Читать книгу As The Father Has Sent Me - Rod Culbertson - Страница 8

As a young boy I grew up next door to a celebrity of sorts. My uncle, John Bolt Culbertson, was a well-known lawyer and aspiring politician who often made the news due to his flamboyant, verbose, and colorful personality, along with a platform that revolved around the need to take care of the poor, disenfranchised, and defenseless citizens of South Carolina. It has been said that, in my home state, he made both Democrats and Republicans furious. He was a famous individual in his era (particularly the 1960s and 1970s) and also carried a reputation as a life-loving man who could throw a big party for his legal and political friends, eating and enjoying their company in first-class fashion (I know; I attended some of those parties!)

But what I might remember most was that he lived in an extremely unique rock mansion, much of which I watched (and played in) while it was being built. As a seven or eight-year-old, I recall that various materials were deposited constantly in my uncle’s long, narrow front yard. In a matter of a few months, there were stacks of wooden I-beams, piles of rocks, and mounds of dirt sitting next door in his front yard (I still have photos). As kids, my brother and I, and our friends would have fun around these piles, sometimes playing “king of the hill” on the dirt mounds. We knew that Uncle John was going to use these materials to add to his already unusual mansion but to us, these lumps of material were mostly an eyesore and an occasional playground. We wondered, “What will become of all of this junk?”

As children, what we did not have, at least not explicitly, was the vision for what these piles of debris could become. My Uncle John knew what he wanted and could see the big picture of a huge house, much larger than what he already had. Eventually (and it took many years), the piles of dirt, stone, and lumber would become an incredible addition to his already remarkable mansion. Uncle John added a large bathroom containing a sunken bathtub, a huge kitchen suitable for cooking large meals for the groups he and his wife frequently hosted, and a bedroom with an elevated area for the bed. Upstairs he created a guest room for the friends of his younger children (supplied with around ten single beds—all decorated the same: with red, white, and blue bedspreads), and a chapel containing a small pulpit and wooden pews for sitting. Then there was the spellbinding two-tiered white and powder puff blue lady’s wardrobe room filled with doors on every wall on both tiers. The wardrobe room contained mirrors on every door, as well as a spiral staircase to reach the closets on the second tier of the room. Those were the most distinguished additions, but there was also a large screened-in porch, a huge two car carport, a laundry room, and an area that could function as a greenhouse. Little did we realize what would be created out of those piles of rubble and wood; in time, a huge mansion would be built!

And so it is with God’s kingdom. God is at work in his world and he has a plan, as well as a blueprint for the undertaking of that plan. His plan is huge, thoughtful, and precise! But often, when we read about his plan in the Bible, we are confused and uncertain about what he is actually doing. We read the books in the Bible, attempt to piece together the different names and events, and often do so without clarity of understanding or having any concept of the chronology of biblical times or its people. Just like my friends and I gazing at my uncle’s messy front yard, we look at all of the oblique parts of the Bible and have no sense of the big picture or the grand storyline that is ultimately going to unfold. How can we put together this complicated puzzle?

Why This Book?

The purpose of this book is to help the reader to both understand and discover the wonderful plan of God as it unfolds through the narrative of Scripture. This book is both a look at the history of God’s plan of redemption and a work that attempts to clarify how God has worked out his redemptive plan here on earth. Anything that God does is amazing! And I believe you will be amazed to read about and observe the plan of God as he calls a people to himself. Many people understand that the cross of Christ is central to the plan of God. But the cross did not come out of nowhere. The effects of the cross are intended to shake the earth! And we will watch that happen just as God intended it to.

