Union Church

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

The Story of God: Exodus

Listen in as we continue our journey through the Bible.

 

Notes//Quotes:

Exodus 19:1-8

“Moses' mother, Jochebed, knowing there's something special about her baby boy, constructs an “ark,” or basket for him, just as Noah had done (Exodus 2 is the only place in scripture outside the story in which this word for ark appears). She covers it with pitch just as Noah had done. While Pharaoh is building cities, an Israelite woman is building a tiny, unimpressive little ark for a child to be thrown into the water. Yet this ark, like Noah's, will become the vehicle through which God rescues the righteous from watery destruction, foils the plans of the wicked, and creates a new nation in the midst of the old.” —Echos of Exodus

“In a number of ways, the Passover is an obvious prelude to the work of Christ. It is about the redemption from slavery by the blood of the lamb. It is about the sacrifice that passes through the fire and saves people from death, when everyone around them is facing judgement. It is about the power of faith worked out through obedience. Israelite families were not saved by their personal godliness that night or even by the amount of confidence they had in God. They were saved simply by the fact that the blood was over their house.” —Echos of Exodus

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

“no matter how often we experience liberation from constraints, limitations, and oppression, we still find ourselves falling into new forms of bondage. We get free from boredom, and fall into the slavery to distraction. We pursue liberty from prohibitions, and fall into bondage to addictions. We escape repression, and become enslaved to lust. We are released from isolation, and fall captive to peer pressure and the power of the online mob. We pursue liberty from the constraints upon our natures, and fall into bondage to our untrained passions. We successfully break out of 1984, only to find ourselves in Brave New World. Or, in the imagery of the Hunger Games, we get free from fences and guns in the districts, only to find ourselves trapped by the slavish banality in the Capitol. True freedom is more complicated than it looks... We pursue true freedom—whether from Egypt or the golden calf, oppression or immorality—knowing that if the Son set us free, we will be free indeed. (John 8:36)”...“True slavery is captivity of the soul, not just the body. Until a nation or a person is free from that, and free to become what they were originally intended to be, their exodus is incomplete.” — Echos of Exodus

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)

Paul’s statement that “our fathers were all under the cloud” suggests that even the Gentile readers of this letter are to think of the Israelites of the exodus as their adopted fathers through their inclusion in the covenant community. The Israelites' experience of redemption, idolatry, and destruction is used as a lens through which the Corinthians are to view and understand their own situation. The reference to baptism into Moses is evidently formulated by Paul in order to make the metaphorical parallel as clear as possible.” —G.K. Beale

The Story of God: Genesis

Genesis 12:1-3 - Kim Janowski

“Genesis, in fact, is in various ways almost nearer the New Testament than the Old, and some of its topics are barely heard again till their implications can fully emerge in the gospel. The institution of marriage, the fall of man, the jealousy of Cain, the judgment of the flood, the imputed righteousness of the believer, the rival sons of promise and of the flesh, the profanity of Esau, the pilgrim status of God’s people, are all predominantly New Testament themes.” Derek Kidner

“Genesis 1:1-2:3 is a record of creating not begetting. God does order earth to bring forth plants and animals during the creation week, but Genesis conceives of that as God’s own work rather than the begetting of earth. When we get to Genesis 2, earth is a more active partner in making: Watered by rain from heaven, the earth will sprout with plants (2:5), and man is presented as one of the “begettings” of heaven and earth, the product of earthy dust and heavenly Breath. God creates from nothing; heaven and earth and human beings are fruitful by begetting.” - Peter Leithart

“Genesis 1-2 describes life as it out to be, fruitful, peaceful and endued with the presence of God. Meanwhile, Gen 3-11 describes life as it often is - Difficult, violent, and under divine judgement.” Gordon Wenham

“These few verses offer a theological blueprint for the redemptive history of the world.” William Dumbrell

Matthew 1:1
Romans 4:1-5, 16-17
Galatians 3:7-9

The Story of God: Scripture

Listen along as we begin our journey through the Bible.

Colossians 3:16-17 - Jon

What the Bible ISN’T:
Moralistic
Characteristic
Fatalistic
Individualistic 
Consumeristic
Doctrinalistic
Fictionalistic 

What is the bible?
The Story of God that leads to and centers on Jesus, shaping the people of God for life and flourishing.

The Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne—everything— to rescue the one he loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life! There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them. - Jesus Story Book Bible

 

Structure of the Bible:
Creation 
Fall
Redemption Initiated
Redemption Accomplished
Mission of the Church
Redemption Completed 

“Mission is not just one of a list of things that the Bible happens to talk about, only a bit more urgently than some. Mission is, in that much-abused phrase, "what it's all about.”” - Christopher Wright

“Each word must be understood within its own verse, each verse within its on chapter, each chapter within its own book, and each book within its own historical, cultural, and indeed canonical setting,” - NT Wright

“If we as believers allow this story (culture) rather than the bible to become the foundation of our thought and action, then our lives will manifest not the truths of Scripture, but the lies of an idolatrous culture. Hence, the unity of Scripture is no minor matter: a fragmented Bible may actually produce theologically orthodox, morally upright, warmly pious idol worshippers!” - Mike Goheen

John 5:36-40

Luke 24:25-27

Questions to ask when reading the Bible:
What’s going on? (story//context)
Where is the good news? (Jesus) 
How has the church seen this through history? Communion of the saints//Community
How does this shape us toward flourishing in life?

Psalm 119:105
Hebrews 4:12
Ephesians 6:17

Advent: The Invitation of Advent: Love

Today we look at the Advent theme of love and see how Jesus opens our hearts and hands.

