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So What?

Mart De Haan Posted by Mart DeHaan
November 16th, 2013
26 Comments » 

Does the whole Bible really help to tell the story of Jesus?  I found this 2 minute answer by Tim Keller fascinating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmnSnNC8UJk

Then earlier this week, a friend passed along a video link of a musical presentation by Sam Robson. Seems to me that it expresses so well what can happen when inspired words lead us to the One whose story does not leave us feeling proud or hopeless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3wSbLa2uGg

See  if you agree.


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26 Responses to “So What?”

  1. SFDBWV says:
    November 16, 2013 at 5:58 am

    Not sure if I feel frustrated or vindicated, either way I certainly agree that the whole of OT Scripture is about Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah and Son of God.

    And the NT the story of His arrival, instructions, departure and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    As I stated earlier knowing this then “what do we do with this man Jesus?”

    That is “So What!”

    This is as serious as it gets, so we had better listen to what it is He has to say.

    When we learn that His example is a better one than all of the characters given in Scripture, then it is He that we strive to emulate and copy His behavior.

    No, we can’t copy Him exactly and yes we will fail often, but that doesn’t stop us from desiring to live as Jesus’ example.

    This is what He asks and commanded from us.

    Steve

  2. remarutho says:
    November 16, 2013 at 6:01 am

    Good Morning BTA Friends –

    Both Tim Keller’s and Sam Robson’s inspiring words get to the heart of Christ’s presence. Both are testimonies and each is a riff on experiencing the gift of God’s love, it seems to me. Walking the path described in the Bible – confirmed by those who have lived it – are living it—and will live it – gives peace and assurance.

    Pride is quenched. Pride does not enter in when I look to Jesus, because he has accomplished my deliverance. Hope rises up on account of Jesus’ faithfulness and grace. He is the gift that was hidden. Jesus has unwrapped the gift, opened it and given it away to whoever will ask in faith. Hearts and minds are opened by leaving behind hope in their own power. Hope becomes real when we dare to hope in the true Savior of the world.

    Blessings,
    Maru

  3. SFDBWV says:
    November 16, 2013 at 7:17 am

    One of the best reads I have is “The Holy Spirit” by Billy Graham. In it he condenses Scripture to say that everything said about God is also said about Jesus and everything said about Them is said about the Holy Spirit and so we have the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Trinity.

    It seems to me that God brought about this Scripture so that we as human beings could be correctly informed about *Them* and our place in life.

    Somewhere after our beginnings what was known was forgotten and what should have been remembered *lost*.

    Mankind was lost in the dark and stormy sea of life and so *They* made a way to light our way and direct our path so we could find our way through life and ultimately back to *Them*.

    This seems to me to be Their plan and our safe return the goal of Their desires.

    So where is my hope; there in Their plans and desires.

    Steve

  4. remarutho says:
    November 16, 2013 at 9:02 am

    Good Morning Steve!

    I smile to hear you talk about locating us — the people swimming around unaware that we bear the image of God. (Or, in denial that we do!)

    Some years ago, I got to attend a three day visit by Eugene Peterson to my town. His teaching about the Holy Spirit, Jesus and the Creator God has stayed with me:

    Wherever Jesus is, there are both the Father and the Sprit. They are always relating to one another — always loving — always bringing the kingdom.

    Dr. Peterson describes it as a dance — always moving — in rhythm — in, through and around those who hope and believe in them. (my flawed restatement of what I heard)

    It is wonderful — as you say, that the will of God is a “zone.” Where God is, there is Peace — Shalom. I believe God the Holy Spirit is doing a new thing in our time. (Romans 11:25-26) It may be the time of fulfillment is at hand. My hope is in Jesus. Maru

  5. Artle says:
    November 16, 2013 at 9:33 am

    I do not understand the title.

    The Bible is all about Jesus, but the purpose of the Bible is all about us.

    Song speaks to the heart of the matter; our need for Jesus being a continual condition.

