The Whole of Scripture

For my quiet times I use ‘For the Love of God’ by Don Carson which is a really helpful study aid looking at the selected readings for that day.

This morning one of the passages I read was Luke 24. In this passage Jesus walks along the road to Emmaus with two of the disciples and explains to them how the whole of scripture points to Him. What Don Carson commented really struck me this morning as he explained that what we believe about the Old Testament pointing to Jesus isnt just what we believe, or just what the apostles believed, it is what Jesus believes:

‘Clearly Jesus read the Old Testament in an integrated way, with Himself at the center of it. From the New Testament records written by Jesus’ immediate disciples and heirs, we can gain a pretty comprehensive glimpse of His self-understanding in this regard. He saw Himself not only as the rightful messianic King in the line of David, but also as the suffering servant who would be wounded for our transgressions. He knew He was not only the atoning sacrifice but also the priest who would offer the sacrifice. He was not only the obedient Son who discharged the mission His Father had assigned Him, but also the eternal Word made flesh who disclosed the Father perfectly to a generation of rebellious image-bearers. And so much more. And all of these things we should see, too, and bow in solemn, joyful worship.’

Dressing the Wounds

This morning as part of my Bible reading I read Jeremiah 6. As I read it I thought there were perhaps some scary parallels from the time Jeremiah was prophesying and between to-days culture in some Churches.

The LORD, or Yahweh, through Jeremiah, has been talking about His anger with Jerusalem because of their sinfulness, especially in chapter 5 The LORD keeps talking of their rejection and rebellion and how this leads to subsequent judgement. But even still here God shows mercy in verse 18 when He says ‘Yet even in those days I will not destroy you completely.’

The bit that then really struck me this morning was 6: 13-15 which says:

¹³ “From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.

¹⁴ They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.

¹⁵ Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the LORD.

What God is saying in verse 14 about not dressing properly the wounds of the people is referring to Israel’s sin and how the Prophets and Priests are just telling the people what they want to hear. There is no talk of Judgement or the seriousness of sin but only easy going preaching which tells them that everything is okay and they need not fear God’s judgements. Unfortunately I think this has scary parallels with some Christian Churches and activities today. I hear and see so many who wont tell their Youth Groups about hell and sin because they don’t want to scare people, they don’t want to offend people. They are happy to talk about salvation and a God of great love, which amen He is, but they will never talk of the angry and wrathful God who will punish sinners by sending them to hell for eternity unless they put their trust in His son, this ultimately being what makes the Gospel so awesome!

These people who leave this out of their teaching do not dress properly the wounds of the people. They do not tell people what they need to hear, rather only what these people want to hear.

Meditating on the Word

I read this from Don Carson today as a meditation on Psalm 75 – I totally agree with this statement and am really being challenged that we need to meditate on Jesus and the greatness of our God more and more to experience true growth.

‘Thus the recital of what God has done is a means of grace to bring God near to His people. Believers who spend no time reviewing and pondering in their minds what God has done, whether they are alone and reading their bibles or joining with other believers in corporate adoration, should not be surprised if they rarely sense that God is near.‘       -       Don Carson

Basics For Believers

Yet again it is book review time!

‘Basics For Believers’ is a book that Don Carson wrote based on some sermons he preached at Word Alive in 1994.

It is all based on Phillipians with just four chapters that are as follows:

Put the Gospel first!

Adopt Jesus’ death as a test of your outlook

Emulate worthy Christian leaders

Never give up the Christian walk

The book is short but very engaging. It jumps right into the heart of how Paul told the Phillipian believers to live which is so applicable for us in the 21st century. Highly recommended!