Friendship and Intimacy (Gen 18:1-33)

"Then the LORD said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?'" (Gen 18:17)

Previous passage: "Walk Before God Blamelessly" (Gen 17:1-27)
Related passages: "The Wonder of Laughter" (Gen 18:9-15; 21:1-7)
Why Did God Chose Abraham? (Gen 18:19)
The Prayer of a True Friend (Gen 18:17-33)

What do we really want in life? What do we need? We need money. We need a career. We need to have fun. On a more basic and foundational level we need some meaning and purpose to our own existence. (Theology or Me-ology.) Perhaps more than anything else, we need a good friend. If one is married, their best and most intimate friend should be their spouse. As the saying goes, "A happy wife is a happy life." Also, the more true friends one has, the better their "quality of life." Sadly and tragically, when one has no friends, their lives become a living hell. On Christmas and Thanksgiving day, the suicide rate spikes each year without fail, likely because of the absence of a loving and caring friend. Why might friendship be so foundational to a happy life?

Why did God Call/Chose Abraham? (Gen 18:19)

Previous passage: "Walk Before God Blamelessly" (Gen 17:1-27)
Next passage: "The Wonder of Laughter" (Gen 18:9-15; 21:1-7)

Christians often inadvertently think that they choose God, because they accepted the invitation to study the Bible, or to attend church, or to repent and accept Christ as Savior and Lord, or to go overseas as a missionary. But Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide..." (Jn 15:16, ESV). This is the doctrine of election. Likewise, Gen 18:19 says, "For I have chosen him (Abraham)..." It is confounding and humbling. Why would a holy God humble himself to chose a proud sinner who thinks he knows better than God?

The God who chose Abraham gives us a clue as to why God chooses and calls proud sinners to be his humble servants. Consider these questions: How does God summarize Abraham's call (Gen 18:18-19)? How does Grace and Law, Calling and Obedience, relate to each other (Gen 18:19)?

Walk Before God Blamelessly (Gen 17:1-27)

“I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless” (Gen 17:1).

"Walk before (God) faithfully and blamelessly." Bible verses like this scare the living daylights out of people. They think that the Bible demands too much of them, that the Christian life is a straight-jacket, and too restrictive, and that there is no freedom and no fun at all in the Christian life. I once trembled at the thought of being a full time Christian minister, thinking that I can't watch any more movies for the rest of my life. So I completely gave up the thought of ever being a full time pastor! My own guilt caused my own ascetic thinking. Let's look at this verse in the context of Abram's life.

Intro: (Genesis 17 is arguably the hinge pin of all ministry, for it is quoted 10 times in Hebrews, 8 times in Galatians, and 8 times in Romans.) God comes to Abram to renew his covenant 13 years after Abram committed an illegitimate act built upon illegitimate thinking because of the acceptance of illegitimate cultural norms that have given rise to an illegitimate relationship that produces an illegitimate son (Gen 16:1-16). All of this is to actually attempt to "do" God's will in accord with God's covenant. One might expect Gen 17:1 to begin with "You're fired. You messed up too royally." Instead, the calling of God on Abraham is freshly declared in Gen 17:1ff.

In Gen 17:1, God reveals himself in a new way as "God Almighty" (Hebrew El-Shaddai)--the 5th name for God so far in Genesis. God's names so far are:

What was the First Church Like? (Acts 2:42-47)

When construction began on the Bible house in Manila a few years ago, a worker was hired to do the job. During breaks, a member of the church studied the Bible with him. After work he wound drink, go home and ignore his wife and 6 kids. But after some months of Bible study, he stopped drinking. One Valentine's day, he stunned his wife by buying her flowers (which he never did before). Totally surprised at her husband's change, she began coming to church. Now all of their 6 children are members of the church, from Children's Bible Fellowship, to High School Bible Fellowship, to College Fellowship. The lives of this entire family was completely transformed by the influence of the church.

What is the church? Christians have called their churches a missional church, worshiping church, gospel church, Bible church, Reformed church, Methodist church, emergent church, evangelical church, non-denominational church, house church, etc. What was the first church in Acts 2:42-47 like? It was:

The God Who Becomes a Human Being (John 1:1-18)

"The Word became flesh" (John 1:14).