You may be pleased to hear that this book will not contain explicit and intricate explanations of theology. There will be an occasional doctrinal explanation, but the text will not dwell on concepts like “the ramifications of supralapsarianism” or “the dispensational scheme of eschatology!” Whew—I know you are now breathing a deep sigh of relief! Read on and you will see that ultimately this book will encompass the Bible’s history. We will cover the entire Old Testament and take a glimpse into the New, but primarily, we will be using concepts to do so. There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. Those chapter divisions (which are a product of a man made system for organizing biblical information) are broken up into 31,173 verses. Depending upon one’s translation, the Bible contains over 770,000 words, as well as over three and one-half million letters. From the individual letters of the text (written in Greek, Hebrew, and a little Aramaic) to each of the individual sixty-six books, the Bible is the book of books, having been inspired in the whole by the Holy Spirit. Yet, we will not focus on every letter, word, paragraph, or chapter, but only on the concepts that help us understand how God’s redemptive plan is unfolding, so do not be overwhelmed by the massive composition that is known as the Bible.

I once read about a minister who spent his total preaching career with only one church while preaching through the entire Bible verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter. His ministry preaching through the entire Bible lasted fifty-two years! We’re not going to do that! And I want to be clear—this is not a verse-by-verse or chapter-by-chapter study. Furthermore, this book is not a study of various topics or subjects, such as looking at what the Scriptures say about “faith,” “salvation,” “love,” or “grace.” As fun as that might be, we will not take the time to peruse the various texts that speak to a given topic. Nor will this be an overview of each and every book of the Bible, although we will overview a few; many other well written books provide that service. Even though one goal of every Christian should be to understand the purpose or key point of each of the sixty-six books of the Bible, we will not fulfill that laudable goal in this endeavor.

The goal of this book is to provide a survey of God’s grand plan of redemption. This survey will not be comprehensive, nor will it answer every question. As we watch the story of the Bible unfold, we will learn more through concepts than through detailed explanations. We will study the relationships between the materials but will not look closely at those relationships through microanalysis (scholars call that detailed study “exegesis”). We will see the big picture storyline but will not dwell upon the many individual stories unless they are crucial to conveying the concepts involved. The focus of this book will be upon the unity of the Bible, a unity that is based upon the actions of God. The Bible is a history book, tracing God’s actions upon the earth. That history culminates in the revelation of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Someone once said, “History is His Story!” I would agree and together we will see his story unfold, guided by the hand of a sovereign and benevolent God, whom his people can affectionately call “Father.”

Lessons to Be Learned

As we become engaged in God’s story, we will learn some poignant lessons about God. Some of those lessons will include the following:

1. God takes his time—he patiently works to build something good. We need to be patient with God’s plan because he is patient in developing it. (We often have to apply this lesson to our own lives and personal circumstances as well.)

2. God works with individuals, but in doing so, he affects the world! One person can make a difference in God’s world if God’s grace is involved in the life of that person.

3. God is sovereign over history. He is involved in the little things (including our lives) and the large things (the nations). He is sovereign over time, matter, places, and persons. The Christian and biblical worldview is not deism. Deism suggests that God created the world, then wound it up like a watch, letting it tick away. In deism, God has removed his involvement in the world and its activities. We will discover that God is very involved in both our lives and the world.

4. God uses the sin (disobedience) of man (men and women, corporately and individually) to do his will. This lesson brings us much consolation, since sin is so often the bi-product of our own lives. God can overcome our sins, failures, rebellions, and their consequences if he so chooses. That thought brings us to our next lesson.

5. God is gracious despite our sin. He can bring (or produce) something good even out of his own people’s sin. We will see that God does that often. He is a God of grace!

6. God’s people do some horrible things. Some of the actions of God’s people are inexcusable and often they know better. But God disciplines his people, though he is frequently very gracious in the process. Sometimes his discipline is unimaginable to us, but fully understandable when we begin to grasp what a truly holy and perfect God he is.

7. Nothing seems to come easy for those who are a part of God’s kingdom. God’s plan is not always clearly revealed, nor are his ways easy to fathom or follow.

8. God is goal oriented. God has a certain goal that he will reach and he has a plan to make it happen. We will look at that goal in a moment.

