Alrighty, here we go.
Day 1 | Mark Baddeley | Talk 1 | The Word of God in the Word of God
Introduction
Today is a biblical theology of what the bible says about the Word of God. A selection of passages (below) to track the story of how the Word of God fits and appears. Emphasis will be on how the bible will speak about the Word of God.
Genesis 1:1-8, 24-31
The opening chapter of the bible, why anything exists apart from God at all – and we find that the Word of God has a starring role. Each day God speaks, and whatever God says happens. Every speaking moment structures what happens through the chapter. And everything that happens demonstrates the sheer potency of God’s speech: everything comes into existence by mere speech. His words bring reality into existence. Anything that he talks about comes into existence, conversely anything he doesn’t speak about does not come into existence.
And everything God speaks that comes into existence is good. Then he doesn’t just speak them into existence, but he also speaks to his creation: especially humanity. And God does this, again, simply by speaking.
God creates, fills, and directs this world by his word.
Genesis 3: 8-24; Cain, Flood
Genesis 3 is the next big decisive moment in bible history. And again we have the Word of God as a starring feature.
First the snake attempts to take the Word of God, which sought to regulate and shape the way Adam and Eve are to live, is questioned and manipulated by the serpent.
We saw the Word previously create and regulate, now we see a Word of judgement. The words that he speaks bring about the very reality that God speaks about – similar to the way that God speaks and reality occurs in Genesis 1. The snake slithers on his belly, the woman feels her curse, the man feels his curse. The same power we saw in Genesis 1 we see in Genesis 3 but now in an unpleasant way – bringing death rather than life.
Genesis 12:1-3
Such a small passage, but with massive significance for the rest of the bible. Here God speaks again, but instead of creating or regulating or judging, it’s a word of promise. The powerful word we have seen in Genesis 1 and 3, in which we saw the words of blessing and curse, appear again – but in a profoundly different way. For as you start to work your way through Genesis, and the accounts of God’s dealings with his people Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, these promises in these verses keep being echoed and tested.
Exodus 3:1-10 Commissioning of Moses Plagues, Passover
Israel is in bondage, in slavery to a tyrant who seeks their destruction. And God comes down to delivery his people – but not in person, not in a legion of angels, but in words to one man, Moses commissioned to be their deliverer, to set Israel free to serve and worship God.
This word (to Moses) sets in motion salvation itself.
Exodus 20:1-23
Israel has been saved from the mega power of the world at the time. God, over the course of various miracles and plagues, smashes this superpower nation. Now that they are free and free to worship God, God speaks again to let his people know what it takes to be in relationship with him.
The issues raised in Genesis 3 have not been dealt with. In Genesis 3 when God drew near Adam and Eve fled. In Exodus 20 when God draws near the people are afraid and don’t want to hear him speak.
And still, God speaks to regulate the behaviour and relationships of his people.
Deuteronomy 4:1-20
Israel on the foot of the promised land. Moses, for various reasons, can’t go in – and in this book he reissues for the people the statutes and decrees that God passed to him 40 years earlier. Moses takes them back to Mt Sinai (ie Horeb), and gets them to reflect back on the word received there: the 10 commandments. Moses considers not just the commands, but the event itself – and he does this in order to get the importance across of what happened (not just what was said). The importance: you heard a voice, not an object, and the voice said things to you – the commandments are enveloped in the experience they had at Mt Sinai. They heard a voice, not a form – so they were not to go looking for forms, nor look at those things created to be the basis of their relationship with Him. The relationship is based on the words spoken to them.
2 Samuel 7:1-17; 12:1-15 David and Nathan – promise of kingship, death of son
David has been made king of Israel, is now, after a long story, crowned king and comes up with a great idea – to build a house for God. Nathan the prophet says no, your son will build the house – but a beautiful promise comes to David instead.
The promise seems to be, at first, a simple succession of unending kings. But in the end David’s line is sufficiently disobedient that they are dethroned. The prophets later look forward to another Son of David who fulfills all the promises and satisfies all the hopes of these promises back in 2 Samuel 7.
2 Samuel 7 shows the formidable power of God’s word to not only shape the future but also shape and change his people.
(we’re now running out of time in the talk!)