J.C. Ryle says about John's Gospel: “The things which are peculiar to John’s Gospel are among the most precious possessions of the church of Christ. No one of the four Gospel writers has given us such full statements about the divinity of Christ as we read in these pages.”

Indeed, John's Gospel is one of the world's treasures. John is so simple that children memorize their first verses from its pages and so profound that dying adults ask to hear it as they pass from this world. It is said that John is a pool safe enough for a child to wade in and deep enough for an elephant to drown.  Martin Luther wrote, “This is the unique, tender, genuine, chief Gospel… Should a tyrant succeed in destroying the Holy Scriptures and only a single copy of the Epistle to the Romans and the Gospel according to John escape him, Christianity would be saved.”

How can a Holy God "Credit" Sinners with Righteousness? (Gen 15:1-6)

"Abram believed the LORD, and he (God) credited it to him as righteousness" (Gen 15:6). "Credited" has also been translated "counted" or "reckoned." 

How can a holy God "credit" a sinner with righteousness? This seems to contradict the Bible, which says that God "does not leave the guilty unpunished" (Exo 34:7), and that God's "eyes are too pure to look on evil" (Hab 1:13). 

Yet, through out the OT, God rescues his people and establishes personal relationships with those who continually fail to meet his standard of righteousness (Gen 15:1-6). Also, God refuses to credit sin to sinners (Ps 32:1-2; Rom 4:7-8). On what basis can a just and holy God do such things?

What is the Gospel? (Rom 1:1-6, 14-17)

After a very brief introduction of himself (Rom 1:1), Paul begins his magnum opus by launching off into what the gospel is (Rom 1:2-6,14-17). What is the gospel (to which Paul has been set apart)?

3 "Different" Terms in the NT Describing Salvation

Interesting, the New Testament (NT) presents salvation by using quite different terms/words. The theme/key phrase of:

Sin, Faith and Salvation (Gen 6:1-14)

"...it grieved him to his heart" (Gen 6:6; ESV).

Yesterday, I visited Fort Santiago in Manila, which housed the museum of Jose Rizal (1861-1896), the national hero of the Philippines. During the Spanish colonial era, he was tried and executed by a firing squad at age 35 for advocating reform and rebellion. But his martyrdom strengthened and united his people and eventually led to the Philippines revolution (1896-98) and secession and liberation from the Spanish Empire. His short life of great personal sacrifice because of his love for his country is moving and gripping, echoing shades of Christ's sacrifice to set men free from bondage to sin. His story shows that for true "salvation" there must be both justice and love. The "justice" of Spain cost him his dear life. But his love set his people free.

In Gen 4:1-16, we examined the story of Cain and Abel with the title, Sin, Grace and Salvation. In Gen 6:1-14, I want to think about the story of Noah and the Flood with the title, "Sin, Faith and Salvation." (Previously, I shared this passage with the title, Divine Judgment.) The Deluge reveals in rudimentary seed form that God's salvation always includes his judgment.

1. Sin (The devastation of sin)
   
2. Faith (The practicality of faith)
   
3. Salvation (The way of salvation through judgment)

Why did Noah find Favor with God? (Gen 6:8)

Gen 6:8 says, "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

Which came 1st, the chicken or the egg?

Did God's favor come 1st, followed by good works? Or did some goodness exist, followed by God's favor? If we think it is the former we live in freedom. If the latter, we live with some constant inner uncertainty and nervousness, always wondering where we may by falling short or not measuring up.

In the OT, the Hebrew word translated "favor" (NIV, ESV) is "chen," which is defined as "favor" or "grace." Favor/grace always suggests something that is always undeserved and unmerited -- or it would not be grace. So, why did Noah find grace/favor with God?

The Search for One True Love (Gen 29:15-35)

"...the Lord saw that Leah was not loved..." (Gen 29:31).

Each of us has a desire that seemingly cannot be quenched. It is the desire for one true love.

Theme: Those who have an inner vacuum and emptiness give themselves to a hope---a hope for one true love.

