Week 5 - Day 1 Reading the Psalms

Psalm 139:7–12 (ESV)

⁷  Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

⁸  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

⁹  If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

¹⁰  even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

¹¹  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

¹²  even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you

Psalm 139 my favorite Psalm.  Early in my Christian walk, I was struggling with some self-image issues (image that, for those who know me).  My friend Christa Hunt told me to go home and read this Psalm.  It has been my favorite Psalm ever since.  If memory serves me correct and I think I feel asleep in my car in my parent's cul-de-sac while reading it.  It has 24 verses and almost off of them have all spoken to me in some way over the years.  My heart and soul has felt and/or needed these words on more than one occasion.  Case in point.  I read it tonight and next to v.2b (HCSB): "You understand my thoughts from far away" I wrote, "at least somebody does" in the margin of my Bible.  

As I read this passage in light of our DVD session for Week 5 I want to add something to what Dr. Guthrie said.  I do this quite a bit with the Psalm and it so good at putting things in perspective: I pray the Psalm and replace the Psalmists pronouns me, I, my, etc. with my name.  Example:  "Lord, you have searched Wes and known Wes.  You know when Wes sits down and when Wes stands up".  This is a great tool for to use in prayer, in worship, and for meditating on Scripture.

One last thing that I just noticed tonight.  It's not really related, but I find it interesting.  Notice the 1st verse ("Lord you have searched me and known me"), and the last verse ("Search me O God and see if there is any wicked way in me").  "God you have searched me and I want you to keep searching....." 

I'm out.

Week 4 - How the Law Fits into the Story

"You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to Me.  Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep my covenant, you will be my own possessions out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine, and you will My kingdom of priests and My holy nation."  I.E. - "I will be your God and you will by My people." Exodus 19.4-6.

There are a couple of things in the first lesson for this week, but I would like to concentrate only on the section regarding the Ten Commandments.  I'm probably going to butcher this thing, so you may have to grant me some liberty.  I could go on (and on and on) about this subject but I will try to keep it brief.

As some of you know I write software for a living.  When creating a new software package programmers are given specifications on what the software is supposed to do.  These "specs" are supposed to be in written form, but usually it a knowledge dump to from one brain to another.  It usually goes something like "I want to be able to pick a start date and end date and sell all of my Medicare customers which came in for a heart attack.  I want to know how long they were in the hospital.  I want to know how much money we got from Medicare.  I want to be able to slice and dice 432 different ways...blah blah.  We are given rules and parameters and all the "techy" stuff to make this run.  But somewhere I usually get to ask the question, "Okay, but what do you want it to look like?"  All of the information you want displayed may be correct, but if not displayed in a legible format, in a format you and your users understand - it is all for nothing.

When I look at the Ten Commandments that is what I see.  We not only see the table of contents for the rest of the Law, but we get "This is what our relationship is going to look like."  This is who we [God's people] will be.  When the world looks at Israel and her God, this is what they will see:
1 - A vertical relationship between God and His people
   - A people who only worship one God, the True God
   - They will not worship any idols (they will worship the Creator not His creations)
   - They will not misuse the name of the Lord their God
   - They will take a day of rest to focus on me, to gather together in my name
   - Great blessing will come from God is covenant kept (to many generations)
   - Great judgment will come from is covenant is not kept (to many generations)

2 - A horizontal relationship between God's people and humanity.  In other words, this is how they live out this covenant with their God
   - They will honor their mother and father (family)
   - Will not murder (Jesus took this further in Matthew 5)
   - Will not commit adultery  (Jesus took this further in Matthew 5)
   - Will not steal
   - Will not lie
   - Will be content with what God gives him and not covet the things of others.

Someone once said that believers should "Reflect back to God the glory that is due Him".  As long as the people of Israel stayed in covenant as did obey this commandments, they were going to be what I call "glory reflectors".

So lets fast forward to the 21st century.  We no longer are "under the Law", but isn't that what the world should see when they look at us?  Us "reflecting back to God the glory that is due Him"?  Not only in our relationship to Him (which we now have Christ constantly interceding for us;  we also have Christ's righteousness) but has we live out our Christian life in the world?

Obviously our salvation is no longer dependent on us keeping the Ten Commandments, but it is who we as followers of Christ are (or at least who we should be).  As we fellowship vertically with God; as He makes us more and more like Him; as our faith grows; as the vertical relationship grows stronger so does the horizontal expression of that relationship.

Well enough for now.  Its late.  I hope I didn't confuse anyone.  I've got some more stuff on the horizontal relationship and the vertical expression and how they work together, but another day.