  6. tracey5tgbtg says:
    November 16, 2013 at 9:53 am

    Thanks for the great links. Jesus is God. He is eternal. Such simple words. When I was a kid, I would try to grasp infinity in my head, as in trying to visualize that God always was and always will be. He has no end and no beginning. He is. Never ending, never, never, never, never, never, never….(don’t stop) ending. And I would feel very afraid because trying to glimpse eternity is …

    When Jesus came, he gave up His deity and became one of us. The least of us. Poor, homeless, dubious parentage, uneducated… Oh how I worship Him. He said, “come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…” and thus the eternal, omniscient God stilled my fears.

    How can any earthly thing compare in the face of the Almighty?

    I have long appreciated Tim Keller’s books and views. I have never before heard of Sam Robson – I liked the song and the work and talent that went into that video. A great acoustic video is David Crowder – after all (holy) (acoustic).

  7. poohpity says:
    November 16, 2013 at 10:19 am

    So what? If we really believe the whole Bible tells the story of Jesus then what stops us from reading it? If Jesus is found in the pages then what stops us from searching the pages to find all we can about the One we say we love?

    Anyone can make generalizations about it but you have to know it to be specific about what makes you believe as you do. Tim Keller was specific. Both were beautiful to start a day with. Talk about putting a love to words and song in a creative way. When one has the creator living inside it promotes creativity. Well done, thank you for sharing Mart.

    Peace,
    From A Stupid Friend

  8. foreverblessed says:
    November 16, 2013 at 2:07 pm

    today I heard a comparison between Adam, losing a rib so that Eve was made out of it, and Jesus, through a spear in his side (the greek word also means rib) out of which the many would receive eternal live.

    Our great God and His great plan of Redemption, there is nothing in the world and in heaven and under heaven that Jesus cannot restore and make new Col 1:20
    that we may sing songs to God from our heart, maybe not as beautiful as this song, but sing anyway

  9. belleu says:
    November 16, 2013 at 8:46 pm

    Thank you for the beautiful and uplifting videos, Mart. I emailed them to my mom and sister. Yes, I can see Jesus through the whole Bible. I see the Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit working all down the ages to bring light and salvation to every person and nation.

    The ‘Story of Jesus’? Yes, it is woven through scripture as Tim Keller says. And as the song says, I do need Jesus every hour. Feeling our great need would keep pride away and praying for God to fill our need would take away our hopelessness.

  10. SFDBWV says:
    November 17, 2013 at 7:58 am

    If we believe there is a God, a creator, all powerful, all seeing, all knowing God then we have faith that He is.

    This concept places us on one side of a line between those who believe and those who don’t.

    Why do you suppose that modern thinking has caused so many to have no faith in an unseen God, only in the world around them?

    Was it just simple ignorance that caused earlier mankind to imagine God in so many forms and fashions? Or were their uncluttered lives more open to recognizing the spiritual calling there in their inner beings?

    Repeating myself I tell of an old acquaintance who once told me that all of the philosophers, all of them conclude that the purpose of mankind is to “be happy”.

    In defiance I disagreed and said in rebuttal that “the purpose of man is for the glory of God and the uplifting of His Son Jesus of Nazareth.”

    Yet his words haunt me; for there seems to be *a purpose of God* and *a purpose of man* somewhat in contrast to each other.

    If we believe the Scripture to be absolute and a literal truth of events, right away we see that Adam was in righteous fellowship with God, but not fulfilled, lacking Eve to be complete and *happy*.

    Do you really think God was blindsided in the events of the Garden of Eden?

    Do you think the creation of man was for the purpose of God or for the existence of man? So that you and I could have life, thought, memory, taste and feel this physical existence?

    Do you think man is, so that man can be?

    Or do you think God created man only for His use in showing Christ to be superior in every way? If so to whom is God showing Christ’s superiority to?

    As in the story of Job, is this all about proving something to another created being, Satan?