 

Notes/Quotes:

John 3:16-17 -

Storge - Familial love - parents/kids
Philea - Friendship love
Eros - Romantic love
Agape - Covenantal Love

True love is to be ruthlessly and unconditionally committed to another’s flourishing.

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” - CS Lewis

“Jesus’s command to follow him is a command to align our loves and longings with his—to want what God wants, to desire what God desires, to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where he is all in all—a vision encapsulated by the shorthand “the kingdom of God. Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into your mind; he is after nothing less than your wants, your loves, your longings.” - James K.A. Smith

1 John 3:1

Ephesians 4:14-16

Advent: The Invitation of Advent: Peace

The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.
You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
For the yoke of his burden,
    and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
    and every garment rolled in blood
    will be burned as fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 9:2-7

…and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end…

Isaiah 9:6-7

 

“Peace in Scripture is a situation of comprehensive welfare. In English the word “peace” usually refers to either an inner tranquility – peace of mind - or to an outward state – absence of war. But biblical shalom conveys the picture of a circle; it means communal wellbeing in every direction and in every relation… The Hebrew word depicts a circle embracing the whole community, internally and externally … Peacemakers are reconcilers.”

 

The Need for Peace in the Time of Jesus

Internationally 

Ethnically

Interpersonally

Spiritually

The Provision of Peace by the Work of Jesus

Spiritually

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:19-20

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Romans 5:1

 

The Provision of Peace by the Work of Jesus

Interpersonally

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Matthew 5:9

 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Romans 12:18

The Provision of Peace by the Work of Jesus

Ethnically

 

It shall come to pass in the latter days
    that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
     and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war anymore.

 

Isaiah 2:2-4

As we celebrate the arrival of the Prince of Peace,

what kind of peace do you need most?

Spiritual Peace

Interpersonal Peace

Ethnic Peace

International Peace

Advent: The Invitation of Advent: Joy

Luke 2:8-20

“To buy wool, milk, or a kid from a shepherd was forbidden on the assumption that it would be stolen property. The rabbis ask with amazement how, in view of the despicable nature of shepherds, one can explain why God was called ‘my shepherd’ - Joachim Jeremias

John 15:10-11 

“Joy is not a requirement of Christian discipleship, it is a consequence. It is not what we have to acquire in order to experience life in Christ; it is what comes to us when we are walking in the way of faith and obedience.” - Eugene Peterson

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” - CS Lewis

It is a good fight because it is not a struggle to carry a burden, but a struggle to let a burden be carried for us. The life of joy in God is not a burdened life. It is an unburdened life. The fight for joy is the struggle to trust God with the burdens of life. It’s a fight for freedom from worry. - John Piper

Jesus reveals to us God’s love so that his joy may become ours and that our joy may become complete. Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing—sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death—can take that love away. Joy is not the same as happiness. We can be unhappy about many things, but joy can still be there because it comes from the knowledge of God’s love for us. . . . Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us. - Henri Nouwen

Advent: The Invitation of Advent - Hope

Week 1 of Advent.

Isaiah 1:1-20 - Reading - Rose Odum

I am bombarded every day with "the holiday season" which, according to the world of commerce, began with Halloween. But I know it's not "the most wonderful time of the year.” It's Advent. Advent begins here, in the darkness of Sin and Death. Fleming Rutledge

Hebrews 9:11-14

“The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity—hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory—because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor, and was born in a stable, so that 30 years later he might hang on a cross.” - JI Packer

“Our invitation to Advent starts here, now - and thank God, because being here now feels really complicated. And hard. And sad at times. With a lot of loss. Right? What gives me hope in this Advent season is the reminder that everything can be taken away except that hidden part of me. Whether I lose my savings, my house, my title, or my very livelihood, what is un-takeable is the part of me that Jesus illuminates. In the gift of my life is a doorway to a much larger reality. And Jesus is the Light that shows me the way. May you rest in the peace that the darkness can never extinguish the light that has been given you.” Scott Erikson

Human: Hope for Humans

Listen in as we close out our Human series and see the hope we have in Jesus.

Hope for Humans
Romans 15:1-7

"Paul reverses the ordinary structure of obligation. Rather than the weak being forced to submit to the strong, as was typical in Greco-Roman culture, the powerful are here under obligation to ‘bear/carry’ the weaknesses of the powerless.” Robert Jewett

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
Emily Dickinson 

“The biblical writers distinguish between hopes that are illfounded and vain, and hopes that have a sure foundation. The range of ill-founded hopes is as wide as the human capacity for self-deception. It is vain to place one’s hope in military might (Isa. 31:1–3), in one’s own wisdom (Prov. 26:12) or righteousness (Ezek. 33:13), in riches (Prov. 11:28), or even in the temple (Jer. 7:9–10) or the law of Moses (John 5:45). All of these are inadequate bases of hope, and indeed, for the unrighteous person who trusts in such things, there is no hope (Job 8:13; 11:20; 27:8; Prov. 10:28; 11:7). Thus the majority of scriptural references to hope elucidate the only true foundation of hope, God. In this there is a remarkable continuity between the Old and New Testaments.” - Eerdmans Bible Dictionary

“The reason I can continue watching and waiting, even as the world is shrouded in darkness, is because the things I long for are not rooted in wishful thinking or religious ritual but are as solid as a stone rolled away.” Tish Harrison Warren

1 Thess 4:16-18
2 Peter 3:8-10
2 Peter 3:11-14
1 Cor 15:50-58

Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord's Prayer is about…What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether. They are part of what we may call building for God’s kingdom. NT Wright

[Jesus] matters because of what he brought and what he still brings to ordinary human beings, living their ordinary lives and coping daily with their surroundings. He promises wholeness for their lives. In sharing our weaknesses he gives us strength and imparts through his companionship a life that has the quality of eternity. - Dallas Willard