John 1:1-18 –> still keeps the word of God
Jesus is spoken about the ‘Word of God’ – a very deliberate and dramatic thing. John’s opening chapter echoes clearly creation and the story of Moses. Basically that the word of God we have been encountering in the Old Testament is Jesus himself.
1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:13
The word of God that is spoken of here is the gospel – the message which came to the Thessalonians which they heard and which transformed their lives. When Paul refers to the word of God he’s often referring to the gospel.
2 Timothy 3:14-17
Paul here says that the word of God is scripture.
So in these three passages three things are referred to as ‘the Word of God’: Jesus, the gospel, and scripture. What we’ll work through in the next few days is how these three things relate to each other.
Reflections
First, apart from John 1, the first thing to get is that God’s Word is words. When God’s word comes to people it comes as human words, in a way which is normal for humans to understand. God’s Word comes to us in the form of words – understandable words.
Secondly – there is clearly diversity that also comes. It’s amazing what God’s word can do – bring the universe into reality, set in motion events, make promises, etc. There are very different ways it comes to his people – sometimes when it comes you’re terrified, sometimes it creates things, sometimes it brings a promise. It does dramatically different things.
Lastly, we see how important the word of God is in scripture. The beginning, the fall, the promised Messiah, in different ways the key starring characters through scripture is God’s words, speech, his talking. Almost as though it’s another character in its own right. God’s speech has a life of its own, it does so much in the bible, and often at the most critical points in the bible.
[Wow, what a start to the week! A tour de force of the word of God in the word of God.]
Day 1 | Workshop: Bible Storying | Linda McKerrell
Linda shares a story about sharing a bible story with a stranger in a coffee shop. It sounds better in person :P
The advantages of sharing a bible story:
- It sticks in your brain
- It feels immersive: when you explain a story you’re more actively engaged, the listener is experiencing the story as you tell it
- It’s non-confrontational (at least in the story that Linda shared)
Linda shares another story about meeting some family friends – and sharing bible stories for hours on end with an initially antagonistic listener.
Advantages:
- people listen and pay attention for longer
- people understand the connections
- kids and adults together will listen
- answering questions with individual bible verses it can end up in an argument that gets muddled – as you share bible stories the bigger picture is shared and engaged with
To be a story teller you need:
- To pray
- To practice
- 20 seconds of courage to ask someone to share the story with someone
As you’re thinking about telling the story, one of the key things to remember is that the story, or story telling, isn’t going to be the thing that converts people (though it may!), the key thing is that it moves people closer to the cross.
We practice the Abraham, Sarah and Hagar narrative. It’s hard to retell it after hearing it multiple times!
Two main ways that Linda learns a story:
- She listens to the story, reads it out, listens again, and reads it out again.
- She opens her bible, reads it aloud, closes her bible and retells it. She opens her bible and reads aloud again, and then closes her bible and retells is. Repeat.
Tips:
- Use colloquial language. Be as close to the text as you possibly can, consult a few translations to figure out different ways of saying the same thing.
- If there are words that are strange to hear – eg. righteousness, tabernacle – flag it before the story, or use different words to capture the same idea.
- Convert indirect to direct speech – it makes the conversations more vivid and present.
- Don’t embellish or add details.
- Don’t explain the story as you tell it.
Now, once you’ve told the story follow up questions are crucial. Are there things you liked in the story, things you didn’t like?
But on answering questions we need to be careful. If you answer questions quickly you become a teacher and implicitly tell them they need a teacher to understand the bible – which is true to an extent, but unhelpful. It can be more empowering for people to ask questions but try to answer them on their own by finding out more. [I think we take the audience into consideration at this point – sometimes we need to answer questions because we know that our audience won’t follow it up. The way we answer is also important, and can produce further questions or halt further discovery.]
Check out www.storyingthescriptures.com for further examples – read about people show share stories, listen to bible stories being told.
Bible stories are God’s Words, and the more you tell them the more they take you deeper into the truths of scripture. As you sit with someone and talk to someone about their lives, and perhaps the mess of their lives, the stories which are filled with heaps of mess in the bible become avenues to share the gospel story.
[What an interesting seminar. It’s a solid reminder that evangelism takes all shapes and forms, and perhaps ‘storying the bible’ is the least intimidating way to do it. Get into it, if only to learn the bible better!]
