old Testament to the New. Understanding how two-thirds of the Bible, all written before the coming of Jesus, relates to someone living after his coming can seem daunting. There are laws that seem to have nothing to do with how we live today, brutal wars, squalid sin, urgent prophecies, and only a few periods in which the nation of Israel seemingly lived out her commitments to God.
And yet Jesus said that all of it somehow related to himself (see Luke 24:27, 44).
How the Bible ties together as one message from one book will be our pursuit throughout 2009. So we are going to call the series: One Book / One Message: How Jesus Explains the Bible.
If you give yourself to this study and pursue it beyond simply listening on Sunday morning, it could transform how you read your Bible for the rest of your life.
On the next post on this blog, you find some recommended resources that you can obtain and use to supplement what you hear on Sundays. I’d urge you to read at least one book yourself, and if you have children at home, to go through some age-appropriate resources with them.
AND if you have any questions about the Old Testament that we could cover as we teach through this series, please send them to me.
Grace to you,
John
- Posted on Mar 12 2009 at 05:49 PM
- Fellowship for Today and That Day, Acts 2:42
-
Download MP3
Fellowship for Today and That Day
Acts 2:42
John Loftness
March 8, 2009Small Group Discussion Questions and Resource List at the End of the Notes
I submitted my life to Jesus because I didn’t want to go to Hell and I was convinced that without turning to Jesus I would.
Since that time I’ve discovered motivations that proceed from love and the prospect of joy.
One of the great motivators in my life is the parable of the Talents: Jesus told the story of a rich man who plans a long journey. He leaves his property in the care of his three servants. He gives each of them a number of “Talents”—portions of his property to invest it in some way so that when he returns, it will have grown in value. That’s it. They can do with it as they please as long as it grows. He said he would be back, but he didn’t say when.
As Matthew reports the parable, “Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.”
When he discovers that two of them did well and increased the value of their talents, the master was lavish in his praise and rewards them with responsibility for cities! But the servant who refused to invest his master’s talent is called “wicked and slothful” by the master. At least he could have put it in the bank and gotten back his 2.2%. The master casts him into outer darkness, a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” See Matthew 25:13ff.
I’m motivated by the lavish reward the master gives and I’m motivated by the fact that he could return at any time.
What does the investment of talents look like for you and for me?
And maybe I should ask the question differently: What does the investment of talents look like for US? For us as a church.
Jesus evaluates churches—that’s what Revelation 2-3 is about. Jesus tells John to write down his evaluation of seven churches in the region that today we would call Turkey. Are they fruitful, enduring in faith and proclaiming the gospel or are they bad water—good for neither bathing or drinking? If the former, if they are enduring in what he’s called them to do, he promises a place with him in heaven. If not, if they bear no fruit, he says in one case that he, “will spit you out of my mouth.”
The question before us today is: How can we be more fruitful as a church and as individuals through God’s gift to us of fellowship?
Acts 2:42
The list is not exhaustive, but it does contain four essentials for the life of the church.
• “The apostles teaching”—basically what Jesus taught them: that he is God come in the flesh to redeem a fallen humanity and restore relationship with him, that he is the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament.
• “The breaking of bread”—what we call the Lord’s supper—taking a meal together that reminds us of our participation in Jesus’ death—his death as a substitute for the one we deserve.
• “The prayers”—together the prayed to God for his name to be hallowed, for his kingdom to be followed, for his will to be done.
• “the fellowship”
1. The WHAT of fellowship?• It’s a simple Greek word which means to participate or to share something with others.
• This participation is unique to Christians. Person to person with the Holy Spirit inhabiting each and so defining and directing the relationship. The Holy Spirit, you and me.
• And since the Spirit created us and knows us better than any human being, our interchange of fellowship is deeper and more profound than any other human relationship. Deeper than parent-child. More profound than husband-wife.
• Fellowship is, “...a sharing with our fellow-believers the things that God has made known to us about himself, in hope that we may thus help them to know him better and so enrich their fellowship with him. ...Fellowship is, secondly, a seeking to share what God has make known of himself to others, as a means to finding strength, refreshment, and instruction for one’s own soul.” —J.I. Packer “Fellowship,” in God’s Words (Downers Grove, Ill.:IVP, 1981) p. 194.
• Such participation can be broad. It can involve caring for one another’s physical needs, but the world does that, too. Fellowship includes practical care, but it is more than that. It can include sharing a meal together or showing hospitality. Fellowship includes hospitality, but it is more than that. In Acts 2:42, Luke distinguishes fellowship from praying together and hearing teaching together and sharing the Lord’s supper together. So he must have had something unique in mind.
• Fellowship is about sharing the life that Jesus gives us—sharing it with each other. And that life is more than talking about the content of the Bible. It’s about how what we know of the Bible—what we know about what Jesus taught and did—how that applies to our lives—to our circumstances, to the questions we face, the challenges we face, the temptations we face.
• You can apply this to your fellowship group:
• That might start with a discussion of a sermon and how we can each benefit from it.
