Giving Someone a Fresh Start Solves Little - James A.E. MacLellan

Drs. Gentry and Wellum quote Dr. Bruce Waltke with this insightful comment:

"The sin of Noah sheds light on the human plight,  At one time or another, most people become disgusted with what is going on in the world -- the intractable problems among people: hatred, prejudice, and greed that lead to cruelty and war.  The problems are insoluble because hatred and prejudice are burdens of our depraved nature and our history.  Because we cannot change or forget, our nature and memory looms us.  In response, the idealistic one among us ask: 'What if we started over? What if we expunged history and wiped the slate clean?' The account of Noah puts the lie to that solution." [An Old Testament Theology, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007]

This is profound in a pastoral sense and very helpful. We have all heard the modern proverb: "If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got." [1] When people mismanage their finances, paying off their debts and giving them a "fresh start" will not solve the problem.  So too with all sin.  God's saving grace doesn't merely forgive past debts and give people a new beginning.  God's justifying mercy forgives all sins: past, present and future.  He adds to the slate of the believer the righteous perfection of Jesus Christ.  He gives to the Christian a new heart that is bent on loving and obeying Him.  And He gives to this child of the King His Holy Spirit to grant him or her the will and the ability to live in a way that pleases Him.

Wiping the slate clean never solved anything.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV).

“I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.” (Jeremiah 32:39–40, NIV)

 

That's better than a new start.  It's the promise of a secure future.

God not only gives the Christian a new beginning; but He also ensures a certain ending.  That's better than a fresh start.

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1. W.L. Bateman, http://www.quoteworld.org/quotes/1051#ixzz3AJ4v4fix

Did This Preacher/Teacher Add To the Bible? - James A. E. MacLellan

This is part of a conversation, not a condemnation.  Please think with me.  I'll explain in a moment why I chose not to make this an attack on any particular person.   Take a look with me at a particular passage that we are all aware of.  It's found in Luke 24:13–35.  Click HERE to remind yourself of this story.

In verses 1-12, the human author recounts the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This is obviously a momentous and victorious event.  Luke alone, tells the story of the two disciples walking along the Emmaus Road.  If you were going to provide teaching on this subject would the following appear acceptable to you?

• Is the context about frustrated, disillusioned, discouraged disciples?
• Is the point of the passage is to show that Jesus enters our world in order to bring peace?
• Are there 3 main teaching points?  Are they:
• A. To find the peace of Christ through His Presence you must "Behold"[1].  That is, you must lean and and look for Him in the midst of your crisis? 
• B. To find the peace of Christ you must "take him home"?  That is, you have learned that these men were coming from a huge and momentous gathering of people in Jerusalem and are now on their way home.  To enjoy the manifestation of His Presence you must look for Him at home in the midst of your circumstance.
• C. To find the peace that Christ gives you must ask Him to come into all the dimensions of your home (i.e. “But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.” (Luke 24:29, NIV)?
• When you discovered in verse 16 that their eyes were kept from seeing Him, would you assume that this was because of some fault of their own?  And respectively when their eyes were opened in their home, was that because they had invited Jesus into all the rooms of their home? 

If you agreed with the bullet point 1, then I would certainly agree with you -- to a point.  Good start!  If you agreed with all the other bullet points, your are in company with a popular Christian speaker and author.  My question is this, "Why did the Holy Spirit inspire Luke to record this event?"

• Did God want us to know how to encounter Jesus along life's road?
• Is this a real-life parable that reminds us that along life's road Jesus comes along our sides, points us to the Bible and reveals Himself to us?

What is the exegetical message that comes to us today by the Spirit through His inspired Word? 

• Were the disciples not despondent because they did not understand the Old Testament?
• Did not Jesus need to show them that their entire Scriptures pointed to Him as the Divine fulfillment?
• Did not the disciples sense a deep stirring at His exposition?
• Did this not provide direct eye-witness evidence to the resurrection of Christ?
• Finally, is the point of the story, granted credibility when Luke records: “They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.” (Luke 24:33–35, NIV) 

So ... can we honestly assume that to preach a message based upon the bullet point in blue, is "rightly dividing the Word of God?" (2 Timothy 2:15).  

I cannot bring judgment on the speaker eluded to in this blog, nor the countless number that use the Bible this way.  The reason is that when I examine my old sermons I used to also allegorize the text.  It is a common fault.   Some of the great preachers of old did this often.  It doesn't make it right.

Brothers and sisters we are not story-tellers.  We are to expound and expose the text. The task of the preacher/teacher is clearly enunciated in Nehemiah 8:8 (NIV),

⁸ They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.

Brothers and sisters, give them the meaning of the text, not the meaning you'd like the text to say.