July 12th, 2011 by Kristi Stephens

Image from visualBiblealive.com

Sometimes I listen as others talk about their salvation and their faith in God, and everything seems to be in past tense. It is as though they have placed a period at the end of their walk with Christ and look at it only as a one-time event, rather than an ongoing relationship.

God had physically redeemed his people out of Egypt – the Exodus, the Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea – these were one-time events, stories told in the past-tense. But their journey did not end there.

Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

Exodus 19:3-6

They were not just saved from Egypt. They were saved to something- chosen as God’s treasured possession. They were set apart as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

As a “kingdom of priests,” they were to represent God’s name in the earth – to spread His glory among the nations. As this treasured possession and holy nation, God gives them a precious gift – one we often misunderstand as New Testament believers: the Mosaic law.

Moses himself summed up the purpose of obeying the law this way:

See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

Deuteronomy 4:5-8

The nation of Israel was utterly unique. A people miraculously redeemed out of slavery and marched into the wilderness with God’s presence guiding their way in a pillar of fire and cloud. God then chose to enter with them into a covenant relationship, often described by the Old Testament prophets in terms of a marriage. The redemption and relationship came first – and then God outlines the requirements and expectations of the law. They didn’t follow the law in order to have a relationship with God – they followed the law to give evidence of their unique relationship with the Lord, the one who had brought them out of Egypt.

Remember that Old Testament saints were saved in the same way we are today – by placing faith in Christ alone for salvation. Following the law did not put them in right relationship with God any more than trying to be “good people” saves us today. But if we know Him – we want to obey.

If we have been redeemed through Christ, we look back at our salvation as a past-tense event. But if we know Him – we have been chosen, treasured, set apart for a purpose. We are called to obey Him out of love, to display His glory in the earth, to show His greatness in our lives. There is no period on the end of our testimony of walking with Jesus Christ.

June 16th, 2011 by Kristi Stephens

If you’ve missed anything in the One Summer, One Story series, you can find all the posts indexed here!

God’s holy judgment of sin makes us uncomfortable, doesn’t it? If it doesn’t, perhaps we haven’t really pondered all that it means.

I’ve been listening to the audio version of R.C. Sproul’s Holiness of God. One of the things in this book that has been echoing in my mind this week is that we are simultaneously drawn to and repelled by the holy. People in Jesus’ day were drawn to Him as a teacher, a healer, a prophet. Some listened to Him like little children going to a parade – enjoying the spectacle and hoping someone throws some candy their way. The disciples loved Him, but were also puzzled by Him and at times even afraid of Him as He displayed power over the wind and waves. The Pharisees hated Him – He was threatening to their image, holier than they could ever be, and scathing in His assessment of who they really were. They hated Him enough to kill Him.

We are drawn to holiness, and then repelled by it. He is intriguing to us, but makes us deeply uncomfortable as our sin is laid bare, our unworthiness exposed, and our meager garments of hypocrisy torn away and shown for what they really are.

The account of the worldwide flood is one that I believe we have sanitized and reduced in order to make it more palatable for us. We decorate children’s rooms in Noah’s ark themes and give them little wooden boats full of small stuffed animals that look like huggable cartoon characters. {I can bring one down from BW’s nursery as an example if you’d like- I bought it for him for Christmas because it was so cute!} We focus only on rainbows and doves sent out and turn our minds away from pondering the full reality explained in Scripture.

The truth is, the world had become unfathomably bad. You think we live in a scary and corrupt world now? Consider this.

The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

Genesis 6:5

Think about those words. Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

Noah was the only man on the face of the earth who found favor in the eyes of the Lord. One lone man surrendered to God – surrounded by an entire world of people completely surrendered to their depravity.

God decides to wash the earth clean of all the filthiness mankind had filled it with and start over again.

“I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.”

Genesis 6:17

Think of the worst natural disasters you have ever seen footage of. Tsunamis. Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Think of those natural disasters killing not thousands of people, but millions. In fact, killing every single human being, every single animal – the entire earth covered above the highest mountains with water. One boat, an ark that had looked huge on land but now looked like a tiny cork floating in a vast ocean, bobbed in solitude among the wages carrying eight people and a sampling of the animal species God had placed on the earth.