Day 1 | Evening Talk 1 | Richard Gibson | God’s Ultimate Revealer [Hebrews 1:1-2:4]
Reading Hebrews, self-consciously
Richard’s hope: that we will become so engrossed by the Jesus of Hebrews that we just want to keep reading more and more.
Tune into the fact that someone is speaking to us – to read it self-consciously. To understand how the author is writing to us, shaping and composing the message to us.
For its profound theology and literary aesthetic, the book of Hebrews has an in your face message. The author realises that his audience is slipping away from Jesus and this is an urgent and desperate situation.
As we read the book we will get an incite into what pressures are pushing people away from Jesus:
- People are probably sick of being persecuted – they’ve faced or seen persecution first hand. Property has been confiscated, some have been thrown into prison. The general picture fits well with what we know about the second half of the first century under Nero. This observation fits with what we see today as well – we are more likely to face hostility today for our faith than a generation ago; Christianity has less credibility in the public sphere; and we know that in many places around the world Christians do lose their heads for their faith.
- Many feel drawn back to the relative security and safety of belonging to a social group with social values that they grew up with – back to Judaism. To turn away from Christ, to loosen their grip, would lessen the tension at home. They could go back to pleasing their parents. There was also perhaps something familiar about the old religion that is comforting to them.
- Sexual immorality appears to be another issue leading some to question whether it’s worth hanging on to Jesus. The world we live in is similar yes?
The argument in Hebrews needs hard work to get through – but when we do it we’ll see the same arguments to us to not fall away from Jesus.
The message of the writer: do not refuse the message of Him who speaks to you.
Our need for revelation
In any relationship we have we need revelation or disclosure. Revelation is basic to everyday life – especially in relationships.
It’s true of intimate relationships – unless someone discloses what they feel or want we can’t figure that out.
The Son’s resumé (1:1-4)
Intricate design
There’s an intricate design to the opening verses.
There’s heaps of comparisons in the opening verse. There’s a timeframe comparison – long ago, in these last days.
To our fathers, now to us.
By the prophets, by his Son.
The previous revelations of God were incomplete, they were not final, they weren’t finished. The author’s point is that Jesus is the definitive self-disclosure.
Jude 3 makes the same point – we are to contend for the faith that has been once and for all delivered to the saints.
Much of the world’s population is unaware that God has revealed himself in this way. For various and many reasons. For some, Muslims, there is a belief that Jesus was not the final revelation – that something supplemental is needed (a final prophet).
Therefore the first few verses in the letter make a dynamite claim. A claim this controversial and dramatic needs some substantiation. He needs to justify that Jesus is it.
Three qualifications
The resume of Jesus is beautifully designed. In verses 2-4 we see three key qualifications of Jesus.
- Radiance of God’s glory
- Exact imprint of his nature
- Upholds the universe by his Word
Radiance: the remarkable claim that Jesus was the supreme manifestation of God. Jesus embodies the very essence of God in his person. He shines the light of God in all its dazzling brightness.
Imprint: Jesus perfectly represents God to us. The word ‘imprint’ is the word we get ‘character’ from – Jesus bears the very imprint, a product of the very closest contact with the Father and able to express his nature. When Jesus communicates he expresses God’s own thoughts and intentions. He’s not an ambassador, not a messenger carrying a document with exact wording – he is the very word of God from the heart of God himself. There is no room for misrepresentation – there is no gap between God and Jesus.
Upholds: Jesus’ third qualification is his effectiveness of his communication – since he upholds the universe by his power. In the gospels we see this – for instance with just a word calming a storm, exorcising demons, bring a dead person back to life. The one who causes the sun to rise and set again, who rules the weather patterns, who sustains the sun and stars and every planet by the word of his power.
So who would you listen to when you want to know the word of God?
How do we grasp all of this? Even the early Christians would struggle to articulate how grand and majestic Jesus is. And here we have a letter dated to 60AD doing it all.
Creator and Redeemer
Verse 2 – we see that it is Jesus who created everything – everything is created by him, and through him, and for him.
Verse 3 – Jesus made purification for sins – able to do this by his own purity. Jesus didn’t save us by being our sideline coach, he came to be with us in order to draw us into the relationship that he has made possible by the shedding of his own blood.
This is who is speaking to us through His word.
Heir and King
Heir and King are two ideas speaking of Jesus enthronement – of his power and authority.
