Posted by Pastor Pat on January 23, 2009
Where do we go from here? Because the story exceeds the boundaries placed on it, it engulfs everyone and everything that lies in its path. God wrote every detail into the story. He knows what will happen before it happens simply because He is God. There is only one book that gives us “the rest of the story.” It is found almost exclusively in the book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation is notably apocalyptic literature. This means it uses symbolism to communicate its thoughts. The meaning is not in the symbol but in what the symbol represents. “It is literature born out of crisis and was a means of addressing that crisis to a religious community.”(http://faculty.bbc.edu/rdecker/phd/depriest/1defined.html) This means the intent of the literature was to explain present conflict and provide immediate hope. The book of Revelation is remarkably singular in its purpose. Chapter 1 verse 1 opens with the following statement,
1 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, 2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Rev. 1:1-3).
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Posted by Pastor Pat on January 13, 2009
We have already noted how the Hero’s work has left His people with a legacy. This legacy is to be carried out by every succeeding generation. The mission for His people is to share His legacy. Luke 24:47 notes how the message is to “be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Luke continues this idea in Acts 1:7, 8. ”He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth’”.
“All the nations” in Luke 24:47 are “the remotest part of the earth” in Acts 1:8. The thought of Jerusalem is common in both. The Hero’s legacy, His redemptive work in behalf of His people, is to be proclaimed to everyone, everywhere, at all times. The work of the witness is to be who they are in whatever role they find themselves. The story of God is not bound by the chronicling of it in the Bible. The story exceeds its literary boundaries and is to overflow into every area of life. There is no part of life that is not a part of His story. Each of us, in our own special way, is a part of this divine story. This includes housewives, working mothers, husbands who find themselves in repetitive jobs whose sole interest is to clothe his family, put food on the table, and keep a roof over their heads. This is a part of the story. The story has various sub-plots but every sub-plot keeps taking the reader back to the four primary themes: creation, transgression, condemnation, and redemption. At times in the story, it is the author’s delight to keep parts a mystery to the reader, but this does not make the mystery any less necessary. Its placement is designed to push us toward the author and His purpose.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on January 7, 2009
In the story of God, He created a world in which His story would unfold. From the very beginning a villain, an antagonist was presented. But God also wrote into His story a deliverer who would bring deliverance. This hero was foreshadowed and imaged throughout biblical revelation and history. The foretelling and figure were so exact that when the hero arrived all who were looking were able to identify God’s hero. The Hero came at a very specific time in history and with a distinct purpose. He came as a deliverer, and He brought with Him deliverance. The Hero has finished the work entrusted to Him by His Father; now He gives to His people the responsibility to carry on the work of proclamation to all the nations. Even though we acknowledge the story of God, we fail to see how we are living in the story and how our lives are a part of the ongoing story of God.
We are the means God has established for the proclamation of His story to all the nations. This is His legacy to us. He left us with this inheritance. What we have in the story is the only thing in life that is truly priceless. The story is the treasure. Of all things created this is the one thing we cannot duplicate. The person and work of the story’s Hero is beyond us, and there is nothing we can do to do what was done. This work is the treasure that we are to share with all the nations.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on January 5, 2009
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4, 5).
In the story of God, it is not simply the hero’s presence that secures for His people deliverance from their shame, fear, and guilt. It is the hero’s work that will conquer their shame, fear, and guilt. Our text tells us that what He does will secure for His people redemption from the Law and adoption as sons. This immediate text does not tell us how this end would be secured. The Book of Galatians, however, does. There are three verses that describe the event that “fills the gap” at the end of verse 4 and the beginning of verse 5. The first verse is Galatians 1:3, 4, the second is 2:20 and the third is Galatians 6:14.
3 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Gal. 1:3, 4).
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Posted by Pastor Pat on January 4, 2009
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4, 5).