"He became sin who know no sin so that we might become His righteousness." - 2 Cor 5.21 and the lyrics to Jesus Messiah

"When I call upon Your name the very atmosphere has to change" - lyrics to "Something Happens" which,   to quote my friend Audrey Wiley, wrecks my world every time I hear it.  In  a good way."  BTW.  It's hard to sing when you are trying to keep from squalling like a baby.....EVERY TIME

Wag is OUT!

Week 3 - Day 3 Seeing God as the Hero of the Stories

"If we are not careful, we can read the Bible as a self-help book, looking primarily for what is says to or about our lives...Its true that the Bible is relevant to use and should be applied to our lives but we can discover its true relevance only to the extent that we encounter God through Scripture."

WOW!  The Bible is first and foremost about God.  He is the hero.  Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac are key players in the Bible, but THE God of Abraham, THE God of Jacob, and THE God of Isaac is THE KEY player in the Bible.

A few years ago I was in a local Christian bookstore and walked by their Top Ten best sellers stand.  Almost all of the top 10 were some type of "Christian" self-help book.  I was floored.  Now I'm not trying to degrade any of those authors or readers of those book, but I could not help but think about how it appeared.  It sounded like a group of singers warming up - ME ME ME ME ME ME ME.

Yes, I understand God does care about us and wants to be our guide in this pilgrimage we call life.  His main instrument for doing that is His Word.  I cannot help but wonder, however, if we have forgotten that God is the hero.  We live for Him.  He IS the story.  So let's get to our two stories for today - Elijah and the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-40) and David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17).

1 - List three ways God is presented as the hero of this story.
- In v. 37 Elijah prayed and asked God to reveal Himself so that "these people will know that Yahweh is God".  God is the hero because of His awesome power in consuming the altar and everything around it

- In v. 39 "When all the people saw it, they fell facedown and said 'Yahweh, He is God! Yahweh, He is God!"  God is the hero here because He used this event to lead Israel to repentance.  He could have, and rightfully so, used this as a time of judgment and consumed them with the altar.

- In v. 40 we see Elijah taking the opportunity to have the prophets of Baal destroyed.  I don't really know if this is necessarily a action that makes God the "hero" but it is worth noting how God feels about and deals with idols in the Old Testament.

2 - Write statements from verses 45-47 that make God the focus of the battle.
- v. 45 "...but I come against you in the name of Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel's armies - you have defied Him".  This wasn't David's battle.  This was God's battle.  Goliath was not mocking or challenging David, he was mocking God and His chosen people.  David was fighting God's battle in God's name.

- v. 46 "Then all the world will know that Israel has a God".  This is hanky waving time.  This was about letting the world know that Israel's God would not be mocked.  There was no giant large enough, no army strong enough, no nation strong enough to withstand the power of Israel's God - Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel's armies.

- v.47 "...the battle is the Lord's"

So God is the hero of these two stories - Elijah and David were just the instruments.  God should be the hero in our own life.  God stands in the center of the Old Testament story and He also stands in the center of your life story.  With that in mind think about this question raised by Dr. Guthrie:

3 -  How might you live differently this week if you consciously saw God at the center of you life story?
- Priorities would changed and my actions would change accordingly.
- I would pray, then pray again, then pray some more.   Every step, every decision would be a "what does God want me to do" moment.

Man this would be a great sermon!

In Christ,
Wag

Week 3 - Day 2 The Purpose and Details of the Old Testament Stories

"Put it down MOSES"...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC1W9rvqjvU

Another great lesson tonight.  But I guess you can't go wrong with Moses.

1 - Do you agree or disagree with this statement:

"The destiny of the word is determined less by the battles that are lost and won than by the stories it loves and believes in."

Personally I do not agree with that statement, but there is not denying there is some level of truth to that saying.  A person is shaped is by what he believes in (whether it is true or not).  He may win or lose a war but if he does not value the outcome of the war, its value it diminished.  If we believe stories we have heard/read about better days (or worse days) ahead, we are going to live our life according to the story, not the outcome of the battle.

2 - "...the skills you have gained over the years in reading and understanding stories can be put to work in reading the Old Testament".

True, with one HUGE exception.  These stories are true.  The recording of these stories in the Old Testament were inspired by God (2 Timothy 3.16).  A God who has given us the Holy Spirit who is here to help us understand the Word of God.  We must read these stories (and any other part of the Bible) under His guidance and direction.

Exodus 2-3

3 - What was the purpose of these stories about Moses?  What did you learn about him?