Many movies portray dramatically the desire for one true love (Forest Gump, The English Patient, etc). Famous one-liners are "You had me at 'hello.'" (Jerry Maguire, 1996), or "Here's looking at you, kid." (Casablanca, 1942.), "Titanic" was a mega hit in 1997 partly because every girl in the world wishes to have "her very own" Leonardo DiCaprio, who sacrificed himself to the freezing ocean out of his undying love for his 1 true love. She wishes that her "heart will go on" forever because of a true love that never dies. As a result, Titanic made $1.8 billion with James Cameron, the director earning $100 million. We agree with the Beatles that "All you need is love."

God's Heart of Love (Zeph 1:1-3:20)

“He will take great delight in you;  in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zeph 3:17b).

We love romantic photos/stories because we love to be adored by one we adore. This longing never diminishes throughout life. Why? It is because we were made to love God and to be loved by him. But because of sin, we look for love in all the wrong places, only to be unfulfilled and unsatisfied. God loved his people Israel. But they spurned his love for idols and suffered the consequences of their idolatry. Despite this, God still longs to delight in his people.

Filthy Yet Clean (Zechariah 3:1-10)

“See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.” (Zech 3:4b)

According to the Scriptures, all human beings have an upcoming courtroom date with God (Heb 9:27). As a young monk searching for salvation, Martin Luther was overwhelmed by the fear of standing before a righteous God as his judge. In his youth, Charles Wesley dreaded coming into the presence of a holy God. Only after they understood the doctrine of justification by faith through the righteousness of Christ alone were they permanently freed from that fear. Then they could declare with boldness, "No condemnation now I dread."

Unlike Luther and Wesley not many today fear God's condemnation. People's God today is far too much of a gentleman to condemn anyone to hell. They think, "Do your best. God will do the rest. What is there to fear?"

This was not the attitude of Zechariah's hearers. They knew they served a high and holy God, a God who is of purer eyes than to look upon sin/evil (Hab 1:13). They were clear about the nonnegotiable holiness of God. In 586 BC, the temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, Jerusalem was burned, and their king was captured and taken to Babylon (2 Ki 25:1-21). Everything that was sacred was desecrated because of the sins of God's people. Now 70 years later, a small remnant returned to the Promised Land. Having experienced God's judgment for sin, would they ever hear the declaration of "no condemnation"? They knew that when you come before a holy God, the correct slogan is not "no fear," but "be afraid, be very afraid." How will they fare?

What Jesus said the Scriptures are about

What is the Bible primarily about?

Previously I posted and attempted to answer the question: What is the point of Genesis? This related question is what our Lord himself said the Bible of their day--the Old Testament Scriptures (OT)--is about.

Surprising ("Hesed" or "Chesed") Love (2 Samuel 9:1-13)

David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (2 Sam 9:1)

Benjamin Warfield (1851-1921) was professor of theology at Princeton Seminary from 1887-1921. Before that he was pursuing studies in Leipzing, Germany, in 1876-77. This time also doubled as his honeymoon with his wife Annie. They were on a walking tour in the Harz Mountains when they were caught in a terrific thunderstorm. The experience was such a shock to Annie that she never fully recovered, becoming more or less an invalid for life. Warfield only left her for seminary duties, but never for more than 2 hours at a time. His world was almost entirely limited to Princeton and to the care of his wife. For 39 years. One of his students noted that when he saw the Warfields out walking together "the gentleness of his manner was striking proof of the loving care with which he surrounded her." For 39 years.

Love that truly loves is willing to bind itself, is willing to promise, willing and gladly obligates itself, so that the other may stand securely in that love.

2 Sam 9:1-13 is all about love. It is about David's love for Mephibosheth. The Hebrew word, which appears 3 times in 2 Sam 9:1,3,7, is hesed (or chesed). Its meaning is rooted in the character of God. It is so rich that so single English word can fully do it justice: stedfast love, loving kindness, covenant friendship, loyal love, and justice are a few of the ways we translate hesed. Notice 3 things about hesed in David's example:

The Purity of Christ and Our Fallenness (James 3:17)

"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere." (James 3:17)

Only Jesus fulfills these heavenly attributes of wisdom perfectly. Only by the grace of God that transforms us might we reflect these attributes that do not originate from our fallen selves.

