Union Church

The Story of God: Esther

Listen along as we cover the book of Esther.

Notes/Quotes:

Esther 4:13-17 - Crystal

“The providence of God is the way in which He governs everything wisely, first for the glory of His own Name, and second for the ultimate blessing of His children.” - Sinclair Ferguson

When I use the word "providence"…I mean that wonderful, strange, mysterious, unguessable way Yahweh has of ruling His world and sustaining His people, and His doing it, frequently, over, under, around, through, or in spite of the most common stuff of our lives or even the bias of our wills. - Dale Ralph Davis

Esther Chiasm Image 

Es. 2:16-18

Es. 3:13.

6:1-14

9:1

9:23-28

“God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.” - Spurgeon 

Gospel Chiasm Image

“Providence is wiser than you, and you may be confident it has suited all things better to your eternal good than you could do had you been left to your own option.” - John Flavel

Of course misfortunes have opened the way to blessings you would never have thought to hope for, that you would not have been ready to understand as blessings if they had come to you in your youth, when you were uninjured, innocent. The future always finds us changed. So then it is part of the providence of God, as I see it, that blessing or happiness can have very different meanings from one time to another. This is not to say that joy is a compensation for loss, but that each of them, joy and loss, exists in its own right and must be recognized for what it is. Sorrow is very real, and loss feels very final to us. Life on earth is difficult and grave, and marvelous. Our experience is fragmentary. Its parts don’t add up. They don’t even belong in the same calculation. Sometimes it is hard to believe they are all parts of one thing. Nothing makes sense until we understand that experience does not accumulate like money, or memory, or like years and frailties. Instead, it is presented to us by a God who is not under any obligation to the past except in His eternal, freely given constancy. Marilynne Robinson, Lila

Romans 11:33-36

The Story of God: Ezra Nehemiah

Listen along as we see God's people fix the wall and tempe, frustrate themselves from sin and opposition, and how without Jesus, we're found wanting.

 

Notes//Quotes:

Nehemiah 12:43-47 - Denise Reading

“Such Isolation is sometimes necessary in order to maintain faithfulness in a hostile environment, but can also backfire and generate unnecessary tension with the surrounding culture.”  - Tim Mackie

“When what you ought to do and what you want to do are the same thing.” - Timothy Keller

“Our pleasure and our duty though opposite before since we have seen His beauty are joined to part no more.” - John Newton

“Just because you have high ideals and divinely inspired passion doesn’t mean God has to fulfill your dreams. Even the most capable leaders will tell you that the law of unintended consequences and inevitable human failure will compromise the best of our plans. But that doesn’t mean Ezra and Nehemiah shouldn’t have tried. Their stories give us hope and inspiration to keep pointing other people to God’s grace and to keep calling them (and ourselves!) to faithfulness and devotion. But after pondering Ezra-Nehemiah, our pointing and calling should be done with a sober awareness that our efforts will likely be compromised. This doesn’t mean God isn’t faithful or good. It means that we’re flawed humans whose fundamentally selfish nature can be transformed only by a generous gift of God’s grace. Leaders who know this will lead with a humility and self-awareness that is hard to come by these days. And it’s this kind of wisdom and “leadership lessons” that Ezra-Nehemiah offers to us. And we’re better off for hearing this message, if we have ears to hear.” - Tim Mackie 

 

The Story of God: Kings & Chronicles

1 Kings 2:1-4

“Entropy: A process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder” - Webster’s Dictionary

“You should always bear in mind that entropy is not on your side.” - Elon Musk

1 Kings 11:1-8

1 Kings 16:29-30
2 Kings 18:1-8
1 Kings 19:1-8
1 Kings 19:9-18
2 Kings 25:27-30
2 Chronicles 36:22-23 

“God will not withdraw from his commitment to the world, a commitment given at creation and the affirmed through the call of Israel. Accordingly, the disappointments of the present, argues the Chronicler, must spawn a theology of hope.” William Dumbrell

“Christianity did not become successful through Constantine giving it imperial approval. Instead, Constantine adopted Christianity likely because it had already become so successful despite earlier efforts to destroy the movement. By contrast, the growth of Christianity in its first three centuries, the most crucial period, was largely by a combination of the power of persuasion, whether in preaching, intellectual argument, “miracles” exhibiting the power of Jesus’ name, and simply the moral suasion of Christian behavior, including martyrdom. - Larry Hurtado