    If we are to surrender our will and humble ourselves to God, then our purpose in being is inconsequential to the purpose of God and should no longer matter to us; only being content that we are used for God in whatever need He has to use us for.

    What did Jesus show us in His life on earth? And for whose purpose and whose will did He come to be for?

    Was it for God or for man?

    Steve

  11. poohpity says:
    November 17, 2013 at 9:37 am

    To answer several of those questions one would have to have a wrong thought of God, His Will, His purpose for man and the reason Jesus came. To me the bible teaches about relationships between God and man then man to man. It is not about the pursuit of happiness but enjoyment of relationships and creation. God knew that there was something that would break those relationships, sin, then made a way for restoration since the beginning after giving man the ability to makes choices. No one can love unless it is a choice to do so. Giving man the ability to make a choice God knew the consequences of having choice.

  12. poohpity says:
    November 17, 2013 at 9:45 am

    We bring Glory to God because of who He is and what He has done and what He will do.

  13. belleu says:
    November 17, 2013 at 5:57 pm

    I think the reason for the creation of man is love. We were created to love and be loved and that brings happiness. Why do human beings decide they want children? For love.

    I think God was testing Job’s faith to show the universe (angels and perhaps other worlds), not Satan, that humans could love Him just for who He was – not for any gain. And I think he keeps doing that in every life one way or another.

  14. oneg2dblu says:
    November 18, 2013 at 11:49 am

    God made mankind and all “His Creation,” for His pleasure.

    How generous that He allows little us to share it all with Him.

    That His blessed rain falls on all and He grows all seed according to their kind, and that both good and evil, darkness and light which are separate but each allowed to equally prosper and each has its place in the grand scheme of all things, even the entire Bible story.

    Through allowing man’s free will, He never stiffles man’s ability to freely florish or choose, and for man to decide for himself which way he will go.

    We are left to wander basically on our own, unless He calls us to himself and we respond accordingly and in right fashion, and accept that awakening gift of Faith, found only in His Son,(that which makes us true believer’s in Christ), then He also provides us with the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Helper, who will be with us Forever.

    If that doesn’t make us freely choose to Praise God, nothing will…
    Gary

  15. SFDBWV says:
    November 18, 2013 at 12:18 pm

    “So What”; I liked Linda’s simple statement that “God is unfathomable”.

    What then are we to do with what we *do* know?

    We have been told that God is no respecter of man, so it makes sense that we don’t always get what we want when we ask it of Him.

    So what *is* the relationship between God and man?

    We all can and do tell stories of rescue from life’s circumstances and accredit it to God; but what is going on when disaster or death does fall upon us? Is it because God *wants* these things to occur or is it because He just allows *things* to happen without a cause or purpose from Him?

    Does life just happen and God just watches as it does?

    The Scripture tells a story with a plot, sub-plots and a story line, complete with a conclusion.

    Yet counting the number of people mentioned in Scripture there are and were a greater number of people whose life stories were ongoing unmentioned in the “Greatest Story Ever Told” and continue to, to this very hour.

    Jesus tells us that God knows the number of hairs on our heads.

    If we believe Jesus then we have to believe that God is aware of every circumstance and every heartbeat during our lives.

    How then do *we* reconcile the disasters that fall upon us all?

    Job said that even though he die yet will he see his redeemer; Job saw past this life and into the next for his misery to end.

    The “great hero’s” of Scripture died without ever living to see the promises God made come to be, their faith was past this life into another.

    Paul said that we fight not against flesh and bone, but against *spirits*. Do we *fight* or do we become *meek* and just accept things for the way they are?

    From the beginning of Christianity people who accepted Jesus were persecuted and many still to this very day pay with their very lives their choice to be called *Christian*.

    Jesus makes many statements and the one point that comes through loud and clear is that if we are to have *any* relationship with God is must come by way of a relationship with Him first.

    So mans relationship with God is dependant on his relationship to Jesus.

    Any hope we now have for any *happiness* whether in this life or the next is reliant on our relationship and standing with Jesus of Nazareth.