Pure. Purity (blamelessness) is the primary virtue with the rest providing aspects from this purity. Jesus is the pure perfect soul. Even our purity as Christians fall short because of our spontaneous default to impure motivations. Even our best and purest of Christian acts are like filthy rags (Isa 64:6).

The Stairway to Heaven (Gen 28:10-22)

"This is the gate of heaven" (Gen 28:17).

"Most people think of religion as man's quest for God. The God of the Bible, however, is the God who seeks us." Edmond Clowney, Preaching Christ in all of Scripture, 80.

"Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is Himself the way." Karl Barth

One of my favorite songs of all time is "The Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin (1971). I could listen to it every day without ever getting tired of it. It is the perfect rock song. Why? The progressive crescendo and the spell binding ambiance makes the song mesmerizing. A google search says, "this song is about a woman who accumulates money, but finds out the hard way that her life had no meaning and will not get her into heaven."

Perhaps, this song has captivated countless millions of people of all ages through out the world for 40 years, because we human beings are all, without exception, seeking a "stairway to heaven," however we chose, on our own terms, to define heaven or God. In today's text, Jacob discovers, through his dream given to him by God, something radical about the stairway to heaven. It is the polar opposite of what most people and most religions think. Even Christians who misunderstand this "stairway to heaven" live a religious life that is not Christian, and which is no different from all other religions in the world.

The Problem of Blessing (Gen 27:1-35)

"...give me your blessing" (Gen 27:19).
"I blessed him--and indeed he will be blessed!" (Gen 27:33)

I knew a medical student whose parents blamed him for their unhappy life. Despite being a brilliant student, his mom often said to him, "My life is miserable because of you." When he graduated from medical school, he committed suicide with a fatal overdose. Before he lapsed into unconsciousness and death, he called up his mom, and said with tears, "Mom, I am granting you your wish. I love you." His tragic life was the result of not receiving any blessing from his parents.

The LORD Will Provide (Gen 22:1-14)

"The LORD will provide" (Gen 22:14).

Theme: The Lord provides a sacrificial lamb so that his people may live. When I reviewed Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller, I shared how I used to teach Gen 22: "Offer your Isaac to God, you sinner!" and how Keller, in his book, explained the narrative by pointing to Christ.

Goal: To assure God's people that their faithful covenant Lord can be trusted to provide their redemption.

Application: Do we trust the Lord to provide, or do we go after what we want?

The Wonder of Laughter (Gen 18:9-15; 21:1-7)

"Is anything too hard (wonderful) for the Lord?" (Gen 18:14)
"Sarah says, 'God has brought me laughter...'" (Gen 21:6)

Ty Cobb (1886-1961), the 1st man inducted into the baseball hall of fame, was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. At the close of his life, he reportedly said, "Life sucks!" Pictures of him in his old age is that of a very dark, angry, irritable, unapproachable, misanthropic (dislike of the human species) unhappy man with no trace of joy or laughter on his face. All of his fame, popularity, success and wealth did not generate any laughter in his soul. In his old age, perhaps progressively through out his life, he lost the ability to laugh. Can any man live without laughter?

Theme: Laughter. When God fulfilled his purpose for Sarah, God brought laughter to her. God transformed her previous laughter of skepticism/cynicism to "real" laughter from the grace of God.

Goal: When God fulfills his purpose/gives grace, God brings laughter to our soul.

Application: Do you experience the deep wonder of the grace of laughter?

How the Divine Deals with our Doubts (Gen 15:1-21)

"...how can I know...?" (Gen 15:8)

In response to people’s delight in his failure to win the 2011 NBA finals, LeBron James said this after he lost (June 12, 2011): ““All the people that was rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they have to get back to the real world at some point.”

He's not going to win any friends or fans by his careless defensive remarks as the loser. But what he says is true. Similarly, Henry Thoreau observed, "The masses of men lead lives of quiet desperation." From Genesis 15, we will see how God helped Abram face life in the real world of personal problems and quiet desperation.


Theme: God gives real confidence to Abram when he had humanly irresolvable doubts about God and about himself.


Goal: To plant confidence in God’s people when they are filled with their own doubts, sorrows and fears.