In the story God wrote, He created a world in which His script would be played out. His story includes individuals whose wills can reject His and cause sin to exist. Their rebellion places them in a position of shame, fear, and guilt. All of their attempts at rectifying the problem end in failure. Failure begets failure. Something or someone must come to their rescue. Fortunately, God’s story not only includes a villain, but also provides a hero. The hero of God’s story was foretold as a deliverer who brings deliverance. This individual would be foretold and visualized in prophecy, promise, picture, type, shadow, and figure. The foretelling created hope and caused the true believers to live in expectancy and anticipation. They looked and longed for the hero’s arrival.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on December 23, 2008
As I think about this Advent season, I am reprimanded by my neglect individually and perhaps corporately. Although the Hero has arrived, we continue to ignore His presence. We enter Advent with little thought and preparation. We do not anticipate or expect His appearance. I do not believe celebrating Christmas as it currently exists undermines the truth it contains, but I do believe that we must not forget who and what this is all about. Although the words on paper read harshly, my intent is not to chasten, but to remind. It is to speak as a Shepherd and not as the Butcher. Today, my intent is to be touched by God.
When we consider the season of Advent, our own actions and attitudes toward Christmas appear vulgar, if not blasphemous. We have so commercialized the story of God that only a hard right turn will put us back on course. In life, it seems that greed and not God controls us. It is self-serving action and not sacrifices on any level that marks us and characterizes our lives. We are heirs of the promise and joint-heirs with Christ, yet we live puny lives simply because we do not know and live in the story.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on
Earlier the Bible told of a villain who sought, through deception and blatant tyranny, to overthrow the rule of God (Gen. 3:1-7). It is impossible to know why the author included the villain in His story, but his presence will show the power, justice, and grace of the primary character. In our story, God can introduce the antagonist without undermining His person and purpose. In the story, the antagonist, the villain, acts freely yet within the purpose of the author. The creator, author, king, and hero exercises dominion over that which is created.
Because the Bible is a story we can freely speak of author, villain, and hero. Just as the author wrote into the story a villain, so also is the hero spoken of as the antithesis to the evil. The word “hero” comes directly from the Greek language and means “defender, protector.” The hero is distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength. Usually the hero is the principal character and will fight for a cause. http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
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Posted by Pastor Pat on December 22, 2008
In the story of God, the villain is sin and the devil. God wrote the villain into His story. Although we cannot know exhaustively as to why He wrote the villain into the story, we do know the villain will show the power, justice, and grace of God.
Why the villain? “In fiction, villains commonly function in the dual role of adversary and foil to the story’s heroes. In their role as adversary, the villain serves as an obstacle the hero must struggle to overcome. In their role as foil, the villain exemplifies characteristics that are diametrically opposed to those of the hero, creating a contrast distinguishing heroic traits from villainous ones.” Wikipedia
One of the great problems that exist for many is how God can be the author of the story and still write into the script the villain. I would like to consider three basic ideas present in the storyline. First, God is the Creator of all things outside Himself (Gen. 1:1; Col. 1:16, 17). God created everything. He is the Creator. That is His position, role, and function. This is His status. He is the Creator and everything outside of Him is created. Thus, He may do what He wants with what is His, and what He does is always right.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on December 21, 2008
The Bible is a story. It is a story from which all other stories find their substance. Words such as epic, larger-than-life, and classic find their source in this one story. Folklore and mythology all find their soil in the Bible. It would be erroneous to think of the Bible as folklore or mythological. The Bible is the true standard from which all deviations and distortions originally flowed. It is a story of a Creator who acts, an Author who writes, a King who rules, and a Hero who wins. It contains villains, war, defeat and victory.
Often we read the Bible as if it was not a story or as if it were a poorly written story. I have read many books over the years, and all the good ones have a single plot with many different sub-plots contributing to the one story. I just finished reading SHOGUN. James Clavell wrote the work in 1975. It has various characters such as Blackthorne, Toranaga, Ishido, Mariko, etc. Yet with all of the various sub-plots, the story is singular. Everything James Clavell places in the story contributes to the final end. This same idea rings true with J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic work, The Lord of the Rings.
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