He teaches about Bible stories like I'd write it and how I teach it. Used by permission.
He's my bro-in-law in Baltimore. :-)
Maybe the greatest joy a Christian should experience, daily, is the knowing of God (Phil. 3:1 - 16)--being reminded of what we know of Him, and learning more of Him, and becoming like Him. In our western methods of thought, we like lists; we like things told straightforwardly; we want the short version, not the story--we're too busy, maybe, to enjoy the story (the Bible, certainly Gen. through Acts and Revelation, is written primarily with an eastern method). Everyone loves stories; but many in the West don't have time for them. It's a shame.
Using the Bible, how do we learn about God primarily? More anciently and to the point of this lesson, how did the ancient writers discover the Name (the character), many titles, and many attributes of God? Was it by declaration? Or was it by observation? My conclusion, though I will not write a book to prove it, is that it was by observation. The direct declarations of God about Himself occur less than the writers' declarations about God, and the latter are primarily gleaned from discoveries through observation of God's works. Most of the statements giving titles and attributes are subsequent to the stories that reveal them. The writers had to meditate on the stories, discover, and state the attributes of God. Stories typically don't give away the answers directly. We have to think.
Yes, the straightforward statements by God prophetically, and those through the emotion and discovery of writers, are equally important to the stories; but for three reasons, stories might need to be emphasized: 1) God is revealed more by stories than by direct statements of who He is;
2) The declarations about God by writers come out of stories they knew about God;
3) The Bible tells us to study and meditate on the stories of God's works. It is from God's works, stories about God's works, that the historical persons in the stories, and the writers of those stories, discovered God so that they could then produce simple declarations of who God is.
2) The declarations about God by writers come out of stories they knew about God;
3) The Bible tells us to study and meditate on the stories of God's works. It is from God's works, stories about God's works, that the historical persons in the stories, and the writers of those stories, discovered God so that they could then produce simple declarations of who God is.
From the Psalms:
77:11, 12--I will remember the works of the LORD; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds.
(Notice that Asaph does not say he's going to give a textbook declaration and listing of who God is. No, he's going to tell stories of God's works, and leave it to the listener to meditate on it and discover God for him-/herself. Read the rest of the psalm, then produce your own list of titles and attributes; discover the fullness of God's Name; that's what the writer is telling us to do for ourselves. Go on a personal search for intimacy with God.)
The "5's":
105:5--Remember His marvelous works which He has done--His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth.
(One has to know the stories to know this.)
143:5--I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands.
(Get out your Bibles. Hey, NT Christians, read your OT.)
145:5 - 7--I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness.
(It's okay to sing about facts of God; but songs that tell stories are more dynamic, are easier to remember, and they more easily affect people [ask any country music singer prior to lousy "new country" what makes country music the most popular music of the 20th century. They will tell you it's because they most easily and effectively touch people because they tell stories.)
96:2b, 3--Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
(Salvation is a story told through the entire length of the Bible [The Story of God], not a textbook of fact-memorization. Salvation is also a story that has continued beyond the first century to our life. Are we telling God's story in our life? Do we have a story to tell?)
In other words, learn the stories--theirs and yours . . . and tell them.
Luke 8:39--Jesus said, 'Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.' And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
What's your story? Is God in it? More to the point--Is God Himself your story? Tell it.
On the cover of one edition of the NIV Bible, the publisher has placed a title (not "The Bible"). It's "The Story of God." There it is. That is the true title and whole point of the Bible. Any other point the Bible makes is rooted in, and springs out of, God's story of Himself. The whole Bible is stories within the Story, His-Story (history), fulfilling Ex. 33:19, "I will cause all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the Name [character] of Yahweh [I AM] before you. . . ." This is fulfilled by an experience of observation and declaration in Ex. 34:5 - 7. But the entire Bible is first and foremost these verses being expanded, explained, and fulfilled in a Person and His story, Immanuel--With Us is Mighty God. All else is subservient to this, and nothing else has meaning and purpose unless it is founded on this . . . His Story pre-incarnate and incarnate.
The hymn says "I love to tell the story of unseen things of old. Of Jesus and His Glory. Of Jesus and His love."
Tell the old, old story. And tell yours. It's the same. It is God. It is Jesus.
Jim often asks his students: how many stories in the Bible? ONE!