Application: Only the bloody cross of Jesus taking our sins upon himself enables us to live with real confidence in the real world, despite all of our doubts that are inevitable.

See The God Who Sees You (Gen 16:1-16)

"You are the God who sees me" (Gen 16:13).

What is a major theme of Genesis and of the entire Bible? Is it that good people do good things and God blesses and rewards them? Or is it something else?

Theme: Grace comes to those who do not deserve it, who do not seek it, who continually resist it, and who do not appreciate it even after they receive it.

Goal: Reflect upon our understanding of grace.

Application: Does the depth of sheer grace inform and touch and transform your heart and life?

3 major world religions look at Abraham as the model for courageous living, for authentic living, and for faithful living. Why did Abraham triumph? Gen 16:1-16, which is like a soap opera, shows that it is not because he is made of better stuff than we are. It shows Abraham to be a deeply flawed and very fallible human being, which is putting it mildly. Also, the English translations do not show the rawness and the brutality that is conveyed in the Hebrew. It beautifies, sanitizes and makes it PG or G that which was conveyed in Hebrew as R or even X rated.

3 Paramount Biblical Themes from God's Covenant with Abraham (Gen 12:1-3)

These 3 doctrines--grace, election, faith--may be among the most misunderstood, misconstrued and even maligned teachings in the Bible. This is what Graeme Goldsworthy, a highly respected Australian Anglican theologian specializing in the Old Testament and Biblical Theology, says.

1st, GRACE. As with Noah there is nothing special about Abraham that deserves the goodness of God in calling him into these blessings. He lived among pagans and responds with faith and obedience to the call of God. There is no hint that God was responding to Abraham's goodness. In fact, he lied about his wife twice, in order, so he thought, to preserve his life (Gen 12:11-20; 20:1-18). He showed lack of faith in God's promises and worked to undermine the promise that Sarah would be the mother of the promised descendants. It is clear from the biblical narrative that we cannot see God's goodness to Abraham as deserved. Rather, the biblical picture of God's free and sovereign grace is developed in God's call to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).

2nd, ELECTION. Whenever God acts for the good of the people he is acting against what they deserve as rebellious sinners, and that action is grace. Election means that God chooses some and not others as objects of his grace. Rom 9:19-24 tells us that election works for God's glory, for it demonstrates divine sovereignty.

Man's Heart and Center (Gen 13:1-17)

Link to previous Genesis passages: The God Who Made Everything (Gen 1-2)  The Fall (Gen 3:1-24)  Sin, Grace and Salvation (Gen 4:1-16) Sin, Faith and Salvation (Gen 6:1-14)  Divine Judgment (Gen 6:5-13)  The Call of God (Gen 12:1-9)

My Story: I thought that graduating from medical school in Malaysia at age 22 in 1978 would validate my young life, and give me the happiness I desperately wanted for the rest of my life. But when I woke up on the 3rd day after graduation, expecting to still feel happy, the euphoria was gone. It really baffled me that my happiness lasted only 2 days! In light of Lot desiring the well-watered plain of the Jordan in this text, I was expecting that becoming a doctor would be my "garden of Eden," my "paradise," like "the garden of the Lord" to Lot (Gen 13:10). But I did not know that. So I thought I needed to be a physician in the U.S., the Mecca of Medicine. After 2 years of bone crushing effort, I made it to Chicago in 1980 with a sense of accomplishment and success. But again my joy was short lived. Painfully, I learned that becoming a doctor and coming to the U.S. could not fulfill my deepest inner longing beyond a few days. Next, I thought, "I need a woman!" All of this were my ever feeble attempts at getting back to "the garden of the Lord" without the Lord.

What does the account of Abram and Lot in Gen 13:1-17 teach about what can and cannot fulfill us human beings?

Questions on Genesis (1-2,3,4,6,11,12,13,15,16,17,18,21,27,28, 29)

General Articles: 

1. What is the point of Genesis?
2. Rethinking the phrase "Man Equals Mission" (Gen 1:26-28)

The God Who Made Everything (Gen 1:1-2:3)

1. What are some difficulties in studying the creation accounts in Genesis 1-2? How might we address them?
2. What is the author's message for Israel (the theme)? Why did he write this message to Israel (the goal)?
3. Who is God (Gen 1:1; Deut 6:4)? Why did God create the world (Ps 19:1-4; 1 Cor 10:31)? What does a talking God suggest? Could our God be a complex being, a complex unity (Gen 1:1-3;26)?
4. God created man in his own image (Gen 1:26-27). What are some similarities and differences between God and man?