Doesn’t seem as much like a children’s story anymore, does it?

Why? Why would God do this?

While I cannot fully fathom all the reasons why God decided to do this [and why in this particular manner], I believe that God was preserving this tiny faithful remnant and keeping them from being outnumbered and swallowed up in the utter wickedness around them. He was protecting the line of Noah – who fathered Shem, who would have many children of his own… and one day a child by the name of Abram would be born in this family. And through Abram, the line of the Promised One would come.

Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. It is what we have earned. Any amount of sin, large or small, makes us deserving of his wrathful judgment. If I lived in Noah’s day, I wouldn’t deserve to be on the ark. I would deserve to be washed away in the floodwaters. Noah didn’t even deserve to be on the ark – but his faith in God’s character and promises allowed him to find favor in the eyes of the Lord. Grace, at its core, is unmerited favor. Favor we could not earn, but is bestowed on us freely as a gift.

In Matthew 24 and Luke 17, the second coming of Christ is paralleled with the sudden, complete judgment of the flood. The flood is a sobering reminder that salvation is through Christ alone. We cannot earn ourselves a ticket to safety by our good behavior. Even one wrong thought, attitude, action makes us worthy of God’s cataclysmic judgment. No matter how hard those people tried to swim against the current, they didn’t make it. And no matter how good our lives look or how hard we try to live a good life, we can’t make it without Christ. He’s our only hope.

You cannot earn God’s favor. All we can earn is death. But when we place our faith in Him alone, we find safety in His grace.

Are you repelled by the holy judgment of God? Have you reduced this picture of God’s judgment of sin in your mind, making it more palatable, less disturbing, less damaging to the veneer of righteousness you cling to?

Lord, show us how big and how holy you really are! Forgive us for making you less, for reducing you to a more understandable size, a cute cartoon instead of an unspeakably holy God. We are drawn to you, we are amazed by you, and we stand in fearful awe at who you really are. Open our eyes to the depth of our sin and unworthiness – lay us low in gratitude before you in deeper realization of the fact that your grace is unmerited favor we can never earn.

June 14th, 2011 by Kristi Stephens

Yesterday we left Adam and Eve in the garden, just having heard some very bad news along with some very good news!

God had just told them the worst news contained in the Bible – our sin has broken us. And not just us, but our entire world, our entire existence. Nothing will be as it should have been. We were designed to walk in communion with our Creator, but because of our sin we are banished from His holy presence. We were designed to have dominion over the earth, but even the very ground will rebel against us. We were designed for relationships, to glorify Him in harmonious family relationships, but our relationships are now broken and filled with angst and rebellion and pain.

But there is One who is coming – One who would fix this whole mess. One who was worthy to reign, One who would crush the serpent, redeem us, redeem this broken world. He would come – and He would come as an offspring of the woman.

Yesterday we looked at the timing of Adam’s naming of his wife. After hearing about death and destruction and pain, he turns and names her Eve! Why then? He believed God’s promise of the Promised One – the Seed of the woman who would have the ultimate victory over the enemy; he names her Eve, for she will be the mother of all the living – including the Promised One.

Now, notice what happens next after Adam’s naming of Eve:

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

Genesis 3:21

Don’t rush over this! Look at what has happened in this chapter:

• In 3:1-7, Adam and Eve sin against God.
• In 3:15, God promises that one day the Redeemer would come – the offspring of the woman who would have the ultimate victory over the serpent.
• In 3:19, God tells them that the result of their sin will be death.
• In 3:20, Adam demonstrates his genuine faith in God’s promise of redemption as he responds by naming Eve.
• In 3:21, God slays an animal to cover their sin and shame.

We, too, have sinned against God.

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

Romans 3:23

God has made a way of redemption for us, the way for our sin to be paid for, through His Son Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17

We are desperate for this redemption through Christ, for we, too, have earned only death.

For the wages of sin is death…

Romans 6:23

There is nothing we can do to earn this salvation – it is a free gift to us, graciously given when we place our faith in Him as our Savior.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

When we trust in Him to save us, knowing that we cannot earn God’s favor on our own, He covers our sin!

…to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered…”

Romans 4:5-7

Christ, the Lamb of God, was slain for us, and we are dressed in His righteousness.

