Date: 10/22/2023
Justin’s questions:
- 1) Ruth was a Moabite, outside of God’s chosen people. Do you think God used outsiders like Ruth occasionally to show, even before Jesus, He could and would use those people that demonstrated faithfulness, even it was unexpected and outside of the Jewish people?
- That’s one possible reason.
- Another option, which came to my mind, is God’s demonstration early in the Bible that his chosen people would include all nations (not just the Israelites). The Israelites were his chosen nation — chosen to be a light to the world — to attract non-Jews to the One true God. So we catch glimpses of this in Israel’s history — Rahab and Ruth, are two examples — but ultimately the nation of Israel failed to be the light they were called to be.
- Thus, Jesus came as the true Light of the world and would have conversations with, for example, a Samaritan woman by a well one day to make clear that God seeks worshipers of all people who worship in Spirit and in truth.
- 2) The Israelites were not to intermarry with foreigners, yet Boaz marries Ruth. Was this overlooked by the fact the elders wanted to care for Naomi / Ruth?
- Boaz was fulfilling the role of kinsmen redeemer as Ruth was already married into a Jewish family through her first husband. So I don’t know that Boaz was breaking the foreign wife rule as much as fulfilling his role as kinsmen redeemer. That’s not to say that Ruth being a foreigner wasn’t an obstacle — it was! — but more of a culturally acceptable obstacle rather than a Jewish law one.
- 3) Since we can judge quickly on looks, how can we get better at not doing this? What can lead two friends, for instance, to getting beyond the surface and getting to know each other’s hearts?
- Pray: God give me eyes to see myself and others as you see us through Jesus Christ. Help me to see them as they will be for all eternity and not simply as who they are now.
- It’s amazing how this prayer has changed my view of people. You’ll still see their flaws and shortcomings, but you’ll see God’s grace in their lives and who he’s guaranteed them to become.
- Getting beyond surface level requires having a passion for Jesus and each other that’s beyond surface level. I think that often a lack of passion for Jesus and each other is due to our passion being spent elsewhere.
- 4) You (Josh) encouraged us to not let words bounce off of us. How do you practice this or how would you encourage others in this? For example, you tell us that you love us and God loves us each and every week. How do you let these words not become just another phrase for you?
- Know yourself. For example, I know that I’m way too quick to dismiss encouraging words and will hold on way too long to criticism. So I’m learning to receive encouragement from others — especially when someone thanks me for my ministry and how God is using me. I don’t want to be ungrateful to God for how he uses me and I’ve found that my response to others’ encouragement is directly related to my gratitude to God for using me.
- As far as loving you all, a practice that’s been really helpful over the past few years has been writing a few thank you cards each week to folks who serve at Gateway. I have Ed and Morgan, over at our North Main Campus, and Becca, here at County Road 9, send me a volunteer to thank and how they serve each week. I also watch for 1-2 folks myself and then I write the thank you cards before this podcast goes live. This practice has increased my love for the congregation as I get to pause and celebrate every week the faithfulness of God’s people here at Gateway.
- 5) At what point did we as Christians start to realize that the entire Bible was about Jesus?
- I think Luke understood this and that’s why he made sure to include it in the last chapter of his gospel.
- 6) In today’s society, we can react to our leaders’ downfalls in near-real time. Do we have any inkling to how the Jewish people responded to David’s sins? In what ways can Christians respond to leaders’ sin?
- There were times when they experienced the consequences of his sins. (The whole census situation.)
- There were times when their behavior was David’s consequence for his sins (his sons rebelled against him for the throne).
- How can we respond?
- Pray. For the leader. For whoever’s been hurt. For your own heart as another’s fall can easily lead to our pride. For those who will be disenfranchised from the faith.
- Remember that Jesus is the One who never fails — not your favorite pastor, Christian celebrity, author, or whoever. Sometimes we set up folks to not be able to survive a fall because we’ve lifted them too high.
- Study church history. I once heard a pastor say, “Let all your heroes be dead Christians. That way you know their whole story.”
Matt’s questions:
- Pronunciation of Eli’s sons’ names
- Hophni and Phinehas
- Distinction between Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles
- Samuel – Samuel, Saul, and David
- Kings – covers the rest of the kings of both Judah and Israel — from Solomon on.
- Chronicles – Retells the history of the kings, but with a distinct positive view of David (none of his flaws are mentioned, unlike in Samuel). There’s a theological reason for this, which I’ll explain in a couple of weeks when we get to First Chronicles.
- Finding moral truths in the OT…how do we not go too far or fall short in looking at moral/ethical issues (both good and bad) in the lives of these OT characters
- I don’t know that this is an OT issue as much as a literary genre issue (because the same question is true for the NT).
- The question really is about historical narrative parts of the Bible in both the OT and NT — how do we not go too far or fall short looking at the moral/ethical issues in the lives of the people?
- One, know that sometimes (often?) teaching us a moral/ethical lesson isn’t the point of the historical narrative genre (that’s often the point in epistles). Historical narratives are just telling us what happened without making many judgments about the behavior of the people (other than historical consequences due to their behavior. That’s why, for example with David, you have to take his entire life into account — including his psalms — and not just a historical moment in order to figure out a lesson that we’re to learn.
- Instead of looking for a moral/ethical lesson, another approach is to allow the historical narrative to answer other questions, such as:
- Fallen humanity – when the focus of the text is on sin or suffering, faithfulness or disobedience
- “Here’s another example of why we need a Savior!”
- “Here’s why God sent his Son into the world!”
- Falleness shows our need for Jesus.
- Typological revelation – a type or shadow whose substance is Christ
- A real person, place, object, or event that God ordained to act as a predictive pattern or resemblance of Jesus’ person and work.
- A good study Bible will give you cross-references between the OT and NT.
- Narrative progression – The OT is the backstory of Jesus.
- How is this story important in the flow of redemptive history?
- How does this story help us make progress toward Jesus?
- Find the story’s “threat” to God’s covenant promise of redemption. Then show how God resolves the threat so that his promise moves on all the way to fulfillment in Jesus.
- Theological theme – straightforward theological themes, attributes of God, etc…
- Connect the theme to the person/work of Jesus.
- Fallen humanity – when the focus of the text is on sin or suffering, faithfulness or disobedience