Divine Judgment (Gen 6:5-13)

Theme: God's salvation (the ark) is always through judgment (the flood). There is never any salvation without judgment.

Goal: Understand the pain of God's heart in his judgment.

Application: To not despair because of God's judgment, nor apply God's judgment on others without grief or pain.

To countless people, the very idea of God's divine judgment is upsetting, outdated, and irrelevant to them personally and practically. They agree with Richard Dawkins who said, The God of the OT is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic (woman hater), homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal (killing one's child), pestilential (causing disease), megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic (denying pleasure), capriciously (impulsive) malevolent (doing evil) bully.

But 3 things in this account of God's divine judgment in the time of Noah may help us understand the utmost importance of God's judgment.

Sin, Grace and Salvation (Genesis 4:1-16)

"sin is crouching..." (Genesis 4:7)

Theme: When we do not know Grace, we functionally become Cain. When we know Grace, we become a sweet Abel.

Intro: Perhaps, the most striking question from the story of Cain and Abel is "Why did Cain murder his own lovely younger brother?"

A related contemporary question that has broad applicability to all people is, "Why are you upset, inwardly or outwardly, with a particular person?"

I'd like to suggest and propose that the answer to both questions is the same: We don't know Grace. Even though we Christians insist that we "understand" Grace, we do not apply it practically, functionally, emotionally, and experientially in the details of our life, especially when someone upsets us.

The Call of God (Genesis 11:27-12:9)

Theme: God calls his people to claim all nations as his kingdom (as Abraham did).

Goal: Soften and sensitize our hearts to the call of God.

Application: The call of God makes all the difference in the world in any man's life. Have you heard the call of God?

What made Abraham great was the call of God. What makes one's life great is the call of God. What makes one a Christian is the call of God. The call of God is what truly shapes a Christian life.

Some challenges in teaching/preaching this biblical narrative:

1. Avoid superficial "character-imitation" preaching.
2. Turning this text into a moral tale: God's call to Abram becomes God's call to everyone, and they, like Abram, must respond with unquestioning obedience. They apply God's unique call of Abram directly to everyone in the congregation, thus committing the error of generalizing and universalizing.
3. Spiritualizing the text: People must leave their "country," their old way of life, and go to the new life God will show them. This is not unbiblical, but it is not the message of this particular text. It fails to ask first what was the message the narrator intended to convey to Israel.

Abraham Lincoln's very unhappy marriage

Some excerpts from The Slow Fires of Misery:

• Lincoln’s marriage was a mess, and accepting the pain brought deep strength in the long run.
• It was a pain-filled marriage. The familiar lines in his face and the somber countenance reveal more than the stress of civil war. But the two stayed married. They kept at least that part of their vows.

Are We Christians (and Our Churches) Stuck in a Stifling Status Quo?

Check out missiologist Alan Hirsch's 2 minute video. He speaks quite fast, so here's the transcript:

I think that Christians are very risk-averse. And churches are very risk averse.

Churches are places that you don't normally associate with adventure or risk or creativity. Because here is the deal: If you want to be creative you have to risk failure. If you want to achieve something beyond the status quo, you have to get out of the status quo. That means you can't make everyone happy.

The God Who Made Everything (Genesis 1-2)

What is the point of Genesis? Jesus says that the entire OT Scripture, including Genesis, is about Jesus (John 5:39; Luke 24:27, 44). John 1:1-3 tells us that Jesus is the Word and the Creator God.

The debates over the symbolism and literary genre of Genesis 1-2, and the debates regarding the relationship to contemporary science is highly complex and confusing not only to the uninitiated, but also to the scholar. But what is the irreducible minimum that Genesis 1-2 must be saying for the Bible to have any coherence at all? Let's see what Genesis 1-2 teach us about God and about man.