9. God’s plan will bring optimism to our lives as Christians. If God’s plan is good and he is ultimately going to glorify himself and fill the earth with his glory, then we can look forward with positive anticipation to what he is going to do.

10. We will be encouraged by the overall benefit of this study. We will see God’s plan in a much clearer light. We will understand our Bibles in a much greater way. And hopefully, we will have a firmer grasp of our place in God’s redemptive plan and will thus act upon it. We will be amazed by God’s plan for the world and for our lives!

I’m sure that there will be many other lessons to be learned from this study but I am confident that we will benefit from those listed above!

The Goal

As we move forward in our study of God’s redemptive plan, we will be guided by the continual thought and question of progress. We will look for and evaluate the progress of God’s plan in history. We will watch God as he moves forward and we will wait to see if the unfolding plan of God brings progress to his goal for all of the earth. We will discover that God’s ways are radically different from our ways (Isa 55:8). We will be able to find God’s stated goal for the earth in a number of passages, all contained within the Old Testament. His goal is not only mentioned more than once, but it also is expressed in a variety of literary types. We will see the stated goal pop up at least four times in the Old Testament. God’s plan for mankind and the world in which he lives is worded simply in Habakkuk 2:14, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Filling the earth with the glory of the Lord is quite the goal. Yet, this is what God has been doing from the beginning of time. We will observe his plan throughout this book. A goal is normally not reached right after it is immediately set, especially a goal this large. But in order for a huge goal to become accomplished, one must begin somewhere. And so God starts with a seed. Given time and the proper circumstances for growth, a seed will eventually become something very large. An acorn can become an oak tree. A fertilized egg can become a grown, fully functioning human being. God’s planted seed can grow into world-wide glory. A seed has vast potential for the future. A seed is simple but leads into the complex. There is the potential in a seed for everything which is involved in the final product.

The Seed

Some years ago, I had to make a very difficult, even painful, decision. I had to cut down an oak tree that had grown over the years just a few yards from the side of my house. Unfortunately, this oak tree, which was probably seven or eight decades old, had become hollow inside, its hollowness starting a few feet at the bottom and running up the middle of the trunk, creating a possible hazard for the safety of our house. We had already lost an older, larger oak tree due to an immense wind storm a few years earlier and I felt threatened. So, despite the beauty of the oak, the shade it provided, and the respect and love I have for trees, I paid handsomely to have it taken down. The next spring, however, something unexpected happened. A few weeks after spring arrived, around a hundred or so oak seedlings sprouted out of the ground where the shadows of that huge oak previously had stood. Maybe that is nature’s way; I don’t know. I told a group of our RTS students about what had happened with the seedlings and as a result, one of our administrators heard about it. She came up to me afterward and said, “I would like some of those seedlings to plant in my yard.” I told her I would bring some to the school soon. I went out and dug up about a two square foot piece of soil and placed it in a large cardboard box. Contained within it were around 8–10 six-inch-high oak seedlings. When I delivered it to her the next day, I amusingly stated, “Here are your oak trees!” Of course, they were only seedlings, but each sprig had the potential of becoming, in time, a huge oak tree. She was thrilled to have them. They were only seedlings, which had begun as mere seeds or acorns, but each of them contained “oak tree” potential. We shall see that God’s seed in his redemptive plan is much like those acorns, containing vast potential for growth beyond comprehension.