I think the purpose of these stories was to show us that God was with Moses from the beginning.  What some may see as abandonment by his mother was God's protection/providence of him.  His fleeing from Egypt and finding Midian was not a coincidence.  The burning bush.  These were all steps in God's plan to prepare Moses for delivering the Jews from Egypt.

4 - What characteristics about God are portrayed in this story?

- He is a promise (covenant) keeper.  T'he land he was about to give them was promised to Abraham.
- He hears and sees our oppression.  .- He is able and willing to deliver us from our "Pharaoh" IN HIS TIME not ours.  This is about God and His glory not ours
- He is "I AM" not "I WAS" or "I WILL BE" but "I AM"

5 - What does God value?

- Obedience.  The instructions given to Moses were detailed instructions.  If Moses followed them he would succeed.

- Patience/Trust.  He told Moses that this would fail the 1st time, but God would do His thing to convince Pharaoh.

6 - What was God's agenda at this point in the Old Testament?

Easy, to deliver His people out of bondage to the Egyptians into a land of milk and honey flowing.

So now the fun part.  Responding!  I gave you an acrostic on Tuesday (SPACEPETS) to help you understand some the items to looks for in an OT story (agenda, characteristic of God, etc).  This acrostic is also very helpful in applying Scripture to our life.  Go back to Week 1 - Listening, Understanding, and RESPONDING.  So let's walk through this.

Sin to Confess:  Impatience and lack of faith.  I know Moses didn't have a view of the big picture at this point, but we do have that now.  We know that God has a plan for us, I just can't wait sometimes nor can I understand and that causes me to doubt.  So what areas of you life are you impatient with?

Promise to Claim: God made a promise to Abraham and his descendants to give them a land of their own.  Now they are in slavery, but Sunday's a comin'.  God does fulfill His promise, just not always on our time table.  This could also be a Truth to Believe 

Example to Follow:  Be open to your "Burning Bush"

Something to Praise God for:  A God who sees our oppression and hears our cries for help.  A God who is able to deliver and is willing to deliver, just in His time not our own.

See you here, there, or in the air...just not at 114 and Story (inside joke)

Wag







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Week 3 - Reading the stories of the Old Testament

Wow!  I have so much on my heart and mind as we enter this phase of our study.  As I said tonight, I love the Old Testament.  Although I do not nearly have the necessary knowledge to properly deal with it all, I do find it easier to read and apply than the New Testament.

As far as the stories go, its easy.  Do (or don't do) what the people in the story did.  Obviously not literally, but you get the idea.  Identify and apply the principles in the story to your own life.  I love reading the Psalms too.  Seems I can always relate to their prayers, songs, and emotions as they open up their hearts towards God.

I could go on, but I will refrain from doing so.  Just a handful of stuff from tonight and from the Leader's Guide to take into consideration when reading the Old Testament:

1 - The Old Testament has a rich perspective on who God is and who we are as people and as His people.  Studying God's Covenant relationship and interaction with Israel helps us understand what His desire is for our relationship with Him is.  Yet our carnal nature is constantly in the way, thus we need a Savior.

2 - See God as the main hero.  Each story in the Old Testament has several characters.  Antagonists and Protagonists, but God is the main player.   Ask yourself, "How is God revealing about Himself in this story?"  "What is God revealing about Himself in this story?".

3 - Despite a different Cultural Context (heard that somewhere before) these stories parallel our lives.  Dr. Bruce Waltke (the gray hair guy with the New Jersey accent in the video) puts it this way in the Leader's Guide:

"The stories often have at their core the struggles of people to believe God, to trust Him, and I think we have those struggles; so the stories ring true for us"

Take David and Goliath for example.  Who hasn't had a Goliath in their life.  A obstacle so big, mocking you and your faith on a daily basis, much too strong for you to conquer - nothing in your own natural abilities can overcome. Yet somehow and in someway, God gives you the strength, ability, smarts, etc to overcome and defeat that giant.  "In my weakness, He is made strong..."

4 - We must read the Old Testament Stories in Light of God's Grand Story.  Dr. Waltke continues:

"To appreciate the importance of these Old Testament stories, you have to see the whole Bible holistically.  The framework of the Bible is a historical framework.  The stories of the Old Testament lay a foundation for the grand developing story of the whole Bible.  So we will never understand the Old testament stories apart from their place in the developing story of the Bible."

One question to constantly ask yourself when trying to grasp the "Grand Story" in an O.T. story is "How does this story anticipate or lay the foundation for what God would eventually do through Christ?"  Theologians call this "Typology" [BIG WORD ALERT].  Old Testament stories are often (some would argue they are always) intended to be a typology of Christ - a glimpse into the life of Christ.

