BEN SANSBURN May 24, 2022 A couple of weeks ago in our Apostles Creed series we covered what I called the 'J-Curve' of Christ's redemptive work. His descent, resurrection, and ascension. The Creed puts it this way: "He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended to heaven where he is seated at the right hand of the Father almighty." The first movement of that 'J-Curve' stirs the most controversy. What does it mean the Christ 'descended to the dead'? Or the way some forms of the Creed phrase it, 'he descended to hell'? If you haven't listened to the sermon yet, be sur ..read more

BEN SANSBURN This past Sunday in the opening sermon in our Galatians series, I quoted at length from Richard Lovelace's book Dynamics of Spiritual Life. Lovelace was a professor at Gordon-Conwell seminary in Boston, MA, and Dynamics of Spiritual Life is chock-full of insight into how gospel-rooted transformation and renewal happen in the life of God's people. I wanted to post the entire quote below, as well as a couple of other paragraphs from the book. I hope they are as much help and encouragement to you as they were to me. Only a fraction of the present body of professing Chri ..read more

ISAAC MCPHEE JONAH, THE WORM, AND THE EAST WIND In our last blog we looked at God's gracious provision of a shelter for Jonah in the book's final chapter. In this article we will see God very quickly reverse the comfort of the plant by "appointing" a worm and and east wind. Like the plant, these images evoke significance than the objects themselves. They are tied to a thread in the biblical story that says something significant about God's plan for Israel and for his people as a whole. THE WORM In our last article we saw God's promised provision of a "branch" in Isaiah chapter 4. Remar ..read more

ISAAC MCPHEE JONAH AND THE SHELTER OF YAHWEH As we read the story of Jonah – and particularly the fourth and final chapter of Jonah – we might find ourselves actively rooting against God’s prophet. He is rebellious, defiant, narcissistic, and blind to anyone outside of his national bubble. That he would argue with God – going so far as to beg God to kill him – after God showed mercy to Nineveh marks the nadir of his story. Maybe God should just kill him! God, however, doesn’t strike Jonah down. God reasons with Him, taking a surprisingly gentle approach that expresses the very nature of God ..read more

ISAAC MCPHEE THE GOD WHO RELENTS How do we feel about a God who “relents”? Do we respond like Jonah, cursing God for His excessive mercy toward the undeserving? Or do we balk at the very suggestion that God might possibly “change His mind” and renege on His promises? The first response betrays our own hypocrisy, and is at the heart of God’s response to Jonah in chapter 4. The second response, however, requires some clarification. Even though God is certainly a God who does relent and turn from His anger in response to repentance (Jon. 3:10), He is not a God who changes. He is a God who rema ..read more

ISAAC MCPHEE VOMITED OUT In our last blog post we looked at what Jonah’s experience in the fish would have meant to the original audience reading his story. The ancient Israelites reading Jonah’s story would have experience great hope that though they had been swallowed up by the nations, they weren’t doomed to die there. In this post we’ll look at the end of Jonah’s experience - being ‘vomited out’ on dry land. Jonah chapter two ends with a verse that parallels the final verse of chapter 1. Where, after the episode with the storm and the sailors, “Yahweh appointed a great fish…” (1:17), af ..read more

ISAAC MCPHEE In the midst of Jonah’s larger-than-life elements, we might easily miss something: this story follows a common biblical plot line. Jonah is more than just a ‘fish story.’ It’s a story of sin, death, and resurrection. In other words, Jonah’s story follows the pattern of humanity’s story. But even more directly, it follows the story of Israel. When we read the Scriptures, the first question we must always as is, “What would this have meant to the original audience.” Instead of beginning with the question of what a book or passage means to us, we ought to start with the question ..read more

ISAAC MCPHEE The Bible leaves no doubt that there are deep connections between the story of Jonah and the story of Jesus, but it is easy to get caught up by Jonah’s story and not recognize them. Twice Jesus explicitly points to the Jews of His day back to the story of Jonah (Matt. 12:39-42; 16:4), indicating that this story of a wayward, disobedient prophet was, somehow, also the story of Him – the perfect, divine God-man. How in the world does this work? Of all the Old Testament characters for Jesus to model His life and ministry around, why Jonah? The reason, in short, is the same reason ..read more

ISAAC MCPHEE To think of Jonah as little more than a simple morality story – or, worse still, as a straightforward retelling of an historical event – is to risk missing some of the most important points of the book. It is much more than a simple story meant for the enjoyment of children, nor is it a chapter in a history textbook. Instead, Jonah is theological – its purpose is to teach us about God. It is also a detailed, complex piece of prophetic narrative, and when we take the time to read it for what it is, we find that it works on a number of levels (often all at once). Two elements to ..read more

BEN SANSBURN THE MINISTRY OF LISTENING Throughout our series in 1 John, I've been returning to one of the most profound books on Christian community - Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. Bonhoeffer's insights into healthy community and our human tendencies that fracture community are incredibly helpful. Loving our brothers and sisters well isn't always easy, but it is worth it! I wanted to share a convicting and challenging passage from Bonhoeffer on how we press into one another through the 'ministry of listening.' The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists ..read more