I’ve been paying more attention lately to an obvious feature of the Bible. It’s obvious, and yet our approach to Scripture sometimes obscures it. I’m referring to the Bible’s overall shape as a story or drama. Eugene Peterson describes well this feature: “The Bible turns out to be a large, comprehensive story, a meta-story. The Christian life is conducted in story conditions. The Bible is basically and overall narrative – an immense, sprawling, capacious narrative” (Eat This Book, p. 40). So what impact does this have on my preaching?
First, I try to connect each individual sermon to the Bible’s overall storyline. My practice is to preach through books of Scripture. In each sermon, I make a few comments – usually thirty to sixty seconds – about how this particular text ties into or advances the Bible’s developing story.
Second, I try to preach through larger blocks of text so that I can cover larger sections of the Bible. I want to help people think synthetically as well as analytically. Personally, I’m not convinced that three years or five years in Romans is preferable to one year. The extra time spent may obscure the flow of the book, not to mention the overall flow of Scripture.
Third, I preach an occasional sermon on storyline of Bible. Yes, I’m talking about covering the entire Bible in one message! I preached a sermon like this last fall. Now I’m thinking about doing this annually. How to communicate the same point from a fresh angle will be the challenge.
So, in one sentence, what is the storyline of the Bible? I’ll share my one-sentence statement in my next post (Friday, March 23). I’ll also suggest some helpful books on this topic. If there’s enough interest, I’d be glad to share the sermon outline from the message I preached last fall on the story of the Bible.
In the meantime, how would you summarize the storyline of the Bible in one sentence? I’d love to hear your answers. Don’t be afraid to weigh in on the conversation! Yes, the Bible is the story of redemption. But redemption from what to what? Yes, the Bible is centered in the person and work of Jesus (Luke 24:27, 44). But what does Jesus do? The idea of ‘covenant’ is a prominent part of the Bible’s storyline. But what is God doing through these covenants? The ‘kingdom of God’ is the central theme of Jesus and the Apostle Paul (Luke 4:43; Acts 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). But what is the goal of God’s kingdom? And yes, God’s ultimate purpose (and ours!) is His glory. But God’s glory is “why” He does “what” He does. So “what” is God doing? What is the storyline of the Bible?
Posted by Steve Mathewson at 9:06 AM on March 20, 2007
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Good points. I think that you are right that getting too microscopic in texts can cause us to lose the overall picture of the Bible.
I imagine that you can't really summarize the Bible well in a single sentence - probably only one "angle." But I guess I'd focus on the redemption aspect as in something like, "The Bible is the story of how all humanity chose to run from God, the disastrous result of that decision, and how God for his glory intervened, rescuing humanity and offering hope from certain death to eternal life."
Funny. I'm sure someone can do better. That's a pretty complex sentence.
Oh - I love the idea of preaching through the Bible in one message. It made me think of doing a series like "The Bible in 4 weeks" or something like that!
Posted by: John Mark on March 21, 2007
My one liner is:
He created me and He redeemed me!
Blood was shed to cover the sins of Adam and Eve.
To me the wholeness of the Bible lies in the promise that the Lord made to "provide Himself the lamb for a sacrifice." Gen 22:8
All of the laws, the Holy Days of the old testament point to the Messiah. Yeshua himself declared that he was the Living Water, referring to the feast of Waters, etc.
It's a legal and binding document.
Posted by: elizabeth on March 26, 2007
A sentence to sum up the Bible:
"God always seeks to save us!"
Posted by: Jeff Vankooten on March 26, 2007
Our church is starting a contemporary service soon. I am planning to preach a sermon that gives an overview of the Bible. I may title it, "You're the One that I want" (from Grease). My idea for the sermon is that the bible is like a love story (boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back). God makes us; God loses us; God wins us back.
Posted by: John Barnes on March 26, 2007
This is such an important topic. If people don't understand the big picture of what God is doing, then they aren't able to figure out how to get in step with him and His eternal purposes.
I'm convinced the Bible is the story of "how God brings glory to himself by bringing people from every nation, tongue and tribe into a loving and maturing relationship with himself."
I've preached on this topic numerous times and like to show how this theme is seen in every major event of the OT as well as through the NT. I'm happy to share my outline with anyone interested.
Tragically, it seems many just focus on "people in general" and fail to see that God's plan from the beginning has included every people group on the earth. No wonder so much of the world remains currently "out of reach" of the church.
Posted by: Wade H. on March 26, 2007
can we say that the scripture story is one of God showing us how he would like to relate to us and us to him within the context of a community and the created order?
Posted by: savithri on March 26, 2007
I started a series in January in which I am trying to follow the storyline of the whole Bible. So far I have made it through Exodus 19 and the Ten Commandments. I have been exhilarated in my study and sermon preparation, but the people do not seem to be getting much out of it. Most of my folks are elderly and it seems they are content that Jesus died for our sins. This Old Testament stuff seems to mean little to them. The younger the people, the more interest there seems to be. Of course part of the problem could be my preaching – probably is.
Anyway, the storyline of the bible in one sentence?
From Creation to New Creation; from Eden to the New Jerusalem, from the garden sanctuary to the city of God, “behold, I make all things new.” More like a title than a sentence, but it sums up the story I think.
Posted by: Gene C. on March 28, 2007
The glory of God which creates, redeems and judges human history.
Posted by: Carl on March 28, 2007
Reading Christopher Wright "The Mission of God" and Mark Dever's "Message of the Old Testament" and "Message of the New Testament" has stimulated my interest to understand and communicate the Biblical storyline. Thanks for advancing the conversation. Here's an other attempt at the Biblical meta-narrative I received from a friend.
God Formed Us, Sin Deformed Us but Christ Transforms Us.
Have You been and are you being transformed?
Ephesians 2:8-10, Romans 12:1-2
Posted by: Al Stoltzfus on March 28, 2007
Forgive me for making two posts, but your request to put the storyline of the Bible into one sentence has turned into a challenge for me. I cant do it one sentence! Will a short paragraph work?
The Storyline of the Bible is a story that begins with creation and ends with new creation. The latter being made necessary because of sin; the former being transformed by the latter from a garden sanctuary, out of which a disobedient humanity was exiled, to the city of God inhabited by a new, redeemed, restored and obedient humanity. The climatic event between the two being the death and resurrection of Christ, the son of God, which deals with the sin and failure of the first creation and inaugurates the new.
It needs some more work but I’ll keep trying.
Posted by: Gene C on March 30, 2007
Thanks to all of your for sharing your ideas! I'm pondering them because trying to capture the idea of the Bible in a sentence is a daunting task. Gene C's second comment is a good reminder that a short paragraph works, too. I think we should try to summarize the story of the Bible in a sentence, a paragraph, and even in one page. The discipline of trying to distill our thoughts into these different-sized units of communication will force us to think more clearly about the over-arching story of the Bible.
Posted by: Steve Mathewson on May 4, 2007
Al, I love Christopher Wrights's book, THE MISSION OF GOD! Thanks for bringing this to our attention
Posted by: Steve Mathewson on May 4, 2007