If you worship money and things — if they are where you tap real meaning in life — then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already — it’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power — you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart — you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on. - David Foster Wallace

“Our problem is not that we desire happiness. No, our problem is that we continue to foolishly believe that we can attain it apart from him. We think that if we just try hard enough, the next time we'll get it right (whatever it is) and we'll be happy. Instead of pushing through to the true source of all joy and happiness, we sinfully believe the false promises of lesser gods.” - Elyse Fitzpatrick

1 Peter 2:9-12

How to prevent rot:
Worship God. Destroy idols.
Follow all His ways.

The Story of God: 1&2 Samuel

1 Samuel 8:1-22

1 Samuel 2:1-10  

“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”  CS Lewis

“In whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably or succeed more miserably” - George MacDonald

The Story of God: Ruth

Anthony reading Ruth 1:1-5

8 Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly (hesed) with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.” (Ruth 1:8-9)

HESED: “hesed is a challenging word to translate because it combines the ideas of love, generosity, and enduring commitment. Hesed has been translated into English a number of ways, including “mercy,” “lovingkindness,” “unfailing love,” and “steadfast love.” Ultimately, hesed describes an act of promise-keeping loyalty that is motivated by deep personal care, which is why most translate it as “loyal love.” Hesed is the kind of love demonstrated by someone determined to keep a promise and motivated to endure and maintain a covenant through self-giving generosity. It’s concrete, action-taking love. It’s the difference between saying the words “I love you” and acting in honor of your commitment to another person by serving them. Seventy-five percent of the occurrences of hesed in the Hebrew Bible refer to God’s loyal and generous commitment to his often undeserving people.” - Tim Mackie

14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. 15 And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. (Ruth 1:14-18)

“In the days of the Judges when Israel was forsaking YHWH and following other gods, a Moabite woman (Ruth) is forsaking her gods to follow YHWH.” —Carissa Quinn

“May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” …“The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” (Ruth 2:20) 

8 "At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet! 9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.” 10 And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness (hesed) greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. 12 And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. 13 Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.” (Ruth 3:8-13)

13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. 

18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David (Ruth 4:13-22)

“It shows how God is constructing his grand story out of the small, seemingly inconsequential stories of everyday people. This little story is intentionally framed at the beginning and end by the larger storyline of the Bible. Ruth shows how God is at work in the day to day activities of average people. All the characters face life’s normal challenges (death, moving, lack of financial resources, familial responsibilities, etc.) and find God is weaving a story of redemption out of all the details. The Book of Ruth encourages us to view our day-to-day lives as part of God’s bigger plan for our lives and world.” —Tim Mackie

 

The Story of God: Judges

Listen along as we look at one of the darker books of the Bible.

Notes/Quotes:

Judges 2:1-5

“The church (in general) has a problem with the book of Judges. It is so earthy, so puzzling, so primitive, so violent and a word, so strange, that the church can scarcely stomach it. As with many old testament materials, the sentiment seems to be, ‘if we just study the epistles long enough, maybe it will go away.’ The church has her own way of dealing with embarrassing scripture, ignore it. Yet that is difficult to do with Judges. It's so interesting. Only people who take tranquilizers before sitting down can doze off while they read it.” - Dale Ralph Davis

Chapters 1– 2:5: Israel fails to drive out the Canaanites from the land.

Chapters 2:6– 3:6: Narrator’s Prologue: This is a story about Israel’s utter moral failure and the catastrophic results.

Chapters 3– 16: Twelve stories (six short, six long) of Israel’s “judges” that get progressively more violent and disturbing.

Chapter 3: Ehud: The slick assassin who’s good with a dagger.

Chapters 4– 5: Deborah, Barak, and Jael: A tent peg ends up getting hammered through someone’s head. Need I say more?

Chapters 6– 9: Gideon and Abimelech: A coward who overcomes by faith leads Israel into idolatry and starts an inter-tribal Israelite civil war.

Chapters 10– 12: Jephthah: A hill-top thug who’s so unfamiliar with the God of Israel he thinks that sacrificing his daughter will please God.