Jesus has sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high – after his purification for sins, his resurrection and ascension he returned to his rightful place next to God on the throne. The right hand was euphemistic for most trusted person.
This dazzling description of Jesus should blow our minds – but that’s not its sole point. It reminds us of who we belong to, when we call ourselves Christians and trust Jesus, when we run to him for mercy and refuge, we run to the One who has all power and majesty in the universe. He can keep us safe while we cling to him, while we hold fast to him.
Conversely he is also the one we go up against when we harden ourselves against him.
Superseding prophets and angels
The prophets were the promise bringers, Jesus is the fulfiller – he supersedes them not by rendering them obsolete but by fulfilling them.
If Prophets were the agents of revelation at the human end, angels were the agents of revelation at the divine end. Think of the Christmas stories – and how many angels appear to reveal God’s plans.
Angels are regarded as creatures, they are part of the created order – there is a sense in which they are super human. They are granted special access to God’s presence.
The bombshell of the author of Hebrews continues by saying that Jesus supersedes prophets and the ministry of angels.
Seven references (1:5-14)
Uniquely the Son
First two Old Testament quotes – both establish that Jesus is uniquely the Son. A way in which God would never have spoken to about angels.
The writer is saying that God is referring to Jesus as his Son – and God never speaks this way about the angels.
Worshipped by angels
Another couple of OT quotes to show that subservient nature of the angels to Jesus.
Never-ending
Verse 8-9 – Jesus is eternal, the angels are not.
At the right hand
Finally in verse 13 there is the climatic quote of Psalm 110 – that to no angel has this quote been given.
Notice in every one of the OT quotations the author is free to say ‘God said…’ yet in verse 8 there is quote from the song of Moses (sung by Moses), verse 9 quotes from a Psalm by the Sons of Korah, and Psalm 110 is written by David – yet the author keeps saying ‘God says…’ This is a profound insight into the authors reflection on the nature of scripture – that though there are human authors the ultimate author is God himself.
The danger of drifting! (2:1-4)
The covenant revealed by angels
It’s easy to get lost in the theology and argument – but there is a big ‘therefore’ that must draw our attention.
The big danger is that we will become distracted and unfocused from Jesus – and our attention will drift from that one that deserves it. The word ‘drift’ carries sailing connotations – he’s worried that his audience is drifting like a boat away from Jesus. They may not have even noticed the subtlety of the drift. They will disregard Jesus at the risk of their security and well-being.
The temptation that they are facing is to go back to the security and safety of Judaism. There was an old tradition that angels gave the law to Moses – which is why they are so attached to them, because angels had access to God and could better guarantee the revelation of God. This gave the OT law a dignity and seriousness that they found hard to let go of and walk away from.
But under that covenant anybody who broke the covenant, hardened their heart towards the God who rescued them, faced the consequences. The law was legally binding with consequences for those who refused to listen.
The writer then uses a ‘how much more’ argument – if you want to go back to the angel covenant, stay attached to the Moses covenant, but Jesus is so far superior to them – don’t you understand that when you ignore Jesus, when you stop listening to him, the consequences are even worse, even more drastic, when you drift away from him. You just can’t turn your back on this word and remain safe.
There is no refuge back in Judaism – for that word has been fulfilled in Jesus.
The covenant revealed by Jesus
This is the warning we need to heed – even if we aren’t drawn back to Judaism. We are still subject to drifting, of disregarding our salvation in Jesus.
How are we hearing this word tonight? What we doing with what is being said to us. It’s not Richard that is speaking ultimately, nor the author of Hebrews that we need to worry about – but Jesus himself who is saying ‘Don’t drift away from me.’
Maybe you’re sick of persecution, maybe you’re drawn away to materialism, maybe you’re drawn to sexual immorality, maybe you’re being drawn back by family and remembering the comfort of fitting in with the family… there are all kinds of pressures within our culture that can cause us to drift.
How shall we escape?
If you walk away, you’re not walking away from the social club of church, or friends, or the building – but you are walking away from the all-powerful, all mighty, all distinct and awesome Jesus.
If you have been neglecting your salvation, stop the rot – run to Jesus to find your security and salvation there.
[A massive talk this evening on the supremacy of Jesus. It makes no sense to walk away from him and his glory. Don’t do it. Run to him – and find mercy and grace. Wow!]
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