What is the Bible Basically About?

“What More Can He Say Than To You He Hath Said?

Justin Taylor on his blog  Between Two Worlds has posted a snippet from David Powlison’s book Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. In this snippet, Powlison is meditating on the fourth line of the first stanza of the great hymn, How Firm a Foundation?What more can He say than to you He hath said? Here is what he says:

I don’t know how you read Scripture. But there is a way to read Scripture that leaves you wishing God had said a whole lot more. How did Satan become evil? Why does Chronicles add zeros to the numbers in Samuel and Kings? How did Jonah avoid asphyxia-tion? Who wrote the book of Hebrews? And those aren’t even the questions that most often divide and perplex the church. Wouldn’t it have been great if the Lord had slipped in one killer verse that pinned down the eschatological timetable; that resolved once and for all every question about baptism; that specifically told us how to organize church leadership and government; that told us exactly what sort of music to use in worship; that explained how God’s absolute sovereignty neatly dovetails with full human responsibility? Only one more verse! And think what he could have told us with an extra paragraph or chapter! If only the Lord had shortened the genealogies, omitted mention of a few villages in the land distribution, and condensed the spec sheet for the temple’s dimensions, dishware, décor, and duties. Our Bible would be exactly the same length—even shorter—but a hundred of our questions could have been anticipated and definitively answered. Somehow, God in his providence didn’t choose to do that.

It comes down to what you are looking for as you read and listen. When you get to what most matters, to life-and-death issues, what more can he say than to you he has said? Betrayal by someone you trusted? Aggressive, incurable cancer? Your most persistent sin? A disfiguring disability? The meaning and purpose of your life? Good and evil? Love and hate? Truth and lie? Hope in the face of death? Mercy in the face of sin? Justice in the face of unfairness? The character of God? The dynamics of the human heart?

What more can he say than to you he has said? Listen well. There is nothing more that he needed to say.

Tolle Lege

Here are a couple of posts from “the Sola Panel” that are quite thought provoking, so I thought I would pass them along for your encouragement. Take some time to muse over them and let us know what you think!

Ministry in the year of the swine flu by Tony Payne

Women and the Bible by Paul Grimmond

Enjoy!

Foolishness of Preaching

The Apostle Paul was committed to “the foolishness of preaching” (1 Cor. 1:21). But what is preaching anyways? What is its purpose? Murray Capill in Preaching with Spiritual Vigour puts it this way:

Preaching…is not merely intended to entertain, help or inform. it is intended to produce, by the grace of God, a deep impression on the hearts and souls of the hearers. it is a divinely ordained means of drawing people to God and compelling them to respond to him. it is intended to grip, thrill, move and change lives, well after the excitement of the meeting has worn off.”

Rob Smith says in an article entitled “Borers in the Pulpit” in The Briefing:

“Too many sermons are like a chef’s description of what’s on the menu, replete with explanations of how each dish is made. However, little actually arrives on the table or enters the stomachs of hungry people. Such preaching may have its uses, but it’s unlikely to strengthen believers to fight the good fight of today, or cause unbelievers to be cut to the heart and to exclaim that God is really among us.”

May God fill his churches with preachers who faithfully expound his word and compel others to respond to him!

God help me!