(With sincere thanks to Dr. Charles Talbert, New Testament Professor at Baylor University, who first clearly identified for me the concept of the narrative arc and biblically consistent theme of the Gospel.)Bear with me. This will take longer than a minute. But you’re not that busy, or else you wouldn’t be reading this blog.
A primary reason I started this blog was so that I could expound on what I teach and preach to the beautiful church family God has called me to serve as pastor. However, what I’ve discovered is that very few of the First Family ever read my blog. (Which, by the way, I DO NOT recommend. If your pastor has a blog, read it. If for no other reason, you need to consider if what he blogs is consistent with what he says/how he behaves.)
In the meantime, I’ve discovered that some blogophiles read my post on a semi-consistent basis (thanks!), but do not regularly listen to my online sermons. So here’s the general challenge: I speak to people who rarely read what I write, and I write to people who rarely listen to what I say. So when I post a Minute Message, though it is a summary of what I’ve said, I need to remember that my readers may have little or no context in which to fit the summary. Which makes this Minute Message doubly challenging, because ‘Spur Trail’ is a spoken summary of what I’ve been saying for six weeks. How, then, do I offer a written summary of a spoken summary to a reader who has no idea of what I’m summarizing? It is summarily perplexing, truly.
Hence the request to bear with me. I feel compelled to offer more context for this summary so that the reader will have some contextual idea of what I’m summarizing. If you take my meaning.
The basic idea of my sermon series ‘THE 13th PERSPECTIVE’ is that the Bible is God’s story written by God for God’s glory. Though the Bible is divided into two covenants, general categories (i.e., law, history, prophecy, gospels, etc.), sixty-six books, countless chapters and endless verses, it is still God’s story written by God for God’s glory. Therefore, from Genesis to the Revelation the reader should be able to identify consistent themes, ideas, plots, and purposes running throughout the whole narrative arc, not unlike any reader should expect to find in any literary work, with the possible exception of works like Finnegans Wake or recently published Batman graphic novels.
In my opinion, a consistent theme found in God’s Word is the Gospel: God’s good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. I know that these days its not that easy to give a definitive definition of what the Gospel is, but that’s not exactly my point. My point is that however you choose to define the Gospel, I believe you should be able consistently to identify at least its most basic characteristics throughout all sixty-six books because, after all, the Bible is God’s story written by God for God’s glory. Forthwith are some summary examples:
1st - The Proto-Gospel, Genesis 3.8-24: Our first spiritual parents, Adam and Eve, commit the first sin, thereby imputing the sinful nature into succeeding human generations. Ultimately the consequence of sin is death. In ch. 3 death immediately follows sin because God used the skins of animals to clothe the naked man and woman, thus implying that their sins led to the death of the animals. But, the good news is, in God’s judgment against the woman He offers a hint (the proto-gospel) that one day one of her descendants will rise up to crush the head of the serpent who was integrally involved in the fall of the apex of God’s creation. So in Genesis 3 we find God, sin and death, and at least a hint of the way out. That’s good news.
2nd - The Atoning Gospel, Leviticus 16.29-34: In ch. 16 God established the law of the Day of Atonement, a solemn occasion that God’s people were to observe on a yearly basis where an animal was sacrificed as symbolic of God’s judgment against the sins His people committed throughout the year. But God’s people eventually disobeyed the law. They did not observe the Day of Atonement every year. But they did not stop sinning, either. So the author of Hebrews writes in 9.9-14, 24-28 that God gave His only Son Jesus as the ultimate and permanent atoning sacrifice for sin. So in Leviticus 16 and Hebrews 9 we find God, sin and death, and the way out. That’s good news.
You get the point, so I won’t belabor the details of Judges 3.7-11; 2 Samuel 12.1-15; Psalm 22.25-31; and Lamentations 3.22-24 other than to suggest this: in each passage we can find God, sin and death, and the way out. That’s good news. And I propose that we will find this in the seven sermons I’ve yet to preach.
And that’s consistent with the narrative arc of the Bible, because, after all, its God’s story written by God for God’s glory.
The reason I entitled this message ‘Spur Trail’ is because any number of the First Family would be familiar with hiking in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, at the feet of which lies the strangely beautiful city of Santa Fe. There are numerous main trails in the mountains. There are also spur trails that lead off the main trail then eventually return to it. Should you take a spur trail you will see things that you would not see from the main trail.
So on this spur trail I call your attention to three mountain peaks you may not see as clearly from the main trail. First is what I call Creation Cliff, so named because we find our first parents at the bottom of the cliff where they fell in sin. The next peak for your consideration needs no new name from me: it is Mt. Calvary. As you peer to its summit you’ll see it is crowned with a blood stained cross that stands just above a tomb - an empty tomb. Then on the far horizon you’ll see a third mountain. You must look hard to see that one. In fact, you’ll see it best if you expect to see it through faith rather than by sight. It is Consummation Heights, the site of our glorious reunion with the Lord as we anticipate attending the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
From our vantage point on this spur trail we may find ourselves most often under the shadow of Creation Cliff. That shadow shades us from God’s glory by sin and death. But as we look to Mt. Calvary the shadow disappears in the light of the cross and the empty tomb. So as we travel the trail by faith in anticipation of one day arriving atop Consummation Heights, we walk in the light of Christ who by His Spirit reveals to us that though we may walk through valley of the shadow of death, in Jesus God has provided the way out. And that’s good news. Because, after all, in the Bible we find the Gospel, the great good news that is God’s story written by God for God’s glory.
So there’s my summary from the spur trail of the 6/13th perspectives so far: the Gospel is that there is God, there is sin and death, and there is a way out. That way out is Jesus Christ. And that’s good news. Because, after all, the Bible is God’s story written by God for God’s glory.
Now, to get a better idea of what I’m trying to say, go listen to the six sermons I’ve preached so far. Obviously, you’re not that busy. My mom would do it. So should you. I’m not so sure about my dad, though . . .
Yours, Lee (and thanks again for reading - and listening)
(For those of you who are wondering what scriptures I used in preaching the ‘Spur Trail’ message,here they are. The picture gracing this post is of the Sangre de Cristo mountains found here, which is a great web page that can help you understand how different it is to live in Santa Fe.)
For more from Pastor Lee, check out his blog @ www.two10five.blogspot.com.