Reviewing Humble Orthodoxy, Week 2

Title: The Story: Understand the Storyline of the Bible
Speaker: Mark Dever
Session: Main Session #2, Na06
Date: May 28, 2006

I’ll be honest and say that out of all of the New Attitude messages from 2006, I’ve always found this one to be the most difficult to draw particular application points from. There a couple of reasons for this. As can be seen by the fact that Mark Dever provided an overview of the whole Bible instead of preaching from one particular passage, this session served chiefly as a foundation for the rest of the conference. By showing the importance and relevance of all of Scripture, he ensured that no one would walk away from the conference thinking that the following sessions (on the cross, on evangelism, or on the Holy Spirit, for instance) were disjointed. By establishing that all of the Bible comprises one storyline, he paved the way for understanding the unity of the particulars presented in the following sessions. Also, since there were some attendees at the conference who were not very familiar with the Bible, and who perhaps had believed the Old Testament to be unrelated to the New Testament, this teaching would have been instrumental in their furthering their understanding of the purpose and the unity of God’s Word.

Main Text
The Whole Bible

A Brief Outline
The Old Testament:
1. A Particular History
2. A Passion for Holiness
3. A Promise of Hope
The New Testament:
1. Christ
2. God’s Covenant People
3. The Renewal of all Creation

Other Points

• Sincerity is no guarantee of wisdom.
• The Old Testament is the context for understanding the revelation of Christ in the New Testament.
• To understand the Old Testament, we must understand not only the particular history of Israel, but also God’s passion for His holiness.
• We understand the stories about God better if we better understand God’s character.
• The seriousness of the sacrificial system showed the seriousness of sin, and that forgiveness could only come through an atoning death.
• The riddle of the Old Testament: Exodus 34:6-7.
• We shouldn’t love the Bible apart from the Person it reveals.
• The Bible is here to show us Christ so that in Him we will see the focus of our hopes and the center of our satisfaction.
• Many people limit their hopes to only things which they think they can promise to themselves, but we Christians have always had a hope in something that we could never bring about by ourselves.
• Jesus’ resurrection was the firstfruits, the first of many to come.
• The ruins of our own cherished plans are often the first steps toward the true good that God has for us.

Some Application Questions

• In my daily reading of the Bible, and particularly of the Old Testament, am I seeking to better understand the passage's context in the whole Bible, or only viewing the stories as interesting bits of history?
• When I read verses such as Exodus 34:6-7 in light of what Christ has done, am I amazed anew at the mercy of God?
• Is my love for God’s Word based on its being God's self-revelation?

One Thing That Has Stuck With Me
The idea of seeing the Old Testament as “promises made” and the New Testament as “promises kept.”

One Thing I Re-learned By Re-listening
The statement that stories are made up of propositions, which is especially important for us as Christians to remember as we try to reach a post-modern culture.

Discussion

• What are one or two things that you learned in listening to this teaching?
• If you were re-listening to it, what are some ways that God has used this teaching in your life over the last two years?
• Also, feel free to give suggestions on the focus and format of these posts.
• Finally, as great as it is to be able to talk about this online, talk about it personally with people you know. Use it as an opportunity to share with each other what God is teaching you, and how He has given (and is giving) you the grace to apply it.

This was Week 2 in the fifteen weeks of reviewing humble orthodoxy, leading up to New Attitude 2008 in Louisville, Kentucky on May 24-27. Listen to “Understanding the Storyline of the Bible” for free.

Next Week: The Life: Applying the Gospel to All of Life (Mike Bullmore)

Background on this series: Humble Orthodoxy