So take a second and see if you can find a typology of Christ in the story of David and Goliath.....

I'm out,

Wag

Week 2 - Day 2 Cultural Context

"Cultural context contains attitudes, patterns of behavior, or expressions of a particular society that affect our understanding of a passage."

 I'll be honest, I have always tried to take context into consideration before when reading/studying the Word.  But this one is new to me.  I'm not trying to question its worth, but I have don't have a lot to say on the matter.

Two statements made in our DVD presentation Tuesday have stuck out to me.  Dr. Guthrie uses the phrases: "Tune into the culture of the Bible" and "enter the world of the Bible".  Those actually do make sense to me.  There are several nuisances of the Bible that reflect the culture of that day.  Understanding the settings of the day can bring light to those.

The illustration used in our lesson today is a perfect example.  If you have been in church any amount of time you have probably heard the phrase "Take up your cross and follow me".  Ask anyone today what a cross is and at the very least you are going to get the answer, "its a religious symbol".  In Jesus' day it was the sign of a horrible, torturous death.

So Jesus telling someone to take you his cross and follow Me was more that just telling someone to leave everything behind and become my follower.  He wasn't preaching the prosperity gospel that's for sure, and this had to be clear to disciples.  They knew that the road would be harsh.  I guess the argument could be made that they may have "selective" hearing loss, but Jesus did paint the proper picture.

One of the discussion question for our next meeting is "How does this understanding of crucifixion help you understand the force of Jesus' words in Luke 9.23-24"?  Wow!  What an awesome thought!  I want to challenge you to spend some focus, quality time meditating on that question.  Try rephrasing the passage.  An example would be "...take up his cross [that torturous, painful, shameful death] daily and follow me."

Feel free to post your comments/questions here for other to think about before Tuesday.

Side note:  Please pray for my family and I as we help with Disciple Now at our church this weekend.  We have approx. 40 teenagers signed up to attend.  Starting with the Rock and Worship Show tomorrow night.  

Week 2 - Day 1 Historical Context

Historical context is defined as:

"The historical events in the biblical era, either events recorded in the pages of Scripture or events that form the backdrop for the biblical story."

In the Leaders Guide for our study, Dr. Guthrie interviews another seminary professor by the name of Andreas Kostenberger regarding reading the Bible in the context in which it was given.  He make several statements regarding the four contexts that we are going to cover this week.  When discussing Historical context, Dr. Kostenberger makes this statement regarding the importance of knowing the Historical context:  

"So we first need to understand God's message to the original recipients before we can understand the relevance of God's message for us today."

Dr. Kostenberger shares a great example that is a little lengthy for this post, but I will share with you as we meet next week.  So let's go ahead and get to our lesson for the day.

Amos 5.21-24.  Okay!  Admit it.  You had to look at the table of contents in the front of you Bible to find Amos?  Well, I didn't - I have a thumbed index bible.  Amos is part of what we call "Minor Prophets".  Any idea why they are called the Minor Prophets?  Because the authors where under the age of 18?.....[rim shot].  Thank you I'll be here all night.  Don't forget to tip you waiter.....but seriously.  They are referred to by that name because they are relative small (4 -5 chapters) compare to the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc).

Similar to other minor prophets, God has called Amos to address God's people regarding a whole bunch of stuff going on that he isn't happy about.  Dr. Guthrie provides us a list on page 32.

Number 3 on the list is a rebuke from God for how the people are abusing and cheating the poor - Amos 8:4-6.  Number 4 is a theme that you will see repeated in other Minor Prophets as well - empty religion - see vs. 5:21-24 (our main passage for today).  You may want to read the first 2 chapters of Malachi as well to see the similarities.
  
 5.21-24 God is rebuking His people for the following reasons (all 4 apply):
1 - empty worship gatherings;
2 - meaningless offerings;
3 - empty worship music;
4 - the need for justice;
5 - the need for righteousness.

Question #1: How does your study of the historical context help you understand this passage? Will save this one for our next meeting.

Question #2: What guidelines for living did Amos provide for the Israelites in the last two lines in this passage?   Let justice and righteousness flow.

Question #3: How can believers practice justice and righteousness today in their church?  In their community?  Unfortunately, I think we are just like the world sometimes.  We honor people for all the wrong reasons and not honor them for all the wrong reasons.  We don't address certain sins for what they are (all in the name of not judging).  We have become tolerant.