• It might start with a person’s life situation and how the Word of God applies to it.
2. The HOW of Fellowship
a. Fellowship requires conversation. At it’s core fellowship involves talking about our lives.
b. Second. Fellowship requires you to volunteer information about yourself. It’s voluntary. You have to want it. You have to see value in it.
c. Third. Fellowship requires self-disclosure. People don’t know our thoughts and they often don’t know our actions.
• I don’t know about you, but I have no problem sharing with others my successes, my joys, my improvements, and the problems that others have brought upon me. I have no problem sharing with people how I’ve been wronged.
• Where I have a problem participating in fellowship is those things I’ve done that I’m ashamed of. Or a decision that I’m committed to making and I don’t want challenged.
• When is it wise to confess our sins to another Christian?
• When my conscience is bothered even after I have confessed my sin to God.
• When my practice of sin forms a pattern and is increasing in seriousness.
• When I need wisdom for how to repent.
• When my sin has a serious impact on others.
d. Fourth. Fellowship requires the Bible. It’s about how God’s Word affects our life circumstances. It’s not about giving legal advice or medical advice or dietary advice or financial advice—as helpful as those things may be when coming from a qualified source—it’s about how God speaks to how we think and how we act. God must define the problem and God must define the solution.
e. Fifth. Fellowship should include prayer. Our ultimate source of help is the Lord, and he invites us to pray for one another regarding our life challenges. And our prayers must be defined by the Bible as well.
• James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God…”
• Even if we don’t have the wisdom to give good counsel, we can always pray for God to give wisdom.
f. Sixth. Fellowship must be built on a gospel foundation.
• 1 John 1:7 “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of his Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
• The gospel tells me that nothing another person says about me can be worse that what my sins say about me before God—for they required the sacrifice of God’s only Son to forgive me.
• And nothing about me can be better than the fact that in love God sent Son to die in my place.
• If I’m secure in the love of God, I can live an open life before my brothers and sisters. If I’m aware of Gospel grace, I can admit my faults and take steps to change.
g. Seventh. Fellowship requires humility.
• Humility says I won’t speak to things that I’m not qualified to address.
• Humility remembers that I’m a sinner too, in just as much need of God’s grace as the person who is sharing some mess in their lives.
3. The WHY of fellowship
• This takes us back to where we began this sermon, but before we go there, let me set some cultural context.
• The “Promise Keepers” men’s conferences in the 1990s placed a high value on “accountability.” Every man was encouraged to be in an accountability relationship with at least one other man to whom he could give an account for his life. Accountability was based on the premise that we need help as men to keep our promises and we can’t handle our failures alone.
• When you study the principle of accountability in the Bible, the stakes are far higher than being embarrassed before a group of peers.
• Rom 14:12 “So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.”• Heb 4:13 “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
• Fellowship is a means of being fruitful for Jesus. It’s a means of preparing for the day of his accounting. So if you call a small group you are in an “accountability group” make sure you have the right accountability in mind.
• I’ve been concerned—for myself and for others—that we not treat our fellowship groups as some form of Roman Catholic penance where we look for absolution from the group and leave feeling better about ourselves b/c we admitted to something shameful.
• Fellowship isn’t a matter of law. There is no command in Scripture to confess every sin you are aware of to another Christian. If that were the case, I’d need a fellowship group just to hear my confessions. We’d have to devote every meeting just to me.
• Fellowship instead is a matter of wisdom. I know that because I am prone to self-deception and because God has arranged his church so that we need each other, I need to get Bible wisdom for my life from other people who believe in Jesus.
• My concern for myself and for us as a church is that we are prone to be self-sufficient and we are prone to self-deception—to believe that we can live our Christian lives as isolated individuals and only admit our need when our sins become public or overwhelming.
• But that’s not how God arranged his church. That’s not his way for us to live together. And it’s no way to be ready for that great day of evaluation and accountability.
Questions for Discussion
1. How does John’s definition of fellowship differ from how you have defined the practice?
2. How did John connect fellowship to the Lord’s evaluation of our works on the Last Day?
3. Brainstorm as a group: ask everyone to come up with a question that would be a good fellowship starter. It doesn’t have to be real or current.
4. How do we tend to get our practice of fellowship wrong?
5. What is the hardest “How” in developing relationships that involve fellowship? How would you like to improve?Resources
JI Packer’s chapter entitled “Fellowship” is excellent. You can find it in God’s Words (Downers Grove, Ill.:IVP, 1981)
John Loftness, “Fellowship Rediscovered” In Why Small Groups, which is available for free by download.
http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=B3150-03-60CJ Mahaney,Tim Lane and Paul Tripp. Relationships: A Mess Worth Making. (Greensboro: New Growth Press, 2008).
http://www.wtsbooks.com/product-exec/product_id/4888/nm/Relationships%3A+A+Mess+Worth+Making+(Paperback)Jerry Bridges, True Fellowship (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1985).