A Church With Major Problems (1 Corinthians 1-4)

In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes to a church--a church with many painful problems. Why does a church, sanctified (made holy) in Christ Jesus (1 Cor 1:2), have problems?

It is because everyone in church is utterly sinful, from the top to the bottom, even if we are redeemed by the grace of Jesus (1 Cor 1:4). Very interestingly, the top think that the problems are predominantly the sins at the bottom, while the bottom think that it is the leader’s sins that is the major problem.

How does Paul see these problems?

Understanding the Gospel from the Fall (Genesis 3)

If we do not understand man's fallen condition (total depravity), we will not understand the glorious gospel of our salvation.

We may think we are basically good, but that bad circumstances and events cause us to be bad.

Or we may think that sinning makes us bad, not realizing that we are bad because we are sinners (Rom 3:9-11).

Otherwise, we make excuses for the sins of others, as well as our own.

Over the past week, Arnold Schwarzenegger confessed to have fathered a child with his house maid 14 years ago. Also, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the president of the IMF and a leading candidate to being the next French president, was charged with attempted rape of a hotel maid.

Why do such things happen? How could men who seem to have everything act in such brutish ways?

How did sin start?

This post does not attempt to explain every verse in its depth and wealth, but we can think of Gen 3:1-24 in 3 ways:

1. Satan (The Lie) (Why we sin)
2. Man (The Cover) (How we act)
3. God (The Solution) (What God does)
   

God's Great Heart of Love Toward His Own (Zephaniah)

Zephaniah, an OT prophet, warned Judah during the reign of Josiah (637-608 BC; about 80 years after the northern kingdom of Israel was defeated by Assyria) that their final days were near (Zeph 1:7). Their divine judgment will come at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (605-586 BC), who would conquer and exile them about 20 years later (Zeph 1:4-13).
 
This outline/overview of Zephaniah is from a sermon by Mike Bullmore (senior pastor of CrossWay Community Church, Bristol, Wisconsin), which was delivered at the Gospel Coalition 2011 in Chicago. Watch the video, or listen to the audio of "God's Great Heart Toward His Own" here. Bullmore explained and expounded the message of Zephaniah in 3 steps:

1. There appears to be no hope. (God's judgment is rightly against all mankind.)
2. There is a glimmer of hope. (A word of hope is spoken.)
3. This glimmer bursts into a great and glorious rejoicing of God's people.
   

Here are my previous summations of the 3 chapters of Zephaniah:

1. No Hope (Be Silent Before God) (Zeph 1:1-18)
2. A Glimmer of Hope (Seek the Lord You Who Are Humble) (Zeph 2:1-3:8)
3. Sing, Shout, Be Glad, Rejoice (God Preserves The Meek and Humble) (Zeph 3:9-20)

Zephaniah, along with other OT prophets, is pregnant with the message of the Bible. Therefore it is pregnant with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Granted, in the earlier stages of salvation history and of progressive revelation, the shape of and the specific contours and content of the gospel is harder to detect. But Zephaniah very well has the entire Bible in miniature (as with the other books in the OT), for the gospel is present in Zephaniah in utero.

Are You Growing Spiritually? Making Progress?

Ponder these probing, painful questions:

• Are you growing (2 Pet 3:18)?
• Are you showing progress (1 Tim 4:15)?
• Are you working harder (1 Cor 15:10; Phil 2:12)?

What is God like? (Ezekiel 1)

This chart of Ezekiel gives an overview. Check out this excellent computer graphics animation describing the incredible vision seen in Ezek 1:1-28.

Ezekial was 25 when taken into Babylonian captivity, and 30 when called into ministry (Ezek 1:1), the age when priests commenced their office. He was a captured Israelite in forced exile. He is unusual and strange, and so is his book, which we may often not read, or hear sermons on. Historically, young rabbis were encouraged not to read Ezekiel until age 30, lest they become discouraged as to how hard Scripture is.

The outline below is from a sermon by Mark Dever (Capitol Hill Baptist Church) entitled A Vision of God, or "What is God like?" One of the most vivid records in the Bible of a vision of God is in Ezek 1:1-28, where Dever explains 5 things we can learn about God.