    Our faith is now in Jesus and His promises and proclamations.

    Again we now must be very attentive to what Jesus has to say.

    I am not sorry for this being long, but apologize for its taking all morning to get written, this is my life and how it is given me to live.

    Steve

  16. foreverblessed says:
    November 18, 2013 at 1:03 pm

    Steve, you inspired me to sit down and start writing too! “Our faith is now in Jesus and His promises and proclamations. ”
    Paul wrote, 1 Cor 2:2, Gal 6:14
    The Cross is such a big mystery, hidden in the OT, not really known what it was about, although Job knew he had a Redeemer. But how would that come to pass?
    And I could hardly say that same thing as Paul did: nothing but the Cross. Till I attended a christians conference a few years ago, just before Easter, or Pesach. It was about the Wonder of the Cross.
    In the OT it was written about the Day of Atonement, the two goats that were chosen, Lev 16, this whole chapter points to Jesus, the bull and the two goats represent Jesus, as a Scapegoat and as the Lamb that was offered. His blood sprinkled on the altar, 7 times. Lev 16:10, Lev 16:14,15.
    The Cross was all encompassing, everything that has gone wrong, all of it can be covered by the Cross. All sins were laid on the scape goat, and the scapegoat was sent away into the desert.
    When Jesus was on the Cross, all sins, all burdens, everything gone wrong was laid on Him, and it became pitch black inside His Heart. The preacher told a story of a woman, who had been seriously abused when young, and had developed a 5 sided personality, she would flip over from one personality into another. She had become a christian, for over 10 years, but was still struggling. Prayers from many around her, but nothing changed, till one conference, after much prayer from a support group, she came forward for prayer, and when the preacher prayed she fell, and was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, he stooped down to pray some more, then the Holy Spirit told him: leave, this is work of God, and not of man.
    So he left, wondering what was going on…
    When she stood up, she was whole, very tired, but one person! The different personalities were gone, she was one.
    Later she told what happened, when the preacher started praying, she saw Jesus hanging on the Cross, while remaining hanging He took her with His arms, and brought her tight to His Heart. She very close to His Heart being held lovingly in His arms, and there she saw how great and deep the blackness was. She saw His Heart on the Cross!
    Jesus told her, “remain here as long as it takes”.
    So what??!! Jesus has carried all our sins, all our burdens, and took it on the Cross, He has taken it, and when we come to Him, close to His Heart in faith, He takes it from us, and it is gone, as far as east is from the west, so far has God removed our sins from us.
    What a Great God we have, it is all about Him redeeming us!

  17. SFDBWV says:
    November 18, 2013 at 2:26 pm

    Bless you Foreverblessed for taking the time to write and sharing your heart. One of the books I have explains that the encampment of the Israeli’s in the wilderness was in the shape of the cross.

    It gives me much more than a smile to know that.

    Yes everything points forward and backward to the Cross.

    Steve

  18. belleu says:
    November 18, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    Steve, you asked if this is a fight or should we be meek? I think it is a fight like no other. Satan whispers to us, “Why does God allow these things to happen? God couldn’t be full of love and let me and others suffer like this. God is cruel.”

    I’ve had these thoughts. I fight them quite often by quoting scripture out loud when they come. I know I mustn’t dwell on these thoughts for they lead me away from God. I ask God to help me believe he is love because I have a hard time believing this.

    I once read that we may think that there must be a better way to run the universe – but that road leads nowhere. Jesus kind of asked that in Gethsemane and the answer was that there was no other way.

    My sister and I were studying Job last week and I found that Job said many time, “I hate my life. I wish I had never been born.” We could both relate to that. It says Job did not sin in what he said, so I guess it is okay to feel that way about life.

    You also asked, “How do we reconcile the disasters that fall upon us all?” For me, it is believing God knows what He is doing. Maybe this is where being meek comes in.