Similarly, in the 1970s, in Gainesville, Florida, a young male college student attending the University of Florida appeared at the Sunday morning worship service in a small Presbyterian church plant that was meeting in a private school on the west side of town. The young man’s name was Joe. The college-town church he attended that day was meager in size, consisting of less than fifty people. When Joe showed up, he was readily noticed as a college student. After that morning, someone in the church excitedly stated, “We have a college student—let’s start a college ministry!” Obviously, it is very difficult to begin a college ministry with only one student, but that is what Faith Presbyterian Church did that day when Joe from Pensacola showed up. Joe was the “seed” of what that college ministry would become. Eventually, a handful of other Florida students joined both Joe and Faith Church. In time, others attended and the group grew to around twenty. They called the college ministry “Faith Fellowship.” In time, the church decided to call a full-time assistant pastor to serve these college students. As he and his wife worked in this challenging campus environment, the group continued to grow. And although the ministry (eventually known as Reformed University Fellowship or RUF) never became numerically large, over the years it would expand around the state of Florida to its present day status of seven campus ministries on seven significant Florida college campuses. Who could have imagined seven vibrant campus ministries all over the state of Florida in those early days at Faith Presbyterian Church when just one college student showed up to the church service? As the first college student bedding down at Faith church, Joe was the seed of a work that has constantly and steadily grown, and one that, Lord willing, will continue to grow and expand in the future.

In God’s plan, the seed is a promise. We will hear the promise stated later as it is delivered in timely fashion. The goal is that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. The goal is both massive and magnificent. Buck Hatch says that the goal is fulfilled through God working in his people, a people who both love God and one another. Can you imagine millions, even billions, of people truly loving the God of the universe? Can you imagine those same people loving their brothers and sisters in Christ, loving their neighbors as themselves, and loving even their enemies? Only God, through his Holy Spirit, can make this happen on a world-wide scale. The light of God will shine in the darkness, but it will take time. Progress in God’s plan is sure to occur, though sometimes in the most unlikely scenarios. The goal is still being reached and we are part of it!

The Unity of Scripture

The simplest definition of unity is “the state of being one.” Unity means oneness. A piece of chalk is one. Any part of it can be used to draw on a chalk board (remember those?) or on driveway pavement. Chalk is chalk! It has organic (or essential) unity in its nature as chalk. But consider an ink pen. There is unity in an ink pen, but that unity is due to the functional aspects of the ink pen. It has functional unity. The ink pen needs ink, a chamber to hold the ink, a ball bearing (or ballpoint tip) that rolls the ink out on paper, and a plastic barrel encasing the chamber, normally accompanied by a cap for the pen (and possibly a pen grip). The pen has unity only in its functional parts. It normally could not be used unless it has all the essential parts in working order. United properly together, the parts become an ink pen that functions correctly. This unity demonstrates the unity of the Bible.

The Scriptures are very diverse and yet they function with one purpose—to proclaim the living God’s plan to glorify himself. The diversity of Scripture is seen in the types of literature found in these books—books of history, law, poetry, prophecy, and gospel. There are genres (or categories) of Scripture: parables, symbolism, narrative, wisdom, and apocalyptic (end times) literature. There are extensive writings of theology and doctrine, as well as letters (or epistles) written to both individuals and groups of people. The Bible is comprised of sixty-six books. The books were written by forty different authors over a period of fifteen hundred years, in three different languages (mostly Hebrew and Greek) and thirteen different countries. To take a major piece of literature as diverse as the Bible and make it functional requires the touch (or authorship) of God, who is himself the “three in one”! The oneness of diversity is seen in our own humanity. As people, we are both body and soul, yet we function as one being. In marriage, we find male united to female; they are different, i.e., diverse, yet become one in flesh. In the church, the Apostle Paul reminds the churches at Ephesus (chapter 4) and Corinth (chapter 12) that although they have various members with diverse gifts, they are united as one in Christ. How amazing is unity in diversity? Buck Hatch says, “All the books of the Bible come together without collusion (planning between parties) or collision (contradiction).”