Do you see what was happening in Eden? Adam sinned, deserved eternal separation from God, and was promised a future Redeemer; Adam believed that promise and his naming of Eve demonstrates his genuine faith. God responds to Adam’s faith by slaying an innocent animal and covering his shame.

Adam was saved by faith, just as you and I are saved by faith.

As we are saved by looking back at the cross and believing in what God has done for us, the Old Testament saints were saved not by obeying law, but by believing in faith as they looked forward to the future Redeemer.

It’s always all about Jesus. From the garden, we have been desperately broken- unable to solve the sin sickness that plagues our souls. The cross is the only solution; He is the only Redeemer. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets – they were dependent upon God’s lavish grace at Calvary just as we are – their present faith in the future Redeemer made them righteous in God’s sight.

It’s all about Him.

If you’ve missed anything in the One Summer, One Story series, you can find all the posts indexed here! Thank you to everyone who has shared posts, tweeted links, and recommended the series on facebook! Please join me in praying that God will do mighty things this summer and that many will come to more fully understand our great God and His amazing story!

June 13th, 2011 by Kristi Stephens

Throughout this summer we will be doing a fast-paced overview of the “Big Story” of the Bible – the underlying plot that ties the smaller stories of Scripture together. If you’ve missed anything, you can find all the posts indexed here! Today, we’re picking up in Genesis 3!

If God had left us in Eden – spiritually dead, physically dying, limping through life in a world that fights against us at every turn – if this was the end we would truly have no hope.

God does not leave them hopeless in their brokenness. The Gospel, the Good News, begins to unfold to us in Eden, not just in Matthew.

[God speaking to the serpent] “And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Genesis 3:15

In this one short statement, God reveals a glimpse of a battle that will rage for thousands of years to come. Eden is all Adam and the woman know, but it is not the end of the story. We discover later in Scripture [Isaiah 14:12-15] that Satan’s initial fall from heaven was over one particular issue: he resented and ultimately rejected God’s worthiness to reign over His creation; he wanted God’s glory as his own. And so, he had hissed in the woman’s ears that God was not good, He was not seeking her best, He was not truthful, He was withholding something from them. As man and woman succumbed to the same pride and sense of entitlement that had poisoned the enemy, surely he had laughed in delight.

In this one verse, however, we find that while Satan may have one this initial victory, he was already destined to lose the war. The battle would be long, much longer than Adam and his wife could ever have dreamed – it would be ongoing for generation after generation as Satan fights to lead humanity further from God, and as he fights against those who walk with God and seek to make His name great on the earth. But his days are numbered.

Eventually there would be one of woman’s offspring who would have the ultimate victory. Satan would fight against Him, too – he would strike and do his worst, and he would indeed leave a wound. But it would be a flesh wound – and the offspring of the woman would crush his head, dealing him a fatal blow.

It is fascinating to me that after hearing so much bad news – news of spiritual death, physical death, of lives filled with pain and toil and frustration and conflict, Adam chooses that moment to immediately turn and name his wife Eve.

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food
until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken;
for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

Genesis 3:19-20

Weird timing? It might seem that way at first, but his timing is perfect.

God had just told them the worst news contained in the Bible – our sin has broken us. And not just us, but our entire world, our entire existence. Nothing will be as it should have been. We were designed to walk in communion with our Creator, but because of our sin we are banished from His holy presence. We were designed to have dominion over the earth, but even the very ground will rebel against us. We were designed for relationships, to glorify Him in harmonious family relationships, but our relationships are now broken and filled with angst and rebellion and pain.

But there is One who is coming – One who would fix this whole mess. One who was worthy to reign, One who would crush the serpent, redeem us, redeem this broken world. He would come – and He would come as an offspring of the woman.

And so, as Adam turns to his wife and names her, “Eve,” naming her as the mother of all the living, he is proclaiming out loud his faith in God’s promise.

This world is broken. On our own we are hopeless. We are badly broken, friends – and there is only One who can mend us.

Would you help spread the Story on twitter?  “Broken but not abandoned – the Gospel begins unfolding in Eden! Join us for #1Summer1Story with @KristiStephens! http://is.gd/8niXTb”