Chapters 13– 16: Samson: A violent, sex-crazed maniac with absolutely no conflict-resolution skills dies in blood and glory getting vengeance on his enemies.

Chapters 17– 21: Two stories of the people of Israel hitting bottom.

Chapters 17– 18: The tribe of Dan slaughters the peaceful people of Laish and builds a pagan temple in their new city.

Chapters 19– 21: An Israelite woman gets sexually abused by the Israelites in Gibeah, who are then destroyed by the other tribes, who regret their violence and make the young women of the Benjaminite tribe pay the price.

1 After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the Lord, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2 The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.” 3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him. 4 Then Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek. 5 They found Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. 7 And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.  - Judges 1:1-7

“Somewhere along the timeline they would see the strategic folly of failing to possess Beth-shan (vs. 27), a massive site guarding the juncture of the Jordan and Jezreel valleys, through which passed the main arteries of the ancient world. They would live to regret the failure to dominate Taanach, Ibleam, and Megiddo (vs. 27), crucial fortresses along the Plain of Esdraelon. Perhaps they could have prevented cocky Sisera (ch. 4-5) from strutting all over Israel…but no more of this, for we are getting away from the authors concern.”
- Dale Ralph Davis

“the path to apostasy is paved by what you’re willing to tolerate.” - Dale Ralph Davis

“They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.” - Hosea 9:9

“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  - Judges 21:25

“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” - Joseph Conrad

The Story of God: Joshua

Listen along as we look at the story of God unfold in the book of Joshua.

Notes/Quotes:

 

Joshua 1:1-11

“One of the problems is that we so often read this story, or horrible little bits of it, in isolation, and then try to find some meaning, justification, or excuse for it. But what we really must do is what we should do with every part of the Bible, namely, to put it in the wider framework of our whole Bible. We must get into the habit of doing that when we read any Bible text, and never more so than here.” - Chris Wright

“Israel is not the bully or dictator invoking the gods to justify her conquest of the weak. Israel is the opposite: the weakling who’s been getting her lunch money taken every day by the playground bullies. She is the little nation whose vessel’s been under constant attack by pirates while lost at sea. She is the dissenter among the nations getting railed on by the dictators. Canaan is not just a little bit stronger, not just overwhelmingly stronger—they are in a different league altogether. Their firepower puts them in a whole other category. Israel should get routed. Her only hope is that God goes with her” - Joshua Ryan Butler

Joshua 11:18-19

“In a few places the phrase “all men and women, young and old shows up, but in English this phrase is misleading. Hebrew scholars note this was a stock phrase used to imply totality, and to Hebrew ears the use of this phrase does not require that women and children were actually present in the militarized outposts, only that the forts were totally depopulated in the aftermath of victory…God is pulling down the Great Wall of China, not demolishing Beijing. Israel is taking out the Pentagon, not New York City.” - Joshua Ryan Butler

“Israel did not arise to protect faith in Yahweh, but Yahweh came on the scene to defend Israel.” Gerhard Von Rad

The twentieth century gave rise to one of the greatest and most distressing paradoxes of human history: that the greatest intolerance and violence of that century were practiced by those who believed that religion caused intolerance and violence.”
Alister McGrath

We live now in the wake of the most monstrously violent century in human history, during which the secular order (on both the political right and the political left), freed from the authority of religion, showed itself willing to kill on an unprecedented scale and with an ease of conscience worse than merely depraved. If ever an age deserved to be thought an age of darkness, it is surely ours.” - David Bentley Hart

Hebrews 11:30-31

Joshua 24:14-15

The Story of God: Deuteronomy

Listen along as we cover the 5th book of the Bible and close out the Torah.

Notes/Quotes:

Deuteronomy 6:1-19

 “...both a fundamental doctrinal truth and a resultant obligation. There is an urgency connected to the teaching: the word sh’ma demands that the hearer respond with his total being to the fact and demands of this essential revelation.” - Bakers Encyclopedia of the Bible

