Weekly Roundup: 2019.06.28
Love & believing the best, struggling with the historical redemptive narrative way of reading the Bible, and lessons from the worst sermon the author ever heard.
Resources
Love & Believing the Best | Eric Davis | The Cripplegate
I wonder how our relationships might change if we gave each other as much grace, leniency, and benefit of the doubt as we do ourselves? When it comes to others, we are proficient prosecutors, even, and especially, when we do not have all the data. When it comes to ourselves, we are pervasive permittors, believing the best about ourselves even it is unwarranted. But we are to consider others as more important than ourselves and outdo one another in showing honor (Phil. 2:3-5, Rom. 12:10). Among other things, that will look like believing the best. This is the art and skill of relationships and it is life-changing.
Peril On Both Sides | Tim Challies
I have just started to wrestle with the historical redemptive narrative way of reading the Bible; in other words, you read each small story in light of the big story, that God is accomplishing His salvation through Jesus Christ. Most of my background has focused much more on the small stories in their immediate context, so I have been struggling to accepting the big-picture reading. “What about the immediate audience? What about the historical context? Wouldn’t this lead to flattening out the details of the text? Wouldn’t this lead to repetitive, lazy preaching and make Scripture all black, grey, and white rather than color hues?”
The very day I was struggling the most, Challies posted this article, which I think is a balanced assessment that basically concludes that we need both ways of reading.
Lessons from the Worst Sermon I Ever Heard | Mike McKinley | 9Marks
This article was originally published in April 2018, but I thought it paired nicely with Challies’ post.
To be clear, everything I know about this preacher tells me that he believes the gospel. He’s a far more powerful communicator than I will ever be, and his preaching is engaging, funny, and well-illustrated. And everyone, myself included, walked out of that room wanting to be a better man.
And that’s what made it such a bad sermon.
For more articles saved over the years, see my Evernote collection.
Quote
Suffering does not mean that God’s plan has failed. It is the plan. Suffering is a sign that we are in the family of Christ and the army of the kingdom. We suffer because we carry his name. We suffer so that we may know him more deeply and appreciate his grace more fully. We suffer so that we may be part of the good he does in the lives of others.
— Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, Paul David Tripp. Chapter 8: Building Relationships by Identifying with Suffering. p. 153.