We Are Listening!

How much effort do we put toward listening to God's word? Are there things that keep us from hearing? Do we have bitterness or sin that makes the word go right past us? Are we more interested in listening to the world than in listening to Jesus? Let him who has ears hear what Jesus says to us all.

The Big Picture

Tonight I recommended a children's Bible...to an adult...and not for her kids...for herself.

There's no shame in this. Fifty years ago, when you talked with someone about the Bible, the chances were they had some frame of reference to understand what you were talking about. It's just not that way today. We no longer live in a culture that shares a common understanding of what the Bible is.
This brings a challenge to us when we do evangelism today. We use our church language and expect that people know what we are talking about...but they often don't.

Case in point (I'll spare details for the sake of privacy), I was having a conversation with two other people. One was a mature believer, one is just beginning to seek Christ. The seasoned believer encouraged this young sister to read her Bible...and not to forget the Old Testament...that's important too. Now, I agree with this mature assessment about the necessity of the Old Testament for the life of a believer. I mean, I've spent years studying Hebrew and got half way through the coursework for a PhD in Old Testament. Believe me, I affirm the need for the Old Testament. Later...when it was just me and the new seeker...I brought this up again and asked..."Do you know the difference between the Old and the New Testaments? The answer was no. When we've been in church so long we often take little things like this for granted.

I spent the next 5 minutes trying to give an explanation of the contents of the Old and New Testament. I started with the New, and I explained that it begins with the 4 Gospels. Each of the Gospels tells the story of Jesus life and ministry through his death and resurrection. I told her that they aren't in chronological order, but rather they each tell the same story from 4 different perspectives. Next comes Acts. This is the story of the next 30 years or so after Jesus ascended into heaven. It tells the story of the apostles taking the message of Jesus throughout the world. Next come letters to specific churches and individuals that are intended to address specific situations. Finally, Revelation is probably the most difficult because it is filled with symbolic imagery and it is about the things at the end--things in the future.

Then I turned to the Old Testament. I didn't take the time to break down the divisions of Law, Prophets, and Writings. Rather, I just told her that the Old Testament is important because it is how we know that Jesus didn't just plop out of the sky one day from nowhere. Rather, it was the unfolding of God's plan throughout thousands of years. I told her that it tells the story of God working among the Jewish people, promising a Messiah who would one day come. I concluded by saying that the two parts of the Bible can basically be summed up with Promise and Fulfillment.

Imagine, if you were an alien from a distant planet and you came here. Assuming this is in the world of Star Trek where all planets speak English, you are familiar with literature, but only one genre--Children's Books. When you arrive here on earth you quickly find a library and randomly pick up a book assuming that it will be a children's story; however, you soon find the book difficult and give up because it was actually a technical manual for repairing an automobile. This technical manual does not follow the rules of the children's book genre, so you give up, assuming that it is too difficult and you can never understand what is so entertaining  about the story.

This is what reading the Bible can be like. When we come to the Bible, we have to realize that it is written in several different genres over the course of thousands of years. There is great diversity within the biblical corpus, and it is an ancient document that is very foreign to modern readers. For those of us who grew up with the Bible stories in Sunday School from our childhood, we can navigate the Bible with some level of ease. At least we know what it is we're looking at. But think of what it must feel like for someone coming to the Bible for the very first time without any knowledge at all of what it is all about.

People have to have a reference point. We have to have some kind of idea of what it is we are reading before we can understand what something big and complex is all about. When a child is leaning to read, they always look for the pictures to get some idea of what it is they are looking at. Children's books are filled with pictures. This isn't something that is necessary for children only. It can be very helpful for adults as well. I'm not saying that we can be content with just a children's book, but how about instead of telling new believers to start with the book of John, we get them a copy of the Jesus Storybook Bible so they can at least have some idea of the big picture of what the Bible is about.

So I recommended it. I recommended the Jesus Storybook Bible to an adult, just beginning to seek Christ. And I would suggest, that when you have conversations with others that have limited understanding of the Bible, you might want to do the same thing. Start with a children's storybook Bible that can sketch the main story line of the Bible. We all have to see the big picture before we can make sense of the details.

A Display of Grace

Why is it that we are so often amazed by a testimony of an unlikely convert? If you've been a Christian for any length of time you have likely heard someone share their story of how they came to Jesus, and it's likely that you've heard that story from people who were at one time the last ones on earth you would think would fall in love with Jesus. The former drug dealer, the motor cycle gang member, or the atheist bent on proving Christianity wrong have all been recipients of this grace at one time or another. Why is it that we are amazed?

I believe 1 Timothy 1:16-17 gives us insight into God's plan in these stories. The verses state:

But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

In this passage, Paul comments on the reason God saved him. It wasn't because of Paul's good credentials. It wasn't because Paul was such a gifted and educated person or that he would be mightily used to write significant portions of Scripture. Paul says it was because he was the worst. Why? Why would God choose Paul--a persecutor of Christians? It is because saving the unlikely, the worst of sinners, brings God more glory. For Paul, he humbly acknowledged that he was the chief of sinners, and that the only reason God chose to save him was so that Jesus could display his patience with those who believe. Basically, Paul was saying, "If Jesus could save me, there is no one beyond his reach."

Why would God do this? Why would God delight in making Paul into this example? Because it brings him glory. Verse 17 is not an extension of Paul's argument here. It's Paul bursting out into praise! Paul thinks of the immeasurable grace that was poured out on him as an example of the depths of God's grace and it causes him to glorify and praise God.

I believe this is why God loves to save the unlikely convert who no one would guess they would ever trust Christ. He loves to glorify himself. It brings God more glory, and it is clearly demonstrated for all to see, when Jesus calls someone to himself who had previously been running the other way.

This fact should also give us the practical benefit in our evangelism to share with those who would seem unlikely to become Christians. God delights in arresting sinners by his grace. He gains glory when rebels put down their arms and submit to his Lordship.

One final thought. I would be in error if I left this observation here. I have to admit that there isn't one of us who is a "likely" convert. The Bible teaches that we are all born in sin, and that we are spiritually dead before we come to Christ. So, the child who grows up in a Christian home hearing the Gospel week in and week out is no less spiritually dead than the crack head in the inner city. It is no less glorious of an act of God's sovereign grace when he saved me at 6 years old, than for him to save a hedonistic college party animal. God saves to the praise of his glory.