  19. oneg2dblu says:
    November 18, 2013 at 4:04 pm

    Praise report, I had my socks blessed off this morning.
    I’ve mentioned before how every time I see a porpoise break the surface and show himself while I’m out rowing, I always say, Thank you Jesus.
    If you are like me and beleive that God displays himself in nature in such a way that no man can rightly say there is no God, lest that man be a fool.
    My nature moment came as I was rowing my usual course which is three miles of open water and a mile or so in more protected water which is the middle part or the turn around of my row.
    I usually end up going under a small low bridge where the bottom of the bridge is so close I can touch the overhead, and while turning around under there, I start cooing at the pigeons who congregate there. They are getting so used to seeing me thay are now cooing back, which is pretty cool in itself, but that is not the huge part this story… while I was approaching the bridge in this protected waterway called the Banana River it was very flat today, almost surreal. The sun was coming over my left shoulder about ten o’clock high and suddenly there was something under the water which the sun was now iluminating and caught my eye, as I peered into the water and focused more on it I saw a large porpoise right along side of my boat keeping up with my current 6 knot pace with no problem, if fact he was laying on his side looking up at me and smiling as they all seem to do!
    I’ve been rowing for over a decade and never experienced anything quite like it. There he was, about two feet down keeping a perfect closeness and nodding his head gently as if to say. I see you too!
    I resisted the urge to stop rowing and hug him.
    I suddenly wondered wasn’t this just like God, always there and always watching us, but with all our busy lives and all the waves we make, we just don’t always see him there.
    I may never see another moment like that, this unusually surreal close encounter, but I will never forget it.
    Just when we wonder where is God in all this stuff, suddenly we are taken out of our moment and can no longer deny Him or His presenc in our lives.
    I was Blessed! Gary

  20. belleu says:
    November 18, 2013 at 11:17 pm

    Thanks for sharing that! Being out in nature does take us out of ourselves and close to God. I remember when I was young and my hubby and I went to Jasper National Park in Alberta. I thought about God constantly because of the great beauty there.

  21. cbrown says:
    November 19, 2013 at 12:08 am

    Thanks for sharing.That was awesome!

  22. SFDBWV says:
    November 19, 2013 at 6:02 am

    Belleu I think you have a good handle on things and like you I would agree there seems to be no condemnation from God about feeling unhappy with the unhappiness life can dump on us.

    Gary I am happy for your special moment with God’s creation, and happy that you could share your happy with us all.

    Steve

  23. oneg2dblu says:
    November 19, 2013 at 12:48 pm

    Good day all… what happier moment is there then when
    the God of the Universe comes down to reveal himself to you personally, enlightens His word as He gives it and you a new life, and then never leaves?
    I’ve known none better.
    Be Blessed, Gary

  24. oneg2dblu says:
    November 19, 2013 at 12:50 pm

    He alone comes into the darkened room of the human heart, lights His light and there it burns forever.

  25. short357 says:
    November 19, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    Thanks for sharing Mart, what a simple unique presentation of Jesus through the bible. Presenting Him plain and simple always seem to send the best message. No human of course could ever be compared to Jesus, but it’s important for me to remember his unconditional love for us and through our imperfections the Lord still wants to work through to show his love, grace, blessings and mercies. Oh the lengths He still goes and have gone through his life, death, burial and resurrection, still loving humanity and wanting his peace and goodwill to keep coming toward all. Oh that we would seek Jesus even the more!

  26. poohpity says:
    November 20, 2013 at 10:57 am

    What makes it so important that through the lives of so many we learn about Jesus? It seems to be because of grace. A grace that the Lord wants to remind us of every hour, every minute so that we can understand that type of selfless love. Love changes everything. It changes the way one thinks about God, their self and others. To see Jesus we understand how much each and every person matters to God. He cares so much for us and to be reminded of how much I need Him and unlike many others when we do not act they way they would like us to act, He never leaves or forsakes us even in our ugliest moments. So what?

    It is the very thing that has changed and continues to change our very lives, that’s what!!

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