The unity of Scripture is based on this one key principle: God initiates his plan. God is at work in his world; he is not passive. God deals with men and women here on the earth! When we speak of the unity of Scripture, we are dealing with history because biblical history demonstrates that God is present and working. When I was a campus minister at the University of Florida, each year during both the summer and winter campus breaks, I received training from my campus ministry, Reformed University Fellowship, and its founder, Reverend Mr. Mark Lowrey. As a fledgling campus ministry for our denomination, we all had much to learn. Thankfully, in Mark Lowrey, we had a campus ministry genius training us. He taught so many concepts and so much philosophy of ministry that we could not keep up with him. But he was very helpful to all who would listen. And there was one concept that he reiterated time and time again at every staff training session. You could not miss it. He constantly reminded us of this one reality, a truth that we sometimes forgot or simply did not believe as we labored. Mark would always remind us of this: “God is at work!” “God is at work” is what we heard year after year, especially as we wondered if he really was at work, particularly among us campus ministers who were travailing in difficult soil. This is the idea that brings unity to Scripture—God is acting; God is working. He is the author of history and is actively taking initiative upon the earth. Buck Hatch submits that although the Bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament, we should actually think of the Scriptures as being divided into two historical eras. God raises up his church among the people of Israel and then adds the Gentiles to the story. Simply stated, the Bible is an unfolding drama, a story that can be followed. The historical material of the Bible, by definition, is “that infallible record of what God initiates to do with mankind on earth.” History is a record of God’s acting and working among us! God’s historical record is observed as a linear timeline that has a beginning, proceeds forward, and will one day be completed. History is “the great operation of God!”

Speaking and Acting

When we read the Scriptures, we discover that God communicates to his people in two possible ways. As noted above, he acts in this world. He makes history. But, we also find large portions of Scripture (sometimes whole books) in which God delivers extensive messages—quite simply, he speaks. The book of Nehemiah is historical in nature. Psalms are written discourse. The books of Isaiah and Matthew include both speaking and acting (or doing). God speaks and he acts. We see this combination in various texts:

• Numbers 23:19, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”

• Amos 3:7, “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.”

• Matthew 11:2–4, “Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ And Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see.’”

• Acts 1:1, “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach . . .” (Italics mine, for emphasis)

When we consider the “God who speaks,” we think of concepts such as prophecy, gospel, discourse, the Sermon on the Mount, messages in the book of Acts by Peter, Stephen, and Paul, etc. We also think about the word “revelation.” God reveals himself by condescending and speaking to us through his chosen messengers. The speaking sections of the Bible may be greater in proportion than the historical sections, but when we read the historical sections, we realize that the unity of the Bible consists in God acting! The actions of God are very significant. We read about how God intervenes on behalf of his people, particularly in his saving acts. We see God’s miracles and view them with awe. We see him sending his Son as the savior of the world and can hardly believe it. Buck Hatch says that Jesus’s death is more important than anything Christ says. Surely, sending his Son into the world, sacrificing him on the cross, and raising him from the dead is the greatest act that God the Father has ever done! History is not a record of what God says; it is a record of what God does. In what does the unity of the Bible consist? That unity is derived from God’s historical revelation, which is culminated in the coming of Christ.

Progress

As we walk through God’s unfolding plan of redemption, we will find ourselves asking the essential question, “Is this progress?” That is, we hope to discover whether we are moving forward and advancing toward the grand goal that God has set forth. Progress in our context will describe the fact that God is moving forward, that he is making positive things happen in regard to his plan and in his world. We will also wonder about how he is moving forward. The reality is that God does not operate or think as we do—his definition of progress might very well differ from ours. As Isaiah writes, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord” (Isa 55:8). His thinking and his ways (acts) are radically different from ours. The basic premises of the “progress theme” are: 1) God is, 2) God is alive, 3) God gives life to things, and finally, 4) these things grow. The progress we observe will move from a small beginning to a final goal. The progress will be measured by steps, moving (almost without exception) in a forward direction. At some point in time, progress, just as an infant becomes a child and then an adult, will cease or stop. If we do not understand the goal, we will not be able to understand the steps of progress. Throughout this study, we must constantly keep the goal in mind and evaluate the progress by the movement toward the goal: “That God will fill the earth with the knowledge of his glory” (Hab 2:14). God’s goal will take place on the earth, as God shows us how wonderful he is through his church, the people he gathers together here on the earth. How will this happen? God will demonstrate his glory by calling a people together who will love God with all of their hearts and in turn, will love one another as themselves.