- Posted on Mar 08 2009 at 07:31 PM
- Romans 12:1-2
-
Download MP3
The Process of Transformation
Romans 12:1-2
Mike Dickson
March 1, 2009 - Posted on Mar 01 2009 at 05:51 PM
- 1 John 4:7-12
-
Download MP3
Love One Another
1 John 4:7-12
Curtis Allen
February 22, 2009 - Posted on Feb 27 2009 at 10:07 PM
- Luke 24
-
Download MP3
Paradigm Shift
Luke 24
John Loftness
February 15, 2009 - Posted on Feb 15 2009 at 06:30 PM
- Romans 1:8-12
-
Download MP3
Proactive Fellowship
Romans 1:8-12
Michael Dickson
February 10, 2009 - Posted on Feb 14 2009 at 04:09 PM
- Luke 23:26-56
-
Download MP3
Spectators at a Crucifixion
Luke 23:26-56
John Loftness
February 8, 2009The topic of this passage is the crucifixion of Jesus.
It’s hard to see what Luke sees in this passage because we bring our pre-conceptions of what happened.
Many of us have the movie “The Passion of the Christ” in mind as we read.
But Mel Gibson’s focus in making the movie would not be the same as Luke’s.
Gibson focuses on the brutality of the event.
Luke mentions the crucifixion event briefly. Verse 33: “And when they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified him…”
Luke wants you to see something here. He wants you to see Jesus’ execution through the eyes of those who were there.
Eight spectators at Jesus’ crucifixion.
1. Simon of Cyrene (Verse 26)
What does he want us to see?
Jesus is a criminal sentenced to death and so weak from his sleepless night, his hostile interrogations, three legal proceedings, the mocking, the beating while blindfolded, and finally the flogging that he cannot carry his own cross. He wants us to see a man, weak and exhausted.
2. The women of the crowd (verses 27-31)What does Luke want us to see? Jesus is more concerned about the judgment others will face than he is about himself in his hour of greatest pain and need.
In verse 31 he compares his present experience of judgment to the burning of green wood and this future judgment to the tinder dryness of dry wood. When Jesus was with them, the nation still had life in it, it was still green. But after he leaves, it will become dry and completely lifeless. How much hotter will it burn! As Darrell Bock writes: “If God has not spared Jesus, how much more will the impenitent nation not be spared when divine judgment comes?”
3. The Executioners (verses 32-33, 36-37)What does Luke want us to see? Jesus remains merciful—even to those who have so viciously betrayed him, falsely accused him, executed him. People who deserve the judgment for the most horrible crime of human history. He’s quick o forgive and slow in judgment.
4. The Jewish Rulers (verse 35)
The rulers mock him. They revile three claims to Jesus’ identity:
• “Savior”—And the irony is that by not saving himself, his work of salvation begins.
• “Christ”—And the irony is that it takes the death of the king as a representative of his people for him to exercise his saving rule.
• “Chosen One”—a reference to Isaiah 42, the servant of the Lord, whom the Lord calls, “my chosen one.” The irony about this chosen one is revealed later in Isaiah 53. The chosen one has to die as a guilt offering to cover the sins of his people. He was chosen to die!What does Luke want us to see? The rulers see Jesus’ death as a vindication of their claim that Jesus is a phony. They think that he is under God’s curse for his sins. But in reality he is under God’s curse for the sins of the world. It’s his death that makes him Savior, King, Chosen One.
5. The Criminals (verses 39-43)
What does Luke want us to see? Jesus’ death opens the way to heaven. You can join him by humbly asking.
6. Nature (verses 44-45)
What does Luke want us to see? Nature mourns at the injustice of the crucifixion of the Son of God.
And so should we.
7. The Centurion (verses 46-47)
Luke wants us to see, as he has pointed out repeatedly through Jesus’ trial, that Jesus died an innocent man. He died the death of a criminal, yet he was righteous; he was innocent.
8. Joseph and the women (Verses 50-56)
What does Luke want us to see here? Jesus really died. And those closest to his body after his execution acted just like people do who have to handle a dead body—the sought to give it a proper burial.
He really died.
If he didn’t, chapter 24—in fact the entire gospel—makes no sense.
Now you know the story. You’ve seen it through Luke’s eyes, and he wrote it under the inspiration of the Spirit. So this is how God wants you to see it. You’ve become a spectator to the crucifixion of Jesus.What do you see?
The women on the death march saw a tragic figure, the victim of Jewish injustice and Roman corruption. The Jewish rulers saw a phony. The soldiers saw the victim of a cruel irony.
What do you see?
One criminal only could only repeat the taunts of Jesus’ mockers. The other criminal saw someone who was headed to a heavenly kingdom and he asked Jesus to take him there with him. The Centurion saw an innocent man.
What do you see?
Here’s what Luke wants you to see: God’s chosen one, chosen to save people from the penalty of God’s wrath: His death for yours, his judgment for what you deserve.
You’re responsible now. You’ve got to choose. What will your reaction be as a spectator to his crucifixion?
- Posted on Feb 08 2009 at 06:25 PM
