Living In His Story

The Importance of Story

The stories we tell shape the way we see the world.

"We are born storytellers, and consciously or not, we all indwell a story. We make sense of life with a story we tell ourselves, and when something doesn't fit - a tragedy, a death, a failed marriage, a broken career - we find a story that turns what doesn't fit into something that does fit. We also love to read stories, and some enter the world of fiction to escape the dominant ideological narratives of our day - that is to find a better world to indwell." - Scot McKnight in "Pastor Paul"

Living In His Story

In Christ, our stories have been woven into the fabric of His story. Your story is no longer your own. In Christ - like the lives of those we read about in the Scriptures - our lives are part of the grander, all-encompassing story of God. It is the story of His Son Jesus Christ that is being told in our daily lives.

The Story of Jesus

Jesus in Genesis and the Torah

Jesus in the Psalms

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Jesus in the Prophets

God of Covenant Love

The Hebrew Scriptures are filled with covenants. The Lord established covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. But each of these covenants pointed forward to a coming covenant that was only foreshadowed by the first covenants. The prophet Jeremiah called this the “New Covenant.” This week we will look at the promise of the New Covenant, and its fulfillment through the life, teaching, and ministry of Christ.

How is that justice?

Even though MLB's investigation found the sign stealing to be a "player driven" scheme no players were punished. Instead, the MLB suspended the GM and Manager of the Astros for a year, fined the team $5 million, and took away several draft picks. The Astros owner fired both the GM and Manager, but over the past month has made an absolute mess of things from a public relations standpoint, refusing to hold himself accountable (or responsible), for the actions of the players on the team he owns. To make matters worse for the Astros, almost all of MLB's major stars are criticizing both the MLB commissioner and the Astros.

God is just

Psalm 25 [msg]

God is fair and just;

He corrects the misdirected,

Sends them in the right direction.

Covenant God

The Hebrew Scriptures contain several key covenants. The Lord established covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. But each of these covenants pointed forward to a coming covenant that was only foreshadowed by the first covenants. The prophet Jeremiah called this the “New Covenant.” This week we will look at the promise of the New Covenant, and its fulfillment through the life, teaching, and ministry of Christ.

Jeremiah 31 [esv]

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Deuteronomy 30 [esv]

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Jeremiah 31 [esv]

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Hebrews 9 [esv]

1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.”

How is this justice?

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;

it was our sorrows that weighed him down.

And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,

a punishment for his own sins!

5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,

crushed for our sins.

He was beaten so we could be whole.

He was whipped so we could be healed.

6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.

We have left God’s paths to follow our own.

Yet the Lord laid on him

the sins of us all.

Isaiah 53

Romans 5

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

A Grief Observed - C.S. Lewis

"What do people mean when they say, 'I am not afraid of God because He is good?' Have they never been to a dentist?"

Yet this is unendurable. And then one babbles - 'If only I could bear it, or the worst of it, or any of it, instead of her.' But one can't tell how serious that bid is, for nothing is staked on it. If it suddenly became a possibility, then, for the first time, we should discover how seriously we meant it. But is it ever allowed?"

It was allowed to One, we are told, and I find I can now believe again, that He has done vicariously whatever can be so done. He replies to our babble, 'You cannot, and you dare not. I could and dared.'"

He is the New Covenant

The New Covenant is the Person of Christ. To be in the New Covenant is to be in Christ. To be in Christ is to be under the authority and rulership of Christ. It is also to be in agreement with the commandments of His covenant.

The New Covenant

In Christ, we too become the New Covenant. Our story is His story. His story is our story. Under the Lordship and authority of Jesus, we are the New Covenant people of God.

34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13