 “The opening line “Listen, O Israel” does not simply mean to let the sound waves enter your ears. Instead, the word “listen” here means to allow the words to sink in, provide understanding, and generate a response. In other words, in Hebrew, “hearing” and “doing” are basically the same thing, but how should Israel respond to hearing that the Lord alone is their God? “Love the Lord your God.” In this context, love isn’t simply the warm, fuzzy, emotional energy we feel when we like someone. In the Bible, love is action. You love someone when you act in loyalty and faithfulness. For Israel, to love meant faithful obedience to the terms of their covenant relationship. Those terms are the laws and commands that will make up the body of the book (Deuteronomy 12-26) Obedience to these laws was never about legalism or trying to earn God’s favor. Obedience in the Old Testament is about love and listening. If an Israelite loves God, it will make it easier to listen and absorb his teachings and guidance. This is why the words “listen” and “love” are so tightly connected and repeated through these opening speeches of Deuteronomy.” - Tim Mackie

“And the Lord said to Moses, behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may commission him.” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. And the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent. And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.” - Deuteronomy 31:14-18

“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. - Deuteronomy 30:11-14

“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” - Deuteronomy 30:6

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” — Ezekiel 36:26

“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.” — Jeremiah 24:7

 “No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.” — Romans 2:29

“The conclusion of the Torah is kind of a downer and Moses’ speech is somber and his prediction is grave. However, the whole point of this story is that humans can not achieve the new creation on their own. We are in desperate need of help in the deepest way, which is precisely what Jesus came to offer when he did for us what we could never do for ourselves. The Ten Commandments, all the laws of the Torah, Israel’s failure and rebellion, it all points to the future new covenant of God transforming the hearts of his people. This is the only way that our old humanity and this broken creation will be ushered into a new future.”
- Tim Mackie

 

 

The Story of God: Numbers (In The Wilderness)

Today we come across the 4th book of the Bible. Listen along as we see the way of God for the people of God in the wilderness.

Notes//Quotes:

Numbers 10:33-11:6

When things don’t go “right” we blame others or ourselves, muddle through as best we can, often with considerable crankiness, and wish that we had been born at a different time ”Bible times” maybe!—when living a holy life was so much easier. That’s odd, because the Bible, our primary text for showing us what it means to be a human being created by God and called to a life of obedient faith and sacrificial love, nowhere suggests that life is simple or even “natural.” We need a lot of help. - Eugene Peterson

“In the bible, we rarely encounter unequivocally good or unequivocally bad people. Rather, we encounter many-layered individuals - wretched and lovable, rebellious yet chosen, pitiless and pitiable, wounded but healing - just like the individuals we come across daily and whom we see in the mirror.” David Beldman
Picture (in file)
The text translates literally “and so the people became like those murmuring evil in the ears of Yahweh.” God had promised goodness and blessing; the people responded with rebellious complaints. - Dennis Cole
Num 14:6-10
Numbers 24:15-19
“Jesus, hungry after having fasted for forty days, is asked to turn stones into bread. Had he, however like the ancient Israelites, given priority to his own physical appetite, he would have implied dissatisfaction with God’s provision for him. The second temptation, following Matthew’s order, focuses on God’s ability to save. Here Jesus is challenged to follow the example of the earlier Israelites and test, rather than trust, God’s might to protect him. The third temptation focuses on God’s capacity to give to Jesus those kingdoms that are under the control of another. Whereas the Israelites had doubted God’s strength to give them  the land of Canaan, Jesus expresses complete confidence in God. Thus, in various ways Jesus’ faith in God contrasts sharply with that of the Israelites who came out of Egypt.” 
John 3:14-17
1 Cor 10:1-14
Hebrews 3:7-14

The Story of God: Leviticus

Listen along as we see how the Lord gifts His law in leading His people toward life.

Notes/Quotes:

Leviticus 19:1-18

“If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.” Augustine

"Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.”  Book of Common Prayer

Outline of Leviticus
Ch. 1-10 - Sacrificial laws for people/priests
Ch. 11-16 - Uncleanness and it’s treatment
Ch. 17-29 - Holiness Code 

“Your quality of life must reflect my character. This is what I require of you because this is what reflects me. This is what I myself would do.” Chris Wright

“You must be a distinctive people, because YHWH is a distinctive God…For Israel to be holy then meant that they were to be a distinctive community among the nations…Israel was to be YHWH like rather than like the nations, they were to do as YHWH does, not as the nations do. Holiness for Israel is a practical, down-to-earth reflection of the transcendent holiness of YHWH himself.” Chris Wright

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

Galatians 3:23-29 
Romans 12:1-2
James 1:22-25